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This Build-Out Story Will Make Your Palms Sweaty with Tim Johnson — Transcript

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0:00I don't stop. I don't quit. Failure is
0:04part of life, right? That that's I've
0:05failed more times than I've ever
0:07succeeded. And you learn that you just
0:11keep going.
0:12I found to be a pretty common mindset
0:16for anybody who's successful at
0:18anything, laundry or anything else, is
0:22you said, "I don't quit."
0:25>> People I think you want to talk about
0:26sweaty palms. If they knew the bills and
0:29the amount of money that shoots out of
0:30my checking account on a daily basis, I
0:34I think they would not want to think. I
0:36mean, they wouldn't sleep well at night.
0:39Hey, hey, what's up, guys? It's Jordan
0:40with the Lawnband Resource Podcast. I
0:43think this is show 242, and I am pumped
0:46you're here today because today we have
0:48Tim Johnson on the podcast giving up his
0:52precious time to tell us about his
0:54experience building out a laundromat.
0:56Now, this is uh this is this is like a
0:59drama that's going to unfold before your
1:02very eyes. So, if you're if you're not
1:04in a you know, a place for some
1:07suspense, this is you might want to just
1:11wait until you're ready for it because
1:12this is a crazy story. It's amazing. Uh
1:16Tim has done, you know, every every
1:18episode pretty much I said, "Hey, go
1:20take some action. Don't waste your time.
1:23Learning only. Go take some action. put
1:25it into put into action today. Tim is
1:28doing that to the nth degree here and
1:30you're going to love his story and
1:33coming out of it because he's taken so
1:35much action. He's learning so much so
1:37fast and he's sharing it with you guys
1:39today. So, incredible, incredible
1:42episode going on and I'm so excited
1:45about it and my palms are a little
1:48sweaty because of it that I just want to
1:50jump right into it today with Tim. So,
1:52let's do it. Tim, thank you for coming
1:55on the show, man. How you doing today?
1:56>> Hey, doing great, Jordan. I appreciate
1:58the opportunity to come on your show.
1:59Big fan.
2:00>> Oh, thank you. And thank you for taking
2:02the time to come on here. I mean, it's
2:04it's huge. You know, anytime somebody
2:07gives up some of their day to come
2:09chatmats with me, I really appreciate it
2:12because I always learn a whole lot. And
2:13then also, I know everybody who listens
2:15is really appreciative. So, thank you
2:17for taking the time. And we got like a
2:18unique uh take going on today, which I'm
2:21I'm very excited about. Uh but before we
2:24jump into that, why don't you just give
2:26us a quick rundown of who you are and uh
2:29and then we'll go from there.
2:30>> Awesome. Thanks. Yeah, my name is Tim
2:32Johnson. I'm a former Air Force officer
2:36and intelligence professional. I spent
2:38most of my career building complex
2:40systems, people, technology, operations,
2:45often in very high stress environments.
2:48After running my own company, working in
2:51corporate and selling my company as well
2:54as a government career, I really wanted
2:56to build something tangible, local, and
2:59community anchored. And that's kind of
3:01what led me to entrepreneurship and
3:03ultimately mats and the opportunity to
3:05speak with you here today.
3:08>> H All right. I didn't I didn't realize I
3:11was in the presence of such greatness
3:13here. Uh love that, man. Uh I I it's so
3:19funny to me sometimes when I talk to
3:21people who are in this industry or
3:22getting in this industry and like what
3:25what like path they've taken to get
3:28here. uh you know and this this business
3:31is kind of funny cuz it's like people
3:33from all over the map can land in this
3:38space and uh I I say you're probably a
3:41case in point uh of that where you know
3:44I I think you'll find the stress levels
3:46are significantly lower uh in laundry
3:50than some of the stuff you've been
3:52dealing with.
3:53>> I hope so. I mean, uh, running my own
3:55company and then the the global war on
3:56terror and and the longest war in the
3:58history of the United States, there were
4:00a lot of operations, a lot of people
4:02working together that were pretty
4:04stressful. Um, so I'm excited to use
4:06those skills in a systems kind of
4:08approach and really help out my
4:10community. I've been blessed to be able
4:12to help out at the federal level and in
4:14global engagements to support the United
4:17States and our freedoms. And I'm excited
4:19to be able to assist the community with
4:20the laundromat.
4:22>> Yeah. Well, we'll have to see um you
4:25know, as as as we communicate here, as
4:28we talk about what you got brewing, uh
4:30how the stress of building out a
4:33laundromat compares with the global war
4:36on terror or some of these other things
4:37you've been through cuz I don't know,
4:39maybe it's not less stressful. Uh I the
4:43money makes it stressful. I think
4:44everybody that has been in someone's
4:47shoes that's building something or
4:48starting something and you see money
4:51kind of go out the window like water
4:54that that can be very stressful because
4:55you worked a lot of years everybody did
4:58worked very hard to earn that money and
5:00you're going man am I doing the right
5:02thing here is this going to work
5:04>> yeah yeah okay so uh you know just kind
5:07of let everybody know you're you're
5:09building you're currently in the process
5:11of building out a your first
5:14Um, and we thought this would be a kind
5:16of a cool conversation to have somebody
5:18in process of what that process has been
5:21like. Real quick, tell us all where
5:22where you located.
5:24>> Sure. Yeah, I'm in Holland, Michigan,
5:26which is on the west side of the state
5:28on along Lake Michigan. It's a beautiful
5:30community. We heat the streets and the
5:33sidewalks, so you can still visit us in
5:35the winter.
5:36>> Wow.
5:37>> Yeah. Great downtown. We've got Lake
5:38Michigan and Lake Makatawa, so a lot of
5:41great water activities. And we're the
5:43home of the tulip festival. So the tulip
5:46festival is a big draw for people that
5:48come to Holland.
5:49>> Okay. I mean, it makes sense, right?
5:51Like the the whole Dutch tulip thing,
5:53Holland and
5:54>> Okay. All right. Well, we also uh heat
5:59our streets and sidewalks here in
6:00Hawaii. We use solar power to do that.
6:02>> That's awesome.
6:03>> And uh we have zero snow whatsoever on
6:06our streets or sidewalks because they're
6:08heated by the sun uh constantly. So,
6:12>> yes, we get lake effect snow. For those
6:15listening around the world, if you've
6:16never experienced lake effect snow, that
6:18is something fascinating.
6:19>> I don't even know what we're talking
6:20about right now. What is that?
6:22>> It's when the storm goes over the lake,
6:24it accumulates all the snow. The minute
6:26it hits, so goes over Lake Michigan,
6:28which is a long distance. The minute it
6:30hits land, it intentionally dumps all
6:32snow that it accumulated in one dump.
6:35>> Really?
6:36>> Yeah. So you just if you're on if you're
6:38like on the coast there, you're just
6:39going to get pummeled.
6:41>> Buffalo, New York is another place. And
6:44you know, West Michigan would be another
6:45one because of the Great Lakes.
6:46>> Oh my gosh. Okay. I've never heard of
6:48that before in my life. And it sounds
6:50awful.
6:51>> Sounds Sounds really fun to visit.
6:54>> Yeah. Yeah. Sounds fun to visit. I don't
6:56know if I can live in it. Uh yeah.
6:58>> Uh okay. So, okay. Let's let's uh let's
7:02recap. I know you kind of gave us an
7:03overview of like why laundromats, but
7:05listen, you've got like a pretty
7:07decorated past here. You've accomplished
7:08a lot. You've done a lot from kind of a
7:12broad, you know, diverse background
7:14here. So, where where did the path how
7:19did the path take you to laundromats
7:21from where you've been?
7:23>> Yeah, I appreciate it. Well, I was, you
7:25know, I had sold my company and I was
7:26working in corporate America and there
7:28were a lot of layoffs in tech and at
7:31certain ages you're considered a bit um
7:34old if you will or too experienced and
7:37so that that's a reality
7:38>> expensive too expensive is what it is of
7:41um ageism. So, I had been laid off uh
7:45from my corporate job and I was kind of
7:48figuring out what's next, what do I want
7:49to do? And I'd been in therapy and
7:52working on different things and my
7:53therapist said, "Hey, you know, Tim,
7:54you've done great things for the
7:56country. You've had the ability to
7:57contribute and use all of your education
7:59and your skills and your talents. You
8:01know, how can you use that in your
8:03community?" You know, I think I think
8:05ultimately you should probably try and
8:07use that for something good in the
8:08community. And that really landed with
8:10me. And we didn't have an answer at the
8:12moment, right? But you kind of let that
8:14brew in your head and you think about
8:15it. Done a lot of YouTube research, a
8:18lot of internet research, a lot of
8:19thinking. Of course, we I think we're
8:21all aware of all the things on YouTube
8:23about laundromats. So, I started to dig
8:25into that and through my research um I
8:29had seen through Upflip on YouTube
8:31somebody that had done pretty well with
8:33laundromats, Brian out in Seattle.
8:35>> Yeah. And
8:36>> he's been on the podcast a couple times
8:37there too, Brian Risen. Yeah,
8:39>> he's fantastic. And I reached out to
8:41Brian and he was gracious enough to
8:43respond to my email and he said there's
8:45something coming up called the clean
8:47show. And I had no idea what the clean
8:49show was. And for those in the
8:50laundromat industry, it's happens every
8:53two years by the the CLA, the Coin
8:55Laundry Mat Association. It's a big
8:57sponsor. And it's I believe it's the
8:59largest laundry conference in the world.
