Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Crowdfunding has made so many projects possible that would otherwise not exist. It seems perfect for niche ideas, concepts that would otherwise never see the light of day, and passion projects that just need to happen. This sounds perfect for float centers, but there are some caveats.
Crowdfunding is time intensive and there’s not guarantee of success. Aside from that, there are some issues with it that complicate things for float centers that other crowdfunded projects likely won’t face. Graham and Ashkahn talk about the successes of float center crowdfunding and the not-so-successes as well.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: And the question is, “How do you feel about funding your float center through crowd funding sites, like Kickstarter?”
Ashkahn: Here’s the problem. How many people can actually come? Like you’re restricted with your float center, geographically. So that’s one thing, right?
Graham: Mm-hmm.
Ashkahn: Most of the time, when you look on Kickstarter, they don’t have that. They’re not restricted geographically, and it’s often products, and they’re usually trying to make enough money to hit like a first batch of manufacturing.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: But with these crowdfunding platforms one of the reasons I think they’ve been so successful was that you all of a sudden can reach a global audience, and have people contribute, and so you’re kind of hindered right from the get go by that. So, it’s kind of a difficult thing, is the amount of money you need to start a float center versus how much you could feasibly raise, geographically, with a Kickstarter, or some sort of crowd funding, or just … I don’t think you’re ever going to be able to make enough money from Kickstarter-
Graham: It’s difficult.
Ashkahn: -to actually fund your entire construction.
Graham: It’s difficult.
Ashkahn: It is. So, I think it could help. I think you can fund some of your construction like that.
Graham: And that’s what I was going to say, too, is that I’ve seen a lot of attempted Kickstarters, and Indiegogo’s, and crowdfunding campaigns for float centers-
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: … and the most sane of those have relatively low goal amounts.
Ashkahn: Right.
Graham: And it’s only to cover a portion of their ultimate construction, or initial start-up costs.
Ashkahn: So, we’re talking, like, what I usually see things in the low tens of thousands.
Graham: I think the most that I know of anyone raising is in the tens of thousands.
Ashkahn: Uh-huh.
Graham: Like maybe around 40 to 70-
Ashkahn: Something-
Graham: … Might be like the highest.
Ashkahn: That’s the highest.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: And to build a float center-
Graham: And I only know a couple people who’ve done in that range, too. Way more common, I’ve seen Kickstarter campaigns that have raised three thousand to like-
Ashkahn: Five, ten thousand.
Graham: Yeah, exactly, maybe ten, fifteen thousand on the high end of that lower rung.
Ashkahn: They make their goals, usually, which is nice, but to open a float center, we’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: So, really, you’re not even coming close to having like this be the majority, or the real foundation of your funding and, you’re selling floats that you then won’t be making money on when you actually open.
Graham: But every bit helps.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: I almost view it as kind of similar to Groupon, in a certain way.
Ashkahn: It’s good marketing, too.
Graham: Yeah, you’re on a different platform, you’re going to be reaching customers you might not reach through another advertising venue. You’re able to presale some floats, and get people interested, and feel like they’re helping you start up. And as long as that’s your goal, then I say totally go for it. There’s not really a problem with leaving money on the table somewhere, like with grabbing it from another source.
Ashkahn: It does make people excited, too.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: Like, “There’s this float center coming, and I signed up for this thing, and I’m going to have a float when they open.” And it’s kind of their part of your story, at that point, which I think is cool for customers.
Graham: So, the downside of trying to raise money that way is that it takes a lot of effort and time to run a crowdfunding campaign.
Ashkahn: Oh, yeah.
Graham: Regardless of the site that you’re doing it through. If you talk to people who are actually trying to fund their products solely through crowdfunding, this becomes their full-time job, from a few weeks before they launch until a couple weeks after, is just managing this campaign.
Everyone I know who’s actually raised a serious amount of money, enough to fund something that’s, you know, again, in that $50,000+ kind of range, of a product they’re launching, or even getting up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, they’re working float tank construction hours on this.
Ashkahn: Yeah, yeah.
Graham: They’re working at least 12 hours a day, just like killing it, for the entire month that they’re running their campaign, in order to drive the traffic necessary, and get interest. It’s something you don’t realize if you’ve never done this before, is those sites, I mean, you could luck out and be on one of those things they love-
Ashkahn: Uh-huh.
Graham: … lists that they email out, but the chances of that are so low. So, you’re doing most of your marketing out to your audience, and you’re the one who’s garnishing all the attention and getting everyone excited, and contributing. It’s not like you launch on Kickstarter and all of a sudden they’re just sending this huge horde of people over your way. It’s like, “No, that’s still on you.” And that’s what ends up taking such a long time, is just getting people to go to the page in the first place.
Ashkahn: The other difficult thing is that you, from the time you get the money, to the time your float center is probably actually ready to float people, is also probably a decent amount of time. Construction is just always rife with delays.
Graham: Mm-hmm.
Ashkahn: So, just be super realistic, if you’re doing this, because it might be six months. If you have a location set, and everything, by the time your crowdfunding’s done, if you need this money for construction, by the time you’re actually ready to float these people, like at minimum it’s probably three or four months, and more likely could be longer than that. So, make sure people’s expectations are set correctly.
Graham: Yup, and I would say, okay, so here’s kind of like the conclusion of all of that, for some of my just concrete advice to people, which is launch this expecting to not make that much money. So, have a relatively low goal. Go into it knowing that you’re going to have to hustle in order to get the people there, contributing. So, budget aside enough time, that you’re not going to be in the midst of construction when this thing is going on, because then you’ll put some medium amount of energy into launching it, and it’ll do okay, and it’ll totally not be worth it, unless you actually invest that extra bit to push it over the edge.
