Hi! My name is Matt Schober, and along with my partner and longtime friend Ryan Slick, we're here to share our passion for an amazing new concept to make you smarter, stronger, more peaceful, and ultimately happier.
We want to see Indianapolis and surrounding communities able to reach their goals
and become the vibrant, productive, and happy people that they want to be. And through our lifelong interest in nutrition, fitness, and wellness, we've put together the perfect ingredients to help our patrons reach their personal best, whether in creative, intellectual, or athletic pursuits.
I'm skeptical, but intrigued. How do you plan to do that?
We're so glad you asked!
We are launching a truly innovative new business in the heart of our hometown of Indianapolis, and we're truly excited! Better Being will be launching in early 2014; introducing Indiana's only Float Tanks, which provide a level of relaxation and inner exploration not seen anywhere else. In addition to these wonderful devices, we will carry a new style of supplement, blending the best in Western nutritional science with the best in Eastern herbal therapy, along with a couple new twists, culminating in an absolutely unique and incredibly effective line of products. What? You want more? Ok, fine...how about the latest and best in biofeedback technologies, superfoods and whole food extracts that make eating healthy easy and delicious, AND constant improvement as the wellness market continues to innovate?
Excited yet?!?!?!?
But what is a float tank?
Great question!
A float tank (or sensory deprivation tank) contains approximately 8-10 inches of water, with around 800 lbs of pharmaceutical grade salts dissolved in it, allowing a person to become completely buoyant. This leads to complete and total body relaxation, because of the ease of strain on your muscles and even bones, providing pain relief from a vast range of symptoms and lowering blood pressure and stress hormones. In addition, time in the tank post-workout has been proven to lower lactic acid in the blood and muscles, improving recovery and getting you back in the game faster. And it's not just physical – your brain enjoys the downtime as well, as thousands of documented and amazing personal experiences will show. It has also been shown to improve learning abilities and creativity, and enhances meditation tremendously. A well studied body of research that grows daily supports the numerous mental and physical benefits of the tank.
Sounds cool...what's it like in there?
Once the lid is closed the tank is light- and sound-proof, but don't worry – even claustrophobic people have used the tank and enjoyed it thoroughly once getting over an initial hesitation. In fact, the dark, quiet environment is the perfect compliment to the skin-temperature water, and the combined experience of “letting go” has compelled a wide array of people across the world into making it a part of their routine.
So if this is such a great idea, why have I never heard of it before?
Because we're just now opening!
Seriously though, floating has been around for quite some time. Initially developed by Dr John C Lily in 1954, the idea gained some steam in it's early years but was halted
in the 80's when the public began to (very mistakenly) believe that AIDS could be transmitted through water. Swimming pools took a hit and the fledgling Float industry bottomed out, despite the fact that sanitation has never been an issue due to well established cleaning procedures.
But, in the last 10 years or so, it's made quite a comeback, and around 2010 experienced the biggest boom in the industry yet. This is due in part to the Flotation Tank Association, and to celebrity floaters like Joe Rogan and Robin Williams, but most of all to the rapidly growing and incredibly enthusiastic community of floaters!
Alright, alright, you sold me on the tank. But what about these new supplements, and biofeedback? I'm hard to convince you know.
Perfect! We want our clients as informed as possible. Providing education and resources for nutrition, fitness, and well-being is our primary goal.
We have partnered with Onnit, a company specializing in Nootropics (brain vitamins), superfoods, and holistic supplementation. This is what sets us apart from any vitamin store you've seen before – we won't be featuring endless rows of bottles and bottles for you to fill your house (and empty your wallet) with. We believe the best and most effective ingredients should be mixed together, in the most efficient way possible, to create an effect within each product truly greater than the sum of it's parts. And all of products are 100% organic and GMO-free. If you'd like to learn more, check them out at www.onnit.com!
As for biofeedback, this simply means technologies that allow us to read variables such as heart rate and realistically gauge the effects that stress, Floating, and our products can have on you. We're working with HeartMath, who have developed a series of programs and games that train your mind to reduce stress and improve mental performance.
That's awesome!
I know!
Who will benefit the most from a store like this?
We want to be as accessible as possible to everyone. From the weekend warrior to the seasoned athlete, from the busy CEO to the just-as-busy stay at home parent, we have something for everyone to both improve your game and enjoy your downtime.
In addition, much of what we do revolves around reducing stress to allow the body's own natural healing to take place. This will in turn create a more peaceful atmosphere in our hometown, and encourage an exponential spiral of growth and positivity. You can be a valuable part of bringing Floating and all the benefits that come with it to Indy!
Where is your project at, and what exactly will my hard-earned dollars be
going towards?
We are well into development, have approval from the Health Department of Indiana, and are in negotiations for the lease. We've put a lot of time and money into this project so far, developing mentor and business partnerships, paying startup legal fees and business expenses, trying out many different top supplements to find the best, and the Float Tanks aren't cheap to purchase or ship. In addition we will need to add showers and a utility sink to the facility, repaint, add special flooring, purchase initial inventory and tank salt, and much more. The payoff in wealth and health is worth it though, and we're ready to invest everything we can and extend our credit, but we want to make Better Being exactly how we see it in our minds and not have to compromise our vision to make Indiana happier and healthier. So we're reaching out to our future customers to aid with some of the startup costs, giving an already excited community the chance to be an integral part of introducing Floating to Indy!
Our initial asking goal of $20,000, or anything we receive up to and beyond that point, will be used to help with:
-Purchasing and Installing Initial Tanks ($11,000 apiece with shipping)
-Small remodeling budget ($5-6000; we'll be doing a lot of the work ourselves)
-Stocking Initial Inventory ($8-10000)
-Purchase Tank Salt, cleaning, and maintenance supplies ($2000)
-Holding a Launch Party at the store and radio advertising ($2000)
As you can see, we've got our work cut out for us, but we're excited and ready for the challenge!
If we exceed our goal, we would be eternally grateful and it would enable us to:
-Increase the number of initial Float Tanks
-Stock larger initial inventory
-Make Better Being bigger and better for the people of Indianapolis
So we've set two additional stretch goals as well.
At $40,000, we will use the money to purchase a third tank and additional remodeling.
At $60,000, this will show the strong market demand we're expecting and we will open with FOUR tanks!
So what can I do to get this place open, like, today?!?!?
All of our perk donation options are listed to the right, and feel free to contact us with any questions. We will also gladly accept any amount you wish to contribute, if you'd like to see your money go straight to the project instead of a perk. If you love our idea but can't afford to help financially right now, you can still be a big help by sharing our campaign on Facebook and Twitter using the provided links at the top of the page, and by getting the word out about Floating and our unique vision to family and friends!
Either way, we sincerely thank you for your time to this point, and hope to meet you all at Better Being soon!
For more info on our products and services, please visit:
www.betterbeingindy.com
