Learn. Share. Evolve…

0:00:03 Here’s one from the Side Hustle Show Greatest Hits Collection Plus.
0:00:06 Stick around at the end for the real-time check-in with Jordan
0:00:10 to see how his business is doing four and a half years after this original recording.
0:00:13 What’s up, what’s up, Nick Loper here.
0:00:16 Welcome to the Side Hustle Show because if you mind the nickels and dimes,
0:00:18 the dollars take care of themselves.
0:00:23 Hat tip to Ben Young for that one, an early mentor of mine in my house painting days.
0:00:29 This week’s Side Hustle is about minding probably not the nickels and dimes,
0:00:32 but definitely the quarters and about how those can add up
0:00:35 to some serious cash flow in a laundromat.
0:00:39 Owning a laundromat, I think, is one of these stereotypical side hustles
0:00:44 that have been around forever and yet here we are in episode 433
0:00:46 and we haven’t talked about this yet.
0:00:48 Simple, local, cash-flowing business.
0:00:53 I want to say this was one of the examples in the Rich Dad Poor Dad cash flow board game
0:00:57 where the object of the game is to escape the rat race
0:00:59 by buying or building cash-flowing assets.
0:01:01 Isn’t that the game we’re all playing?
0:01:02 Financial independence, right?
0:01:06 In any case, laundromats, definitely an interesting way to help you get there.
0:01:11 When Side Hustle Show listener Jordan Berry reached out about his experience
0:01:14 in the laundromat business, I was excited to learn more and share it with you.
0:01:18 Stick around in this one to hear why a laundromat makes a great side hustle
0:01:22 and investment vehicle, some expensive mistakes to avoid,
0:01:27 where to look for financing help, and some creative marketing and monetization ideas
0:01:31 to really accelerate your ROI and build equity at the same time.
0:01:35 Notes and links for this episode are at sidehustlenation.com slash laundry
0:01:39 and you can find Jordan at laundromatresource.com.
0:01:43 Jordan is a former pastor, now turned multi-laundromat owner,
0:01:45 but what made him think this was a great idea?
0:01:46 Ready?
0:01:47 Let’s do it.
0:01:54 It’s like, wow, that’s such a random direction in life.
0:01:55 And it is.
0:02:00 So when I decided to step aside from pastoral ministry vocationally,
0:02:04 we had a chunk of money, but I didn’t really have a plan on what to do.
0:02:11 And I developed a, what I thought was a genius plan, which is rent out our house that we owned
0:02:17 it here in Southern California and go buy a condo in Hawaii and live in Hawaii for a couple of years
0:02:21 on the beach. And then when our kids were school age, we could come back to Southern California,
0:02:27 net gain condo in Hawaii. And my wife come back to real life. It sounds like a good plan to me.
0:02:30 I still think it’s a great plan. But my wife, on the other hand, was like,
0:02:36 we should buy a laundromat. And thus begins the saga of the laundromat.
0:02:43 And kind of the thought process behind that was, which I think also is a genius idea. But the
0:02:49 thought process behind it was, you know, we wanted to put our money into something that would be
0:02:55 making money where we didn’t have to be there. And this was before I had heard of rich dad, poor dad,
0:03:01 or investing of any sort, really. I was, I was very naive. So this was a very novel idea
0:03:05 to me. And I was very intrigued by it. And it kind of sent me down this path.
0:03:09 Did your wife’s family have a background in running these things? Or she was just like,
0:03:12 this seems like a cashflow business. Let’s go try it.
0:03:18 Yeah, no, she heard of like, I guess, like a family friend who bought a laundromat,
0:03:27 and he quit his tech job up in Northern California. And that was very inspiring and intriguing.
0:03:33 And so that’s kind of how we were introduced to the concept. And we thought, man, if he could quit
0:03:39 his tech job, you know, and just run a laundromat, and he’s there, you know, five, 10 hours a week,
0:03:42 max. That sounds like what we want to do. Let’s do that.
0:03:49 Is there a typical ROI that these things sell for? Like what’s, I mean, you can think of a rental
0:03:55 house. And, you know, the market is very efficient, at least in certain areas, or at least it’s believed
0:04:00 to be and say, well, here’s the cap rate, or here’s kind of the, you know, cash on cash return I can
0:04:03 expect with rent. How are laundromats priced?
0:04:08 Yeah, well, I mean, I think that’s one of the things that makes laundromats, I think one of the
0:04:12 best businesses out there, which is kind of a funny thing to say, because, you know, it’s just a
0:04:16 laundromat, and you probably drive by them all the time and don’t notice them. But the way that
0:04:22 they’re valued is they’re valued based on net income. And they’re valued on a multiple of that
0:04:28 net income. And so the typical multiple is three and a half to five, somewhere in that range, you know,
0:04:34 depending on the condition and of the equipment and the business and the length of the lease and
0:04:40 stuff, but somewhere three to five times net income, which means your returns can easily be
0:04:49 over 20 and even over 30%. That’s unleveraged returns without any leverage. I mean, that’s
0:04:51 without borrowing money, without borrowing money at all.
0:04:57 But depending on the price of three to five times net income, it’s probably going to be a borrowing
0:05:03 money situation, depending on, you know, how much this thing is making is I imagine that could add up
0:05:09 quickly. It could be an expensive acquisition, but 20 to 30%. So for the comparison, you know,
0:05:12 if we look at traditional rental property, especially with the market, the way it is right
0:05:18 now, like if you’re doing 10, 12, 14%, you’re doing excellent there. So you’re doing a little bit
0:05:24 better here, but there’s, I mean, there’s maintenance involved. There’s equipment and maybe some other
0:05:29 stuff to consider. So your wife says, we’re going to buy a laundromat. The numbers look interesting.
0:05:35 They pencil out. You say, okay, let’s go for it. Like, how do you begin shopping for one?
0:05:38 I mean, that’s a really great question. It was something that we didn’t really know.
0:05:42 And we just kind of fumbled our way through it started probably where everybody starts online.
0:05:49 And we just Googled laundromats for sale near me and kind of chased laundromats for sale and started
0:05:54 trying to get ahold of brokers that were listing laundromats and try to find one that was relatively
0:05:58 close to us that, that we felt like we could make work. So that’s kind of where we started.
0:06:04 When you found that first one, what was the process like of kicking the proverbial tires?
0:06:10 It was kind of exciting, actually. And we had never owned a business. And so we, we got the sneak
0:06:18 peek into this business, but the one that we ended up buying was really run down. It was typical what you
0:06:23 think of when you think of a laundromat, you know, it was half the lights were out, half the machines
0:06:28 didn’t work. It was dingy. There were homeless people there, but we were getting in there and we
0:06:34 started opening up these machines and counting quarters. And I was like, man, this is pretty
0:06:39 interesting. Quarters add up pretty quick and you can make pretty good money with just a bunch of
0:06:45 quarters. So we got in there and we just started trying to figure out, you know, the trick to buying
0:06:52 a laundromat really is figuring out how much money it’s making, how much money it’s spending. And is it
0:06:57 going to continue to do that after you take over? And what can you do to improve the business? Right?
0:07:03 So we’re kind of asking ourselves those four questions going along the process in order to try to figure
0:07:08 out if this was going to be a good fit for us or not. And when someone has their business listed with
0:07:12 a brokerage, they’ve disclosed those financials, profit and loss.
