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Bonus: Laundromat Millionaire Recast from 10/30/2025 — Transcript

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0:00It's not semi-passive when you buy it,
0:01and unless you're buying it for a lot of
0:03money, right? Unless you're you're
0:04paying a really good multiple on it, and
0:06actually paying buying it for what it's
0:08worth. And most people don't want to do
0:09that. They want to get it in, you know,
0:11"Oh, I got this great deal on this
0:12laundromat." And you bought yourself a
0:14job for the next 5 years. Um and if you
0:17self-improve, and and if you hire the
0:19right team, and if you put the right
0:21processes in place, if if if, then it
0:25can be semi-passive. And you can get it
0:28to a place to where you don't have to be
0:30there every day.
0:31>> Hello, and welcome to the Laundromat
0:33Ownership Podcast. I'm your host, Ian
0:35Gollahon. Me and my business partner,
0:37Brian Henderson, own three laundromats
0:39in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, called
0:41Liberty Laundry.
0:42In 2025, those laundromats did $2.5
0:45million top-line revenue.
0:47But, we are also the founders of the
0:49original point of sale system for
0:51laundromats, which is Wash-Dry-Fold POS.
0:55You might sometimes see it as WDF POS uh
0:58online. That's what they'll call us in
1:00the form sometimes. But,
1:02Wash-Dry-Fold POS and Liberty Laundry
1:04are the two companies that we own in the
1:06laundry space.
1:07And for this podcast, I'm actually going
1:10to be uh recasting my very first uh
1:14podcast episode. The thing that got it
1:16all started was the Dave and Carla
1:18Mann's Laundromat Millionaire Podcast
1:20that I was a guest on. Uh
1:22most of the podcasts I do are about
1:24guests or um
1:27topics. And on this podcast, it's really
1:29going to be them asking questions about
1:31me and my past. Without further ado,
1:33let's get into my interview on the
1:36Laundromat Millionaire Podcast.
1:48>> Ian, welcome to the show. It's a
1:50pleasure to have you on the Laundromat
1:51Millionaire Show.
1:53>> Thank you for having me. Excited.
1:55>> For those that are watching this, Ian
1:57may look familiar to you, especially if
1:58you were just at the Clean Show.
2:00Um if you're familiar with Wash-Dry-Fold
2:02POS, one of the software platforms
2:04that's out there, they had a pretty
2:05substantial booth uh at the show just a
2:07few months ago. Um but uh the truth is,
2:10we've known Ian and uh his business
2:11partner Brian Henderson for a while. In
2:13fact, Carlo, we were just talking before
2:15we went live that uh that Brian uh was
2:18the number eight episode of the entire
2:20show, which was almost 100 episodes now.
2:23>> Yeah, I had to go look it up. It was
2:24back May of 2021. So, it's it's been a
2:27while since we had Brian on here and
2:29heard the whole Wash-Dry-Fold POS story
2:31and how it came to be.
2:32>> So, if it's been a while, I mean, it's 4
2:34years old. It's a little bit evergreen,
2:36but I'm sure I'm sure a lot has changed,
2:38and that's why we had Ian on here today
2:39is
2:40um Ian Ian and Brian, his business
2:42partners, have been up to some pretty
2:44big things. They've acquired a chain of
2:45kind of turnkey laundromats, um
2:48increased the revenue substantially by
2:50$400,000
2:51um in just a couple years, and they're
2:53still running and growing Wash-Dry-Fold
2:55POS. So, obviously, a ton would change
2:58in the technology world um and even 1
3:00year, let alone 4. And so, this is a
3:02little bit of an update and a little bit
3:03of a telling Ian story, which is, you
3:05know, slightly different than Brian's
3:07story. Um but I'm sure you look like a
3:09familiar face to a lot of people in the
3:10industry cuz you've been around a while.
3:12>> How long have you been in the industry?
3:13I talked to about half the people at the
3:14last Clean Show.
3:17A lot of people recognized me.
3:18>> Yeah. How long has it been since you've
3:19been in the industry? It's been 10 10
3:21years?
3:22>> Yeah, I started in 2016.
3:25>> Okay.
3:25>> Um so, about 10 years. Um
3:28>> Okay.
3:28>> I guess maybe nine. But um
3:31Yeah, it's it's been a while. I've
3:33learned a lot, and man, has it been such
3:35a good thing. It's really changed my
3:36life uh for the better. I just can't
3:38imagine if I had not met Brian Henderson
3:41and gotten into laundromats, what would
3:43I be doing today? I don't know. But I I
3:45don't think I would be,
3:46you know, on the same journey of
3:48self-improvement and self-actualization
3:50that I've been on. And so, it's really
3:52been a blessing for me.
3:53>> Mhm. Wow. Very cool. What a great guy to
3:55know.
3:56>> So, prior to getting into the laundry
3:58industry, was your background more in
4:00like software development? Is
4:02Is that how he got you into
4:03Wash-Dry-Fold POS?
4:05>> Great question. It was actually in sales
4:07and marketing. And I was trying to sell
4:08him, or I did sell him some billboards
4:11for his laundromats.
4:12>> Oh, really?
4:12>> Um just like some like little smaller
4:14billboards, more at like eye level at
4:16stop lights kind of around the
4:17laundromats.
4:19They didn't really work that great, but
4:20we became friends anyway. I mean, he was
4:22like, "I'll try them." I gave him a like
4:24a cheap deal on, you know, let's just
4:25give it a shot. And
4:27I mean, maybe they paid for themselves,
4:29you know, but they didn't they didn't
4:31have some amazing outcome. But me and
4:33him just he's just such a nice guy. He's
4:35just one of those salt of the earth type
4:37of people. I've honestly never met
4:39someone just so honest and
4:42uh caring and giving. Um I remember when
4:45we first started working together, we we
4:47went to go eat at a little local chain
4:49Rib Crib. And uh
4:51the lady didn't charge us for our
4:52drinks. And you know, I grew up you
4:55know, we didn't have a lot of money. So,
4:57it's like for us like free sodas at a
4:58sit-down restaurant, this is like this
5:00is our birthday. But Brian was Brian was
5:03like, "Oh, you didn't put the sodas on
5:05the tab." And she was like, "Oh, don't
5:06worry about it." And I got He was like,
5:08"No, we we had the sodas. I want I want
5:10the business owner to get paid for the
5:11sodas we drank. So, if you wouldn't mind
5:13putting them on the tab." So, she took
5:14the tab back and put the sodas on.
5:16I was like, "Wow, what a person that
5:19that it would never even have occurred
5:21to me that that um you know,
5:24uh that level of honesty and and uh
5:27he's really an inspiring person to work
5:29with. So, he's really I feel like helped
5:31me a lot of my own personal journey. So,
5:34yeah, it's been great. But But no,
5:35before that I did billboards. I did
5:37sales. So, I've been sales for since I
5:39was like 14.
5:41>> Has that been your primary role at
5:43Wash-Dry-Fold POS? Was more on the sales
5:45side of it?
5:47>> Absolutely. And even at Liberty Laundry
5:49for the laundromats we've acquired, it
5:50really has just been about increasing
5:52revenue. And you know, I started in
5:54sales cuz my dad was in sales. I
5:56thought, well, if he could do it, I can
5:58do it. And uh you know, it's just kind
6:00of a family thing. But also, I just
6:02haven't, you know,
6:04a lot of other work is really hard, and
6:06sales has always been easy to me. You
6:08just talk to people. I like people. I
6:09like talking. And and um
6:12so it's just it's been fun. And you do
6:14get to help people occasionally, and
6:15that's always good. And um
6:18so yeah, I've just been in sales. I
6:19think uh
6:20remember like one of my first little uh
6:22uh
6:23sales thing was like, you know, the
6:24door-to-door. You're selling like
6:26newspaper subscriptions to like kids.
6:28You know, I was like 14.
6:29Uh I cuz I couldn't drive yet, so I
6:31couldn't get a real job. But this guy
6:32would pick me up, and yeah, we all got
6:34back to the van, and I think everyone
6:36else had sold combined. There was like
6:38six kids or something, but they had sold
6:40three, and I had sold 12. And so it was
6:42like, okay.
6:44You you had sold four times the rest of
6:46everyone else combined. So I guess this
6:47is what I'm going to do, and
6:49I've just been doing it ever since.
6:50Yeah, that's kind of what I like to do.
6:51And it's it's kind of moved more into
6:52management and marketing and and growth.
6:55And not as much I don't do sales calls
6:57every day like I used to. But I'm still
6:59in that space, yeah.
7:00>> So we definitely want to get to Wash Dry
7:02Fold POS, and we want kind of an update
7:04on on so much has changed um since we
7:07last had Brian on here. But before we
7:09get into that, let's hit a little bit on
7:11your laundromat journey. So you acquired
7:14three laundromats, basically a turnkey
7:16chain of laundromats back in 2022. Is
7:19that correct?
7:20>> Yeah.
7:20>> Liberty Laundry. So three laundromats in
7:23Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, which is your
7:26hometown, I assume.
7:27>> Yeah.
7:28>> Yeah.
7:28>> Yep.
7:29>> Um so couple things I want to talk about
7:32with that is one, I know you all
7:34increased revenue. Even though it was a
7:35turnkey store, you would think, okay,
7:37there's not much more you can do. I want
7:38to hear about how you increased revenue.
7:41And the other thing that I really want
7:42to hit on is the fact you all do this
7:44along with wash, dry, fold POS tells me
7:47you do not work in your business, but
7:49you work on your business. So, kind of
7:51how you manage that. So, let's start
7:53with um let's start with how did you
7:55increase the revenue from 2.1 million at
7:58acquisition to now 2.5 million? What
8:02kind of things did you figure out that
8:04could bring in that extra revenue?
8:06>> Yeah, and we acquired it on April 21st,
8:092023. So, 2020 2023 um but uh yeah, so
8:15you know we just looked at it and said,
8:17"Okay, what can we do to just improve
8:19the situation as fast as we can?"
8:22Obviously, there were some machines that
8:23needed to be repaired, right? So,
8:25getting all the machines working. And it
8:27wasn't that the previous owner uh was
8:29slacking, it's just that you know how it
8:31is with distributors, you know, "Oh,
8:33that part's on order" or whatever. And
8:35so, we were like, "Look, that part's
8:36been on order for 6 months. You guys got
8:38to fix it or we got a real problem
8:39here." So, we really tried to get all
8:43the machines fixed as quick as we can.
8:45The logo was out of date. The logo had a
8:47quarter.
8:49We did Laundry Works. That was one of
8:50the other things we did, put Laundry
8:51Works on all the stores, which we
8:52thought that would decrease the revenue.
8:54Um but turns out uh just getting rid of
8:57all the coins, people love the bonus,
8:58you know, they like to get the $2 bonus
9:00when they add 20 bucks.
9:01And just making the place we we gave
9:04everyone a raise, right? All the
9:05employees got raises. Um we did hire
9:08more people. We have a um a facilities
9:11manager that his only job is now just to
9:13go around and fix everything as soon as
9:15it breaks.
9:16And when you have three stores, there's
9:19a lot of things that break. Um and so uh
9:23yeah, just putting in automated systems.
9:26But then one of the big things, my
9:29background being in billboard
9:30advertising I noticed on like the
9:32outdoor signage, it was not designed to
9:35actually sell. And so, I redesigned all
9:37the outdoor signage to actually bring
9:39people in. And so, if you look at some
9:41of the increased revenue, a lot of it is
9:43comforters because I put comforters, you
9:45know, on all the, you know, self-serve
9:48comforters. Like, you've only got room
9:49for like three words, and one of those
9:50words should be comforters at a
9:52laundromat because
9:54the self-serve people you're going to
9:55get cuz they need a place to go to
9:56laundry, but there's a lot of people
9:58that have washers and dryers at home,
10:00but they're not big enough for king-size
10:01comforters. And so, we get a ton of
10:03comforters They're so easy to wash,
10:06right? They don't take a lot of time.
10:08And I think we charge like 40, 50 bucks,
10:10you know, per comforter. So, it's a
10:12great revenue stream. Um so, just
10:15improving the outdoor marketing, the
10:16outdoor signage was really good. And
10:18then, honestly, just offering a better
10:20product. Um again, the the last owner
10:23was great, and he grew it to, you know,
10:25that 2.1 million. It was about 700 per
10:28store,
10:30roughly.
10:31Um and it just kind of plateaued there,
10:33and he was kind of more focused on He's
10:35retiring, you know, he was he was ready
10:37to get out. And I totally get it, and he
10:39had built it to where he was happy with
10:41it.
