Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
This episode from Rise comes at you recorded live with another very special guest, Rick from Float St. Louis. Not only does he work in a float center, he’s also releasing a float themed quarterly magazine called Third Wave Magazine. While he was a bit tight lipped about the magazine, his choice of question may speak to just how demanding it has been on him lately.
Listen to him chat with Graham and Ashkahn about how to do all the things and when doing too many things is too much.
Show Resources
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Ashkahn: Alright, for those of you listening out here, that was our buddy Rick from Flo STL. He’s with us here today.
Graham: He’s just going to run the podcast for now.
Rick: I’ll just hang out.
Ashkahn: We’re here in St. Louis.
Graham: Hi. By the way, I’m Graham.
Ashkahn: Okay, yeah. Like anyone wanted to know that. We’re here in St Louis. Why you might ask are we in St. Louis? Tell them Graham.
Graham: Okay, Ashkahn. That’s Ashkahn by the way there’s Ashkahn.
Ashkahn: This is Ashkahn.
Graham: We are here for the second annual Rise Flow gathering, which has been a blast so far. Just finished up the first day.
Ashkahn: That’s right.
Graham: And we’re crazy, and decided to do live podcasting from a very noisy space, so-
Rick: As if it wasn’t enough already.
Graham: Yeah, yeah. With that said, it’s been a total blast. So, Rick, you have any good questions for us?
Rick: Oh sure.
Graham: Just one would be fine.
Rick: So, sometimes you have this feeling like you are going to do all the things, and then you’re like, oh yeah, like I can do all the things. And then you start doing all the things.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Rick: And it’s like, man I can’t do all the things. So from your perspective, how do you choose the things you do?
Graham: Well first of all, we’re really bad at this.
Ashkahn: This is real.
Graham: In fact, usually what we do is sacrifice our health, sanity, family time.
Ashkahn: Sleep.
Graham: Social interactions.
Ashkahn: Any other thing we have going on in our lives.
Graham: New crazy ideas we come up with, so.
Ashkahn: I haven’t seen my parents in 12 years at this point. This is the problem-
Graham: We’re running a daily podcast right now. [crosstalk 00:02:46]
Ashkahn: We promised ourselves that we wouldn’t start new projects. And then now we have a podcast we release every single day.
Rick: Yeah.
Ashkahn: Weekends and holidays. So I don’t know, I’m not, okay, well let’s see if we can.
Graham: We have way more projects still that we think of than we do. So-
Ashkahn: There’s some amount to filter out there. Here’s one thing I think we should keep in mind. I think there’s been a great contribution to humanity in general by people who have no idea how big of project they’re getting themselves into. Like I think if people had a good sense of the amount of work ahead of them when they come up with an idea, no one would do anything. Like literally, the human race would be sitting around, being like, ah no, maybe later, like that sounds a little intense.
Graham: And everybody would be drilling oil or something, yeah.
Ashkahn: So, that’s a kind of ignorance that comes with not knowing what you’re getting yourself into. I think it’s one of the driving forces of human civilization.
Graham: That being said, I feel like, my mom has this sign on her refrigerator, right. Which I think is a great reminder. It says, if it’s not fun, it’s not sustainable.
Rick: Oh.
Graham: And I think that’s very true. So, if you’re like coming down to decisions on what you should spend your time doing, and one of them is like, it really seems like I should do that to further my career, and one is like that just seems like you’d be hilarious and awesome. Maybe do the hilarious and awesome thing.
Ashkahn: We should go on a road trip around the country for three months.
Graham: Instead of the boring thing that might further your career you know.
Rick: Was that sign, like knitted?
Graham: No, it was scrolled in pen. She thought of it in the middle of the night … like yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ashkahn: We’re very much of the philosophy that we spend a very, very decent chunk of our lives working. And you can’t see home, I put quote/unquote we’re game around there. That’s because when you-
Graham: We’re on the road podcasting.
Ashkahn: When you spend that much of your time doing something, to me, life and work have to mix.
Rick: Mm-hmm.
Ashkahn: Otherwise work sucks really. Like that’s- [crosstalk 00:04:42] and the time you reserve for life, you’re tired because you spent all your waking time doing the working part.
Rick: Yeah.
Ashkahn: So I, to us, when I look around, at what we’re doing, and we spend our time doing, which we do a lot now. Like we’re really specifically-
Rick: You have to.
Ashkahn: Sit down go like, okay, what are we actually deciding to spend our time doing, and what are we not deciding to spend our time doing. We really factor in life enjoyment into that decision.
Rick: Good, good.
Ashkahn: Because we know we’re going to be spending a lot of time. We have more ideas than we could possibly have time to do. It has be a factor in it for us. Otherwise I just don’t think I could handle it, I think I would have broken years ago.
Graham: I could dig a hole for seven hours a week, and if my only job was digging holes for seven hours a week, and I made the same amount of money that I make helping operate a float center, and creating the things that I want to create, I would much rather work sixty hours a week than digging holes for seven hours a week.
Rick: Uh huh.
Graham: I would make that trade.
Ashkahn: And that’s the enjoyment side of things for sure. I mean, honestly, I think in relating it to hiring employees, or just running a float center in general. I think that’s how we’re able to get such good crews working at float centers, is we’re helping people, and is because people have a choice, right. They’re like, I’m going to apply to this job, and this job.
Rick: Yeah.