0:07:19 Yeah. So those are seller reported. So the brokers relay that information. You know, one of the big
0:07:24 tricks to buying a laundromat is that they’re all cash businesses. So it can be very difficult to verify
0:07:29 those numbers, to pinpoint exactly how much money laundromats are making. It can be a little tricky. So
0:07:35 there’s lots of little tricks and techniques to try to get as much data as possible to get, you know, as close
0:07:38 of a guesstimate as possible, but it can be tricky.
0:07:42 Is there anything you can do to protect yourself? That’s interesting. Yeah. It’s an all cash business.
0:07:47 According to the IRS, it made very little, but according to the broker, hey, we’re making money
0:07:52 hand over fist. Yeah. And I always tell people too, like, and not all laundromat owners are like
0:07:58 this. And I think this kind of model of, you know, under-reporting to the government and over-reporting
0:08:03 to buyers is, you know, I think it’s going by the wayside because it’s just not a good way to do
0:08:08 business. But in the past, it’s been like that. And I always tell people, Hey, if an owner’s willing
0:08:12 to lie to the government about how much the laundromat’s making, they’re willing to lie to
0:08:18 you about it too. So you got to be very diligent if their taxes don’t match up with what they’re saying
0:08:24 the business is doing. So a few things to protect yourself is one of the things you want to do is do
0:08:29 coin collections during due diligence. After you make an offer and it’s accepted, you want to go in and
0:08:37 collect coins with the owners every week for a few weeks, three, four, five, six weeks, and just
0:08:44 kind of get a feel for how much money is coming in. And while you do that, you also simultaneously take a
0:08:50 water meter reading. So you can see how much water is being used and you can compare that to previous
0:08:57 water bills and how much money the owner says it’s making. Is that the biggest expense? Just electric and
0:09:04 water, electric, water, and gas, gas for the dryers. So yeah, utility bills are high with laundromats.
0:09:08 But I always tell people I’m willing to pay really high bills if I’m making a lot of money.
0:09:16 Yeah. Is there a rule of thumb for what a machine should bring in over the course of a week,
0:09:17 over the course of a month?
0:09:23 I mean, that really varies based on the size of the machine and the traffic in the store.
0:09:30 So laundromat performance is measured on turns per day. And that is basically an average of
0:09:36 how many times each day a machine is used. So I think the industry average is a little over
0:09:43 three turns per day, which means on average, each machine in the store is used a little over three
0:09:49 times a day. And so I tell people, if you run your numbers at, you know, somewhere between two and a half
0:09:56 turns per day or three turns per day, and you’re okay with those returns, then you probably have a
0:10:01 pretty safe bet. But if you need more than that to get the returns you’re looking for, you might want
0:10:04 to see either to lower the price or look for a new deal.
0:10:08 Okay. What does each turn cost the customer?
0:10:15 Man, that varies really widely. So there’s, there’s a lot of different types of and sizes of washing
0:10:20 machines. And depending on where you’re at in the country, also vending prices can be significantly
0:10:26 higher or lower, you know, prices usually range from like two to, you know, some of the really big
0:10:32 machines are, are 14 bucks a load, but they’re doing 80 pounds of laundry. So basically you just take
0:10:38 everything you own and throw it in one machine and get it all done at once. Yeah. The laundromat
0:10:43 industry is really evolving right now to bigger machines, more efficient machines. But with that
0:10:44 comes expenses.
0:10:51 With that comes expenses. Those machines typically stay with the building, with the sale of the business.
0:10:56 Right. Yeah. So generally when you purchase a laundromat, you’re purchasing the assets of the
0:11:01 business, which is, you know, typically the machines and things like the boiler, the changers,
0:11:07 the fixtures, you know, the infrastructure, the plumbing, the electrical, that’s typically what
0:11:11 you’re purchasing. Okay. So you can find a connect with a broker or, you know, Google
0:11:18 laundromats for sale near you. See if you can find some listings. And then you start this due diligence
0:11:24 process of looking at the books to the extent that they’re available, doing the in-person coin collection
0:11:28 with the owners, try and, you know, see for yourself, like what it’s bringing in, comparing the utility
0:11:31 statements. What came next in your case?
0:11:36 Oh, so, I mean, we ended up pulling the trigger on that first laundromat and it was rough, man.
0:11:43 It was a, it was a bad experience. Turned out the broker, we relied solely on the broker because I,
0:11:50 I just had a hard time finding good information about laundromats online. And so I relied pretty much
0:11:55 solely on the broker who, you know, sold me on a business that was never going to do,
0:12:01 it was never going to perform the way he said it was going to perform. And it was a rough area.
0:12:09 And so, you know, we ended up losing a lot of money for a long time before we were able to
0:12:13 kind of pull ourselves out of that situation. And it was, it was hard.
0:12:19 Yeah. Here we are today. And you, despite this not great first experience, you went and bought another,
0:12:25 maybe lessons learned and you’ve become the advocate. You’re like the laundromatresource.com
0:12:25 guy.
0:12:32 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, I figured I paid a lot of money and a lot of emotional
0:12:38 stress and trauma for these lessons. So I decided to put them to work. And so we did buy another one
0:12:43 and we got some land with it, which was nice. And then, you know, I just started thinking about it and
0:12:47 I was like, nobody should have to learn the lessons that I learned the way that I learned
0:12:53 them. So if I can just help anybody out to get into this business, cause there are some gotchas,
0:12:58 it is a cash business. There are ways that people can take advantage of you if you’re new.
0:13:05 And so, you know, I wanted to kind of help get good information out there to really help. Cause I
0:13:09 really believe in this business and in this business model, and it can really propel you to financial
0:13:16 freedom very quickly. If you get in it right, if you get in it wrong, it can take a really long time
0:13:22 to dig yourself out. And so I really want to help people get into it the correct way. So that’s kind
0:13:25 of why I started laundromat resource and the podcast.
0:13:30 And do you have a horror story or two from that first purchase? I’m just curious,
0:13:34 like what mistakes should people be looking for? What mistakes should people avoid?
0:13:40 So number one, I always say never rely, this seems obvious probably, but it wasn’t to me,
0:13:46 but never rely on the person whose income depends on you buying anything really, but a laundromat,
0:13:51 like a broker, he’s not making money unless you buy that laundromat. Don’t rely solely on them.
0:13:56 Even if they’re a great person, there is a conflict of interest there to a degree. And so I always say,
0:14:02 Hey, have somebody else who’s experienced in the industry, whose income doesn’t depend on you buying
0:14:08 the laundromat, who can help you navigate the waters, who can help you look for red flags,
0:14:12 help you figure out what questions you need to ask, what data you need to collect.
0:14:19 That was a huge one, huge lesson that I learned that I think is probably important in any business,
0:14:21 but especially in, in laundromat business.
0:14:27 Are you typically assuming the lease on the building or is the building part of it? I mean,
0:14:31 most of them I’m thinking of like kind of in a strip mall. So I assume that’s a lease situation.
0:14:37 Obviously you can go either way with that. I do lease one and I own the property with one,
0:14:44 but you’re typically either assuming the lease or you are negotiating a new lease during the transfer
0:14:50 process. And you know, the lease is critical. And that’s another kind of big mistake to avoid is if
0:14:59 you get a bad lease, either too short, too expensive or bad terms, it’s really difficult to move a laundromat.