9:02That's how I understood it. And so, not
9:05knowing how to spell laundry, I bought a
9:07plane ticket, a hotel room, and a rental
9:09car, flew myself to Orlando, and just
9:12started meeting people. And I was blown
9:15away by the community. Uh, everybody
9:18wanted to help. The industries I'd
9:20worked in in the past with his tech and
9:22corporate and government, there's a lot
9:24of competition and they don't want to
9:26always help you because they view you as
9:27competition. In the laundry industry, I
9:29always tell people, Brian and Seattle,
9:32the number one person in Kansas City,
9:34who you've probably had on this show,
9:35they they don't care that I'm opening
9:38one in Holland and Michigan. They're
9:39willing to help, willing to work
9:40together. Even Detroit, Michigan, isn't
9:42too concerned about Holland, Michigan.
9:44And that's a great community base. And
9:46that's and I went through the Clean
9:48Show, made a ton of friends,
9:50and from there really became convinced I
9:54could do this with the help of all these
9:56individuals. And so came back to
9:58Michigan, started looking into it, what
10:01it would cost, equipment, reps, land,
10:05all the things that I started to
10:06evaluate.
10:08>> Yeah. Okay. So, you just kind of did
10:10your research and then took the plunge,
10:13>> bought the ticket, made the trip,
10:15started meeting people, started
10:16learning.
10:17>> I did.
10:18>> I like that. And what what's kind of
10:20neat was as I was doing all this,
10:21everybody's got to make a decision on,
10:23you know, which brand are they going to
10:25go with for their their machines and all
10:27those decisions that go with it, one of
10:29my friends from the um the conference
10:31reached out and said, "Hey, Tim, you're
10:33not going to believe this. There's
10:34somebody on the east side of the state,
10:36Detroit side, that's going out of
10:38business. They're they've only been
10:39around two years. They have Electrolux.
10:41Their equipment's been um only used for
10:4318 months. Try and get a hold of them."
10:45had no contact information, no real name
10:49other than the business. I worked really
10:50hard to get a hold of them and I found
10:53out who they were, got a hold of the
10:54owners, and they were gracious enough to
10:56sell me all of everything in their
10:58laundry mat, which was a brand new
11:01four,00t
11:02laundry mat. Everything they had at a
11:05very steep discount, probably a third of
11:07what they paid.
11:08>> Wow. Wow. Well, hey, uh, good for you.
11:12That's too bad for them. I don't know
11:14the situation there, but good for you uh
11:16to be able to find that. And that's, you
11:18know, we talk a lot on here about the
11:22community aspect of this industry and
11:24stuff. And you know, I've really found
11:27and and this is another kind of case in
11:29point that, you know, it's in those
11:31relationships, in those connections that
11:34we have with each other where
11:35opportunities present themselves,
11:37opportunities lie. you know, whether
11:39that's for discounted equipment or, you
11:42know, you know, whatever, like helping
11:45you grow your business, the one idea
11:46that sparks the thing that helps you
11:48take your pickup and delivery that
11:50>> helps it take off or, you know, whatever
11:52the case may be. Um, it's so important.
11:55So, if you're out there and you've been
11:56a passive listener to the podcast or
11:59you're just kind of browsing around in
12:00the industry or you're just kind of
12:01doing your own thing head down, uh, man,
12:03get involved. start meeting some people
12:05because opportunities happen when people
12:08mingle.
12:09>> Jordan, I I can't agree more. That's the
12:11only reason I have a property, a
12:13laundromat build going on right now and
12:15equipment. Without those relationships
12:17and Brian helping and everybody in the
12:19community giving me assistance and
12:21mentorship, I would not be where I am.
12:23And then I also called on my own
12:25community. My neighbor um was gracious
12:28enough and kind enough to get in a box
12:30truck. I got in one box truck, he got in
12:32another. and we drove three hours to
12:34Detroit and we moved uh 43 dryers and 41
12:38washers plus vending machines and all
12:41equipment in a 4,500 square ft laundry
12:43mat by ourselves which that is a task.
12:46>> That's a task. That is a task. Okay. So,
12:51at at this point in time, did you
12:53already have your location that you're
12:55going to be building out?
12:56>> I did not. I put all of the washers in
12:59my heated garage, key word, heated,
13:02>> because of the winter.
13:03>> Yeah.
13:03>> So they wouldn't freeze. I put all the
13:05dryers in a storage unit. Had no idea
13:08where I was going to start a laundromat.
13:10I just spent hundreds upon hundreds of
13:12thousands of dollars to buy equipment
13:15for a laundromat that didn't exist. And
13:17I moved it across the state and I stored
13:20it in my garage. So then all the things
13:21you have in your garage go out in the
13:23winter time. You know, they're out in
13:24the snow right now. Literally, as we
13:26speak, we've had record snow for two
13:28weeks, and my garage is full of washers
13:31and equipment, vending machines, tables,
13:34chairs, folding tables, everything. The
13:37dryers I put all in a storage unit. Had
13:40nowhere where I was going to put this. I
13:42was looking for property. The number one
13:44challenge, I think, in a laundromat is
13:46finding a location and doing all that
13:48due diligence. And so, I was in deep
13:50into that. owned all the equipment for a
13:53laundromat that didn't exist.
13:56>> Okay. I like Okay, so here here's the
13:59thing is on the podcast I usually if if
14:01if anybody ever makes it this far,
14:03usually end this thing with like, hey,
14:05you got to take action. Action's what's
14:07going to get you where you got to go. Uh
14:11like, dude, you're you're taking the
14:14action here. You're jumping on the
14:15plane, going to the clean show. You're
14:17buying hundreds of thousands of dollars
14:19of equipment without any place to put
14:22it. Uh
14:26I mean, is was anybody in your life just
14:28telling you that you're crazy?
14:29>> Oh, a lot of people.
14:30>> Okay. Okay.
14:31>> Almost every person I spoke to thought I
14:35was insane, thought that I was wasting
14:37my money, thought that I would fail,
14:40thought that the math didn't work, that
14:42I overpaid on the equipment because, you
14:44know, they don't know the industry. that
14:46I really did get a great deal.
14:47>> And why would I take my garage space and
14:50fill it with all these big pieces of
14:52equipment that I can't run? I can't move
14:54them being a, you know, they're heavy.
14:56What am I going to do with all this? And
14:58I came from tech. I, you know, Harvard
15:00Business School, um, Air Force Academy
15:02undergrad. I had all this air quote
15:04education. And I I thought they all
15:07thought I should be doing something, you
15:08know, the white collar, not moving
15:10washing machines, not doing a
15:11laundromat. But I was I was convinced
15:14this was the right thing for me in my
15:16community. And I wanted to learn by
15:18doing, right? I didn't want to sit back
15:20and play Monday morning quarterback and
15:22evaluate others and say, "Would a should
15:24have, could have." I I I did the Robs,
15:27the rollover for business startups. I
15:29cashed it in. I I'm all in. And so I
15:31just went for it and took a lot of
15:33action and a lot of risks that people
15:35don't have tolerance for.
15:39>> Yeah. I Dude, I love it. I love it and
15:42I'm sure it's giving people sweaty palms
15:44right now. Just in case you don't know
15:45that Robs is a way to utilize retirement
15:48funds to to start a business or buy a
15:52business. Uh so, you know, that's an
15:54option for anybody out there. Go look
15:56into Robs if if if you're out there.
15:58But, uh I know you're giving people
16:00sweaty palms right now by buying all
16:02this equipment, using retirement funds
16:04to do it, um all kind of all that. So,
16:09you've got this stuff in your garage. I
16:10I at one point also, for a much less
16:15intelligent reason, had a garage full of
16:17equipment. Uh where I bought a store and
16:21I retoled it and the uh the installer
16:26told me that he would haul the equipment
16:28away for free. And I was like, "No, like
16:31this this still has some value. Like,
16:33you could I'll sell it to you." And he's
16:34like, "No, I don't want to buy it." So,
16:36I decided that I would sell the
16:37equipment and so I moved it all by
16:39myself into my garage and it was just
16:42not I should have just given it to the
16:43guy. So, uh not not as
16:46>> Yeah, not as intelligent as what you
16:48were doing uh over there. Just me trying
16:51to make a buck and
16:54being foolish about it. Um save a buck,
16:57right? That's why I bought all these to
17:00save a buck. Although everybody viewed
17:02it as spending a lot of money because
17:03it's hundreds of thousands of dollars
17:06and the Yeah. the moving of it. I saved
17:08a lot of money, probably $50,000 in
17:10moving costs just by moving it myself.
17:12>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, and and
17:17listen, si saving a buck by storing
17:20brand new equipment until you're ready
17:22for it is much smarter than trying to
17:26make a buck by storing super old
17:28equipment in your garage and trying to
17:30sell it. I'll just say that. Uh so,
17:32you're I don't think you're in the right
17:34place is what I'm trying to tell you
17:36right now. I understand what you're
17:37going through and your thought process
17:39and it makes sense to me. Uh still Still
17:42uh still bold though. Still bold. A bold
17:45move. Um, okay. So, you have all this
17:47equipment. It's in your garage. It's in
17:48storage. It's all over the place. All
17:50your uh all your fun stuff is out in
17:53snow, buried, you know, uh for for
17:56months at a time here. Um, have you have
18:00you found a location to put this
18:01laundromat yet?
