 Well, thank you guys for being here. Of course, my name is Jonathan rogue I am a board member with the flotation with the flow conference and I'm here to share something that I started Sharing last year and that's based on the automation tools that help you run your float center In particular, it doesn't actually have to be digital. It doesn't have to be physical I mean there are a number of different automation tools. In fact, there are automation life hacks You could automate your wake-up routine or number of things that just help you be a business a better business owner Help you be facilitate better float sessions and so on and so forth. So with that said I'll just kind of brief with you guys like why this actually became a thing for me personally Because the truth is is that well the automation has been something that is kind of important in my life And I think that in a way no matter who you are We use automation every single day in almost everything we do if you don't even realize that we do it So I can probably lead you into a couple examples, but I started off with a challenge and my challenge was just I mean, there's Dozens and dozens of challenges in running a business, right? But like just one real specific example. I had a challenge of needing to organize call records and And find a way for my team and myself and in particular back when I first opened to be able to track calls that would come in and Ironically enough one of my favorite tools, which is also a favorite tool of Graham and Ash con is the Let's see if anyone knows you know what it is Take a guess if you know what this tool is that Graham and Ash con also love red sheet. Oh, yeah, and Spreadsheets super important thing. They're not just a thing that you can you know sells as you can put things in They're a hugely valuable automation tool in so many ways and she yeah, exactly And and that's and and so well whether we're talking about like building a customized report in exporting documents using spreadsheets to finding a physical automation solution to Make it easier to know when somebody's entering a part of the building or maybe it's some kind of automation that like shuts off The lights at night, you know, that's a more typical traditional form of automation that's what we're diving into today and I'd like this discussion to just be a big brainstorm I think it'd be fun to have this conversation because there's so many ideas and remember the full conversations Is not me presenting. Okay. It's actually us having a conversation Of course if you guys have any questions about anything that ice mentioned ask me But the same thing if genie says that she does something ask her if Steven's over there And he's got the most genius automation tech in the world, which I already know he does and he's hiding it from us Then please share or ask Steven to share with us. So that said These are just a couple of the basic things, but I'll start with a couple questions Just to kind of get this kicked off I'll give you all three of them and maybe we can kind of just pick and choose But the first question is is what is what what's your experience with automation in your float center? It's a real basic simple one The next one is is what do you wish you knew more about regarding automation tools? And some of us might have some answers for you there And then the third one is is has anyone implemented a solution that's been a game changer for their business Steven That would be something also to talk about so yeah, let's let's get the conversation going and You know, we'll start off by asking I guess I'll just break the ice here. Does anyone else use spreadsheets in their automation? I already knew you did Jocelyn. Yes, you didn't even have to say anything. I I'd be curious to know how people use spreadsheets like what what purpose do they serve for you? Did you miss Graham and Ashkahn's entire presentation? No, I even have a copy of their super neat spreadsheet cheat sheet, which I just wrapped in the chat. No, I'll give you an example One problem that I faced in my float center is I felt like I had a mini call center I don't know if any of you guys experienced this But I was getting so many phone calls so frequently at my business that having just a phone on the table This was back in 2018 and 19 Where the voicemail of the call with the phone was actually the voicemail So I had to get listen to each voicemail, but she would lose everything in translation so I actually found a company called call fire and I built a sheet that And this is a little bit more advanced. Some of us might not have this tech But like, you know, I'd have an interactive voice response system They press one for you know questions two for booking three for to leave a voicemail And then it would go into a spreadsheet and then that spreadsheet would allow us to track every call that came through Listen to the recorded conversation and check it off and mention a note about it and that really helped us out a lot So that's just one example. Think of a spreadsheet like basically a user interface for anything digital So that's that's how I use it. I would imagine that more of you guys would have been more into this kind of thing, but yeah You know, I mean export a report have something auto-generate with a spreadsheet like that That's more typical when it comes to finance, you know, I use it for that too. I export the in the helm for instance I export the You know all the employee time sheets import them import the tips and then I have a sheet that generates and calculates everything But I feel like I'm on the Graham and Ash con side of the spectrum like, you know, a little like Super genius Sometimes I feel like I'm like solving the world's problems when I use these spreadsheets. So I don't know not everyone's like that though So anyway, what other kind of automation tools do you guys like to use? I think Jeannie might have a question about spreadsheets Yeah, go ahead. No to answer your yeah to answer your question I do use spreadsheets And I've learned to use them very very well recently when I'm trying to import the data from helm into QuickBooks So that's a very good use of spreadsheets develop the formula You know grab the information you need and make journal entries and That's mostly how I use them And thank God for that because I don't know how those numbers would ever match otherwise, but I know you know what I'm talking about We need that functionality I was gonna say we use a lot of spreadsheets for the float conference But I just don't know how that you're relevant to float center owners But like your name badges are generated through a spreadsheet our speakers and the content the schedules The board of directors are managed like the term was there managed through a spreadsheet Everything like 80% of what we do is a spreadsheet I just