Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Do you need a business plan if you’re not building a business from the ground up?
Graham and Ashkahn chime in and give a solid “maybe” as a response. It depends on a lot of factors, for sure. Do you already have financing? Are you maintaining the existing business model or revamping it?
Show Resources
FTS Product – Business Plan Package
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Ashkahn: Hey, everybody.
Graham: All right, another day, another podcast.
Ashkahn: Yep, yep. We actually have a slogan now, huh?
Graham: Kind of. I’m Graham.
Ashkahn: I’m Ashkahn.
Graham: And today’s question is, “I’m buying an existing float tank …” man, a lot of purchasing float tank questions.
Ashkahn: Recently, yeah.
Graham: Yeah, recently. All right, so, “I’m buying an existing float tank center. Do I still need to have a business plan?” Well-
Ashkahn: Yeah, you should definitely purchase one from some sort of reputable float tank business plan company, I would say. That would be my advice.
Graham: Not all business plans are made equal, okay?
Ashkahn: There’s really only one, I think, that would be justified to purchase.
Graham: Yeah, there’s only one that’s made equal to itself. That’s it. That’s ours.
Well, okay, so there’s two ways to look at this, right? Or I guess there’s just different levels of business plan and business planning, and you didn’t capitalize yours. You obviously mean lower cased business plan.
Ashkahn: The informal.
Graham: Yeah, but should you have a plan of how you’re going to run your business and staff it and market and make a profit and all those kinds of technical details? Absolutely. I mean, you need them. You’re about to run a business, you know?
Ashkahn: You should have a plan.
Graham: Yeah. So, in that sense, you need to plan.
Ashkahn: For your business.
Graham: In the other sense, like, do you need a robust-
Ashkahn: Business Plan.
Graham: …30 page written business plan and five years of projected financials and kind of this more robust, capital B-P Business Plan? I mean, only if you’re financing the purchase of your float center, really. In that sense, it’s the same way as if you were building this from scratch, which is, it’s going to cost money to purchase and you can often get loans or investment for a purchase of something as well, just like you can for building it out. So if you’re doing that, then you probably need to have about the same diligence with your business planning that you would if you were starting from scratch. I guess the nice thing is some of those numbers can be filled in with the business that you’re taking over. Rather than needing to make projections for what your first year is going to be when you’re drawing on a totally blank canvas, you have someone to give those to you, and as far as things to market and what their usual customers are that are coming in.
A lot of these things that are guesses before you’re getting into a new business are solid and, again, should be provided in a really nice form by the people you’re purchasing this thing from. So, it’ll certainly make the planning easier.
Ashkahn: Yeah, I mean, yeah. A lot of times people are making business plans to go to a bank or investors or something like that, and finance the start-up costs, and if you are needing to finance the purchase of another float center, they might ask you for a business plan in that context, too.
Graham: Yeah, they likely will.
Ashkahn: It’s just going to be a different sort of beast in either way, right? When you’re writing a business plan to get a loan to start up a float tank center, you’re talking about, like, “Here’s the type of space I’m going to be looking for, here’s why I think this neighborhood would be good.” You’re making a lot of projections about why you think this area would enjoy a float center and there’s just so much more kind of intangible stuff going on there than if you’re purchasing an existing business that has already a track record of how many customers are coming in. Like, the bank’s probably going to want to know what are you going to do to improve these numbers or get this profitability higher or-
Graham: Or why is buying a float tank center here especially valuable right now?
Ashkahn: Why are they selling it? Why is it even up for sale in the first place? Those are the sorts of questions. And if you’re financing it yourself, this could be a lot more casual. You may just have that information from the float center you’re buying it from and even maybe have operational information.
Graham: I was going to say, an operations guide in that case is almost more … well, I don’t know, there’s still the whole marketing side of things and how are you going to make this valuable and in that sense, it is more operational. It’s kind of like the logistical business plan of how are you going to do this, and rough costs. Like, roughly what are my utility costs going to be per month, and hopefully, like Ashkahn was saying, that’s provided by the center you’re purchasing, and a lot of those variables will be stable. You still need to figure out what the heck you’re going to do when you take over these keys and grab your center. That’s going to exist no matter what.
Ashkahn: But yeah, I mean, with the capital B-P, I wouldn’t … if the center has finances you can look at and the basics of running their place-
Graham: If they’re not going for a loan.
Ashkahn: If they’re not going for the loan. If some of that stuff’s already there, I wouldn’t be tempted to sit down and write a formal 50-page business plan.
