Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Sure, this is a great podcast, but it’s over after ten minutes in the day. What other podcasts are out there for you to get your fix once the high of listening to Graham and Ashkahn wears off? Fortunately, Graham and Ashkahn have solved this problem too!
So this episode is all about other podcasts. This one isn’t the only one in the industry, and there’s tons of other podcasts that are great for any startup, so they talk about some of their favorites as well. Graham also throws out some philosophy podcasts for those who want to flex their mental muscles too.
Check out the resources on this episode for some great suggestions!
Show Resources
Float Industry Podcasts:
Jeremy Warner’s The Escape Podcast (offline)
Podcasts that Talk About Floating on Occasion:
The Duncan Trussell Family Hour
Business Podcasts:
The Seven Day Weekend (Not a Podcast, but a good book nonetheless)
Philosophy Podcasts:
History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
Good Podcasting Apps:
Overcast (iPhone)
Player FM (Android)
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: And today’s question is … “Thanks for the great episodes!” Exclamation point!
Ashkahn: Oh, nice. Good question.
Graham: Oh, “I was wondering.”
Ashkahn: I was wondering, okay.
Graham: “I was wondering what podcasts you guys listen to?”
Ashkahn: Oh. I … this is really the only podcast I listen to.
Graham: On repeat. Usually it’s mostly I have it … you know, one headphone bud in and I just sort of have that day’s episode on repeat, looping, during most of the other things that I’m doing.
Ashkahn: Yeah. So that’s my main recommendation for anybody out there.
Graham: And I have a nice podcast software that actually cuts out Ashkahn’s voice so it’s just me, kinda talking back, which is really nice.
Ashkahn: Really?
Graham: No, I wish, man.
Ashkahn: Me too. It’d be great.
Graham: Make a fortune. So I guess yeah, you know big shout-out to the other float center centric podcasts that’s out there.
Ashkahn: Yeah
Graham: Art of the Float. Which is phenomenal and I listen to every episode that comes out.
Ashkahn: There’s a few other float podcasts out there too.
Graham: Yeah, for sure.
Ashkahn: There’s The Escape Podcast (No longer available).
Graham: Yep, Jeremy Warner. I think he might have taken a break recently or at least yeah for a period of almost a year, I think.
Ashkahn: Oh okay. Well, it was kind of like a library of older episodes.
Graham: Yeah, and they’re great too. They’re really fun to go back and listen to.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: And these other ones, I guess Art of the Float is the only other one that’s really geared towards float center, kind of owners, and then kind of tactical tips and things like that for people.
Yeah, The Escape Podcast. There’s the Tom Wunk, has the Floatcast, which is very like a lot of those are interviews with floaters, so if you’re into kinda hearing the personal story side, if you wanna hear experiences from people who have just hopped in the tank, that’s a great one to go back and listen to.
Ashkahn: We have another podcast. Highly recommended. It’s for the Float Conference. It’s kind of a seasonal thing. But in the kind of months leading up to the Float Conference, we’ll interview each of the upcoming conference speakers and it’s pretty cool actually. It’s me hosting it, so I obviously like it.
Graham: And if you download that software you can actually just hear the guest …
Ashkahn: And cut my side out. It’ll be much better. But it’s a really cool way to prepare for coming to the Float Conference. You get to listen to who the people are, learn their backgrounds, and get some context before you actually, you know, watch their talk, and it just makes their talk, I think, a lot more enjoyable to see.
Graham: Other podcasts I guess that I personally have gotten a lot out of and have listened to, if not right now, then in the past. Mixergy was a big one for me when we were kind starting up our business. And that’s just a kind of, I think it’s five days a week podcast. About an hour per episode. And it’s a interview with a different business founder every single day. There’s a lot of kind of founder interviews podcasts out there. And I specifically like this one because it gets a lot into nitty gritty details. Again, kind of actual useful tactics that you can implement in your business. Andrew Warner, the host, is really good at kinda getting down to those tidbits of actual use that you can take out.
Ashkahn: Yeah, it’s good. He’ll just stop people and like drill further into questions.
Graham: “Wait, what do you mean? What are you talking about?”
Ashkahn: Which is nice.
Graham: Yup, so that’s a great one. Another one on the business realm was Smart Passive Income podcast. I don’t know if you’ve listened to that at all, Ashkahn.
Ashkahn: I don’t think so.
