136. From Prison to Laundromats with Kevin Lumpkin

Jordan Berry [00:00:00]:

Hey. Hey. What’s up, guys? It’s Jordan with the Loner Med Resource Podcast. This is show 136, and I’m pumped you’re here today because today, we’re talking with Kevin Lumpkin, and we are talking all things free laundromats. Kevin shares his, crazy Story, of going to prison and getting out and how that led him into the laundromat business. And he talks about how he’s on a quest to go out and just get all the free laundromats ever. And so he’s sharing that story, and he talks about all the tips that he’s learned along the way of how to do that, and you get a glimpse into what it actually takes to go out and get a free, quote, unquote, laundromat. So, if that is something that you’re interested in, number 1, Kevin’s story is wild, so it’s just gonna be a wild story.

Jordan Berry [00:00:52]:

But there’s so much good stuff in here too. We have a really great time, and I wanna jump into it with him in one second real quick. Before we jump into it with Kevin, I wanna mention, we’ve got a Mastermind induction coming up. So if you’re in this business, Laundromat Industry. You own laundromats or you want to own a laundromat and you wanna get in, a group of like minded people, small group where you can go through and talk about, what you’re doing to actually Move forward in your goals and encouraging each other, helping each other problem solve, all that good stuff. Listen. You know, this Mastermind concept is it’s been life transforming for me. I’m in a couple different mastermind groups.

Jordan Berry [00:01:38]:

I pay 5 figures to be in these mastermind groups every single year. And yet, if you join the pro community, you have the option if you would like to join one of those, mastermind groups of other people who are like minded in this industry. So anyways, that is coming up. So if you’re Interested in that, check out laundromat resource.com/pro and come join the pro community. Get all the benefits of the pro community, which are many and numerous, but, also, you have the opportunity to join a Mastermind group. So that’s awesome. And then number 2, the only other thing I wanted to mention is It’s holiday season, so I want you to make sure that, number 1, you get some time with family and friends. That’s what this season is all about.

Jordan Berry [00:02:26]:

However, I also wanna just mention that a lot of us, and I say us because I have definitely done this before, take this opportunity to just ease off the gas a little bit. But let me tell you this. If you are somebody who is in a growth phase of business or you’re trying to get into this business. This is not the time to let off the gas. This is the time to double down and work hard while everybody else is partying, and that will help you get ahead a little bit quicker. So just a little quick reminder to myself, don’t ease up. You know, make time for family and friends. That’s what this is all about, and it’s why we do what we do.

Jordan Berry [00:03:05]:

However, don’t ease up at this Time of the year. It’s time to ramp up. Alright. Alright. Let’s jump in with Kevin. And, man, I’ll see you on the backside because I’m interested to hear what you guys, get out of this. Kevin, how is it going, man? Thanks for coming on the show.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:03:23]:

Hey. How are you doing today?

Jordan Berry [00:03:24]:

I’m doing awesome. I’m doing awesome. How are you?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:03:28]:

Wonderful. Good.

Jordan Berry [00:03:29]:

Were you,

Kevin Lumpkin [00:03:29]:

Glad to be here.

Jordan Berry [00:03:30]:

Oh, dude. I appreciate you coming on and, coming to share your story and share some of your, hard earned business knowledge, laundromat wisdom. With us, looking forward to hearing more about that. I was we were talking beforehand. I was trying not to ask you too many questions because I always like just having these and making him feel natural here. So super excited to have you on. Can’t wait to hear your story. Real quick, tell us a little bit about you, Where are you at? And, and who are you? And and then how’d you get in this business?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:04:00]:

Okay. My name is Kevin Lumpkin. I’m from Cleveland, Ohio, Born and raised. I went to school to be a police officer, so I was a police officer for 10 years. Lucky for me, I ended up catching a federal case and ended up having to go to prison. And after him while I was locked up inside of prison, I became the teacher of inmates to teach him business and business concepts and Things of that nature and came home and kinda continued that thought process. And so far, I’ve able been able to build me a couple companies. So it was kind of exciting.

Jordan Berry [00:04:32]:

Dude. Okay. Well, this is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about. I had No idea. So, I mean, this is like a crazy story, man.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:04:41]:

How did you become

Jordan Berry [00:04:43]:

well, yeah. Unpack that a little bit.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:04:45]:

Okay. Okay. So in 2011, I sold a firearm to somebody. And in 2000 15, FBI knocked on my door and said, hey, that person you sold a firearm to was a felon, and we’re gonna charge you with selling that gun. So then I went to trial with the federal government, lost that trial, and I ended up, getting sentenced to 5 years. So in 2016, I self surrendered to a federal prison, Where I would now be for the next well, actually, 4 years is what I actually did. So out of the 5 years. Oh.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:05:17]:

While I was locked up, I found a, issue within the prison system. And that issue is is the classrooms that surround or the subjects they teach don’t really address How somebody would come home after 10, 15, 20 years of prison and successfully go back into the world. I mean, I look at prison. Most people don’t look at way, but 90% of inmates are in there for trying to make money.

Jordan Berry [00:05:40]:

Yeah.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:05:40]:

So if they don’t solve that as an issue, then they’ll come, you know, they’ll come back home, and They will do what? Try to figure out how to make money. And if they don’t have opportunity, they’ll go back to what they were doing, and they’ll go back to prison. So I started these classes which were LLC classes. Teaching people about limited liability companies, and businesses that you can start under $10. So that was the concept Because, again, we are in jail. A lot of people don’t have a lot of money. So we would identify companies like commercial cleaning companies. I would tell people, hey.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:06:11]:

You were standing on there slanging the drugs on the corners, slang hot dogs on the corners. Same concept. Least is legal this time. And this was kinda just snowballed into teaching people businesses. And out of that prison, I think we put together about a 100 or 200 business people who are out now successful with their companies and running them in different parts of America. So we did our job.

Jordan Berry [00:06:34]:

Dude, you’re, like, blowing Lowing my mind right now. Nobody has ever put it that way to me. Maybe I’m just, missing the boat here, but nobody’s ever put it that way. And it makes so much sense. 90% People in, prison are there because they’re trying to make money. That is like a mind altering to me. I never even thought of that before.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:06:56]:

Right. Right. That’s wild. So Now you got your outlier, somebody who was arguing with each other, but oh, go ahead.

Jordan Berry [00:07:02]:

Right. No. Yeah. No. You’re no, dude. That is that is mind blowing. Okay. So how did you get into a role where you were starting to teach people about like, did you know about this going into it? Or

Kevin Lumpkin [00:07:15]:

Yeah. So so going in so my field of study was in law enforcement. I was a private investigator, but I also studied counterterrorism. And what I did with my police badge is I went to the private sector. So I used to do a lot of, like private security for different firms. And, you know, if you’re some VIP, person in the world, you touch Down in Cleveland. Well, I’m the guy who’s gonna come get you and protect you. So then I started taking on contracts like a banking contract, so we’d get a bank, and I will go protect the bank.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:07:43]:

You know? And so I already had knowledge of business. When my case came, I wasn’t able to move around. So I I was literally locked inside my house for a year and a half during my So I had to find another way to try to make money for my family. And I created online companies. So I created a com a clothing store, you know, we’re just drop shipping, and things like So through that process is kinda how I sharpen my knowledge of business a little more. And then, you know, if I go back a little bit My mother and father owned, dry cleaners when I was younger, so it was kinda easy to just transition into business. So When I went into the prison, I went to the library, and I’m walking down, and I’m, like, reading the different courses that every you know, inmates teach inmates, so it’s not taught by teachers or anything like that. And I’m looking at all the classes, and I’m saying, how is this? You know, let’s give an example.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:08:31]:

Paranormal activities. That’s a class. Seriously. No joke. How is paranormal activities gonna get a man who’s been locked up since 1985, and he’s gonna go home in 2018, Prepared to go get a job, is not. And that’s when I met up with another inmate in there. Me and him Created these courses. I had my wife send me tons of books.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:08:53]:

I would read every single Nolo book out, and then I would literally break them down into small courses, and then we will go teach

