Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
It gets a little tricky sometimes starting an alternative wellness business. Should you offer other services? Should you only have float tanks? Which situation is right for you. Fortunately, you can listen to this episode and get some insight into this exact conversation.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Today’s question is, “Would you say that most float centers can be profitable stand-alone operations, or do they work best when paired up with other services? Massage, chiropractics, spa, etc.”
Ashkahn: So.
Graham: So the first part is would we say that?
Ashkahn: Would we say that? Okay.
Graham: I probably wouldn’t say that. Wait, what was the question again?
Ashkahn: You wouldn’t say float tanks work-
Graham: They can. Sorry I got distracted by the massage. I would say that they work either way.
Ashkahn: I would hope so. Because we run a float center, that doesn’t have any other services. So if you didn’t think that could work, we’re in some trouble.
Graham: Yep. So I would say there’s probably a couple of caveats to that. Like, number of tanks that you have and whether or not you want to get out of the business, or you’re running this more as a lifestyle-type of thing and want to be working your business, right?
Ashkahn: Yeah. I feel like anything can work if you care about it. You know, if you’re really into massage and you’re really into acupuncture, and you’re into floating, and you’re willing to put in the time to do all that stuff well, that can work.
If you’re really into float tanks and you don’t know anything about massage, and you’re like maybe I should just throw a massage thing in there too because that makes sense, I feel like that’s one of the variables that leads to success or failure more than the idea of a float center with multiple services or a single service.
Graham: Anything can not work, is what you’re saying?
Ashkahn: Anything can not work, and anything can work. I think you just have to be interested in doing it and be passionate about it.
Graham: I think, once you get above three float tanks, as a stand-alone center, that works a little better in my opinion. Especially when you get down to under three float tanks, you’re talking about one or two tanks, there’s no other services, that’s all you’re doing is one or two float tanks.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: I usually warn people against that. I feel like that’s the danger zone.
Ashkahn: It can be tough. It can just be hard to make enough money to-
Graham: I mean, at that point it feels like just having a float tank in your house and sharing it with people.
Ashkahn: Right, like you’re not going to be able to hire people. You’re working that kind of business yourself.
Graham: Yeah. So, that’s the time where I would say, again, it’s the danger zone. Not to say that it couldn’t work, if you can book that thing up with people paying $150 per float, then you can totally run a profitable business with a single float tank. But it’s gonna be way harder.
And that is where I see massage and chiropractics, specifically from the financial standpoint, being able to come in and balance that and their other services. If your passion is other stuff, and you just want to have a float tank or two to make it available to people, that’s when you should have one or two float tanks.
Ashkahn: Yeah, and I guess usually the worst float tanks I see out there, commercially operated, are by a place that has a big spa with a bunch of different services, and they have one float tank-
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: And they generally don’t know much about it, the staff doesn’t know exactly how to clean it, maintain it, operate it, that sort of stuff. I’ve definitely been to a couple of spas where they have a whole number of devices, and this seemed like one of the other things. They’re like oh, cool, I’ll buy this float tank and put it in-
Graham: And not realizing how completely insane that proposition was, yeah.
Ashkahn: Yeah, maybe there are other devices out there that are easier to handle and they really are just set it and forget it kind of things. But a float tank is not like that. And that’s probably, of all the places I’ve gone to float around the world, those are the worst float centers I’ve seen. Places where it’s just one of a number of services and they clearly haven’t put a lot of time and effort into understanding it and properly taking care of it.
So, it goes both directions as well. But those people probably aren’t listening to this podcast either, so we can’t quite reach them.
Graham: If you get up to the point where you have four or five float tanks and you’re wondering if four, five, six float tanks with the whole wing of massage and additional services versus just those float tanks is going to be more successful? I don’t think there’s any way to tell. I think both are just as likely to succeed as each other.
Ashkahn: Yeah. But, I mean it’s certainly possible to run a center with just float tanks. We do it, there’s another handful of places around North America and the world that do just that.
Graham: A fair amount, actually.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: There’s a lot of float centers out there, that’s all they do. Designated floating.
Alight, good question.
Ashkahn: Great. If you have other questions out there you can hop onto floattanksolutions.com/podcast and that’s it for today. Talk to you tomorrow.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Thoughts on facilitating couples floats – DSP 85
First off, we’ll just say that Float On does not offer couples floats and never has. Graham and Ashkahn dive into their reasoning for that decision while simultaneously addressing some of the common concerns and benefits that go along with the practice. Some people say it helps get people into the tanks that wouldn’t try it otherwise. Some smaller centers rely on the added revenue per tank and increased exposure to the practice. It’s a complicated question and one that each center will likely have to consider on their own.
What are average floater return rates? – DSP 84
Getting repeat customers is integral to the health of any business. For float centers, this is especially true. It can be worrying when we see our floaters leave the center, never knowing if they’ll return. There’s a very natural inclination to start tracking this trend to see if there’s anything you need to change about your business to attract repeat customers. Memberships are a natural way to attract repeat customers and can quickly become the lifeblood of your center, too.
But how do you measure it? What time frame is acceptable to consider a repeat customer? If they don’t float within six months, does that mean you’ve lost them? If they float once and don’t return for three years, is that a success on your part or a failure?
Graham and Ashkahn tackle all of this and more this time around. Check it out!
How to handle ‘Summer Slump’ in your float center – DSP 83
Many a float center has hit their first summer and seen their schedule thin out. What causes this? Is it just a seasonal thing? What about places that don’t really have seasons? Or tourist towns? What exactly causes this and what are some good tips to combat it? Graham and Ashkahn address this phenomenon head on in this episode.
Addressing customer misinformation – DSP 82
Every float center owner has to deal with customers who get, maybe, a little overenthusiastic about the float experience. What is the best way to deal with customers who say things that are just patently false about the benefits of floating? Do you just let it slide? Do you correct them and potentially offend your customer? It’s not their fault, they’re just excited. It doesn’t seem right to punish them.
This is definitely a tightrope walk type of conversation and it can have an impact on your customers and your reputation as a business, as well as the whole industry. As stewards of the tank, Graham and Ashkahn offer their advice on how best to have this difficult conversation and offer some resources to help with it as well.
Our Report on the Chinese Float Conference – DSP 81
Ashkahn went to China and brought another one of the owners of Float On along, Jake. The two of them share their experiences of visiting the Chinese Float Conference this year and learning about all of the developments in the Chinese float industry, which seems to have exploded in just the last couple of years.
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