Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Float centers require a lot of upfront capital to get started up, and because of that it can feel like float centers should operate like big business, or perhaps bigger businesses than they actually are. Some centers may consider, at some point, having their employees sign non-compete clauses to prevent them from sharing trade secrets with competitors. Graham and Ashkahn have been at this for a while and express their opinions as to why this probably isn’t the most practical approach for your float center.
Show Resources
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Today’s question, “What’s your opinion on non-competes being mandatory for your employees?”
Ashkahn: Is that a thing? People at float centers or …
Graham: Well it’s a business thing. I don’t know if it’s necessarily a float center thing.
It’s the idea of non-competes is if you stop working at this float center, you can’t just go share all of their float secrets with the float center across town-
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: … when you get hired on, you know.
Ashkahn: Yeah, I guess I feel like maybe people have a bigger concern over right now, because float centers are so new in some areas.
Graham: Right, if you’re a barista at a coffee shop-
Ashkahn: Right, right.
Graham: … You don’t sign a non-compete saying you’re not gonna work at any coffee shops for a year if you get fired from this one, you know?
Ashkahn: And I guess that’s kinda how I’m thinking about it. To me it feels a little bit silly, because it feels more like the barista in the coffee shop example. Like, if you sign non-competes when you’re a high level consultant or working for some sort of real technical something or another, you know, when you could actually … You have some sort of proprietary information, that will allow you to go start … or you have a group of … a relationship with a bunch of customers or your clients or something, that you can take with you to theoretically start your own firm, whatever sort of business, right? Those are the areas are I feel like that non-competes have some significance, but non-competes just for like your employee or staff, like working in a shop feels …
Graham: A little extreme?
Ashkahn: It feels a little extreme to me, I guess.
Graham: So here’s … I’ve noticed that there’s a tendency, this is getting a little beyond the scope of this question specifically. But getting into running a business, especially something that costs as much money as a float tank center and you spend as much time setting up beforehand. I think there’s this instinct to try to act like a big business or try to do things like you’ve seen bigger businesses do and I’m not sure that’s the right way to kinda approach a lot of the decisions that have to be made at a float tank center level. So you hear about things, like non-competes or even when you’re talking to other people about your idea of setting up a float tank center, having them sign a non disclosure or something like that in order for them to kinda hear your float tank center in so-and-so city pitch. I don’t know, I don’t think that those are as necessary. Like Ashkahn was saying, these things are important for bigger businesses, because they’re trying to go public or they have investors, they actually have to take-
Ashkahn: Like bigger positions in a much more significant …
Graham: So yeah, maybe if you’re talking about a manager of your franchise. Like you have a float franchise and you’re hiring on-
Ashkahn: Kinda like your business partner you’re trying to bring on or something. That’s the scale I would start considering this is … I just feel like if you were to hire someone on off Craigslist for, you know, 12 bucks an hour and have them sign a non-compete thing, it’d be a little silly.
Graham: Also, our industry is so open in sharing anyway. It’s not like the float center across town is relying on the information from someone who worked at your float center. They can just kinda go on Float Collective and get information about a bunch of float centers open and a bunch of proprietary information. And it’s never really kinda been in the spirit of float tanks, I think to have a really tight control on that.
Ashkahn: I mean if you even consider the proprietary information that we’re talking about here. Because they’re not gonna randomly take all your customers with them to go open another float center.
Graham: Nor are they probably gonna open another float center themselves, I mean that’s a really long humongous process-
Ashkahn: That’s unlikely to begin with. So, what we’re talking about is you protecting yourself from someone opening up another float center where they already have construction knowledge and sanitation knowledge, I guess those are the most kinda technical things that they’d be taking with them. And if they were to open another float center, wouldn’t you want them to have construction knowledge and sanitation knowledge? It’s gonna be worse if another float center is next to you doing a horrible job running floats, and nothing is soundproof, and the sanitation’s all gross. So I gotta know, I don’t know, I guess I don’t know exactly what you’re protecting, other than just trying to stop someone who might be interested in opening a float center from opening one near you. But I don’t know, it just feels like such a slim situation.