want to give a quick shout out to the new spreadsheet for float conferences that I've seen recently They're very beautiful. I love the typography on them. So whoever created those well done That's in my spreadsheets are not pretty. They're just functional There's a level of design in those that's just beautiful Thanks, I can't not do it. In fact, like sometimes I've done that to Jocelyn's and she's like no don't like I can't read it now So I Remember last year when we did have this conversation there was a lot it kind of we kind of Dived into multiple territories and one of them was like some of us may have older style tanks And and some of us were wondering like how do you launch a music track? Or how do you get the lights to turn on after something occurs? Does anyone have anything physical that they implement in their float center that they consider automation? I guess I'm looking for you guys to jump out of your comfort zone here Like feel free to unmute unmute Chris. Go ahead Yeah, one of the things that's been really useful for me that timer on our clear light sauna Like we recently implemented like an earlier sauna slot and At the time, you know, one of our employees comes in like we wouldn't be able to heat it up in time without the timer So it automating it turning on is super helpful Very true I'm getting ready for an event tonight. So you guys don't get a witness that during this call but anyway, I Love our timer on our sauna as well because we have a delay start and We're actually looking at getting another fire and ice setup and that will have Automation from our cell phones. So we'll have an app that we can control those from anywhere So but that delay start allows us to delay our start up to 24 hours so that we can have a nice piping hot sauna When we get to work in one Very cool Can you guys put links or something in the comments for that because I've been wanting to do that with my sauna To whatever you use to do that Yeah, ours actually came with the sauna type. So I mean Chris might have more Yeah more retrofit Okay, Chris mine is a sunlight and mine's a clear light jacuzzi sauna and it has the app So I'll just play devil's advocate in here because some people aren't comfortable with this but I have a tendency to like Look at something and say like, okay. I see how it works Let's change it and potentially modify it, right? I'm not saying you should do that. But like just hear me out You can automate virtually everything even if it doesn't have automation built into it Because Everything at the end of the day is typically Especially when it comes to physical things. There's a lot of things that are operated with with relays and other things like that And even if it came down to it like if there was just a screen where you had to hit the start button You could technically automate something to press that button even if it was in the physical world So and this is advanced stuff, right? So we're talking like crazy crazy weird scientist stuff, but like If you have a sauna, it's still a box probably made out of cedar, right? I think that there's probably nothing stopping you from buying something that is a retrofit that could go in there That could also provide that form of automation So one example of this is if you have a traditional Norwegian sauna, you don't have to use Havaria's You know traditional rock heater you could buy a whom for instance, which many of you guys may know about And that allows you to do that automation In fact, they sell it as retrofit and I'm sure the similar concept probably applies to a lot of these clear lights Sunlight and and maybe even you go to the web their websites and see if they have You know a solution that might be upgradeable so So if nobody has any suggestions on that but that's definitely a good point, I mean being able to Understand and predict when a guest is actually going to go into the thing, you know the sauna Super valuable, right? So like like having that available and ready for them to use when they need it And you guys find an easy solution whether or not it be from your cell phone Or it be a tablet in your center. What have you? I Think I'm gonna have a commenter question. Yeah Oh, yeah, my name is just I was gonna share one of the automation tools I have so Jonathan if you had anything else to say on that Please do you know I'm okay. Cool So one of the things that we do is I really don't want my team spending a whole lot of time running around the center Turning on lamps. And so we have Smart plug timers and so they're all set up They can also run through if you have an Alexa device or something like that But the smart plug you can also just run through other apps without the Alexa And so we have a lot of things that are plugged into our center our salt lamp displays lots of little lamps that are all throughout the center Even like we have foot warmers that are in our salt cave all of those things are on it a smart plug Timer and there are a ton of different brands that you can use For those and pretty much anything that doesn't require you to physically turn something on and off So like if it has an on off switch You can leave in an on position and then plug it into one of those smart timers and set a schedule using whatever app comes with That particular smart plug and that just saves so much Asshole and all of those little bitty things that you have to just run through a center Especially if you have a kind of a cool lighting concept You know, that's a really great way to save a little at a time Awesome. Thanks for sharing Steven you had something you wanted to add Unmute my friend. Yeah, so we've we use the helm and so I was actually gonna volunteer Chris to talk a little bit about what we've we've been and putting our inventory recently, which is there's so much For all of you that use helm like we're finally digging in on actually utilizing some of these great features One of which is inventory. So basically that was up to me for years Like we ran out of tissue I would go to Amazon and order tissue or go to the store and order tissue But what Chris has been doing is is setting up and like inputting how many units we use and then when that unit is gone We get a notification and then we can just automatically order that so I don't know if Chris wants to talk a little bit about that Yeah, I could chime in chime in a little bit so I will say before any of this like could be automated It all had to be manually inputted, you know, every single item that we had in the shop You know, I organized it by room. I think I think it's like some Like 74 items or something that we have in shop that we purchase and wrote rotate through So definitely took some legwork to do this that being said You know, if you go through your inventory somewhat periodically at the beginning You know, I was doing it on like a