10:42And then, when we got it, we were just
10:43like, what what can we fix? What can we
10:45uh improve on that we've learned talking
10:47to other laundromats over the years?
10:49And yeah, turns out we were able to to
10:52actually
10:53I mean, I was just thinking about this
10:55earlier today. I work at it a few hours
10:57a week. Um I just I was just over there
10:59fixing a bill breaker cuz we still don't
11:01let people into the bill breakers, but
11:02everything else we have employees for.
11:05Um
11:06and Brian probably works on it 10 hours
11:07a week. So, I I think between the two of
11:09us, we probably do under 20.
11:11And it is 2. 2.5 in 2025,
11:15and then the net profit is is is at
11:17least 40%. So, and it's an S corp. So,
11:20for a business that you don't put a lot
11:23of time into, we we have kind of
11:26People call it semi-passive, but you
11:27know it's not semi-passive until you
11:30really put the work in to make it
11:32semi-passive and so that's what we've
11:34done but but we are very much process
11:36people and when we first acquired it
11:38that first year we were working on it 40
11:40hours a week just to get all the
11:41processes in place
11:43um so that we could step back and focus
11:45on the software company again and and
11:47that's what we've done and that's that's
11:48really you know that's what the excites
11:50us but um the laundromats have really
11:52been
11:53um
11:54it's such a great learning experience
11:56not only managing people but
11:58uh you know I've been serving
11:59laundromats since 2016 but it's it's
12:02quite a different thing when you get
12:03that phone call and it's on fire you
12:04know so it's
12:06it's uh it's been an experience
12:08>> Yes it is.
12:09>> Yeah I I do want to talk about the fires
12:11but I want to back up cuz you hit a lot
12:12of things that you did to help increase
12:15that revenue. So first can we back up
12:17and talk about the payment system? I
12:19know you said that so you integrated
12:21LaundryWorks into all three locations
12:24correct?
12:25>> Yes and
12:27yeah what that means is we took away the
12:29coins because obviously emptying those
12:31little boxes and the hoppers
12:34that is so much of the non-semi-passive
12:37part of the business is managing those
12:38coins. So we put LaundryWorks in all
12:40three stores right away and we've loved
12:42that product. We actually just built a
12:44much deeper integration with them we can
12:46talk about later on the software side um
12:48but we've been really happy with with
12:50that it's really taken a lot off our
12:52plate.
12:53>> Do So do your customers have to purchase
12:55a LaundryWorks card to use
12:58the laundromat?
13:00>> Yeah to start the machines they do and
13:01so we were a hybrid store where you
13:03could do coin or card
13:05and so we thought that taking coins away
13:06would reduce the income and that's what
13:08every laundromat owner says oh our
13:10people are all coins you know and I'm
13:12sure that's true in some areas
13:14uh but we had about half coins and half
13:16card and so you would think that some
13:18people would just walk away
13:20um but if they come in with coins and
13:22they're like wait how do I start the
13:23machine that's what employees are for
13:25train your employees to go be like, "Oh,
13:28you've got coins? Great. Come on over
13:29here to the register. I'm going to get
13:31you this $20 bill here, and if you put
13:33this in, you're going to get 22 back."
13:35And the machine starts. Oh, wow. So,
13:36it's so much better than coins.
13:38And then guess what? They don't spend
13:40all $22, so they have to come back to
13:43your store. And so, it does build
13:44loyalty.
13:46Um and then
13:47yeah, it it's honestly, it's just been
13:49better system for everyone. Um so, so
13:52yeah, I do think that has increased
13:53revenue, actually. Um and and increased
13:56loyalty, as well. And people just like
13:58to load They like to load bigger
13:59balances because they get that bonus
14:01money.
14:01>> Well, and I'm not sure when these were
14:03built, but um would it Was it about 20
14:05years ago? Is that about right?
14:07>> The oldest one, yeah.
14:08>> Oldest one was about 20 years ago.
14:10>> about 20 years ago.
14:10>> And you acquired them about 2 and 1/2, 3
14:12years ago. So, I mean
14:13>> That's right.
14:14>> it's a very different time in the
14:15industry, you know, we got in the
14:16industry in 2010. Um and those would
14:18have been built roughly 5 years before
14:20that, at least the first one. Um it was
14:22a very different time in the industry
14:23back then, where you know, our industry
14:25has evolved an awful lot just regarding
14:27technology. So, there was there was a
14:29better argument for coins when we got in
14:32the industry 15, 20 years ago and when
14:34these stores were built. And I think
14:36that's I know for us it's kind of run
14:38its cycle. Sounds like you guys felt
14:40like it had run its cycle, too. But I I
14:42do want to clarify on this that that
14:44Brian, which is your business partner,
14:46right? You guys own these together. Um
14:48this was Brian's family that built
14:50these, right? And he started out in the
14:52industry as as I don't know if it was an
14:54operations manager, but I know he worked
14:56there in some way, and that's kind of
14:57the If you go back to the episode 8 we
14:59were talking about, that's kind of his
15:01story into the industry is they had a
15:03problem in these stores with a POS, and
15:05back then none of the softwares and POSs
15:07really existed. So, Brian was solving a
15:10problem for himself.
15:11Um so, I find it interesting that he
15:13took that journey in the you know, in
15:15his younger years. Uh and not that he's
15:17not young now, but and then he and then
15:19he evolved into WashDryFold pick up and
15:21delivery, or I'm sorry, wash dry fold
15:22POS and did that for
15:25Do I want to say 8 years? 5 8 10 years
15:28something like that? And then he's kept
15:30that business going with a team that you
15:32all have built in your partnership, but
15:34now he's gone back to owning laundromats
15:36or I guess gone to owning laundromats by
15:38acquiring his family's chain. That's a
15:40really interesting journey.
15:42>> Yeah, the way his dad put it to us was
15:45I'm selling the laundromats this year
15:46whether you guys buy them or not.
15:48>> Mhm.
15:48Okay.
15:49>> For us it was like, you know, he always
15:50wanted to own the family business and he
15:53didn't start as the ops manager, he
15:54started as just
15:56you know, running
15:56>> an attendant
15:57>> running the desk, you know, just as a as
15:59an attendant and kind of moved up and
16:01and really uh self-improved to get his
16:04management skills up there. And so it
16:06was funny when we bought the laundromats
16:08from his dad, most of the management
16:10team he had hired
16:12or you know, they had hired people and
16:15they were still on board. So he had
16:17hired them and then they had hired the
16:18other like one of our um uh managers,
16:20Amber got hired by one of the managers,
16:23uh Becky that he had hired. So uh it was
16:26funny that yeah, he didn't really have
16:28to introduce himself uh because he had
16:30really helped to build that company
16:32>> Right. Yeah.
16:32>> to what it was and um it's funny too
16:36even with the point of sale side of
16:37things and I do think this is, you know,
16:39important for the conversation in
16:40general. It's not like
16:43hey, we can't find a good point of sale
16:44system, let's build one. It was more
16:46like the orders are getting messed up,
16:49they're getting mixed around, we're
16:50getting too busy, things are getting
16:52lost. Um you know, people aren't picking
16:55up their laundry, you know, for like a
16:57week. Like how do we get it back off the
16:59shelf? Uh of course employee theft which
17:02you you never think you have until you
17:03realize you do. Um and so there was all
17:07these individual problems and I think uh
17:11Brian was really early in the industry
17:13about implementing technology in the
17:15laundromats to help solve those
17:17problems. It just so happened that the
17:18point of sale system, that's the
17:20computer on the on the desk that can put
17:23the systems in place to help you solve
17:25all those organizational issues.
17:29Um so, that's kind of how we got into
17:30there is he tried I think 12 other
17:32systems and maybe somewhere built more
17:33for um
17:35you know, uh dry cleaners or somewhere
17:37built more for whatever other kind of
17:39store and eventually it became clear,
17:42especially if we were going to integrate
17:44with all the major brands like Dexter
17:45Laundry Works and Alliance Speed Queen,
17:47we really had to have our own platform
17:49to to build everything that we needed to
17:51run our stores. Um or to run John's
17:53stores that are now our stores.
17:56So, it ended up working out for us.
17:57>> This may be a obvious question, but I'll
17:59I'll ask it anyways just for the people
18:01that are watching back at home, but what
18:02made you and Brian want to acquire the
18:04stores? I mean, his dad said, "I'm
18:05selling them whether you're buying them
18:06or not." I mean, you could have just as
18:08easily been like, "You know, we got
18:09enough on our plates with our team and
18:11our company." What what made you guys
18:13want to buy those?
18:15>> Well, that that may be what I have said.
18:17Uh
18:18that may not have been my
18:19>> At the time.
18:20>> thought initially, yeah.
18:22Like, we've got a lot on our plate.
18:24>> Right. You realize um
18:26You were actually You were both actually
18:27aware they don't run themselves.
18:30Some people think they do. You guys do
18:31better.
18:32>> like, "You know, you want to do other
18:34stuff besides work, right? Uh and we're
18:36going to acquire a
18:38another business
18:40um with even more employees." Cuz the
18:41software business you can run pretty
18:43lean, but the you know, the laundromats
18:45I think we've got 25 employees on staff
18:48at any given time between the three
18:50stores. And so,
18:52it's actually a In some ways it's a more
18:54complicated business. It's It's more
18:56complicated in some ways. It's more
18:57simple in others. But as far as managing
18:59personnel, there's there's more
19:00personnel to manage um
19:03and more overhead in general.
19:05And more asset heavy as well, of course.
19:07Um
19:08but I think, you know, Brian and I
19:10always talk about what kind of vehicle
19:11do we want to be in, right? And uh
19:14I think people ask themselves that at
19:16some point in their lives with their
19:18careers
19:19of where do I want to end up? What's the
19:21destination? And
19:23you know, if I'm walking, do I need to
19:25get on a bike to get there? Do I need to
19:26be in a car? Do I need to get on a
19:28plane? And you know, for us, the
19:31destination was well, we want to have
19:34you know, semi-passive income
19:36for the rest of our lives, even into
19:38retirement. And you can't really run a
19:41software company
19:43um into your 60s, or at least I haven't
19:45seen it done
19:47uh at the startup level. May- maybe if
19:49it's an established software company,
19:50but um for us, this was kind of the
19:53business that we want to own forever. Um
19:56and Wash Dry Fold POS is the business
19:58that may- maybe we'll own forever as
20:00well, but we are really aggressive about
20:03hiring young talents and you know,
20:07putting people there that we know uh can
20:09run the business without us, you know,
20:11for
20:12um for the software side of things. And
20:14then for the the laundromat side of
20:16things, I think we're actually the
20:17younger people sometimes. And And it's
20:19more about, you know, the our ladies,
20:21our team of ladies that we love. And um
20:23But we we we do have people of all ages,
20:25but I think for us, it was more of a um
20:27looking at our own personal, you know,
20:29portfolios, and do we want laundromats
20:32in them?
20:33And having, you know, talked to 3,000
20:35laundromat owners, we knew it was a good
20:36business. And we knew it was a good
20:38thing to buy. It was a good investment.
20:39We knew wasn't semi-passive, to your
20:41point. Um but also we knew how good
20:44Liberty Laundry
20:46uh was run and staffed. And we knew that
20:49it was already pretty turnkey, like you
20:50said.
20:51And when you've already done the due
20:53diligence on something like that, um
20:56it makes it kind of hard to to to pass
20:58up an opportunity like that. I think
21:00for Brian, it was never a question. He
21:02was always going to run his dad's
21:03laundromats one day. And so, I think
21:05this was just the right time for
21:07everyone.
21:07>> Mhm.
21:08So, I want to address something real
21:10quick before we get into the rest of the
21:11story on both sides of the equation. So,
21:13you've used the word semi-passive
21:15several times already. And everybody's
21:18ears are tickling a little bit right now
21:19because whether you say
21:21I know, I can see people at home
21:23freaking out.
21:25And I would love for you to expound upon
21:26that. And and I and I know what you mean
21:29cuz I mean Carla works a couple hours in
21:31the business doing some bookkeeping in
21:32our Queen City laundry. I literally work
21:342 hours a week in the business almost
21:36every week. Um it's really not that the
21:38business doesn't need us to run it. It's
21:41that it needs somebody to run it. And if
21:44you grow the business enough
21:46as far as the margins and the net
21:47profit, things like that, that there's a
21:50uh
21:50there's a misconception in the industry
21:52that there aren't enough profits in the
21:54business for the owner to step out of
21:56the business and higher layers of
21:58management. We are proof that's not
22:00true. You are proof that's not true. But
22:02I'd love for you to just expound upon
22:03that a little bit more. And I wonder how
22:06semi-passive was it when you bought it
22:07versus what you've done today cuz it
22:09sounds like you guys did an awful lot to
22:11make it more semi-passive than maybe
22:14what you acquired.
