 environment really wanted to be here last year but I had been in the due diligence process for over three and a half years and you don't learn a lot through success but you do learn so much from failure and fail often and fail forwards has always been a philosophy to create this resilience of of us as an industry when I acquired float brothers it was such a big engine and entity for the industry I remember talking with with Chris Herne the brother that was there the majority of the time because the other brother was was outsourcing and doing the marketing and he goes it takes a certain personality it takes a certain dynamic to operate a float center to to go into this industry because as I was talking to Beth earlier there's so much that we're advertising there's so much that we're talking about is how do we find the right demographics to talk to correctly is it pain management is it preventative you know injuries and sports talk with the superior team to know that one-third or almost one-half of professional sports teams now have float pods is such a great marketing tool for all of us to continue to use and and being at this conference and and going through the steps of of what are the successes what are the wins and we now have a new chapter of hyper resilience we we got to feel off of the energy of what's working for other float centers you know when when all the the rising tides I like that that marketing brand that we can all float ships together as we continue to figure out what works because the messaging is clear of what we're offering it's amazing but if the message can't get through the algorithms and you can't get people in on new client acquisitions then it becomes so difficult so understanding the consumer understanding the personality and then spinning back and looking and doing and checks and balances that it it was a lot for these guys in January 29th 2016 open and for any centers that have been open for a very long time I think that is a great time to to build a center December 19th 2019 happens to be the day that I acquired float brothers so one of the biggest challenges that I had is I was going up against a landlord that has so much assets they vetted my process they made me put six months of a security deposit down they that should have killed the deal three other things should have killed the deal but instead the silver linings and finding that positivity and that resilience is that I had 90 days before a global shutdown to relocate to a new city to buy and acquire float brothers and luckily my six month security deposit was marketing money that if I would have put into the market at that time would have been a waste you know it will so so in these hyper resilient times of of being creative of bouncing off walls what's working what's not and it could be the best message in the world but if it doesn't get through and you can't target it and it's not timed to the right way the the sun sets on the certain seasonality of the business it's it's tough and I think January 29 2016 is a great time to build a center I think December 19 2019 is a great time to buy a center and a better time to do either one of those things is today there are so many resources here for me as an owner to take over a big entity understand this business and vet the process of our consumers of what we have to offer that it's amazing the sky is the limit to getting people in the pods and and I think that's the biggest thing that I want to talk about is is the process of getting a new center because every time we're focused on something else we're focused on a pump that's gone out we're focused on an employee the timing of the hallmark of our business the nature of our business is you know Mother's Day and Father's Day and and Christmas and the seasonality is huge and the sustainability is is one of the biggest parts is how do we continue to protect the burnout how do we set the boundaries so that we have the energy to delegate to our team so we can show up to our best selves one thing about my market is that it is hyper seasonal so in in talking there's there's a lot of a lot of pluses and minuses to four million tourists coming each year but if but if you advertise too much to the tourists because traffic patterns and migrations are the locals don't want to come so how do we find the balance of supporting to the locals when they don't want to come during the summer and the summer is so expensive to be able to market to the tourists the thing that I can feel the most from being six years in business in the last two of what what I've done is that there's a tipping point to all things there's an apex and and being here and finally interacting with everyone is where is that apex from 1993 Peter has done 310,000 floats in the UK I've done 20,000 and those numbers mean that yes there's a novelty phase there's a six month one year startup a lot of people a lot of traction but on year six when my center's full 60 70% full most most days that's that apex and that tipping point that if you have the right ingredients and the right team and resources like we all have in this room let me tell you my failures let me tell you what didn't work for me and let me learn from you guys because it's about creativity it's about getting through the algorithms and it's about what engine to hit at the right time I lack an email marketing that's that's a weak point for me and I have a 9,000 person email database so I don't want to over advertise to those people but how do I get the right messaging out to to time it that I can't send an email out during the summer because the summer has so much traffic and I don't want to consistently be selling so that balance of information and education one of the biggest things I have to say is that we have to get