Jordan Berry [00:09:02]:

it. Dude, first of all, props to you. Like, that’s I mean, I’m sure that situation was, Was, I had to knock the wind out of you and your family. Like, how Oh. Real quick. How did that How did that go?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:09:17]:

Man. When that I remember you not I can remember that day like the back of my hand. It was, it was interesting because I used I’ll be a police officer at nighttime. So, I was supposed to go and do a school because I was a school resource officer also. And I was supposed to go do the school that day morning, and I asked my wife. She’s a police officer as well. And I said, hey. Do you mind going to do the school for me? I’m kinda tired.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:09:42]:

I’m gonna go home and go to sleep. And then my daughter comes downstairs and said, dad, somebody’s knocking at the door. And I said, well, you know the rules. Dad doesn’t answer the door when he comes home from because he’s been working all night. They just kept knocking, kept knocking, kept knocking. I’m like, who the who’s knocking on my door? I opened it and they say, hey. You know? FBI. I’m like, okay.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:10:00]:

Hey. What’s going on, guys? I’m same side of the law you guys are on, so why would I think you’d be here for any other reason? Yeah. Yeah. Right. You know? Nah. They was recruiting me for something else. You know? Yeah. They’re like, oh, this is why we’re here.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:10:12]:

And I’m like, so when they left, I’m like, called my wife. Like, hey. I need a lawyer, and I need one fast. Called a friend of ours, and he’s like, here’s the top 3 lawyers we had in Ohio. And I called him and said, hey. We got a problem. Big problem. And that was the start of my issue.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:10:32]:

Dude. You know? Tough.

Jordan Berry [00:10:33]:

Okay.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:10:34]:

I worked, you know, I worked hard for my career. You know?

Jordan Berry [00:10:38]:

Yeah. I do. Yeah. I mean, were you I don’t wanna go too long on this, but I kinda do. We did Yeah. Were you supposed to do, like, a background check when you sold that, or what was the

Kevin Lumpkin [00:10:51]:

Nope. No. It was the fact that they were in trouble. You know, the people who they caught doing something different, they were in trouble, and Political. They had a some somebody that they could tell on. And it just so happens that he’s a police officer, so it’s better to have a cop in prison than it is to Have somebody nobody knows. It makes for a good story, makes for a good headline, and I was just the unlucky sucker to to be unlucky. Dude,

Jordan Berry [00:11:17]:

that’s, okay. Okay. I’m trying to recoup here, because that was that was a Wilde Story. Like, I can’t even imagine what you guys were going through with your wife. Like, how does she take that?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:11:29]:

Oh, yeah. I was yeah. It was tough. It was real tough on her. You know? Because this, again, this is before I even met her, so they’re talking about stuff she doesn’t even know happened because she didn’t know me at that time in life. You know, so That’s crazy. You know, we have a new basically, a newborn child, you know, and everything. So life got tough.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:11:49]:

Yes. It did.

Jordan Berry [00:11:50]:

Wow. I realized that was a dumb question. Like, how how does she take that? But I wanna give you a chance to kinda talk about that. So okay. Yeah. Okay. Now that I’m sort of recouping here from this, Well, props to you for for putting something together. What gave you the, I don’t know.

Jordan Berry [00:12:13]:

Like, I think a lot of people who maybe have found themselves in that situation would shut down or would just be bitter. And maybe there was Bitterness and and anger there, I’m sure there was some degree at least of that, in there. Of course. But you I mean, Kinda despite that, you you decided to teach this class to try to go help people. Like, what what caused you

Kevin Lumpkin [00:12:37]:

to to

Jordan Berry [00:12:37]:

do that while you were in prison?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:12:40]:

I mean, I’ve never really been a person who if I can’t to me personally, if I can’t control it, then it doesn’t bother me. So that just came with just the way life hit me at 18 year 19 years old coming into the real world of life coming out of school. You know? So it was always like, hey, you can’t control that. So, you know, you have to make the best of whatever situation you’re currently in. And at that moment, it’s like, hey, I got a knowledge. And this is this if I have to be here for 4 years, you’re gonna call it prison. I’m gonna call it school. So this is college for me, and that’s how I’m gonna train it.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:13:13]:

That’s how I’m a look at it. And I’m not gonna take it from where all the negative I could take from it and all the things bad. I’m not gonna take it from that way. I’m gonna try to build on this and come back and be better person or be better than what I was before. And it it it taught me a lesson. Here was the lesson. I always wanted to be a police officer. So my whole life, this was my dream.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:13:32]:

This was my destiny. And when it’s gone, it was like, what now? And at that moment it was like the world was trying to tell me that you can still help people without having a badge on. You know what I’m saying? You can still protect people. You don’t have to be in that field to do it. And that was kinda like, okay. I’m I’m waking up and seeing the message.

Jordan Berry [00:13:52]:

Yeah. Dude, that’s a pretty it’s a pretty profound lesson. Right? Especially because you you worked so hard to get into that position that you were at, and that was stripped straight from you. And and now you’re trying to figure out, okay, what does life look like now? And how do I you know, Like, I can imagine, like, part of your identity is tied up in this, like, you know, in the badge and helping people that way.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:14:15]:

It is.

Jordan Berry [00:14:16]:

Being able to pivot. I mean, man, props to you for that.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:14:21]:

Yeah. Thank you.

Jordan Berry [00:14:22]:

Yeah. I’m curious what, so I mean, Again, you, like, blew my mind when you were like, hey. Like, 90% of people, you know, in there are in there because they were trying to make money one way or another. Right? And

Kevin Lumpkin [00:14:35]:

Mhmm.

Jordan Berry [00:14:36]:

I’m curious as they’re like, how did you come to that realization? Because I feel like that is a that’s just a profound perspective from my point of view. And, like, dude, I’m, like, kinda more angry at our prison system because I’ve never heard that before. And because, you know, like, we should be doing something. We should be teaching them how to make money legit ways. Right? So what gave me

Kevin Lumpkin [00:15:00]:

that perspective?

Jordan Berry [00:15:01]:

I what

Kevin Lumpkin [00:15:03]:

gave me that perspective is when you hear the horror stories about jail, well, what you don’t hear is when you walk in at you know, here’s a A sheriff over here. Here’s a doctor over here. Here’s a lawyer over here. Here’s a politician over here. So you’re looking around, and you’re saying, wait a minute. I’ve been taught or prior to this, you just think it’s a whole bunch of drug dealers or people who just do the worst things until you start meeting people. And you meet a person, oh, yeah. I was a doctor for 25 years.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:15:27]:

He blowed. Oh, yeah. I was the CEO of a hedge fund for 30 years, and you’re like, well, why are you in here? Embezzlement. Oh, trying to make money, you know? And then you’re like, wait a minute. There’s a couple people who weren’t there because of that, but Even the most severe cases, you’re like, I mean, I, you know, accidentally, homicide to somebody or something like that While I was trying to rob him. You know? Oh, so you were trying to make you you still trying to make money in the process, and then it went bad. So at the end of the day, it’s like, wait a minute. Even the most egregious offenses in here had something tied to money.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:16:05]:

Now I feel bad that I’m not in here for that. You know? I was really just Selling a firearm, so I’m not even trying to make money. You know? I just ended up in a situation. You know? And it’s crazy, you know, but that was profound when it when I Hit me like, wow. It’s just people trying to feed their families. And if there’s no other way to go, this is the way people gonna go.

Jordan Berry [00:16:25]:

Yeah. Yeah. And you go it’s like the, The whole, like, you don’t what? You you don’t rise to the occasion. You fall to your your level of preparation or whatever. Right? If they’re going into prison for doing whatever they did and they get out, it’s not like they’re gonna automatically do something else because they’re just gonna go back they know because it’s the only thing they know. That’s what we all do. Right? So I love that you took the initiative there and, you know, started teaching classes and stuff. And sounds like you got yourself a good education too as you’re reading through all these books and creating courses and the whole no better way to learn than to teach, you know, for

Kevin Lumpkin [00:17:00]:

Most definitely. It’s pretty cool. I like that. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:17:04]:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. So alright. So take us to to the end of that. Right? You’re You’re rounding out your sentence. Yeah. And you’re getting out.