18:02>> Yeah, I appreciate you asking. I went
18:04through a lot of iterations in the
18:06search. I did find a location and it was
18:09for lease at the time and um I was very
18:15motivated to try and purchase it. And so
18:18I contacted the owners who are local but
18:21they run a large private equity group
18:23out of Grand Rapids, very successful.
18:26Got a hold of the the wife of the group.
18:29Spoke to her, met with her, told her my
18:31story, told her who I'm about and why I
18:33want to do this for my community. and
18:35she owns properties all over West
18:37Michigan and in Michigan. So, she knows
18:40Holland and she knows the community and
18:42and that there's a need for this a
18:43destination laundromat that the
18:45community can have dignity to use and it
18:47will be reliable for them. So, she
18:49allowed me I was very gracious. They
18:52both allowed me to buy it on land
18:54contract and so that was huge because
18:57the financing for that is better than
19:00any bank um from a percentage. Now I'm
19:02taking risk, but again, you think I'm
19:04scared of risk if I'm moving all that
19:06equipment and doing all the things and
19:07selling Robs. I I I sleep easy. Uh so I
19:12was very lucky that they allowed me to
19:13do a land contract and buy the property
19:16outright. 5,000 square foot next to a
19:19Dollar General, a Mexican grocery store,
19:22a Goodwill, a Spanish speakaking church
19:25in O'Reilly's. Uh it's a great location
19:28as well as like a Starbucks coffee type
19:30in the front which drives a lot of
19:32traffic. Got about 15,000 to 20,000
19:34vehicles going past us every day. And
19:37the the Dollar General and the Mexican
19:39grocery store are staple. We're getting,
19:42you know, 5 to 10 people every five
19:44minutes buying groceries.
19:48>> I mean, those are those are the kind of
19:51the indicators that we're looking for
19:53when we're looking for a location,
19:54right? So, sounds like sounds like it's
19:56a money location. Uh, just so we don't
19:58leave anybody behind, uh, in case
20:00there's people out there not really
20:02familiar with real estate, um, can you
20:04explain what a land contract is?
20:05>> Yeah, thanks for asking. I get that
20:07question a lot. So, when you buy a
20:10property, a house, say most people buy a
20:12house. You have a bank, pick your bank,
20:15Wells Fargo, whoever it may be that's
20:17going to take a loan, a mortgage, they
20:19call it a mortgage. And you buy that
20:21house and you pay off your mortgage and
20:22eventually hopefully you own your house.
20:24maybe in 30 years.
20:26When you're doing a land contract, the
20:29bank is the owner of the property. The
20:32people that sold it to me are my bank.
20:35They said, "You can buy it directly from
20:37us. We own it. You can buy it as will be
20:41the bank and we'll have a mortgage with
20:42them and I pay them off with an interest
20:44rate that's better than I would have
20:46gotten in the industry." They gave me a
20:48very good rate that was aggressive and
20:51allowed me to buy it from them directly.
20:52So they I send them checks just like
20:54they're a bank. We keep it on Excel.
20:57Excel. We just keep it on Excel to keep
20:59what the mortgage is at. It's there's a
21:01lot of trust, a lot of faith in
21:03everybody when we're doing that. But
21:04remember relationships. They met me.
21:08They heard my story. They knew my
21:10background, what I'm about, and what I
21:12do and how I carry myself. And they were
21:14willing to take that risk with me. And I
21:15knew about them. So I totally wanted
21:17that. And it it worked out for both of
21:19us. Um, and I was able to acquire a
21:215,000 square foot property in that way.
21:24>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and you know, just
21:28just to kind of bring everybody probably
21:30more commonly known as like seller
21:32financing, right? That's what
21:33everybody's looking for.
21:35>> Uh, so I just want to make sure. But
21:36yeah, I mean,
21:38>> listen, that that's like the unicorn,
21:40right, of what everybody's looking
21:41everybody's looking for a seller
21:42financing deal with a good interest rate
21:44and good terms. Uh, and you know, you
21:48hear a lot of people out there saying
21:49you can't find that anymore. Well, I'll
21:51say it's it's difficult. It's probably
21:53more difficult now than it used to be.
21:55It's definitely not impossible. So,
21:56kudos to you. Um, what what uh this
22:01particular location,
22:03did you find that? Did you have a broker
22:05looking for you? How did that come
22:07about?
22:07>> I appreciate you asking. You know, I was
22:09pretty headstrong that, oh, I can do
22:11this. I can find my own property. I, you
22:13know, look at me. Well, you get humbled
22:16real fast. Watch out for hubris. And uh
22:19so I I ended up getting a real estate
22:20agent and we were working really hard
22:23together. I had found some different
22:24places on my own that weren't working
22:26out. And the real estate agent had sent
22:28me a list. And what's ironic is they had
22:31an agent to sell it to rent it to lease
22:34it. They were it wasn't for sale. It was
22:35for lease. And that agent really sold it
22:39to me because he started to explain the
22:42benefits of that location for a
22:44laundromat and some of the demographics
22:46and why it would work. And he really
22:49opened my eyes as to why it was a great
22:50location. Then I went to him and said,
22:52"Hey, I'd like to buy it outright." He
22:54understood from an infrastructure cost
22:56when you're looking at, you know, gas,
22:58electric, water, the amount of money
23:00you're going to pour into this facility
23:02that you'd rather own it. And so he did
23:04a really great job. the seller realtor
23:07of communicating to the owners what I
23:10was looking to do and then allowed for
23:11that meeting to happen where the owners
23:12and I could meet and really talk eye to
23:15eye. But yes, to answer your question
23:16directly, I had a realer.
23:18>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, and because it's it's
23:21tough, right? Like, you know, even even
23:24if uh you know, if you've never done
23:28this before and you've never owned a
23:29laundromat and you're just kind of
23:31learning the industry, you know, being
23:34able to find a property and have the
23:36confidence that it's going to make a
23:38return on all the investment that it
23:41takes for, like you said, all the
23:43infrastructure that you're going to have
23:44to build out. You might have to upgrade
23:45water lines. You might have to expand
23:48the electrical panel. You, you know, all
23:51kinds of different things, plus all the
23:53plumbing and electrical work and
23:54ventilation and and all that stuff that
23:57needs to happen to turn this building
24:00into uh a laundromat, plus all the
24:02equipment cost and all that, right? Like
24:04to have the confidence that that space
24:08is going to make money is difficult if
24:10you've never done it before and you're
24:11trying to do it on your own. So, and and
24:13it's scary, but I thought, you know, if
24:15anybody would be crazy enough to do it,
24:17it might be you. So,
24:19>> I I'll tell you how crazy I am. Uh
24:21Jordan, not only did that all true, it
24:24was 5,000 square ft full full of a
24:27restaurant. It had all the freezers, all
24:30the sinks, all the oven, all the
24:32furniture, mold, black mold, rust,
24:36animals. It had it all. I demoed it
24:39myself. I asked the same neighbor who
24:41helped drive the box truck, "Hey, do you
24:44want to demo a 5,000 square foot
24:46building?" and he said, "Sure, let's do
24:48it." So, we demoed that in over 30 days.
24:51I documented on my YouTube channel and
24:54uh we cleared out 22 tons of material
24:57out with a wheelbarl and buckets because
25:00we couldn't get a Bobcat in there
25:01because the other neighbors, they can't
25:02have the exhaust. So, yeah, I'm crazy
25:05enough to take these things on.
25:09>> I love it. I love it. Get getting the
25:11hands dirty. Getting the hands dirty.
25:13Okay. So, you found this property and
25:16you locked it up on a land contract
25:18seller financing deal. How long ago was
25:21that?
25:22>> I I closed that deal in the first week
25:24of November and we're now in February.
25:27Yep.
25:27>> Yeah. Okay. And then uh and then what
25:30happened? Panic set in yet?
25:33>> Sorry. Say again.
25:34>> I said, did panic set in yet or no? Not
25:36yet.
25:37>> Well, move faster. Always move faster.
25:39Every day I'm thinking I got to do more.
25:41I've got to be quicker. And the reality
25:43is stuff just takes time. So I I sought
25:46out an architect immediately.
25:48>> Um I that was hard. Finding an architect
25:51was difficult. I went through about six
25:53or seven architects. Not that there's
25:54anything wrong with the ones I went to,
25:55but oh that's not for me or that's not
25:57the right fit or I'm too busy. So
26:00eventually found an architect um out of
26:02Grand Rapids and hired the architect to
26:05design plans for a laundromat. During
26:07this time, I was working with Electrolux
26:10to get financing for um the buildout
26:15because I knew the buildout was going to
26:16be expensive. And so what I did was I
26:19think it was the first time in the
26:20history of Electrolux. I hopefully they
26:22don't mind me telling you this. They
26:24used my used equipment that I bought
26:27from Detroit as collateral. They sold me
26:29no new equipment and they financed my
26:32buildout. So, they gave me financing to
26:35be able to do my buildout in addition to
26:37my Robs. So, I'm doing that in parallel.
26:40I'm finding an architect and I'm doing
26:42demo and I'm looking for a builder. So,
26:46and permits permits. Looking through all
26:49those at the same time as every day I'm
26:52hauling tons in a wheelbarrow out to the
26:54back uh dump area. So that was all
26:57ongoing in parallel the minute I closed.
