Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Graham and Ashkahn talk about how they deal with other float centers spying on Float On.
Basically… they don’t. The float industry is a really open community and a lot of information is generally freely available. If someone is spying on a float center, that could be a result of poor communication skills or a lack of awareness of what information is actually out there. The guys share their advice on how to talk to someone who might be in that situation and how to move forward, hopefully as friends instead of rivals.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: All right.
Ashkahn: Okay, welcome.
Graham: Hello.
Ashkahn: My name is Ashkahn.
Graham: I am Graham. And together, we are Grashkahmn.
Ashkahn: Oh, sorry.
Graham: That’s all right, it’s cool. Just forgot my half of our combined name.
Anyway, we have a question for us from you, which is, what are some common issues with float tanks? Sorry, no, different question, wrong day.
Ashkahn: Different question, different day.
Graham: Right, just look at a different page here. “I had a customer come in – that’s good – who was sneaking a bunch of photos and asking weird questions.”
Ashkahn: Hm.
Graham: “Now I found out that they’re opening a center across town. How do you deal with spies?”
Ashkahn: Spies.
Graham: Espionage. The dangerous side of the float world.
Ashkahn: I mean, we have a pretty robust counter-intelligence program going at our place.
Graham: Yeah, feed them a lot of misinformation.
Ashkahn: Lots of propaganda.
Graham: Yeah. Just wait for their own center to self-destruct.
Ashkahn: We funded a coup in Nicaragua just to stop one place from opening.
Graham: Maybe you don’t want to go as far, but it works. It does work.
I guess at Float On we don’t really worry about it?
Ashkahn: It’s kind of an interesting one, because the information’s all public. Like, what could they find out by coming to your float center that everybody isn’t finding out by coming in to float at your place?
Graham: So I think how this happens, a is people don’t realize that our industry is as cool as it is. And you can probably get way more information by just directly approaching a float center owner and talking to them.
So, first off, if any of you listening out there-
Ashkahn: If you’re the spy-
Graham: If you’re spies or you’re thinking about spying, don’t do it. Everyone is so nice and open. Maybe not everyone, but if you talk to a jerk out there who doesn’t want to give you the time of day, whatever. They’re the exception in the industry. Just call another center near you. Chances are, they’ll actually be embarrassingly open with how their center runs and its shortcomings and stuff like that.
Don’t sneak around if you’re the spying type. And if you’re a center being spied on, then you’re going to… Ashkahn. What’s your advice then, buddy?
Ashkahn: I guess my advice is, I’m not sure what you feel like you’re losing from someone taking pictures and stuff like that. Like, what information could they be gleaning that they wouldn’t be able to get by visiting any float center?
I don’t know, I don’t understand exactly what people feel like what kind of valuable info they feel like they’re losing in the scenario that someone is spying on them. Quote, unquote “spying” on them.
Graham: Yeah, it’s interesting, because I feel like the social damage is almost more than the practical damage, you know?
Ashkahn: Yeah, for sure. I mean, it’s weird and it’s kind of rude.
Graham: They should have asked, right, is the thing.
Ashkahn: Yeah, for sure.
Graham: I feel like that’s what this person is actually upset about is that the person did not directly correspond with them, and instead felt the need to “sneakily” come in and check out how they were doing things. And “presumably” use that information to “inform” their own decisions on a competing float tank center.
Lots of air quotes, again, going on here.
Ashkahn: So yeah, if we’re just talking about social interactions more than how to stop someone from spying on you.
Graham: I think it’s both, yeah.
Ashkahn: How would you stop someone from spying on you?
Graham: I don’t know, And every center feels like they did certain things wrong. So in a certain sense, like to spy is just copying off of things you also did wrong.
Ashkahn: Go for it. Build what I built.
Graham: It’s like cheating off of someone in class who’s a C student, you know? Maybe you shouldn’t be cheating off of that person.
Ashkahn: I mean, in terms of what information you’re protecting, I think this is maybe over-hyped in people’s heads or something. Because again, you’re a business in public where customers are coming to float in your float center.
Everybody comes in and knows what your floors are like or what tanks you have. Most people can look at your websites and see how booked up you are. I don’t know. How much is someone going to really use something like that in a way that’s going to impact you negatively?
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: It seems not like a huge concern to me.
So, yeah, it really like, I guess, how do you try to move forward in a relationship with a float center in town when they’ve started things off on a weird foot?
Graham: Sneak a cyanide capsule into their food.
Ashkahn: That’s way too intense. That’s an extreme, extreme overreaction.
Graham: Sorry, I went back to the CIA stuff again.
Ashkahn: I was thinking it’s even extreme for the CIA.
Graham: That’s not extreme for the CIA.
Ashkahn: Just go around killing every single person they discover.
Graham: Well-
Ashkahn: I guess we don’t know.
Graham: No, I mean, I’d talk to them. To be honest, I would even bring up the weird stuff.
What did you say? Back them into a dark alley?
Ashkahn: Get back at them with honesty.
Graham: That’s way better than backing them into a dark alley.
Ashkahn: Your mind is in a weird place right now.
Graham: Let’s go pick some fights after this. I got this baseball bat with a few nails through it. Do you think we could find anything to use that for? It’s been a long day.
Ashkahn: My instinct is the same as yours, is to just bring it up and be like-
Graham: You’re that dude who was in here asking a bunch of questions and taking photos.
Ashkahn: Weird, man.
Graham: Can I take you out to lunch?