0:15:05 So if your lease runs out and the landlord decides they don’t want to re-up you or they want to really
0:15:10 jack up the rents, you’re in a lot of trouble because it’s very difficult to move a laundromat.
0:15:17 So you want a good, solid, long-term lease. And so if the current owner doesn’t have that many years
0:15:20 left, you know, you probably want to negotiate a new lease.
0:15:25 So I found one, I’m on bizbuysel.com. I found this wasn’t super close to me,
0:15:33 but this is kind of out in the Central Valley in series. Asking price, 189,000. EBITDA, what’s that?
0:15:37 Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation. I don’t know what it stands for.
0:15:39 Basically the net operating income, but yeah.
0:15:46 Net operating income is estimated at 70, call it 77,000. So it’s trading at a little under two and a
0:15:53 half times that, at least the asking price. It says the lease is assumable. Doesn’t say when the
0:15:58 lease expires, oh, new lease to be negotiated by owner of real estate. Okay. So that, that may be
0:16:03 a potential red flag. It looks pretty nice. So at least like from the pictures, it looks like there’s
0:16:08 cars in the parking lot. It doesn’t look to be totally abandoned. Like some of the strip malls
0:16:11 nearby, the flooring could do some work, but like the machines and stuff look like they’re in decent
0:16:18 shape. Yeah. So on a deal like that, that new lease is really going to determine the actual NOI,
0:16:24 you know, because most likely if that lease is coming up, that’s a really old lease and the
0:16:31 lease price is probably significantly lower than market value. So that’s going to eat into that NOI,
0:16:38 which is probably why it’s valued at around two and a half times the NOI, because the real NOI is
0:16:43 probably going to be lower after the new lease is put in place. That would be my guess.
0:16:50 Okay. Is there such thing as laundromat financing or just, you know, a small business loan to try and
0:16:55 cashflow this rather than waiting the three years to break even if you’re buying it with cash?
0:17:00 Yeah, absolutely. And I, I mean, I’m a big proponent of using financing to purchase a business
0:17:09 and allowing the business to pay for itself. And so there’s, you can get SBA loans for laundromats,
0:17:15 but only under very specific situations. So what I always recommend is talk to a couple of laundromat
0:17:23 specific lenders and they not only know the business and can let you know what you need to get in place
0:17:28 to get a laundromat, but their interests are aligned with yours. They want you to succeed. They don’t want
0:17:33 you to buy a laundromat, you know, that’s not going to make money because they’re less likely to get paid.
0:17:38 So they’re on your side. So you get to leverage their experience, their knowledge and their money
0:17:41 when you work with a laundromat specific lender.
0:17:43 How do you recommend finding that person?
0:17:50 Um, I have a couple that I work with that are great. I mean, you can Google laundromat financing
0:17:56 and find laundromat lenders out there. There’s a couple of really big companies,
0:18:03 Eastern funding and Alliance funding are both some of the big ones out there, but there’s others too.
0:18:09 If you buy this thing with financing and it pencils out the way you expected it to,
0:18:16 is there a projected cash flow that you’re shooting for on a monthly basis?
0:18:22 Um, yeah, I mean, it really depends on your situation. If you’re using a lot of leverage,
0:18:28 obviously your cashflow is going to be less, but your cash on cash return might be pretty high.
0:18:36 So, you know, for example, on this deal, you know, call it a $200,000 laundromat. If you put say
0:18:44 $30,000 in and you finance the rest, you could pretty easily, if the NOI was really 75 grand and after
0:18:51 your loan, you know, you could net 25 or $30,000, which is a hundred percent, you know, ROI,
0:18:53 uh, cash on cash. Okay.
0:18:59 Yeah. So it really depends on your situation because there are laundromats that are sell for well over a
0:19:05 million bucks. And obviously your cashflow is going to be a lot higher for that laundromat than one that
0:19:06 you buy for 50 grand.
0:19:13 Okay. Yeah. It makes me want to stop by some of these ones in town and see if they would be
0:19:17 interested in selling. I don’t know. Does that conversation come up or if people have kind of
0:19:24 the systems in place? And I will say on this listing in series, it says that the existing owner reason for
0:19:29 selling retiring. And so, I mean, is that the reason people would get out of it? Like, Hey, this is going
0:19:34 to be my, it’s going to be my retirement nest egg rather than building up a portfolio of rental
0:19:39 properties. I’m just going to build an equity in, in this business and then cash out on retirement.
0:19:44 Yeah. I mean, retirement is one of the big reasons people get out, which I think is probably a good
0:19:50 sign for the industry, you know, cause once people are in, if you’re spending five, maybe 10 hours,
0:19:54 I mean, at that point you’re probably not spending 10, but you know, five or 10 hours a week,
0:19:59 you know, and you’re cash flowing enough to sustain you. That’s pretty tough to give up.
0:20:05 So retirement is one of the big reasons. There are other reasons also, but I always encourage people,
0:20:10 if you’re interested in buying a laundromat, start stopping in to laundromats and talking to owners
0:20:16 and asking them if they’re willing to sell. I’ve definitely had deals come across my desk that way,
0:20:22 just from stopping in and talking to laundromat owners, also direct mail campaign, similar to real
0:20:27 estate. You can find laundromats for sale that way too. There’s a host of reasons people might want
0:20:31 to get out. And so if you catch them at the right time, you could find yourself a good deal.
0:20:35 Okay. Right. Same thing with houses, right? Like once you go on the MLS, it becomes a little more
0:20:41 efficient, but if you can find somebody pre brokerage, maybe there’s a deal to strike there.
0:20:48 It’s interesting because it seems like, it seems like to be a very fragmented industry. And by that,
0:20:54 I mean, there’s no dominant, like regional or national player, there’s no like 1-800-got-junk
0:21:00 for the laundromat industry. It’s like, they all seem to be, you know, maybe mom and pop style
0:21:03 businesses. I don’t know. Do you find that to be true?
0:21:08 Yeah, I think that that’s true. And it’ll be interesting to see if that remains to be true.
0:21:14 I think one of the big barriers to like a big brand or even like a franchise model has been,
0:21:20 you know, just the logistics of running that many laundromats, you know, so many laundromats have
0:21:27 been coin operated and just the logistics of going to different locations and collecting coins every
0:21:33 week. And it’s just made it very difficult. But, you know, now there’s a lot of technology where there’s
0:21:39 card payment systems where, you know, you’re not really even dealing with coins at all and in some
0:21:45 of the newer laundromats. And so it’s much easier to manage. I had a guy on my podcast, he lives in
0:21:50 Italy and he owns a laundromat in Florida. And, you know, so you can kind of manage them from anywhere
0:21:57 in the world if you set them up right now. Yeah. But it is a mom and pop industry by and large now,
0:22:03 and that makes it an inefficient market, which means you can find good deals in the market right
0:22:08 now. So if you catch somebody at the right time in the right situation, you can get a good buy.
0:22:13 I’ll be right back with Jordan, including more on this remote management possibility,
0:22:19 some tax advantages to know about in the actions Jordan took to turn around his first laundromat
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0:24:38 I am interested in this remote management aspect. Talk to me about the day-to-day
0:24:44 responsibilities. You know, how much time are you spending on site at these places? A room full of
0:24:49 vending machines in a way, like, do you need somebody to be there or is it just, it would be weird to
0:24:54 unlock the doors and then just have a free-for-all? Yeah. Well, there’s a couple of different business
0:25:01 models and one is the doors unlock on their own in the morning and it’s kind of a free-for-all.
