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Customers BEG Him to Do Their Laundry with Randy Roberts — Transcript

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0:00you need to be found. And there are some
0:02people that we probably both know that
0:04have said to me, come up and say to me,
0:06I just spent 10 $15,000 on developing a
0:08new website. And I looked over at them
0:10and I said, that's great. I really don't
0:13care what your website looks like. I
0:15care what how it searches.
0:16>> Yeah.
0:17>> If you build the prettiest freeway on
0:19the planet and no cars get to it, does
0:21it matter?
0:23Doesn't exist.
0:25I spent probably four [music] or five
0:28months working on our website, search
0:30engine optimization, and [music] when we
0:32went live, within the first month, a
0:34customer found us, a commercial customer
0:37that had 20,000 lb of laundry. We kind
0:41of really started down the road of
0:43focusing like we thought we were
0:44supposed to on residential, and these
0:47commercial customers kept calling us and
0:49wanting to do business with us.
0:53>> Hey, hey, what's up, guys? It's Jordan
0:55with the Launderbad Resource Podcast.
0:57This is show 238
0:59and I have pumped you're here today cuz
1:01today we got a guy on the show who is
1:06doing some big business in an unexpected
1:09place. In fact, it's a place where most
1:12people told him, "Don't do business here
1:15because you're going to lose your
1:18shirt." And uh Randy Roberts is on the
1:20show here to tell you how he built a
1:23gigantic pickup and delivery business.
1:26And a lot of the focus of his business
1:28is on large commercial
1:32businesses, laundry. Uh so he's
1:34competing with some of these big boy
1:36laundry pick and delivery uh operators
1:39like CentOS and others and winning. And
1:42he's going to tell you how he's doing
1:43it. This is an incredible episode. I'd
1:46actually probably just go so far to say
1:47it's an it's an instant classic here.
1:49This is going to be a go-to episode.
1:51Ry's a go-to dude, standup guy. Really
1:54like him and really appreciate him
1:56coming on sharing his experience. And uh
1:59I know you're going to love it. And I
2:00would say, listen, if you even if you're
2:02listening to this and you're not doing
2:03pickup and delivery or you're not
2:05planning on doing pickup and delivery,
2:07this is an incredible episode because
2:09Randy goes through how he thinks about
2:12his business as well as how he has grown
2:15his business and I think it's just
2:16applicable to really any business. Uh so
2:19super smart guy and you're going to love
2:21it. and uh he comes from a sales
2:24background which comes through in this
2:28episode and I actually just I learned a
2:30lot from this episode. So I I know
2:31you're going to love it. Uh real quick
2:33before we jump into that I just want to
2:35point out that we have got a platform.
2:38We custom built it from scratch
2:41specifically so that we could help our
2:44done for you concierge clients uh find
2:47deals. We find deals for them and uh we
2:50build a platform so that we can upload
2:51these deals and uh send it to our
2:54clients so they can say yes, no, let's
2:56discuss it. Um it has broker CRM and all
2:59this stuff. Well, we have taken that
3:01platform and we've created a DIY option.
3:05So even if you're not at a place where
3:06you want to some help looking for a
3:08laundromat or managing that process,
3:10going through the due diligence, all
3:12that stuff, no worries. We have created
3:15a DIY user type on that platform so that
3:19you can go use it. It's completely free.
3:21Go to laundundermatdfy.com.
3:24The DFY is done for you, but it's also
3:26now done do no do yourself. Uh man, I
3:31got thrown off with all the acronyms. Uh
3:33doityourself as well now. So
3:35laundromatfy.com.
3:37You can utilize that platform for free.
3:39Like I said, it's got a broker CRM. It's
3:41going to help you keep track of deals
3:42and all the information there and some
3:44other stuff. Super powerful. Like I
3:46said, we utilize it with our uh with our
3:50high ticket clients. And uh it's been a
3:53game changer for us. So hopefully it'll
3:55be a game changer for you in your hunt
3:57for a laundromat. All right. All right.
4:00Go check it out and uh let's jump into
4:02it with Randy Roberts. Instant classic
4:05episode starting now. Well, well, well.
4:09It is about time, Randy Roberts, that
4:12you have been on this show. How you
4:13doing, man?
4:14>> I'm excellent. I appreciate the invite
4:16and uh look forward to what's going to
4:18happen here. I'm not sure yet, but we're
4:20going to find out together.
4:22>> Nothing good for you. I'll tell you that
4:23right now. [laughter]
4:24>> I am certain of that.
4:26>> Yeah. Well, hey, listen. We've been
4:27trying to get this thing together for a
4:29while and you finally pinned me down.
4:30So, I appreciate it and I am excited to
4:34uh you know, talk to I mean, you're
4:36doing some crazy stuff over there. I
4:37know you wouldn't say that. You're very
4:39humble, but you're doing some pretty
4:40awesome stuff and I think uh I think a
4:42lot of people are going to be blown away
4:43by your story. But let's let's back up a
4:46little bit. Give us a little background
4:47on you and who you were before
4:49Laundromats and then maybe how you
4:51decided to go the laundry route.
4:54>> Sure. So I uh I spent 32 years working
4:58in corporate America for a um IT firm
5:05and uh in doing so uh ran very large
5:10regional and national organizations from
5:12a sales perspective
5:14and uh got a lot of great training,
5:17worked with a lot of really good people.
5:19Created point of sales systems as part
5:21of what I did. created uh which a buy
5:25flow. So you know some of the ones that
5:26are out there in the industry have
5:28pretty good insight to how they're
5:30created, what their intents are, some of
5:32their strengths and opportunities I'll
5:34call them. And in addition to that spent
5:38a lot of time planes, trains and
5:40automobiles. So uh since they started
5:44calculating hotel stays, I have over a
5:47thousand nights in Marriott alone as a
5:50brand.
5:51>> Oh my gosh. So that's that's three
5:53years. [clears throat]
5:54>> Do they give you equity in the company
5:55at that point or
5:57>> I I have you would think I'd have some
5:59type of status, but it's still not the
6:01highest.
6:02>> Gosh.
6:03>> But and what I used to tell my team was
6:05if it's not Marriott, I'm not coming.
6:07And and uh I I'd still come. But
6:11>> while doing that though, what's I found
6:13even more interesting about that was I
6:15was able to coach my son who is now a a
6:18young man, got married here a couple
6:19weekends ago. uh throughout his entire
6:23athletic career from third and fourth
6:26grade all the way up through I coached
6:27high school sports as the uh assistant
6:31varsity
6:33down coaches. So that's awesome. Had a
6:35lot of fun with that. And uh the sport
6:37was lacrosse. I don't know if that means
6:38anything to anybody,
6:40>> but uh played in college for a little
6:42bit during
6:42>> co
6:43>> That's awesome. That's a Well, I mean
6:46that's like uh you know that's kind of
6:49the dream as like a dad, right? is to be
6:50able to have the time. Yes, you got to
6:53travel and you're staying three years of
6:55your life. Just want to point out, by
6:56the way, there's a Marriott on the beach
6:5810 minutes from my house. I'm just
7:00saying.
7:00>> Call me. It's calling me.
7:01>> I'm just saying. So, you know, think
7:03about it. Uh but you know being able to
7:06being able to be there for the kids
7:07sporting events and you know be involved
7:09in coaching and things like like that's
7:12>> I think what a lot of us are just that's
7:13really all we want out of [laughter]
7:14life you know is like make a living be
7:17able to do stuff like that with our kids
7:18while we have them cuz before you know
7:20it they're in college and beyond and
7:23>> you don't get those opportunities
7:24anymore to do that stuff. So very cool.
7:26What I will tell you is I I actually I
7:29know of one game that I missed and I was
7:30trying to fly back from Newark, New
7:32Jersey and I saw bad weather was coming
7:35in
7:37and I had my team member take me back to
7:40the airport and tried to catch a noon
7:43flight to get back cuz my flight was
7:45originally at 4. It was a 7 o'clock game
7:47>> and that flight got pushed. The next
7:50flight got pushed. A flight got
7:51cancelled. I picked up the phone, called
7:53my son. I said, "Listen, here's the
7:55deal. I really want to be there, but I'm
7:56going to miss this. And I remember that
7:59to this day of me having to apologize
8:01for that. Didn't like it. He understood.
8:04Uh it was a very important game to me uh
8:06that I wanted to see with a with one of
8:08the rivals and he had the game-winning
8:11score and I mean just kind of the things
8:13that you miss in those just kind of like
8:15uh never it was on video. But my point
8:18to that is I remember at midnight they
8:21canceled the last flight and they told
8:23me you weren't going to get home till
8:24Monday. And so I went to the rental car
8:28place and I got in the car and I just
8:31started driving home that night and the
8:33the sky was brilliant,
8:36cold, crisp. Uh it would have been a
8:39spring morning and or evening, excuse
8:42me, and I drove until
8:45uh 4 or 5:00 in the morning. I was tired
8:47enough at that point where I pulled over
8:50at a rest stop on a tollway and just
8:53filled the car up with gas, parked it,
8:56got up the next morning, drove it into
8:58work, still had that same outfit on
9:00[laughter]
9:01the day before,
9:02>> right? Straight in there.
9:04>> That those are first world problems
9:05there. I mean that if if that's as tough
9:07as you have it, you got it pretty good
9:08and it's it's been a great life. So,
9:12>> yeah, absolutely. Okay, so you're
9:14corporate America guy for 32 years.
9:18>> Uh, you know, living the corporate
9:20dream, climbing the ladder, all that
9:21stuff. Uh, where where do laundromats
9:24come in here? Or laundry how does this
9:28happen?
9:29>> So, yeah,
9:30>> got to the point in the in my career
9:32where I had the ability to retire. I
9:35still wasn't I was 54 at that time and
9:40uh they changed the rules on retirement
9:42eligibility
9:44and were going to eliminate healthcare
9:47as part of it as part of a strategy to
9:51exit some of the more senior employees.
9:54And so I had the decision to make of
9:56continue working that corporate
9:57environment and trying to get 10 more
9:59years out of it which I didn't have in
10:01me. I needed something new, something
10:03fresh, something different. And uh my
10:07cousin lives I live at the bottom of a
10:09hill, he lives at the top of the hill in
10:10the same housing development. And we
10:12worked together when we were teenagers.
10:14He went the small business
10:16entrepreneurial side. I went the big
10:18business side and I he was down here
10:21sitting on the porch and I said, "Well,
10:23the end of this year, I'm going to need
10:24to retire
10:26and uh if you know of anything, let me
10:28know. You know, I can run sales
10:30organizations. I can I can do this. I
10:32can do that. And uh uh he said, "Well, I
10:35I think I got something. Let me let me
10:36get back with you." And his mind's
10:39always grinding on he's a serial
10:41entrepreneur. And what I'll say is he
10:45he's he came back and he said, "I think
10:47this is going to be a thing." And he
10:49showed me what this was. And then of all
10:52things, uh which is really uh it means a
10:56lot to be on this show because of this,
10:58he said, "I want you to go watch this
11:00channel." And it was the laundromat
11:03resource.
11:04>> Ah, no way.
11:05>> That's that's the first video that I
11:07went and watched. He said, "I want you
11:08to look at this and I want you to think
11:10about this." And so that was March of
11:1321, I think.
11:15>> Okay. [clears throat] That was pretty
11:15early on for us. We were we started in
11:1720. So,
11:18>> yeah. So, [clears throat] uh, he he he
11:20showed me an episode and I think it was
11:22my good friend Rick Romes. Oh, and
11:26listen, not only was the first video a
11:28lot of resource, it was Rick Rome and
11:30you still did this.
11:31>> Do this. [laughter] So, and I want I
11:33want Rick to know this that my cousin
11:36said he thought he was taller. He looked
11:39taller on your episode. So, he said the
11:41camera must have been going up
11:43>> because when he met Rick, he said Rick
11:45was more like this when I met him. So, I
11:48had to do that to Rick. He he will
11:50appreciate that. But uh it was that
11:52episode and then I reached out and had a
11:54conversation with Rick at that time.
11:56That's how I met Rick. But uh it was it
11:59was a great episode and that was that
12:02was the first one that we watched and
12:04you know and my goal is I try and keep
12:06up. You you put out a lot of episodes so
12:08I'm certain I missed a few but we're in
12:10the 230s right now. I know.
12:12>> Yeah. Congrat.
