7 Lessons from 7 Years at Flow Spa
Seven years ago, Flow Spa opened its doors for the first time.
March 2, 2019. A Monday. I was nervous, excited, and had absolutely no idea what I was really getting into.
I knew I was passionate about health, recovery, and human performance. I had a double major in psychology and nutrition from the University of Toronto. I had competed at the top levels of natural strongman in Canada. And I was frustrated by the corporate world and wanted to build something that actually made a difference in people's lives.
So I built a float centre in Peterborough.
What followed was a journey that no business plan, no book, and no mentor could have fully prepared me for.
A pandemic that shut us down mere months into our momentum.
Lockdowns that tested every ounce of belief I had in this vision.
And then, slowly, a rebuilding that brought us to where we are today: a full wellness centre offering float therapy, infrared sauna, contrast therapy, cold plunge, massage, and psychotherapy, all under one roof.
Seven years later, I want to share the 7 biggest lessons this journey has taught me.
Some are about business. Some are about wellness. Most are about both, because at the end of the day, the same principles that help your body recover are the same ones that help a business survive and grow.
1. Recovery Creates Productivity — Not the Other Way Around
This is the single biggest lesson I've learned, and it's become the foundation of everything we stand for at Flow Spa.
We live in a culture that celebrates the grind.
More output.
More hours.
More hustle.
And when we eventually crash, we're told we've earned a rest.
But that's backwards.
Recovery isn't the reward for hard work. Recovery is what makes hard work sustainable.
I've seen this play out with thousands of clients over the years. The ones who build regular recovery into their routines — a weekly float, a consistent sauna practice, a real wind-down ritual before bed — are the ones who show up sharper, calmer, and more resilient week after week.
The same has been true for running the business. The weeks where I protect my own recovery time are the weeks I make better decisions, write better content, and lead with more patience.
Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is truly rest. I believed that when we opened. Seven years later, I feel that even more deeply in my body.
2. Surviving Requires Gratitude, Not Just Grit
Flow Spa opened in March 2019.
Exactly one year later — almost to the week — the world shut down.
I remember watching the announcement and feeling my stomach drop. We had just hit our stride. Momentum was building. Clients were coming back regularly. And suddenly, the doors had to close.
What followed was a roller coaster. Months of closure. Brief reopenings. More lockdowns. Watching friends and fellow business owners in Peterborough lose everything they had built.
I won't pretend it was all grit and determination that got us through. There was a lot of luck involved. A lot of good timing. And an incredible community that stuck with us, read our emails, and came back the moment they could.
In my 3-year reflection, I wrote: "It seems as much good luck as anything that we made it through the pandemic when so many friends and businesses did not. True gratitude is the only way to look at that."
I still feel that way. Grit matters, but gratitude is what keeps you grounded when grit alone isn't enough.
3. Consistency Beats Intensity — In Wellness and in Business
If I could boil down every blog post, newsletter, and recovery plan I've ever written into one sentence, it would be this:
Small actions done consistently will always outperform big efforts done once.
A weekly float is more powerful than a single long recovery session when you're already burned out. A 10-minute bedtime ritual repeated every night does more for your sleep than a one-time sleep hack. A simple breathing exercise practiced daily builds more nervous system resilience than an intense workshop you attend once and forget about.
The same applies to running a business. We didn't grow Flow Spa through one viral moment or one big marketing campaign. We grew it by showing up consistently through writing a newsletter every week, publishing helpful content, being present in the community, and steadily improving the experience for our clients.
Consistency isn't glamorous. But it compounds. And after 7 years, I can tell you it's the most underrated force in both wellness and business.
4. Teach Generously — Lead with Value, Not with Sales
From the very first email I ever sent to our newsletter list, I made a decision: I would lead with education.
I shared the science behind float therapy. I wrote about stress management techniques. I created guides on breathing, sleep, cold exposure, and recovery. I started a podcast — The FlowCast — where I interviewed experts, athletes, and local business owners about performance, wellness, and the entrepreneurial journey.