0:25:08 It’s called an unintended laundromat and basically you put a automatic door locks on and they open and
0:25:16 close on their own and you do typically need somebody to come in at least once a day to, you know,
0:25:22 clean up, you know, laundromats tend to get pretty messy pretty fast. A lot of people are coming in and
0:25:28 out. So you either have somebody come in for a couple hours to just wipe down the machines and
0:25:35 sweep and mop and clean out the lint traps, take out the trash. Or the other model is an attended
0:25:40 model where you have somebody there all day who’s keeping things clean all day and who’s helping
0:25:47 customers. And maybe they have some other responsibilities also like manning a store or if
0:25:52 there’s a service component of the business, like a drop-off laundry service or pickup and delivery
0:25:54 service. Maybe they’re doing something with that too.
0:25:58 Okay. So yeah, if you’re hiring for that role, that obviously eats into your cashflow. And so you have
0:26:04 to find out as you’re buying, is that already baked in? Like, is that manager going to stay? Like trying
0:26:09 to figure out, well, if the owner was doing that all themselves and the net was 75 grand, like that,
0:26:12 that becomes a different equation if you weren’t planning on buying yourself a job.
0:26:19 Right. And I always tell people in that situation, I would just add in the expenses for an employee and
0:26:24 base the value off of that number, not the number that they gave you where they were doing all the
0:26:25 work.
0:26:31 Gotcha. Yeah. It was in Japan, which probably isn’t surprising where it was the unattended model.
0:26:37 Yeah. It was just walk in, here’s a bank of machines and you just do it all yourself. You don’t talk to
0:26:43 anybody. And it’s just very much, uh, very technological. It felt, okay. So there’s some
0:26:47 management, especially in the coins, like you got to deal with collecting the coins, taking them to the
0:26:51 bank, making sure you have change. Sorry. I want to go back to the financing thing. Like anything else
0:26:57 you’ve seen work on the creative financing side, uh, to fund this purchase.
0:27:03 Yeah. I mean, one of the huge benefits of laundromats, I think, and I myself, I have laundromats,
0:27:09 but I also have real estate. I love real estate investing, but you know, the average cashflow for
0:27:16 laundromat is greater than real estate, but also the coveted seller financing deal that everybody seems to be
0:27:22 looking for in real estate is pretty common actually in laundromats. And the reason for that is because
0:27:29 they can be a little more difficult to fund, especially if the owner hasn’t kept great records
0:27:37 and, you know, has mismatching profit and loss sheets and taxes, um, or just can’t demonstrate
0:27:45 the income. Then they typically have to fund at least some of the purchase price. So seller financing
0:27:51 is a big financing source in laundromats. And also speaking of real estate, a lot of times
0:27:56 real estate investors ears perk up when I tell them I have laundromats and kind of talk to them about,
0:28:03 Hey, you know, a 20% return laundromat is a base hit. You know, if you want a home run, you can
0:28:10 anything over 50% is a home run in my book and their ears perk up. And so finding money partners,
0:28:16 if you can bring the knowledge and the time investment, finding the financial investment
0:28:21 is easier, I think, than even finding one for real estate purchases.
0:28:27 And what’s kind of cool is that you have the ability to evaluate the current state of the
0:28:34 business. And maybe it is this guy who’s nearing retirement and they haven’t optimized it to the
0:28:41 full extent that they could. So I think you have this physical space where people are hanging out for
0:28:46 an hour, two hours doing their laundry. Like there’s other things you can put in there. Like I’ve seen some
0:28:50 with, you know, they had the ATMs and they got vending machines and there’s all sorts of stuff.
0:28:54 Can you speak a little bit to anything that you’ve done or you’ve seen other people do to
0:28:58 increase the cashflow from an existing business?
0:29:03 This is what really drove me to reach out to you and say, Hey, you’ve got to talk about this on your
0:29:09 podcast because not only is a laundromat a great side hustle, but it’s kind of the ultimate side
0:29:11 hustle because it has side hustles within the side hustle.
0:29:19 Yeah, exactly. Side hustle inception. That’s I like that because there are a ton of different
0:29:25 revenue sources you can integrate within your laundromat. And obviously, you know, your washers
0:29:30 and dryers are going to be your main source of income. But like you mentioned, ATM machines,
0:29:39 video games, gumball machines, toy machines, claw machines, massage chairs, water stations,
0:29:44 adding services like a wash dry fold service or a pickup and delivery service.
0:29:51 There’s just a host of things. In fact, on my website, I have like a bunch of a list of a
0:29:55 bunch of different value add opportunities for a laundromat.
0:30:00 Yeah. The cool thing here is like, yeah, if you can add 500 bucks, a thousand dollars a month
0:30:06 in cashflow, you just added, I don’t even know, 40 grand in equity to the business.
0:30:12 Yeah. So every dollar of net income you add to your business is going to add three and a
0:30:18 half to five dollars of equity. And that’s how wealth is built, right? You got to have good cash
0:30:22 flow. You got to build up your equity and you got to maximize your tax advantages. If you can do those
0:30:28 three things, I call that the wealth tripod. If you can do those three things, then you can build wealth
0:30:30 very quickly that way.
0:30:33 All right. Well, talk to me about the tax front. That’s something we haven’t touched on yet.
0:30:39 Yeah. And you know, obvious caveat, I’m not a, you know, a tax advisor or a CPA or anything, but
0:30:46 you get typical business perks for having a laundromat. So you can pay your expenses before
0:30:52 you claim it as income when you own a business. Instead of when we have a job, we get paid and
0:30:58 then we pay our taxes and then we pay our expenses. And when you have a business, you get paid, you pay
0:31:04 your expenses and then you pay your taxes on what’s left over. So that’s a huge perk in and of itself.
0:31:11 But also you have all this equipment and this equipment can be depreciated. You know, the rules
0:31:18 vary depending on what’s going on with tax laws at the moment, but depreciating the equipment basically
0:31:26 means the equipment loses value in the IRS’s eyes and you get to deduct that off of your income.
0:31:30 So it’s as if you didn’t get that income, but you still get to keep that income.
0:31:37 Okay. With the idea being that eventually it’s going to have to be replaced. Well, then you can
0:31:39 write that off as a capital expense.
0:31:43 Right. Yeah. So there’s, I mean, it’s similar to real estate. Real estate works
0:31:49 in a similar way, but having a business that’s based off of physical asset like that
0:31:53 allows you to take advantage of that tax perk.
0:31:58 Okay. So if you, if you buy a machine for, I have no idea what these things cost $3,000,
0:32:03 let’s say. So, so you can either write that off all at once in the year of purchase, if you have
0:32:09 the income to do that, yes. Or you can take this depreciation over time. Is that,
0:32:10 am I understanding that right?
0:32:12 Right. Yeah, exactly.
0:32:15 Okay. Is there an advantage to doing one or the other?