22:16>> I think a lot of times what people mean
22:18when they say they're going to make it
22:20semi-passive what we've seen a lot is
22:23they buy it and then they treat it like
22:25a vending machine, right? And I'm not
22:27saying that's where it was when we
22:28bought it, but I do think if you're not
22:31actively investing, right? And I know,
22:33you know, CapEx, no one loves it, but
22:36you have to be investing in equipment
22:39and in the buildings and in the people.
22:42>> Mhm.
22:42>> Um and in the processes and and
22:45everything.
22:46If you're constantly doing that and
22:48working on the business like you said,
22:50you can eventually bring it to a place
22:52where
22:53it doesn't function it's not like owning
22:56a stock, but it's certainly not like
22:58working the desk at a gas station or
23:00something like that. And I do think the
23:02industry, like you said, it has shifted.
23:05Um you know, I think the the sales pitch
23:07you hear for buying a laundromat is
23:10you know, you'll just buy it and it's
23:12going to be in your your portfolio.
23:14But typically it's a journey to get to
23:16that. And luckily we kind of found it
23:19the journey had mostly been done and
23:21that's one of the reasons we were
23:22willing to buy it because we knew it
23:23wasn't going to be like hey, you've got
23:25to turn this hole in the wall into this
23:27huge business. It was already a I mean,
23:302.1 million is not shabby for three
23:32laundromats. Um
23:34So uh
23:36but yeah, to to get it to a semi-passive
23:38place, we did have to work some with the
23:40management team. We did have to hire
23:42more people. We had to fix a lot of
23:44things. We had to put a lot of processes
23:45in place because there was a lot of cash
23:47handling when we bought it and that cash
23:49handling is probably the hardest thing
23:51to outsource because
23:54I mean, it's just thousands of dollars
23:55in cash, right? And
23:58you don't necessarily have a lot of
24:00employees that you want to put in that
24:01situation to have their their hands on
24:05what feels to them like life-changing
24:06money. And so um
24:10So I think, you know,
24:12yeah, I think it's not semi-passive when
24:14you buy it and unless you're buying it
24:16for a lot of money, right? Unless you're
24:17you're paying a really good multiple on
24:19it and actually paying buying it for
24:21what it's worth. And most people don't
24:23want to do that. They want to get it in,
24:24you know, oh, I got this great deal on
24:25this laundromat and you bought yourself
24:27a job for the next five years. Um and if
24:30you self-improve and and if you hire the
24:33right team and if you put the right
24:35processes in place, if if if, then it
24:38can be semi-passive
24:40>> Mhm.
24:40>> and you can get it to a place um to
24:43where you don't have to be there every
24:44day. But I know when John bought or when
24:47he built the first store, he was
24:49sleeping there
24:50>> I remember that.
24:50>> uh for a little bit of time. Like I
24:52mean, he was there all the time.
24:54>> he was there.
24:54>> Yep.
24:55>> So he kind of did the hard part, you
24:57know, and he he didn't have he didn't
24:59have the financial infrastructure that
25:01we had going into it cuz we already had
25:04a really good business
25:06with cash flow, you know, he had just uh
25:09you know, basically just transitioned
25:11away from the recording industry or the
25:13um
25:14uh I think he was a disc jockey and then
25:16all that consolidation happened. And so,
25:19you know, he he just needed to provide
25:20for his family and so, he would just put
25:22every penny he had into an SBA loan to
25:24get it going and and it was nowhere near
25:26semi-passive when it when it started. Uh
25:29but, he was able to build a really good
25:31asset for his family. And then um really
25:34able to kind of secure an exit that
25:37asset even though he sold it to his son,
25:39he still has, you know, now the cash in
25:41a trust, right? And then uh and then his
25:44son is also, you know, now can manage
25:46the asset and we plan to, you know,
25:48leave it to to Brian's uh uh kids as
25:50well. So,
25:52um it's it's kind of stayed in the
25:53family, but it's also been able to um
25:56be realized as a as an asset that's no
25:58longer at risk uh you know, when
26:00>> Since we uh we rarely have time on these
26:03episodes to get into the nitty-gritty
26:04and as much or as little as you'd like
26:06to share, I'd love to hear some of the
26:08some of the detailed minutia of what you
26:11all did when you and Brian acquired it
26:14to what it is today. You talked about we
26:15hired some people. What does that look
26:17like? Did you hire
26:19a director of operations? Like as much
26:21or as little and you know, if you're not
26:23>> of your team?
26:24>> does the team look like?
26:25>> What's about to be semi-passive? Part of
26:27it's building the team. Um part of it
26:30too that that, you know, your
26:32the Brian's dad didn't have is the
26:33technology. Like the switching to
26:35Laundry Works, a lot of that makes it
26:37easier to become semi-passive. Um so,
26:40there's that too, but what kind of team
26:43hierarchy do you have in place where you
26:45all can step aside?
26:47>> Great question. I think this really is
26:49the secret sauce and I I
26:52I think people don't even realize like
26:54what owning a laundromat like what even
26:56the asset and labor structure behind it
26:59should or or could be. So, you know,
27:02let's let's say you've built yourself a
27:04nice laundromat and you spent
27:06you know, half a million on the build
27:08out or more
27:09and then your machines
27:11excuse me, they're hundreds of thousands
27:13of dollars, right? Those machines are.
27:15And if you do not have them monitored,
27:17they will get abused. They will get
27:19broken. You will have naked people in
27:21your laundromat doing drugs. Like that's
27:24just what happens in a laundromat that's
27:25not attended.
27:26>> I'm assuming you all are fully attended.
27:29>> Oh, fully attended. It's like why pay
27:31more insurance to have a higher risk
27:34portfolio? It's not really cheaper. And
27:37the thing is, you know, if you look at
27:40Liberty Laundry in Oklahoma or Liberty
27:42Laundry OK is the the website.
27:44We have hundreds of five-star reviews.
27:47Well, if you look at a like
27:49you know, one of those semi-passive
27:51like, you know, where they're just not
27:52working yet at laundromats.
27:54Uh you know, if someone can't get the
27:56machines to work, they're going to give
27:57you a one-star review. And so, you have
28:00to have people there to help them with
28:01the machines. So, you need to watch your
28:03assets. You need to have people there so
28:07that you don't get bad reviews and and
28:09really get that self-serve revenue
28:11going.
28:12Well, those people need to pave their
28:13own salaries while they're there. The
28:15way to do that is wash, dry, fold. So,
28:18you get the wash, dry, fold, the
28:19drop-off side of things going. And that
28:22way that's not actually a drag on the
28:25business. So, even even for us and we do
28:27have, you know, probably higher payroll
28:29costs. Uh in fact, I was I even printed
28:31out some financials like in
28:33in um you know, uh
28:36>> Can you say Do you know what percentage
28:37of your revenue goes to payroll?
28:40>> Yeah, so so just for September alone
28:44it's about 25%, right? 25 to 30%. Uh but
28:48September alone we did 200,000 top line
28:52and then about 65 went to payroll
28:56and so and that's about the same thing
28:59that we did in wash dry fold. We had
29:00about 65,000 in wash dry fold as well.
29:02So
29:03the the wash dry fold offsets the
29:05payroll but it builds the whole business
29:08right? The two it's not like you're
29:10going to get to um
29:12you know our our Delaware store is going
29:14to do something like 700,000 in
29:16self-serve this year. You're not going
29:18to get to that unattended. There's just
29:20no way. You need attendance there and so
29:24do you want to pay for the attendance
29:25out of pocket or do you want them to pay
29:27for themselves with wash dry fold? So
29:29that really is how you think of the
29:31structure and so you've got the
29:32attendance on the bottom when you think
29:34of like a hierarchy.
29:35You got the attendance unit every store
29:38fully staffed full-time. There's a
29:40million reasons why but you know to keep
29:43the riffraff off, to keep your insurance
29:45down. There's so many good reasons.
29:47But then above them you do need store
29:49managers cuz you don't want to be
29:50talking to those employees about like
29:52their schedules and their surgeries or
29:55whatever. Just that's way you should not
29:58be doing that with your time. So
30:01>> Yeah, that's a full-time job right
30:02there. So and I've done that job before
30:04before I got into laundry industry.
30:05Don't really want to do that again. So
30:08um yeah, you need managers then to
30:09manage each branch and they're really
30:11responsible for you know keeping
30:13efficiencies uh making sure everyone's
30:16trained right, making sure everyone's um
30:18you know even just using we have to
30:20measure the right amount of soap when
30:22they when they wash something and you
30:24know how do they greet people when they
30:26come to the store? We don't really it's
30:28not like some loosey-goosey thing. Uh we
30:31have a script for everyone. We have a a
30:33training process that they go through.
30:36And so each store manager really is
30:37responsible for their staff and for
30:39being on the floor. If someone calls in
30:41they call into that manager and then
30:43that manager has to find someone to
30:45cover them or they have to cover it
30:46themselves and and we have really good
30:48managers that do that. But then
30:51if you have three of those managers,
30:53guess what? Managing those three
30:54managers is also a full-time job and
30:57what about the supplies for the store?
30:59Are they all going to make their own
31:00supply runs? Probably not. And so we
31:02have an operations manager above those
31:04three managers and she helps manage
31:07them.
31:08If they have any questions or issues
31:10with employees, she helps them do that.
31:12And like for example, one of the things
31:13that we in the integrity of what we've
31:15changed, um you know, I was actually
31:17talking to our ops manager, Becky, um
31:20great great lady and you know, one of
31:23her concerns was every single
31:26hire she makes, so she does every
31:28interview and when when when we bought
31:30the business, she did every single hire
31:31and interview.
31:33And she said, "Well, they're calling me
31:35about like these issues they have
31:37because they think I can help them, so
31:39they're trying to side step out of the
31:41hierarchy, right?" And so I just said,
31:43"Look, if you want to interview every
31:45person and hire every person, you're
31:47going to be every person's boss and
31:49that's 25 people. You don't want that.
31:51You have to train your managers to do
31:53all the hiring and I did help her with
31:55the process. I didn't say just go figure
31:57this out. But we helped her
32:01train the three managers to all be
32:03hiring managers. So now they all hire
32:05their own people,
32:07which means if someone quits, guess
32:09guess whose problem that is to now
32:11hire that replacement. It's the
32:12manager's problem, which it should be,
32:14right? And so
32:16um that's like some of the legwork that
32:18you do to make sure the hierarchy, you
32:21know, I don't I don't ever talk to like
32:23employees about their jobs, ever. That
32:25is not where I want to be. They need to
32:28be talking to their managers.
32:30And then their managers need to be
32:31talking to the ops manager. And then if
32:33some crazy escalation happens, then she
32:36can come talk to me. But we've put that
32:38hierarchy in place and we've been really
32:39deliberate. You know, Steve Jobs talks a
32:42lot about how many things do you say no
32:44to every day, you know? And
32:47having a successful business is about
32:48saying no to a lot of things, a lot of
32:51things. And you know, we say no to
32:55doing our own What's the word? Work
32:57schedules, you know, we don't want to be
32:59in the nitty-gritty of that.
33:01And to do that, you have to figure out
33:03how you're going to manage people and
33:04how to put structures in place. Now, the
33:06hire that we've made that I think has
33:08made the biggest difference that I think
33:10John probably could have made years ago
33:12if he had known how great it would be.
33:14We have a guy named Trevor, who's our
33:16facilities manager.
33:19And so, all he manages is not people, he
33:21manages the facilities.
33:24And so, anytime anything goes wrong,
33:26which you know, a million things break
33:28in a laundromat all the time, they're
33:30constantly breaking, he's constantly
33:31fixing it. So, you know, there's been
33:34there was a uh
33:36when Brian and I were on the plane to
33:37the Clean Show, there was some leakage
33:39at one of the water heaters and we had,
33:41you know, it was a big expensive
33:43replacement, but he had to call the
33:44people to get them out there and get the
33:46quotes and get it all done.
33:48And it was all taken care of by the time
33:49we got back in town. Um you know, same
33:52thing with the roof. The roof was
33:53leaking just recently. And so, we've got
33:55to get this,
33:56you know, treatment on on the roof.
