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From $100 to $10M in Revenue after 10 Years of Serving Laundromats - Part 1 of 2 — Transcript

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0:03[music]
0:10Hello and welcome to Laundry Ownership.
0:12[music] Whether you've been here for 20
0:14years or you just arrived, hopefully
0:16we'll have something useful for you to
0:17take home today. I want to introduce you
0:19to one of my best friends and business
0:22partner, Brian Henderson. Now, he had
0:25built a point of sales system for his
0:28family's laundromats. And when we met at
0:31an entrepreneurship conference, we
0:33started talking about sales and
0:34marketing, and we really hit it off. We
0:36started playing tennis together. And one
0:38of the things we could really agree on
0:41was that if we could just make an extra
0:43$20,000 a year at our full-time jobs,
0:47that would really change our lives.
0:50Now, when he needed help selling his
0:52point of sales systems and running a
0:54trade show, that's when I stepped on
0:56board and we've just been building
0:58companies together ever since. When you
1:01fast forward to today in 2026, our two
1:04little LLC's that we own together have
1:06done over $10 million in revenue and $5
1:09million in profit. We own Wash Drive
1:12Fold POS, which is a laundromat point of
1:15sale company. It sold over,200 systems
1:18nationwide and we own a chain of
1:22laundromats called Liberty Laundry. In
1:242025, it did over 2.5 million in revenue
1:28and it also owns two of the three
1:30properties that it's on.
1:32So, as we take a look back on the 10
1:35years of our journey together, there's a
1:37few things that kind of stood out to us.
1:40One is that we started with only $100 in
1:44capital and refusing to take any outside
1:47capital really has freed us to focus
1:51solely on serving laundromat owners,
1:53which is really our niche.
1:56Another thing that became clear is that
1:59as we surpassed
2:01any of our loftiest financial goals,
2:04anything that we thought was possible
2:06with this partnership, it really has
2:08become much more about the people that
2:11we impact, the customers, the employees.
2:14I think most importantly to me is that
2:16through it all, we have become the
2:19people that we wanted to be. It's been a
2:21journey of self-actualization
2:23and of constant self-improvement.
2:26Um, lastly, it's really clear that the
2:29value that we brought in the early days
2:32was not just about hardware or software,
2:36but it was about how do you really help
2:38other business owners or other
2:41laundromat operators in Brian's case
2:44that were in a similar situation and
2:46struggling with some of the same
2:47problems [music] that Brian had
2:49struggled with for many years and had
2:50put hardware and software solutions
2:52[music] in place to fix.
2:59So, I'm definitely going to give you an
3:02amazing introduction [music] separately
3:06and then
3:08put it all in here. Perfect. But I I do
3:11think that
3:13just generally speaking, uh, you know,
3:18not only are you
3:20probably the most successful
3:23here that I have and business owner that
3:27I know, but also, you're just one of the
3:30nicest people
3:31uh that I've ever met and most honest
3:34and and most ethical and
3:37>> I've learned a lot from you. Um,
3:41>> likewise.
3:41>> And I I appreciate you saying that. And
3:44I do think when we first started playing
3:46tennis together,
3:48I just knew that you were going to be
3:51successful and I knew that there was
3:53something about you that I admired and
3:55that I wanted to rub off on to me. And
3:59I've been pretty good about surrounding
4:00myself with people that I want to become
4:03like them. And so I think that's been a
4:06big part of my intuition on the on the
4:10whole and probably why we're still
4:13friends 10 years later now. Or it's it's
4:16more than 10 years.
4:18>> Going to start this podcast with me
4:19crying if you keep going on.
4:21>> Appreciate you saying that, Ian. Oh,
4:23well, you know, I want to I want to give
4:24you a a a decent introduction here, but
4:28I guess to the point, we're going to
4:29talk about
4:31how we got started on this journey
4:33together. And it's going to be 10 years
4:36ago for you in February, but you were
4:38already started in January. You just
4:40hadn't really started the business
4:42officially, right?
4:44>> Well, I collected my first
4:46uh check from my first customer in
4:48February. That's when it was official.
4:50And that's why I call it that because
4:52that's that's when we made our first
4:54dollar or first
4:55>> that's when the business started
4:57thinking about it being a business
4:58before then you were you were working
5:00towards that but it didn't become a
5:02business until you actually
5:03>> made a sale. I wasn't really planning on
5:05asking you this, but I I do think I talk
5:08to a lot of people about starting a
5:10business,
5:11family members or friends or whatever,
5:14and they are always talking about how
5:18they need to get the capital together to
5:20get this business started. So, impromptu
5:23question then, how I mean, how much
5:26money did you start the business with
5:27and what was your capital uh going into
5:30this? I've always
5:34ascribed to the thought that until
5:37you've collected your first dollar, you
5:39don't have a business. And uh unless you
5:42know anybody's actually going to pay you
5:44for the things that you do or the things
5:46you're selling, then again, you don't
5:48have a business. It's a hobby until up
5:50until that point. And so that's right.
5:52Um, yeah, the only money of my own that
5:55I've put into washold POS to found it,
6:00to get it up and going, um, is just that
6:03initial $100 to open up the business
6:05checking account, uh, to open that up,
6:07which which I was able to pay myself
6:09back from that eventually. So,
6:10[laughter]
6:10>> yeah, eventually you made a back to me.