Probably, with your content, double-down on stuff you’re already planning on putting on your website. So, doing sketch-ups of your space, a little interview with you as the founder, about what you want, or what your float center is all about, and don’t just design this for Indiegogo, or Kickstarter, your crowdfunding platform, but have content where it’s going to see the light of day in other areas. Social media, your website, little walk-throughs, things like that, because it’s going to take a lot of effort, and sometimes money, to even get a really good video up there, to help raise money, and they’re all about the videos, too.
Ashkahn: Uh-huh.
Graham: If you look into how to do a crowdfunding site, you definitely want a video there. So, replicate some of the content, don’t just make it one-off use, and what else?
Ashkahn: Well, so you might want to … I don’t know too much about this, but there are other platforms that are more geared towards geographic specific things, like I know Portland has its own Portland crowdfunding platform, that people look at, for specifically, like things in town. So, it might be worth looking into something that’s a little more suited for what you’re doing, than Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
The other thing that’s maybe worth considering is if things are kind of set up for you, and you know you can do this even … You’re know you’re just using this as a small part of your funding, and you’ve got your location and all that stuff, you could also just pre-sell floats yourself, to your float center, and not give a cut to any of these platforms, and just have your hustle lead there. Just lead to your website and just start pre-selling floats straight through whatever your software is to sell that. Then you don’t have to really give a cut to anybody.
The nice thing about Kickstarter is you don’t get any of the money, unless it’s fully funded, which gives people confidence to put in money, but for you, again, you’re not trying to hit some sort of like amount of money to do your first batch of fundraising.
Graham: Your goal would have to be, yeah, three hundred thousand dollars, or something, which its not going to be. So, that’ll-
Ashkahn: That logic’s not really there, in your setup, so you don’t really need that benefit of it. You might just be able to run your own pre-sale and cut out the middleman.
Graham: All right, so-
Ashkahn: Yeah. Good luck. Sorry if that wasn’t exactly what you wanted to hear.
Graham: Yeah, and yeah, again, definitely there’s no reason not to give it a whirl, and try to pull in some extra money from it, but its not going to fund your whole center.
Ashkahn: Uh-huh.
Graham: And if you do, you’ll actually be the first person I know of who did it that way.
Ashkahn: Let us know. You would be awesome.
Graham: And you’re awesome anyway.
Ashkahn: Yeah, you’re already awesome. Don’t listen to what anybody tells you.
Graham: You know, unconditionally awesome, don’t let Ashkahn sell you short. Yeah.
Ashkahn: All right. If you guys have other questions for us, hop over to floattanksolutions.com/podcast, and we will talk to all of you later.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Slip Proofing Your Float Tanks and Float Rooms – DSP 220
The solution inside float tanks is slippery. Really really slippery. What is the best way to make sure that float customers aren’t slipping and falling before or after their floats.
Ashkahn and Graham break down the various steps needed for slip proofing for inside the float tank, the first step out of the tank, the rest of the float room, your hallways, or inside your workrooms.
Should You Install Shower Screens in your Float Rooms? – DSP 219
Float centers, it has been said, are nearly in the shower business as much as they are in the float business. In fact, float centers run twice as many showers as floats. No doubt about it, they are an important part of the float experience, as is designing them.
So do you include shower screens or doors? Graham and Ashkahn weigh in and share why the think it’s better to skip the door altogether, and dispel any sort of benefit that it may appear to have for a float center.
Flushing Salt Crystals out of your Filtration System with Hot Water – DSP 218
In the Daily Solutions Podcast episode #137 Cause and Solutions for a Crystallized Pump, Ashkahn and Graham discussed what causes this, how to avoid it, and some tips for fixing it.
Today, the guys share a more in depth solution on the problem, and specifically talk about the step by step process of desolidifying your pump system by flushing it with hot water.
5½ of the Most Common Construction Mistakes Float Centers Make – DSP 217
Graham and Ashkahn have been around the proverbial float block. They’ve visited centers all over the world, consulted with them, and trained them on how to make their centers as good as possible. It’s tempting to ask them, specifically, what are some of the most common mistakes they’ve seen in this time.
Fortunately, someone did. The duo hash out exactly what they think of when it comes to both “common” and “expensive” construction mistakes for float centers, especially where those two points intersect on the float center Venn diagram of unhappiness.
What Post-Float Music do you Wake Up Floaters With? – DSP 216
There’s a lot of options for floaty music out there. Some are free with a creative commons license, some are built into tanks by manufacturers, some float centers will use meditation tracks to pull people out of it, or self compose music on occasion.
How does Float On pick their post-float music? Ashkahn and Graham explain their thoughts on post-float music, why they maintain a minimalist approach, and explain the formation of Theta State Records.
Latest Blog Posts
Announcing: The 2015 State of the Industry Report
The results are in, and 88 existing centers and 185 aspiring float center owners have responded to create the 2015 State of the Float Industry Report.
What Happens When the Media Doesn’t Give a Shit
Float tanks have been getting a lot of media love recently, which is unsurprising given how beneficial people seem to find them, and how crazy they sound when you’re explaining them for the first time. Most of the press has been very positive, and coverage like the Nightline piece still bring a giant smile to my face whenever I watch them.
Media Reporters and EditorsUnfortunately, not everyone has taken the time to do the appropriate level of research into floating before writing about it.
Permits: Planning for your Planning Department
Construction permits differ from state to state, and even from county to county. Keep in mind that everywhere has its own quirks, and, more than likely, it’s own unexpected fees that can cost several thousand additional dollars…
#WhyWeFloat – An Industry Wide Social Media Campaign
One of the best ways to tell someone the benefits of floating is through stories and testimonials from others who have floated. To make gathering these powerful stories even easier, join the industry wide social media campaign called #WhyWeFloat.