33:58They're going to put this layer of
33:59something on the roof. Well,
34:01he had to go and meet people out and be
34:03up there on the roof with them and all
34:04that. He did all that. And um you know,
34:08I won't say exactly what we pay him. He
34:10probably wouldn't appreciate that, but
34:12you know, um
34:13I feel like, you know, it's a good job.
34:16It's a good paying job, but then when
34:18you look at it of what percentage of it
34:20of 2.5 million is it, it's a pretty low
34:23percentage,
34:25but it takes off so much work off my
34:28plate. And
34:30he's a hire that, you know, and he he
34:32was thinking about moving back home. He,
34:34you know, he's from another state. We
34:36did, you know, luckily he stayed. But,
34:39you know, we wouldn't have been without
34:40him for like a week. We would have been
34:41like, we have to get someone else in
34:43that role immediately. Like, it's it's a
34:45must-have role once you have it. And I
34:48realize that it's hard to do with one
34:49store.
34:50>> Mhm.
34:50>> Um but as you scale, these are the type
34:53of things that, um you know, you can
34:56either work at it full-time and do
34:57nothing else or you can have someone
34:58else do it for you, which is what we
35:01would recommend. And that's what's
35:03worked well for us. And he's better at
35:04it than we would be, too. He's he's a
35:06really handy guy. He can fix a lot of
35:08stuff. He does the tile
35:10>> I have a ton of people that ask me in my
35:12little coaching calls and things like
35:13that, "Where did you find these people?"
35:14And they will ask like broad categories
35:17cuz our our model our our org chart is
35:19very similar to yours, only we have
35:20about double the people. Um but people
35:23are constantly asking, "Where did you
35:24find your GM, your assistant GM? Where
35:27did you find your opti manager, etc.,
35:28etc.?" What was your situation like with
35:30that? Cuz this this was a position that
35:32didn't exist. So, I don't know if you
35:34were just outsourcing this to plumbers
35:35and distributor service guys and John
35:38was doing the work or whatever, but what
35:41Where did you find this individual and
35:42what were some of the qualifications you
35:43were looking for? Cuz I think a lot of
35:45laundromat owners, you know, if they can
35:47afford something like that, they
35:48wouldn't they wouldn't be real sure
35:50where to even start with what what
35:52skills do I need other than, you know,
35:54just a handyman?
35:55>> So, so for our current, um manager, uh
35:59facilities manager, we really lucked out
36:01because he had been just a really good
36:02employee at the store.
36:04>> Oh, okay.
36:04>> And had showed up on time and and showed
36:07interest on, "Well, what's wrong with
36:08the hoppers? I can, you know, maybe I
36:10can fix that." And and, um so we really
36:14we knew he was a reliable individual.
36:16>> Mhm.
36:17>> Um now, he didn't know how to fix
36:19washers or dryers yet, but we just
36:21trained him. And luckily Brian, because
36:24like you said, when you when you do all
36:25three stores and you as a facilities
36:27manager, it's up to you and your son,
36:29right? So so Brian really was and Shawn
36:33um were both, you know, fixing washers
36:36and dryers or getting the distributor.
36:38And so once we hired him, we would have
36:40him shadow any fix and if the
36:43distributor comes out, he shadows them.
36:45Um so I do think um yeah, whoever's
36:48doing it now
36:50is essentially the person that then
36:52trains whoever you hire. And he didn't
36:54have any expertise in the field when we
36:56promoted him basically um from
37:00an attendant to the facilities manager.
37:02Um it is you know, it's a good pay
37:04increase for him as well and a salary
37:06job. Um but he really showed that he was
37:09worth it and really showed that um he
37:11was willing to learn.
37:12>> Mhm.
37:12>> And honestly, we've done that with a lot
37:14of our employees. We've started them
37:15really lower level and then moved them
37:17up into the organization. And that's
37:20something that's really cool when you
37:22have you know, I don't know, five or 10
37:24employees that, you know, their main
37:26income earner, um you know, you've built
37:29from, you know, someone who maybe you
37:30hired at you know, $14 an hour or
37:33something like that and now they're
37:34they're a salaried employee. So
37:37um yeah, I think
37:38I think um we we got lucky on that. For
37:41the software company
37:43we don't really have any like
37:44entry-level employees that we can that
37:47we can move out. So for Wash Dry Fold
37:49POS,
37:50I've had really good luck with Indeed
37:51and I have trained some of my managers
37:53on Indeed. Of course, we get it through
37:54the website. And I know you guys you
37:56like offer services to help you get your
37:58website up. If the website is done well
38:00and apply now is in the right spot, you
38:02will get a lot of applications there. So
38:05that actually can pay that alone has
38:07paid for us redoing our website. And
38:08that's one of the things we did when we
38:10bought the stores. We totally redid the
38:12website to be much more um you know,
38:14user-friendly and more modern and all
38:17that. I hired that out. We just I don't
38:19want to be doing that. We just paid it
38:20and
38:21I built websites before, but that's not
38:23what I want to be spending my time
38:24doing. So, we hired a company to do
38:26that. And we have noticed probably a 10x
38:29increase in the applications that we get
38:31through the website. So, that has been
38:33huge for the laundromat. And then for
38:35the
38:36the point sale company, Wash-Dry-Fold
38:37POS,
38:39I use Indeed, and I'll go through like
38:40100 applications. If there's any red
38:42flags,
38:43I'll just delete it, you know, no no no
38:45no no.
38:46But, you know, you get 100 applications,
38:48there's probably 20 people you want to
38:49talk to.
38:51Um so, you either call them or you send
38:52them a link. That's what I like to do is
38:54you send them a link schedule an
38:55appointment with me. Most of them can't
38:57get that done. And if they can't get
38:58that done, it's going to be a lot of
39:00other things they can't get done, too.
39:02And if they get that done, half of them
39:03don't show up. Or you call them and
39:05they're like, "What? Who is this?"
39:06And if they can't remember an
39:07appointment, and they can't remember
39:10what they applied for, it's going to be
39:12a lot of other things that they have a
39:13hard time with, as well.
39:15And so, that's really how I qualified um
39:18you know, you you start with 100 or 200
39:21applicants, you get down to 20 that you
39:23reach out to, and then you get down to
39:25maybe 10 that you you'd actually talk
39:28to. Then you do maybe three or four
39:30in-person interviews.
39:32And once you've got it to that point,
39:34it's pretty clear who you need to hire
39:36out of those three or four people. And
39:37then my advice,
39:38one thing that I'm big on it it is soon
39:40as you know you want to hire that
39:41person, just call them and offer them
39:43the job. Like, don't wait and be like,
39:45"Oh yeah, I need to call." And it's
39:47like, a week later, they might already
39:49have a job, you know? People appreciate
39:51it when you're fast and you're direct,
39:54and um you don't play any games. You
39:56just try and find the right person, and
40:00you have to you have to get efficient,
40:01and sometimes it's hard to have the
40:03discipline to
40:05throw out applicants that oh, well, that
40:07one thing I don't like. Well, then just
40:08get rid of the just just don't call them
40:10then. You know what I'm saying? Like,
40:11you have to find the right people for
40:13the job. And to do that, um
40:16and applications are not expensive.
40:17Indeed, I think we pay like a dollar an
40:18application or something. So, it's like
40:20just
40:21just get 100 and and you'll find the
40:22right person. So, that that would be
40:24That's been my experience on on those
40:26things.
40:26>> Do you also cross-train your staff so
40:30that they can work in any location? Cuz
40:32that's one thing we do. With having
40:33three locations, we have four, but with
40:35having multiple locations in the same
40:37general area, do they borrow attendants
40:40from each other? Do the managers ever
40:41work in other stores? Are the processes
40:44all the same in all the stores?
40:46>> Yes, the processes are all the same in
40:48all the stores. Um the managers
40:50typically stay in their own stores,
40:52right? So, that's kind of their turf
40:54that they really need to be responsible
40:55for. But then the attendants sometimes,
40:58you know, they might move across town,
41:00right? Our our our furthest Our
41:02laundromats that are furthest from each
41:03other, there's one in the middle. So,
41:04it's kind of like a triangle. Um but so,
41:06yeah, if this person moves to over here
41:08or even further over there, they might
41:10want to change stores or whatever. So,
41:11we do have that and that does work well
41:14if, you know, if somebody calls in sick
41:15or whatever. Having all those processes
41:17in place and posted. Um but for the most
41:20part, people tend to stay at their store
41:22that is close to them or that they you
41:25know, know the people. And And that's
41:26what all the managers figure out is
41:28who's going to work well. These two
41:29people just do not get along, but
41:31they're both good employees. Let's move
41:32one of them to a different store. And
41:35so, it kind of gives you some
41:36flexibility there um putting those
41:38processes in place.
41:40>> are your stores together? Are they, you
41:42know, 15 minutes apart or 30 minutes
41:44apart or
41:46>> Yeah, so it it's I would say from one
41:48And I did this today. I had to go get uh
41:50some some money from one of them and
41:52stock the bill breakers at the one that
41:54was all the way across. So,
41:55I'm like right in the middle. So, it was
41:57like 10 minutes east and then 20 minutes
42:00lot west, you know, so it's like
42:03>> 5 miles
42:04>> 5 miles. Yes, so it's probably like 10
42:05miles in between the two, which is about
42:07how big Tulsa is. Tulsa is about 10 by
42:0910
42:10on a grid. So,
42:11>> Okay.
42:11>> So, we're kind of like on the outskirts
42:12of town.
42:13>> So, Broken Arrow, which is is is that a
42:15suburb of Tulsa, I guess?
42:17>> It is, yeah.
42:18>> Yeah.
42:18>> Okay.
42:19Big fans of Tulsa Big fans of Tulsa
42:21King, by the way. I don't know if you
42:23guys hate that show or not.
42:24>> Brian loves it. Brian Henderson
42:27Brian Henderson watches it and I have a
42:30a friend that actually did some of the
42:31sound. I have a friend who's a sound
42:33engineer. He does a lot of the
42:35films and and TV shows that come through
42:37and he worked on that one and some of
42:38the other
42:39>> Oh, wow.
42:39>> Netflix has done a few different shows
42:41based in Tulsa now as well. So, he's
42:42worked on some of those, but um
42:44it's not for me, but
42:46but I'm glad you're enjoying it.
42:47>> When we first started watching it, we
42:48thought it was pretty cheesy, but I
42:49think we got sucked in it
42:51>> I don't know.
42:51>> This season is not going very well. It's
42:53gone off the rails, but we'll see.
42:55>> Anyway,
42:57Harlow might have to edit that out, but
42:58I just Sorry, you said Tulsa and I
43:00immediately up seat Sylvester Stallone.
43:02Yes.
43:04Anyway, back to laundromats, Harlow.
43:07>> There There is one last point on that.
43:09There is no show about Tulsa or Oklahoma
43:12that doesn't paint us in the worst light
43:14possible. Like any like Jen and I tried
43:17to watch a show just last night. There's
43:18like some new shows, a lot of famous
43:20actors, takes place in Tulsa. Just right
43:22away, it's just like, "Oh, man." It just
43:24goes right at like just the
43:26just the normal Okie person, they just
43:29hate us, you know? So, like every show
43:31is just about how terrible we are. We're
43:33really we're just totally normal people,
43:35but
43:36>> Well, I'm from Kentucky and Kentucky's
43:38the same way. Like Every show it's a
43:41stereotype of this hillbilly.
43:42>> They're always drinking moonshine and in
43:44the back hills and it's like, you know,
43:45that does exist, but it's not the whole
43:47state.
43:51>> So, one thing I did want to touch on
43:53briefly is so, your entrance into the
43:55laundromat industry um apparently wasn't
43:57too smooth because I hear you had three
44:01fires.
44:02>> In the first 12 months, yeah. Three
44:04fires.
44:05>> If you didn't know the previous owner,
44:06you'd have thought you'd been sabotaged.
44:08>> Oh my goodness. It had been like
44:10years and years since the last dryer
44:12fire, and these three, two of them were
44:14like two the two worst ones they'd ever
44:16had in the 10 years. And
44:19>> Were the vents not cleaned properly, or
44:22was it user error?
44:23>> are crazy about that stuff. Everything
44:25gets cleaned, everything gets
44:26maintained, everything's on a schedule.
44:28I mean, everything gets cleaned every
44:29night, but then they also have the more
44:30deep clean, stuff like that.
44:32Everything was clean. So, with the first
44:34one,
44:35um
44:36it was actually just a comforter, and
44:37the feathers, you know, turns out
44:39feathers and open flame, cuz if you go
44:41behind those dryers, there's those you
44:43know, stack units, there's open flame
44:45behind them. I guess all of them, but
44:47but you can see the open flame in this
44:49in the stack units.
