"Taking time out to myself wasn't part of my remit"

From the world of marketing to opening a float spa, Camille Pierson took us through her journey of being diagnosed with PTSD, depression, and anxiety after the near death of her 11-month-old daughter in 2014. It was "any parent's worst nightmare" to go through, she remembered.

When she first decided to go back to work after some time off with her daughter, Camille had no intention of setting up her own business. She was ready to get back to the world of Sales and Marketing, and the grind. Her first day back, however, was not a welcome one. She quickly became aware of the toxic working environment she was being subjected to once again.

She spent some time with her family, and her father asked her husband who this person was, that he now saw. "This isn't my daughter. I don't know who this person is", were the words that came out of his mouth. His advice was for Camille to take some time to herself. 

But in the perpetuating synthetic nervous state that Camille found herself in, her only thought was "taking time out to myself wasn't part of my remit". Something that many of us can resonate with, after longstanding careers that include high levels of the hustle culture.

The Float Experience

She decided to take her father's advice and book some time to herself in a float tank. The first time she tried it, she didn’t like it. “It felt dirty” and she remembered pointing out everything that was wrong with it. She decided to try again at another establishment and remembered this being the first time in weeks that she had slept that night.

She quickly became invested in the idea of a float spa and began to write a business plan to present to her father, asking for him to invest. She knew she had the skills to bring the spa to market, as she’d launched many products and services during her corporate career. It took some convincing, but she got her father’s buy-in.

Setting Up The Float Spa

She decided to look into a combination of options; the float tanks, as well as a yoga studio. The float tanks made the business unique, as Brighton didn’t have anything like this. Conversely, however, Camille was also looking to break into a saturated market with the yoga studio. In order to break into the yoga market, Camille researched it and decided on a unique payment structure for instructors to build this side of the business around and make it work.

Things were going well with the business, and in 2020 The Float Spa was set to make record profits. But then COVID hit, and suddenly the studio needed to be closed. Float tanks were no longer viable, and Camille had to think about other opportunities to keep the business going.

It was time to plan and build on what was already there. She took time to build a new website and reviewed the product offering. As part of this, she launched a range of bath products including Epsom Salt bath bombs, which are full of magnesium - great for releasing stress. They were (and are) a hit and today the business ships these internationally.

After 7.5 years, The Float Spa has had 24,000 clients walk through their doors. It started off as two float tanks and a yoga studio. Now, the spa has three float tanks, a yoga studio, and two infra-red saunas. People often speak of feeling like they have been reborn, and that floating in a tank is like “pure nothingness”.

Camille left us with some tips and advice on wellbeing:

1. Create a work life balance by placing self-care time directly into your diary

2. Go for walks

3. Take 30 seconds out of your busy day, throughout the day, to do some deep breathing

4. Take holidays

5. She operates a ‘right to disconnect’ policy in her business where employees are not expected to reply to her emails when they aren’t at work

6. Exercise

In her own words, Camille left us with the reminder that “you can’t pour from an empty cup”.

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk