Are you trying to step up and get a firm footing in the laundromat industry? Here’s how to start a laundromat business for passive income:
- Do a laundromat industry check and learn how everything works
- Form a clear idea in your mind and start working towards that
- Procure the investment for your laundromat and use it right
- Market your laundromat through all major platforms
- Form a strong connection with your clients
I will elaborate on how you can start a laundromat for passive income to help you out through this so that you can earn some money.
Read on and let me tell you all about starting a laundromat business for generating a sustainable passive income.
» Also Read: How to Start a Laundromat Business With No Money
How to Start a Laundromat for Passive Income?
Before getting into this, you should know that this has the potential for a lot of profit. The laundromat industry in the US is worth $5 Billion and still going strong, and this industry has over 21,000 businesses up and running.
However, starting a laundromat business is no easy job, let’s get down to the main pointers that would make your laundromat successful for passive income.
#1 Learn About The Laundromat Industry
Before jumping right into business, it is crucial that you learn about the laundromat industry. You need to understand how everything works in a laundromat industry on a fundamental level.
It is recommended that you find out the top leading companies and understand why the companies like are at the top and what can you adopt from these companies to allow your business to thrive.
Some of the thriving franchises of the laundromat industry are:
- Speed Queen Laundry
- Wavemax Laundry
- ZoomExpress Laundry
- Laundrolab
Do a thorough analysis of all of these franchises and figure out if there is something you would like to incorporate into your own laundromat business.
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#2 Choose the Services Your Laundromat Business Is Going to Provide
There are various types of services that your laundromat can provide, but you should decide on a few of them and focus entirely on delivery quality to your customers. only bite as much.
Low-income renters are the primary users of coin laundries.
The services that a laundromat can provide are:
- Coin Laundry
- Wash And Fold Services
- Commercial Laundry Services
- Laundry Delivery Services
You can set up a vending machine for your laundromat customers. A little amenity for them won’t hurt in exchange for extra passive income.
There are customers who are in rush and don’t want to be in line — You can add a ‘fast’ laundry option for them and charge extra for fast laundry services.
Coin laundries have a market value in the range of $50,000 to $1 million. You’ll be surprised to know that the coin laundry business generates around $15,000 to $300,000 per year. Note that a coin laundry may just be the most profitable laundromat business but it can sometimes get hectic to manage.
#3 Plan Out Your Laundromat Business
Planning out your business would include thinking about the following and at least half a formed idea in your mind regarding them:
- Procuring Investments
- Finding An Ideal Location
- Marketing Your Business
- Hiring Employees
You should consider all of these problems and figure out a solution for them beforehand.
» Read my blog post about: Are Food Trucks a Good Investment? What Experts Say
#4 Find the Right Investment
Investing is obviously the most important part to sustain your laundromat business.
Your main expenses to start up a laundromat business would entirely depend on the construction and renovation that it requires, but it may range somewhere around $30,000 to $100,000 just to acquire the machinery and other equipment.
Here are some other expenses that you can count in:
- Rent or lease payments
- Permits
- Utility bills payment
- Marketing and website development
The startup of this entire business would require a heavy investment and you should explore all possible options to acquire that.
If you don’t, you can take a loan from the bank or start a fundraiser so that people could support your business.
You can take an SBA loan in particular and start up your business because they have loanee-friendly policies.
One other amazing online platform to procure funding is Kiva. It is the world’s first platform that links lenders and entrepreneurs worldwide.
They have great user-friendly policies as well as an entire network behind them that can help you sustain your business. You should definitely explore this option for the funding of your laundromat business.
If you can’t procure capital from the above-mentioned methods, you can use some of these methods that are useful if you have very less money to start a business:
- Laundry Equipment Financing
- Corporate Grants
- Loans From Your Peers
- Crowdfunding
You will be making $25,000/month from your laundromat business soon. After that, you would want to focus on repaying the loans as soon as possible by making a budget and following it through.
Equipment Financing Options
Following companies offer laundromat equipment financing:
You can expect to start your laundromat business with 50-100 washers.
#5 Hone Your Skills for Your Laundromat Business to Thrive
Although laundromats have a success rate of 95% with 20-35% ROI, you should have some basic skills required in the business, such as customer support, laundromat-specific training, etc.
I have written a separate guide on why laundromats fail — do check this out.
These skills make it easier and more cost-effective for you to run your business.
Repair Appliances
Ideally, the machines that you’re starting the business with should be from good companies and have great quality. Some of the good companies to buy machinery from are listed below:
- Kenwood
- Dawlance
- LG
- Samsung
- Philips
However, if some problems do arise with the machines, you should also know the basic repairing of these appliances.
Typically, laundromat appliances last around 10-15 years, which is enough to get a handful of passive income out of them.
Some common issues that arise with the laundromat machinery are:
- Broken belts in dryers
- Heating coil
- Motor problems
- Thermostat problems
- Start Switch
- Temperature Switch
- Fuse
You’ll be glad to know that there are many courses that you can take that can teach you how to repair appliances. The more self-sufficient you’ll be, the better it will be for your business and save you immense time and money.
Get Laundromat-Specific Training
The most important part is to get laundromat-specific training. This training would equip you to run the laundromat business on your own.
Moreover, these training programs offer certifications and important knowledge that you should not be missing out on!
Laundromat-specific training would help you run your business more efficiently and allow you to plan things properly in due time.
You can also inculcate these courses in your business and make it compulsory for employees to take these courses in order to understand the work ethic and responsibilities.