12:14>> Yeah. Thanks.
12:17>> Yeah. That's that's a lot. I never
12:18anticipated anything like that. That's
12:21crazy.
12:22>> That's a habit. That's a habit.
12:24>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And some and some
12:26systems that have helped me enforce that
12:28cuz there's been definitely times where
12:30it's been tough to keep it going. So,
12:32>> yeah.
12:32>> Yeah.
12:33>> That's amazing. Okay.
12:35>> So, so your cousin introduced you to
12:38>> this. Yeah. So, he had two laundromats
12:40at the time. He had two public
12:41facilities [snorts] and he had one of
12:45them that he purchased probably
12:48directionally at 2019 and then the
12:51second one probably 2020 very maybe very
12:55beginning of 21 uh and had them all
12:59filled out. So, some people will say, "I
13:01started on third base, right? I had two
13:04laundromats that were open, fully
13:05functional, and you know, what I view as
13:08really bestin-class machinery that's
13:10updated,
13:13infrastructure that's solid,
13:16everything well-maintained,
13:19and that's what I walked into. So, I
13:21really, my role in the business was to
13:23come in and become the CRO, that revenue
13:26officer
13:27to start driving revenue." And that's
13:29really I spent probably four or five
13:33months working on our website search
13:35engine optimization which I think you
13:37you you very well know the the
13:39significance of that.
13:41>> And and then we went live and when we
13:45went live within the first month
13:49a customer found us a commercial
13:51customer that had 20,000 lbs of laundry.
13:55first month.
13:56>> I think might have been the second
13:58month, but [laughter] it was we didn't
14:00we didn't even know how much longer that
14:02was. I told you the deep end. Deep end.
14:04Randy, jump on in.
14:07>> I do not know how to say the word no.
14:11And and my cousin, my business partner
14:13in this, I call him the CF no, but he
14:16never says no. He always says yes to all
14:18my crazy airbrain ideas. And you know we
14:21we've we've really moved very very
14:24rapidly and if and have been in a
14:26hyperrowth mode and and hopefully we'll
14:28share some of those things. So I went
14:31and started to do some investigation on
14:33the business after doing that. You know
14:35I went out and I met my first person
14:36that I met face to face was Mark
14:38Vascamp. I went down and toured him down
14:40in Austin.
14:42>> Yeah. The fold.
14:43>> Yeah. Yep. When he was
14:44>> you've been on the podcast a few time
14:46real quick just for anybody listening if
14:47you haven't gone and listened to any of
14:48Mark's episodes. Mark Flask Cam's
14:50episodes. Worth checking out for sure.
14:52>> He he is one of my favorites and uh
14:56super sharp guy and is uh I always enjoy
14:59when I have conversations with him. But
15:01he was my first experience with this. I
15:04went down toward his facility and this
15:06was when I was still trying to figure it
15:08out, right? And uh and um this this is
15:12not small business here.
15:15And and Mark gave me some advice that
15:17well I I'm going to stay away. Mark's
15:20first advice I'm no I'm going to out him
15:22here because I gave him too many
15:23compliments. So I got to pull one of
15:25them back and and he would he would
15:27appreciate this. He said don't do
15:29commercial business. It's a road to
15:30zero.
15:31>> Yeah.
15:32>> And I said I hear you. And I took it in.
15:35And so, you know, we kind of really
15:37started down the road of of focusing
15:40like we were like we thought we were
15:42supposed to on residential and these
15:44stupid commercial customers kept calling
15:46us and wanting to do business with us.
15:50And and so what did we have to do? We
15:52had to figure out a way to service them.
15:53And that really is where I think I found
15:55my niche
15:57>> is coming from that corporate sales
15:58environment, being able to
16:02>> find the problem, what the problem is,
16:04and try and serve towards that.
16:07>> And you know, we can talk about that in
16:09a lot more detail kind of later on if
16:10you'd like, but I
16:12>> I think it's a great um
16:15>> I think it's something people will say,
16:19and I actually enjoy this. People say
16:21he's just a salesman
16:24and it's an insult. Including my son. My
16:27son said to me when he was growing up
16:28because I have friends that are one's a
16:30doctor, two of them are doctors, one's a
16:33chiropractor, one's a jeweler, one's a
16:37I don't just make it up at their
16:40professional careers. And he looked over
16:42[clears throat] at his dad. I said,
16:42"Yeah, you're just a salesman." And I
16:44said,
16:46"Look around you."
16:48I said everything that's around you was
16:51created by that just a salesman.
16:53>> Yeah.
16:54>> And so I really view it more a as a
16:56consultive or or a relationship
17:00>> play uh you know being a sales I don't I
17:03don't view that as a as a negative but
17:05sometimes people view it that way and I
17:08view it more as you're helping someone
17:11and if you can help them get what they
17:13want you will likely get what you need.
17:18I I agree with that whole heart. In
17:20fact, yesterday, I was just having a
17:21conversation with my 14-year-old. We're
17:23talking about him uh starting to learn
17:25how to, you know, generate some value in
17:28the world here and make some money here
17:30pretty soon. And uh I was telling him
17:32like, you know, one of the skills I wish
17:35I learned early on was sales. Like I
17:37never learned sales uh or or anything
17:41until like pretty recently. I last five
17:45years maybe. Um, and even now I wouldn't
17:47even consider myself a great salesman,
17:49but I have a business that relies on
17:53sales and I my approach is like kind of
17:56what you're saying is I'm just trying to
17:57help people, you know, accomplish their
17:59goals and I figure if I do enough of
18:01that, I'll be okay. And
18:03>> wildly you already are wildly
18:05successful. So you're you're doing that.
18:07That's that's
18:08>> Yeah, I think sales is Yeah. I wouldn't
18:10say just salesmen either. I I think
18:12>> I I actually take pride when people say
18:16that. I That just shows me that they
18:18don't appreciate [clears throat] the
18:19craft and it is a craft that needs to be
18:21practiced.
18:22>> Yep.
18:23>> It it is something that if you get good
18:26at it, it you helping others and being
18:31successful in that can really provide
18:33you with a very fruitful existence. And
18:38I don't mean financially,
18:41>> I mean in life.
18:42>> Yeah, I agree. I agree.
18:46>> Yeah. Well, okay. So, uh, so you started
18:49finding you went against the the
18:51godfather Mark Vlamp there and, uh,
18:55>> I did
18:55>> and started finding a niche in the
18:56commercial in the commercial space here.
18:59Uh, I mean, you you said that these
19:03businesses kept coming back to you. I
19:04mean, was that a result of the SEO or
19:08your magnetic personality, your shiny
19:12credit? Yeah. The the glare off my head,
19:14you know, Exactly. So,
19:17>> what I'll say is it it all start You
19:19need to be found. number one.
19:22>> Yeah.
19:22>> Because what I what I hear and I I
19:24actually get a kick out of this and
19:26there are some people that we probably
19:27both know that have said to me uh they
19:30remain nameless come up and say to me,
19:33"Oh, I just spent 10 $15,000 on
19:35developing a new website." And I looked
19:38over at them and I said, "That's great.
19:41I really don't care what your website
19:43looks like. I care what how it
19:45searches."
19:46>> Yeah. If you build the prettiest freeway
19:49on the planet and no cars get to it,
19:51does it matter?
19:53Doesn't exist.
19:54>> Yeah.
19:55>> And I think people get hung up in the
19:57I've got to change this color. I've got
19:59to do this. I've got to do that.
20:03I am a little bit contrarian in those
20:05conversations. I'm a little bit
20:06contrarian in many of those
20:08conversations. And
20:10>> I I I don't buy into that. and and that
20:12person still went out and spent $10,000
20:14on a website and then um call called me
20:19about six months later and said, "Well,
20:21who who are you using?"
20:25>> So, yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I see that
20:28all the time, right? And like this is I
20:29think this is like a serial problem for
20:33entrepreneur. I mean, I think probably
20:34just people in general where, you know,
20:36part of it is uh we we dabble with that
20:39stuff because we don't know what to do
20:41that would actually move the needle and
20:43so we at least feel like we're doing
20:44something. And I think part of it too is
20:46and I've done this in the past uh where
20:50you're afraid you're afraid to get out
20:52there and accidentally land 20,000 or
20:5620,000 worth of laundry business in in
20:59month two. or you know, you're afraid
21:01because you're not sure, you know, if
21:02you can do it or how it'll work out or
21:04if you should do it or or whatever and
21:06so you kind of dillydally with things
21:10that are safer to dillydally with, but
21:12that don't move the needle
21:14>> for your business. I think it's so
21:16common. That's why like one of our
21:18values uh in LA Resource, we have our
21:21like our values. One of our values is
21:23default to action, right? We want to
21:25default to let's let's move the needle
21:27here and let's not look for perfection.
21:29I mean, if you go to my website, I've
21:31people have been telling me for ages
21:33like, "Oh, it's hard to know what you
21:36even offer and like what you do and like
21:38and I know all that. It needs to be
21:39fixed and and I do need to do that." But
21:43the business is running because I'm
21:44focusing on the things that actually
21:46move the needle.
21:47>> Um, and so those things matter less. I'd
21:49probably do better if I fix those things
21:50also when I fix those things. But,
21:52>> well, what what I'll say is you you're
21:55so far ahead because you've taken the
21:57action. [clears throat]
21:58>> Yeah. interaction you people get run
22:00right by because of it. I I've made more
22:03mistakes than probably anyone in the
22:06business and should have not been
22:07successful, but I just kept learning
22:08from those mistakes. I would do things
22:10and and and I I think it's very
22:13important to find a mentor. I think
22:15that's super important to have somebody
22:17that's went down the road before you.
22:19And what I'll say is I found one pretty
22:22early on I pestered Mr. of last camp
22:24enough to where he
22:27shuddered me over. He thought he got me
22:30away from him and he said, "This guy
22:32over here does a lot of commercial
22:33business. His name's Kent Wales."
22:37[laughter]
22:38>> Okay. What's his number?
22:41>> That's right.
22:42>> No. And I truly consider both of them
22:44friends. Kent, I I talk to him a few
22:47times a week and we bounce ideas off
22:49each other.
22:51Having said that, I I would not be where
22:54I am if I didn't have the team of people
22:57around me.
22:58>> Yeah.
22:58>> That I consider my peer group, my
23:01mentors. And I I am not afraid of
23:04picking up the phone and calling
23:05somebody when I don't know something.
23:09Uh to the point where it might be a
23:11turnoff to others, but that level of
23:14persistence is is is how I've gotten
23:17here.
23:18>> Yeah.
23:19I I mean I think that's I think that's
23:20hu I mean one of the reasons a lot of my
23:22resource even exists is because I had
23:24such a bad experience and I was
23:26desperately searching for someone to
23:29help me figure out why I couldn't figure
23:31out this easy business right like
23:34everybody's like hey 95% success rate
23:36super easy and I'm like well then why
23:38can't I figure it out why am I losing
23:40money over here right and I couldn't
23:42find anybody uh there were no platforms
23:45there were no YouTubes there you know
23:48mastermind groups. None of that stuff
23:50existed back then. And so, um, I'm a
23:53huge I've said this a lot of times. I
23:55pay a lot of money every year to be in
23:57>> groups of people in the industry and out
23:59of the industry.
24:00>> Uh, to have those people around me to
24:03help help me navigate my entrepreneurial
24:06journey, it's it's difficult, right?
24:08You're trying to build something uh that
24:10doesn't exist yet. And that's what you
24:12did. And it's difficult to do that. You
24:14need smart minds around you uh to help
24:18help you navigate. I'm a huge
24:20>> look at it as I know the world's round.
24:21I know the wheels round. I just I just
24:24want to know how to make it roll faster.
24:26>> Yeah.
24:27>> And and if those if people can help me
24:29with that, I'm all ears. And I have
24:31learned so much from so many people that
24:33have made the mistakes, [clears throat]
24:35>> you know, I will. You know, I was kind
24:36to Kent, so now I have to gig him and
24:39say Kent does not like uh some of my
24:42crazy hairrained ideas like taking a 100
24:46foot by 30 foot American flag and
24:49figuring how to wash it when I don't
24:50have a washing machine big enough to do
24:52it
24:53and try and try and learn and we got to
24:56take it off the wall and warehouse where
24:57it is. So, I've got to get a scissor
24:58lift and I have to have a a scissor lift
25:01driver that is uh
25:05scissor lift certified to go in this
25:06warehouse.