Graham: That’s really good. It’s less relevant to float centers just because it focuses a lot on business models where you can kind of set things up and it just sort of runs in the background, which ideally a float center can do, but that’s not its greatest value, I guess, as starting up as a business is that. So, very interesting though. Some good online tips especially. A lot of online marketing strategy for that one. I also have a couple of philosophy podcasts that I listen to. So The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps and Philosophy Bites are kinda my two… yeah, just staying a little bit in touch with modern philosophy things that I go through about you know, a couple times a week.
Ashkahn: Yeah, you know, to be honest, I listen to a lot more audiobooks than I listen to podcasts. I find like business books specifically to be really enjoyable to listen to as audio books because they’re usually full of so much fluff that like it’s really nice to turn them on and put them on like double speed and kind of have them in the background as you’re walking somewhere, doing dishes or something like that. So to me it’s almost like, I end up listening to those a lot more because they kinda have like these very built-in arcs to them being kind of a concrete book rather than an ongoing thing.
Graham: Yeah, totally and yeah, I think both of us end up doing that a lot too, listening to audiobooks. I mean especially if you own a float center and you’re going in there and you’re cleaning salt and doing things like that. Having an audiobook or a podcast going on in the background is an awesome way to both absorb information and better yourself while you’re kind of making use of your physical body.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: So there are some that are kind of self-contained, little, like 10 to 20 episode, almost like podcast mini-series as well that I’d recommend. How to Start a Start-up is one. Again, great early stage business kind of information. Leading Wisely was another one by one of our heroes, Ricardo Semler.
Ashkahn: Right, right. Yeah.
Graham: He came back just, I think, last year and recorded this mini-series of interviews with a… again, this is like a podcast that’s very in line with our weird, weird, Float On alternative business structure ways of doing things.
Ashkahn: There’s this great book called The Seven Day Weekend. Way back in the day, he wrote this book and it’s probably one of the most like foundational pieces of business philosophy that Graham and I have read. So definitely pick up that book. It’s super awesome. And the dude is super great. Ricardo Semler is like definitely one of our idols.
Graham: Yeah, one of our heroes. Like 100%.
And Seth Godin’s Startup School. Very much in the same kind of line as How to Start a Startup. Seth Godin, if you don’t know him, he’s one of the most prominent and famous marketing writers that’s out there. And he’s kind of sharing his information from decades being in the business world and coaching people and just talking about what it takes to start a business and how to vet it out ahead of time and things like that. So, also again, a great little kind of mini-series but in podcast form that we’ve liked.
There’s more I have on here, but that’s a really good start. And I think that’s a lot things that are useful to people. There are other podcasts out there, of course, worth mentioning that I personally don’t listen to on a like every episode kind of basis. So the Joe Rogan Podcast really highly influential for a lot of float tank centers out there. Duncan Trussell Family Hour.
Ashkahn: Right. Christopher Ryan’s Tangentially Speaking. These are all kind of favorites in the float world.
Graham: Yep. And all things that mention float tanks on various episodes too. So yeah, also directly related to what we do.
Ashkahn: So yeah, and I like industry-oriented, but … or business-oriented but kind of in the general philosophy of float tanks.
Graham: And all hilarious guys who are great storytellers with awesome content, so worth giving a listen and see if any of those actually speak to you.
And for specifics, again, those are kind of the big ones I’d recommend. Then there’s just the act of playing these and the … I guess, building the habits and how we go about listening to them. So, for the most part, I never listen to podcasts from my computer. It’s almost all just straight from my smartphone.
Ashkahn: Yeah, definitely.
Graham: And, you know, from there, there’s usually like a podcasting app if you’re on the Apple phone. You can have Overcast, is great.
Ashkahn: Overcast is … yeah, so if you haven’t figured this out, we’re fans of efficiency of time, so Overcast is a really cool app. You can get your podcasts through there and not only does it have you know, one and a half speed and double speed and triple speed, but there’s also a setting …
Graham: Sextuple speed.
Ashkahn: I don’t think it goes that high. There’s a setting where you can … it’ll actually detect gaps between people’s words and cut them out.
Graham: Which sounds absurd but actually ends up being kind of nice for being able to get through things faster.
Ashkahn: Yeah, and you like really can’t even tell. Like it doesn’t harm your ability to listen to things at all as far as I’ve been able to tell through it. So, if you have something on double speed and you turn listening on, it’ll get up to like two and a half times the normal rate of things, but it’ll be still really easy to listen to. So Overcast is awesome.
Graham: If you’re wondering why our word per minute count on this podcast it’s so high, it’s ’cause we wander around listening to double speed audiobooks and podcasts all the time, with all the silent spaces cut out.
Ashkahn: Yeah, so hopefully someone’s listening to this on double speed and get an extra challenge.