Graham: Yeah, so there’s our opinion, don’t protect yourself at all, just kinda pull people on willy nilly.
Ashkahn: Yeah, that’s fine.
Graham: And honestly, I just think putting it in the context of, if someone’s working another retail job, they’re working at Macy’s and are you gonna have them sign a non-compete for not working at other retail places? Or anything like that. I don’t think that at that level, when you’re the one behind the counter checking people in that a non-compete is really appropriate.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: And this comes from … We’ve had lots of employees leave our center and eventually find jobs at other float centers, sometimes nearby, either because they’re moving for school or whatever the reason. I mean, some we’ve fired and they’ve gotten jobs at other float tank centers and that’s still been fine, we’ve never seen any problems arise from it. So this is something we’ve actively been through and coming out the other side totally unscathed. I can say I’ve never felt the need for a non-compete.
Ashkahn: Yeah, I would agree with that.
Graham: So for further questions, go to floattanksolutions.com/podcast and send them our way.
Recent Podcast Episodes
How to get your Water Tested – DSP 359
Every once in a while during float industry events, during this podcast, or talks given by health department professionals and the like, they’ll say something like “if you get your water tested and…”. But how does a float center do that? Where should they look? Is there just a lab that they can send their float solution to? Are all labs the same? How much does it cost?
Ashkahn and Graham take on the difficult task of making sense of microbiology testing laboratories, regulatory institutions, and acronyms, all so you don’t have to.
A Few of Our Favorite Things – DSP 358
Graham and Ashkahn take a break from all the doom and gloom of the float world to talk about the amazing things that floating has brought them. What they love, the things that surprised them, and the many ways in which they’re inspired to stick with it and pioneer in this wild and crazy industry.
Learning to Trust Your Gut in Business – DSP 357
Sometimes, the hardest part of starting any project is to just take the leap of faith complete step one.
With some words of encouragement and caution, Graham & Ashkahn channel their inner Tony Robbins and encourage a highly knowledgeable aspiring float center owner, to trust their gut and start their float center.
How Long to Run a Filter Between Floats – DSP 356
How long should you run the filtration system for between floats? It’s an eternal question that has plagued float center owners since the dawn of time (Or at least until 1978 when the first float center opened up).
Ashkahn and Graham break down the science behind why you should filter for as long as you do and how to properly plan for it. This densely packed episode is filled to the brim with a summary of knowledge on water dilution, filtration, flow meters, and water sanitation brought over to float tanks from the pool and spa world. Take notes as you listen, there’s a lot to assess.
How to Reward your Employees – DSP 355
Recognizing that your employees rock is one of the most valuable traits an employer can have, but only as long as said employer is able to properly acknowledge that appreciation.
Graham and Ashkahn share their take on rewarding employees for their hard work and how to make it count when you want to give them a gift. The duo has no shortage of examples of how they’ve shown their appreciation at Float On, and this episode is dense with examples of nice gifts and rewards to provide staff, from the practical to the symbolic.
Latest Blog Posts
B-Gray’s School on Nothing
I Got Nothing to Say! Okay, so here’s the thing. Floating is often associated with meditation and ultimately achieving this state of void, commonly and perhaps glibly referred to as “Nothing” by salty tank proprietors everywhere. And listen, I’m totally on board with...
The Daily Solutions Podcast – Our Top 5 Episodes for October
October was a hell of a floaty month. Between the float conference non-profit, Float On’s birthday, Ashkahn’s birthday, and Halloween, let’s just be a little grateful that the ol’ Grashkahmn duo didn’t miss a day on here. Especially since these episodes are so killer....
When (and how) Salt Attacks!
This post was spurred on by work that I did illustrating hundreds of pages for our Construction Packet. As an illustrator, I spend extra time nailing down details, just to eliminate potential sources of confusion. While looking into salt weathering, I came across some...
The Daily Solutions Podcast – Our Top 5 Episodes from September
September came and went like a flash, while everyone was recovering from the whirlwind that was the Float Conference, Graham and Ashkahn were fielding questions about all things great and small in the industry. Here’s a handful of our favorites. When is the Best Time...