6:13Aside from that, the the company's
6:14entirely grown just based on its own
6:16merits and it's been profitable since
6:18day one and
6:20>> um been able to fuel its growth with
6:23revenue generated by the company itself.
6:25So, it's not ever required outside
6:27investment of any sort.
6:29>> That's right. Yeah. No, I mean, I think
6:32that's huge. And I I I think it's not a
6:34coincidence that we started with no
6:36money and we've been very successful and
6:38we've beat a lot of people that brought
6:40a lot of money to the table. Um to be
6:43honest, I think sometimes that can be a
6:45weakness. But
6:46>> why did you start the company
6:49>> in the first place? I mean, I remember
6:50what you told me when we you know, but I
6:53want to I want to hear it from you.
6:55Also, even just remembering, do you
6:57still remember? Was it the same reasons
6:59you said out loud or is was it a
7:00different reason now looking back onto
7:02it? Yeah, I uh actually wrote down a
7:04fair number of notes to myself just
7:06trying to remember the journey because
7:08it was 10 years ago and over time you
7:11tell the same stories enough you start
7:14to misremember how things went or you
7:16try you rewrite your brain on what the
7:18history was and so I was going through
7:21>> um just trying to give it an honest
7:25answer without romanticizing too much
7:28but uh it is in my opinion I mean it's
7:31the journey of my life And so it's uh I
7:33find it interesting. So, you know, it
7:36going all the way back. I I worked as a
7:38laundry attendant at my dad's
7:39laundromat, Liberty Laundry, uh all
7:42throughout college. I was near the end
7:44of my freshman year when he opened up
7:46his first store. Uh after researching
7:49and talking about laundromats for a
7:51couple years prior to that. And um so
7:54really from 2005 to 2009 uh just worked
7:58as an a laundry attendant on the
8:00weekends and on the summer summer breaks
8:02and holidays and all that. Working at
8:03dad's laundromat earning some gas money
8:06visiting my girlfriend now wife of uh
8:09gosh I guess it'll be uh yeah 17 years
8:12at the end of this month. [laughter] So
8:14going going all the way back. Um then in
8:182009 got married and graduated college
8:21in summer of 2010 and um around that
8:25time in 2010 we came back to our
8:27hometown of the Tulsa Broken Arrow area
8:30and that's around the time that dad
8:31opened up his second store um in October
8:35of 2010 and that's when I came on board
8:36as a manager of that location and got
8:40involved in the actual operations of the
8:43business and helping um
8:48create the systems used to to manage
8:50more than one location because that was
8:52the big question is you know what got us
8:55from one store up to two wasn't going to
8:57get us from two to three and
8:59[clears throat] so having to struggle
9:01with um multilocation management and and
9:05all that and you know when I came on as
9:08a manager and became involved in the
9:11creative aspect of developing the
9:14systems
9:16for running the business. That's why I
9:17fell in love with the laundry industry.
9:19>> I was in love with it before that. That
9:20was dad's business. I was pursuing a
9:22degree in chemistry, which I graduated
9:23with. I'm glad I did, but I had no real
9:26plan outside of that. [laughter]
9:27So, um, but that that creative aspect
9:32and of course the
9:35the the the pure metric of profits of
9:38your business about if you're
9:39succeeding, doing the right things or
9:40not. That's that was real attractive.
9:42And um I was regularly posting on CLA uh
9:47bulletin board and forums regularly back
9:49then online and
9:51>> um attending CLA events and distributor
9:54shows just talking to other launchment
9:57owners and sharing what I learned
9:59>> uh with my dad from uh various business
10:01books. We pretty much had our book of
10:02the month club where we're trading books
10:04back and forth about hey there's real
10:05problems for running this business that
10:07we're trying to solve. We're looking for
10:09answers. and he and I just developed
10:11that habit of regularly digging for
10:13answers, finding actionable things we
10:15could do, and then implementing it in
10:17the stores, and then finding success
10:18with that. And that's that's a very
10:20addicting type of thing. That's what you
10:22and I have going on with the podcast
10:23that we trade back and forth all the
10:24time on episodes. You got to listen to
10:26this episode.
10:27>> It's just it's it's just um
10:29>> it's a big piece of it. I've always been
10:32creative and entrepreneurial and in my
10:34late teens and my early 20s I actually
10:36had several uh ventures that never
10:39panned out and failed pretty miserably
10:41and but you know you have to learn those
10:42lessons. It was either not the right
10:44target customer base or the product or
10:48service depended entirely on my time in
10:50order to earn a dollar and right um when
10:53you're busy with a day job and uh then
10:56that's hard to do as just a pure side
10:58hustle. And so continually thinking
11:00about how to solve things that don't
11:04necessarily depend purely on my labor,
11:07you know,
11:08>> right?