25:08[laughter]
25:10>> How'd you wash it? Now I got to know how
25:11you washed it.
25:12>> I you know what? I did all this work to
25:14figure it out and I learned so much and
25:16I wasn't I wasn't on their approved
25:18vendor list. It might be a big company
25:20that we all know the name of. Oh.
25:23>> That has very large warehouses across
25:25the country. I didn't have a
25:27certification with them at that point to
25:29do the work.
25:31>> God,
25:32>> so I didn't end up winning it, but I
25:34learned so much. So much.
25:35>> Oh yeah.
25:36>> And so Kent will say, you know, just say
25:39no. Say no. And I'm like, I can't.
25:41>> I can't do it cuz I'll learn something
25:43from this and then I'll use it. And I
25:45did learn things I that I learned from
25:46that. I used it later on.
25:48>> Yeah.
25:49>> And and guess what? He was right. I
25:51probably should have just said no, but I
25:53wanted to learn at such a rapid pace
25:56that I couldn't at that point.
25:59[clears throat] I didn't have enough
26:01things in front of me to work on that I
26:04felt like I was as engaged as I wanted
26:07to be in the business.
26:10>> Yeah.
26:11>> So, I kept
26:12>> Go ahead.
26:13>> No, keep going. Keep going.
26:14>> So, I kept pushing that wet spaghetti
26:16uphill.
26:17>> Yeah. [laughter]
26:19Yeah. Well, you know what that reminds
26:20me of is uh the story from Rich Dad Poor
26:23Dad where he's talking about it's him
26:26and his buddy are working for his dad's
26:28store and they make peanuts, you know,
26:31working at a store and he he has a
26:33heartto-he heart the the the rich dad
26:35has a heartto-he heart talk with him and
26:36he basically says, "Hey, do you guys,
26:39you know, do you guys want to make a lot
26:41of money? You guys want to be wealthy?"
26:42And they say, "Yeah, we do." And he
26:44says, "Okay, I'm not going to pay you at
26:46anything anymore. use your mind and
26:48figure out like learn some lessons, try
26:51some stuff and learn some stuff and you
26:52and learn some lessons. And he he goes
26:55on to make the point like, hey, the rich
26:57don't work for money. The rich work for
27:00to to learn to develop new skills, to
27:02build new habits. You know, this is why
27:05the rich work, not for money, because
27:07the money comes from those things,
27:08right? And it reminded me a lot of that.
27:10>> Yeah. like, yeah, maybe you shouldn't
27:11have done it,
27:13>> but if you're going to learn something,
27:14[clears throat]
27:15maybe it's worth it still.
27:16>> No, it it clearly was. I would do it
27:18again every time. Every time.
27:21>> Yeah.
27:21>> And and that's and the other part is
27:24probably I just hate to lose. So I want
27:27I I hate losing more than I love to win.
27:32So I do not want to be, you know, I I
27:36don't want to be that person that's
27:37sitting behind there. So, I try and I
27:39try and be in front of the leading edge.
27:41I like to call it the bleeding edge.
27:43>> Mhm.
27:44>> You know, I like to use some of these
27:46technologies before,
27:48you know, they're they're really ready
27:49for prime time. And and what's So, I'm
27:52going to land the I'm going to land the
27:53airplane on your original question here,
27:55though. And so, what [clears throat]
27:57really fascinated me about the business
27:58were the various models uh for a
28:00laundromat because you could do it in
28:03self-s serve,
28:04>> you know, only with non-staffed. You
28:07could do self-s serve, partial staff,
28:10self-s serve, full staff,
28:14uh, self-s serve, full serve,
28:17>> you know, and then put in pick up and
28:19delivery, which is really that's that's
28:21what I really is that's what I pray
28:24over. That's what's important to me.
28:26That's what I've been tasked with in in
28:28this partnership with my my cousin. And
28:31it uh it's been so much fun because I I
28:35I still don't know that I'm at my final
28:37model yet because we started out with a
28:39public laundromat and we got so busy and
28:42and the right way to probably do this we
28:46didn't do. We I I I believe that I
28:50didn't want people working overnights
28:52because I didn't want to be challenged
28:54from midnight to 8:00 a.m. I wanted to
28:57sleep during those times. So for me to
29:00ask somebody to work during those times,
29:02I was going to have to train somebody. I
29:04was going to have to be there. And I'm a
29:05night owl. I'm up till one or two most
29:07nights, but I didn't want to have to
29:10have that responsibility. And also, I
29:12felt like I probably couldn't get the
29:14staff that I quality that I wanted if I
29:17[clears throat] was going to put them in
29:18at that time. So, so we broke another
29:21rule which is, you know, run the laundry
29:23mat during the day and [clears throat]
29:26run it for your pickup and delivery
29:28business in the evening. We had so much
29:31stuff in there so quick and didn't
29:32really have it's it's 1,800 square foot
29:35and it now has a folding machine in it,
29:38a full text folding machine in the front
29:39of it. It looks like a big old car
29:41sitting in this facility. And um it
29:46we just didn't have the space. We didn't
29:48have the stores. We were actually taking
29:50items out of the laundromat and putting
29:53them in a box truck and taking them to a
29:55warehouse to store them
29:58so that we could have the laundromat
30:00open. And so that quickly broke down.
30:03>> Yeah.
30:04>> So today, our model is we closed a
30:06public facility, 1,800T laundromat. Uh
30:10we have outgrown it. So, we're currently
30:12building a 6,000q ft²
30:16private facility that will have the
30:19folding machine, the FTEX folding
30:21machine. It will have a an ironer in it
30:24as well. And we ended up choosing uh
30:27Gerbal is who we chosen that because of
30:30a very strong distributor that we we
30:32aligned ourselves with.
30:36>> What are you going to do with all this
30:37space you got? like you're not going to
30:39be bumping into elbows with the folders.
30:42And
30:43>> so every day you walk in there, I I'll
30:46share with you. This just happened
30:47today. I didn't know this. I I had a I
30:50had another appointment earlier today.
30:53The manager of my facility called me and
30:55said, "Oh yeah, the fire inspector was
30:56in today."
30:57>> Oh. And I said, "Okay." And and he had
31:01been in there. I had met him. He has the
31:03same name as another friend of mine, so
31:05I remembered his name. and he came in
31:08and I asked him I said you know we're
31:10starting to store 55gallon drums and
31:13we're moving to a new facility so we're
31:15not going to be here very much longer
31:17but I need to know if there's specific
31:19things we need to do because of that and
31:24so he came back to tell us yes if you
31:26store more than 55gallon drums multiples
31:29of them there are certain things you
31:31have to do so he left some paperwork
31:32with her but he walked in and we play
31:36extreme string jingga. We don't like to
31:37play jingga. To get into our facility,
31:40you have to push a cart, move another
31:42one, slide it. Some days they're parked
31:45in front of the washing machines.
31:48[laughter] You
31:49>> It's like one of those puzzles, right?
31:50You got to like
31:51>> Yeah. Yeah. We just move it. And so it's
31:54it's so counterproductive. We we've just
31:56outgrown it. And
31:58>> you know, four years ago when we started
32:00this,
32:01>> the place was empty, right? It was 1,800
32:04square foot. It looked like a ghost
32:05town. We didn't need shelves. We didn't
32:08have shelves. We didn't know what we
32:10were going to need. We were We were just
32:12really We were both taking a swing to
32:14see was it real? We thought it was real
32:18and it's real. And so what are we going
32:19to do with it? What are we going to do
32:20with the other one? Uh
32:24we we have
32:26two customers that can fill it up
32:28tomorrow.
32:30>> So it it's we have the business. they
32:34want to do the business with us if we
32:35can agree upon a price. I don't know
32:37that we'll be able to agree upon a price
32:40uh because the quality of service we
32:42supply is greater than some of the
32:43companies that they're currently
32:44supporting being supported by.
32:47>> So, we'll figure that out. But
32:48regardless,
32:50uh my job is to grow it and make sure
32:53that we get as quick to filling that
32:546,000 foot facility as we can. And I I'm
33:00very optimistic we'll get there quickly.
33:02We won't be there as quick as I want to
33:04be there though because I want to be
33:06there now and it's not built.
33:09>> Yeah. What's the timeline look like for
33:10this thing to be finished and you guys
33:12moving in? Do you know? I mean, I'm sure
33:14it's a moving target.
33:15>> Yeah. Well, I mean, I'll show yesterday.
33:18>> Uh, so, uh, let me I'm going to back up
33:21because it's it's it's not funny, but
33:23it's it's it's very
33:26>> things happen for a reason. I believe
33:27that. My cousin believes that. He he uh
33:31owned some properties in town, so he had
33:33a couple of warehouses. And so we were
33:35going to move into a 4,400 foot
33:37facility. And we started to do some work
33:40there. And we tried to drag in the
33:42electric. We needed to increase it to
33:43400 amp from 250.
33:46And the city needed to put a new hang a
33:49new pole. They needed to put a new
33:51transformer on it, loop it over to us.
33:54And it is we live in the city of
33:56Columbus. The power company is the city
33:59of Columbus. It is not like a separate
34:03entity for that physical location. For
34:05all of Columbus, it's a public utilities
34:08company. So, we had the great luck
34:12>> of working with the city of Columbus for
34:15our electric. 7 months later, we still
34:18didn't have it.
34:20>> So, I don't
34:20>> I was going to say that doesn't sound
34:22like good luck.
34:23>> No. So, at that point, my cousin looked
34:26to me and he said, 'You know what? I
34:27have a 6,000 foot facility over here.
34:31How about we take a look at that?
34:35I said, "Are you really asking me to go
34:36look at it? I already think we've
34:38outgrown that one. Let's go." And so, we
34:40had some sunk costs that we we figured
34:42out between us and uh we we just packed
34:47that thing back up and and went to what
34:50it is now. And right now, just to talk
34:53about, you know, inspections that we
34:54just passed our plumbing inspection and
34:57we'll be pouring concrete over top of it
34:59tomorrow.
35:01>> Hey. All right.
35:02>> That is that is January 2026 for those
35:04watching down the line. So, uh we have
35:09we will have a 2-in water line here in
35:11just a little bit. We will have um gas
35:15is already I think we have enough gas.
35:17So, we're not worried about that. My
35:19expectation and it is was it January
35:22what? 8th.
35:23>> Yeah, today's January 8th.
35:26>> 8th. Yeah.
35:26>> End of February is when we when we need
35:28to be rocking and rolling. And I I'm
35:30optimistic. There going to be some
35:31hurdles that we still have to overcome.
35:34But we've we've got these customers that
35:36are just begging us to do business with
35:38them because of the level of service,
35:40the quality of service that they're
35:41receiving with some of these other
35:43companies. It's it's quite atrocious.
35:46and we're gonna figure out how to do it.
35:48You know, if they can afford us, we we
35:50want to do it for them. We will do it
35:53for them if they can.
35:54>> Okay.
35:56>> I need to That's a lot.
35:57>> Yeah. Now, I need to I need to like
35:59pause you here for a second cuz
36:02>> I think that there are a lot of people
36:05listening to this right now that would
36:07love to have customers begging them to
36:13do more business with you, right? Like I
36:16think that that's what a lot of like
36:18whether they're starting out and they're
36:20trying to get there or they've been
36:21doing drop off or pick up and delivery
36:23for a while and have just are just
36:26struggling to grow it or have plateaued
36:28or anything. So I'm I'm curious like can
36:31you I don't even know if you can put
36:32your finger on it, but maybe you can.
36:34Can you can you put your finger on like
36:36what are you guys doing that has allowed
36:39you I mean you said you've only been
36:41doing this like four years or so. like
36:43how have you scaled that quickly? Uh
36:46what are the what are the things that
36:48separate what you're doing from like
36:50what your your average or or
36:52underperforming pickup and delivery
36:54operators doing?
36:56>> Okay. And [clears throat] so when I
36:59first started this business told me you
37:01needed to start at a certain rate
37:04and and that rate is what everyone
37:07assumed the industry was going to be.
37:08It's it's crazy low. I mean, I don't
37:11know if we want to talk rates is buck a
37:13pound. That's what everybody need a buck
37:15a pound. Buck a pound. Buck a pound.
37:17>> And uh so we started this business and
37:20we picked up our first commercial client
37:22for a buck a pound. Not that very big
37:25one, but we we had a a a large Airbnb
37:28service that we supplied. It was 300 lb,
37:31which to us back then was enormous.