27:03>> Getting after it.
27:04>> Yeah.
27:05>> Getting after it. Uh yeah. Okay. Well, I
27:09don't I don't think Electrolux will mind
27:10you uh saying that. If so, then I'll
27:13I'll hear back.
27:14>> Fantastic partner.
27:15>> I know those guys. So, yeah, they're
27:16great. They're great.
27:19>> Again, I met all of them at It should be
27:21known I met all of them at the Clean
27:22Show. So when I approached them, they
27:26already knew my story. They the
27:28relationships, they knew who I was. I
27:30sat down with them for hours at the
27:32Clean Show, met with the CEO of the
27:34United States,
27:35>> all of those things. So there was a good
27:38reputation about me and a relationship
27:40that already existed before I asked for
27:42this.
27:43>> Yeah. Yeah. Which is great. And you
27:46know, I the
27:49out of curiosity,
27:51uh, I mean, you're you're kind of asking
27:53for this sort of late in the game, like
27:56you've already bought equipment and
27:57you've bought a bill. Like, what happens
27:59if they say no uh to that?
28:03>> I I believe in faith that the laundry
28:06mat is for me and that this is what God
28:08has asked me to do with my skills and my
28:10ability and my talent for the community.
28:12I would have found another way. I I am I
28:15don't stop. I don't quit. Uh I would
28:17have kept working at it. And you got to
28:19remember relationships and people.
28:21They're willing to help if you ask for
28:23it and and you know are respectful about
28:25it. I found more people willing to help
28:28in the laundromat community than not
28:29help and it's been fantastic. So I I was
28:32already in parallel to Electrolux. I had
28:35found financing through the Clean Show.
28:38I had approached multiple banks. I was
28:40looking at the SBA. the federal
28:41government shut down because of the
28:43closure, no funding. So that was ongoing
28:46as well. So all of that again in
28:48parallel to the other activities that I
28:51listed off, I had backup plans to the
28:54original plan if it didn't work out.
28:57>> Yeah. Good. Well, and I the the reason I
28:59asked that is I I knew your answer would
29:01be, you know, that there's a way. I'll
29:04find I'll find a way. Like there's a
29:06way. But the reason I asked that is
29:07because people get hung up
29:11on that a lot. And you know,
29:15you know, it not it's not for everybody
29:17to just jump and then build the plane on
29:19the way down kind of like what you've
29:21been doing, right? And uh and I get
29:23that. Um but you know, one of our one of
29:27our core values over here is default to
29:29action, right? Like got to default to
29:31taking action because if you don't take
29:34the action, you don't go anywhere. You
29:35don't get anything done. Nothing gets
29:37accomplished. Um, so I wanted to hear
29:40kind of how your mindset was around
29:42that. Um, because I I just talk to so
29:45many people every week who
29:48um, you know, rightfully so, but have
29:50this fear that paralyzes them um, and
29:52doesn't allow them to make progress on
29:55on their goals. And you know the thing
29:58that you said that
30:01I found to be a pretty common mindset
30:05for anybody who's successful at anything
30:08laundry or anything else is you said I
30:12don't quit right like and I think that's
30:15kind of just a mindset that you have to
30:16have is like are like are you in or are
30:19you out right so it reminds me I think
30:22what Grant Cardone's book be obsessed or
30:24be average right if you're not obsessed
30:26you're not all in,
30:29nothing extraordinary is going to
30:30happen, right? And if you're looking to
30:32make a huge impact in your community or
30:35you're looking to leave your nineto-5 or
30:38you're looking to have financial freedom
30:40or you're looking for more time with
30:41your family and kids or, you know,
30:44whatever, you've got to have a vehicle
30:47to help you accomplish those things. And
30:49then you just got to be all in on it.
30:51And you've got to have that I just I
30:53don't quit mindset and attitude. uh to
30:56get it going. So,
30:57>> and and failure is part of life, right?
30:59That that's I've failed more times than
31:00I've ever succeeded. And you learn that
31:04you just keep going. Um I fail all the
31:07time, every day at different things and
31:09I've run a successful business and sold
31:11it. Well, that's the story everybody
31:12wants to hear.
31:13>> They don't really hear about what it
31:15took and the failure and not quitting.
31:16So, you're exactly right. Take action.
31:20Be smart about your time. Be respectful
31:22of others. Live with integrity. And I've
31:25been very blessed in that regard by
31:27doing those types of actions.
31:29>> Yeah. Yeah. When you get this uh
31:31laundromat totally finished and built
31:34out, people are going to come visit it.
31:35Other owners and stuff are going to come
31:36visit it and be like or prospective
31:38owners and be like, "Wow, this is great.
31:40I wish I had this." But they're not
31:43going to be seeing you with, you know,
31:46moving all this equipment across the
31:48country and having to live with it or ac
31:50across the state and having to live with
31:52it in your garage and you hauling out
31:55tons and tons and tons of debris and
31:57stuff from the lo everything that went
32:00into it. Uh, but it's that I don't quit
32:03attitude. It's that obsession to hey,
32:06I'm trying to do something. You know,
32:08you said believe God called me to do
32:10this for my community. um that that why
32:12behind what you're doing is what is
32:14going to drive you to be successful. So
32:17um
32:17>> I just want to kind of explore that a
32:18little bit because I just talked to so
32:20many people who
32:21>> I think need to hear that and need to
32:23adopt some of that into their life.
32:26>> Um and it's just good for me to to hear
32:28it again for myself.
32:29>> No, I agree, Jordan. It's it's
32:31fantastic. And when you're motivated
32:33with faith like that and you have a
32:35calling and it and it wakes you up in
32:37the morning, it it can do amazing things
32:39and teamwork and other individuals and
32:42relationships. I really want to stress
32:43that that's what leads to success. I
32:45don't do this alone. I do this with God
32:48and my community and my neighbors and
32:49the people that want to be part of that
32:50and help me and I help them. And it's a
32:53team effort. It always has been my whole
32:55life.
32:56>> Yeah. Yeah. I think the real question
32:58here is how do we get a neighbor like
33:00your neighbor who's willing to go haul a
33:02bunch of stuff across the state and
33:04bring a bunch of debris out. That's the
33:06real secret right here.
33:08>> That's a great question. We call the
33:09best neighbor in the United States. Uh
33:11fantastic.
33:12>> Yeah, sounds great. Sounds great. Shout
33:15out to to the neighbor there.
33:16>> Yeah.
33:16>> Uh
33:18where where are you at right now in the
33:20process? Where where are things sitting?
33:22>> Yep. Thanks for asking. We were we're
33:24permitted. We're legally permitted to
33:26build. Construction started two days
33:28ago. Yeah.
33:29>> Oh, nice. All right.
33:30>> We're putting up a 26 foot I beam right
33:33now in the middle of the long deck
33:35because there was some structural issues
33:36that we're addressing and uh we're in
33:39the middle of the bill should the goal
33:40is to finish by May 15th, which is about
33:4390 days from now and that and open for
33:46business. Uh so there's a lot of moving
33:48parts that we can cover. I know you're
33:50well aware of all the things that go
33:51into that, but it's constant every day.
33:55It's funny, people ask me, "What are you
33:56going to do tomorrow, Tim?" And yes, I
33:58believe in calendars. I believe in
33:59schedules. I believe in all of that, but
34:01I usually say, "You know what? I've got
34:03this huge gap of time. I guarantee my
34:05phone's going to ring and there's
34:06something going to be for the
34:07laundromat. It's going to be great.
34:08We're going to work on it and figure it
34:10out."
34:10>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, you're I
34:13mean, you're like in the thick of it
34:16right now.
34:18So, you know, in terms of, you know,
34:22again, like one of the one of the
34:26one of the things that
34:28can be expensive is the time, right, to
34:32and you know, I I know you have a plan
34:34for about 90 days from now to be up and
34:36running, but I mean, you said you got
34:38this in November, so we're talking four
34:40months to get to this point, which is
34:42I'm assuming demo and the permitting
34:45process was probably a huge part of
34:46that.
34:47um that process. Uh how did you like
34:52budget in holding costs for this time or
34:55>> I did
34:55>> how did you think about this?
34:57>> Yeah, I'm budgeting for you know if we
35:00want to get into turns and all that,
35:01what's it going to look like? But I'm
35:03and I'm budgeting for a year of no
35:04profit. I mean I am I am budgeting to be
35:08prepared to work at a loss and fund this
35:11the entire way and and carry it. So, I I
35:14definitely budgeted for that. And every
35:16day I woke up with a sense of urgency to
35:20take action and move this closer to
35:22getting started because you have a great
35:23point, Jordan. Every day cost me money
35:26and it and it's expensive. And people I
35:28think you want to talk about sweaty
35:29palms. If they knew the bills and the
35:31amount of money that shoots out of my
35:33checking account on a daily basis, I I
35:36think they would not want to think. I
35:38mean, they wouldn't sleep well at night.
35:40And um it's big checks. And I always
35:43tell people, people that don't
35:44understand taxes potentially or have
35:47challenges with tax information, you
35:48usually have to earn about double what
35:50you spend. So if I'm spending hundreds
35:54of thousands of dollars, I earned double
35:56that. That's a lot of years and a lot of
35:59business.
36:00>> Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of risk, right?
36:02Like you're you're putting it on the
36:04line for this thing. Uh
36:07>> and I'd like to address the risk because
36:09I do know risk can be paralyzing and you
36:11talked about that.