11:08>> Um. Yeah. Yeah. So really there's
11:10there's kind of two parts to where wash
11:13dryfold poss came out of there's two
11:16aspects of it. One is with Liberty
11:20Laundry. Um the reasons why I
11:22computerized Libertyy's
11:24uh systems managing two locations
11:27consistency and pricing. I had
11:28attendance that you know when you have
11:30just regular cash register and carbon
11:33copy tickets then you're depending on
11:35the team having all your prices
11:36memorized uh or pressing the right
11:39buttons on the the register. I had one
11:41conversation with a regular customer of
11:43ours. I was working as an attendant that
11:45day and at the service counter and this
11:48is an older fellow kind of a cowboy type
11:50of guy you know it was common to see him
11:52wearing those pearl uh button snap type
11:54shirts you know at the that style he
11:56rode he drove this little red pickup
11:58truck and he was a regular you know been
12:00a customer of ours for years I knew him
12:03but when he was dropping off his laundry
12:05I asked him to you know for his name and
12:08phone number and then also if he had any
12:09special instructions and right
12:11>> he said
12:12>> I'm here every week. Don't you know me?
12:15>> Right. Right.
12:16>> And that was like, oh, it was such a
12:18dagger to the heart because we had a
12:19successful drop off laundry service at
12:21that point and we were serving, you
12:22know, hundreds or thousands of customers
12:25and it was like, I know you, but it's
12:27just we have so many customers. I can't
12:29remember everybody's special
12:30instructions.
12:32>> We were friends, you can't even remember
12:34my name. It was painful. It was painful.
12:36And you know, I had thought for a long
12:39time about doing like the 3x5 index card
12:41type of thing, rolodex for our customers
12:43to save those notes and and but I never
12:46did it because it was never quite
12:47practical and it would depend on all of
12:48our team members having good handwriting
12:51and that it was just a recipe for you
12:53know what if you dropped the box holding
12:54the index cards and spilled those
12:55everywhere, you know, that kind of
12:57thing. Um, so realizing I needed some
13:00way of saving that information on file
13:03that it could be pulled up at a moment's
13:05notice. Uh, another instance that drove
13:07me to computerizing Liberty Laundryy's
13:09uh, drop off laundry services and uh,
13:11operations, we had this sweet old lady
13:14named Sue. She was she must have been 4
13:16foot three or I mean she was tiny little
13:18lady in her in her 60s early 70s. Um,
13:22great team member, total sweetheart,
13:25could just sweet talk any customers and
13:26all that. on the cash register. She was
13:28a little bit dangerous because you never
13:29knew if she was going to press the right
13:30buttons. And she in fact charged a
13:33customer $350
13:35on the credit card terminal when on the
13:37register she rang it up for 35. She
13:39missed the extra zero and the customer
13:41was busy talking to her and there, you
13:42know, he paid it and signed the receipt
13:45for the $350 transaction and he's on his
13:48way. It's not until the next day
13:51>> that he came back to the store saying,
13:52"Uh, I I made a I made a mistake. I
13:54didn't notice that uh you had charged me
13:5710 times what the order was,
14:00>> right?
14:00>> Because of that separation of the credit
14:02card terminal and the register and make
14:04sure you're hitting the right number of
14:05zeros and all that too. But um getting
14:08back to the why did I start wash in the
14:11first place? So there there was that
14:13journey there. So I knew that firsthand
14:14the pain points of a laundromat owner or
14:16the son of a laundromat owner trying to
14:19do his best to help his family's
14:20business grow, you know. But, um, I
14:23found myself, uh, on online forums and
14:26in-person events for laundromat owners,
14:29uh, conferences and all that, explaining
14:31over and over again about, well, here's
14:34what we did for our stores. Here's how I
14:36solved it. Here's all the pieces. And as
14:38I would be explaining the solution,
14:41um, I would see the deer in the
14:43headlights look in their eyes like,
14:45>> "Oh, that's simple, huh? they just do
14:47this and then this and then this and
14:48then you piece that and you tie that
14:50together to have a comprehensive
14:51solution or I just I just see their
14:53their eyes just kind of glazing over
14:55just like
14:56>> and it became obvious as I'm telling
14:57them that they're they're never going to
14:58do it themselves. What they
15:00>> when they realized that there wasn't a
15:02one-stop solution. It wasn't like a oh I
15:04got a such and such and then now I'm
15:06good to go. Um
15:08>> and there was no solution like that at
15:09the time really. there was just um dry
15:13cleaning software that some laundromats
15:15would use which solved some of the
15:16problems or there was more generic
15:18retail or restaurant type software which
15:20solves some of the problems but not all
15:21of it. So not having a one-stop solution
15:23to recommend to people that was that was
15:26part of the origin of it.
15:27>> These laundry bat owners they were
15:29asking you how you were managing your
15:32stores. How are we managing our stores?
15:34And do you have recommendation for a
15:35point of sale system or do you have
15:36recommendation for
15:37>> Yeah, what should I use?
15:39>> Managing a team across multiple
15:41locations. What should I use?
15:43>> And uh I was a guest speaker at the 2015
15:48clean show uh in Atlanta, Georgia. And
15:51the clean show, which I'm sure we can
15:53talk about another episode, but it's
15:54it's the Super Bowl for the laundromat
15:56industry and dry cleaning and linen and
15:58textile care industries.