people into the centers you know because without a first experience or new client acquisition they're not going to get back to that next experience so what is it that we are selling is is floating a vitamin for preventative health or is it an aspirin once your back's already hurt and the thing that I I want to put a spin on is however we need to get people into our centers there's an entertainment aspect to it I have a four pod center I have no other modalities so it's funny when when one couple will come and they'll be on a date and as they watch the video and get in another couple will come in and it's almost like a double date and if you know more females drag their their male counterpart to float let's have it be entertainment let's accept that it's entertainment to try something new and then once we get them in to do to be entertained on something odd and new and unique then then the education begins and as there's so much information coming at everybody that that education we can't overwhelm them it's stepping stones you know nobody needs to know on the first float don't ping pong off the walls you know that's that's float to float three pat dry your face before you get in less less chance of of irritation so a few numbers here thank you to float helm which just helps my life be much easier and more organized and and talking about wheel houses and delegation I only have 11 minutes to go so I'm gonna I'm gonna keep it keep it on target but what this shows is half of the time half of the people are coming back again so the volume of about my lowest was last year 143 floats 60 minutes and 70 90 minute floats and then we've had a big April and these are these are my numbers a big part of my of what I inherited being in a in a big military population is they set up a program that Tuesday Thursdays and Sundays we give free floats away to any veteran that has PTSD and we've got 250 members that have come through our center and we've got about seven to ten that have anywhere from 80 to 110 floats in five years we don't want anything back we just want them to have a lighter life a lighter load because they put their selves on the line and now they've got consequences for their life that they have to deal with so as part of a responsibility of a float center owner is that a big part of the altruism and giving back is is part of part of my model you know being that I've got four pods and I want these pods to be used is is part of my what I inherited was that that PTSD program and that education that's part of my demographic coming up on Wednesday I'm gonna have my fourth expecting mother's float free day my center has opened six days a week 12 hours a day and Wednesdays were closed for maintenance and filter cleaning and all that but what I've turned Wednesday into is what I call an opportunity day where any group any demographic that can come we can use that day as a unique opportunity to see what the science is between pregnancy and floating I've got articles that have been written that everything is split test everything is a B testing and when six months eight months later you're able to get somebody that says hey thanks I just came in and bought this float I floated when I was pregnant eight months ago and I got these great benefits but I got an education because you open your doors on a day you are closed and you gave away 24 free floats to expecting mothers and and when when pregnant mothers come in the simple things of of we want to encourage more mothers to float right so we all know we're doing deep discounts on different timing but but a great thing is that anybody that is an expecting mother that comes in and buys a float let's give the the child that's go you know and the encouragement of the mother let's give them a free float so that mother can come back and it's less about the economics and more about the execution and that's the biggest part too about the float business is we have to execute and we have to pivot and we have to keep executing and pivoting because maybe it's the best message in the world but if it doesn't get through the algorithms it doesn't work and if it's not set to the right time that's another factor so I need help and resources from this room and I want people to call me and reach out to me on what works and what doesn't I want everyone to know the content for float brothers that that we are using I want to be shared and and everyone to continue to grow together because this industry is really about the entertainment aspect to get people in the pods and it's the education aspect to retain them and get them back in for their next floats Beth thank you for touching on the vision aspect why to get into this business it's not going to be easy it's going to be extremely hard but you know we all want to help people and that's that's a big part of it but as we help ourselves and float once a week I got my start in understanding floating because ten years earlier I was introduced to sweat lodges and I spent a lot of time in the Anipi I have first of all can I get a show of hands of anyone who's ever been in a sweat lodge or an Anipi great group great great demographic so think about what the sweat lodge does in retrospect to the float pod I've been doing this for so long and and this lasts about a month you know you go into a sweat lodge and you just come to nothing you're just trying to breathe and completely reset but you're able to take a month or two weeks and use the sweat lodge and that experience of purging your bloodstream to not be so stressed about other things so when I was introduced to the float business I was like the float pod is very similar to a sweat lodge but easier for people to try it because the sweat lodge is a very unique tool that not a lot of people are willing