What do you do with your float center if an emergency happens? What if your center loses power for several days and there’s nothing you can do about it? Float tanks rely on having a well regulated system to stay functional and we know that if it gets out of whack, everything can get pretty messy. So if you know this is happening, how do you prevent the worst of it? 

Graham and Ashkahn work through this problem and come up with some solutions to prevent things like salt crystallization and upsetting your tank chemistry too much. 

It’s often said that having business partners is a lot like having a marriage, and just like a successful marriage, having a successful relationship with your business partner (or partners, we’re not here to judge) requires effective communication, patience, and compromise.

Float On has 5 owners, and they haven’t always agreed on the best course of action. So naturally disagreements happen, but how you handle them is the worthier part. Graham and Ashkahn share their experiences and what’s helped make Float On a success 7 years and counting. 

There’s enough float centers out there now to have some established naming conventions for centers. It can feel like all the good names are already taken. Fortunately, Graham and Ashkahn have taken the time come up with a list of a few floaty sounding names that are so far not taken but totally awesome. 

Most float centers have to deal with the difficult problem of describing the benefits of floating to those who haven’t tried it yet or are just starting their float journeys. What is safe and accurate to say? Obviously, you don’t want to be advertising false claims if you can help it, but it can be difficult to find accurate information that tells a full story about floating.

Graham and Ashkahn dive into the resources available and clear up some of the confusion surrounding our salty practice. Check out the show notes for a list of great resources!

In this episode, Graham and Ashkahn break down the pros and cons (not Kahns) of different types of heating typically used in float tanks. Aside from going over the most common types of heating, they also provide tips and tricks for keeping your tanks warm that don’t have to do with water temperature and making sure you’re providing a comfortable experience for your customers. 

Float On, for all its quirks, has ended up being very traditionally structured as a business. There are managers, co-managers, and employees who all have different responsibilities and commitments. Graham and Ashkahn break down how they came to structure the company this way, despite aggressively fighting against that mentality of a corporate, top down structure. 

The financial cost to opening a float center is huge at the startup, given the high ticket cost of float tanks themselves, as well as the expensive technical construction that comes along with making your rooms sound/water/saltproof. It’s rare for a float center to open entirely self financed, so what are the best options for getting funding? Loans versus investments.

Graham and Ashkahn break down the differences in these two approaches weigh the pros and cons to both for float centers. 

So for those of us who’ve wanted to float in a vertical tank ever since seeing Luke Skywaker use one in Empire Strikes Back, Graham and Ashkahn dish out what they know about vertical float tanks. 

Fortunately, another one of Float On’s owners, Christopher Messer, actually makes vertical float tanks, so the guys have the inside scoop on all things vertical.

If you wanna stump the Float On boys, you have to try harder than asking about the cost of utilities for a float center in Maine. They tackled this episode prepared and take the rare opportunity to show specific numbers for utility usage at Float On and what that breakdown would look like in Maine, with help from special guest Jake Marty.