36:13my background and and the privilege I've
36:15had to live and grow up in the United
36:16States. I did not grow up the way I live
36:18now and and the great opportunities I
36:20have at this time. You know, my mom
36:22worked two jobs and allowed me to have
36:24success and really stressed education
36:26which allowed me to go to the Air Force
36:27Academy, which is free and they paid me
36:29to go there. So, this country provided
36:31me with great opportunities. My mom did
36:32as well. And so, I think about risk in
36:36how I started. And what's the worst that
36:38happens is I start over to that. That
36:41doesn't scare me because I made out of
36:42that and I made it out with people that
36:44helped like my mom and others. So if I
36:46default to that, I know that I can
36:48rebuild myself and do it again. And I
36:50guess it's that confidence to have that,
36:53you know, God, my country, and my
36:55community will help me get there. And
36:56with me working hard, something positive
36:58will happen. So I'm able to take on that
37:00risk.
37:01>> Yeah. Yeah. And and the other part of it
37:04too that you already mentioned uh that I
37:07fully believe too is that uh I mean you
37:11kind of said like hey failure is part of
37:13life. I actually kind of think that
37:16there's no such thing as failure. I mean
37:19my one of my biggest failures was buying
37:21my first laundromat. Like I could not
37:22figure out how to I like lost a bunch of
37:24money. I couldn't figure out how to make
37:25it work for like a couple years. I was
37:28you know I was losing money every single
37:29month. checks were going out the door
37:31with no
37:33prospect of any of it ever coming back
37:36and uh but but you know even even and it
37:41was it was a rough time uh for me just
37:43personally and emotionally um and and
37:46even in my marriage like when you have
37:48financial stress you got relationship
37:50stress too right so all of that but I
37:54mean launder my resource doesn't exist
37:56without that experience and everything
37:58that's happened since then uh
38:02was because of that, you know, quote
38:04unquote failure, right? And so when you
38:07talk about risk, I think we kind of
38:09overemphasize
38:11risk, especially if you're somebody who
38:14has that, you know, I I don't quit
38:17attitude. Um because, you know,
38:19sometimes our biggest failures lead to
38:22our biggest opportunities even. So
38:24>> they really do. I wouldn't be here if I
38:25hadn't been laid off. There's no way I
38:28go through the cycle of thinking about
38:30what am I going to do with my life. You
38:32know, corporate America is not working
38:34for me. This this laying off constantly
38:37in tech. This isn't healthy and and
38:40finding a new approach to life. I
38:41wouldn't be on this podcast. I wouldn't
38:43have a laundromat a property and all the
38:44blessings that have come my way.
38:46>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, could you even
38:48imagine your life if you've never come
38:51on this podcast? Like, is it even there.
38:54Sorry, what was that?
38:55>> I said, could you even imagine uh life
38:58if you didn't if you never came on this
38:59podcast? Like
39:00>> I know this is life-changing. Well,
39:02that's like being on Oprah. I mean,
39:04that's
39:04>> Yeah. Yeah. Is it even worth living? You
39:06know, that that kind of life. I don't
39:08know.
39:08>> Uh no, I'm just kidding. Uh okay. So,
39:12what what's on tap? I mean, you you're
39:15you're kind of like breaking ground here
39:16the last couple days. What's on tap for
39:19this buildout? What is it looking like
39:21for you? What's the plan? Uh, I think if
39:24we could just kind of give people an
39:25overview of what that's going to look
39:27like, I think that'd be helpful for
39:28people to kind of conceptualize
39:31>> anybody who's considering building out.
39:33>> Thanks for asking. Yeah, we have. And
39:35some of these words are going to be
39:36pretty laundrymat heavy. I know you will
39:38understand them, but if you're new to
39:40the business, you can Google some of
39:41these because I did not know these words
39:43uh six months ago. If you would have
39:45said all these words six months ago, I
39:47would not have known what they meant.
39:48So, and that's okay if you're there. I
39:50was there, too. Uh so when we walk in,
39:53we're going to have a a greeting counter
39:55to the right with three vending machines
39:56with a rollup desk top that you can kind
39:59of greet people there, take payment.
40:02We'll have laundry works, two kiosks of
40:04laundry works with a cash acceptor to
40:06take the laundry works. We'll have seven
40:08bulkheads that go into the depth of the
40:115,000 square f foot uh laundromat
40:14facility. Six 80 lb washers, six 65lb
40:18washers, and a total of 40 washers will
40:22be on. We bought more than we're going
40:23to actually use. We're only putting 40
40:25in the store. Um that'll be along one
40:28wall, which is the southern wall. And
40:30the the bulkheads are from Highark. We
40:32went with the Highark bulkheads, seven
40:34of those. That was very expensive. And
40:37those go along. We have a play area, 10
40:40foot by 10 foot play area for kids. When
40:43we say we, it's really just me, but I
40:45feel I always use the word we because
40:47there's the builders, there's everybody.
40:48It's a team effort.
40:50>> Yeah. Yeah.
40:50>> Uh 40 43 dryers on the uh north wall.
40:5580, you know, 80 lb dryers all the way
40:57down to, you know, 20 lb dryers.
40:59Everything's Electrolux. And as I
41:01mentioned, laundry works. We've got
41:04Wi-Fi throughout with wireless access
41:06points and um two bathrooms that are
41:10unisex controlled through uh laundry
41:12works. So, you've had to have spent
41:14money on your card within say the last
41:16four to six hours to open the bathroom
41:18doors. And then I have a wash and fold
41:21area in the back that's private um that
41:24the the workers can do wash and fold and
41:26you know take a lunch break, you know,
41:28have a cafeteria type area there, watch
41:31TV. We have a delivery dock for semis
41:35with a rollup garage door. So depending
41:38on how this works, if we ever get to
41:40delivery or however it may work out, we
41:42have that ready. I have an office for
41:45myself in the back for kind of HR
41:47reasons, you know, whether that be
41:49talking with employees, taking meetings,
41:51taking calls, everything that might need
41:53to be done. Talking about the risk, I'm
41:56prepared to sleep in that office if I
41:57lose my house.
41:58>> Napping. Yeah.
41:59>> Yeah. If everything goes out and I lose
42:01my house and everything I got, I'm
42:03moving into the laundry mat. So, I've
42:05got the office prepared for that. But
42:07that's uh that's kind of the layout of
42:09what we're looking for. Cement floor.
42:11Um, it'll be polished and um, yeah,
42:15really open concept, meaning you can see
42:17from one end all the way to the other.
42:19Open ceilings
42:21and put in some windows in the back in
42:23addition to the front windows to bring
42:24in more light, make it clean, efficient,
42:27safe, um, everything along that. And we
42:30call ourselves Operation Laundry. Worked
42:32out a lot on Laundry Boost with signage
42:34and marketing. Got great signage and
42:37we're continuing to work on that.
42:39>> Nice. Are you doing uh for your your
42:43drop off area back there? Um are you
42:46doing are you doing machines back there
42:48or just a place to fold?
42:50>> Great question that we went back and
42:52forth on that in design. I appreciate
42:54you asking that, Jordan. And sometimes
42:55if you'd asked me, I would have said
42:57we're we're doing machines in there.
42:58We're doing machines in there. And at
43:00the end of the day, we put all the
43:02machines out for the customers and there
43:04aren't any back there. That doesn't mean
43:06at some point in the future we might not
43:08add that. We also, I forgot one thing
43:10that's back there. We made ozone. We put
43:12in ozone. So, that's going to be pumping
43:14the gas throughout the cold water. We
43:16have an ozone room that it's loud that
43:19pumps and makes noises. We put that in
43:20its own little separate room in the
43:22back. Um, but yeah, to your question, we
43:24didn't put any washers back there. The
43:25staff will be out and I like that idea
43:28uh because one, I don't know what scale
43:30we'll be at for wash and fold,
43:32>> and it allows my um my colleagues and
43:35teammates to be out on the floor
43:37answering questions. We're looking to be
43:38bilingual. Uh we have bilingual workers.
43:41We'll have bilingual signage. Uh we're
43:43very focused on the Hispanic community
43:45in the area. We have a lot of migrant
43:47workers that work the fields in the
43:49summer and there's a large Hispanic
43:51community in the Holland area.
43:53>> Yeah. Are you are you plumbing that back
43:56area now for potentially adding machines
43:59later or are you going to worry about
44:01that later?
44:02>> Worry about that later. I'm I've spent a
44:04lot of money. We can get into the
44:06numbers. Um if if people even with all
44:09that savings of buying used equipment
44:11would save me about a million dollars.
44:12I'm all in at 1.6 million. I am
44:16everything owned all mine at 1.6 million
44:19running laundry mat. And that that is a
44:21lot of money to me.
44:22>> That that's a yeah that's a lot of money
44:24to most people I would say. Uh for sure
44:27especially as that 1.6 is going out and
44:30you don't have any laundromat bringing
44:33money in yet. Uh, it's it's scary.
44:37That's scary.
44:38>> Have a bunch of equipment in your
44:39garage.
44:41>> That's right. That's right. You at least
44:43connect some of it up so you could use
44:44it while it's there.
44:45>> I'm glad you asked that. At the clean
44:47show, I won the grand prize and I won a
44:51commercial washer and commercial dryer
44:53that they shipped to my house. Yeah, I
44:55won it. And so, it's in my house. I use
44:57that one. I I hook that one up and I run
44:59it.