37:34>> Yeah.
37:35>> That was like large.
37:37>> Yeah. Every every Monday 300 lb. and
37:40then every Wednesday 300 lb and then
37:42Friday three you like it was great and
37:46uh but then once we realized these other
37:49customers were paying significantly
37:51higher and so we had to get through this
37:54work that wasn't as profitable we didn't
37:57lose money on it but we didn't make very
37:59much money on it to get to the business
38:01that was allowing us to make it so so
38:04number one and the reason I'm saying
38:06this is everyone leads with price and if
38:10you're leading with price, you're
38:12driving it to become a commoditized
38:14market.
38:16And so, uh, we work hard to
38:18differentiate what we're doing and how
38:21we're doing it. And we do it the same
38:22for every customer. So, I view it as
38:25it's productized. Every customer that we
38:28that we do business with, we do the same
38:30way. But kind of before I go through
38:34that model, I want to say the first
38:35thing you have to do is and I didn't
38:38create this, but you have to create a
38:40relationship with no like and trust.
38:44They have to know who you are. So they
38:45have to find you, right? They have to
38:47find your website. They have to like
38:49you. They don't have to have beers with
38:50you, but they have to believe that you
38:53you're a good person and that you're
38:55trust.
38:57Okay? And if you can create that no-
38:58like and trust relationships with people
39:00quickly,
39:02you're going to be wildly successful.
39:04>> Yeah,
39:04>> I actually play games sometimes. And
39:07this I did this a long time ago. I don't
39:09do it as much now, but when I was trying
39:11to figure this thing out,
39:13>> I would tell them how we would do
39:15business for them. So, I'm going to
39:16share with with you and everyone exactly
39:18what I do every time. I tell them uh
39:22we're for for commercial clients, not
39:24for residential clients. So, we're going
39:26to talk about commercial clients. Let me
39:28categorize it for you because I think
39:30that the world um makes it more
39:33complicated than it is.
39:35There's two types of commercial clients.
39:37We do really good with one of them and
39:40we do okay with the other ones, but we
39:43don't do near as well. So, if the
39:46customer owns the goods, so COG is the
39:49term. If they're [clears throat]
39:51customerowned goods, we're wildly
39:54successful.
39:56in the rental space in in the larger
39:59customers.
40:01Uh we do not see as much success
40:06because that is the you know those are
40:07the lowcost leaders, those are your big
40:10box trucks, things like that. Now we win
40:12in that space. We win uh very unique
40:18strategic items, higher value items,
40:21items that the big box companies can't
40:23handle well. So I we compete with we do
40:27work for some of the biggest companies
40:29out there.
40:31They they sub the work out to us because
40:33we can deliver a different product than
40:35they can.
40:37So back back to kind of the model. So uh
40:43when I get a customer on the phone first
40:44I want to find out what their needs are.
40:46What's work what are they doing it
40:47today? How are they doing it? What are
40:49their needs? So I want to be like the
40:52doctor. I want to find out what makes
40:54them ill and I want to make them better.
40:56And I don't do that by leading with
40:59here's my price, here's my service,
41:02thank you very much, can I sign you up?
41:06The other thing I try and do is
41:08establish myself as an industry expert.
41:12And I don't do that by telling them I'm
41:14an expert. I give them examples of how
41:16we're doing things for other people. and
41:19I share with them the best practices.
41:22So, I'll share a a couple examples of
41:24that. So, for larger Airbnbs, we want
41:27them to centralize the location where
41:29they uh store all of their linens.
41:33It mirrors their cleaning supplies. So,
41:35if you got to go pick up all your
41:37cleaning supplies, you're going to put
41:37in one location. Put your linens there,
41:40too. We'll drop off all the cleans and
41:42put them on one side. You keep all the
41:44dirties on the other. It's very easy for
41:46a single location Airbnb. And how do I
41:49how do we end up on this? Because I
41:51failed so bad at it initially. We had a
41:54multilocation. They had seven locations,
41:57one property management company. And
41:59[clears throat] and I was a driver. I
42:01was a driver for
42:03too long. Painful. Painfully too long.
42:07But I learned so much when I was in that
42:08seat. So we we went to one of the
42:11locations and the cleaner had left and
42:13the cleaning bag was sitting inside the
42:16door. Didn't have access to it. So for
42:19the single location pickups, what what I
42:22will educate the client on is you know
42:25the deck boxes where you put pillows.
42:27>> Mhm.
42:28>> Like your your
42:30>> Yeah.
42:30>> Put a lock on that. We we know the code.
42:33You put it outside there. It's
42:34non-intrusive into the building, so your
42:36customer can check in and check out
42:38whenever they want and we can pick it up
42:41whenever we want. So, we don't have to
42:43be there before 11:00 when the client
42:45checks in because we don't want the
42:47client to see our dirty linens, right?
42:50So, it gave us some flexibility. For the
42:53single location ones, I say if you got a
42:55single location, this is this is how you
42:57do it. It's not we require it. There's
42:59other things we can do. We can customize
43:01it. Some clients we go into their
43:03garage. Some of our larger clients, we
43:06go into a storage garage that I show
43:08them how to set up. So, first you you
43:11got to establish yourself as an expert
43:13in the industry.
43:15You've got value more than just we do
43:17laundry and I'm going to help your
43:18business get better. That gets back to
43:20what you know we talked about initially.
43:23[clears throat]
43:23>> Then uh then I'm going to talk to them
43:27about what we do and how we do and why
43:29it's different. So, and it's not rocket
43:32science. We pre-stain treat items that
43:35need to be pre-stained treated for all
43:36commercial clients.
43:39We um wash it, dry it, we inspect it for
43:45staining or damaged afterward.
43:48And if it's stained or damaged, we
43:51separate it, put it in separate bags,
43:53mark those bags, and return it to the CL
43:55customer.
44:01100% of our commercial clients, that's
44:03what we do.
44:05We have a large client that spends a lot
44:07of money with us [clears throat]
44:09and they wanted to negotiate with me and
44:12we had already bailed them out of a very
44:14bad situation one summer and they had
44:185 to7,000 a week of laundry. This was
44:21early for us. I mean, we had no idea
44:24what that kind of laundry
44:26were due to our processes, which it
44:29stretched them to the maximum.
44:30>> That's right. Yeah. Yeah.
44:32>> Uh
44:33but they wanted us to discount it. And I
44:35said, "But you're not getting the same
44:39thing from the other client." And in
44:41fact, the reason I'm here is because
44:42they couldn't do it.
44:45So, uh, that was kind of the first time
44:49I was really adamant and in talking with
44:51my cousin, we're going to hold the
44:54price. And it wasn't easy to do because
44:55this client spends
44:58hundreds of thousands of dollars with
45:01us.
45:03And um they they came back and and and
45:07they said, "Well, what if you don't do
45:09the separation when you return it to
45:12us?"
45:13And I said, "So, you're going to your
45:15people are going to inspect that and
45:17then that Google review that goes up
45:19there that says you've got stained or
45:20damaged items.
45:22It it's worth that from an image to you.
45:26You're willing willing to whisk risk
45:27this." And this company, they're a name
45:29that you would know it if I if I if I
45:32said it here. everyone would know who it
45:33is. And and they went back, they talked
45:37about it some more, and they signed up
45:39for the price that that we wanted it
45:40for. And and I charge them a pickup and
45:43delivery fee based upon the size
45:45vehicle. And it's not a small pickup and
45:47delivery fee. It's a big one.
45:51So
45:54those four steps, I mean, every client I
45:56talk to, we talk to them about those
45:57four things. But the first thing I have
46:00to do is find the problem. So, I'll give
46:02you another example of a client, a
46:04uniform company. They're fireresistant
46:06uniforms for a drug manufacturer.
46:09And so, it's it's warehouse work and
46:11they're the they're the mechanics is
46:13what they are.
46:15And I went down and I met with them and
46:18I said, "Okay, show me what show me what
46:20you guys have." This was a big client to
46:21us at this point and it's it's a great
46:26customer,
46:27but they're they're not they're not big
46:29like they we thought they were when
46:31compared with some of the other the so
46:34we went down there and I said, "Okay,
46:37tell me what your problem is." And they
46:39said, "They're not returning the items."
46:41Which we know how to solve that, right?
46:44>> Uh just we wash them, we dry them, we
46:47fold them, we return them, right? Pretty
46:49basic stuff. Easy. Easy
46:51>> basic requirement there.
46:54101, right?
46:55>> That's like keeping your laundromat
46:56clean. Same basic like it seems easy.
46:59You should be able to do it. But still
47:01people don't.
47:02>> Here was the bigger one though. They
47:03didn't like the invoicing.
47:06>> Oh.
47:06>> So they invoiced. So they had 40
47:08mechanics and every mechanic's uniform
47:11they would go in they put a one one. And
47:14so accounts payable would have to go in
47:17and say, "I got four uniforms for Randy.
47:22I got three uniforms from Jordan." And
47:25they would have to pay it out at that
47:26level.
47:28And so me, I'm chomping at the bit. When
47:31I heard that, I grabbed a copy of my
47:33invoice and I I brought it down to him
47:35and I said, "What do you want the
47:36invoice to look like? How would you like
47:38it to look like this? Every week I'm
47:40going to invoice you for this amount of
47:42dollars for this many uniforms." So,
47:44it's one fee every week. So, it's as a
47:47service, right? It's almost, you know,
47:49some people may call it subscription,
47:50but uh it it's I'm going to charge you
47:53this much and then I'm going to charge
47:54you this much money to pick it up and
47:56deliver it.
47:58>> And so, every week the amount is the
48:00exact same amount, 52 weeks a year, and
48:04we pick it up and deliver it two times a
48:06week. And I charge this client in total
48:10$1,000 a week. So, it's $52,000 a year
48:15in revenue for
48:18five bags of laundry every week.
48:20>> Yeah. How many How many How many people
48:23out there right now are trying to get
48:25their pickup and delivery business up
48:27and running? Would kill for a client
48:29like that,
48:30>> you know?
48:31>> We we need we need every new client that
48:34we can get, right? We we retain a lot of
48:36them. uh we we retain the vast majority
48:39of them would be a better way to say
48:41that uh for a very long time and the
48:44majority of them are no contract our
48:46largest of our large ones we contract
48:50and what I tell customers if when they
48:52ask if we have a contract is I say I
48:54can't offer you a lifetime contract. I'm
48:57sorry we don't make that but every week
48:59I'm going to earn a lifetime contract
49:01for you and if we do a good job you're
49:02going to keep us and if we don't you
49:04shouldn't.
49:07And you know, I I think we do well
49:09there. The other thing I do once we win
49:11a client is I do stewardship.
49:16And I tell the client, I don't tell them
49:17I'm going to steward them. I tell them
49:20I'm going to be on site a lot,
49:23especially when they're a big client.
49:27And you know, big client could be $1,000
49:29a week. It could be thousands and
49:32thousands of dollars a week.
49:34So, but when we when we pick them up,
49:37I'll say, "I'm going to be on site. I'm
49:39going to do some inspection. I'm going
49:40to make sure you're getting what you
49:42feel you should be getting. I'm going to
49:44make sure we're doing what we should be
49:45doing when and how we should be doing."
49:48And then what I do when I'm there, I ask
49:52them a question. How's everything going?
49:54Good. You got any any questions? Any
49:56concerns? Any issues? No. Well, I want
49:59them to say that so that they're they're
50:02repeating that so when they get
50:03questions from around themselves in the
50:05business that they're going to remember
50:07those statements. Yeah, I haven't had
50:08any issues.
50:10Nothing.
50:12It's been great.
50:15And and we have we service a a very
50:18large hotel for some niche products and
50:22that hotel already referred us to
50:24another hotel cuz these people talk.
50:28>> That's right. Right. They do.
50:29>> Yeah.
50:29>> That's right. A lot of them are in the
50:30same mastermind groups.
50:32>> Yeah. Yeah. 100%. No. 100%.
50:34>> Yeah.
50:34>> So, I mean, there's there's different
50:36methods to selling. And I subscribe to a
50:40model and there's a book back here over
50:41my shoulder that's that's my I've got
50:43two books that are my favorite. One of
50:46them is called Value Added Selling by
50:48Tom Riley and it's an old book.