Jordan Berry [00:17:11]:

Yeah.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:17:11]:

This is

Jordan Berry [00:17:12]:

What was it like to taste freedom again? How how were you feeling?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:17:15]:

Were you excited?

Jordan Berry [00:17:16]:

Were you bitter still? What was the Situation like?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:17:19]:

No. No. So throughout the process, I was never bitter, one thing. The day of, I was nervous, really nervous. I was nervous because I came out in, March March 28, 2020. And so I’m nervous because the world is shutting down, And here I am coming into it. And I’m nervous because here I am about to go to a halfway house, and I don’t know if they’re gonna accept me. And if they don’t accept me, I have to stay here for another 8 months.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:17:46]:

So I’m sitting here, and we’re nervous. Like, please don’t. I’ve I got a job out here. You know? Just let me be. And then I come out, and I’m literally at the bus stop. There’s nobody here. No cars around. Nobody.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:17:55]:

Just me.

Jordan Berry [00:17:57]:

That was

Kevin Lumpkin [00:17:57]:

You know? Yeah. So it’s a whole new world. And Jeez. I get to the halfway house, and it’s just like my feet are just ready to hit the ground. I mean, I’m talking to distributors, not in the laundromat, but in completely a different business that I created. And I’m just rolling, rolling, rolling, you know, and that’s been life ever since. So I’ve literally been putting 1 foot in front of the other as fast as possible since that day.

Jordan Berry [00:18:22]:

Yeah. Making up for lost time a little bit.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:18:26]:

Yeah. Most definitely.

Jordan Berry [00:18:28]:

Yeah. Okay. Okay. So so when you got out, I mean, you said you’re starting to starting up your business as you’re kinda putting your money where your mouth is, putting that that education to work. Kind of businesses did you start coming out, coming out?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:18:39]:

So I started a commercial commercial cleaning company, and then I started an electronics company. So we were we acquired TVs, electronics, and we just sold them on, Facebook and marketplace. So April April of 2020, I couldn’t do the cleaning company Because I couldn’t I had to go somewhere to where my job had to be I had to go to the job and then come back home. So I became the GM of Popeyes. So as I’m the working at Popeyes, I’ve come home, and I’ve sold 3, 4, 5 TVs out my garage. So I used to buy pallets of, like, 50 or 60 TVs at one time. You know, inventory them in my garage, and then test them out, and then people will come. You know, everybody’s stuck at home now, everybody needs a TV.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:19:23]:

Yeah. So I was able to scale that business to roughly I mean, I was doing probably roughly, like, 20, 25,000 a month out of my garage selling TVs. It’s awesome. Come October come October, now I’m off the I’m I’m out of the halfway house situation. Now I’m on probation, so now I can just move And I quit Popeyes, and I just go full forge into the cleaning company. So the TV company is helping me get the cleaning company up and running. And within, I think, about 6 months into the cleaning company, the cleaning company is able to now the space I just showed you Is able to help that company now build this up, because it’s been sustainable doing about a quarter of $1,000,000 Every year since then. Just putting in the work and just adding to it, bits and pieces here.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:20:11]:

We were just normal cleaning, then we became window washers. Now it was carpet cleaning. Now it’s stripping waxing. Now it’s buffing. Now, you know, now we’re doing it all. And Yeah. We get to the laundromats and you know? So

Jordan Berry [00:20:27]:

Yeah. So where did the where did the laundromats come in?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:20:31]:

Okay. So the laundromats came in, when are we at, 4 5 months ago, actually. So Okay. 5 months ago, I took over my first over my 1st laundromat. So there’s a couple things that about both businesses that I see. So the electronics business started to dwindle because People are now coming back into the world, and who needs to buy 5 TVs anymore? So I started to see this shift because I I’m attached to a big soccer sports plex, And my goal was to get the customers that go back there to play soccer to now come into my store. And what I would notice is is guys buy TVs. Women don’t really buy TVs.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:21:09]:

You know? So I was trying to get the people who really buy The product that I’m trying to sell is nothing but women and children walking past me, but I’m selling TVs and electronics. So I switched it to the virtual reality escape room to capture the audience that’s around. When I switched it to that business, the business does pretty well, but the commercial cleaning business is what stains it all. One of my friends told me, hey. My grandfather owns 18 laundromats, and he said you can get a laundromat. You know? What is it called? Owner’s financing. I said, Never thought about that type of business. He said, yeah.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:21:44]:

Car washes and storgy Facilities, and I’m like, That’s a good idea. I said, but I don’t think you can get them for free. I said, I’ve never heard anybody say that you can get they’ll just give them to you. Like, why would anybody give you anything? That doesn’t make sense to me, so let me go. I think you’re BS ing me. So let me go see if what you’re saying is true or if it’s just BS. And that was April of this year. And in May, I literally acquired a 1st free laundromat.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:22:07]:

Just took it over because the guy didn’t want it anymore. And he was like, hey. I’m leaving. You can have it. And I called the landlord and worked out a lease, and that’s how I got my 1st laundromat.

Jordan Berry [00:22:18]:

That’s awesome. Alright. So we need to back this up. I wanna unpack that a little bit. Okay. So your your buddy kinda introduced you to laundromats. Right? Because

Kevin Lumpkin [00:22:27]:

this grandpa

Jordan Berry [00:22:27]:

owned a whole bunch.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:22:30]:

Yes.

Jordan Berry [00:22:30]:

How did you go from that conversation to actually finding this laundromat. Because I get asked about

Kevin Lumpkin [00:22:36]:

free on that

Jordan Berry [00:22:37]:

all the time. So, Yeah. Explain that.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:22:40]:

Right. So me, personally, again, I used to be a private investigator. So it’s a lot of things that I know how to do when I go to look for something. I I know Exactly how to look forward. So I just went on Facebook Marketplace and put in typed in laundromat. Right? So most people, they Go to Facebook Marketplace. They might have it set to 20 mile 20 mile radius of where they live at. Well, I set mine to a 500 mile radius from where I live at, which gives me a Broader spectrum of look.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:23:07]:

And I put in laundromat. And it just so happens that one popped up in West Virginia. And the the listing was, You can take this over as a laundromat, or you can make it whatever business you want it to be. Interesting. Let me call the number. I called, talked to the lady. She said, oh, if you wanna keep it as a laundromat, you have to talk to the person who owns the equipment in the laundromat And see if you can buy his equipment. And I said, fine.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:23:32]:

I talked to him. He’s a nice guy. He’s from New York, but this kid is a laundromat in West Virginia. So I’m like, hey. I’m gonna go down here. I wanna check it out and, see if, you know, how good of a business it really is. When I go down here, I check it out. His equipment is old.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:23:48]:

I mean, it’s old. He has 26 single stack, washer dryers, and 4 of them work. And he has 24 top loaders, and I think, like, 10 of them worked. And he has some 30 pounders, and they weren’t even plugged in. They didn’t work. So I’m like, so how much are you asking for your equipment? And he was like, I want $18,000. Like, I’m not a fool, but this doesn’t seem like $18,000 worth of equipment. But, again, I don’t know anything about the laundromat business personally, so I can’t tell him what he’s saying is right or wrong.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:24:18]:

You know? So, I called my friend, and I said, hey. Can you ask your grandfather? Because I don’t know. You know? And he’s like, no. I don’t don’t buy this equipment. Go get, you know, go get Dexter. You’re gonna deal with Dexter. And I’m like, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but okay. I don’t want your equipment.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:24:33]:

He’s like, I don’t care. Yeah. At the 1st of, June, I’m gonna take all my equipment out of here, and I’m gone. So you do whatever you wanna do. So I called the landlord back, and I said, okay. I’ll take the place over when he leaves. We she gave me a 3 months free rent, and I signed a lease with my business partner who I brought in, and we signed a lease.

Jordan Berry [00:24:54]:

That’s awesome.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:24:54]:

That’s how we got our 1st laundromat. So

Jordan Berry [00:24:58]:

That’s awesome. Okay. So, how far is this laundromat from you?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:25:04]:

So, if I’d leave from where I’m at now, which is my store, it’ll take me 2 hours and about 25 minutes to get there. If I leave from my house, about 3 hours.