44:50And I guess it was just
44:52it was shedding feathers, right? And she
44:54put it on there on high, and she left,
44:56which you're not supposed to do. We have
44:57signage up, but she put it on high, she
44:59left,
45:01and the feathers were coming out of it,
45:03and one of them got on fire, which is
45:06So, that one was a pain and a lot of
45:08clean-up, but you know, luckily,
45:10we were We didn't even have to replace
45:12that dryer. We were able to salvage that
45:14unit, and
45:15>> Because you're attended, and the
45:16attendant saw it, and he alerted the
45:17person.
45:18>> lost the whole store if you were
45:19unattended.
45:20>> That is That is true. And And they they
45:24were actually able to put that one out,
45:26I think, with the fire extinguisher.
45:28Although, it it was tough It's tough to
45:30put out a comforter on fire with a fire
45:33extinguisher. So,
45:34um it was a big fire, but um
45:37the second one was way worse, because
45:39the second one was uh
45:41a lady, you know how people like just
45:43cram clothes in a washer for no reason?
45:46Like, it doesn't even get clean that
45:47way.
45:47>> Yes.
45:48>> She was doing that with these spa towels
45:51that were nail polish remover.
45:53>> Jeez.
45:54>> Soaked in nail polish remover, and so,
45:57they didn't get clean in the washer, if
45:59she even washed them, which you know,
46:00it's a self-serve, so you know, you're
46:02supposed to, but
46:03um
46:04when she put them in the dryer, they
46:05were still soaking in in propellants,
46:08you know, they were still soaking in
46:09alcohol. So, yeah, turns out that also
46:12is flammable, and um
46:14that was a bad one. The fire department
46:15had to come out. We couldn't put it out
46:17with a fire extinguisher. Had to
46:18evacuate the building.
46:19>> Wow.
46:19>> And I remember driving up cuz I got the
46:21call. I remember driving up and I could
46:23smell the smoke like a block away, and I
46:25was like, this is not good. This is
46:27really bad. This is like my worst
46:28nightmare. And we just put in, you know,
46:31uh
46:32we had just put in a lot of capital, you
46:33know, into it. And so, it was it was
46:35very stressful.
46:36But, um all all that we lost was that um
46:40well, I guess that that brings me to the
46:42the fire of the the third fire, which is
46:44that fire was so bad in that second one
46:47um that I guess some of the lint or
46:49something, some piece of cotton got into
46:52the the gas
46:54of the um unit, the gas valve on the
46:57unit on the bottom.
46:58So, I guess like, you know, when you
47:00have a fire like that
47:02little stuff gets everywhere. And so,
47:04even though we had had it cleaned and
47:06inspected and all that, it was like in
47:08some kind of gas pipe, and then as it
47:10was running, that same unit, that was
47:12the only one that wasn't actually a
47:13customer's fault. Uh it just caught on
47:16fire because it it put out like whatever
47:19lint, and then it's right there by the
47:20flame. And so,
47:22right up there. And that third one
47:22wasn't too bad. Um but, the second one
47:25was really
47:26uh it was stressful. Like I said, they
47:29had to bring in the water. Um but, we
47:31had it up and running we were open again
47:33before the end of the day. Um so,
47:35and with the other two as well, we we
47:36were closed for just like an hour or two
47:38with the other two. So, we
47:39when when the something like that, it's
47:41all hands on deck. We all come out
47:42there, and all the managers come in, and
47:44then all the owners, and and the
47:45employees that we can get, we all just
47:48work really hard to get it fixed. And
47:50so, we've got a good team, but uh you
47:52know, after that
47:54really even after the second one, I was
47:55like, guys, we've got to change
47:56something. And they're like, "Well, but
47:58we haven't had fires in years." I was
47:59like, "Yeah, but I own it now, so we're
48:01changing something." So
48:02>> So, what did you do to help prevent them
48:04in the future this happening?
48:07>> the first thing, like, what to do if
48:08there is a fire.
48:10Um and but honestly, I think the biggest
48:12thing is we just lowered the
48:14temperatures. And I was doing some
48:15research on this and just getting
48:18uh you know, reacquainted with it today
48:20and uh I know we have Speed Queen, we
48:23have Alliance in our our three stores,
48:24Speed Queen.
48:26I think the default temperature from the
48:28factory is 190.
48:29>> Mhm.
48:30>> That's that's what my distributor said.
48:31>> Yep, it is.
48:32>> And then he installs it at 180. So,
48:34they're already installing at 10° lower.
48:37But 180 will catch stuff on fire. So,
48:39we've lowered it. I think we're at 170
48:41or 175 now, we're in that range. Um so
48:46I would recommend that just personally
48:47because there's there's not a lot of
48:50existential risks to owning a
48:51laundromat. I don't think AI is going to
48:54put us out of business in the next 5
48:55years or anything. Uh I think people are
48:57still going to be using washers and
48:58dryers. So, I think um a fire is really
49:02one of your biggest existential risks
49:04and um
49:06I think you do everything you can to
49:07mitigate that. And if it's just like, we
49:09haven't had customers complain about it.
49:10No one even notices. And by the way,
49:14if you buy this a Speed Queen
49:15residential, and you can just look this
49:16up online, it only goes up to 155 on the
49:19highest setting.
49:20>> Yeah.
49:20>> And I have to think there's some
49:22liability thing there because at 155,
49:24you're not starting many fires or any
49:26fires, right? And so, if if that's what
49:29they're putting in people's homes, um
49:31you know, I think there's a good
49:33>> Does it increase your Does it increase
49:34the dry time a little bit to turn down
49:37the temperature? Is that the reason?
49:39>> Yeah, just a little bit. Yeah, it does.
49:41Yeah, yeah, you're looking at maybe 5
49:4310% more dry time.
49:44>> Okay.
49:44>> But but you know,
49:46you can charge for that.
49:49>> You do charge for it.
49:50>> yeah, we haven't had any complaints
49:51about it. Yeah.
49:52>> Okay, nice. Well, that's a nice plug for
49:54one being attended.
49:55And also
49:57have good insurance. I'm hoping you all
49:59had good insurance.
50:01>> Yes, we did. And that was the thing I
50:03was thinking when you're driving to your
50:04laundromat and you're just thinking
50:06like, "God, when was the last time I
50:08talked to my insurance person? What does
50:09our insurance cover again?" Like
50:11>> Yep.
50:12>> That is important. Um and
50:15especially once you've owned it for a
50:16while, you forget about that kind of
50:18stuff or you just stop worrying about
50:19it. So, I do think it's something you
50:20need to take care of, take it very
50:22seriously, get it done.
50:24>> Yeah.
50:24>> Yes.
50:24>> And get it off your plate and talk to
50:26professional about that. And yeah,
50:28luckily we we were well insured. And in
50:31all three
50:32you know, situations, on one we just had
50:34to replace that double stack unit. Um we
50:36actually just replaced all the dryers.
50:38They were getting old anyway, so we just
50:40uh replaced all the all the bought all
50:42the did the quantum touch stuff with all
50:43the different languages. We've been
50:45really happy with that. But um
50:47uh yeah, I think insurance is important
50:51and I think uh setting the right
50:52temperature
50:53>> I didn't know it was important, but I
50:54know now.
50:55>> Well, for listeners out there, we have a
50:57couple episodes with uh Larry and Joel
50:59from the Laundromat Millionaire
51:01Insurance program. So, definitely check
51:02those out and check out our website, but
51:04they highly recommend make sure you
51:06check that insurance policy every year.
51:08And another big thing is make sure
51:10you're insured for the replacement cost
51:13of it, not just the cost. Because that's
51:16a biggie.
51:17>> Mhm.
51:17>> Don't skip on insurance, guys. This is
51:19like this is the one thing.
51:20>> Well, I'll say this, too, and I know
51:22this isn't about insurance, but you can
51:24have replacement cost the words
51:26replacement cost in your policies. That
51:28doesn't mean you have the the dollar
51:29coverage, right? And that's where people
51:32can get really tricky cuz you buy
51:33equipment for $500,000 to outfit a
51:36store, and the replacement cost you have
51:39replacement cost in there, but you only
51:41have coverage up to 650,000.
51:43Well, you built the store 10 years ago,
51:46and 10 years ago 650 would have replaced
51:48everything. But fast forward today, you
51:50know, we're having years where the price
51:52is going up 20% unfortunately, you know,
51:55and it might cost a million dollars.
51:56Well, you may have replacement cost, but
51:58you only have up to 650,000,
52:01and it's going to cost today to replace
52:03that 900,000. So, people don't people
52:06don't think about the nuance of those
52:07things of the price of things, and
52:09equipment has just gone through the roof
52:11since COVID. So, just wanted to point
52:13that out there. You can have replacement
52:15cost in there, and if you don't have a
52:16dollar figure that's reflective of the
52:18replacement cost, they're only going to
52:20go up to the dollar value. So, a lot of
52:22people don't realize that.
52:24>> To give you a real life example, uh
52:26the Delaware store, which is going to do
52:27a million in revenue this year, cost a
52:30million dollars to build and with the
52:31equipment and all in. And we've looked
52:33at doing a similar size store in a
52:35different area, you know, we'll
52:37eventually open a fourth store. I'm I'm
52:38not in a hurry, but um
52:40it's like two, three million to to do
52:42that store these days. Like it's it's
52:44doubled
52:45>> Yeah.
52:45>> years. So, yeah, yeah, it's not kind of
52:47sort of doubled, like it has doubled
52:49in the last 10 years. So, yeah, I think
52:50that's definitely something to keep in
52:52mind.
52:52>> Yeah, for
52:52>> Well, I definitely want to make sure we
52:54get to Wash Dry Fold POS and talk a
52:56little bit about that. So, back when we
52:58had Brian on the show back in 2021,
53:02um
53:03we talked a lot about his story, why he
53:05created Wash Dry Fold POS. There weren't
53:07really other systems like it out there
53:09that were designed specifically for the
53:12laundry industry. There were similar
53:14ones for like the dry cleaning and other
53:16industries, but he really felt the need
53:18to create his own. Um but since then,
53:21there's been a lot of other companies
53:24come to the market. Um just to name a
53:26few, there's Cents, there's Curbside,
53:28there's Clean Cloud. Um so, there's a
53:30lot of competition in the market now,
53:32but I know you all have been very
53:34innovative and trying to keep up with
53:37the changing demands of the laundry
53:39industry, cuz the laundry industry has
53:40changed a lot, too. No longer just
53:42self-serve and no longer just coins, but
53:45you know, now we we have card payment
53:47systems and we have wash dry fold drop
53:49off. We have pick up and delivery and
53:50all this kind of stuff. So, there's been
53:52so many changes. Um I would like you to
53:55talk about how wash dry fold POS has
53:58changed over the past few years to keep
54:01up with the changes and then also, if
54:03you could talk some about how how does
54:06someone coming to the industry choose a
54:08point of sale software? How do you all
54:10compare to the other ones out there? So
54:13first, what changes have there been?
54:16>> Yeah, I I love that question. Thank you.
54:18Uh so, yeah, so many so many changes,
54:21but
54:22everyone's got to be mobile now. You've
54:23got to be able to take out your phone
54:25and see who's in the store,
54:27who's clocked in or hasn't clocked in,
54:29how many orders are on the shelf, how
54:31many orders are done.
54:33Are they doing the orders? Like have
54:35they been clocked in for an hour and
54:36still not one is in the wash? Um and
54:39then to be able to check all three of
54:40your stores like that. Um and you know,
54:42we have our managers check our stores.
54:44We don't do that. You know, but we have
54:46a lot of single store owners that do
54:47that. Or even like at the Clean Show,
54:48someone came up to me and said, "Look, I
54:50can see my stores. I can see who's doing
54:51what in my stores." They're talking
54:53about how much they love that. So, I
54:55think it's gone very mobile. We're
54:56cloud-based now.
54:58Um integrations are huge these days. And
55:02um you know, it's got to work with uh we
55:04actually built the first, you know,
55:06Speed Queen Alliance integration and all
55:08that, but it it's become much more
55:10integrated system. But as far as like
55:13here's my take on the industry and
55:16obviously it's it's biased and may not
55:18be perfect, but I think there's probably
55:20four players have about 80% of the
55:22industry and I think you just named the
55:23four players. That and Clean Cloud.