16:00um lots of people from around the world
16:02come to this mainly focused on the
16:04laundry and textile care industry and I
16:06gave a I presented a um a discussion uh
16:12that was I forget the exact title but
16:14it's like the high-tech laundromat and
16:16it was uh different systems that could
16:19be used for managing modern laundromats
16:22and it was such a hungry audience that
16:24they had set out a couple hundred chairs
16:26in this little side panel room that I
16:27was giving my presentation it was
16:28standing room only. It was maybe 450
16:31people who showed up to that uh uh
16:33discussion out of a conference where
16:34there's a couple thous couple thousand
16:36launch mount owners even a show then
16:38that's a pretty significant and it was
16:40uh and it was just me up on stage
16:42talking about various free solutions
16:45that we use uh at the time
16:47>> this crazy thing called Google calendar
16:49now
16:49>> Google calendar Google forms um Dropbox
16:52the free
16:53>> version of Dropbox even for passing
16:55files between
16:57>> uh stores and all that QuickBooks online
17:00uh being able to do your bookkeeping
17:01from any location. So if you do
17:03>> your collections at one store, you can
17:05just enter your numbers right then and
17:06you know that kind of stuff.
17:08>> Um
17:10>> but it it proved to me that there was a
17:12very hungry audience for a technology
17:15solutions provider for this industry
17:18>> uh that wasn't being met uh by products
17:22>> specifically aimed at laundromats. at
17:24the request of the Planet Laundry
17:25Magazine, which is the the trade
17:26magazine put on by the Coin Laundry
17:28Association, which no longer the Coin
17:30Laundry Association, and also it's no
17:31longer called Planet Laundry. They're
17:33changing it the name of it to Full
17:34Cycle. Uh used to be called the Journal
17:36back in the day. They're on they're on
17:38their third uh rename of the magazine,
17:41but um they asked me to write a buyer
17:45guide for point of sale systems for
17:46LaMats and it became
17:51their number one article online
17:54>> uh in terms of uh number of uh views. Uh
17:58it was it was the the most searched for,
18:00the most viewed. And so again, those
18:02that's more evidence that this was a a
18:06need that was was there. There was
18:08demand for it. You could [laughter] kind
18:10of see you could see that laundromat
18:13owners are showing up. And it's funny
18:15because I hear you talk about it and it
18:17sounds like we're talking about like the
18:1980s or something. It sounds like we're
18:21talking about another
18:22>> lifetime, but this was just 10 years
18:24ago. People didn't use Google Drive.
18:26That wasn't really a big thing in
18:27certainly not in Laundromat owner
18:29circles. and Google Calendar. You you
18:32mentioned Dropbox, which now I'm sure
18:34most
18:34>> Dropbox was still relatively new at that
18:35time. Yeah.
18:36>> Yeah. I I remember Dropbox being like,
18:38"What? I get free storage online? This
18:40is crazy." Like that was like like that
18:42was not a thing. Google Drive was
18:44>> being able to access your files on this
18:46computer or on that computer. It was it
18:48was a new thing back then, you know, and
18:50very useful. That's right. Um I mean, we
18:52were probably the first laundromats in
18:55Oklahoma to subscribe to QuickBooks
18:57Online because we opened the second
18:58location. That was just right when
19:00QuickBooks Online was launched was in
19:022010 I think. So we were right near the
19:04beginning. So
19:06>> um also frustrations
19:08>> how fast all that has changed. Yeah.
19:10>> Yeah. Frustrations when you're viewing
19:12frustrations and wanting to solve it.
19:14One was with the limitations of dry
19:16cleaning software because it's like they
19:18would say they could be used for launch
19:20mats but it's like they're throwing us a
19:21bone and it was never um it was never
19:24anything useful. like if you track
19:26pounds but not actually price stuff by
19:28the pound or vice versa or like you
19:30couldn't get reports like how many
19:31pounds of laundry you did and it was
19:33just like why would you not have a
19:35report for the what you're selling? It
19:38just it was strange. And then after the
19:41uh the clean show in Atlanta that I had
19:42given presentation stay room audience
19:44only there was a laundromat owner uh a
19:46relatively new one uh who opened up a
19:48laundromat 30 or 40 minutes away from
19:50where our stores were. Um, Marty
19:52Mullikin uh opened up the AASO Express
19:55Laundry Center.
19:56>> Awesome man. Real cool guy. Very
19:59serious. Former uh uh uh tra air traffic
20:03control uh guy and also worked for like
20:06the NSA for a while and things like
20:07that. So very serious type of guy. Very
20:09methodical. But he said, "Oh, super
20:12smart genius level." Um
20:14>> he said, "When I went to the 2015 clean
20:18show, I went through and I'm imitating
20:20the way he talks. I I went to different
20:24booths and I was able to find everything
20:26I needed at that show to open up my
20:29laundromat. The the washers, the dryers,
20:32the ozone system, all the various
20:34different providers that I needed. And I
20:36actually did go and purchase everything
20:37at that show for my laundromat, which
20:39then opened up, you know, a few months
20:41later.
20:42>> The one thing I did not find was a point
20:44of sale system. And and so we're having
20:48this conversation at our recently opened
20:50third store uh that we opened up in
20:522014. That was the third Liberty Laundry
20:54location. And so this brand new
20:57state-of-the-art loungement of ours and
20:58there's our point of sale system at the
21:00service counter. And he I I told him I'd
21:02been thinking about maybe making point
21:05of sale systems available for otherment
21:07owners. And he said, "If you will sell
21:09me a system
21:11that's just like what you have here in
21:13your store, I'll buy it from you. I'll
21:14be your customer number one.