0:32:20 There are advantages. And I think it depends on your financial situation. Some years, like if you
0:32:26 know, for example, down the line, you’re going to have a big windfall and, you know, this year,
0:32:30 for example, you know, your income is going to be a modest income, but next year you’re going to get a
0:32:36 lot more money. You may want to try to defer some of those write-offs to when you’re going to have
0:32:43 more income so you can depreciate it against that income. So I mean, I would recommend talking to a
0:32:49 CPA because it can get real complicated real fast, but you know, the general idea is there are tax
0:32:51 benefits also to owning laundromats.
0:32:58 Okay. So you’ve got the equipment depreciation. If you’ve got a lease, you’re not paying any mortgage
0:33:03 interest, but you are able to deduct your lease payment. Any other interesting deductions here?
0:33:08 I think those are the big ones. If you buy it with the real estate, for example, my second one that
0:33:14 I bought with the real estate, you get to take depreciation on that real estate also. And commercial
0:33:21 real estate has some really great accelerated deductions that you can take to, again, talk to
0:33:30 your CPA about it, but that’s another perk. And right now there’s actually an awesome SBA 504 loan that’s
0:33:38 allowing you to purchase real estate. I think it’s with 10% down right now. And so when you’re picking
0:33:42 up a business like a laundromat, and if you can get the real estate also, you can get that real estate with
0:33:49 very little money down. And so using your business to acquire the real estate and to pay down the real
0:33:52 estate, again, is a huge way to accelerate your wealth building.
0:33:57 Jordan, tell me about, you know, some of the actions that you took to turn around this first
0:34:02 purchase that you didn’t want. You don’t want other people to be in the same boat. Like what did it take
0:34:06 to take this from like, I think we’ve made a horrible mistake to like, okay, this is tolerable.
0:34:11 Yeah. I mean, I think that’s a great question. It took me a really long time to kind of figure it
0:34:19 out. But one of the things I realized eventually is I’m in a situation where obviously I didn’t expect to
0:34:23 be in that situation. I expected to be in a situation where I was making money and I was
0:34:29 actually losing money. And that felt like a punch in the gut. And kind of my options at that point
0:34:37 were either to just sell it and get out, cut my losses and get out, or to double down and put
0:34:43 more effort into it. Even though I was getting into it, hoping for it to be more passive. It
0:34:49 actually, I ended up having to ramp up my involvement in it. And so some of the things
0:34:55 that I did was one, I put in new equipment and that’s a big deal. You know, when people come to
0:35:00 your laundromat and it’s like playing the slot machines, when you put your quarters in, is the
0:35:06 machine going to work or is it not going to work? You lose customers really fast that way. And having new
0:35:14 machines not only helps you retain those customers, it attracts new customers, utility bills go down.
0:35:19 So your expenses go down because they’re more efficient machines. You can charge higher vend
0:35:27 prices because they’re new machines and customers will pay a premium for that. And so that was one
0:35:33 big thing. Another thing was, I think I had a little bit of the field of dreams mentality. If you build it,
0:35:39 they will come and put in new machines and everything and kind of expected people to just walk through the
0:35:46 door. And some did, but not enough. And so I ended up having to figure out creative ways to get people
0:35:53 in the door. So whether that was through, you know, digital advertising on Google and on Facebook,
0:36:00 putting up banners and stickers in the windows, running promotions, and also just getting to know
0:36:05 customers and getting to know the community a little bit, which actually is the best part of owning a
0:36:06 laundromat, by the way.
0:36:09 What else works on the marketing front? This is interesting to say, okay,
0:36:16 you’re clearly getting your laundry done somewhere else today. I want to conquest that market share and
0:36:18 have you come over to see me instead.
0:36:24 That’s one of the big tricks. If you’re buying a laundromat, hoping to, you know, fix it up and
0:36:29 improve businesses, you’re really in the business of changing people’s habits, right? Because people
0:36:35 have a habit of doing their laundry some other way, whether it’s in their apartment complex at a
0:36:41 different laundromat, uh, at their home, wherever they’re doing it, they have a habit of doing it
0:36:50 somewhere else. And I really have kind of developed a marketing strategy that’s working really well for
0:36:57 my consulting clients right now. And the premise of it is that it takes three visits for a customer to
0:37:02 come to your laundromat. And after they’ve come three times, they’re basically statistically speaking,
0:37:09 they’re basically your customer at that point. So I tell people when you open a new laundromat or you
0:37:14 retool your store, put a new equipment and stuff, you know, step one is do something dramatic to get
0:37:21 people in the door the first time. And so whether that’s, Hey, give free washes. There’s a guy here
0:37:27 in Southern California, when he opens a new store, he does free washes for a month, which costs them a
0:37:33 lot of money. But as you can imagine, a lot of people are coming to his laundromat that month. Um,
0:37:38 and he can easily rack up three visits in a month. And now those are his customers. He’s built a lot of
0:37:44 goodwill, but do something dramatic. Step one to get customers in. So that’s free washes. Um,
0:37:51 another popular strategy is like, if you have a card store, a card system, payment system, you can do
0:37:56 like double your money. So put 20 bucks on, we’ll add 20 bucks ourselves, whatever you do, do something
0:38:04 dramatic to get people in. Step two is once they come in that first time, your only goal is to get them
0:38:09 to come back the second time. And so whatever promotion or marketing thing you do to get them
0:38:15 back the second time, do that. And then your goal, the second time is to get them to come back the third
0:38:21 time. And after you’ve done that, then they’ve become your customer and you just have to keep your value
0:38:27 proposition high. At that point, keep your store clean, keep the machines working and keep smiles on
0:38:33 your, on your staff’s face. And you got lifelong customers. Yeah. I really liked that element of this,
0:38:37 where, yeah, people, it’s like lawn mowing. Well, the grass is going to keep growing. You know,
0:38:41 you’re going to keep needing the service over and over again. The clothes are going to keep getting
0:38:46 dirty. So I do like that aspect of it. I like that it’s self-service. Like we joke about this every time
0:38:51 we go up to Brentwood for the you pick cherries. It’s like, we’re paying for the cherries and we’re
0:38:55 doing the labor. Like this is a genius business model. And you say, you know, smiles on your staff’s
0:39:02 faces. Like, is it typically just, you know, that operator, cleaner, assistant, helper person who is
0:39:07 there during the day, like during the hours, or was there multiple people that kind of on staff at any
0:39:12 given time? Yeah. Well, I would say for probably for most laundromats, there’s usually one person
0:39:19 there at a time, if anybody, but some of the bigger stores have multiple employees working there. And
0:39:26 especially if they have a big drop-off laundry service or pickup and delivery, you know, I have
0:39:30 friends who have 40 plus employees with their laundromats and their services.
0:39:36 Well, Jordan, what’s next for you? Are you on the hunt for more of these you want to add to your
0:39:42 empire or what’s, what’s the future hold? Yeah, I have kind of two fronts I’m working on here.
0:39:49 In terms of laundromats, I am on the hunt. In fact, I just brought together, you know, one of the cool
0:39:54 things about having a podcast and maybe you’ve experienced this too, is you meet some people who are just
0:40:01 incredible at particularly people who are incredible at things that I’m not incredible at. And so I’ve
0:40:07 put together a little team and we’re actually putting together an investment group to go out and buy
0:40:12 laundromats and real estate. You know, we just believe in this business so much and we know it,
0:40:18 we’ve done the hard work and we’ve learned the expensive lessons and we’re going out and we all
0:40:25 have some of our own, but we’re all going to go get some more. So buy in more and larger laundromats and
0:40:32 some commercial real estate on that front. And then on the laundromat resource front, you know, just
0:40:40 providing more and more opportunities, not just for people to learn about the industry and to be able to
0:40:47 get into it the right way, but also, you know, more and more opportunities for people who know this business to be
0:40:54 able to share what they know and share their wealth of knowledge. And so trying to be a platform where people can do
0:40:54 that.