Jordan Berry [00:25:13]:

Okay. And then your partner, how far do they live?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:25:16]:

Okay. Okay. So my partner not partner anymore, but my partner lives Okay. 20 minutes down the road from me. Okay.

Jordan Berry [00:25:25]:

So

Kevin Lumpkin [00:25:25]:

Okay. Yep. So, again, I don’t know anything about the laundromat business. At that point, I don’t know anything about this business. I now own I now own 1. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I’m an expert now at it, but, yeah, I now own 1, And I don’t know what’s it what’s in store, but I know it didn’t go right.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:25:44]:

I could tell you that.

Jordan Berry [00:25:46]:

Okay. Okay. Well, let’s unpack that a little bit. What what happened? Okay. So you you told the landlord, hey. I’ll take it over. And did you work out a lease with the landlord? Yep. Can you tell us about

Kevin Lumpkin [00:25:57]:

the lease? What

Jordan Berry [00:25:58]:

was the lease like?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:25:59]:

Yeah. So so she She was like, you can sign in 1 year, 2 year, 3 years. She you can sign she didn’t care. You sign however long you wanna sign. I said, well, it don’t really make sense for me to, You know, buy some equipment and put it in here for 1 year. Like, that’s not gonna make any sense, I say. But maybe we’d do a 3 to 5 year just to kinda because he couldn’t tell me his numbers as to what he was making. She doesn’t know, so I’m like, I don’t know.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:26:24]:

So Let’s just do 3 year. And if you let me come back, this is when I started now I’m on YouTube, and now I’m getting You I’m just laundromatting everybody. You know? Whoever’s in the laundromat business, just follow them so I can get some information. You know? And I’m like, okay. Let’s do a 3 year lease, and now let’s just Let’s redo it, and we’ll go to there. And we signed a 3 year lease, me, her, my business partner, and we got the laundromat.

Jordan Berry [00:26:48]:

Okay. K. And, so you you did the lease negotiations. Did the guy end up taking his equipment when he when he left?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:26:56]:

Yes. He did. So when we came back down To start our retool, I guess. He no. There’s nothing there. It’s completely empty now.

Jordan Berry [00:27:05]:

Okay. Then how did you get new equipment? Talk about that process.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:27:09]:

Okay. So at that point, what we did, we repainted the whole facility, started to I’d never I didn’t wanna go buy. So me and my partner was never looking to use our credit to go get new equipment. We were going to just go around and buy equipment from other operators, other laundromat owners. Put it in there just to get the doors back open again, start making some money so we can really Fill out the location. Again, we’re not in this business. We don’t know. So that was the goal.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:27:37]:

So immediately I went up it was a laundromat Over here, a guy. He owns a whole bunch. He sold me, like, what is it? 4 Speed Queens 35 pounders for $2,000, and we were just going about top loaders. Yeah. I get 10 top loaders over here for $2, and I’ll get, you know, some top loaders over here for $800. And we just going we’re just going around buying them. So anywhere I could find them, I went and tried to buy them.

Jordan Berry [00:28:02]:

At at what point how long did it take you to actually The door’s open. You took over. Okay.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:28:08]:

So we opened our doors. What is this? November October 13th is when I opened the doors. We started in June.

Jordan Berry [00:28:14]:

Okay.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:28:15]:

We were supposed to add when we started in June yep. We were collecting equipment.