50:52>> I'll link it for anybody. Yeah, I'll
50:54link it if you're interested in in
50:55snagging that. I'll link that in the uh
50:57description down below if you're on
50:59YouTube or it'll be on the show notes
51:00page.
51:00>> Yep. The other one is called Crushing
51:03Price Objections.
51:07>> And I'll give you my favorite line in
51:09the whole book,
51:11>> which masterfully demonstrated, by the
51:13way, already with that other client that
51:15wanted the discount. I mean, I I watched
51:17you going through the process of it and
51:20taking them right through. I was
51:22>> Yeah.
51:22>> masterful.
51:23>> Well, I appreciate it. It's it's you
51:25know if it were easy everyone could do
51:27it but I really don't think it's as
51:28tough. It's just a you have to look at
51:30it more like a process. It really is a
51:33process.
51:33>> Yeah.
51:34>> So but the my favorite line of all of
51:36them and I used it with a spa that we
51:38were doing business with. They were
51:39doing business with a c with a client
51:42and that customer they had a fire. The
51:45their the laundry company had a fire and
51:48so the phone rang. I picked it up. I was
51:51I was close to them. I said, "Yeah, I'll
51:52run by. Take a look." And and I went to
51:57their business and they said, "Well,
51:58we're really not that pleased with them.
52:01Uh, can you do this? I think we want a
52:03long term." And so I went in and I and
52:06we did it. And about a month later, they
52:08came back and said, "Your price is
52:10higher." And and I said to them, I said,
52:13"I'd be shocked if it wasn't.
52:16What they're doing and what what we're
52:17doing are two entirely different things.
52:20So I if if we were doing things closer
52:23to what they would be doing it, it could
52:25probably be discounted, but that's not
52:26what we're doing. And then I went
52:28through the steps that we're doing for
52:31each and every client like I articulated
52:33them earlier. And what I found is at the
52:37end of that convers they were like
52:38you're right.
52:40Now our price was double what the other
52:43companies was. It wasn't it wasn't
52:45close.
52:47So again you you've got to be confident
52:50in your pricing which early it's not
52:52easy to be. Everyone thinks they need to
52:54be discounting it. It's the hardest
52:56conversation to and myself included. I
52:59want that business. I do not want to
53:00lose.
53:02So, I want to win it at all costs and I
53:06have to convince myself not to discount
53:09it, but I don't.
53:11>> Do you do you recommend I mean, I'm just
53:13curious on your perspective on this.
53:14Like, let's say somebody is trying to
53:16get started. Like, I've got a client
53:17right now who's getting started uh
53:19picking and delivery and he he's he
53:22hears you on the value ad pricing and
53:24he's starting off. He's basically price
53:27leader. Uh but he's struggled gaining
53:29some traction partially because of some
53:32positioning and some of the way he's
53:34communicating with clients. Uh but he we
53:37were having a conversation about what he
53:38thought or or he wanted to know what I
53:41thought about uh discounting early on to
53:44to get some momentum to get some
53:46business uh versus maintaining that
53:50value ad early in the process.
53:53So, our [clears throat] first client we
53:55picked up, we over discounted. I mean, I
53:57I I not first an early client, one of
54:01one of the larger early clients. It was
54:02a repeat client. We we did it for
54:05cheaper than I would ever do it again.
54:07And and we actually we we got to the
54:10point where I had a conversation with my
54:13cousin and I he said, "It's time." I
54:16said, "Okay." So, we gave them a 40 we
54:18gave him 30 days with a 40% increase.
54:21So, we went from a buck to, you know,
54:24crazy high, which wasn't a buck 40 and
54:27they fired us and it was the best day of
54:29my life. That's the other thing I think
54:31people get hung up on is uh I did it
54:35yesterday. Uh some people some people I
54:40don't have a reputation for being a nice
54:41guy to some people. They might say that
54:43I am a a prick. [laughter]
54:47So, I I was training a new driver
54:49yesterday. We we uh when one of our
54:53drivers had been with us more than two
54:54years, she wanted to hang her own
54:56shingle and go out and start her own
54:58business. So, she wanted to leave and I
55:00had a new driver. So, uh she had spent
55:02some time with them before she left and
55:03I wanted to go in and cement some best
55:05practices with them. So, I was in the
55:07vehicle with him for 3 days this week
55:11and the third day it was me sitting in
55:13the van. I didn't need to be in it
55:15anymore, but I wanted him to know that I
55:16cared enough that I was in it. Yeah. So,
55:18we had a client that was just a little
55:20bit outside of our sweet spot, but it
55:22was a commercial client. It was an
55:23Airbnb and they had four bedrooms in the
55:26place. So, it was it's it's not in the
55:29sweet spot of where I want to go. It's
55:31just barely outside of where I like to
55:32go for for clients. And I've turned it
55:35off for residential for that area cuz I
55:37don't really want them. And we're going
55:40to get this. And I went out there to get
55:42it. And the client had a
55:46MyQ, you know, the one with the camera
55:48on it.
55:49>> Yeah.
55:49>> The garage door opened, the fancy garage
55:51door opener.
55:52>> Yeah.
55:52>> So, he went up to it and and he's like,
55:55"It won't open." Like, it's it's got to
55:58open. So, I go up and it's not lighting
56:00up. So, I call the client. The client uh
56:05it's their home and they go to
56:07California because they they like the
56:09climate there in the winter versus Ohio.
56:11I have no idea why.
56:12>> It's weird.
56:13>> No sense to me as an Ohio.
56:14>> That's weird. Yeah. [laughter]
56:16>> And then they had a a cleaning
56:18[clears throat] person there.
56:21And so I called both of them because I
56:23couldn't get in. And then I drove away
56:25going to another commercial client and
56:29got halfway there and we call using an
56:32application that we use. So when the
56:34calls come back in, it goes to the main
56:37uh goes to the main attendant.
56:39>> Mhm. that manages that. [clears throat]
56:41>> And so it went to her, she called us and
56:44we're 15 minutes away going, we're we're
56:47way far away. And I said, they get a
56:49pickup and delivery missed fee for us
56:52showing up and them not being available
56:53and not answering the phone, which which
56:56aggravated them. And by that point, I
56:59had already called a another
57:03I I'm going to use the term coopetition.
57:06I [clears throat] try and know everybody
57:07in town.
57:08>> Yeah. who does what and what they're
57:09good at. And I called a peer of mine
57:12that does all of our dry cleaning and he
57:14does some wash, dry, fold. And I said,
57:16"Do you want to do you do this town?" I
57:18said, "I don't." He said, "Well, let me
57:20call you back. I'm not sure if we still
57:22do it or not." And he called me back. I
57:23said, "Yeah, we do it." I said, "Okay,
57:25I'm firing them today."
57:27And
57:29we spent 15 minutes getting there. 15
57:32minutes getting back. So, I'm paying for
57:33the driver, the fuel, everything else.
57:36And it we it turns out most of the time
57:38they're staying there. It's it's one bag
57:40of laundry. So it we have to minimum
57:43bill it, which our minimum billings I
57:45think it's pretty good, but it's not
57:48good if you're if you're going from for
57:50missed pickups outside of your general
57:53range,
57:53>> right?
57:54>> So, uh don't be afraid to fire a client.
57:57Early on, I was very afraid to do that.
58:00And I actually I take pride in it now
58:04a little bit. If it's not a match,
58:07I if it's not a match for for you or
58:10it's not a match for me, neither one of
58:11us are going to be happy, so let's just
58:13do something else.
58:14>> Yeah, we we were talking about that a
58:16little bit right before we hit record
58:17actually where I was kind of telling you
58:19and I think you were kind of saying the
58:20same thing of like, you know, I
58:24generally speaking now I only work with
58:25people who I want to work with, right?
58:27Like if there's some mutual like, hey, I
58:30respect you, you respect me, I like you,
58:32you like me, we enjoy working together,
58:34you know, it's it's working out for
58:36everybody, like I'm in. But if not,
58:40life's too short, man. Life's too short.
58:42And you find out that a lot of time,
58:45like sometimes early on, I'll just say
58:46it, sometimes early on, you just got to
58:48do what you got to do to get the
58:49business and get your foot in the door.
58:51>> Learn all the things you got to learn of
58:54like how to process laundry and all that
58:56stuff. do how to schedule stuff, you
58:58know, do what you got to do. But you get
58:59to a point where you're like,
59:02man, the return on headache, everybody
59:03talks about ROI, right? Nobody talks
59:06about RO, return on headache. And uh
59:09sometimes that return on headache
59:11becomes more important than the ROI. Uh
59:13and there's no amount of money that that
59:15keeps you working with somebody.
59:16>> Uh so,
59:17>> so I I I mean, you're you're spot on.
59:21[clears throat] So I I still say I don't
59:23know anything. I want to learn
59:24everything. I want to learn from
59:25everybody I talk to and and I'm always
59:28looking for nuggets in those
59:30conversations. Uh but I mean so early
59:33on, you know, you're looking for a
59:34distributor. We're trying to build out a
59:36new facility. I had one distributor that
59:39I asked for a price quote and it took
59:41them a year and a half to get me a price
59:44quote
59:46and then gave me the price.
59:47>> So you went with those guys. Is that is
59:49that who you went with? You went with
59:50those guys then?
59:51>> Did I go with them?
59:52>> Absolutely. Yeah.
59:54>> And it gets better. And took a year and
59:56a half to give it to me. Gave me the
59:58price quote on the 27th and told me the
1:00:01pricing was good to the 30th.
1:00:05[laughter]
1:00:06>> So,
1:00:06>> okay,
1:00:07>> that that is not a partnering message.
1:00:09To which I said, I don't want the price
1:00:10for the next two days.
1:00:12>> I want the price when I want to buy it,
1:00:14which won't be in the next two days. I'm
1:00:16not making a decision.
1:00:18>> Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, and so that same
1:00:21distributor I told I wanted soft mount.
1:00:24I wanted soft mount because as we get
1:00:26more and more of these commercial
1:00:27clients, I want the higher spin out
1:00:29because we're [clears throat] in a
1:00:30production facility and I want to reduce
1:00:33my dry time. And so they they showed me
1:00:36a graph that supposedly said I didn't
1:00:38need soft mount. So they told me what I
1:00:41want. So they wanted to tell me what I
1:00:42wanted was wrong.
1:00:45>> Okay.
1:00:47So goes back to that be the doctor a
1:00:49little bit. Find out what the what the
1:00:51client wants.
1:00:52>> Yeah.
1:00:52>> Their needs are and kind of craft your
1:00:54solution to it. And uh then in addition
1:00:59has never seen our facilities,
1:01:02never been to any. So we have two two
1:01:04laundry mats today. Never visited either
1:01:06one of them. And uh
1:01:10wants to do business with us. So I I
1:01:13called around. I called another
1:01:14distributor who's a very big distributor
1:01:17in the in the in the region that we're
1:01:20in.
1:01:21No call back
1:01:23after I went to one of their shows and
1:01:26met with them and talk with them about
1:01:27what what I'm looking to do
1:01:30and then called another one. I'll I'll
1:01:32talk about the good Advantage Laundry up
1:01:35out of Cleveland and uh we ended up
1:01:39buying Gerbal equipment from them. So,
1:01:42got the soft mount, got the spin out
1:01:44that we wanted, and truly view them as a
1:01:47partner. So, I'll give you to the level
1:01:49that they are a partner of ours. And
1:01:51it's embarrassing, but I'm on revision
1:01:5515 of our new production facility, just
1:01:58minor tweaks and changes.
1:02:00>> Has not a single time complained about
1:02:05[clears throat] me needing to make a
1:02:06change to the previous revision. And we
1:02:09talked through the reason behind it. He
1:02:12comes back to me with uh his perspective
1:02:16on the logic and we agree that that's
1:02:20the way we're going to go or if if I
1:02:21want to go he's going to support the way
1:02:23I want to go but supplies valid feedback
1:02:27has visited our facilities no less than
1:02:29five times throughout the process. We're
1:02:32a two-hour drive so we're not in the
1:02:34backyard, right?
1:02:37That's a partner. It's going to be
1:02:39really really hard to break that
1:02:42relationship. I don't care if your price
1:02:44is 10% cheaper. I really candidly I
1:02:47don't care if it's 20% cheaper. To let
1:02:49to let you know the pricing between the
1:02:51company that never visited me and the
1:02:53other one, it was 1% different.
1:02:56>> Mhm.