bi-weekly basis, which is probably a little more recent like a little more You know frequent than you would have to but you know, I'd input new inventory counts, you know every every time and eventually, you know, it gave You know, how do I say the frequency at which items would run out And then, you know, that has informed like when we have to purchase things and it's not like, you know I really have to be so persnickety now about You know what when things run out it the helm knows But yeah, it took a little while to get it to that point, but well worth it certainly well worth it That setup is so satisfying when you finally finish something like that and then it's automated. I love that So so let me guess I mean, do you use a spreadsheet for that? I don't use a Google sheet like externally because the way it's organized in helm It I mean it looks like a spreadsheet per per room. Oh, you actually use the helm like legit just the helm Oh, yeah. Yeah for that. I mean the way it's organized is really nice. So I haven't found any need for an external sheet for that Well, thanks for sharing that's a really good use of a tool that we all use Andrew go ahead my friend Hey, yeah, I was gonna say something similar to Stephen and Chris I for a long time. I used to do all the inventory for At the time three locations and it was a lot, you know going through the clipboard Then going to Amazon or whatever and ordering everything one at a time So we did the same thing. We we actually use a spreadsheet And we put in like conditional formatting for every item So it'll turn and it'll be green when we have enough It'll be yellow and it's like we could order something, but it's not it's not urgent yet And then it turns red when it's like we got ordered right now And so I did that still did that by myself for a while, but now I have staff member at every location who's responsible for You know doing on-site inventory and then entering everything in the spreadsheet So then all I have to do is look at the spreadsheet and look for the red items And it's it's been a game changer. So don't you love that conditional formatting your inventory a little bit. Oh, yeah The helm the helm thing intrigues me though. I haven't I haven't really looked into it Very cool is not sponsored by the helm You know what it it's a tool that works. It's good And you know nor is it sponsored by Google spreadsheets, but we could say that every day of our lives And Jeannie go ahead. Oh, I think Shawnee had her hand up for oh Shawnee. I'm sorry. Go ahead Shawnee No problem. I was just curious if the inventory report in helm had a generated spreadsheet Does it have the CSV that you can download? Yeah, I'm pretty sure you can you can export it. I've never done it, but I'm pretty sure you can You can yeah cool. So Chris what? Where is that in helm? That you put things I put things under tasks. I use the task for functionality a lot for like deep cleaning and Mopping floors on particular days or what have you? Cool. Yeah tasks is great So if you want to do inventory You just kind of got to click your logo in the you know upper left corner And then there's a tab that says inventory, you know assuming you have the permissions to look at it and Then yeah, it's organized into like four main categories which is well, I guess three really it's products orders and vendors and Yeah, but it's really it's right in the main drop-down menu from from the top left I would say to do like to do all of it just the initial like upfront work. I Don't know maybe took me like Somewhere in between like eight and fifteen hours to get it really dialed like over the course of a bunch a bunch of You know Bunch of months and weeks of inputting inventory Go ahead me. Yeah, sorry red lotus. Thank you. Sorry. Yeah So Chris it's I just want to say this is one of the things I planned on hunting and gathering information about when I went To the conference so it's kind of cool that we're talking about it here For that I've entered my I use my inventory The challenge I have is what what I'm hearing you say is that you still have to manually kind of take account It doesn't so has anybody used there's like like a sales ticket to remove stuff from inventory so you don't actually have to Take the physical count it'll actually keep track of it because you're removing it from Inventory does that make sense my book I don't I don't use helm, but my booking system does that But it's still a best practice because there's always product loss, especially if we're talking about retail products and things Yeah, um, you know, no matter what things people are gonna ring up the wrong items. That's gonna go on or whatever Whatever so as far as like knowing when I need to reorder I get automated emails I set a threshold for each item and get it automated emails on that So I don't know if helm has a function like that. It's I can kind of speak to it They actually do so I can I can give you some insight and I think Chris you probably know this but there are two categories There's the retail literally for sale in shop and then there's a supply Used in shop function the difference between the two is the retail for sale in shop Actually tracks based on the point of sale and the line item that's added to the sale In fact, if you have a barcode on whatever product that you're selling and you scan that barcode in the UPCs Or this SKU you can then re scan that barcode at the point of sale And it will actually identify the item in your inventory in the helm it will do tracking and then you can actually set when the threshold is for reordering and It's really great now I think what Chris is doing with the just general products is pretty cool too because I mean gosh There are things but we just kind of noticed that they're getting low and ordered them But if you have a really organized tracking method like you guys sounds like you do I go with the flow That that's pretty impressive. I must say oh No retail, okay, that's interesting. So you guys are doing it from a little bit different angle Yes, are you talking about things like, you know q-tips or the rooms and like chemicals for your tanks and things like that Or like towels or what like just everything that you're using you're on me. It's still by the way Chris You're on you. Yeah. Yeah for sure. I'm just nodding because I'm like, yes. Yes So for you know, let me just go into our supply closet for example and just read off a couple items So you get like a flavor of what this is all for like arman hammer liquid laundry detergent Argan oil leave-in shampoo conditioner camco water filter hose Christ Paul PBR filter shampoo q-tips recolas Scott multi-fold seafold towel like you know, I have everything organized by rooms So like what I'm doing inventory is like, okay this is where the things are and these are all the things in that location