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 internship programs, and a bit about how Dylan’s experience went in the past.
159: Float Conference Updates with Graham and Ashkahn
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.
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158: Groupon… bum bum bummm!
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 what it is today. Gloria flips the coin to share her experiences of watching the company’s evolution from her backyard in Chicagoland.
Each host brings a completely different perspective. You’ll hear about Dylan’s history of using Groupon to pay his center’s rent when they first opened several years ago, and how Groupon customers still make up about 5% of his center’s revenue. Gloria’s take is that Groupon, in its current format, is a marketing tool (and expense), not a revenue generator. Gloria dives into the strategic thinking of how to calculate a Groupon offer (including a brilliant pricing move to immediately get a repeat visit!). Dylan reiterates how important it is to understand your cost-per-float for all of your financial and marketing decisions.
After hitting some hard points, we’re pretty sure you’ll be able to easily draw your own conclusion about using Groupon. Just kidding. There’s no easy answer. Do your homework, listen to this episode a few times, crunch your numbers, and know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Good luck!
157: We’re Back Baby!
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 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 start comes full circle because he’s been a loyal listener of Art of the Float since his start, and he was a consulting client of AOTF. With only one float tank (in someone’s home) in all of New England, he seized the opportunity. Drew was a juvenile probation officer who went through a few big challenges to get his center open, but he stumbled on the perfect location and got creative with the landlord situation. Drew’s center opened in November 2017, and as of our recording date, he’s adding a third float room and just hired employees.
156: Farewell 2018
It’s been a long minute since our last episode, so in this episode, we’re catching up on all the big Art of the Float news! Dylan and Sandra welcomed their second baby girl to the world, and they had big plans to keep things running smoothly at The Float Shoppe since this was their second time around with taking a little absence from the center. As reality would have it, some hiccups at the shop meant they weren’t able to keep things running quite according to plan, so they’ve been juggling the bigger family, new baby, and float center. Amy’s second location, Float Alchemy, is still a challenge with unpredictable revenue and operational nuances that are the opposite of her first location. She’s still in tenacious mode, balancing several businesses with virtually no time off.
We also 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