21:16>> And uh and there we go. And I collected
21:18a check and we had customer number one
21:20there. And but I had to put in my own
21:23money to to even open up the bank
21:24account in order to deposit that first
21:26check. So there's there's another piece
21:27to it all which um kind of comes into
21:31what drives somebody to go onto business
21:34for themselves in the first place,
21:35especially if you're already working for
21:37a successful family business and already
21:39having some success with it.
21:41>> Right. You were managing the
21:42laundromats, right, at the time?
21:43>> Yeah. you know, with with three
21:45locations by that point in time. Um, my
21:48dad was very satisfied with what he was
21:50earning from the laundromats and how
21:53they were doing and and that's
21:54>> as he should. There were some of the
21:55most top performing laundromats in the
21:58country. The CLA puts out an industry
22:01survey every year. Uh, so you can see
22:03how your stores stack up compared to
22:05national averages. And we knew for a
22:07fact our stores were in the top 5% of
22:09all laundromats in the country based on
22:11what they were doing. But um you know I
22:14was I was young. I was recently married.
22:17You know we wanted to build our own
22:19house. We wanted to have kids. We you
22:22know and things like that take cash.
22:24They take money. And
22:25>> um
22:26>> uh dad had made it clear
22:29that the position I was in as operations
22:32manager that I was I was at the maximum
22:34salary that he was willing to pay at
22:36that time which is fine. you know,
22:37that's um
22:39>> I I was well compensated and um you
22:42know, for the for the job that it was, I
22:44was I was in a good spot,
22:46>> but I wanted more. I needed more. And um
22:50>> you know, I being the creative person
22:53that I am, I kept coming up with
22:56different things that Liberty Laundry
22:57could do to earn more revenue, which
23:00would then create more space for me to
23:02earn a higher salary, too. But um he
23:04just it was a source of conflict between
23:06him and me. Not not in a a strong
23:09negative way, not fights ever. It was
23:11just like a no, we're never going to do
23:12that after I had put in time and effort
23:14of you know testing things and making
23:16the case for it and
23:17>> it was just it was just met with a no
23:20regularly. It seemed unfair at the
23:22moment probably that you're creating all
23:24this extra value but that you don't get
23:26to participate in the upside. And the
23:32reality is that that drove you to then
23:37move towards a business where you could
23:40create unlimited value and the upside is
23:43only limited by, you know, how hard you
23:46work and and by the amount of value
23:48you're able to create. And it's kind of
23:50funny how you literally had somebody ask
23:52you to start the business. They're like,
23:54"Hey, will you sell this to me? I want
23:56to buy this thing that you're
23:57>> Not every day somebody says,"I will pay
23:59you thousands of dollars if you will
24:00give me this thing.
24:02>> Can you just please start this business
24:03for me?" If you remind me
24:05>> of um this is a long time ago. I think
24:08we were at a clean show or something,
24:09but you showed me this video you made
24:11of. This is when back you were in
24:13college and uh it was like a little uh
24:17remote control car that you had like put
24:19a Nerf gun as part of it and drive
24:21around shooting from the remote control
24:24card
24:25>> and you like added a button to the
24:27controller and like really you had to
24:29like do quite a bit and
24:32>> it was interesting because it really
24:34kind of was a foreshadowing of two
24:36things. one is that you really kind of
24:37had to work with software and hardware
24:39in a way there that was actually a a
24:42physical product that had
24:45kind of soft functionality as far as
24:47like what does the button do when we
24:49press it? It needs to shoot the Nerf
24:50gun. Um but then also
24:53um that's totally something where it's
24:56like man I want one of those, you know,
24:57or my kid wants I want a remote control
24:59car that shoots Nerf bullets or
25:01whatever. Like why would I not want
25:02that? And so it's another thing where
25:04it's like, oh wow, you've built this
25:06amazing thing. And then that came first
25:09and then after that came like, you know,
25:12you've got this great point of sale
25:13system. How do I buy one? It almost
25:16makes her think like, "Yeah, I want this
25:17remote control car with this Nerf gun."
25:19And
25:21>> yeah, I mean, there's those bits and
25:23pieces there that all led to the success
25:26that wash has been that that habit of
25:29building interesting things and then
25:31showing other people how I made it and
25:33and how that works. And so when I had
25:36that customer number one for Watch Fold
25:38Poss, um I actually had something that
25:41was kind of proprietary. It was this
25:43training manual that I had written
25:45>> on how to use for your drop off laundry
25:48service, right? And so that there's
25:49another piece to it there like actually
25:51had uh something that was it wasn't just
25:54being a reseller of this software at
25:56that time before we eventually built our
25:58own software from scratch and made it
26:00cloud-based. But um uh it was it was
26:03this proprietary information on how to
26:05be successful using this technology for
26:07this successful business. and and and
26:10then by the way, here's advice on how to
26:11run a successful laundromat and
26:14>> drop off laundry service and for
26:15managing your attendance and all that
26:17too. So,
26:18>> and that's really, you know, you and I
26:19met around that time and we started
26:22playing tennis together and you kind of
26:25started this business. I remember we
26:26were talking about like, oh, I built
26:28this thing and then now I've got people
26:30asking me to buy it and you know, I came
26:34on board to kind of help you sell it.
