Why Did I Buy a Laundromat
Before we help you find your answer to the question, “Should I buy a laundromat?” let me tell you the story about why I bought a laundromat.
People ask me all the time. “Jordan, why on earth did you buy a laundromat? It’s so random!” I just smile and tell people it was my wife’s idea, which is more surprising than actually buying a laundromat. I tend to be the more adventurous one, the risk taker more likely to try new things. My wife, on the other hand, is very risk averse and prefers routine. I thrive on chaos; she thrives on predictability. But it truly was her idea. And despite a rocky start, I think it was a great idea. Here’s how it came about for us:
I was in the middle of attempting to make a career change that I was ill-prepared for to who-knows-what career. We had a little chunk of change and were weighing our options. I had already quit my previous job, my wife was not working at the time and we had two young kids, 3 and 1. Yikes!
As we were weighing our options, I had a genius idea! “Why don’t we rent out our Southern California house for a couple of years. We can take our chunk of change and buy a condo near the beach in Hawaii. We could live in paradise until our kids are school aged. Then we can move back to California where we have family and rent out our condo in Hawaii. Net gain: a condo in Hawaii!” I confidently proposed this to my (not so) impressed wife. I hadn’t figured out how we would support ourselves in Hawaii or what jobs we would come back to. But, I figured that would work itself out. “Oooorrrrr,” she retorted, “we can buy a laundromat!” So we bought a laundromat.
What was going through our minds when we decided it would be wiser to forgo owning a condo in Hawaii and instead purchase a dilapidated laundromat (And trust me, it was dilapidated. Stay tuned for more about that laundromat.)? I think it comes down to a yearning for something we didn’t understand about ourselves and about wealth building until a little later.
Our Deeper Longings
The two longings are intertwined and, I believe, are fundamental longings experienced on some level by all of us. The overarching driver was for freedom and flexibility. We were looking for an option that would afford us freedom to live life the way we wanted. Laundromats seemed like an ideal fit for that, at least what we knew of laundromats, which admittedly wasn’t all that much. The option to run a laundromat as an absentee owner and collect relatively passive income seemed like it could be the ticket to freedom and flexibility we were looking for.
The options that the freedom offered us in our lives was the second driver for our decision to purchase a laundromat. My wife and I have a strong desire to improve the world we live in. We have both engaged in volunteer and charity work both locally and abroad. We give financially to organizations dedicated to making a difference. Doing our part to ensure that this world is a better place for our children, grandchildren, and beyond drives us to seek the freedom that we saw was possible in laundromat ownership.
There are many great reasons to enter into laundromat ownership, many of which will be the focus of future articles and podcasts. But when it was all boiled down, we were left with an attraction to laundromat ownership to pursue the freedom that we believed it could provide us.
Should I Buy a Laundromat?
So maybe you’re still asking yourself, “Should I buy a laundromat?” Obviously, only you can answer that question, but here is the most crucial thing to consider when making that decision.
- Does buying a laundromat help me achieve my goals for my life and provide me what I really want out of life?
This is the only question that matters when deciding to pursue laundromat ownership or not. In fact, this is the only question that matters when deciding what direction you should take your life, in general. All of the other obstacles and objections are merely problems that need a solution.
Resources to Succeed
Here at Laundromat Resource we want to open up the world of successful laundromat owners to invite new owners into the industry. We provide insight, experience, and community to help improve the businesses of existing owners. We strive to invite our industry into the freedom that laundromats can afford you by providing solutions to the obstacles and objections that keep many out of the industry and keep others from thriving in the industry.
In order to help you succeed in this industry,
- We’ll cover laundromat basics, analysis, the acquisition process, effectively running a laundromat, growing your laundromat business, scaling your operation, and business mindset.
- We’ll provide podcasts interviewing some of the best in the business.
- We provide 1-on-1 coaching and consultation
- We provide an opportunity to join other like-minded owners in a mastermind group to help each other grow personally and professionally. The more we engage with each other the more we will learn and the more our businesses will thrive.
Together we can continue to raise the bar in our industry and provide top quality service to our neighborhoods and beyond.
Leave a comment below and let me know what you would like to discuss, what questions you have, and what insights you might bring to the table.