and Yeah, that's how I decided to organize it And yeah, the nice thing too is that it's you know, we decided to for the vast majority of things There's some things that we still buy retail, but it's all we order basically everything on Amazon and the way that like the order numbers from Amazon just like seamlessly integrate into The inventory just makes it so convenient to be like, oh, these are the things empty make like a whatever batch order on Amazon and So yeah, this it's for all of our supplies. We use we use this for Because it has a link that you can click even if you set it if you use all the features of it, right? Yeah So you figured out like every three weeks we need to order So and so amount of q-tips or whatever obviously not exactly that and then it just tells you or reminds you to order those things Essentially, yes, and the nice thing about it is it only becomes more refined over time Also, I really hope you have a really good credit card with Amazon rewards points because you'd be saving a lot of money And I'd be happy to tell you what the float conference uses American Express Business Prime We actually had yeah, yeah, that's what you use. How do you know that I use I have like $1,500 in points. So yeah Sorry, I didn't mean to give away the secret I'm just on points for the win Anyway, there you go. That's an automation strategy, you know get a card with good points Really cool. I like I like the I like the I like the inventory angle. I really do and I think that's great I wanted to kind of pivot back to what Kim was saying though with a little bit with like the light automation Because I think it's such an important thing and I wanted to gauge Maybe we're all using the same lights, but like for the float suites themselves, you know The shower rooms not the actual tanks. What are you guys using for like lights in there, you know, like the switches on the walls They automated are they Lutri on? motion sensor Shawnee, yeah, I use Phillip Hughes and their motion censored, but we can also control them from our iPad So it makes it super convenient to just check on our people when they're out of tanks because the lights will come on and We can shut off the tanks lights from that App so it's great Very cool Steven says I don't know what motion sensors are. No, I think Chris was trying to say that he doesn't know what type of motion sensors they have. Oh, I see I see Yeah That's okay. I just I just wanted to get a gauge I like that angle that you took to Shawnee so so it sounds like your float center you you have quite a bit of Unique tech that you have running in the float center I was fortunate to you know build in the last three years and there's a lot of great stuff that people I was utilizing introduced and Recommended and also just scouring and float collective for all the tips and tricks that everybody had been doing Um, I like where Kim was talking also about those plug-ins. I have a very automated home I have the home pod and I can tell it to wind down at night and it turns on by Frequencies and my lights go on and off on voice commands. So I'm hoping to do a lot of that to the center as well That's really cool That's really cool. I could tell you know, I could tell you that I have some really unique ones go ahead Chris Go ahead. Yo, I'm just curious something that Bothers me sometimes is that I wish our laundry machines had an automated spin cycle that occurs immediately after our Normal wash that would be so clutch and I'm wondering if anyone else has speed queens And if they know a way to do this Well, let me just give you a suggestion here's how I think about things and if you have a product Just search the product on Google and type in hack or mod after it And there will be a form likely that pops up that will tell you Everything you need to know about how to modify that product and I have done this with basically every single thing I've ever bought and You somebody out there has already thought about this Chris and or maybe and if they haven't then I Mean maybe you're on to something new that needs to be done I know Andy Larson at in Milwaukee. They have there did anyone go to that? Visit his float center at that conference and see his washing machines. I'm pretty sure he had the Like the Persian automated like you'd even have to add the kind of like maybe what we use for if we're for anyone Who has superiors with the H2o to the automatic goes there Which is another you know Something that is a great feature for no one that has the automatic dosers for H2o to but he's pulling it from a laundry detergent vessel right into his washer I Just curious is anyone in this group have any automation experience like programming or any basic automation like with selenium or anything like that So You can really dive deep down the rabbit hole I will tell you when it comes to automation Like I was saying before anything can be automated like you know you have tiny computers like like this thing here It's it's an ESP 8266 chip. It will basically do everything you could ever imagine Including run automated lights a switch and then you got like a raspberry pi like this and Maybe you guys might have these in your float center, but like a product that you bought came with something like this tiny computer Here's something that I do I have this makeup room. Okay, and there's a door on the back in the front The back door is access to the laundry area in the mechanical chase And I don't want my float guides to enter the laundry room or the makeup room Well, somebody's in there because it would freak them out So what I did was is I put this Light on the wall outside the door and there's a motion sensor on the inside of the room And I just basically have this mo a roof mounted Motion sensor trigger the light on the outside of the wall To turn it on so like sometimes you can utilize tech that isn't like intended necessarily for that but utilize it in a creative way to be able to identify certain things that Need to be done You know and and and it and it can really change the way that you operate your business and and just your life in general so Yeah, what about like how to how your float room tells you if the person's out of the tank like Shawnee I think said she uses motion sensor and the app can tell if the person is moving around in the room And I know like float on they have a sensor in their showers So you can tell when the shower is running after the float and that's how they know it's okay to run the Filters yeah, Shawnee go ahead Yeah, I was just gonna comment much the same like when we're in our back room doing laundry We can't always hear the front door So we have this nice little tool that only puts a doorbell in the back room and not throughout the whole center those are super easy to order off of Amazon and then I Will probably talk about like