45:00>> Dude, no. Who Who did you win that from?
45:03>> LG. LG uh through them uh out of
45:06Wisconsin. They they main corporate
45:09there and they sent it over and shipped
45:11it to me.
45:12>> That's funny. Hey, shout out to LG for
45:15sending you a commercial washer and
45:16dryer. That's pretty
45:18>> fantastic. And you'll get a kick out of
45:19it. It's got a credit card acceptor so I
45:21can charge myself if I really want to
45:23make myself pay to use my own stuff.
45:27>> Maybe. Yeah. May
45:29>> get some return on investment for what's
45:31in my garage. I was just thinking I'd
45:32probably be charging the kids to use it
45:35uh for me. Like, hey, I can bypass it
45:37myself, but you want to do your laundry.
45:40Tap that card.
45:42>> Exactly.
45:43>> That's funny. That's funny. Well, dude,
45:45you're just a winner all around. I had
45:47no idea. Uh
45:48>> I'm very lucky. Well, I won the I won
45:50the grand prize. I'm on your podcast.
45:52>> Yeah, that's right. That's right.
45:54That's right. Uh okay. So, uh how about
45:57constructionwise?
45:59What's uh what's the plan of action um
46:02for construction? I mean, I'm assuming
46:04you got to jackhammer out some concrete
46:08and I mean, you got a lot of stuff going
46:09on right now. What about water line? Did
46:11you have to upgrade the water line in
46:13the meter? Like, what what are you
46:14having to do?
46:15>> I appreciate you asking that. Yeah, I
46:17I'm going to answer that and go a little
46:18even before that out for biders uh with
46:22my architect. You know, there's a lot of
46:24different ways to build. I am not a
46:25construction expert. This was my first
46:27building that I'd ever done. So I I
46:30relied on my architect as well as my
46:33ability to understand what I was
46:34comfortable with. So we tried to get the
46:36architectural plans very exact to what
46:39my needs would be so that when we put it
46:41out for bid we were trying to minimize
46:43change orders from the the builder which
46:46can really increase cost.
46:48>> Yeah.
46:48>> And so we put it out for bid. I had four
46:52>> um companies that I interviewed which is
46:54great. Got to meet them ahead of time.
46:56Had them walk the site. We had open
46:58houses where all the subcontractors, the
47:01electricians, the plumbers came in,
47:03really got to meet everybody, answer
47:05their questions. Not everybody knows
47:07about laundromats and they know
47:08different things than I know about
47:09electricity and water and ventilation.
47:13So, we went through that whole process,
47:14open bid, ultimately picked a winner,
47:16and that's the builder that's currently
47:18building as we have this conversation.
47:21to your question about what do we need
47:22to do for water electric there's a 2-in
47:25water line already running into the
47:28building because it was a restaurant
47:29which was fantastic another reason yeah
47:31600 amps of electric service with
47:34>> nice
47:34>> its own large breaker outside meaning a
47:38big green box I don't know what those
47:39are called like a big green box already
47:41there so I have to upgrade that to 800
47:44amps now that was not cheap uh that's
47:46going to be under like an alleyway road
47:48that we have to dig and put more
47:50conduit. So, bring that up to 800 amps.
47:53From a plumbing perspective, another
47:55reason this location made a lot of sense
47:57was the 10-in drain is out the back door
48:00of my building. Literally, like you
48:03would step out the back door and fall in
48:04a sewer if they open the sewer, you
48:06know, top. So, the drain is right there.
48:09We have to demo and jackhammer large
48:12swaths, uh, probably 24 in to 36 in of
48:16trenches throughout all the cement floor
48:19to get to all seven bulkheads. To get
48:22the drain out to the 10-in drain, we
48:24need to put a water line in that,
48:26electric in that, drains in that, tie it
48:28all the bulkheads, tie it to the
48:30bathrooms, tie it to the ozone, tie it
48:32to the incoming water, tie it to the
48:34water heaters. Yes. Serious demolition
48:37from a cement perspective.
48:40>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I mean it's
48:43a Yeah, it's a big deal, right? And it I
48:47I think you're smart having all this
48:48stuff as detailed as possible in the
48:50plans. Uh because I've just seen so many
48:52times where,
48:55you know, the the ozone didn't get run
48:58uh with everything else. And so then you
49:00got to come up with some different
49:01solution go through the ceiling or you
49:04know just something not as optimal. Um
49:08so having all that stuff ready to go is
49:12going to save you a lot of headache and
49:13money hopefully. Also
49:15>> I will say too saving money and headache
49:18and you're right on a great point. The
49:19fact that I did my own demo everybody
49:21will say well that's great you saved
49:22money which I did save probably about
49:23$50,000.
49:25The actual insight there was, yes, I
49:27saved that money, but once you open up
49:29that building and you see everything,
49:31all of its ugly spots, all the concerns,
49:34you get all that garbage out of there,
49:36all the walls are gone, the builder has
49:38no excuse to say, "Well, we didn't know
49:40that was behind the wall or we didn't
49:41know this or that." That saved me, I
49:44would guess, easily over $100,000. The
49:46structural beam that's going in as we
49:48speak, the 26 foot I beam,
49:51>> no clue that was needed if we hadn't
49:52done demo.
49:55Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's smart.
49:58And so the the I-beam, is that just to
50:02shore things up uh on a building or is
50:05that
50:05>> Yeah, it is because it used to be um and
50:08buildings are buildings. I know that's a
50:10funny statement, but used to be a large
50:12grocery store and then it got broken
50:14into separate condos and there were
50:17additions. It's all cobbled together.
50:19All these different strip mall buildings
50:21that used to be a grocery store. So when
50:23they added on to that grocery store to
50:25cobble these things together, they added
50:27on to the the wall and blew that wall
50:29out and they put 2x4s
50:31as Oh yeah, as the the beam to be
50:36holding up that new addition in the old
50:38wall.
50:39So I've got pictures if you want to see
50:41them. True story.
50:42>> Oh my gosh. I'm assuming that didn't get
50:45permitted. They just did it.
50:46>> No, I could not have been permitted.
50:49>> Yeah. Geez. Well, hey, I'm glad nobody
50:52got hurt and uh it worked out and now
50:54they'll have a nice solid I beam in
50:57there.
50:58>> Uh keep everybody safe.
51:01Some some of the I mean you see a lot of
51:03that stuff in houses. I I feel like you
51:06see it a lot less in like commercial
51:08type buildings because it liability goes
51:10way up. It's just really risky.
51:12>> It is to do that. But
51:15>> um Okay. So, uh, so you've got a lot of
51:18demo, uh, going
51:21the Are you doing, uh, are you doing
51:24direct drains? Are you doing troughs?
51:26What What's the plan with that?
51:28>> Yeah, thanks for asking. So, the high
51:29the High Mark um, bulkheads come with a
51:33trough built in. All the water and
51:35electric, it's one unit. So the troughs,
51:37we're going to sit those down in the
51:39cutout concrete and then drain the
51:42washers into that trough that then go to
51:44the drain out to the 10-in drain. They
51:46all kind of connect in and go out that
51:48way.
51:49>> Yeah. Okay.
51:50>> We looked at um you know there's there's
51:52high mark troughs
51:53>> or not High Mark um
51:55>> sorry I forgot the other trough
51:57company's name. I apologize to them. But
51:59we had looked at other troughs as well
52:01in addition to just Highark.
52:04H&M. I think the H&M is that
52:06>> H&M has Yeah, H&M has troughs. Um, for
52:09sure. Did you like you like that these
52:12were all integrated or why did you end
52:13up going the High Mark?
52:15>> Yeah, the the finishes on the High Mark
52:17the finishes, exterior finishes of how
52:19it looks and how it's all connected
52:21together. Uh, I really like that and
52:23seeing them at the clean show and
52:25talking with them and they're out of
52:26Colorado, went to school in Colorado.
52:28So, you know, just all those things
52:29combined, talking to the ownership, it
52:32it was a really nice product. a nice
52:34finished product that looks very
52:35high-end.
52:36>> Okay. So, you got all this construction
52:38going on uh right now. You you're hoping
52:40about like 90ish days until open. Are
52:44you doing any prep work between now and
52:45then to get things ready for the
52:48opening?
52:50>> Oh, yes. Um I have interior designers
52:53that are friends. I have painters that
52:55are friends. I'm working on I took on
52:58the role of doing the networking and
53:01running the cast 6 and the 184 to
53:03control the doors. Learned all about
53:05electrifying doors and controlling the
53:08doors remotely, opening and closing
53:10those remotely so that it can be
53:12unmanned or manned depending on what I
53:14need, but everything can be run through
53:16my phone. So, I'm doing all that. I'm
53:18I'm in the process continually running
53:20that wire and getting ready buying the
53:23wire. So, I'm doing those things. I am
53:26looking at marketing in the community. I
53:29created a relationship with what's
53:31called Community Action House and they
53:34service over 10,000 lowincome
53:36individuals with meals and food and
53:39basic goods on a daily basis. They're
53:41here in Holland. They do great, you
53:43know, they do God's work. I coordinated
53:45with the CEO there. They get 10% off at
53:48my laundromat. So, it's a way to kind of
53:50give back to the community. We're also
53:52looking with other community activist
53:54groups for disabled and individuals that
53:58are um struggling to be able to get them
54:00a discount at the laundromat. So, I
54:02can't speak to those because those
54:03relationships don't exist yet, but I'm
54:06continuing to grow those. I haven't done
54:09business development yet for commercial
54:11accounts. I will do that. I'm I'm not
54:14there yet, but I'm going to do it. I
54:15think I could have started. I'm hard on
54:17myself about that. I think I should
54:18already be having those meetings, but
54:21there's a lot going on in parallel at
54:23the moment.