0:40:59 Were there other laundromat podcasts when you started or were you trailblazing there?
0:41:06 There was one other, um, a man named Ken Barrett, who’s a great advocate for the industry and has
0:41:12 had a, I think it was the laundromat how to podcast. Um, he’s since stopped that one. There’s been a couple
0:41:19 more that have popped up since I think with just the success of, of my podcast, surprising success,
0:41:20 honestly.
0:41:21 Now, why do you say that?
0:41:27 Well, I mean, it’s a laundromat podcast. Like, I don’t know, like people are interested in it and my,
0:41:33 my podcast is interesting compared to the other ones that are out there mostly because I do long
0:41:39 form interviews with owners and I ask them questions about their business and about their
0:41:44 experience and try to pull out their lessons they’ve learned and their wisdom and get advice from them
0:41:49 for the listeners. Um, and I think people are just really responding to hearing people’s stories
0:41:54 and learning from them, but you know, it is a laundromat podcast. So it’s just kind of surprising
0:41:59 how many people listen to it. That’s awesome, man. Well, there you have it. The laundromat
0:42:04 resource.com. Check Jordan out at the laundromat resource podcast. Like you said, it’s a laundromat
0:42:10 podcast. It delivers what it promises. And you’ve got me interested in this business as an investment
0:42:18 for the passive cashflow for the ROI. Definitely an interesting one as a way to, you know, put either
0:42:23 some existing assets to work, put some sweat equity to work and, uh, see what else is out
0:42:28 there for that. So Jordan, thanks again for joining me. Let’s wrap this thing up with your number one
0:42:34 tip for side hustle nation. This does not have to be laundromat related, um, but can be just whatever
0:42:41 entrepreneurial wisdom you’d like to impart. Yeah. I think one of the big lessons I learned was when you
0:42:45 work with the best people and whatever it is that you’re doing, when you work with the best people,
0:42:50 you end up becoming one of the best people work with the best, become the best. And that’s on,
0:42:56 you know, both people who are, you know, maybe like for laundromat, for example, brokers or distributors
0:43:01 helping you buy equipment. When you work with the best, they’re going to help you become the best.
0:43:07 And also, you know, on the employee front, when you hire the best people, they’re going to help you
0:43:13 propel your business forward and become the best. So work with the best, become the best.
0:43:17 I like it. That’s a new one. So thank you for sharing that. Jordan, again, thanks for joining
0:43:20 us and we’ll catch up with you soon. Appreciate it, Nick.
0:43:29 Definitely an interesting option to take a look at from an investment perspective,
0:43:35 a cashflow perspective, a potential way to buy yourself an income stream that replaces your day
0:43:41 job. But like Jordan said, do your diligence, do your homework, look for inefficiencies, look for
0:43:47 opportunities to improve operations. And I think the same strategies apply to buying an online business
0:43:53 as to buying an offline one. One of the most popular episodes of the show is my chat with Stacey Caprio
0:44:00 on buying up small-ish online businesses eventually enough to replace her salary. But it’s not without
0:44:04 risk. In fact, I think her first couple purchases didn’t turn out that well, if I’m remembering
0:44:10 correctly. But I mean, you’re not going to find 20 to 30% ROI’s anywhere without risk. In any case,
0:44:16 that was episode 323. If you want to go back into the archives and check that one out. Notes and links
0:44:22 for this episode are at sidehustlenation.com slash laundry. And before we go, would you like more
0:44:28 money-making ideas? That’s what my weekly newsletter is all about. 75,000 people are already
0:44:33 getting it and I would love to send it to you as well. You can join for free at sidehustlenation.com
0:44:39 slash join or through the link in the episode description of your podcast player app. You’ll
0:44:44 also get access to hundreds of members-only goodies and bonus files that I’ve created over the years,
0:44:49 including any future ones that I end up building for upcoming episodes. Once again,
0:44:54 that’s at sidehustlenation.com slash join. We’re about to jump in the time machine to get a real-time
0:44:59 look at where Jordan’s business is today, what ended up happening with that investment pool and the
0:45:03 current state of the laundromat industry. But first, let’s take a quick break to thank our sponsors.
0:45:09 If you’re a startup, small business, or even part of a growing enterprise of looking to level up your
0:45:14 marketing and connect more meaningfully with customers, Brevo has you covered. Our new sponsor,
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0:46:09 marketing starts. For such an important channel like phone, the software powering this important
0:46:14 channel was super outdated and clunky. We wanted to make it delightful and make it very easy for
0:46:20 businesses to connect with their customers, so do voice and text. That’s Darina Kulia, co-founder of
0:46:26 our sponsor, OpenPhone. Trusted by more than 60,000 customers, this is the number one business phone
0:46:30 system that streamlines and scales your customer communications. I like to think of it like a
0:46:36 centralized hub to receive and respond to calls and texts in your business. And I asked Darina
0:46:42 about who’s typically signing up for this kind of service. We definitely have a lot of folks who come
0:46:49 to us and their personal cell phone has become their company phone number, and they’ve hired a team or
0:46:54 they’re starting to scale their business, and they just find themselves as a business owner, as a founder,
0:47:01 being the bottleneck. So we see that all the time. And then we also see folks much further along where
0:47:08 they’re using some legacy complicated tools that are just not really made for how communication happens
0:47:15 these days. We also just recently launched Sona, which is our voice AI agent that can handle any missed
0:47:21 calls. If you have clients calling outside of business hours, instead of them going to voicemail,
0:47:29 it can go into Sona, which is capable to handle any replies and can also take a message. So you are
0:47:30 capturing that lead information.
0:47:36 And it’s like, and it’s a robot, like it responds like on the fly with some pre-programmed responses.
0:47:40 It does such a great job. This way they can handle questions 24-7.
0:47:46 Now here’s a scenario for you. So let’s say I’ve committed to a certain business phone number,
0:47:52 I’ve distributed flyers, it’s printed on my business cards, it is on my local business listings,
0:47:58 on directories throughout the internet. Like what’s the process to now have that ring open phone system
0:47:59 versus the current system?
0:48:06 Totally. So we see this all the time. This process is called phone number porting. We port numbers from
0:48:12 all kinds of carriers. So basically no matter what provider you’re using, we can take that number and
0:48:17 move it over to open phone. It is free. We handle the whole thing. And if you want to try out open
0:48:22 phone, we have a free trial. You can try it out, see how you like it. And if you like it, you can then
0:48:26 decide to port your existing number over and we handle the whole process.
0:48:31 Now open phone has automatic AI call summaries, so you don’t have to worry about taking notes while
0:48:37 you’re on the call. But another cool feature is what Darina called AI call tagging, basically allowing
0:48:44 you to quickly filter for the calls that were sales objections or customer complaints or requests for a
0:48:49 discount. So you can review those and see what worked, what didn’t and train team members on the most
0:48:55 effective tactics and language in those cases. And it’s all in the name of building a better, faster and
0:49:00 friendlier customer experience. I want all open phone customers to have five stars only.