security cameras or security systems later But um, I really like the fact that my security system pops up a notification Right when somebody disarms my center, so I know exactly when my team gets there exactly when they're leaving It's if anybody checks in because we have a few clients who have like unlimited novathor use They go in early in the morning And I can keep it all under lock and key because they have their own code to get into the system They have their own key. I have cameras everywhere So all of that really allows me to expand the way I provide services for my clients I second that notion about the cameras by the way inappropriate obvious places right in the float center having Exactly in the rooms, but right outside, you know, they're all they're all covered so I Think that awareness of your location some of us have bigger locations than others But like, you know, if you have a very large facility having the ability to know where people are at all times can really help out a lot This is something that came up last year, too. I don't know if you use the same one of Shawnee, but There's a there's these devices they're from Dakota alert systems and they're pagers They can actually go completely silent and just vibrate and there's 12 different tones that can be used Including like door read switches There's a normally open normally closed signal on all of these devices to and a button so like literally every single aspect of Notifying could be accomplished with one device and we use this to know Exactly what door opens in any of our suites at any time if somebody steps on up on a mat near the shoes So we can greet them when they leave if they come through the front door there's a button at the front desk and There's even a relay triggered to our phone system. So if somebody calls this thing goes off In fact, you might have heard some birds tweeting that somebody leaving the float center So it's it's a pretty amazing tool that helps us out a lot, too And it's kind of a form of automation because we got to know what's happening, right? so How does other people do that? I like Shawnee's idea though. I remember when I was at your float center, Christian you had some you had some you had some Observational tools didn't you the know when things were happening? Kind of we have chimes on on the front door so we can hear them when people come in We do we used to have doorbells and things that people could press if they needed something for the rooms, but They've basically gone unused So I'm liking the idea of the little sensor going off on the door We don't have anything like that, but we do have cameras throughout the center, which I can check from time to time and It has saved us a lot of grief and a lot of hassle because when things happen We can always refer to the cameras and it actually Saves the employees it actually the the employees usually come out on top when it comes to customer complaints With those cameras and I could just pull up the the the little video and say well They were actually quite polite to you, you know, and it kind of just shuts people down You know when they're coming out and saying that the employees are rude so that's fantastic. I love having the cameras around Out of doubt I'll I'll share That we have to have that conversation that your staff are being polite and you're having to like prove that your staff are being polite like I'm glad that you can prove it, but like Just be nice to each other people come on Side note, I'll share a link to to the product so you guys can know what I'm talking about personally I know it was very helpful for people last year too And if anyone else has anything to drop in the comments, please Please do because like I said, that's all helpful for folks that might want to implement something Similar Cool so Any other thoughts about like automation we've talked a little bit about the oh, I'm sorry go ahead We have some people with their hands raised. I apologize. I think Tonya was first Tonya. Go ahead We have you Tonya. Otherwise if Tonya is not available. I know that Andrew you were you were thinking about Go ahead. Go ahead at my friend. It just took a hot minute to figure out how to get off mute Okay, no for for me my location isn't in a strip mall or anything like that. It's a three-story tall Building built in the 1840s. So for us to keep track of where people are At times can be kind of crazy especially on weekends So I like what both Shawnee and Jonathan were sharing because that's something I needed to figure out because I didn't want to do anything that was loud and disruptive But yet needing a way to keep track of when someone's Entering an exiting an area So that's I mean that was alone worth the call today Yes, and and those links I mean, I'm serious when I say like this this pager the second link I just posted it's like a game changer once you start using it You'll be like, how do we operate without it? At least that's how I feel So like remember how I proposed the questions in the beginning has anyone implemented anything that was like a super huge game changer for them Because I can tell you for me personally it has been like just having notifications around the float center having cameras I don't even know if I could operate without some of this stuff. So anyway, Tonya Or I mean Andrew you had your hand up before did you have anything you like to add buddy? Yeah, I was just gonna say we use a simply safe for at all of our locations I like the idea of Dakota systems and then I look into that but With simply safe you've got the cameras. You've got entry alarm sensors Not only good for You know people coming and going Throughout the day, but like Kim was saying I know when the employees clock in and when they clock out I know when people leave late at night after an after shift float all that kind of stuff But what's been a lifesaver is we have one location in particular that was We moved into it. We took over this location and they they didn't put any floor drains in the rooms And so what we did is we got water sensors leak sensors through simply safe that attach or go into our security system and It sucks. I've had a couple situations where we've had a we've had a leak in the filtration system And I get a phone call at three in the morning So I rushed down to the float center to take care of it But it's ten times better to get a call at three in the morning than to have you know, several hours go by Where it's still leaking and your your staff comes in in the morning to something a lot worse. So I Cannot even empathize enough because we've had the same used to have major flooding in our center Finally, we got some issues resolved, but We have the little gov I can't remember Andrew if you said what brand we have the gov water sensors and we get An email and of course, they're really really loud