26:37Let's fast forward though 10 years
26:39later. What has changed in 10 years? Um
26:43can you give us uh the scale of not only
26:48Wash Drive full POS but um for listeners
26:52at home who maybe don't know this we
26:54took the some of the retained earnings
26:57from um wash drive full POS and use that
27:00to purchase those laundromats where wash
27:02fold POS was built. I remember um our
27:06first uh clean show as an exhibitor
27:092017, you and I on the airplane
27:11literally doing back of the envelope
27:13math, right? About trying to figure out
27:16the total total addressable market and
27:20the number of laundromats and all that.
27:21what do we know about the laundromat
27:22industry and how many are doing drop off
27:24and and um and uh you and I even went to
27:29like a uh a business development retreat
27:31once if you recall that where oh yeah it
27:34was they had all yeah they had all these
27:36these business coaches there and we were
27:38trying to figure out okay what are our
27:39goals and all that and I just remember
27:40telling you Ian if I can just make an
27:43extra $20,000 a year that changes my
27:46world you know because at that time I
27:48was earning enough but I was a you know
27:50I was um my wife was a stay-at-home mom.
27:52We had a young, you know, baby and I was
27:55earning a salary at the time for my day
27:57job, but it was, you know, it was we we
28:00wanted to put down a down payment for a
28:02house and that that 20,000 a year extra
28:04would allow us to accomplish that. And
28:06um the fact we accomplished that in the
28:09first year [laughter]
28:11and more and then now many multiples of
28:14that has been has been pretty
28:16remarkable. But um yeah, when we
28:18acquired Liberty Laundry in 2023, this
28:22the chain was doing just a little less
28:24than 2 million at that time, that year,
28:26right?
28:26>> And so to then grow that, we're just
28:28we're now what two and a half coming up
28:30on Yeah. It'll be three years this
28:32April, we'll be since we acquired the
28:34stores to have a
28:36>> 25% increase, right? Um for a
28:3920-year-old business, that's
28:41>> that's impressive.
28:42>> Yeah, [laughter] I I think it's doing
28:44pretty well. I think a lot of that is
28:45thanks to a lot of the systems that
28:47we've put in place. You especially I
28:49think you know um and you know and it
28:52makes sense too if you've got someone
28:53who's literally I mean this is no uh I
28:57don't think John would object to this in
28:59any way. He wanted to be retired. he was
29:01ready to just focus on enjoying his his
29:03family and his lake house
29:05>> and versus [clears throat] if you put
29:06someone in their 30s that's going to own
29:08this asset for another,
29:10>> you know, 30 to 60 years, you know, and
29:14and pass it on to their children, then
29:16it's like they're they're going to be a
29:17little bit more energetic about building
29:20that asset. And so I do think that in
29:22your hands it's it's seen a lot more
29:25growth and a lot more investment. Well,
29:27it's been very validating to take a lot
29:29of the ideas I had for the business um
29:32you tried to do this 10 years ago
29:33>> to then implement them and then see
29:35success with that. So, not it's and it's
29:37promise it's not a I told you so dad,
29:39but
29:41>> it's like I told you so. uh he he was
29:43running it successfully and he had
29:45tremendous success with the way he was
29:47running it, but he got to a point where
29:49the way he was running it was affecting
29:51his health and um
29:54>> and things needed to be changed to make
29:56it more manageable at the scale that
29:58it's at. And so when we acquired it, you
30:00and I have been very systematic about
30:01investing in those systems and practices
30:03to make it more sustainable. And now
30:05we're in a spot where we we feel like
30:08>> we're not maxed out. So that's that's a
30:10pretty amazing spot to be in moving
30:11forward. Um, as for Wash Fold Ps, you
30:15know, 10 years later, having sold to
30:18every corner of the country, um,
30:20>> that's incredible. Um, beyond my
30:23expectations, way beyond it. And it's,
30:25it's to the point now where I've stopped
30:28trying to guess how many we'll have
30:31eventually. Uh because um
30:35>> my my measuring stick for success back
30:38when I first started was like if I could
30:40just get 50 subscribers, if I could just
30:43sell 50 systems
30:44>> and have the revenue from that, then I
30:46am I'm set, you know, and now set for
30:49life. Yeah. [laughter]
30:51>> It's u you know the the the the secret
30:55to being successful is to have a very uh
30:58easily attainable goal, right?
31:00[laughter]
31:01So, it's uh it's changed my world, you
31:04know. Um,
31:06there's a few things that I find really
31:08interesting about the story that I think
31:11are transferable to other entrepreneurs
31:14and obviously we're, you know, this
31:17podcast is is meant for laundromat
31:19owners, but I do think just people that
31:23that have this ambition to create an
31:26amazing business and to scale it huge
31:28and to
31:30um impact society or a lot of
31:34And you could raise or not raise money
31:36for that. And
31:39I don't think that that motive
31:43tends to pan out as well as your motive,
31:48which was I just want to make an extra
31:50$20,000. Like, could I could I just have
31:52an extra 20 grand a year that would
31:54change my life? And then the second
31:57piece and that was too that I think
31:59can't be overlooked. You were building
32:02things of value that people wanted so
32:05bad they came to you and said hey I know
32:07this isn't for sale but I want to buy it
32:10anyway
32:10>> right
32:11>> and that's how you started the business.
32:12So it wasn't like well maybe if I make
32:15these bracelets and you know market them
32:17just right I can get someone to buy them
32:19or something.