Graham: I’ve tried listening to our podcast on double speed. It’s really intense. Like we get going sometimes and I have to slow …it’s our voices. And I remember saying this and I can’t understand what we’re saying.
Ashkahn: Yeah, we have no gaps between our words.
Graham: So that’s great, and whatever it is, just subscribing to the podcasts on there, usually keeps them automatically downloaded so you can listen to them even when you don’t have Internet or Wi-Fi connection if you’re going on road trips or something like that. And they’ll usually stop downloading if you haven’t listened to ’em in a while. So you just kinda get a little backlogged. So, yeah, for us, it’s you know, I have Overcast and kind of subscribed to my list of podcasts on there as my own preferred way of listening to them. So, there you have it.
Ashkahn: Great.
Graham: And again, you know, just going back to basics, I highly recommend that strategy of just sort of putting today’s episode from the Daily Solutions podcast on repeat. Keep that in one ear and …
Ashkahn: Nonstop.
Graham: You know, although there’s a lot of recommendations here that should pretty much set you, I think.
Ashkahn: All right, well, yeah, we’ll go ahead and end this episode so you can start it over again. If you have any other questions you want to send us, you can hop over to floattanksolutions.com/podcast.
Recent Podcast Episodes
How do you Start Opening a Float Center? – DSP 285
For people just starting out, it can seem really daunting to start a float center. They may not even know where to begin.
Graham and Ashkahn tackle this idea head on. The most important thing is to do a lot of research (definitely check the resources) and to make sure you have people that you can call and refer to for support when you need it.
What to do When Floaters Interrupt Intros? – DSP 284
Ashkahn’s back and on form. He and Graham take on the question of how to handle first time floaters interrupt the pre-float intros explaining the process.
There’s a lot of information that first time floaters need, and if they aren’t paying attention, it can cause messy floats or unnecessary difficulty or confusion. The reunited duo provides some great tips while going over different customer scenarios.
When is the Best Time to Open a Float Center? – DSP 283
Graham takes the helm again without any co-captain to steer the SS Daily Solutions through the rugged storms of float industry questions.
Today he answers a question about when the best time of year to open your float center. The important thing to remember is that, whenever you choose, you should plan for even earlier, as float centers are more likely to get delayed in construction.
Tips for Choosing Contractors – DSP 282
Graham the Lone Podcaster takes the reigns on answering how to pick a contractor for float center build out.
It’s the kind of big decision that every float center owner hopes to only make once, so getting as much information ahead of time is extremely useful. Graham breaks down some useful tips and explains how to ask for a bid, specific skill sets to look for, and general advice on knowing when to walk away.
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In this episode, Graham goes solo again to answer a particularly loquacious listener who sent in a question about how to logistically handle your changeover when a floater comes out early.
It can be tempting to start your changeover as soon as possible, especially if you have a few of them to get to, but Graham lays out some helpful things to remember before flipping that switch and running your pumps before the allotted time.
Latest Blog Posts
4,937 Things to Know About Buying a Used Float Tank
You’re thinking about buying a used float tank. Whether this is for a new center, an addition to an existing operation, or a purchase for your home, this is a big decision.
We’ve compiled together some of the major questions and considerations to entertain before making a purchase. While you do have the opportunity to save some money and snag a good deal, there can be hidden costs and unknowns to weigh against those savings.
Offering Overnight Floats
Almost three years ago, we discussed the merits of running overnight floats from an employee’s perspective, focusing on the opportunities of this unique experience as well as its challenges. We’d like to take a deeper dive into this issue because, while the majority of floaters come through our tanks during “normal” business hours, overnight floats form an important part of not only Float On’s identity, but also its business structure and broader culture.
How to Talk About Floating
You step into the elevator and shuffle to the side to make room for the kind-eyed, old woman with the miniature poodle.
“Good morning,” you say with a smile.
“Good morning,” she beams back, her gaze resting briefly on your water bottle with the logo from your float center’s annual party.
After a brief pause, she asks, “What is Float-a-Palooza?”
You take a breath, smile, and launch into your literal elevator pitch.
So, what do you say?
Employee Handbook Template
Whether you are a small or large float center, you most likely have other employees working for you. Regardless of the size of your staff, for reasons of efficiency and legality, it’s essential that your organization has clear and straightforward policies and guidelines. No matter how good employee communication is, it’s always safest and cleanest to have clear parameters and expectations written down.
This is why Float Tank Solutions has created a customizable Employee Handbook Template. Free for anyone to download, it contains federally compliant language (current as of October 2016) and contains a multitude of sections, from employee benefits and compensation descriptions to job guidelines and discrimination policies.