1:02:57>> 1%.
1:02:59>> For the equipment you didn't even want.
1:03:00Really? I mean,
1:03:02>> well, no. I So then I made him price it
1:03:04the way I wanted to. I made price soft
1:03:07mount because I want I'm like you can
1:03:08price hard mount. I'm not buying it.
1:03:10>> You can price it all day,
1:03:12>> but I'm not buying it. So then you price
1:03:15>> soft mount 1% difference but
1:03:19>> never helped me with the design. Never
1:03:21offered to help me with the design.
1:03:24I'm out here on my own and I don't know
1:03:26anything. I do not know anything. I'm
1:03:29still winging it. I'm still faking it
1:03:30till I make it.
1:03:31>> Yeah. So yeah, that I mean that that's
1:03:34why I want to make sure and and talk
1:03:36about some of these
1:03:38partners instead of vendors. You know,
1:03:41one of the one of the largest ones and
1:03:43I'd be remiss if I didn't already say
1:03:44their name, FTEX for our folding
1:03:46machine.
1:03:48>> They are in my opinion
1:03:51for that machine, I've never seen
1:03:53anything like it. And the service that
1:03:55they supply for that, I can't speak
1:03:58highly enough about it. it it's it's
1:04:01unlike any
1:04:03uh supplier, vendor, partner, whatever
1:04:06you want. It's unlike anything I've ever
1:04:07seen. And they can't sell it enough.
1:04:11Meaning, if they talk about it, it might
1:04:13feel like they're bragging a little bit
1:04:15about it.
1:04:17They're not. It's that big.
1:04:20And and and for our for our machinery, I
1:04:23will tell you, Gerbal
1:04:25has been unreal. and how and what
1:04:29they've been able to do for us and how
1:04:30they've supported us
1:04:33and and then you know you want you want
1:04:36return on headache
1:04:38in this space I want you to tell me who
1:04:41has had success and not you but put in
1:04:45the comments please put in the comments
1:04:47who's had success in trying to find a
1:04:49chemical injection supply company.
1:04:53I spent six months or more trying to get
1:04:55somebody just to call me back. And then
1:04:57when they called me back and found out
1:04:58who we were and and how big of a c
1:05:02customer we really are, that we weren't
1:05:03doing, you know, we weren't the big box
1:05:05companies that they're they're looking
1:05:07for. No calls back. And then I found a
1:05:10company called Christines
1:05:13and
1:05:16amazing amazing. He he took some
1:05:19machines that uh I I hear uh you know I
1:05:22I I watch your podcast so here's a
1:05:24little evidence. Dave was talking with
1:05:27you and talking about his washing
1:05:29machines that uh he was having problems
1:05:32programming to inject and I don't know
1:05:34if he's fix that problem or not but uh
1:05:37we have a similar model where um the
1:05:42motherboard was taken out of the machine
1:05:44the first year it happened to be the
1:05:46model of the machines we bought. So, we
1:05:48have to figure out how to trigger the
1:05:50injection into the cycle and
1:05:54uh
1:05:55the director was out and and he spent
1:05:58two days trying to do that
1:06:00and figured it out. And that's a
1:06:03partner. That's not somebody says, "I
1:06:05can't do this."
1:06:06>> Yeah.
1:06:07>> I've been here for two days. He figured
1:06:09it out. That's the kind of people I want
1:06:10to do business with. And [clears throat]
1:06:12that's why I kind of mention those
1:06:14there. you know, there's I'm there's
1:06:16plenty more people that I I look at from
1:06:18a partnering perspective, but in the in
1:06:21the in the space we're in, I mean, that
1:06:24those are those are some really really
1:06:25strong companies.
1:06:27>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, real quick for the for
1:06:29the uninitiated because I mean I think
1:06:31this is something that is not widely
1:06:34utilized yet in our space uh like the
1:06:39I'd say like the smaller processing
1:06:42plants or or even just like on-site
1:06:45pickup and delivery uh companies yet.
1:06:47But for the uninitiated, you've you've
1:06:50mentioned the full text machine uh a
1:06:53little bit. Can you just kind of explain
1:06:55what it is and
1:06:57>> uh after you do that, like I I want to
1:06:59know about your thought process about
1:07:01bringing that in. I know you were like
1:07:02one of the first, if not like the first
1:07:04to actually bring it into a facility.
1:07:06So, talk me through like what is it?
1:07:08What do you use it for? Why did you
1:07:10decide to bring it in? You're in an 1800
1:07:12square foot space.
1:07:14>> You know, if you if if you you're
1:07:15listening to this, you don't know what
1:07:16these machines are, but they're pretty m
1:07:18it is like a car sitting in your in your
1:07:21store. uh and so why give up that much
1:07:25space in a relatively limited uh space
1:07:29to I don't know explore the full text
1:07:31with me a little bit if you don't mind.
1:07:33So, so when we started into this,
1:07:37[clears throat]
1:07:37uh I I I shared that uh our one of our
1:07:41early clients came to us and uh
1:07:45commercial client, they had
1:07:48um a semi, not not a 16T box truck, a
1:07:52semi full of laundry. It was 20,000.
1:07:56[clears throat]
1:07:56that client I had and I was new to this.
1:08:00So, we were two months in. I was
1:08:06I I I didn't know what I was doing, but
1:08:07I was going to figure it out quick. And
1:08:09so, we had 14 people in this 1,800 ft²
1:08:13facility working on 20,000 lbs a lot
1:08:17that was sitting everywhere on the floor
1:08:19because we didn't have a great shelfing
1:08:20system then. And um I only had six
1:08:24folding tables. Do you want me to tell
1:08:27you how bad of a mistake that is to have
1:08:30six folding? What takes the most time?
1:08:31Folding.
1:08:33>> Folding.
1:08:33>> I figured out quickly folding was the
1:08:36weak link, right? And [clears throat]
1:08:38and so I knew where I wanted to take
1:08:41this business. We couldn't do it by just
1:08:45um and this this comes from my old
1:08:47corporate background.
1:08:50You you you made you were successful as
1:08:52a salesperson. You hit your quota. They
1:08:54didn't hit you with a quota of or an
1:08:57increase of 5%. They hit you with 30%,
1:09:00they hit you with 50%, they hit you with
1:09:0270%. Go make the number again. That was
1:09:05your job. So in that type of an
1:09:08environment, you can't do it by just
1:09:10thinking, I'm going to stairlift this
1:09:13up. I had to break the mold. I had to
1:09:16figure out how could I quickly fold this
1:09:18stuff. And that included residential
1:09:20items. that included uh commercial items
1:09:25as a towel folder. I don't know if
1:09:27people realize how many towels you can
1:09:29fold in an hour. Uh I can fold that many
1:09:33you I can fold as many towels as as most
1:09:36people in this space can fold in an hour
1:09:38in 5 minutes.
1:09:41And the funny part about that machine
1:09:43was I had to tell the the staff when we
1:09:46bought it, we're buying this machine,
1:09:47we're taking out 10 washers from our
1:09:50business. We had 10 of the famous top
1:09:53loaders sitting up front. We pulled them
1:09:55out and we put this folding machine in
1:09:57and it it was so comical. So the people
1:10:00in they were nervous. Oh, we're going to
1:10:02lose our job. And I had to explain to
1:10:03them, we're not getting rid of people
1:10:06where where we want to take this
1:10:07business. I don't want to add
1:10:09[clears throat] 50 more people. I can't
1:10:10do it. I don't have physical space in
1:10:12this facility. I I can't afford the
1:10:16labor and it doesn't scale the way we
1:10:18needed it to. So, what I ended up doing
1:10:21was I started looking for folding
1:10:22machines and I started looking at used
1:10:24ones and and uh and and then I we went
1:10:30to the clean show two two clean shows
1:10:32ago and we went there and we I was with
1:10:36Rick Rome and he was he was looking at a
1:10:39machine. I was looking in a machine. We
1:10:41had them fold a couple things that we
1:10:42thought we want them to fold on it and I
1:10:44left the clean show and I was certain I
1:10:46was buying that machine. I'm not going
1:10:48to tell you who the vendor was because I
1:10:50didn't buy that machine. So Rick and I
1:10:53left that show and we both knew we were
1:10:55going to buy that machine. So I called
1:10:56Kent and I said,"Kent, I found it. This
1:10:59is the machine I'm going to buy." He
1:11:01said, "Well, did you look at this? Did
1:11:02you look at the full text?" I said,
1:11:04"What's a full text?"
1:11:07And so he said, "Well, I think you
1:11:10should go look at it." And so my cousin
1:11:13and I got in the car and we went to
1:11:15Dayton, Ohio to a big box company where
1:11:17they had two of them sitting side by
1:11:18side and they had all these other
1:11:20machines sitting there. And the general
1:11:22manager looked at us, excuse me, and he
1:11:25said, "Those are the only two machines
1:11:27that work all the time."
1:11:32I said, "What do you mean?" He said,
1:11:33"That machine's out of order. That
1:11:35machine's out of order. That one we just
1:11:37got back up." He said, "These things
1:11:38just run." So, I kind of view it like
1:11:40the they're the Toyota. You change the
1:11:43oil, you put tires and brakes on it, the
1:11:45thing's going to run forever.
1:11:47>> Yep.
1:11:48>> So, did did I answer your question
1:11:51remotely like what you were asking for
1:11:53it?
1:11:53>> Yeah. Yeah.
1:11:54>> I want to make sure.
1:11:55>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, listen, there's
1:11:57there's still not very many people
1:11:59running big folders in their in their
1:12:02operations, right? So, you know, I I
1:12:05think what I was trying to get at, which
1:12:06I think you hit, was how does somebody
1:12:08determine if adding a folding machine is
1:12:11good for them? And, you know, what
1:12:13basically what you said is, hey, when
1:12:14it's a when it's a major constraint in
1:12:16your business,
1:12:17>> you know, it's time to start looking
1:12:18into that. And, you know, there's
1:12:21there's implications to it, right? You
1:12:22had to pull out some equipment and
1:12:24create some space for it, and it does
1:12:26take up space and uh and all that. So,
1:12:28there's all those considerations, but um
1:12:32you know, you're doing you you and Rick
1:12:34Rome. I mean, Rick Rome's doing huge
1:12:35volumes as well. He's he had a similar
1:12:37path where he had an open laundromat and
1:12:39shut it down and only processes
1:12:42>> close through it and or uh laundry uh
1:12:45through pickup and delivery. And so, um,
1:12:49you know, that's not the path for
1:12:50everybody, but, uh, there's there's
1:12:52people out here whose goal is to scale
1:12:54up their pickup and delivery operations.
1:12:57And, um, those folding machines can be
1:13:00huge, especially if you're doing heavy
1:13:02commercial like what you're doing.
1:13:04>> Yep. Yep. So, what else? Well, let me
1:13:07I'm going to caution people. It's not go
1:13:12buy a full text and
1:13:15uh hope to grow the business. I wouldn't
1:13:18suggest you do it that way. I would
1:13:20suggest you start to build the business
1:13:22exactly the way you articulated it.
1:13:25Start to build the business as you find
1:13:28the pain point
1:13:30fixed for that painoint. And here's the
1:13:32part people like you you have a full
1:13:34text you don't have any problems. Full
1:13:36text doesn't fix the problem. It moves
1:13:38the problem. Now my weak link is how do
1:13:41I get the product from the dryer to the
1:13:43foldex effectively
1:13:46and quickly right efficiently might be
1:13:49the better word. So how how do I do
1:13:50that? Because it can't fold a flat sheet
1:13:55without a couple of prefolds in it.
1:13:58So it now becomes how do I I call it
1:14:01staging. How do you stage the items? How
1:14:04do you prepare them for the machine?
1:14:06Now, the Flex can fold a
1:14:106 to 700 lb of towels an hour.
1:14:15You you can't my wash and dry process
1:14:18can't generate that more than an hour or
1:14:20two because I have to fold other things,
1:14:22right? Or I have to wash and dry other
1:14:24things.
1:14:26So, it's it's just moving the problem to
1:14:28another part of your process. So, then
1:14:31you have to solve to something else. But
1:14:33it's it's been a game changer and you
1:14:36know I rave on it. I we I really think
1:14:38highly of them. I think highly of their
1:14:40their employees, their staff and the
1:14:43machinery. It's for that machine. I
1:14:47don't think you'll find a better one.