32:20>> For me it was t-shirts. I I bought a a
32:22screen printing uh press and I was going
32:24to make t-shirts. Seriously. And and
32:26that and that was also, by the way, the
32:28last time I ever purchased anything with
32:30personal consumer credit card. Um I
32:32bought I spent
32:34>> a couple thousand on this this whole
32:36screen printing kit thing. I went to
32:38some training in Arkansas for that came
32:40with it and I was going to I was going
32:42to make t-shirts or something. I don't I
32:43didn't have a customer. Oh, and it's it
32:46it scratched that creative itch of
32:47wanting to make things, but also I can
32:49justify it to myself because it's for a
32:51business.
32:53>> Um,
32:54you can get t-shirts anywhere. You could
32:56I mean, come on. I I had nothing special
32:59on that. And uh and and then and I
33:01bought the dang thing with using a
33:03Discover credit card. And so when
33:06obviously it it failed and it was a flop
33:08and I was kicking myself and I still had
33:09to pay off that that credit card.
33:11[laughter] And that was back when I
33:13didn't have much money. And so it was it
33:15was just I was so incensed from all that
33:17that I uh eventually found the whole uh
33:20Dave Ramsey uh uh financial piece type
33:23stuff. We cut up the credit card. And
33:24I've never I've never used a personal
33:26credit card ever since. I've done stuff
33:27for business later, like actual real
33:30successful profitable business using
33:32credit cards for expenses, but for for
33:33personal household things and in
33:35hairbrain schemes, never again.
33:38[laughter] So
33:38>> you cut that out.
33:41Um and and starting the business was um
33:45yes it was a path to prosperity, yes it
33:48was a path to profit, but also it was
33:50the best method to help other owners.
33:55>> I created the business to answer that
33:58question. Yeah, but what point of cell
33:59system do you use or do how do you how
34:00do you manage these stores and all that?
34:02And I realized the way I could help
34:04these people instead of just giving
34:06them, you know, paragraphs and
34:07paragraphs of advice and videos and
34:10explaining things or being a guest
34:12speaker at events or writing articles
34:13for trade magazines, which I was doing
34:16all that, but it wasn't actually solving
34:17their needs.
34:19>> Creating a business was the way to solve
34:21those needs for them to help other
34:23owners.
34:24>> Yeah.
34:24>> It I mean,
34:25>> it sounds altruistic. I wasn't doing it
34:28for free. It was still, you know,
34:30>> but but profit comes when there's value
34:32created.
34:34>> When you serve others well, they give
34:36you these certificates of appreciation
34:38with pictures of dead presidents on
34:40them, right? You know, it's you're sol
34:41you're making their lives better and
34:43they're saying, "This is worth something
34:44to me."
34:45>> And that is a very wholesome and good
34:48thing. I observe that with the
34:49laundromats. When dad created the his
34:51first laund, it used to be an empty
34:53field. I helped mow that field before we
34:55built the building, you know, that kind
34:56of thing. [clears throat] But creating a
34:58laundromat, putting that service in
35:00place and now there are customers coming
35:02in and giving. It's like something out
35:04of nothing. It's it's that creation of
35:07value and how everyone is being served
35:10here and how it transformed my family's
35:13trajectory and my life certainly as the
35:15son of the founder, you know, of those
35:18laundromats and everything that's come
35:19from that. And then all of our customers
35:22coming in taking care of their families,
35:24uh, cleaning their laundry, taking care
35:25of themselves, and and doing something
35:27that, yeah, it's a chore, and they're
35:28paying enough money to do a chore that
35:30they hate, but we're creating an
35:32environment that is is, uh, wholesome
35:34and good and and serves everyone, and
35:38lots of prosperity comes out of that.
35:40And so watchdrifold POS came out of that
35:42experience and that origin of
35:44>> I can create something that solves this
35:47real need that allows these launders to
35:49run their laundromats in a profitable
35:51way and to be happy with how it's going
35:54instead of wearing themselves out
35:56>> which means that they can run their
35:57laundromats better to serve all of their
35:59customers. And so now that we're here 10
36:02years later, over,200 systems sold,
36:06I am often um humbled and surprised and
36:10amazed by the number of people whose
36:15lives have been improved by the actions
36:17that we take with our business,
36:19>> right?
36:19>> And that's an extreme honor and I don't
36:22take it lightly and uh and that's what
36:24drives me at this point in time. I'm
36:25driven by the impact that we have uh on
36:27a national basis now and how we can
36:30continue just improving that. And yeah,
36:33the cool thing about keeping your ears
36:36open and your eyes open, you're
36:38listening, you're talking to your
36:39customers, getting feedback on a regular
36:42basis about things that are needed is
36:44that you never run out of ideas.
36:46>> Yeah.
36:47>> A cynical way of looking at it's like,
36:48well, it's, you know, nobody's ever
36:50happy. You know, [laughter] there's
36:52always there's always stuff to improve.
36:54Absolutely. There always will be. And
36:56I've talked to industry veterans um like
36:59Steve Marcenetti of CCI or Michael
37:01Shance of Spiderwash and both of them
37:03have said
37:04>> it never ends with software. Um the the
37:07development is never finished and it
37:09never will be
37:10>> and um
37:12>> and yet uh you can keep going. You can
37:14keep having growing
37:17>> greater in your impact and
37:19>> um and that's a good and wonderful and
37:21wholesome thing. So that drives me a lot
37:23and uh that creativity uh has an outlet.