55:26Is really the best Well, maybe I
55:29shouldn't say whatever one's the best
55:30at, but they're they're quite good for
55:31dry cleaning. I In fact, I refer a lot
55:33of people to Clean Cloud for dry
55:35cleaning and they're really good for
55:36international as well. Um they're in a
55:39lot of languages, a lot of countries. Um
55:41now ours translates to a lot of
55:42languages, but they're actually based
55:44out of London. So, you know, if if
55:45you've got an international um store, I
55:48think that's a really good solution. And
55:50they're actually really nice people,
55:51too. Really really good guys.
55:53>> Yeah, they've been on our podcast, too.
55:54>> Yeah.
55:55I heard that episode. You guys did
55:56great.
55:57>> Yeah. And just so everybody knows, we've
55:58invited the Curbside guys, Matt and
56:00Aaron, but
56:00>> Yeah. Yeah.
56:01>> We're still trying to convince them.
56:02>> Yeah.
56:03>> It's in holding.
56:04>> They're super nice guys, too. And you
56:06don't have to guess what their strength
56:07is, curbside delivery, right? They're
56:10really delivery-first.
56:11>> Yeah.
56:12>> Um and then as as you guys know, I'm I'm
56:14sure you've talked a lot about Sansan,
56:16and they're kind of like revolutionizing
56:18the industry, right? They're they're
56:19really trying to be on the cutting edge
56:21and like where do we fit in DoorDash and
56:23Uber and all that. Um
56:25Our
56:26our take on it from day one was we're
56:29trying to solve real problems for real
56:31laundromat owners.
56:32>> Mhm.
56:33>> And it's got to be easy to use because
56:37one of the real problems you have is
56:38that your ladies are not
56:40software engineers. They're
56:43They're not tech-savvy at all, it turns
56:45out. And um so it's got to be just so
56:48easy to see a few buttons. You don't
56:50want to overwhelm them with a million
56:52options. Um but then you do still need
56:55to track, you know, what washers and
56:57dryers are they using because they will
56:58get stuff confused if they're trying to
57:00do
57:01too many orders, or what if what if they
57:02get called in, their kid's sick at
57:04school, or whatever, and they need to
57:05run. You need to be able to see exactly
57:08what they were doing when they were
57:09doing it. Where are those clothes now?
57:12And they will forget to get the if the
57:13comforter needed more dry time than the
57:15clothes, they will forget the
57:16comforter's still in the dryer.
57:18So, you need something to remind them go
57:19get the comforter.
57:21Um you need something that texts the you
57:22know, the customer when when the when
57:24the clothes are ready so that they can
57:25get them
57:26back from you, right? And that wasn't a
57:28thing when we started in 2016, but we we
57:32did have to we would call people and be
57:33like, "Hey, you got to come get your
57:34clothes, you know, we're we're full
57:36here." Um so now that the software just
57:38texts them and you can text them
57:39reminders through the software as well.
57:41So, um yeah, a lot has changed. It's
57:43really gotten more technology, but I
57:45think we've stayed true to solving real
57:48problems, making it very simple and easy
57:52to use, and then we do tend to be the
57:55most cost-effective solution. So, we're
57:57about half the cost of some of the other
57:59solutions out there. So, if you've if
58:02you've looked and you thought, "Oh,
58:03that's just way out of my price range."
58:05Uh for for us solving real problems with
58:07real laundromats, some laundromats do,
58:10you know, three to five grand in
58:12wash-dry-fold per month, and that's a
58:14really good uh spot for us to service.
58:17Um
58:18Now, we have a lot of, you know, we do
58:1920 grand on it and we have a a store of
58:2230 laundromats that we they've got our
58:24point-of-sale system all 30, and we have
58:26stores that do well over a million
58:27dollars in revenue um that has our
58:30point-of-sale system, too. So, it's
58:31very scalable both in number of stores
58:34and then also in the the amount of
58:35revenue that you're doing in your store.
58:37But to be kind of the the OG and and to
58:41be the the uh
58:42the the industry default or one of the
58:45industry defaults, um
58:47you have to be affordable enough that a
58:49laundromat owner doing 3,000 actually
58:51can justify it and that it will pay for
58:54itself with increased revenue and
58:55increased growth and decreased
58:57shrinkage. And I'm not talking about
58:59clothes, although that's
59:00that's what that, too, but but decreased
59:02uh you know, are they are they um using
59:06the right washers and dryers, right? And
59:08you can see like
59:09one of our big features is like um
59:12as a percentage of machine starts, um as
59:15a excuse me, as a percentage of the
59:17ticket value, how many machine starts
59:19are we using? So, if they're using like
59:2050% of let's say it's a $100 orders and
59:23they do $50 worth of machine starts,
59:25like what are they doing? And it turns
59:27out sometimes they're just going
59:28straight to the 80-pounders even if they
59:29only have 30 lb of clothes.
59:31And so it can help you identify
59:33efficiencies or inefficiencies in your
59:35system and create new efficiencies. Um
59:37but you but yeah, for us I think we're
59:40the easiest to use. I've never heard
59:42anyone say that we're not the easiest to
59:44use even if they've used all the other
59:46systems.
59:48Um and I I think we are the most
59:49affordable by quite a bit. Um we have
59:51some
59:52last thing, we do have like some
59:54exclusive features like uh
59:56we have a machine repair ticket system
59:59that I'm talking about like for the
1:00:00washers or the dryers or even like your
1:00:03doors if you have the sliding doors that
1:00:04break all the time. And so like for
1:00:06example, um one of the tickets that came
1:00:09in, I usually don't even see the
1:00:10tickets. They just go straight to the
1:00:12facilities manager. And so that really
1:00:14helps you set up your hierarchy like if
1:00:15you've got all the equipment all these
1:00:17stores, you don't want to know every
1:00:18time something breaks.
1:00:19>> Uh-huh.
1:00:19>> Even if he has to get a part ordered, I
1:00:21don't even know about it. I can go in
1:00:22and like I can look at the tickets, I
1:00:23can see who he talked to,
1:00:25you know, how many times that machine
1:00:26broke, which helps if you have new
1:00:27machines and and they're you know,
1:00:29saying, "Oh, it's not the same machine."
1:00:31You can have actually have a a really
1:00:33nice history of all the machines.
1:00:35>> Oh, nice.
1:00:36>> But but yeah, we got a little ticket in
1:00:38that the bill breaker was jammed and so
1:00:39I had to go cuz we typically don't we
1:00:41still don't trust our employees with the
1:00:42bill breakers. That's the one thing that
1:00:44we we still do as the owners.
1:00:46Um so I had to go in and, you know, put
1:00:48in new money to the bill breaker, but um
1:00:50but that's a good example of that that's
1:00:52kind of an exclusive feature. So there
1:00:54are other reasons to go with our
1:00:55solution, but I think most people do it
1:00:58for the ease of use and for the
1:00:59affordability.
1:01:00>> I do have a question. So in layman's
1:01:03terms, I know you talked about the API
1:01:05integration with Speed Queen with
1:01:07Alliance machines.
1:01:09What does that mean to be integrated?
1:01:11Does So what does that enable your
1:01:14software to do since it's integrated?
1:01:16Cuz you're saying that other are the
1:01:17other platforms not integrated with
1:01:20>> So
1:01:20>> that
1:01:21>> when someone says integration
1:01:22>> Yes.
1:01:23>> you have no idea what they mean and
1:01:25there's no way to know based off that
1:01:26single word. So, you have to ask them
1:01:28more questions. So, we were the first
1:01:31and I got to give Alliance a lot of
1:01:32credit here. We were the first ever
1:01:34system and we actually haven't written
1:01:36the press release for it, but we
1:01:38launched this at the Clean Show. So,
1:01:39this is very new
1:01:41thing, but ever since we started the
1:01:42dream was you just select the machines
1:01:45that you want to start from the point of
1:01:47sale systems and they just start
1:01:48automatically. You just go load
1:01:50Well, that was never possible until just
1:01:52recently. So, we now have that
1:01:53functionality. So, on the little board
1:01:55that shows where all the orders are, you
1:01:57would just grab the Let's say you want
1:02:00to start washer number seven and eight.
1:02:02You just tap seven and eight. If you
1:02:03have a Hipshor Speed Queen,
1:02:06it will actually start it through that
1:02:07Insights program and it tells that vend
1:02:10value to that order as well. So, you
1:02:12would see as a percentage,
1:02:14you know, let's say
1:02:16$5, you know, per vend and it's a $40
1:02:19order. So, you'll see what what they
1:02:21started as a total of the um
1:02:23Now, why would you even care to track
1:02:25that? It's because like you don't want
1:02:28them starting machines for friends and
1:02:29family or if they've got a little
1:02:31business on the side.
1:02:33Um
1:02:34But, in the in the past, even like if
1:02:36you said an integration like a year ago,
1:02:39like if you had a Laundry Works
1:02:40integration a year ago, that would mean
1:02:42that yeah, you start the Laundry Works,
1:02:44you know, machines with the card.
1:02:47>> Yes.
1:02:47>> Um and then the system tracks how much
1:02:49you've used. And then like for us at our
1:02:51stores, there's $2 left on the card. I
1:02:53want my $2 back, you know. No, that's
1:02:55that's the bonus money. Remember you put
1:02:56in 20, you got a $2 bonus. But, you can
1:02:58buy snacks, you can buy soaps, you can
1:03:00buy anything here at the counter. Um
1:03:02we'd love to sell you, you know, if you
1:03:04need some soap or or or a soda or
1:03:06whatever. And that really helps them get
1:03:09that last of balance off the card if
1:03:10they want that. Um that's what the
1:03:12integration used to mean. Now, it's
1:03:14that, but also like with the Wash Links
1:03:17app,
1:03:18it will actually push the order to the
1:03:20Wash Links, the employee app.
1:03:22>> Uh-huh.
1:03:22>> And they just select that order and then
1:03:24go start the machines um with the Wash
1:03:27Links app. So,
1:03:28>> Okay.
1:03:28>> uh we actually have built that machine
1:03:30start integration
1:03:31>> Okay.
1:03:32>> uh with Alliance, which is the first
1:03:33major manufacturer to do it. So, no one
1:03:36else has that with any other point of
1:03:37sale system or with any other
1:03:39manufacturer. So, we're the only That's
1:03:41the only place where you can start uh
1:03:43you know, Alliance machines through the
1:03:45Wash-Dry-Fold POS. Now, if you have
1:03:47LaundryWorks and you're using the Wash
1:03:48Links app, which I know a lot of your
1:03:50listeners are, that works with Sense or
1:03:53Wash-Dry-Fold POS now. So, we've built
1:03:54that, the second people to do that.
1:03:56Obviously, Sense was the first.
1:03:57>> Cuz I know like So, we have Sense and
1:03:59LaundryWorks, and I know our people can
1:04:01start the machines, but it's I guess
1:04:03through the LaundryWorks, I guess, not
1:04:05through Alliance.
1:04:06>> through the reader.
1:04:07>> Okay. It's through It's through our
1:04:08Sense readers, I guess, is the reason we
1:04:11can. So, we don't have the Alliance
1:04:14um
1:04:15integration, but we have, I guess,
1:04:17because of the Sense integration. So,
1:04:18it's a little different. So, I wasn't
1:04:19sure what was different. So, the big key
1:04:21is that you can start the machines from
1:04:23Wash-Dry-Fold
1:04:24full POS because of that Alliance
1:04:26integration. Does it Is it only with
1:04:28their newest machines? Like, if the
1:04:30machines are
1:04:31>> It is. You You have to have like the
1:04:33Insights program, so it has to be I
1:04:35think it's like last maybe 5 years worth
1:04:36of machines, about that. And
1:04:40um to your point, and I think this is
1:04:42really good for the audience as well, if
1:04:43you already have the LaundryWorks
1:04:46system, then maybe you just want that
1:04:47real basic integration where they're
1:04:49just starting the cards with the
1:04:50machines. Maybe that's all you need. And
1:04:52And we have a hundreds of stores that do
1:04:53that.
1:04:54>> Mhm.
1:04:54>> But the next level is then if you use
1:04:56Wash Links, which is their little
1:04:57employee app, which you have to pay for,
1:04:59but it's worth it. Um and that'll
1:05:02actually start the actual machines and
1:05:03then tie it to the orders. And so,
1:05:05they're They don't just have a card that
1:05:07could get lost or that they could hand
1:05:09to a self-serve employee or to a
1:05:11self-serve customer for a little
1:05:12something.