Graham: I’m pretty anti-business plan except for the purpose of raising money. I think a lot of that time that you’re going into detailed financial projections for five years could be better spent on-
Ashkahn: Running something in the real world.
Graham: … a little more day-to-day kind of things. So, I think we’re on the exact same page for that. So, again, the answer is maybe, for whether or not you need a business plan, but you definitely need a firm sense of operations and an operational plan for what you’re going to start instituting right when you take over.
Ashkahn: Yeah, especially because you’re flying a plane mid-flight at that point. The thing’s got to keep running from when you take it over.
Graham: Maybe you’ve never been a pilot before.
Ashkahn: Maybe the wing’s a little broken. All right, well, go dream about that for a while, and if you have any other questions, go to FloatTankSolutions.com/podcast.
Graham: Yeah. You can type those in, letter by letter.
Ashkahn: Yeah, and the little typewriter that we place behind our eyeballs will type them into our brain in sync.
Graham: I’m going to think about that now.
Ashkahn: Type that out .
Graham: I can’t get that out of my head. All right.
Ashkahn: Bye, everybody.
Graham: Talk to you guys later.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Best Insulation for Soundproofing – DSP 259
This is another fantastic episode that challenges the question on its face.
Graham and Jake (still no Ashkahn, unfortunately, but he is in the intro) talk about soundproofing basics and what type of insulation is a good idea for your float rooms. As it turns out, insulation isn’t doing much of the heavy lifting though, so soundproofing probably isn’t the highest priority when selecting insulation.
How to Make an ADA Float Room – DSP 258
Graham and Jake are in the studio again while Ashkahn plots his marvelous float industry event.
This time the guys are talking about how to make a float room ADA compliant. Lots of it is going to vary from state to state (and sometimes even city to city) but there are some useful tips and tricks for making sure you hit all the right marks for compliance when planning your build out.
Jake and Graham share construction ideas, ways to think about ADA requirements, and some fun stories about Float On’s own adventures in making their building accessible.
Best Quietrock for Float Rooms – DSP 257
While Ashkahn is off doing whatever it is Ashkahn does when not on the podcast, Graham sits down with Jake Marty the Float On construction guy (and co-owner of Float On), to talk about Quietrock.
Now before you rush to the Resources section to see which ones are best, this episode lays out the reason to use Quietrock, when (and how) to compromise for more affordable options, and where you may not want to use this when planning your build out.
Marketing to Older Demographics – DSP 256
Some communities have a much higher retiree population than others. It can be difficult to reach customers who don’t utilize social media as much, so how do you get their attention?
Derek and Graham strategize on how to market to the retiree community for float centers. This episode is filled with bingo jokes, rambling examples, and solid advice for reaching out to any demographic that may not spend a lot of time on social media.
Our Top 10 Marketing Book Suggestions! – DSP 255
Alright, this is a dense episode. Ashkahn is busy planning the Float Conference still, so Derek and Graham nerd out on marketing books (and blogs, and podcasts) to give the industry some of their top recommendations for marketing books that might be helpful for the float industry (or anyone, really).
Check the resource in this episode for links to all their recommendations!
Latest Blog Posts
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #20
We now follow the trail of our ancestors, Meriwether Lewis & William Clark, whose expedition started in St. Louis and would, eventually, lead them to Oregon – just like us.
Except, unlike them, we didn’t actually start in St. Louis, don’t have a tour guide from the Lemhi Shoshone tribe, and aren’t carrying flintlocks (except for Graham).
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #19
Chicago is home to one of the oldest float centers still in operation – SpaceTime Float Tanks.
We had the misfortune of timing our visit as they were moving to a larger location, the only time in 34 years that they have ever been closed. It is with great regret that we were unable to see their historic float center in operation.
They were trailblazers even before there were trails to blaze – so many float centers in the entire Midwest trace their roots back to a single float at SpaceTime.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #18
We made it back to America, everybody. It was a harrowing experience being in an uncivilized country where they think gravy and cheese curds on french fries is a meal but, thankfully, we’ve crossed the border back to a country where we know that chili and shredded cheese on french fries is a meal. Civilization.
Quite honestly, we might be in love with Canada. We’re definitely making another trip up there. For now, it’s about to MPH not KPH.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #17
We hosted our second Float Tour Workshop here in Toronto and stayed in town a bit longer than we normally do, allowing us to get acquainted with the city. The sprawling metropolis is an amalgamation of old world pioneering days and modern multiculturalism. It was founded in 1787, and some of the currently standing buildings pre-date even that. Ancient architecture stands next to contemporary monoliths, weaving a tapestry of antiquity and avant-garde in this fair city.
