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
Choosing the Hours to Staff Your Float Center – DSP 114
How do you figure out how many people to hire? What’s the ideal hours for a float employee to work? Is there such a thing as too many hours? Too few?
Graham and Ashkahn share their insights with staffing Float On and what their staff looks like to cover all their shifts running a six tank, 24 hour float center.
Tips for Creating an Inviting Float Center Lobby – DSP 113
Not all of us are interior designers, but we all want to have a space that is welcoming to our customers.
Graham and Ashkahn definitely have an eye for this, especially after visiting so many float centers. They share some of their favorite designs they’ve seen, as well as common tactics to help make your center comfy and inviting without necessarily breaking the bank on furniture. They also share some of their pipe dreams for their ideal designs that never came to be.
The Weight of a Gallon of Saltwater – DSP 112
When Graham and Ashkahn get to definitively answer a question, it’s like Christmas. Birds sing and the guys bust out their “Answering a question definitively” dance, which has the added side effect of better crop yields during the coming harvest. It’s an exciting time.
There’s a very straightforward mathematical equation for measuring the weight of salt water based on specific gravity, which is excellent. And useful!
Also, whoever wrote this question needs to contact Graham and Ashkahn ASAP!
Tips on Structuring Your Service Menu – DSP 111
There’s a lot of nuance to how you structure your service menu that can have a significant impact on how your customers spend their money. The size of prices, how they’re ordered or arranged, what price you put first on the menu, etc. all make a difference. Given all these small details, it can seem daunting and make some business owners unsure of where to start or who’s advice to take.
Fortunately, Graham and Ashkahn have been at this for a long time and really dig marketing psychology, so they have lots of advice, tips and even some of the psychology behind why we do the things we do.
What is the Longest Float Session? – DSP 110
There is somebody, somewhere, that has floated for the longest period of time on the planet. And given how recent the popularity of floating is, it’s likely that the person who floated the longest is alive and that Graham and Ashkahn have met them.
The guys share one of their favorite stories from floaters at Float On, which involves the longest float they’ve ever run. Are you listening Guinness? We’re making history!
Latest Blog Posts
Slowing Down, Letting Go, and Stepping Up to iFloat
My intention for this first blog post is to give you some background into my life, and how and why I ended up running a float center, and teaching courses about metaprogramming in float centers. For as far back as I can remember, I have been fascinated with exploring...
We’ll All Float On
This is the introduction that I wrote for the Portland Float Conference program. I wanted to repost it here, so that all of my zany predictions for the future of floating could be recorded for all time. It also seemed like a good piece to kick off this month's topic...
The First Post (in which the nature of the project is revealed)
There is not enough content out there about float tanks. There is certainly not enough for those of us that are actively running, or trying to start, a center. Float Tank Solutions was launched in an attempt to crush this problem. We've already put up a good amount of...