So if we are at the center the team knows to like run and find whatever it is like right then Those things are amazing. I'll drop a link in for the ones that I have There's definitely times where staff are like doing some deep cleaning and it goes off It's kind of funny that way, but we have definitely definitely a lifesaver It's interesting too because I just saw this on the collective. I think somebody posted like how much they love their water sensor and I have to admit it's not something that I've implemented yet So I think I think I'm the the I still have I'm still trying to figure out what the best one is So so is there a is there a consensus here? I just like simply say because we have a security system that it all got you, you know, it integrates with so But I'm sure there's plenty Kim, do you have a water sensor and you're on your front door for when it's in the rain, too? Yes, exactly. That's why we got them It was for the front door because it was just it was too much And then we have them strategically placed throughout the center as well like in our filtration rooms and things like that Just in case and I like the one that I have I think will allow up to like 10 devices on one and it also has an app And I always forget about that because my husband is in charge of the app So he gets a notification on his app if we get it and then we get the email as well And so that's it is so helpful when you're not there and if you ever have any kind of issues at all You know, I mean there are so many stories about people like forgetting that they're filling a tank Or they left a hose in and you walk out of the room Like having a sensor like that is It's annoying if you do get it wrong if you accidentally spray it if it gets any kind of moisture It's gonna let you know and but it has saved us from tremendous damage several times It is interesting too that you mentioned that because it's like we almost don't know what we need necessarily until we Operate in our building so like mentioning that there's a specific feature about our location That is unique and we need to find or invent something to solve for that And we often do this all the time in all aspects of our lives That's kind of what we're talking about when we talk about automation Like how do we make the situations manageable and easier because if we didn't well, I mean we probably wouldn't be here right now, right? So it's the point I think Chris had his hand up too. Did you have something else to say? Yeah, I actually was gonna ask about water sensor brands. So thank you Yeah, I saw something on the collective recently too that I thought was extremely compelling So thanks Well, did Tonya have something else to say or was your hand just still up from before? No, I'm just okay in my own little world That's okay And now Shawnee's hand is up too. Did you have something else to share? I just ask so on those water sensors Is there the ability to turn them off because I'd hate for a really loud sensor to go off While we're cleaning a room that gets sprayed. So is there that ability? As soon as it's dry is what mine does as soon as it's actually the unit itself is dry So if you pick it up and dry off the bottom of it, you're good If it should go off pretty quickly So I guess that goes back to like the strategic placement is like putting them in places where they're not getting wet when they're supposed to Be getting wet, right? Yes. Yes, and just they're so I mean, they're tiny like it's like this big if you're deep cleaning and it's visible just Pick it up and I've had to have that conversation with my team of like Oh, well, I was cleaning the window and I sprayed the window cleaner and like a drop, you know fell out I'm like move it like that's the simplest thing is just move it out of the way Do your cleaning and then put it back Because they are very very at least ones we have they're very sensitive and I want that it while it is annoying Sometimes if we're doing, you know cleans I want it because I need to know the second water comes in through my front door or You know in our filtration room There's never a reason that water should be on the floor in the filtration rooms And so all of those are reasons that I want to run and I want to know about it like immediately so So I wanted to mention something that's interesting about this conversation too Like how did we all come to this point where we started realizing that these things actually existed Because one of us at some point had to look this up or realize that this was a problem And I think that the practice of determining how we find automation in our lives is also just as important as the automation itself And I just want to go back to I think it was Chris who we went to float Milwaukee And we looked up the automated laundry detergent. I just looked it up on on on Amazon and Stuff you find is ridiculous Basically if there's something that you guys have a problem at your business I just feel like all it really takes is just looking it up on Google or Amazon and usually You'll find something that Relates to your problem and I think that that's one of the core things about how automation How this journey of automation emerges, right? I mean, I'm curious like Kim Andrew Chris Tanya Shawnee, how do you guys find your automation solutions? Well experience is a wonderful teacher And so yeah, so when you have something go wrong exactly that I go search the float collective or Amazon For solutions, but I wanted to comment that I think AI is going to help us as business Owners immensely because there's going to be especially if we can utilize it as an industry To just put this information Into a shareable form where we just ask questions and they'll pop up all all of the experience that we've all paid for and gone through for the last several years of business ownership specifically float business ownership Somebody download the float collective and put it into a GPT Bam, there you go float float center owner GPT I'm really kidding, but I'm not I know it will happen eventually because this is the world we live in You all know that's gonna happen, right? Good point, and I think that it's safe to say that that's probably what we all do I mean, we all utilize the collective when somebody comes up with a cool idea. We're like wow That's really great idea. Let's let's move into that and and really and really roll with it and in it And it's it's here to help us out So that's why for me, and I know a lot of us we're all willing to share We all just share these ideas with one another because eventually we get to a better place that where we all operate more efficiently I Wanted to give the opportunity for anyone else here to also speak with Chris. Go ahead Hi Yeah, I mean it maybe it may be a kind of strange angle but the thing that has honestly been the most inspiring for