But yeah, try to make friends. Chances are, the conversation will go something like, them being embarrassed. Them being like, “I was doing that. It just felt weird that I was opening a competing business. I didn’t know how to bring it up.” It might just end with you understanding where they’re coming from and being friends in the future.
Nothing ever came of letting issues like this stew and you assuming the worst is people in the background. That’s stuff that feuds and unnecessary disputes are made of. Take the higher ground. Talk to them. Just be honest and nice. Call them out in a way that leaves room for a relationship to build in the future. Leave the ball in their court.
Ashkahn: And take the step to make communication. I feel like it’s way too easy for something weird to happen between two float centers in town with each other. And then for both of those float centers to just get too wrapped up in the day-to-day of running their places to ever take the five minutes of work it would take to shoot the other person an email or pick up the phone and call them.
It’s such a small amount of work, but it’s like slightly weird enough and just outside the scope of what you need to do in your day-to-day enough that it just doesn’t happen. Like when I talk to people who are like, “This other float center in town’s kind of weird.”
I’m like, “Oh, yeah? What happened?” They’re like, “This one weird thing happened and we haven’t talked in three years.” I’m like, okay. I feel like this could be resolved pretty easily.
Graham: That’s also totally human. That happens in families and stuff like that all the time.
Ashkahn: But take that step, you know? Reach out.
Graham: Absolutely, yeah.
Ashkahn: Try to bridge that communication.
Graham: And if that doesn’t work, coup in Nicaragua. I really think it’s a solid plan B.
Ashkahn: And if you murder someone, you didn’t hear it here.
Graham: Like we always say.
Ashkahn: Our classic tag off line. All right, and if you have murder suggestions of your own, head on down to floatanksolutions.com/murder.
Graham: You’re going to get arrested after this.
Ashkahn: Maybe. I’m willing to risk it for the fans.
Graham: All right, well, hopefully, we’ll talk to you guys tomorrow.
Ashkahn: Bye, everyone.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Funding your center through Kickstarter – DSP 119
Crowdfunding has made so many projects possible that would otherwise not exist. It seems perfect for niche ideas, concepts that would otherwise never see the light of day, and passion projects that just need to happen. This sounds perfect for float centers, but there are some caveats.
Crowdfunding is time intensive and there’s not guarantee of success. Aside from that, there are some issues with it that complicate things for float centers that other crowdfunded projects likely won’t face. Graham and Ashkahn talk about the successes of float center crowdfunding and the not-so-successes as well.
Don’t Build Your Own Float Tank! – DSP 118
For anyone considering a DIY float tank, give this episode a listen first. This isn’t a discussion on the merits of doing things one way versus another or expressing an opinion on one side and playing devil’s advocate for the other. Graham and Ashkahn know painfully well from personal experience the pitfalls of falling into the hubris trap of thinking you can build your own float tanks. They built two large open tanks in Float On and even years later they still cause headaches.
What’s more, they’ve spoken with dozens of people who’ve also gone through this themselves and heard their horror stories after they didn’t listen to the advice of not doing it.
The perception that it can be a cost-cutting measure or a more reliable way to get an operating float tank in your center by going DIY is generally pretty flawed. There’s so much to it that you just can’t consider before the fact.
Should Your Float Center have a Blog? – DSP 117
This seems like a good idea on paper. It helps with SEO stuff for Google. It gives you an outlet to write about floating and share information about the industry. And it seems to fall in line with something that other businesses do, right?
So what are the downsides? How much time and effort does a blog really take? What sort of impact does it have for a float center? Graham and Ashkahn lay out the pros and cons as well as things you may not initially consider about the responsibility of having a blog.
Thoughts on Buying Yelp Ads – DSP 116
There are lots of businesses that experience the dogged persistence of Yelp sales people calling them. Float On has done both buying Yelp ad space and living without it and Graham and Ashkahn break down exactly what that experience was like.
They also go into exactly what Yelp ads mean and how it impacts your float center (or doesn’t, as the case may be) as well as how well Yelp stacks up in comparison to other ad sources.
When is it Time to Open a Second Float Center? – DSP 115
Okay, so… Float On only has one location (not counting Float On Hong Kong) and there’s certainly a reason for that. Graham and Ashkahn have toyed with the idea of opening up another center multiple times throughout the years but something else always came up. As they’ve met more people in the industry, they’ve seen some of the pitfalls and successes from people opening additional locations, franchises and whatever else. They share their thoughts on when they think it’d be best to open and why they say to wait a little bit.
Latest Blog Posts
Much Ado About Nothing
Today, I’d like to talk to you about nothing. But first I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Ashkahn, and I’m one of the co-founders of Float On. I’ve spent the last 2 years of my life entirely devoted to these magical boxes we’ve all discovered, and...
Past & Present of Oasis & Future of Floating
My focus here/now will be on the past [portion of this 'assignment'] that set me up to be involved in floatation work... It was probably inevitable that I would end up involved with float tanks .... When your last name is Wasserman, which means 'waterman' in german*,...
Past, Present, Future
My life is focused around balance. This is the key to everything I do; A balance between cosmic vows of spirituality, family, and the business with the scales constantly being tipped back and forth on the scale.To understand why I am involved in the Flotation Industry...
The Art of Managing Expectations
When considering opening a floatation center, I came across the following story that helped me understand the process that I was going to be going through as the owner of Float Matrix. There once was a plumber who was excellent at what he did. He knew everything...