to try and if you think trying to educate people on what floating is try to get people to go into a sweat lodge and it's a whole another experience of you know what does that mean and finding that finding that vision and finding that why and that motivating factor of of what you can deliver as a human what boundaries you can set what longevity you have to to not burn out and to know that you are showing up as your best self is that as we read and recognize different clients each person is going to need a different part of us and our tone and our timing and staying positive enough to have the right tone and the right openness and the right body language to receive what they're saying I mean I'd say once a week I'm almost like moved to move to tears at some of the stories and some of the feelings on on the front side before people float and then as they come out we all get this amazing reward from benefits of the faces of people that have floated we've all gone through and been in this deep REM state of why this works of why to get into this industry and as Beth being an encourager and me being a promoter and finding these tools of this room to to motivate others and protect others from burning out it's so much potential and so much so much vision behind it that you know the content creation side the 20,000 customers the algorithms of different different towns and and trying to push in the timing you know this is one of my favorite slides that my team created and you didn't come this far to only come this far we all know that the pod is a reflection of ourselves every time that we float is another moment to get more self-esteem to get more encouraging aspects because floating is a benefit in itself by the pure energy boost I work with VJ the float guru with for quite some time great great person great great knowledge and for him to help break down what time of day and what day of week and what personality and what should we be searching for in our floats we can set these intentions is creating the power that when people come in and they're so flustered and they don't and they just want to collapse and they're late and all this stuff and you say okay you're not ready to float yet we need three more minutes for you to decompress we've got the nature channel here we've got a pandrum here would you like to do a connect the dots or a coloring book because if we can spend that five ten minutes in the lobby interacting to not feel rushed or hurried then we can maximize and not burn that time out inside of the pod this is one of the most powerful slides of what we're doing in this business is that we're taking the mindset of the physical realm and we are lifting people's spirits in water of of here's your limitations here's here's life's circumstances is the chair what are you going to do about it you know let's not let that define you let's take all of our all of our pent up fears and stress and anger and and entitlement or whatever anybody's going through and let's bring these things to the pod let's make help available so that we've got the resources that we can offset this 24-7 news cycle I'm addicted to technology just as much as the rest of everyone so it's it's finding what can elevate you elevate others around you and the author Malcolm Gladwell puts it really well in in tipping point or one of his books he says it takes ten thousand hours to become an expert or to even start to know about a topic I'm four thousand hours in and I don't know much you know the one thing I the one thing a professor told me is that the purpose of of education and college and higher learning is the process of learning how to learn or or unlearn or relearn and the four thousand hours behind the counter I came into this business understanding demographics understanding marketing putting my tools in my wheelhouse together and and seeing this pod as something that is helping to rewrite people's lives people's maps and and my own story as well I float two to three times a week I actually sleep in my center probably four times a month skateboard there I live five blocks away and I skateboard there to 2 a.m. in the morning and I will sleep in the pod till seven eight in the morning and I won't sleep I won't sleep on land that day and what I can tell you from those longer floats and from from high pressure stress and from putting myself in an environment is that I am able to come out and add more time to the quality and the value of letting the body reset and letting the mind go and adding more self-esteem to my life as well as reframing the next steps and the next processes so as business owners and as as float entrepreneurs the value that you can use in the pod to project the the next step I my staff I I encourage them to float that I I give them their hourly rate to float so not only do they float for free but they they get paid to float and and that's the encouraging aspect of what do we got to do to get the people trained correctly to not sweat the small stuff to not burn out but to let this industry lift up and connect to other aspects of of life and dynamics and business is there's so much room for education and getting past that entertainment level of we are so important to this community to this world to this movement right now that don't burn out take the energy take the motivation take all the resources here and let your light shine bright get your float centers to the point where everything is working in in synergy and and passing that apex in the tipping point let me tell you my wins let me tell you my losses I want to hear what's working for you and I want to share what's working with me and I want to educate and lift up everybody and we got to have some entertainment and some funny stories so thank you guys so much for your time