me to like try and optimize systems and Often when a system is like needing to be optimized. There's some automation that's bound to be involved Has been like coming from it from a professional development angle. It's like here I am facilitating floats that at go with the float and You know while that is amazing and great, it's like, okay, what else can I do to kind of further my skill set and Yeah, all these different projects with the helm and Yeah, all these little things have really like made me Yeah, feel like more involved with Yeah, just like the industry and in general and also with with with the center itself And that has like given my my role here more of a sense of purpose. So I think You know, I think most of y'all are probably owners here and not necessarily employees but um, yeah, I felt very empowered by by Stephen to kind of take this stuff on and Use it as like a you know an avenue for professional development. So it's been meaningful to me in that way Thank you for sharing I know it has for me too and and one thing that's been great about this industry and And I know it's kind of a shout-out to the float collective a little bit but we have an industry for them and we can utilize that to find Answers and when I first was building my float center if I was having a problem like I can't find a mat That doesn't slip around the float suite, right because it's so slippery Whatever and I found these spaghetti ramen noodle mats and and I could not figure out what the name of them were for the Life of me all I knew is they look like ramen noodles and I had to find them and and if anybody who's laughing right now It probably knows what I'm talking about here So eventually I found this post where it's like this is the spaghetti ramen noodle mat and then bam I bought them and I'm like dude. This is gold because I couldn't find them. So I Know what you're talking about. That's what our spaghetti ramen noodle mats and what do they do? Like You stole it Like yeah, I know what you're talking about the other half are like, what are you talking about? Yeah, it's it's just these mats that look like a like you open up a brand new thing of ramen noodles And they look like ramen noodles and and they just don't slip around the float suite as much They have some like blue fog kind of Yeah Appearance to a minor grade though. You can get them in different colors. Mine don't look like ramen noodles But they're perfect for when they step out of the flow just they don't slip at all. So I Have upgraded mine to the non ramen noodle style as well, but don't look as much like a ramen noodles I'll share with you guys. Yeah Even I knew what they were Kim and I'm a boy. Come on Yeah, have you searched Lufa Matt Lufa shower mat that comes up Don't search Are they they they look like they would be a little abrasive on the skin No, they're pretty mine are pretty soft. I mean, they're not they're not made out of Lufa They just look like they are so Yeah, yeah, they and we just added those because we had like texture her poured into our cultured marble That wasn't really effective against salt water We've tried everything bamboo Nonslip and these have been these have been the best by far. No, I just just look at the picture Oh, yeah, somebody else found the same thing. I was just gonna look at The ramen noodle kind of pattern looks like And and just kind of understand do you see why I say ramen noodle though? Like kind of looks like and not to say that I'd sit here and eat ramen noodles all day I did Way back when I was poor and I'm a little still poor so sometimes But like you got to have ramen noodles once in a while and when you know what a pack of ramen looks like you just do so There you go Anyway, the question. Yeah, do they wash up very well. Let me do that hold up to be During our deep clean we literally make a vat of like hydrogen peroxide water and we dip the ramen noodle mats in there and weigh them down And they're in the the tub starts boiling It's the craziest reaction. I've ever seen in my life, but it does clean those mats and I guarantee of Roy was here He'd be like He'd be like yep that right there that that It's called the catalase reaction. It's the bacteria growing on the mat Destroying the hydrogen peroxide So is that actually is the hydrogen peroxide doing anything then? It's it's killing the bacteria. Oh good. Okay, so at least we're doing something, right? Yeah, you've got an indication you've got biofilm growing on your ramen noodle mats Johnny go ahead. Yeah, so we actually only we have enough to use ours through two Lamentations and then we soak it in a chlorine bleach And then we dry them we have a laundry dryer like that you do for sweaters and shirts and we dry them overnight So we have enough on hand to rotate that through but we're fortunate We only have one tank that we really need them for because my other tanks have the tacker on flooring And don't need out that we had one that you stepped right out into the shower So so if we just rotate through ours, we have three of them Wash them after two and hang them overnight Is that good practice Roy or am I overkill? Now you're better off using a bleach on them Johnny The peroxide will get you somewhere, but you'll have a better kill with your chlorine bleach Dang, I wish Alex was here right now Because she needs to hear this actually I'm just gonna write a note and this is where more automation comes into play It's gonna be recorded. We can send her the video. Yeah Maybe some of this will be discussed during float conference during a certain talk that somebody I don't know Have the final say in these things anymore that will literally challenge me like nope Nope, that's not how we're doing things John like nope. That's not it. Go ahead, Jeannie Shawnee do you change them out between each client or do you just do it at the end of the day? No, so we change them out. We only allow for two floats So we do spray it with hydrogen peroxide After each float and then we clean it with water and after two floats or two uses That's when we take it back and we and we soak it in the bleach solution and then hang them all up overnight to dry Cool. Thank you. Yeah So just to get back to the point I found this thing on the collective You see what I did there? I just rotated right back to where I started The point was is that the ramen noodle mats came as a result of me trying to find a solution for people slipping around And that was the only way that I could solve it So this happens. I think with everyone like think about is when we're thinking about the shower dispensers on the walls Somebody's posted about that and we've all probably looked that up and realized that those simple human shower dispensers that randomly fall off The walls can be attached correctly But we have to find the right way to do it or maybe you use a