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#6 Establish Your Laundromat Business — Go All In!
Establishing your laundromat business should come next on your to-do list. Establishing your business means that you’re getting it out in the market and you need to build your name so that people use your services.
The only question is, how to do that? Let’s get right into it!
Find a Customer Base
First and foremost, to establish your business, you need to find a strong customer base. There are primarily two ways you can go about it.
If you have bought an already established laundromat business, then you would already have customers but you’ll still need to maintain that quality, or else you could very easily lose your customers.
The second and the less ideal way is that you build a customer base from scratch and that can take a lot of time but if you plan it right, the process could be easier for you.
Think about what does a customer expect when he enters a laundromat? How can you elevate the laundromat experience of that customer? Is there anything more you can offer?
The more convenient you would make it for people to reach your laundromat business, the more likely you are to build a strong clientele.
» Read my blog post: What Is Required to Start an ATM For Passive Income?
Decide on the Location
Location plays a major role when it comes to establishing a laundromat business.
If you’re starting a laundromat business from scratch, you should target places that have a high population and are people less likely to have washing machines and other equipment in their houses.
You should find a neighborhood that has a lower-income class that has an average income of less than $35,000 per year. This should be the case for at least people living within a mile’s radius. Moreover, the location that you’re choosing should be based upon the following factors:
- Places with a low-speed limit
- High traffic
- Greater population
- Low Crime Statistics
- Plenty Of Space
- A friendly neighborhood with approachable people
One good example to start your laundromat business can be near an area that contains mostly apartments. People usually do not have enough income to have their own washing machines and they will use your services for their laundry.
According to MartinRay, 87% of customers live within a mile of the facility.
Consider All the Legal Factors
As you’re establishing your laundromat business, it is best to be done with the legal processes to avoid any hiccups in the future.
The most basic things that you need to get are a license and permits to run the laundromat business. In addition to that, if you’re renting a place to start your laundromat, it is best to have the paperwork done beforehand. Here is a list of licenses and permits that you would need to acquire:
- Local business License—some municipalities require a local business license to allow you to run a business
- Construction Permits—Important to make any necessary changes that include construction and other alterations to a facility
- Fire safety permits—Required when you’re installing sprinkler and fire alarm systems
- Sewer connection fee—Being a laundromat business owner, you would need to pay the sewer connection fee to connect your laundry machines to the sewer
Once your laundromat business is legalized, you become more trustworthy and are more likely to get a higher number of customers to use your laundromat services.
» You can also read my post: Is It Harder To Make Money Now? The Surprising Answer
#7 Market Your Business in The Industry
The success of your laundromat business depends on how well you market it. To market it right, you would have to find the target audience and appeal to them. There are various platforms that you can use to market your laundromat business, listed below are a few major ones:
Social Media Marketing
When someone sees your ad about laundromat business on their social media and realizes that you are exactly what they have been trying to find for their laundry cleaning!
This is exactly how it works and almost every other company uses this method to market themselves because it is the most efficient one out there.
Luckily, there are no big laundromat chains or franchises to compete with. You can easily win the gap with the right marketing efforts.
Good Old Flyers
You can deploy flyers in populated neighborhoods, especially the ones near your laundromat business, and see how they turn the tables for you.
These flyers also need to be crafty and artistic because no one likes boring flyers with just text on them. The flyers should contain appealing sentences like, “Do you wish that you had a laundromat right in your neighborhood?
Well, I’ve got some news for you!” It all depends on how you market yourself in these flyers and if you make the right case, you give people no reason to not use your laundromat services.
Word of Mouth
When people will find your laundromat services to be of quality and good delivery, they would recommend you to their peers and they in turn would pass along the message. This creates an overall chain and you get to have all the customers.
90% of laundromat patrons turn out to be repeat customers.
You should ask your friends and family to market your business and let everyone know about it. This would help your laundromat business to grow and expand!
#8 Build a Strong Network to Support Your Laundromat Business
Your focus should be on building a strong network right from the start. In order to support your laundromat business, you would need a wide network that can cause an influx of customers for you.
You can build a strong network by joining platforms or pages that are specific to the laundromat industry and let people know that you are providing these services too.
Cents is a platform that can help laundromat businesses to grow and manage their business. You should definitely check out the free demos and see if this platform can help you in any way possible.
You could also devise strategies that can help your customers to let other people know about you or you could market good reviews that people leave about your laundromat.
All of this builds a stronger clientele and brings more authenticity to your laundromat business — eventually bringing more passive income.
Being in a laundromat business, you would have to work on Saturdays and Sundays other than the business days too as most people save their laundromat visits for weekends.
#9 Evaluate Your Revenue And Expenses in Your Laundromat Business
Since you are just starting up, you should be closely tracking your expenses and the revenue that you are generating in a month. This helps keep things in check and balance and it would actually help you track your progress so that you can figure out what areas you can improve on.
Ideally, you should maintain a sheet that keeps a track of your monthly expenses for example buying detergent or paying the water or electricity bills for the machines.
You should also be keeping your expenses to a minimum and not overinvest in anything unnecessary.
You can start your laundromat business with just one or two employees.
» Here’s a guide about: Can You Lose All Your Invested Money? How To Avoid It
Final Thoughts
If you’re ready to start your laundromat business, then these are a few useful steps that you should take in order to make your business successful.
A laundromat business can truly be a great source of revenue and the best part is that you get to learn a lot in this field.
Now that you know everything about starting a laundromat business, you should start working and provide the best laundromat services in town!