Not because it was a marketing strategy (though it turned out to be a great one). But because I was curious to learn and genuinely wanted to help people understand their own bodies and minds better.
When you teach people why their nervous system is stuck in overdrive and give them practical tools to fix it, trust builds naturally. They don't need to be convinced that a float or a sauna session is worth it; they already understand the science and feel empowered to make the decision for themselves.
Over 7 years, this approach has done more for Flow Spa than any ad or promotion. People come to us because they trust what we share. And that trust was built one helpful article, one honest email, and one real conversation at a time.
5. Evolve the Offering — Listen to What Your Community Actually Needs
When we opened in 2019, Flow Spa was a float therapy centre. That was it. Float tanks and a passion for sensory deprivation. I had the cold tub and hot tub in place but hadn’t fully figured out what to do with that room yet.
Today, we offer:
Float therapy (still the heart of what we do)
Infrared sauna
Contrast therapy
Cold plunge
Registered massage therapy with multiple RMTs and multiple specialties
Psychotherapy through our partners at Harnessing Change
None of this expansion was planned from the start. It happened because we listened.
Clients told us they wanted heat therapy. So we added the infrared sauna to the contrast room. They needed hands-on bodywork and wanted to use their insurance coverage. So we brought in registered massage therapists. They wanted mental health support alongside physical recovery. So we welcomed psychotherapy into the space.
Every addition came from a real need expressed by real people. Not from a boardroom brainstorm or a trend report.
The lesson: your community will tell you what they need if you're willing to listen. And when you respond to what they're actually asking for, growth follows naturally.
6. Mentors Are Everywhere If You Pay Attention
Early on, I stubbornly said on a podcast episode that I had no formal mentors.
Then I sat down to edit the episode and realized how wrong I was.
The truth is, I've had mentors everywhere — I just wasn't calling them that.
My past career experience taught me what not to do as a leader. Family helped immensely along the way with support that can't be measured. The books I read gave me frameworks and ideas I still use daily. And every single client who walked through our doors and shared their own story — their own struggles, their own entrepreneurial wisdom, their own experience with stress and recovery — taught me something.
I also learned an incredible amount from other business owners in Peterborough. The yoga studio owners, the personal trainers, the therapists, the fellow entrepreneurs who were all navigating the same challenges in their own ways. Some of those conversations happened on the podcast. Many more happened over coffee or in the hallway.
You don't need one perfect mentor. You need curiosity and the humility to learn from everyone you meet. Just stay open to listening.
7. Build Systems So the Business Can Outlive Your Daily Hustle
This is a lesson that took me years to fully embrace.
In the early days, I did everything. I cleaned the tanks, answered the phones, wrote the emails, managed the bookings, handled the marketing, fixed the plumbing (yes, literally), and greeted every client who walked in.
That's what it takes at the start. But it's not sustainable.
Over time, I realized that a business that depends entirely on you isn't really a business — it's a job you created for yourself. And often a harder one than the corporate job you left.
So I started building systems. Standard operating procedures for every task. Onboarding guides for new team members. A content workflow that could be managed without me writing every word. A booking system that handled new leads automatically. Financial processes that didn't require me to touch every invoice.
Today, Flow Spa runs on over 6 years of documented processes, guides, and SOPs. The business generates new leads passively through the website every day. And our team keeps things running smoothly, whether I'm at the front desk or working on other projects.
Systems are what turn a passion project into something that lasts. If you're building a business, start documenting everything earlier than you think you need to.
What's Next for Flow Spa
Seven years in, I'm still deeply passionate about what we do.
The wellness landscape has changed dramatically since 2019. Float therapy, cold plunge, and infrared sauna used to be fringe practices. Now they're mainstream. People are more educated about recovery, nervous system health, and the science of stillness than ever before.
And that excites me, because it means more people are ready for what Flow Spa offers.
So to everyone who has been part of this journey — from the very first float client to the person who just discovered us last week — thank you. You are the reason this place exists. You are the reason these lessons were worth learning.
Here's to the next chapter.
Find Your Flow,
RJ