1:14:49>> Yeah. Well, and I appreciate you going
1:14:52through that because, you know, the way
1:14:53that I and I'd actually be curious on
1:14:54your take on this, but the way that I
1:14:56view uh pick them and delivery and wash
1:14:58and fold both, but especially pick and
1:15:00delivery, but both uh I view them as an
1:15:04efficiency game. I know a lot of owners
1:15:08who have those services that aren't
1:15:11making money because they're running
1:15:12them very efficiently in inefficiently.
1:15:16And it's a game of continuously
1:15:19improving efficiently. And the more
1:15:21efficient you can become in your
1:15:23processing and your picking up and
1:15:26delivering and all that, the more
1:15:27efficient you can become in the process,
1:15:29the more profitable you're going to be
1:15:30as a business. And I love how you put it
1:15:35where you said, "Hey, listen. We're not
1:15:37replacing employees. We're increasing
1:15:39productivity of of employees here so
1:15:42that we can process more laundry with
1:15:43less people faster." And I love how you
1:15:46said, "Hey, it doesn't solve your
1:15:48problems. It just moves your next your
1:15:50next challenge, right? Your next
1:15:52efficiency to to solve a problem to
1:15:56solve there." So, but I'm curious like
1:15:58is do you find that to be accurate? Is
1:16:00that how you're kind of looking at
1:16:01things as well?
1:16:02>> Yeah. Yeah. No, 100%. I I think that So,
1:16:05we we also can do some residential
1:16:07stuff. So, I'll give you a couple more
1:16:08examples. So, when we first got the
1:16:10machine, uh it's it's all the way in the
1:16:12front. So, our [clears throat] process
1:16:14is we bring things in on one side, they
1:16:16go through the washers, come back down,
1:16:18go through the dryers, they get folded,
1:16:19or they go to the foldex. Um the foldex
1:16:22can't fold socks, underwear,
1:16:25baby clothes.
1:16:28Uh,
1:16:30it can fold almost anything. Let's just
1:16:32use t-shirts as an example. You and I
1:16:34both like to wear t-shirts.
1:16:36>> So, right,
1:16:36>> the um I can tell when my team goes off
1:16:42the ranch and they fold t-shirts by hand
1:16:45because that foldex folds it
1:16:47specifically to a width down to the
1:16:51centimeters, millimeters.
1:16:52I don't remember the calibration, but
1:16:54then it folds it to a very very precise
1:16:59width and length every time. So when I
1:17:02stack items from the foldex,
1:17:05I may have folder A that folds them a
1:17:08little bit skinnier. Folder B folds them
1:17:09a little bit wider. There's because
1:17:12they're human.
1:17:15So I know when I get to my shelf how my
1:17:17items were folded. when I stack my
1:17:20t-shirts on the shelf full text or not
1:17:24and then we have conversations based
1:17:26upon that. So the other part about it is
1:17:29even with the machinery, you can still
1:17:31get job. You still have to manage to
1:17:34productivity
1:17:35>> because uh if if the team wants to work
1:17:39slower, if you don't have the work
1:17:40volume and you're not adjusting your
1:17:42staffing appropriately, it gets right
1:17:45back to what you just said. You're not
1:17:47going to be profitable.
1:17:50So we manage productivity every week. We
1:17:54incentivize employees every week based
1:17:57upon our productivity and we've got a
1:17:59multi-tier
1:18:00uh capability to do that.
1:18:03>> Yeah.
1:18:05Yeah. Well, dude, I mean, I love the way
1:18:08that you're thinking about this
1:18:09business. I love the way that you're uh
1:18:13you know, just continually learning and
1:18:16grow. I mean, you said multiple times
1:18:17like I think part of a big part of your
1:18:19success uh has been the ability to uh
1:18:24you know, set aside the ego. I see a lot
1:18:25of egos, you know, all over the place,
1:18:27but in this industry is no exception,
1:18:29right? Where you feel like you're an
1:18:30expert. You feel like you know, you've
1:18:32you've accomplished XYZ, right? And
1:18:35you've kind of had the opposite posture
1:18:38of that where you're saying, "Hey, I'm
1:18:40always looking to learn. I'm I'm new in
1:18:42this." I mean, the reality of it is is
1:18:43that you're ahead of at least in in
1:18:46productivity, you're ahead of most
1:18:49owners. I mean, that's just the reality
1:18:50of it is, but you still have that
1:18:52posture of like, hey, I'm still
1:18:53learning. I want to absorb everything. I
1:18:55think that's a huge uh part of your
1:18:57success. And you obviously like you have
1:18:59the sales background which is uh has
1:19:02served you well uh as well. I'm curious.
1:19:04I have I have two sort of related
1:19:06questions. is I ask these questions a
1:19:08lot, but I'm curious specifically from
1:19:10the pickup and delivery uh commercial
1:19:15side of things. If somebody's looking to
1:19:18get into that brand new, what's your
1:19:20best piece of advice for them? Like, how
1:19:22do they start up that side of their
1:19:26business?
1:19:27>> So, number one, we we kind of already
1:19:28talked about it, so but I'm going to
1:19:30repeat it. SEO.
1:19:32>> You got to [clears throat] be found. You
1:19:33got to be if if you want to be found
1:19:35when they're looking for you. And and I
1:19:37don't believe
1:19:40probably shouldn't say it like this. I
1:19:42don't believe that's a Facebook ad.
1:19:44That's that's interruptive marketing. I
1:19:47believe you need to have your web page
1:19:49natively search well or run ads to be
1:19:53found for for items. And outside of
1:19:57that,
1:19:59I'm [clears throat] going to go back to
1:19:59my other comment, which is you have to
1:20:01be known, liked, and trusted. I hear too
1:20:04many people when I talk to them, and I
1:20:06talk to a lot of people. I don't talk to
1:20:08near as many people as you, but I talk
1:20:10to a lot of people. They ex they expect
1:20:13because they have a website, because I
1:20:14built it up, that all of this business
1:20:16is going to come to me. It doesn't work
1:20:19like that. Mhm.
1:20:21>> You've got to go out and you've got to
1:20:23become known in the community.
1:20:27I stop by the spas. I stop by every 3
1:20:31months. Even if they've never done
1:20:32business with me, I'll stop by until
1:20:35they've kicked me out. And what I say is
1:20:38in in my mind is I say, "I've been
1:20:41kicked out of better places than here."
1:20:44It's it's not that big a deal. But if
1:20:46I'm going in and saying, "Hey, I want to
1:20:48be your company." that that's great. But
1:20:52what I'll also say is it's not bad to do
1:20:54a pilot.
1:20:56And pilot's a different way of looking
1:20:57at this. And and you know, I've talked
1:20:59to people, oh, you want to do it for
1:21:00free so they'll see how great you are
1:21:02and then they'll switch. We we've never
1:21:04done a free pilot. That that's a way to
1:21:07do it. And I don't mean to discount it,
1:21:10but in my mind, how much value is is
1:21:12when something is free?
1:21:16>> As much as you pay for it.
1:21:17>> Yeah. [laughter] you get what you pay
1:21:18for.
1:21:19>> And even if you take a small sample and
1:21:22you show them how your billing works,
1:21:24the quality of your product, the quality
1:21:27of your delivery, your packaging, say,
1:21:30"Hey, you know, let me take a few of
1:21:31these. What are they having problems
1:21:32with? Is it staining? Is it invoicing?
1:21:35Is it uh they're not turning them around
1:21:37quick enough? What problem can you take
1:21:39off their hands to make the that service
1:21:43that they're receiving more beneficial
1:21:45to them?
1:21:47So, I think number one, you got to go
1:21:50out, you got to you got to shake hands
1:21:52and you got to kiss babies
1:21:54and people are nervous about that. All
1:21:58you're doing is creating a new
1:21:59relationship and you're trying to help
1:22:02them. Some people do it themselves. If
1:22:05they do, and that's the way they want to
1:22:07continue to do it, that's great, too.
1:22:09But now you at least know that. You
1:22:12didn't know that before. So, now you do.
1:22:15And if it's a company that's outsourcing
1:22:18and they're using somebody else,
1:22:21um, offer to take a sample. Let me show
1:22:25you what we do and how we do it. Even if
1:22:27you zero the invoice out at the end,
1:22:30you're still showing them a billable
1:22:31invoice. You're showing them what your
1:22:33invoice looks like. You're showing them
1:22:35how you package the items.
1:22:37You You want to make new friends in this
1:22:40space. You want people to know who you
1:22:42are. So, you have to stay outside your
1:22:44comfort zone. I used to do sales
1:22:46training and this is I actually did this
1:22:49at a conference that I was at for wash
1:22:51dry fold. The first one that I was at
1:22:53they they asked me to speak and I drew
1:22:55boxes around all of not all of 10 chairs
1:22:59in there and I did it and when I got to
1:23:02the end of it I I said okay who's
1:23:04sitting inside a box and about 10 people
1:23:09raised their hands. That's about how
1:23:10many boxes I put down. I did it on a
1:23:12break so nobody saw who did it. and they
1:23:15came in and so I said, "Okay, you can't
1:23:17you come to work every day and you get
1:23:19inside your box and you do exactly what
1:23:21you did yesterday.
1:23:23You come in, you get on your computer,
1:23:25you look at the revenue that's coming in
1:23:27or not coming in, or the billing that's
1:23:29coming in or not coming in, or the
1:23:31website that's getting hits or not
1:23:33getting hits." And and you've got to get
1:23:35out of that and get into that service
1:23:38space. And the only way you can be a
1:23:41service-based individual is by going out
1:23:43and meeting with potential new customers
1:23:45and finding out what their needs are.
1:23:47You'll learn so much in doing that. So
1:23:50that's two. Did you ask for two ideas?
1:23:54>> Yeah, I Yeah, man. I think that's great.
1:23:56Uh I I asked for one and you overd
1:23:58delivered like normal. Uh this is why
1:24:01you're so successful. I love it. Well, I
1:24:03I do have another question. It's
1:24:05related. Um, and maybe the answers
1:24:08the same or very similar, but if there's
1:24:11somebody who is already out there who's
1:24:13got their wash and fold, pick up and
1:24:15delivery going and uh and but their goal
1:24:20is to to continue to grow it. I mean, it
1:24:22sounds like previous advice is going to
1:24:24fit perfectly here, but any any
1:24:26additional advice for somebody who's
1:24:28already up and running and who's trying
1:24:30to scale their business up to get to
1:24:32your size and beyond?
1:24:33>> Yeah. So, and and I I I think I talked
1:24:36about a little bit before, but when when
1:24:38people are if if people are calling you
1:24:41for it, you've got to explain to them
1:24:43something that's of benefit to them, not
1:24:46just the service that you're supplying.
1:24:48So, I talked about the Airbnb stuff
1:24:50earlier, which centralizing if you're a
1:24:53more than a 10 location, if you're a one
1:24:55or two location with the deck box
1:24:57outside, it's got to be something that
1:25:00makes their life easier in the way they
1:25:02do business today that shows you
1:25:05understand their side of the operation.
1:25:08Even if I don't need to,
1:25:11if it's if it's an Airbnb,
1:25:14and I I haven't done this in a long
1:25:16time, but let's say I'm trying to
1:25:17increase the Airbnb space, and I get a
1:25:19client call in and they want us to do
1:25:21it.
1:25:23I'll go take a look at the house. I'll
1:25:24see how it's set up. I'll make
1:25:26suggestions on where we can put the deck
1:25:28box because I'm trying to create a
1:25:30relationship with them. I want them to
1:25:32be no, like, and trust. I want those
1:25:34three things from them. And if and if
1:25:36I'm able to do that quickly, then we're
1:25:39probably going to win the business. Oh,
1:25:41and I have to say one more thing because
1:25:43I wanted to say it earlier. When I when
1:25:44I was when I was doing this early, I
1:25:47used to It's wrong. I got I have to say
1:25:50it the right way. I used to try and get
1:25:52off the phone without giving the client
1:25:54the price. So, I would get to the end of
1:25:57the phone call and we would talk about
1:25:59what we did, how we did it, how we
1:26:02picked it up and delivered it, when and
1:26:03how we invoiced it. uh credit card or or
1:26:07they can do payments with regular
1:26:08invoicing or EFT, however they want if
1:26:11they're big enough. And I get to the end
1:26:13of the phone call and I'd say, "Do you
1:26:15have any other questions?" "No, I can't
1:26:17think of any other questions." They get
1:26:19off the phone call and they wouldn't
1:26:20even hear the price.
