The old days of merely collecting quarters and running a dark and dirty laundry are over. The laundry business has evolved into a dynamic opportunity with a high rate of success for today’s investors.In this age of economic uncertainty, there is one thing for certain: Everyone has to wash clothes! With companies downsizing and people looking to create new identities for themselves, the Laundromat business has a great ROI, which is rare in any chosen field or endeavor.The fact that old-school laundry owners viewed this as a passive business has allowed the new era of laundry owners to blow the top off and create a wonderful, thriving business that hasn’t even come close to peaking. The money is just waiting out there for someone to cash in.Unlike retail businesses where workers sit and wait for someone to walk through the door, the laundry business has become a go-get-you business. We’re talking about breaking it down to a very simple formula. I have already written in past articles that if a family spends approximately $700 per year, per family, then pull out your calculator and punch in the numbers. When you decide that you’re ready to give yourself a raise, it breaks down to going out and grabbing more customers.Now, rather than give you more talk about marketing, I’m going to urge you to get involved with your community. You can’t own a successful business of any kind and be the best-kept secret in town. It’s critical if you want to be successful. Everybody, and I do mean everybody, needs to know who you are and what superior services you provide.I’ve spoken in other articles about finding the right distributor. Get this done sooner rather than later so you can come out of the gate running fast and better prepared, with a partner who’ll show you how to get to the bank.I have a customer who joined his local chamber of commerce recently who tells me that he picked up 15 new commercial accounts, which come out to an additional $35,000 gross in revenue. He was reluctant to join the chamber, but now he realizes what he’d been missing. This is the beginning of what will likely be a new journey for him, and he has yet to meet all of the members. When that happens, look out baby!The Laundromat business is looking good and getting better for those who are willing to follow the program that I have diligently laid out for the past year in these monthly management articles.Don’t get caught up in machine brands or the latest hype without them being both proven and tested. This has become a game of relationships and personality along with superior services. I recommend you go back and download every article I have written and read each one as a chapter-by-chapter outline, and use them as a blueprint for your success in the coin laundry industry.You’ll only get what you’re willing to give, so go after the business with fire and passion until your potential customers say yes. That’s when you will say to me, “Robert, the coin laundry business is looking pretty good!”
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].