Art of the Float

It’s a bit of a catch 22…. You need help, but you’re too busy to find it and you’re not really sure exactly what to look for in the perfect float employee. Sound familiar? In this episode, you’ll hear four different perspectives as Dylan, Gloria, Drew, and Kim share their employee structure, including how they include interns. You’ll hear big differences in the way Kim and Gloria manage their inte...

Dylan steps into social media land to share his strategy for social media, specifically using Buffer to help his Instagram game. He shares how he’s creating a consistent brand on his account… and Gloria chimes in with how she breaks those very same rules, but she does create consistency in the types of posts she creates routinely. Grab your Vanilla Ice, baby! Grashkahn is back with a brand new edi...

Grab your adult beverage of choice, put the kids to bed, meditate for a minute, and take a few deep breaths. In this episode, we’re talking about one of the most passionate topics in the float community… GROUPON. (Insert daunting theme music here…) Drew dug up a bit of research about the history of Groupon, and he sets the stage with a little foundational knowledge about how the company came to be...

Volume 2 is officially here! Volume 1 of Art of the Float ran for about three years, so we’re delighted to come back from a little break with a fresh take on the podcast. As we dive into this new year and a new take, we also have some new voices on the show! Drew Kane, owner of New Hampshire Float Therapy is a new host, who came into floating much the same way as Dylan. (Thanks, Joe Rogan!) Drew’s...

We take a moment to reflect on the past three years of the Art of the Float podcast, and say farewell to 2018. And we welcome the new for 2019: revisiting old topics to inject new knowledge, a new co-host, some tweaks to the format, and yes, a new theme song. Stay tuned for Season 2!

Kevin Rose from Unplugged Float Essentials joins us to continue our Float Marketplace series this week. Kevin shares his story about how he got started in the float world, as a Joe Rogan fan, and how he’s hoping to own his own center soon. In the meantime, he has started developing an essential oil, epsom salt, water-soluble CBD bath soak to start building brand awareness in his area, and to serve...

Tim Warshaw, owner of Float Scents, joins us this week to continue our “Float Marketplace” series. Tim has been managing a center for several years, during after an evening of floaty musings over beers with Stephen Johnson, Tim mentioned the idea of introducing aromatherapy into the float experience. After exploring several ideas, Tim eventually landed on the concept of a lip balm. He talks about...

Luke Krueger, owner of Mandala Float Systems joined us this week to talk about his experiences in the industry. Luke started with a tank in his home before opening his own center (Deep, located in South Dakota), where he built his own tanks. He lives by the notion of “you either do it or you don’t”, so he went all in and started manufacturing open float tanks for others, as well as creating Ninja...

This week we kick off a new special on art of the float we're calling Float Marketplace. For the rest of the year we are going to feature float center owners who discovered a problem within the industry and created a solution with a new product for the float industry.  This week we feature Kane Mantyla of RewardMore who's designed a holistic "membership" plan that is low risk for clients and...

This week, Dylan visited Dana Highfill at her center that’s been open for two months. She talks about her experience over the first couple of months, including starting with employees, why’s running the shop solo now, and how she’s toed the line of burnout. She provides a great reality check about the daily nuances of running a center and all the little things that add up to take a lot of time, re...

If you missed the Float Conference this year, you missed a fascinating presentation by MC Flux, but fear not! He’s here with us to talk about his research at the Float Clinic and Research Center, where he has been working with Dr. Feinstein. His thesis work explores the intersection of basic molecular neuroscience and mental health treatment. This ever-creative individual even designed today's sho...

Calling all fashion police! This week, Amy and Dylan are diving into the world of fashion, well, float fashion at least.  Should employees wear a specific uniform? Show their personalities? Flash some logo wear? Amy talks about the intriguing reason why she keeps a pretty loose grasp on dress code at her centers, including one particular team member who loves to let his toes be center stage....

Kim Hannan recently posted a question in the Float Collective, asking others how they handle hosting events and workshops in their float centers, so we invited her to join the show to discuss the topic in person.

The Float Conference offers a variety of free sessions on Friday before the big event. One of those such sessions was Justin Feinstein’s discussion about the Float Research Collective, a way for commercial float centers across the globe to get involved in formal studies relating to floatation therapy. This conversation started at the Rise Float Gathering in St. Louis in April, and since then, Just...

Drew Kane, Kim Hannan, and Dan Larsen join Amy and Dylan this episode to recap the experience of the 2018 Float Conference. Each guest this week has a different perspective, from not-yet-open to only recently open, to “veterans” of the float world, and all experiences for attending the conference. Revisiting the Friday activities, Kim shares some of her takeaways from the marketing forums, Drew an...

145: The Last Float Conference - With Ashkahn by Art of the Float

Beth Jones is on the show this week to talk about her experiences in opening a float center (and continuing on to franchise) in North Carolina and battling through the strict request from the local health department. After just two years of being open, Beth started working towards franchising her operation after being approached by several interested parties. At Float Spa X, she’s challenging the...

This week, Dana Highfill joins the crew to give an update on Float North, the latest center preparing to open in the Portland area. Dana recently hosted an Open House to invite the public out to see her space and learn about floating. She shares how she handled the event itself, and the highs and lows that came immediately after. Her grand opening is just a few days away, and she’s mostly ready.

She’s back! Amy Grimes, our beloved co-host is back from a little leave spent opening her second location in Tennessee. She recaps the challenges of her opening, including going several months past their target date, being over budget, getting through challenging inspections, strained relationships, an unreliable and unethical contractor, and learning and taking over new modalities. Easy peasy stu...

Danielle Savory, a certified life coach and mindfulness teacher, joins us in this episode to share wisdom about avoiding burnout and reducing stress as a small business owner.

It’s Q&A time! This episode veers away from our traditional model of having a guest or a specific topic, and instead, we’re diving in to answer questions we’ve received from the community. You’ll hear about how to start building the vision and business plan for a new center, how to pick an effective heater to warm up a tank overnight, and what to look for in a pump for a DIY tank. Dylan descri...

We’re excited to have Richard Bonk join us this week! Richard started floating through his work with Tom Fine where they began float research many years ago. Through a practice of floating and transcendental meditation (TM), Richard began to explore “alternate waking states” that felt at times like lucid dreams or out-of-body experiences while in an alert, awake state. Find full show notes at http...

This week is a wild one… we opened up an invitation to the float community to join us for a conversation with and about the Float Tank Association (FTA). Kevin Johnson, Shoshana Leibner, and Glenn and Lee Perry (all FTA board members) join the crew and several float center owners to have an earnest conversation about the state of the organization.

It’s a float podcaster party! Graham and Ashkahn from Float Tank Solutions/Float On/The Float Conference join us this week. With Dylan, they discuss the current hot topic of the Float Tank Association (FTA) and the need for the organization. They’ve been on the road, attending different health department events to discuss float tank water sanitation with the health inspectors and experts across se...

Hilary Sedovic of Float STL joins the podcast to discuss how we can as float centers bring floating to those who might not otherwise be able to float due to income, lack of awareness etc. Please fill out her survey here!: https://goo.gl/forms/Bn4cXgYSBy1hUPeh2