Holy smokes we did it! This years’ Start-a-Center Giveaway was really amazing. The quality of submissions was really a cut above any other year we’ve run this, and it certainly made it a challenge choosing between all of the submissions. More than anything, we want to thank each and every one of you for sharing your stories, your dreams, and your plans with us. To know that we share an industry with such thoughtful, passionate people makes the work we do worth it. Thank you for making this decision so hard on us.
Before we announce the winner, we want to thank, once again, the amazing sponsors for our giveaway who have contributed to the grand prize. They’ve all really helped take this year’s contest to the next level.
Maximum Floats has crafted personalized marketing programs for over 70 float centers already. They’ve given our winner free consulting to help create a marketing plan that will work for them and give them the best foot forward right out of the gate.
For more information, and a FREE case study for float center owners, check out their site, Maximum Floats.
The winner also gets 4 days of the brand new Float Center Sitting package, where a float center manager with years of experience will come watch over your center while you take a vacation. For any existing float centers out there, you know just how valuable it can be to have someone who is an expert at running a float center so that you can get a few days away.
Possibly the best pun in the float industry, Float Ease makes the amazing Float Halos, a wonderful float pillow that are specifically designed for float tanks. We use them at Float On and they’re incredible. The winner gets 10 shipped right to their door.
Iron Lion Soap has been offering high quality soap products since 2008, handcrafted from time-tested, 100% plant based ingredients. They have offered an initial supply of both their Organic Body Wash and Organic Castille Soap to the Giveaway winner.
Check out the Iron Lion Soap online store to view their full product line.
One of the most well known modern publications on floatation, The Float Tank Cure covers author Shane Stott’s personal journey and research into the world of floating, and offers the reader a fascinating insight into what floatation therapy can do for an individual.
The Giveaway winner will receive 10 copies to stock in their center’s library or retail in their shop.
Without further delay, we’d like to officially thank Rebecca Schulman, our 2020 Start-a-Center Giveaway winner. Rebecca is opening her center Thyme and Salt in the heart of San Diego. In addition to offering floating, Thyme and Salt will provide several alternative wellness services.
We got to call Rebecca and give her the good news a little earlier, and we took the opportunity to record the interaction. We thought it might be something y’all would like to see too.
That’s it! That’s all of our thanks and excitement. This giveaway has been truly incredible and we’re so glad to have found our winner. Now let’s hear from Rebecca! Below is her vision of her center. We hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did.
Thyme and Salt is my dream float center located in the coastal area of San Diego, of which there is only one nearby float spa, yet there are thousands here who love the water and are well aware of the healing that saltwater can bring. I will offer float therapy, infrared sauna, and one of my unique forms of bodywork called Sensory Repatterning.
This modality is used to move the client through space in a slow, gentle and cradled fashion, or with rhythmic undulations to mimic the sensation of floating in water. I have been teaching and practicing this for over a dozen years and have been searching for the next best way to expand my healing therapies to more people.
My float center will have 3 tanks to begin with a fourth room plumbed for a future tank. I would love to have a couple of different types of tanks to appeal to different sensibilities, comfort levels, and curiosities. I have many clients who are older, who have mobility issues, or who are seeking ways to manage their anxiety and depression holistically and they are all extremely supportive and excited about my float spa. Its a clean and light space with blues and greens and votives of pink Himalayan Salt.
There will be a room each for a pod, a cabin, and an open float room. Along with a fourth wet room plumbed with drains that I will initially use for wet treatments like scrubs, vichy shower, and a scots hose. You cannot underestimate the pure exultant joy people experience laying there while being hosed down by a warm water-heavy pressure hose and the equivalent of a human car wash. It is so special!!
In addition to my float rooms, I will have a simple massage room with an ADA accessible hydraulic massage table and my Ashiatsu bars recreated in this new space. There will be a small infrared sauna in my center and a lovely and light-filled relaxation room. Here I would have dozens of plants and greenery to infuse freshness in the air, surrounding a large comfy sofa, and a couple of chairs with weighted blankets. Light snacks, teas, and coloring books will be waiting here for my clients.
I hope to have a cozy break room for employees and laundry, and a utility room for sinks, mops, drains, and storage. I want to create a business that values and cares for its employees by offering competitive pay, benefits, and all the floating you could ever want! I would like to have a small retail area with artwork from local artists, a CBD line, weighted blankets, self-massage tools and books relevant to healing. I realize it may be challenging in this field, but I want to find the best ways to “green” my business, and find ways to curb my environmental impact.
One aspect of my dream center is to offer floating to underserved populations and those who may not feel like holistic therapies are accessible to them by sponsoring some of my favorite non-profits. I have already supported local non-profit organizations Groundswell Community and Urban Surf For Kids through my time as a volunteer and offering gift certificates for fundraising. In having more revenue from my center I would be able to do so much more in terms of sponsorship! I would be able to sponsor whole events, or “scholarships” for floating memberships. Since San Diego is a border town I will also publish bilingual marketing, service menus, intake forms, and educate staff in working with non-English speakers so that we can bring floating to as many people as possible!