54:24>> Yeah, classic uh entrepreneur symptom
54:27right there. That's how you can find
54:28them, pick them out of a crowd of like,
54:30hey, this should already have been done
54:32and I feel guilty about it and I beat
54:34myself up.
54:35>> Yes.
54:35>> Uh yeah, that's that's like a daily
54:37feeling for me.
54:38>> Yeah. Yeah, I hear you. Yeah, I should
54:41be able to do more every day. I feel
54:42like that.
54:43>> That's right. That's right. Uh yeah, I
54:46mean, you're running hard. you're you're
54:47getting a lot done. Um Oh, I remember
54:50the question I was going to ask you
54:51earlier was did you have to deal with
54:54any like impact fees, tap fees, anything
54:57like that uh for your buildout? I know
54:59that some places I mean those fees can
55:02vary from zero to hundreds of thousands.
55:06I looked at building out a 3,000 square
55:08foot space in Southern California and
55:11the and the impact fee was going to be
55:12390K
55:14uh by itself and it killed that deal.
55:16Um, so I'm just curious where you're at.
55:18Did you have to deal with any of those
55:19fees?
55:20>> No, I appreciate that question. I did
55:22not know those things even existed. The
55:25only reason I know they existed is my
55:27Electrolux rep started telling me
55:29million dollar horror stories from
55:31Florida and that the Electrolux because
55:34of the efficiency in the water, the
55:36tables they're using to calculate those
55:38impact fees are not even close to
55:40accurate because they're from the 70s
55:42versus what Electrolux is using in
55:44water. They've had to really um have a
55:47lot of conversations and meetings
55:49regarding the impact fees, not being up
55:52to date with the requirements of what
55:54these washers can do. The short answer
55:57is I had no impact fees. We have, knock
56:00on wood, plenty of water with Lake
56:02Michigan. And so, you know, we're doing
56:04all right in that regard. I had I didn't
56:06have to deal with that.
56:07>> That's nice. Yeah, that that helps. And
56:10then, uh, in terms of like permitting, I
56:12know that's another kind of sticky
56:14point. Did you run into any issues with
56:16permitting? I'm assuming this I-beam is
56:18a result of permitting issues. I did you
56:22run into any other issues?
56:25>> No, I I think what was key to me having
56:28successful permitting is I was in the
56:30permitting office before I even bought
56:32my own property. So, I met all the
56:34players, made relationships, hear the R
56:36word a lot, made relationship,
56:38>> a theme happening in this uh
56:40>> Yeah. Yeah.
56:42uh talk to inspectors, talk to the local
56:44community. What do you need? How can we
56:46work together? Joined local networking
56:49groups in the community, went to
56:50breakfast that we have within the small
56:53business community. That doesn't mean
56:55that they didn't have feedback, right?
56:56Worked closely with the architect,
56:58worked closely with the mechanical,
57:01electrical, and plumbing engineers. Had
57:03to hire an engineering firm to tie that
57:06into the architectural diagrams. We had
57:10feedback from the uh permitting office,
57:13but they knew who I was. I've opened
57:16doors. We invite all of them all the
57:18time to come visit. We love to have them
57:20see what we're doing and be part of the
57:22community. And that's been key to having
57:24success with permitting. Um it really
57:26wasn't that bad. Another really big tip
57:29for your users, this is a big one, start
57:32the permit way before you ever pick a
57:35builder. Well, how can you do that? have
57:38it go under the architect's name or your
57:40name. Start the process and then when
57:43you pick a builder, transfer legally
57:45transfer the permit to the builder. We
57:48had the day I awarded the the uh
57:50contract, the permit was already
57:51approved.
57:53>> Nice.
57:54>> Yeah. Yeah, that's a huge tip because I,
57:57you know, and especially depending on
57:58what state you're in and and what city
58:00you're in, uh that permitting process
58:02can be smooth and quick or it can be
58:06like trying to build anything in LA is
58:07like pulling your fingernails out.
58:11>> Yeah. No, thank you. This took us about
58:13eight weeks for the permit.
58:15>> Yeah. Yeah. Which is not not too bad at
58:18all. But that's a but that's a huge tip,
58:20right? cuz even if like you hadn't
58:22started that permitting process
58:24beforehand,
58:26you know, and that that clock started
58:28when you hired your
58:31>> contractor. I mean, that's another eight
58:32weeks. And like we were talking about,
58:34every day is expensive during this
58:36process.
58:38>> Yes.
58:38>> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um any any big plans
58:43yet? I mean, it may be too soon still,
58:45but I'm sure you've at least thought
58:46about it. any big plans for like a grand
58:48opening or how to how to get this thing
58:52off the ground as quickly as possible?
58:54>> Yeah, thanks. I definitely we we're
58:56looking for a lot of marketing uh
58:59through the internet and locally through
59:00business contacts as well as sales. You
59:02know, for every every dollar you spend,
59:05you get $2 credit on the Laundry Works
59:07card. Those types of sales, we haven't
59:08really decided on what those are going
59:10to look like, but I'm thinking about
59:12them. I'm picking people's brains. I'm
59:14talking to other owners and
59:16understanding what worked for them. So,
59:18continually listening to podcasts like
59:20yours and other individuals that have
59:23good ideas. You know, I'm not the
59:25smartest guy in the room. That's been
59:26the case my whole life. There's people
59:28with better ideas and ways that things
59:30work and I love to learn from them.
59:32>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That Yeah. I think
59:35that's awesome. And uh you know one
59:39two two things that I'll say that seems
59:42like you've got covered but that I've
59:44these are mistakes I've seen when people
59:45are building out is number one being
59:48under capitalized um and not planning on
59:51that year of you know hopefully for you
59:54you're going to be profitable you know
59:56month one month two early on there but
59:59you know if you don't plan for that year
1:00:01of ramping up to profitability
1:00:05uh uh you just you know you hate to see
1:00:08somebody going out of business in a year
1:00:10year and a I mean like the people you
1:00:11bought I don't know what happened in
1:00:12that situation but the people you bought
1:00:13the equipment from you know I if I had
1:00:16to put money on it probably be that they
1:00:18just ran out of capital um
1:00:20>> so I I know the answer I don't think
1:00:22they'll mind sharing I told they don't
1:00:24know who they are they were
1:00:25overleveraged
1:00:27uh they had too much capital debt and
1:00:30the mortgage payment there back to the
1:00:32word mortgage the debt payment was way
1:00:35higher than you would want for your your
1:00:38business in the laundromat. And if you
1:00:40knew the number,
1:00:41>> you would immediately know, man, that's
1:00:43a lot of revenue to generate just to
1:00:44cover the note. And they didn't own the
1:00:46building. They were leasing the
1:00:47building.
1:00:49>> And that was through a franchise. I'm
1:00:53not franchised. I am not dealing with
1:00:55franchise fees. I'm on my own. So, I
1:00:58saved that little bit of amount. Now,
1:01:00that doesn't mean they had a beautiful
1:01:01layout. They had great equipment. I am a
1:01:04great beneficiary of top-of-the-line
1:01:06equipment, top-of-the-line layout. It
1:01:08just that the the debt note was too much
1:01:12interest in payment.
1:01:14>> Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, another way of
1:01:16saying just under capitalized there and,
1:01:19you know, just too leveraged. So, I I
1:01:22think that's a huge mistake that people
1:01:24can make pretty easily uh on the
1:01:27buildout side. Uh the the other thing on
1:01:33um on the buildout is you spend all this
1:01:37the other mistake I see people making is
1:01:39you spend all this money
1:01:42building this thing out. I mean you you
1:01:43dropped a pretty pretty large number
1:01:45there, 1.6 million, right? You spend all
1:01:47this money building this thing out and
1:01:50either because you're under capitalized
1:01:52or because you're just fatigued from
1:01:54spending money or because you just don't
1:01:56know what to do or how to do it. Uh
1:02:01you rely on the the field of dreams
1:02:03model, right? If you build it, they will
1:02:05come. And you don't get out there and
1:02:07get proactive and invite the community
1:02:10in and uh be kind of everywhere that you
1:02:14can be uh early on. And I those are two
1:02:17massive mistakes I see people making uh
1:02:20on on building out and both of those
1:02:22have the potential to crush your
1:02:24business because if you just rely on
1:02:26word of mouth uh you know probably
1:02:29eventually it will work but it's going
1:02:30to take a lot longer
1:02:33uh for you to get enough volume just
1:02:36based off word of mouth alone that it's
1:02:38going to be hard to survive that long.
1:02:40Um and and number two is you're just
1:02:43losing money until you get people in,
1:02:45right? You're just losing money.
1:02:47>> Um
1:02:48>> what what's your advice uh Jordan on
1:02:51getting people, you know, getting the
1:02:52word out? What's your advice on getting
1:02:54involved in the community and getting
1:02:55that going? I agree with you. What's
1:02:56what's your advice?