1:05:13>> Well, I know for us even like if we have
1:05:15So, we do a lot of drop-off and
1:05:17delivery. And if we have a customer come
1:05:19back and say, you know, "Oh, you lost my
1:05:22blue sweatshirt." We can go into the
1:05:25order and we can look on our cameras and
1:05:26be like, "Okay, well, we know that blue
1:05:29sweatshirt was placed in machine number
1:05:3038 at 10:52 a.m. So, we can pull up our
1:05:34cameras for that time and be like, "Oh,
1:05:36there's blue sweatshirt. Follow it
1:05:37through the cameras." Or sometimes, "Oh,
1:05:39there wasn't a blue sweatshirt and
1:05:40they're mistaken."
1:05:42>> It's under their bed.
1:05:43>> So, there there are some goods.
1:05:45>> as often.
1:05:46>> So, so it is handy to know with every
1:05:49order like within the POS system know
1:05:52who processed it, what time they
1:05:53processed it, what machine they
1:05:55processed it in, and that that
1:05:57integration you have allows that, right?
1:06:00>> It does and also you're getting to what
1:06:03I think probably the primary feature
1:06:05that has made Wash-Dry-Fold POS
1:06:07Wash-Dry-Fold POS from day one, which is
1:06:09that order tracker that's it's called a
1:06:11Kanban or Konbon some people call it
1:06:13that, but um if you've heard of Six
1:06:15Sigma or lean production method, it's
1:06:18all the same thing where basically you
1:06:19want to be able to see at any given time
1:06:21as a manager
1:06:23where every single order is in the
1:06:25process. Is it on the shelf to do? Cuz
1:06:27that, you know, how affects staffing in
1:06:29the future. Is it done on the shelf?
1:06:31That affects storage. But also every
1:06:34time they're moving from the wash to the
1:06:35dry, they're just moving that over and
1:06:37you get a little timestamp. So,
1:06:39um that works really well with the
1:06:41cameras because then you already have
1:06:42the timestamps. You don't go have to
1:06:43watch and see like the whole day. You
1:06:45just go to that timestamp and you can
1:06:47see it's like within a minute of when
1:06:49they moved it over. And so, that really
1:06:52is I think we do that best and we also
1:06:55had that first. And so, everyone else
1:06:56has kind of come up with their own
1:06:57version of that. Um but I think that's
1:06:59still really our our major
1:07:01differentiator. Um but then it even goes
1:07:04a step further like with when you have
1:07:06the Wash-Links app. so instead of having
1:07:07to tap the machine to start it,
1:07:11um you would just tap your phone on the
1:07:13washer and dryer that you want to start,
1:07:15and you would actually tap the order
1:07:16then on your phone. And so
1:07:19it's not a huge difference, but like one
1:07:21of the guys at the the clean show that
1:07:23bought um a store, shout out to Joe if
1:07:25you're watching,
1:07:27um you know, he was having this issue at
1:07:29his stores where it's just one card and
1:07:32it's like does it go around from pocket
1:07:34to pocket to person to person? And
1:07:37wouldn't it be a lot better if it was
1:07:38tied to their individual device that
1:07:39they have to like, you know, face IDs
1:07:41them, and that's how you start the
1:07:42machines? And I you know,
1:07:46it's funny talking to 3,000 laundromat
1:07:48owners
1:07:49uh over 10 years, you know, cuz I used
1:07:52to do sales calls every day.
1:07:53Um the biggest surprise I've heard is
1:07:56like or the biggest, you know, weird
1:07:59kind of thing that you would see as a
1:08:00trend,
1:08:01um would be this employee theft of
1:08:04people stealing this way. So, they
1:08:06usually they want to talk to us for one
1:08:08of three reasons. Either they're
1:08:11just opening a store and they need a
1:08:12point of sale system. Great, perfect
1:08:14time to talk to us.
1:08:16They already have a store and they're up
1:08:17to like maybe like that three grand or
1:08:18they're approaching that in wash, dry,
1:08:20fold, and pen and paper is just getting
1:08:22really cumbersome and really
1:08:24there's mistakes are being made, reviews
1:08:26are being left.
1:08:27>> Even better, do it before you're up to
1:08:293,000 making all the mistakes, but yeah.
1:08:31>> Yes, that's what we recommend, but but
1:08:34um you, too.
1:08:35But it doesn't always uh
1:08:37>> It doesn't always happen that way.
1:08:39>> All right, people tend to to feel the
1:08:40pain first before they go looking for
1:08:43the solution. I wish I wish they would
1:08:45find us before they felt the pain, but
1:08:47um
1:08:48the third one, and this is the hardest
1:08:50one to get out of people, and you can
1:08:51always tell cuz they just aren't giving
1:08:53you one of the other common ones. Like,
1:08:55so why did you really call us today?
1:08:56Like, what do you really need a point of
1:08:57sale system for? They're like, well,
1:08:59I had a manager we we had to let go,
1:09:02and he was doing a little business on
1:09:04the side where he was, you know,
1:09:06starting machines
1:09:07>> Mhm.
1:09:07>> with the wash dry fold you know, little
1:09:09card, and you know, it's not always
1:09:12Laundry Card, it could be any of the
1:09:13other, you know, Spider Wash, ESD. It's
1:09:15usually ESD. Um but uh you know, Fast
1:09:18Card, Laundry Card, not not to not to
1:09:20talk trash, ESD's great. We just did the
1:09:22machine start um integration with them
1:09:24as well. Uh so we've we're we're really
1:09:27kind of working with everyone and and
1:09:29try and be a diagnostic
1:09:31But there's a lot of people that have
1:09:33this issue where
1:09:36they've had a manager that they let go,
1:09:37and this guy stole like 20, 30,000. It's
1:09:39always in that 20 to 30,000 range. And
1:09:42so if they tell me like they've had
1:09:44theft,
1:09:46if they tell me how much, I already know
1:09:47how they stole. If if it's two or three
1:09:49hundred, they stole some coins, they
1:09:50stole some cash, whatever. If it's 20 or
1:09:5230,000, they were running a business on
1:09:54the side using that card.
1:09:56And I've even heard like they'll just
1:09:58have a guy slip them a 20 and they just
1:09:59start machines for them.
1:10:01And like, how do you catch that? Because
1:10:03they have to have a way to start the
1:10:04machines.
1:10:05Right? You can't just not not let them
1:10:07start the machines. They can't do wash
1:10:08dry fold without that. So the only way
1:10:10that we have found is to really track
1:10:13the order ratios. Like so if you're
1:10:15doing a thousand dollars worth of wash
1:10:17dry fold orders that week, you should
1:10:19have about three hundred dollars in
1:10:21machine starts
1:10:23as an employee that that is specifically
1:10:25tied to
1:10:25>> your number is about 30%?
1:10:28>> Yeah, that's our that's that's at our
1:10:29stores. And I've seen it's between 25
1:10:32and 35. In fact, I think 30's usually on
1:10:34the higher side, probably just cuz
1:10:36that's where we're priced.
1:10:37Um but but 30% is a pretty good average
1:10:40across the board. 30% comes up a lot. I
1:10:43would say 30% of our gross revenue is
1:10:46wash dry fold, right? And then 30% of
1:10:49our wash dry fold is commercial.
1:10:52Um so and then if If doing machine
1:10:56starts, 30% of the wash dry fold order
1:10:59should be the same as the VIN start.
1:11:01Now, that's not your real COGS because
1:11:02your real COGS are pennies to start
1:11:04those machines.
1:11:05>> Right. Yeah.
1:11:06>> But you can't track pennies. That
1:11:07doesn't make any sense. So, you you know
1:11:10you know so you don't even want them to
1:11:11see your real COGS. You want to track
1:11:13the VIN the VIN value.
1:11:14>> So, that 30% is actually the retail
1:11:16price of that machine.
1:11:17Yeah.
1:11:18>> That's right. That's right. So, the
1:11:19machine starts. So, if it was a 40 or
1:11:21let's say it's a $100 order just just
1:11:23for easy math, then you should be
1:11:24starting $30 worth of machines. And that
1:11:27that also too allows you to say, "Well,
1:11:28I don't care if they started the 20
1:11:29pounders because we had maybe we had
1:11:31five 20 pounders open and the 80
1:11:32pounders were busy. So, I don't care
1:11:34which machines they use. I'm just
1:11:36looking at the startage overall." But
1:11:39then like I said with that 80 pounder I
1:11:41had a lady who was, you know, putting
1:11:43small orders in very large machines. It
1:11:46will help you catch that because
1:11:48the revenue wasn't large enough. And
1:11:50that also works you can't do it by the
1:11:51pound because you're doing a lot of
1:11:53comforters which you have to sell by the
1:11:55piece. And and I'm sure a lot of you
1:11:56listeners know this, but you don't sell
1:11:59comforters by the pound because people
1:12:00will just try and sneak them in to the
1:12:02um
1:12:02to the bag and then you're like, "You
1:12:04know, we have to charge individually for
1:12:05this cuz it needs its own washer and its
1:12:07own dryer."
1:12:08Um if you are charging by the pound for
1:12:11comforters, stop today. Don't do that.
1:12:14>> Definitely. Oh my goodness. You're
1:12:16leaving
1:12:17>> tons of money out there if you're doing
1:12:18that.
1:12:18>> Tons of money on the table and you're
1:12:20yeah, I mean it's just not even worth it
1:12:22by the pound cuz they'll just throw a
1:12:23t-shirt in there with their comforter
1:12:24and then you've got two separate
1:12:25washers, two separate dryers. Yeah.
1:12:27>> So, for our listeners for our listeners
1:12:29out there, how do they um get a demo of
1:12:33how to use wash dry fold POS and and
1:12:35kind of its capabilities?
1:12:38>> Yeah, we actually have put some time
1:12:40although we probably need to redo our
1:12:41demos just cuz we make so many updates
1:12:43all the time.
1:12:45Um
1:12:45but there's quite a few demo videos
1:12:47online that you can watch to just get
1:12:49the basic vibe of it.
1:12:51And then once you've kind of seen it and
1:12:53I honestly I don't dissuade people from
1:12:55looking at the other solutions too
1:12:57because if you're going all in on
1:12:59delivery and that's the only thing you
1:13:00care about,
1:13:02we may not be the best fit for you. But
1:13:04if you have a laundromat and you need
1:13:05something that's easy to use and you
1:13:07need something that's affordable and
1:13:09sure maybe you want to do some DoorDash
1:13:10and Uber. We've got those immigrations
1:13:12and and all that. Um and we do delivery
1:13:14as well, but I think um
1:13:17going online, watching the basic videos
1:13:20and just getting a vibe for all the
1:13:21major options that are out there is a
1:13:24really good first step and then when
1:13:26you're ready to get into the pricing
1:13:27which you know, also changes from year
1:13:29to year, then you schedule that
1:13:31appointment and we will walk you
1:13:34through, you know, whatever you want to
1:13:35know about the software and especially
1:13:37the pricing and the business model and
1:13:38all that and I mean it's it's very
1:13:40simple. It's it's very affordable. It
1:13:43has to be. Um and then you know, for
1:13:45credit card processing as well, I think
1:13:47that's the one kind of gotcha thing in
1:13:49the industry. Um not to not going to say
1:13:52any names or anything like that, but I
1:13:53do think
1:13:55uh it's easy to forget the credit card
1:13:56processing costs something and I know
1:13:59even like when Liberty Laundry was
1:14:01young, we used to go through Heartland.
1:14:03Um even even when Wash Dry Fold first
1:14:05started, we didn't know anything about
1:14:07it and we just referred people to
1:14:08Heartland. They were charging like 5%
1:14:11and we're like, that's crazy, you know,
1:14:12we didn't even know that was crazy.
1:14:14Industry standard
1:14:16so most options out there are between 4
1:14:18and 5% and uh we're 2.65% so we just try
1:14:22and sell that at cost, make it
1:14:24affordable and then it's just one more
1:14:26reason to actually, you know, buy the
1:14:28software from us which is which is what
1:14:30we want to sell. Um so I was always
1:14:33encourage people to remember credit card
1:14:35processing is not free and when I say
1:14:37it's 4% it makes it sound like that
1:14:38company is, you know, some some monster
1:14:41that's taking 4% of your revenue. It's
1:14:42like, no, Visa charges like if you got a
1:14:44Visa business card, that's 2.5% that the
1:14:47customer's is getting in rewards. I've
1:14:48got a card where I get 3% on every
1:14:50transaction. So, it's like
1:14:52the costs on these things are almost 3%.
1:14:55So,
1:14:56most of that goes to the the other the
1:14:59card issuing banks and all that.
1:15:02So, it's it's really that that spread
1:15:04between
1:15:05you know, 2.5 or 2.65%,
1:15:08which is where we're at. And then that
1:15:10top of the line is maybe like that 5%.