0:49:05 Right now, open phone is offering side hustle show listeners 20% off your first six months at
0:49:14 open phone.com slash side hustle. That’s O P E N P H O N E.com slash side hustle. And like we talked
0:49:18 about, if you’ve got an existing phone number with another service, open phone will port it over at
0:49:22 no extra charge. Open phone, no missed calls, no missed customers.
0:49:32 All right, we just got out of the time machine. It is mid 2025. It is four and a half years since
0:49:38 we last caught up with Jordan. So give me the rundown. What’s the current state of your laundromat empire
0:49:39 here?
0:49:45 Oh, so between partnerships and my own kind of laundromats, I’m at five right now.
0:49:50 Okay. But more coming down the pipeline for sure. We’ve got a couple more that are probably going
0:49:56 to close here within the next few months. Yeah. So you ended up starting what you called kind of an
0:50:01 investor pool, like almost like a syndication. It sounds like where we’re going to go out and try
0:50:08 and find bigger, better laundromats and, and put an operator in place and try and do it more passively
0:50:11 than showing up and collecting quarters yourself.
0:50:19 The biggest hurdle for that was actually finding deals and finding enough capacity, enough deals
0:50:22 in order to put that money to work.
0:50:27 Because of the podcast, because of your reputation in the industry, the raising money problem wasn’t,
0:50:31 wasn’t an issue. It was like the deal flow or the inventory.
0:50:35 Yeah, the deal flow. And so, you know, we, we tried a whole bunch of different things, including,
0:50:40 you know, trying to buy larger portfolios. There just aren’t that many of them and they don’t come
0:50:46 up for sale that often, which is, is a good and a bad thing, right? It’s a bad thing because it’s
0:50:52 hard to find those portfolio deals to deploy that larger amount of capital all at once. But the good
0:50:58 news of it is it’s like a witness to how good the business can be and how you can run a larger
0:51:04 portfolio relatively passively. So ran into a lot of obstacles and ended up shifting gears on that.
0:51:11 However, since we last talked, a lot more has kind of happened in the industry that is making it more
0:51:16 possible. So actually that dream is being revived because there’s some new tools and resources available
0:51:22 now that weren’t available even just four years ago to help us be able to do that. Not only acquire
0:51:28 those laundromats, but also, or build, but also to manage those laundromats much more effectively.
0:51:33 It’s become a kind of a buzzworthy thing. Laundromats, storage facilities, car washes,
0:51:39 people trying to get in the space. Has that made it more difficult to shop for, to find deals,
0:51:44 to there’s, there’s more, there’s more competition. There’s more buyers out there than there,
0:51:49 than there were. Thanks in part to your content, to the Cody Sanchez of the world. There’s,
0:51:51 it’s become a, it’s become a thing.
0:51:56 Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And not just, not just for me or my investment group or anything like that. I
0:52:02 mean, just like a lot of my consulting clients are just, they’re having problems. Fine. There’s a lot
0:52:06 more buyer demand than there are sellers right now. Yeah. Again, which is sort of a good thing and a bad
0:52:11 thing, right? It just, it shows how strong the industry is and how strong the business is. But when
0:52:17 you’re trying to buy them, it’s tough. Is there a certain multiple where you’re like, this doesn’t make
0:52:21 sense. Like I’ve been on the other side of it. I know there’s going to be some problems and headaches
0:52:27 and challenges. And it’s like, at a certain point, I got to go find something, something else to invest
0:52:33 in. We’ve definitely seen the multiples creep up. I think we talked maybe three to five times the net
0:52:39 for the multiple in terms of valuation. Now we’re looking at four and a half to five and a half in
0:52:44 most markets and in the larger markets, you’re starting at five, even for the kind of rundown
0:52:50 laundromats. And is there a multiple, I mean, it really depends on your goals of what you’re
0:52:53 trying to do. Yeah. And you couple that with higher interest rates and all of a sudden that
0:52:59 higher operating costs, utility costs have gone up, labor’s gone up. I mean, everything’s kind of gone
0:53:04 up. Rents have gone up. Does it still pencil? Like, are you still excited about it as a potential
0:53:07 side hustle or is it like, ah, I don’t know. It’s maybe that ship has sailed.
0:53:13 It’s, it’s still pencils. There’s just so much margin in there. And, and even still at a five X
0:53:18 multiple all cash, you’re still getting a 20% return on your investment. And then obviously
0:53:23 if you throw leverage on it, that number can go up from there. So yeah, even, even at a higher
0:53:29 valuation, you’re still doing pretty well and that’s assuming no growth of the business, et cetera. So
0:53:34 it definitely still pencils. The major hurdle right now is actually persevering long enough
0:53:38 to actually find that deal. Any strategies that you’re, that you’re working or you’re comfortable
0:53:42 sharing on the shopping side or deal sourcing side. We talked about some of the
0:53:48 biz buy sell type of brokerages or types of marketplaces. We talked about knocking on doors,
0:53:54 driving for dollars. We talked about some direct mail strategies. Anything else you see in work for
0:53:56 yourself or your coaching clients?
0:54:01 All those things are still important to do. Looking for those brokers, doing direct mail,
0:54:05 doing some door knocking. You got to get a little more creative, maybe check in Facebook marketplace,
0:54:13 Craigslist type stuff. Working with distributors who sell equipment, maybe checking with maintenance
0:54:19 technicians who service laundromats. And cause they’re the ones who are going to know when the owners are
0:54:26 frustrated and ready to sell first. Okay. Okay. Right. And then work, work all the different angles. Yeah. Yeah. The main
0:54:36 strategy here is increased volume, like of as much as you, I mean, I get it. Like we, most of us have like jobs and we
0:54:44 have lives and we have families and friends and things to do, but as much volume of direct mail, of cold calling, of
0:54:51 talking to broker, like as much volume as you can do, that’s going to give you a higher success rate or chances
0:54:54 of success in a timely fashion.
0:54:59 One big shift. And it looks like, I mean, you’re joining me from Hawaii instead of SoCal where the laundromats
0:55:03 are. So that seems like a big, a big shift in remote management.
0:55:09 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you listen to the first one, like the original goal was to get a house on the
0:55:13 beach in Hawaii or a condo on the beach in Hawaii. And we ended up with a little detour, a little side
0:55:19 here we are a decade later. And finally, you know, across the street from the beach over here,
0:55:24 which is pretty sweet. I maybe have even, even talked about how like for decades, this industry
0:55:30 has not changed, has not developed technologically. We’re behind the times. However, in the last four
0:55:35 years, we’ve made some pretty big strides. I wouldn’t say that we’re, you know, on the cutting
0:55:40 edge or anything yet, but made some pretty big strides in terms of technology, payment systems,
0:55:47 operating software management opportunities to be able to manage remotely. That has been
0:55:54 a game changer. And I would say probably that in combination of an elevated presence in social
0:56:01 media has been the main thing that has brought kind of more savvy, more sophisticated entrepreneurs
0:56:07 and investors. And we’re even starting to see some private equity money trying to creep into the space
0:56:16 now. I think in large part is because the awareness has been elevated, but right at the time when the
0:56:22 ability to manage remotely, to be able to manage a larger portfolio, to be able to get the data that
0:56:28 you need to be able to make good business decisions is now it’s here. Finally, it’s in the palm of our
0:56:29 hands. So we can utilize that now.