1:02:57>> Yeah. Uh, so I'm going to say this
1:03:01recognizing that, you know, people have
1:03:03lives and limited scope and limited
1:03:06energy and kind of all that, but I mean
1:03:09really it's to kind of be everywhere you
1:03:11can be uh immediately. I mean, you're
1:03:13going to you're going to combine online
1:03:16and offline marketing uh there. you're
1:03:18going to probably have a promotion like
1:03:20I really like the double your money
1:03:22>> promotion uh you know which is where
1:03:25somebody puts a dollar on they get two
1:03:27or they put 20 on they get 40 right it's
1:03:30a really great way when you have a card
1:03:32system to retain customers to to get
1:03:35them in the door because everybody likes
1:03:37free money and it doesn't cost you $20
1:03:39to give $20 away costs you probably 15
1:03:42to 20% of that um and
1:03:46uh so I really like that and And you
1:03:49know, especially for you, but I think
1:03:51just in general of being everywhere in
1:03:54the community, you know, working with
1:03:55Chamber of Commerce if you can,
1:03:57sponsoring community events. I mean, you
1:03:59mentioned like Tulip Festival, right?
1:04:02Like I don't know if they have sponsors,
1:04:03but you know, stuff like that where you
1:04:05can sponsor some of this stuff. Um, and
1:04:08then kind of, you know, some of the
1:04:09stuff you were saying too is like, can
1:04:11you can you cut some deals with
1:04:13nonprofits in the area? Um, and give
1:04:17them a discount or, you know, or or
1:04:20something like that. Um, and then, you
1:04:23know, same same with like schools,
1:04:25things like that, partnering with
1:04:26schools, you know, washing I mean, you
1:04:29have ozone, so you could wash uniforms.
1:04:31you could you could wash like football
1:04:32uniforms or whatever for schools and be
1:04:36able to get those clean properly. Uh you
1:04:38know, things like that where you know,
1:04:40if you can just kind of spread that net
1:04:43wide, um that's a huge benefit, right?
1:04:46And then if you're if you're also doing
1:04:48like drop off or pick up and delivery, I
1:04:50mean there's kind of more beyond that as
1:04:53well. Some more specific types of
1:04:55marketing that you can do to business
1:04:57B2B, you know, things like that. So, uh,
1:05:00but I think, you know, having a having a
1:05:03plan is
1:05:05that's written down and that you
1:05:07execute. Whatever that plan is is going
1:05:09to be better than trying to wing it. Uh,
1:05:11for sure, especially when you got so
1:05:13much money on the line.
1:05:14>> Yeah, that's great advice. Um, I like
1:05:16your idea with the tulip time. We have a
1:05:18tulip parade. It's a whole week of tulip
1:05:20time, and I think if I could get a float
1:05:22in the parade, that would be pretty
1:05:24fantastic. So, that's a great one there.
1:05:26Thank you.
1:05:27>> Yeah. Yeah, that that would actually be
1:05:29if you do that, you got to send me a
1:05:31picture of your float and
1:05:33>> your big washing machine or whatever you
1:05:34do made out of tulips.
1:05:36>> I don't know this first year that's
1:05:37gonna be timing is going to be difficult
1:05:38because it happens when I open. So,
1:05:40we'll see.
1:05:41>> Yeah. Yeah. Uh
1:05:44for tulip time, everybody. It's fun out
1:05:46here.
1:05:47>> We're all making the trip out uh to to
1:05:50see your float. So, don't let us down.
1:05:54>> You're like, I'm trying to build a
1:05:55laundromat here. I don't have time to
1:05:56make a float. Uh, that's funny. But that
1:05:59would be cool, you know, down the line
1:06:01to do something like that.
1:06:03>> Uh, listen, dude, any anything else you
1:06:05feel like we need to get through and and
1:06:07chat about.
1:06:08>> Um, no, if if anybody wants to reach
1:06:10out, love to give back to community,
1:06:12check out operation laundry.com. That's
1:06:14our website. You can reach me through
1:06:15there. Really grateful for the
1:06:17opportunity to have this conversation,
1:06:19Jordan, and spend time with you today.
1:06:21It It's been a privilege and continued
1:06:24success to you and what you're doing.
1:06:25And I know the community at large really
1:06:28appreciates everything you're doing. I
1:06:29know I do. And it really helps other
1:06:31owners and people that are tangental to
1:06:34the community and and working alongside
1:06:36us. So, thank you.
1:06:37>> Yeah. No, I appreciate that. And you
1:06:39mentioned earlier that you you're
1:06:40documenting some of this stuff on a
1:06:42YouTube channel. What's the YouTube
1:06:44channel?
1:06:44>> Well, it's Thanks for asking. It's my
1:06:46own personal Tim Johnson. Um, contact
1:06:49me. I'll get you the links and uh it's
1:06:51pretty comical because it's me being
1:06:54filmed by an iPhone of a friend and then
1:06:57I do voice over. This is not studio
1:07:00quality. So get ready for some fun. Hey,
1:07:03you know what? Here's here's what I've
1:07:04learned from doing this podcast almost
1:07:06250 episodes now is uh you know the
1:07:10people who are in like we talked about
1:07:11being obsessed or be average, right? The
1:07:13people who are in this are in it to win
1:07:16it, right? And yeah, your maybe your
1:07:18content right now is not for the masses,
1:07:20but guess what? My content is not for
1:07:22the masses either. I'm not trying to get
1:07:23huge numbers.
1:07:24>> Uh I'm just trying to get in front of
1:07:26the people that care about this stuff.
1:07:28And the people that care about it are
1:07:29going to be interested in seeing the
1:07:31process and seeing how it's done. So
1:07:33that's what I've learned. Uh I wouldn't
1:07:36be uh embarrassed or ashamed about it.
1:07:38Uh because I think, you know, even just
1:07:40sharing a little bit of the process is
1:07:41going to be super helpful for people. So
1:07:43>> awesome. Well, we're on Facebook,
1:07:44Operation Laundry on Facebook. I put
1:07:46some of the YouTube channels on there
1:07:48and then we're on Instagram as well,
1:07:51Operation Laundry. And just Google
1:07:53Operation Laundry or YouTube Operation
1:07:55Laundry will pop up. I'm pretty
1:07:56confident.
1:07:57>> Cool. Cool. Love it, man. I appreciate
1:08:00you taking the time and uh jumping on
1:08:03here, sharing your experience so far. I
1:08:04mean, this pretty much uh requires us to
1:08:09do a follow-up episode maybe in like a
1:08:11year or so when you get this thing open
1:08:13and you're about ready to start building
1:08:15your uh your parade float uh next year
1:08:20and uh hear hearing how it's going and
1:08:22everything because I know for a fact you
1:08:25gave a bunch of people sweaty palms uh
1:08:27just talking about you know what you're
1:08:30doing. Um, and so people are going to
1:08:32want to know how did it go back on. If I
1:08:35don't make it back on, guys, it means it
1:08:37didn't work.
1:08:39>> Oh, you're definitely coming back on if
1:08:40it didn't work. Uh, and we'll just, you
1:08:43know, we'll virtually hug or maybe I'll
1:08:44fly out there and we can just hug it
1:08:46out.
1:08:46>> Yeah, come on.
1:08:48>> I'm I'm pretty confident though that
1:08:50you're going to make this thing work.
1:08:51Uh, I I have zero doubts uh that you've
1:08:55got a a huge success on your hands here.
1:08:58It's just a matter of getting it to that
1:09:00starting line to get it open and and off
1:09:02and to the races. So, no no doubts on my
1:09:05end over here.
1:09:06>> Awesome.
1:09:06>> You got it. You're doing the right
1:09:08stuff.
1:09:09>> Thank you.
1:09:09>> All right, man. Appreciate you and uh
1:09:11looking forward to our follow-up episode
1:09:13in, you know, a year or so. It' be a lot
1:09:15of fun.
1:09:16>> Sounds great. Thank you.
1:09:18>> All right. Okay. Listen, Tim survived so
1:09:21we can all just take a deep breath, but
1:09:23that was stressful uh in the best way
1:09:26possible. So, huge shout out to Tim.
1:09:28Can't wait to hear how all this plays
1:09:30out for him. Incredible story. And uh
1:09:33huge thank you to him for sharing so
1:09:35much information. The dog is even super
1:09:37excited about it if you're on the video.
1:09:39Uh but listen, uh again, as always, take
1:09:44some action. All right? Channel your
1:09:45inner Tim. Take some massive action
1:09:47towards achieving your goals. Whether
1:09:50that's going out and and going out and
1:09:53finding that very first laundromat uh to
1:09:56acquire. And by the way, if you need
1:09:58help with that, we have a service that
1:10:00helps you do exactly that. In fact, we
1:10:02have a service that does that for you.
1:10:04Uh so if you're interested in that, go
1:10:06book a free strategy call on the
1:10:07coaching page over there, uh
1:10:08learnresource.com/coaching,
1:10:10and uh and I'll tell you all about what
1:10:13it is that we do. Um, but maybe your
1:10:16massive action today is doing something
1:10:18to take your business to the next level.
1:10:21Whatever it is, take some big action,
1:10:23see some big results, and uh make some
1:10:25palms sweaty along the way. That's uh I
1:10:27feel like that's kind of what life's all
1:10:29about, right? Right. The dog thinks so.
1:10:31All right, we'll see you next time.
1:10:32Peace.

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