I chose the name Thyme and Salt because of the history fo thyme as a healing herb. It can be burned as a purifier to clear the energy and is thought to enhance psychic powers and mental clarity. Its also believed to inspire courage, attract good health and protect from negativity. It’s my belief that fear is the basis for so many of our anxieties and depressions. Fear of not being good enough, fear of not being loved, fear of things that are out of our sphere of control. I have been trained in trauma therapy and have taught somatic body therapies here in San Diego for the last 12 years along with my massage practice. So much of my work is based around helping people rediscover what it’s like to listen to their bodies and to learn to enjoy being present in them again and to live without their fears guiding them. I have had the honor of supporting people through so many of their life’s transitions: the births and deaths of their children and parents, clients who have survived cancer, trauma, the richness of their relationships. I have been blessed in sharing their joys and triumphs. I would be so honored and grateful to have this space available for helping people heal on exponential levels. There is only so much I can do as one person with massage and I believe this float therapy center would allow me to reach so many more people and provide them with the experience that healing and feeling peaceful are available to everyone, no matter your circumstances.
Take Part in the 2017 Float Industry Report
We’re gathering responses for our 2017 Industry Report through the end of June, and we once again need your help.
Please take a brief moment to answer a few questions about your float center (or future float center) – it may be easiest thing you can do to contribute to the growth of floatation around the world.
The Basics of Float Tank Sanitation
Some of the most common questions you’ll get as a float center operator involve the cleanliness of the tanks. This post will be an introduction to some of the most commonplace sanitation methods used in float tanks. These are generally either chemicals that go in the water or devices that attach to your filtration system. We’ll be discussing chlorine, bromine, ozone, UV, and hydrogen peroxide, which accounts for the sanitation methods used on nearly every float tank on the market.
Testing and Maintaining Float Tank Water Quality
Editors Note: This is a revision of a past blog post, updated to reflect the most current sanitation methods and standards
In a perfect world, you could just pour water and salt into a float tank and it would stay pure and clean and fresh and salty forever. In the real world, conditions in the water are constantly changing, so keeping your water safe and clean takes a fair amount of vigilance.
This post covers how we maintain basic water quality in the float tank, except for sanitization methods, which will be covered in their own beastly sanitation blog post. Stay tuned for that coming out next week!
Floating, mental health, and wellness
This post will explore the intersection of floating with the concepts, beliefs, and experiences related to mental health and wellness, with a focus on anxiety and depression. I’ll explore my own story as it relates to floating before diving into the current intersections of floating and mental health, with a look at past, current, and potential opportunities for research and personal growth.
Massage, Acupuncture, and Float Tanks… A Chat with Sandra Calm
We’ve seen lots of float centers that aren’t just float centers.
Many have massage, some offer counseling, some have yoga classes next door. Lots of people start out either by incorporating float tanks into a larger business, or with float tanks only being one of many modalities at their center. Being specialists in floating, Float On has not mastered anything else.
So, to help gain insight into this growing aspect of the industry, we contacted our old friend, Sandra Calm. She started up The Float Shoppe here in Portland with her husband and podcast sensation, Dylan Calm, back in 2011. When they first opened, they had just two float tanks, and slowly added acupuncture, massage, counseling, along with two more tanks. Talk about expansion!
She was more than happy to take some time for the industry to help us understand just what it’s like to run a center with multiple services by answering some questions.
Reflections from the Rise Float Gathering
Over this past weekend, a good chunk of the Float Tank Solutions and Float Conference crew ventured to St. Louis, MO for the first ever Rise Community Float Gathering. Beyond our excitement to see old friends and meet new ones, we were thrilled to be able to attend a float event that we didn’t have to plan.
When it comes to float tanks, we often deal with a lot of the “what” and the “how” of things – what do I need to do to open a float center and how to I make everything work? We write blogs and put out content. We spend our days thinking about conference flowcharts, water chemistry, detailed business plans, soundproof insulation, etc.
Rise, on the other hand, focused on the “why?”
The Story Behind the Float Marketing Forum
Over the past few years, primarily through feedback received from conference attendees and through industry survey responses, float center owners struggled with and wanted a solution to one thing… marketing. It makes sense – if there’s one thing every center needs (besides salt), it’s a solid flow of customers in tanks.
After some brainstorming with Ashkahn, we’ve decided the best solution for this year was to host a series panels covering key marketing topics that will provide the biggest impact in growing your float center business.
Introducing: The Float Conference Marketing Forum.
Announcing the 2nd Ever Start-a-Center Giveaway WINNER!
In what was one of the most difficult decisions that we had to make as a team… and after sorting through nearly 200 entries… we’ve decided upon a winner in our second ever Start-a-Center Giveaway.
Read more to learn who we’ll be guiding through the process in starting a float tank center in their community.
Gut your space before construction!
One line we don’t think you should cross is this: as much as possible, when building out your float center, gut it completely. Start from scratch.
At least then the mistakes you make are your own and your building will hold fewer surprises down the line. There are many benefits that you may not think of immediately. In this post, we’ll guide you through some of them.
The Heart of Floating – Guest Post by Kevin McCulloch
“When we commit to The Heart of Floating, we form relationships and communities. We share experiences, we connect, we learn, we teach. We care.”
In this guest post, Kevin McCulloch, owner of Float St. Louis and organizer of the Rise: Float Community Gathering, explores the heart of floating and it’s power and potential to connect, heal, and grow individuals, relationships, and communities.