0:56:37 Yeah. So one driver would be like a cashless payment system. So you can kind of manage or
0:56:43 you get a sense of performance remotely without having to log in. And we’ve heard about this in
0:56:47 like vending machines, for example, I have to go by the machine to see what’s out of stock because
0:56:54 it tells me on the app what’s going to be needed. And imagine you can do similar things here without
0:57:00 having to be on site all the time. It sounds like maybe the building itself can be mostly unattended.
0:57:05 You have somebody come in and clean it up, take care of it once a day, check on things, but not
0:57:08 not on site 24 seven.
0:57:13 Yeah. Well, and what’s interesting too, is over the last, I’d say four years, maybe this is,
0:57:18 this is already happening four years ago, but we’ve seen it kind of accelerate is there’s a sort
0:57:25 of bifurcation in the industry happening where you’ve got a lot more tools to remote manage and
0:57:31 automate a lot of things, like you said, and you have less of a need for somebody to be there, but also
0:57:39 you’ve got these full service laundry centers that are developing here where they’re fully staffed all
0:57:47 times. They’re open long hours. They highly focus on customer service. They offer drop-off service.
0:57:54 They do pick up and delivery out of their locations and they, they become sort of a one-stop
0:58:00 shop for all things laundry, dry cleaning, all that stuff. Right. And we’re seeing a lot more of
0:58:06 those. It’s leading to larger locations. It’s leading to higher revenues, but obviously a lot more
0:58:13 involved. Yeah. Yeah. At least initially until you can get management in place and get that machine
0:58:18 running from you, but I’ve got some buddies who are operating some of these big super centers and
0:58:25 just as passive as, you know, the person running the, the unattended stores.
0:58:30 Yeah. It’s funny. One of the most, probably the most popular book that’s been recommended on the
0:58:37 show in the last 12 to 18 months is buy back your time by Dan Martell and I’m working my way through
0:58:42 it. But common examples, like I really don’t, doing laundry doesn’t really light me up. You know,
0:58:47 don’t really check that box of where, where’s my zone of genius. And so more and more people
0:58:53 perhaps are shifting towards outsourcing this chore. And we’ve seen services, there’s a couple
0:58:58 kind of like Uber for laundry where it’s like, um, Poplin is one. I think there’s another one called
0:59:03 Hamper or maybe they emerged or something, but it’s like, and, and from the side hustle perspective,
0:59:06 it’s like, Oh, if you are the person who likes doing laundry, you can get paid to do other people’s
0:59:12 laundry. Have you seen kind of that shift where more and more, it’s not just the people who don’t
0:59:18 have a washer and dryer in their house, in their apartment. It’s the people who were like, I just
0:59:23 want to deal with this anymore. Like you hire, hire this out. Yeah. We S we’ve seen a huge explosion
0:59:29 of that. Uh, and that, that side of the industry, that service side, the drop-off laundry, where you
0:59:35 drop it off the location or the pickup and delivery is grown by leaps and bounds. Uh, and I, I genuinely
0:59:41 think that laundry is going to become the next yard work. Like where, where I live, people aren’t really
0:59:49 mowing their lawns. Uh, and I think as, as people learn that I can just drop my dirty laundry on my
0:59:54 front porch and somebody will come grab it. And the laundry fairy brings it back clean and folded,
0:59:59 uh, for me that I just think more and more people are going to opt for that. Speaking of buy back your
1:00:05 time, right? Like who wants to be doing laundry half the day on Saturday? Uh, nobody, right? Well,
1:00:10 it’s not, there are some weirdos that love laundry. Uh, I’ll just say that, uh, love doing laundry.
1:00:15 I don’t know. I’m in charge of the laundry in our house and it’s like, it’s not, it’s not something I
1:00:19 dread doing. I mean, the machine does most of the work and then you’re going to forget it. It’s an
1:00:24 excuse to, you know, listen to a podcast or watch some Netflix or something, but it’s not the end of
1:00:29 the world. But I could see if from, from the side hustle perspective, like, yeah, the acquisition
1:00:35 side has become more competitive here, but also the upside and the, and the pie has maybe gotten a
1:00:40 little bit bigger as well on the, on the demand of who’s using this type of service. Yeah. And we’re
1:00:46 actually seeing a lot more people come in solely on the service side, or at least initially on the
1:00:51 service side, right? So a lot of people are starting pickup and delivery businesses in their
1:00:57 communities before owning or without owning a laundromat, right? And they’ll just process the
1:01:02 laundry at a laundromat or they’ll build some, something out in their garage or in a shed out
1:01:09 back or lots of different ways people are doing it. But I’m seeing a lot more people, uh, doing that
1:01:14 and doing it as a side hustle kind of before and after work. The beauty of the service side of the
1:01:20 business is really the sky’s the limit on, on what you can do on a physical location. You’re
1:01:25 limited by your capacity of how much business you can do, but on the pickup and delivery side,
1:01:29 Scott, I mean, you can process overnight, you can go to multiple locations, you can go to other
1:01:33 people’s locations and process it. There’s lots of options there. Yeah. Yeah. That’s an, I mean,
1:01:38 that’s what these kind of startup peer-to-peer laundry type of services are essentially doing.
1:01:44 If we can build a distributed army of contractors, laundry contractors, and we can go out and serve
1:01:51 tons and tons of clients. Yeah. Anything else, uh, trend wise or in the personal portfolio that
1:01:57 is interesting of note, uh, over the last few years? I’m seeing a consolidation right now starting
1:02:04 to happen. There’s fewer owners owning larger portfolios. This has been traditionally a mom
1:02:09 and pop industry, right? Like it’s not rocket science. It’s just laundry. And yeah, that’s something
1:02:14 we talked about. It was super, super fragmented. Yeah. And it still is. I mean, it’s still by and
1:02:20 large is, however, there are more people getting more aggressive about building or buying laundromats
1:02:24 and building private equity rollups. They’re coming, coming for you. They’re coming. And I think with
1:02:32 that comes multiples that start to go up, uh, even more. Um, it wouldn’t surprise me if down the line,
1:02:37 we start seeing 10 X multipliers in the business. Yeah. All right. Well, now, now’s the time to get
1:02:43 in. If you find one for sale in your hometown, you can find Jordan again at laundromat resource.com
1:02:50 hosting the laundromat resource podcast. Any other advice before we wrap? If you can persevere enough
1:02:57 and actually find those deals, the rewards are still there for you. And, uh, in some ways that barrier is,
1:03:04 is a, is a good thing. Uh, cause it does weed out a lot of competition. Um, so persevere there and then
1:03:08 don’t go it alone. Uh, you know, lots of free resources out there. Lots of people out there
1:03:13 help you like with any side hustle or any investment that you’re doing. Um, just save yourself the
1:03:20 headache and, and, uh, borrow somebody else’s 10,000 hours. Uh, absolutely start off on the right foot.
1:03:24 Very good. Jordan, thanks so much for sharing your insight. Thanks to our sponsors for helping
1:03:29 make this content free for everyone. As always, you can hit upside hustle nation.com slash deals for
1:03:34 all the latest offers from our sponsors in one place. That is it for me. Thank you so much for
1:03:38 tuning in until next time. Let’s go out there and make something happen. And I’ll catch you in
1:03:41 the next edition of the side hustle show hustle on.