Spotlight on The Floatation Centre: Hope Floats When it Comes to Entrepreneurship

After being disgruntled with her 9-5 career in engineering, Lindsay MacPhee decided to cut ties with her engineering life and open Atlantic Canada’s first floatation therapy and wellness centre. A firm believer in the benefits of meditation, Lindsay spent a lot of time asking herself: “What is my purpose?” and engineering didn’t seem to be the answer.

Some much-needed time off gave her the opportunity to reflect on her dreams and goals. “All I wanted to do was help people,” Lindsay said. She explained that three years ago, she would have laughed at the idea of starting her own business and even though she dreamed of doing something more fulfilling, her endless student loans were deterring her from pursuing her dreams. Eventually, Lindsay decided to take the leap into entrepreneurship and opened The Floatation Centre in Halifax.

The primary focus of The Floatation Centre is floating and sensory deprivation. The process of floating has actually been around since the 1950s but only recently gained more popularity when the benefits of floating because more readily available. Lindsay explains that each practitioner is committed to helping others elevate their quality of life.

Lindsay explained that in the initial stages of starting The Floatation Centre, there were two notable hurdles that she had to overcome: educating the public about the science and benefits of floating, and overcoming the Nova Scotian “have-not” mindset. Lindsay spent a lot of time networking and putting her elevator pitch to use. “It was important to not only tell others about my business, but about the benefits people can get from it,” Lindsay explained. Keeping a positive perspective, knowing when to lean on others and following her passion are all things that helped Lindsay be successful in starting her own business.

But how does an entrepreneur find customers for a new business and new concept for Nova Scotians?  Lindsay emphasized the importance that networking played in finding customers. “Personal connection is what propels this business,” she explained. “There’s no amount of paid advertising that will even come close to the importance of human connection when it comes to floating.” Lindsay explained that she was genuine and sincere with all her interactions and took the time to listen and answer questions and concerns people had. “The ripple spread outwards from there.”

Due to Lindsay’s hard work and dedication to starting her own business, The Floatation Centre was awarded Best New Business in the Best of Halifax Awards. Her advice to entrepreneurs wanting to start their own business is to follow your intuition, find a mentor who will hold you accountable and keep focused on your goals. “It’s so easy to get caught up in the little things that need to happen to make the big picture come to fruition, but always remind yourself why you opened your business and celebrate the little wins!”

To learn more about Lindsay and her business, click here.

Written By: Lauren Marinigh, Social Media & Content Creation Coordinator, Futurpreneur Canada