37:28My creativity has an outlet through
37:30right
37:30>> now two businesses and the impact it has
37:33on people
37:34>> and um and then I just do the t-shirt
37:37screen printing on the weekends as a
37:38hobby and I keep it I keep that for what
37:40it is. Uh
37:41>> are you still are [laughter] you still
37:42uh printing t-shirts with your screen?
37:45>> No, I have
37:47>> It's okay. I'm just giving you a hard
37:49time. you know, the the questions people
37:51have for entrepreneurs is kind of, you
37:52know, what drives you and all that. And
37:54when when you're younger, when you're
37:56younger, it's is financial security and
37:57peace and and all that. And I've I don't
38:00have many expensive habits. I you know,
38:03muscle cars are not my thing. And I
38:05enjoy traveling, but you know, um we
38:08have a nice house now. And my main
38:09thing, my main drive is having the
38:13financial freedom to pursue my hobbyist
38:15entries interests uh without worrying
38:19about the cost, without worrying about
38:20what am I sacrificing to pursue this
38:23thing that's just interesting to me. And
38:25so now I'm now I'm at a spot where I can
38:27spend money on a
38:29>> laser cutters and screen printing kit
38:31and 3D printers and VR headsets and all
38:33those gadgets and all that,
38:35>> right? without worrying about am I
38:37sacrificing my my children's, you know,
38:40uh uh
38:41>> future
38:41>> future education, housing, and and all
38:44that, too. And and I've got a
38:46seven-year-old daughter who uh loves
38:49fashion and style and is very creative
38:50in her own way, too. So, I think we're
38:52going to make a bunch of uh t-shirts and
38:54bags for her friends. I think that'll be
38:56>> perfect. So, that's that's our project
38:57this weekend. Well, you're you're still
38:59getting to enjoy your hobbies and you're
39:01no longer uh worried about the the bill
39:04coming due on them or whatever. Yeah,
39:07that's great.
39:07>> And I have the time and space to do it
39:09now, too, because of the team we've
39:11built up at Liberty Laundry. And because
39:13of the team we've built up at Wash Drive
39:14Fold POS, I'm able to do what every
39:18every person looking into my ownership
39:20hopes for, and that is to have a
39:21business that runs without you having to
39:23be there. And so the day-to-day
39:24operations, I'm actually not involved in
39:26the day-to-day operations of Liberty
39:28Laundry anymore because I have
39:31>> or we have um uh an operations manager.
39:36We have store managers at each location.
39:38We have a facilities uh manager and
39:40assistant who make sure all the
39:41equipment's running and all the
39:42buildings are up to shape. And and then
39:44we have a a you know team of laundry
39:46attendants at each location as well.
39:48>> Yeah. And then for wash poss, we have a
39:50a legitimate fullout tech support team
39:52nowadays as opposed to just being Brian
39:54on the phone and uh also a sales team
39:57and and then we're we're working on
39:58improving the marketing
40:00>> on everything too. So it's
40:02>> it is
40:03>> it's a wonderful privileged spot to be
40:04in. I don't take it lightly. It's
40:06interesting how both of our goals went
40:08from can I just have this incremental
40:11increase in my earnings to now we're
40:14thinking about how many families do we
40:17provide jobs for
40:18>> legacy. Yeah.
40:20>> Um yeah and and how does it impact
40:25the the decisions we make now are
40:26impacting broader sections of of people.
40:30I I was thinking just yesterday about
40:32like how many people use or have touched
40:35the point of sale system. So, you know,
40:37I'm sure it's been millions of people
40:39that have used either through, you know,
40:42like the attendance in some way. Yeah.
40:44Yeah.
40:45>> Yeah. Yeah. It's millions. It's
40:46millions. And um not to say that we've
40:48changed all their lives. It's just the
40:49point of sale system you use at your
40:51laundromat. Um that is quite different
40:53from from you know changing their life
40:55necessarily,
40:56>> but it is you know, we don't think about
40:58that. But um you know somebody had
41:01written it down on paper and then done
41:03it wrong or lost the laundry then you
41:06would really think about how it impacted
41:07you. But none of that happened because
41:09they had a good point of sale system. We
41:11kind of had this motive of of hitting
41:14these financial goals and not only did
41:18we hit those a lot faster than I thought
41:20we would than either of us thought we
41:22would. We thought it would take a long
41:24time.
41:25>> Oh yeah. But then now that those have
41:27been hit, it really does become more
41:29about the employees and the who all it
41:33impacts and how do you scale to the next
41:36level and the answer is still uh you
41:41provide more value. You know, you you
41:43you
41:45build the things that the laundromat
41:46owners are are asking for. Our
41:48conversation here went a little longer
41:49than we expected, so we decided to break
41:51it into two episodes. On the next
41:54episode, I hope you'll join us. We're
41:56going to talk about our top favorite
41:58moments in the past 10 years, the
42:00scariest moments of the past 10 years of
42:02building two businesses together, how
42:05Brian always keeps his cool, and why
42:08capital constraints and risk assessment
42:11can lead to long-term strength and
42:14stability as well as financial freedom.
42:17Thanks so much. See you next time.

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