Ashkahn: And float centers obviously aren’t the most competitive for the wages they’re offering. But it’s the same thing, right. You get to help people, you get to make a difference. You often feel like you’re a part of this small business that’s rising from the ground up, yeah, there’s something really satisfying about that. Yeah, not just for you Rick, but in general, I think that float centers benefit from that coolness factor, or being a very satisfying industry to contribute to. And certainly that’s why we do this crazy daily podcast in robes and everything else.
Rick: So, if this isn’t taking the idea too far, I’m going to ask another question.
Ashkahn: Alright.
Graham: Alright.
Rick: Question number two.
Ashkahn: We usually don’t allow that, but we’ll make an exception this episode.
Graham: Or usually they both have to be at the beginning of the episode you know.
Rick: Yeah, switching it up. Is there a time you’ve taken an idea too far you’d like to share?
Ashkahn: We’re literally wearing robes right now.
Graham: And you know what we should do, a different intro for every single one.
Ashkahn: Now we spend hours a week making up jingles.
Graham: We’re like jingle artists now. Yeah, we took that one a little too far, but you know, we’re committed so.
Rick: I think I’m going to take some things home from this.
Graham: So you feel like we’ve answered-
Rick: Yeah.
Graham: At least a little bit. I’ve touched on your questions.
Rick: Well I was looking for a way out, and you didn’t give it to me, so.
Ashkahn: We just gave you path of deeper although rolling dice isn’t a bad idea, you can always, if everything seems the same, just roll dice and decide.
Rick: That’s right. Thank you guys
Graham: Yeah, thank you Rick.
Rick: Yeah, anytime.
Ashkahn: And for those of you out there in non St. Louis, and you want to ask us a question. From this episode, I think the way you do that is first you get a job at FLOAT-STL, and you work there for a few years, and then you start running an event and then you come on our podcast live in person. I think that’s the only pathway to asking us a question.
Graham: So good luck guys.
Ashkahn: Best of luck out there. See you later.
Graham: Talk to you tomorrow.
Recent Podcast Episodes
How Often Does Float On Party? – DSP 225
Ashkahn and Graham have developed a bit of a reputation over the years within the industry as party animals. Anyone who has met them can confirm this to be true. But how often to the throw parties at Float On? What are good occasions for float center parties and how do you throw one?
The guys share their party philosophy and offer some nice tips and tricks for throwing a sensory deprivation shindig.
Is there a “Best” Float Position? – DSP 224
Ashkahn and Graham thoroughly debunk the myth of a “best” float position. The Float On boys explicate their philosophy that there is no right way to float and instead talk about all the different positions they enjoy floating in. They learn more about each other than they expected to in the process.
What to Look for When Hiring a Float Center Employee – DSP 223
What makes a good float center employee? What does Float On look for when trying to find someone to take care of their salt monster tanks and their blissed out customers at the same time?
Ashkahn and Graham break down the qualities they look for when hiring, and what makes the people at Float On so special.
How Do you Incentivize Return Floaters without Memberships or Packages? – DSP 222
How many times has a float center owner had a first time floater come out of the tank and said something along the lines of “that was amazing! I need to do this every week!” and then they never see that person again? How do you get them to come back without committing to a membership or a high ticket package of floats?
Ashkahn and Graham share their thoughts on this exact problems and some of the creative solutions they’ve implemented at Float On to combat it. The key, for them, has been keeping it simple and making it accessible.
How to Schedule Your Float Center During the Slow Season – DSP 221
For most float centers, the summer months drastically change how busy it gets. It seems that zenning out to nothingness is moderately less appealing when there’s a lot of outdoor activities to enjoy.
Graham and Ashkahn share their thoughts on a reduced schedule. Float On runs 24 hours almost every day throughout the year. so reducing their schedule is typically against their philosophies. They explain some of the reasons people might consider it, what are some good ways to go about it, as well as explain some practices to consider avoiding when cutting hours.
Latest Blog Posts
Float Quarterly – January 2016
It’s been our pleasure to be actively involved in the float industry for over five years now. In 2016, we’re already on track to have more new centers opening, more press covering floating, and more resources for people just entering our salty world than ever before.
With so much action, we’ve decided to send out brief, quarterly updates on our industry to keep people posted on the all the latest happenings. Welcome to our first installment!
Training to Become a Certified Pool/Spa Operator
Each year at the Float Conference, we put on a Certified Pool/Spa Operator (CPO) training course. At first, that might strike you as an odd thing to have as part of a float tank conference. This post will explain what CPO training is and why we think it can be a really useful certification to have on your belt.
Increase Sales by Offering Retail in Your Float Center
On their own, float tanks have a limit to their profits. Retailing has the potential to bring extra money into your shop, but it also requires a lot of work and attention on your part to really be successful at it. At Float On, our retail contributes 6.5% towards our overall sales and 3% of total profit. While this might not seem like a large contribution, depending on your sales, it could end up paying the wages of a whole extra employee.
The Health Department and Float Tanks… How to get Approved!
If you’re working on starting a float center, chances are you’re nervously anticipating having to call the health department. We’ve all heard horror stories of people being asked to follow pool rules that don’t make sense for them, or having to do costly changes to their pump systems.
float tanks not regulatedBelow is our best advice for working with your health department to get your float center approved, but before we dive into that, it’s important to get a bit of an understanding as to how the health department works.