1:15:12So, you want to get as low as close to
1:15:14that bottom number as you can.
1:15:15>> Sure. Absolutely.
1:15:17>> All right. Well, I think we've covered
1:15:19everything I'm looking to think.
1:15:20>> has been fantastic. We appreciate you
1:15:23reaching out to us and offering to do
1:15:24this. This has been fantastic doing kind
1:15:26of an update on the episode with Brian,
1:15:28which is which is, you know, once again,
1:15:30kind of a little old nowadays.
1:15:32Um but, we recommend
1:15:33>> Brian's was more on starting the Wash
1:15:35Ryffel POS. And now, I feel like you
1:15:37brought us up-to-date with um the
1:15:39current competitive market with Wash
1:15:41Ryffel POS. And then also, all the new
1:15:44things you'll have learned by becoming
1:15:46laundromat owners yourselves.
1:15:47>> Yes.
1:15:48>> And learning to
1:15:50eventually get it as a semi-passive
1:15:52business that it is not semi-passive
1:15:54from day one.
1:15:56>> Not when you buy it. No.
1:15:57>> But, that with the right the right
1:16:00integration of a good team, the right
1:16:02processes, the right technology, that
1:16:05you can get it to be a semi-passive
1:16:07business like we have and like you all
1:16:09have. So, I think those are our keynotes
1:16:11for our audience.
1:16:12>> Yeah, we want to I I always say we want
1:16:14to be really careful here at Laundromat
1:16:15Millionaire not to mislead people, but
1:16:17we do want to inspire people. And the
1:16:19truth is, I'm not saying they're bad
1:16:21people, but there are people out there
1:16:22kind of pooh-poohing on
1:16:24the passive, the semi-passive, that that
1:16:26doesn't exist. And I was like, "Mhm,
1:16:29that's kind of a nuanced conversation,
1:16:31right? It's not a It's not a binary
1:16:33thing. It's like I What I always tell
1:16:34people is the business obviously needs
1:16:37somebody to run it. But, the the
1:16:40the the What was preached in the
1:16:41industry 15 years ago when I got into it
1:16:44is that you had to do that, right? And
1:16:45if you didn't, you were a bad owner and
1:16:47irresponsible and of course people were
1:16:49stealing and and what I tell people is
1:16:51like when things were all cash, that was
1:16:54more true, right? It was harder to have
1:16:56audit systems and hold people
1:16:57accountable. And now that technology has
1:16:59come into our industry, we and you guys
1:17:01are proof that you can put those audit
1:17:03functions in place, lean on it, and it's
1:17:05never perfect. Nothing's ever perfect.
1:17:07There's risk in business. We have to be
1:17:09able to, you know, be willing to accept
1:17:11that risk, but there is something to be
1:17:13said for somebody like you all and and
1:17:15obviously us, we own five different
1:17:16businesses now. So, you guys are running
1:17:18Wash-Dry-Fold POS and you're running
1:17:20your your your your chain of stores with
1:17:23a team. And you know, we want to inspire
1:17:25people. We want to show people that it
1:17:27is possible and we are not crazy and,
1:17:30you know, whether it's on a panel at a
1:17:31conference or the Clean Show or
1:17:32whatever, somebody somebody says passive
1:17:34or semi-passive, I like the word
1:17:37flexible. That's a word that I've just
1:17:39I think it's I think it's a very
1:17:40flexible business, but we don't want to
1:17:42lose people because that I think that
1:17:44sometimes like, especially when they're
1:17:45just watching a podcast and maybe they
1:17:47don't know us and they don't know you
1:17:48guys and, you know, we're just we're
1:17:49just people talking
1:17:51and they're like, "Yeah, that guy's full
1:17:52of crap, you know, whatever. There's
1:17:54there's no way it's semi-passive." It's
1:17:55like, "No, we're like we're not we're
1:17:57not here to brag. We're here to actually
1:17:58show you that there's another level to
1:18:00this and if anything, multiple levels
1:18:02nowadays."
1:18:03So, I appreciate you coming on and
1:18:05sharing that authentic side of of you
1:18:07guys' journey.
1:18:09I know you mentioned that and I just
1:18:10want to throw this in there in the same
1:18:11semi-passive conversation. When you guys
1:18:13acquired the store, you said you and
1:18:15Brian were I think you said both of you
1:18:17worked full-time in the laundromats to
1:18:19get it semi-passive. Now, it was already
1:18:22a
1:18:23um
1:18:24>> well-running store to begin with.
1:18:26>> but you had to make it your own. I'm
1:18:28curious, just real quick short answer,
1:18:30how long did you guys work full-time in
1:18:32the business before you were able to
1:18:33start to kind of back out a little bit
1:18:35cuz I'm sure that was the goal from the
1:18:37from the beginning.
1:18:38>> Yeah, I think probably 6 months was
1:18:40really intense and then, you know, month
1:18:42seven probably got less intense and it
1:18:44just
1:18:45and then even, you know, the hours that
1:18:48that I talked about today, even those
1:18:50were double maybe a year ago. So, we
1:18:52just try and and
1:18:54>> It's been a journey.
1:18:56>> What else can we get off our plate? It's
1:18:58the journey and it takes a while. You
1:19:01have to self-improve, you have to hire,
1:19:03you have to learn how to hire, you have
1:19:04to
1:19:04>> Learn how to delegate. That's some
1:19:06people's issue is learn how to delegate.
1:19:09>> Learn how to say no. All the We're
1:19:11reiterating all the things in the
1:19:12episode now.
1:19:15Yeah.
1:19:15>> What's really cool is, you know, you
1:19:16guys I think you said we're on the
1:19:18eighth episode, right?
1:19:19>> Uh-huh.
1:19:19>> The eighth one was the one with Brian
1:19:21Anderson and now we're like this is
1:19:23episode maybe 110.
1:19:25>> I was going to say. I was going to say
1:19:26maybe 108, so maybe 100 episodes between
1:19:28them.
1:19:29>> But
1:19:29>> I bet we had sold maybe two or 300
1:19:31systems when we were on it. It It may
1:19:32say in that episode.
1:19:33>> It probably does, yeah.
1:19:35>> We're right at about 1,200 now.
1:19:36>> I was getting ready to ask you that.
1:19:37Yeah, 1,200. Nice.
1:19:39>> It's crazy that's It's a journey and to
1:19:41your point these things don't happen
1:19:43Yeah, are you going to buy something
1:19:44that's even if it's turnkey, is it
1:19:46semi-passive day one? No. You're going
1:19:49to have to
1:19:51It If it was that semi-passive, I don't
1:19:53know that they would have sold it, to be
1:19:54honest. You know what I mean? Like
1:19:56You You've got to be paying a really
1:19:58decent mul- multiple if it's really that
1:20:00the semi-passive. So,
1:20:02um yeah, I think you're absolutely
1:20:04right. It's a journey and it's a grind
1:20:06and it takes a long time, but absolutely
1:20:08if if you want to own
1:20:10a laundromat or a chain of laundromats
1:20:12and and not do it every day. I know a
1:20:13guy that owns 30. Matt Nichols, shout
1:20:15out to Matt. My one of my favorite
1:20:17customers. Um but he owns 30. One of
1:20:20them's just like a commercial processing
1:20:21plant. The other 29 laundromats, they're
1:20:23beautiful laundromats. Spin City Ocala,
1:20:26if you're interested.
1:20:27Um but he's got our point of sale system
1:20:29in all 30. He's got like a whole team. I
1:20:31love his manager.
1:20:33I hope you know, we work with his whole
1:20:35team and he's got people doing it for
1:20:36him and he's done a great job. He's got
1:20:3810 kids too by the way, which I don't
1:20:40know how you do 30 laundromats and
1:20:41stuff. He's a superhuman.
1:20:42>> Wow. Yeah.
1:20:43>> do that.
1:20:44>> That's impressive. We have We have three
1:20:46and it's man, yeah, it's shortened my
1:20:47life.
1:20:49I love them, but it's shortened my life.
1:20:52>> Yeah, I've got one dog and she she's in
1:20:54charge of me, so I don't think I could
1:20:55do 10 kids.
1:20:57I think I'd have the time of day.
1:20:59>> Yeah, that's awesome.
1:21:00Well, listen my friend, thank you so
1:21:01much for putting, you know, carving time
1:21:03out of your day. I know you're a busy
1:21:04guy. Uh congratulations, by the way, and
1:21:06we saw Brian at the Clean Show real
1:21:08quickly. We were both running in
1:21:09opposite directions, but Brian, I know
1:21:11you'll watch this. Congratulations to
1:21:13you guys, too. I'm proud of you guys. Uh
1:21:15Brian probably remembers the CLA forum
1:21:17days where we would we would get in
1:21:20there and and chat back and forth and
1:21:21that's got to be gosh, 12, 13 years ago
1:21:24now. Uh and that was the only way we had
1:21:26of networking. The podcast didn't exist
1:21:28and even a lot of the conferences didn't
1:21:30exist uh back then. The Clean Show was
1:21:33the only
1:21:33>> groups and all that kind of stuff
1:21:35either.
1:21:36>> Yeah, it was just a a very different
1:21:37time back then, but but uh me and Brian
1:21:40grew up in the industry together. I I I
1:21:42don't know if we're I think he's a
1:21:43little bit younger than me, um but we we
1:21:45got in the industry around the same
1:21:46time. I was an owner struggling and he
1:21:49was an
1:21:50employee uh help trying to help his dad
1:21:52build their businesses and they were a
1:21:53few years ahead of us. Uh but a lot of
1:21:55back and forth and he's he's done a lot
1:21:58to help a lot of people in the industry
1:21:59we have, too, and obviously you guys
1:22:01are, too. So, we need more of that in
1:22:03this industry. We need less uh less
1:22:05infighting and less uh ego competitions
1:22:08and more just sharing and giving and uh
1:22:11you know, we can all win. We're it's
1:22:12going to be okay. It's not a it's not a
1:22:14zero-sum game, guys.
1:22:16>> Oh, absolutely. I No, I want the more
1:22:18laundromat owners that do better, the
1:22:19more buyers system, honestly. So, we're
1:22:21happy about that. And you reminded me I
1:22:23got to shout out to Sharon Brinks, as
1:22:25well, who has also been on this journey
1:22:27with us and really helped build that
1:22:29alliance. API we're actually using She's
1:22:31been using it in her store for like a
1:22:32year. But you know, we had to like get
1:22:34it all all the bugs worked out. You
1:22:35know, with alliance it's got to be good
1:22:37before it's published. So
1:22:39she's really helped us. So and I know
1:22:40she's been on the podcast too. I
1:22:41actually heard her last episode as well.
1:22:44So No, I think people like that in the
1:22:46industry that they really help move the
1:22:48industry forward like like yourself and
1:22:49like Sharon and
1:22:51and Brian. So now
1:22:53I appreciate it and I appreciate
1:22:55>> you guys having me on and you guys have
1:22:56just been a pleasure to talk to.
1:22:58>> Yeah, awesome. Well, we appreciate the
1:22:59time, man. Listen, for everyone back
1:23:01home, I'm going to say it again for what
1:23:03the third or fourth time. Go back and
1:23:04check out episode eight. Full
1:23:06disclosure, we were newbies back then
1:23:08just like you've been newbies in a lot
1:23:09of
1:23:10It's pretty rough. So like Brian brought
1:23:13Brian brought some good good value. I
1:23:15remember the episode being really great.
1:23:16But
1:23:17the the post-production work and even me
1:23:19and Carlos' interviewing skills,
1:23:22they weren't what they are today. Not
1:23:23that it's anything special today. So Cut
1:23:25us a little grace.
1:23:27That was four and a half years ago.
1:23:28But anyway, go back and check it out
1:23:30because I think you'll
1:23:31Yeah, yeah, that's right. Well, we
1:23:33always say like you know, I philos- my
1:23:34philosophy in life and business Ian is
1:23:36just getting up every day and try to be
1:23:37better tomorrow than I was yesterday.
1:23:39Like it's a very simple philosophy. It
1:23:41doesn't involve anyone but me. It's I'm
1:23:43I'm only competing with me.
1:23:45>> That's like the purpose of life to
1:23:46self-improve. It's one of them. I I I
1:23:48don't I don't get it when I talk to
1:23:50someone who doesn't actively
1:23:51self-improve. To me that's what that's
1:23:53what really keeps me going and it brings
1:23:55me a lot of joy.
1:23:56And
1:23:57yeah.
1:23:58Awesome, my friend.

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