1:26:25And so I had a client call me back about
1:26:29a month later
1:26:31and and and
1:26:34I what I I I don't have a I need to move
1:26:36to what uh Kent's using. I need to move
1:26:38to a CRM, but I'm constantly moving and
1:26:41and traveling. And so my phone is kind
1:26:43of my CRM. And if I talk to you, I take
1:26:45notes and I put it in the notes section.
1:26:48So when I do that, I if I talk about a
1:26:51price, I put it in there because I'm
1:26:52still trying to find where that ceiling
1:26:54is and I haven't found it yet. So I keep
1:26:58adjusting the pricing up as we go along.
1:27:00So this client, I got off the phone with
1:27:02her and she's a spa. They've got five or
1:27:05six people u doing facials and massages
1:27:10and all of that stuff. Um and she's
1:27:13actually 5 minutes away from where I
1:27:16live.
1:27:18I I got off the phone with her. She
1:27:20called me back and and she she said,
1:27:22"Well, I don't remember how much your
1:27:24pricing was." So, I looked on my notes.
1:27:26I didn't have any price because
1:27:28[laughter] I never gave it to her. So,
1:27:30at that point, I'm like, "Well, I said,
1:27:32I have a lot of these conversations. I
1:27:34think it was in this range here." And I
1:27:36told, she said, "That that sounds that
1:27:38sounds like what we can what we can
1:27:39afford." So, it's really it's it's an
1:27:41afterthought at that point. So I I again
1:27:45it gets back to that supplying value to
1:27:45gets back to that supplying value to
1:27:47them. So if you want to grow it, take it
1:27:47them. So if you want to grow it, take it
1:27:48to the next level. Don't leave with
1:27:48to the next level. Don't leave with
1:27:50price.
1:27:50price.
1:27:53Solve their need, their problem. A and
1:27:53Solve their need, their problem. A and
1:27:56supply a service that that they never
1:27:56supply a service that that they never
1:27:58want to replace.
1:27:58want to replace.
1:28:02I I love that advice. So I I again it
1:28:02I I love that advice. And you know
1:28:04talking about like the
1:28:06like the no like and trust like you know
1:28:09one of the things that you in that is
1:28:11you know in the a couple of the stories
1:28:13that you mentioned but the Airbnb
1:28:16uh story that you mentioned in
1:28:18suggesting the deck box or suggesting a
1:28:20a central location for every like what
1:28:23that demonstrates is you've put thought
1:28:26into their business for them
1:28:28>> in this particular area
1:28:31>> right and if I'm running a business and
1:28:33I'm thinking about working with somebody
1:28:35and I know that they have thought about
1:28:38my business for me and how to make it
1:28:39more efficient or easier, less headache
1:28:42or cheaper or whatever the case may be.
1:28:44So again, price is not the only thing
1:28:47here like there's a whole bunch of other
1:28:49ways you can add a lot of value, right?
1:28:51Uh which again is what you're saying.
1:28:53Uh, I I love that builds a lot of trust
1:28:56and and likeness feelings like I'm
1:29:00liking you a lot more if you've thought
1:29:01about my business for me and figured out
1:29:03ways to make it better, easier for me.
1:29:06Uh, so I mean I think that's such great
1:29:08advice and the other thing I just want
1:29:09to point out here is,
1:29:11>> you know, this this business, you know,
1:29:13laundromats in general, and I know we're
1:29:15talking a lot about mostly pickup and
1:29:17delivery today, but laundromats in
1:29:18general, and it kind of all gets lumped
1:29:20together. It's tout you and I both know
1:29:22like this is touted as a passive
1:29:24business. There's nothing passive about
1:29:26anything that you've said today. You're
1:29:28going to
1:29:30>> place I mean this whole stewardship
1:29:31concept, right, is the opposite of
1:29:34passive. But something that you know
1:29:38operators need to know out there is this
1:29:41is who you're competing with, right?
1:29:42Like if you're trying to be as pos
1:29:44passive as possible in your especially
1:29:47if you're in the service side of the
1:29:48industry, especially if you're doing
1:29:50wash and fold to pick up and delivery,
1:29:51it's the service side of the industry.
1:29:54There's no passive service. You can't
1:29:56serve somebody passively,
1:29:57>> right? This is who you're competing
1:29:59with. So, you know, it's worth thinking
1:30:04about, do I really want to be in that
1:30:06side of the business? If so, you got to
1:30:09up your game. This is who you're
1:30:10competing with here. you got to up your
1:30:11game and uh and and if not, there's no
1:30:14shame in that either. There's ways to
1:30:16make this business way more passive than
1:30:18what you're running. Way more passive.
1:30:20Uh you know, but
1:30:24you're probably not on the service side
1:30:26of the business if you're trying to be
1:30:27passive, I guess, is kind of one thing I
1:30:29wanted to point out here. I was I was
1:30:31getting that loud and clear here. So, I
1:30:33thought it should be ver verbalized.
1:30:34>> There's no passive here. You're right.
1:30:36So it's it's you know the the the first
1:30:39three years I I didn't I didn't know
1:30:41what my house looked like.
1:30:44>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And especially, you
1:30:46know, in that startup phase where you're
1:30:48starting things up. I mean, it's just
1:30:50it's work. Any business, any investment,
1:30:52like it's work, especially on the front
1:30:54end, uh there. And I know a few times
1:30:57you said, "Hey, I'm not really doing
1:30:58this as much anymore." And stuff like
1:31:00that. Part of that's probably because
1:31:01you've learned better. Um, and part of
1:31:03that's probably because you got better
1:31:04systems and more people on board and all
1:31:06that as well. So, um, dang, man. This
1:31:10has been in like I feel like we could
1:31:11just keep going with this thing forever
1:31:13and swap stories and talk about less. I
1:31:16know for a fact because you know, we've
1:31:18talked before and I just know you, but
1:31:19we've only barely scratched the surface
1:31:21here. So,
1:31:23my last question is, hey, people are
1:31:26like, "This guy is got something here.
1:31:30I'd love to connect with him." What's
1:31:31the best way people can connect with
1:31:33you?
1:31:34>> Sure. So, the the easiest way just go to
1:31:37our website, but I I'll give you our
1:31:39email. It's info at columbusexpress
1:31:45laundry.com.
1:31:47So, info c o lu bs
1:31:52express e x p s laundry l y.com.
1:31:57>> Awesome. We'll make sure that gets in
1:31:59the uh in the show notes and if you're
1:32:01on YouTube, that'll be down below as
1:32:03well. You can connect with Randy
1:32:04Roberts, the legend. The other thing
1:32:06about this episode is there's a whole
1:32:09lot of named dropping in here of some
1:32:12big heavy hitters in this industry and
1:32:16you know,
1:32:16>> stand on the shoulders of giants.
1:32:19>> Yeah. Well, and that's that's what I
1:32:21want to say. There's
1:32:22>> except for Rick.
1:32:23>> Yeah. Yeah. Not not not physically at
1:32:25least. Uh [laughter]
1:32:27he does have a big personality. We'll
1:32:28give him that. Uh but that's I I think
1:32:32that's like a point I like to leave off
1:32:34here and you mentioned this early on and
1:32:36I've been saying this for a long time
1:32:38too. It's a lesson that I've been
1:32:39learning over the last few years is
1:32:42you know there there are no or at least
1:32:46I don't know I guess this would make
1:32:48sense that I don't know them but I don't
1:32:49know any
1:32:51lone wolf mega successes in this
1:32:53industry. the people who are doing big
1:32:56things, big business are connecting with
1:32:58other people in this industry. And so if
1:33:02you're in it, you own laundromats or you
1:33:04own a laundromat or you're looking to
1:33:05own a laundromat, I think one of the
1:33:08best things that you can do is get
1:33:09connected with other people. There's
1:33:11lots of different ways to do that.
1:33:12There's, you know, Facebook groups and
1:33:14there's events that happen and there's
1:33:16online communities, uh, and all of that.
1:33:19Um, get connected.
1:33:21>> Let let me jump. I mean, I I know you
1:33:23put a lot of work into creating those
1:33:25for people and making sure that there's
1:33:26an opportunity for those
1:33:28>> with with all you know, I you you I I
1:33:31would prefer in some of these
1:33:33interactions if you take a little bit
1:33:35and talk about that a little bit in the
1:33:37end of them because if people aren't
1:33:39taking that part of the the conversation
1:33:42seriously, they're really missing the
1:33:44boat. I talked to owners that have been
1:33:46in this business for 30 years and
1:33:49they're not connected [clears throat]
1:33:51outside of that.
1:33:52>> Yeah.
1:33:53>> Outside of their facility and they're
1:33:55getting passed by. So you you've got a
1:33:58phenomenal infrastructure establishment
1:34:00location for that. You're not selling it
1:34:03here. I understand that. But at the same
1:34:05time, it's got very significant value
1:34:09that should not be understated
1:34:12during these sessions. So it it's it's
1:34:15selling what you've built short. So
1:34:17thank you for creating it.
1:34:19>> Thank you for creating this environment
1:34:21here
1:34:23>> which I'm honored, proud, and very
1:34:26excited to to be able to share with you
1:34:29and others. Kind of the path that we've
1:34:31chosen. I don't know that it's the right
1:34:33path yet, but it's surely been chosen.
1:34:36>> [laughter]
1:34:37>> It's been a very fast and rapid growing
1:34:39path, but it it's, you know, we're we're
1:34:42very excited about the future and what,
1:34:44you know, we get into this closed
1:34:45facility here in in another month or so
1:34:49and that allows me really to take the
1:34:51reinss off and really get aggressive on
1:34:53growing the business
1:34:55>> and and go crazy.
1:34:57>> Yeah. Well, that's a perfect setup for
1:35:00we're gonna have to do this again here
1:35:01pretty soon uh and hear how the
1:35:03transition goes. Feeling on that? Yeah,
1:35:06I'm sure there's some some lessons
1:35:07you're going to learn along the
1:35:09transition and along the way uh too, but
1:35:11I I uh we've already we've already been
1:35:13in discussions about uh getting someone
1:35:15else. So,
1:35:17>> I'm excited about that. I appreciate you
1:35:19uh acknowledging the, you know, the
1:35:21platform and all that. And if you're out
1:35:22there and you want to get in a
1:35:23mastermind group uh with people, our you
1:35:27pro community comes with a mastermind
1:35:29group. We connect you up with other
1:35:30people in your phase of the journey. So
1:35:32feel free to check out
1:35:33laundermanresource.com/pro
1:35:36if that's something you're interested
1:35:37in. And Randy, man, this has been
1:35:40incredible. You are incredible and I
1:35:43appreciate you taking the time to come
1:35:44on here and share with all of us your
1:35:47story.
1:35:47>> I am honored and very excited to have
1:35:50the luxury and this is a luxury of you
1:35:52spending the time with me here today. So
1:35:54I'm very proud of that.
1:35:56>> Yeah. Yeah. You you should be because I
1:35:58should be out in the ocean right across
1:36:00the street over here right now. So, I
1:36:01chose to hang out with you. No, I'm just
1:36:03kidding. No, I appreciate it. And I look
1:36:05forward to doing it again here pretty
1:36:06soon.
1:36:07>> Thanks. Take care.
1:36:09>> All right. I know. I know. I know. I
1:36:11told you so. I just got to say it right
1:36:13now. I told you so. Instant classic
1:36:15episode. So much good stuff in there.
1:36:17Uh, but listen, you can listen to Randy
1:36:19Roberts spew wisdom all day and all
1:36:22night and it will mean nothing to you
1:36:24personally unless you take some action.
1:36:27So, pick one thing, something, just one
1:36:30thing. put it into action today if
1:36:32possible. If not today, do it this week
1:36:35because that action is what's going to
1:36:36help you accomplish your goals. You got
1:36:40to do the action. Nobody else can do it
1:36:42for you. So, get after it. Maybe that
1:36:45action is to head over to laundromat
1:36:47dfy.com
1:36:50and sign up for a free account to help
1:36:51you get started on your search for a
1:36:53location. How about that? But if not
1:36:55that, pick something, put it into
1:36:57action, go check it out. All right, we
1:37:00will see you next week. Hopefully, you
1:37:02will be at least one action wiser and
1:37:05one action closer to accomplishing your
1:37:07goals. Peace.

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