different solution Like I know Kim's float center She has individually beautiful play beautifully placed bottles that we kind of replicated at our center recently because Rachel my manager was super inspired by it and she was like get those other dispensers off the wall So you don't know how happy I am to hear that you said that yours randomly fall off the wall because I've had that happen twice Getting ready to get the drill out We have eye wash in each of our rooms now because when one of them fell off a big glob of shampoo Jumped into my eye and I couldn't get water to get it out And it was painful and I was like if I have a client that ever experienced this it would not be good for me And so yeah, I those pop off for us a lot So I'm gonna go search for that my collective. I have to come across that We we've got like the normal hand pump things the three on the wall And what we've done is underneath where the bottle drops down There's actually a hole and we've just put a cable tie a very small cable tie underneath that and that's actually stopped The that's a whole container coming out. So I don't know if anyone else uses the same but just throwing it out there for you Thank you Is there an automation where you can have the float collective send you a message or an email? It's like really popular topic or discussions happen. I Mean Facebook does that natively they'll send out notifications that say there's a conversation you might like in this group So Periodically where it'll show up like in your feed So so technically It's called selenium and it does work But it is it's like high-level programming now So it could be a little complicating but it is possible So there's difference between is the automation possible? Yes Is the automation complex enough to where you might have to be an engineer to do it? Yes So they're just different levels of complexity, you know Yeah, I want to make sure we're on time And Jocelyn you're the master of time on this one, but we're at six I didn't know if there was anyone else that had any other thoughts about automation before we start to wrap up This float conversation today Don't be shy That's why we're here ask questions Participate share with us all your super deep secrets of automation. No Well, I want to thank everyone regardless for visiting us today. Remember. This is a recorded float Conversation so and I think for this one It's useful because this is actually valuable information that you can take with you Hopefully and and I know me for me personally if anyone has any questions about anything Automation or any product or anything just you can also just send me a message, you know I'm on the flow collective at Jonathan rogue J. Rogue at float light or just get a hold of me. Go ahead, Shawnee I just am curious when this is recorded or the links also recorded so that we have access to those can we Picture of all that right now because I'm not I haven't been in a position to like look them up and Just copy the whole thing for you Shawnee. Oh, you're wonderful. Thank you, Jonathan. I'm gonna send that to Jocelyn now She can do what she does with it. Distribute it. Awesome. Thank you. You're welcome Yeah, this has been great guys, thank you. Thank you for everyone who shared Chris Steven Shawnee Andrew Jeannie Kim Jocelyn you guys all everyone here you guys have a sad such great ideas and that's the whole point You know, I think that we are really like a bootstrap kind of business You know, we just kind of figure it out as we go. There is no right or wrong way to do this I mean, I guess there is a wrong way if Roy tells us it's wrong. Don't do it that way But but for the most part like, you know, when it comes to the harmless things like, you know We're a little bit of experimentalists, you know, like we try something if it doesn't work We go on to the next thing so and that's the kind of nature and spirit of this industry that I think is beautiful So and also come to float conference to by the way because this is what really we're gonna be talking about imagine this But I RL and the friend of those who don't know Yeah, oh, yeah, do you remember when the float conferences Jonathan tells the dates Okay, it is August 9th 10th 11th, and then you know, it used to come it's in San Antonio, Texas y'all come on Yeah, and we're staying at the coolest hotel ever on the Riverwalk. It's gonna be beautiful. I hope you all are there I know I'm gonna be there. I'm gonna bring like six of my crew members too. So I'm rolling deep Awesome Yeah, I just had one last comment and I didn't realize how popular This response was on float collective But it's not necessarily automation, but it has helped our laundry big time but we started getting hair turbines instead of tappels and it's made all the difference in our laundry like we implemented it right before Valentine's because we have tons of couples that come through and You can put like three times as many turbines in there as you can towels in the wash and dryer and they're they dry quick And it was a really great implementation and one of my team came up with that Cameron Who not many of you've met they's pretty incredible came up with that because he's got these long beautiful locks of hair So he's always thinking everything here Anyway, it's been a game changer hair turbines you leave them in the suites Yep. Yep. So we we used to have two towels and Per float and now we just have a hair turbine and a taffle We do that with but ours are by request But they the amazing thing is people love them so much that they buy them like and so we sell them in two packs for 20 bucks And they buy them like crazy. Awesome. That's next level. I'm gonna have to implement that next And for anybody before we jump off if you're willing to share no expectations But I would love to know where you buy your product from here care turbines because I have to implement this This is exactly the reason why we're here because I am definitely now Getting this product because I know exactly what you mean these these hairs on people's heads It's like a huge towel and it's huge and now I'm realizing like why do we have so much laundry at the buy a second laundry and Yeah, you can find them on fair Mandy just mentioned that and but I a lot of them on fear I just didn't like the this style or the price or you had to buy too many or whatever So I have these on subscribe and save and I get a couple So I don't keep a ton in stock But we always have at least probably 10 packs that are available for purchase in addition to what we keep and Then you know, we just order more as we need them soon Kind of awesome, and I just posted the conversation on an email to you Jocelyn so you'll have that and Yeah, I think that's everything friends. So we'll see you all at flow conference and Yeah, we'll talk soon. Love you all You're very welcome