Jordan Berry [00:28:21]:

Go ahead. Yeah. Go ahead.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:28:22]:

I was trying to find dryers. But when we started in June, when we took over in June, we were supposed to open July 1st. So that was the goal. Just to close it, Open it back up because, again, the guy just removed his stuff. We just put in the same things back. He’s just updated more. You know? We’re gonna put the same top loader back in. It’s just instead of it being made in 98, it’s made in 2018.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:28:43]:

You know? So we really didn’t need to do a lot of Different things. That was the goal in the open up July 1st. Then me and my partner kinda got on a hang up about the electrical. The other machines that we bought needed a two 20 1 installed, and he didn’t feel comfortable that I know how to install it. I told him, hey. You know me. I’ll go watch YouTube, and I’ll sit and study at it. We gotta get it done, but I told him it didn’t seem like the laundromat was the type of business that you can hire an a professional to come do everything for you because now you running out of money.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:29:16]:

This is when some failures started happening, not understanding the business truly. So I put all the costs together, You know, this is what it’s gonna cost us for machines. This is what it’s gonna cost us to do this. You bring $10, I bring $10, and we should have enough money to put Some decent machines in here. Get the place open. Well, here’s some cost that I couldn’t anticipate. How much gas is it gonna cost me to drive from Ohio to West Virginia? How much is it gonna cost me to go pick up 15 top loaders? Well, where what type of truck fits 15 top loaders? So now I have to rent that truck. On top of renting that truck, I have to drive from wherever I pick those top loaders up from, let’s say, the upper peninsula of Michigan, which took take 10, 15 hours to get up there, then I gotta drive her from all the way up there all the way down to West Virginia, and then from West Virginia all the way back to Ohio.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:30:05]:

Well, now I didn’t spend 2, $3,000 in gas. You know? And those were the costs that weren’t really there initially. So that money was 8 ran through so fast. I mean, it it it was crazy, and I’m funding all this deal. I’m funding all my deals, I fund myself. So it’s get it was getting tough. Now here, he wants out.

Jordan Berry [00:30:29]:

Okay. So Okay. He

Kevin Lumpkin [00:30:30]:

wants out of he wants out of the business 3 days before we open. And it’s like

Jordan Berry [00:30:36]:

Why did he wanna help? You just he’s like, it’s too tough for what?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:30:40]:

It’s not unexpected? No. I think he was dealing with a lot in his personal life. He had a lot going on for and for somebody who it was always, You just put the money up, man, and I’ll go do the work. That’s just how I am. It doesn’t matter. I don’t have to go to bed. I’ll just go do the work. A lot of people’s lives aren’t structured that way.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:31:00]:

A lot of people don’t know how to stay woke for 3 days. Well, I’m different. So if I gotta get it done, it’s gotta get done. And I don’t think He was ready to accept that I’ll give an I’ll give you an example. I don’t really

Jordan Berry [00:31:16]:

If you care

Kevin Lumpkin [00:31:17]:

to really think about if I need something to go to business, I need it. Right? So if I have $1,000 to do it, I’ll just go spend 1,000 to go get It’s nothing. I’ll just make it back somewhere else. But when you are dealing with people who work for a living, their minds say can’t be, like, I’ll just go spend $1,000 or whatever. Me, I could go do a job and make it up fast. You see? So I now I’m starting to see that, hey. I gotta put myself around people who are running in the same Spaces as me. You know? I’m 100% business.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:31:45]:

I don’t have a normal job, and I can go and make 15,000 on one job. Well, most people don’t make that in 3, 4 months, and then working at a normal job. So because of that, I think as I was spending money, spending money spending money. Okay. We need that truck. Okay. We need the truck. We gotta get it.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:32:02]:

Hey. We need that equipment. We need the equipment. I think that it was kinda like him sitting back and saying, I can’t keep up with that. Kevin woke up Wednesday morning, and he’s been working at the laundromat from Wednesday morning to Friday night, and then he’s gonna drive from West Virginia back to Ohio to run his escape room. And then he’s gonna go do a commercial cleaning company, and then he’s gonna go back down to West Virginia. Well, I need to get some rest in between there. Can’t Kevin don’t.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:32:27]:

You know? And because I’m like that, I think a lot of people are like, No. I’m not working this hard. This guy’s crazy. And so I left found myself alone in the laundromat business.

Jordan Berry [00:32:40]:

Yeah. No. I mean and it’s true. Like, you know, there’s not that many people that can run at that kind of pace. That’s for sure. But even I mean, I think anybody who’s in the entrepreneur space, you know, you’re built a little diff different. Right? And maybe they’re not at the level you’re I don’t think I’m at the level you’re at. But I that that mindset, even more so, I think, than, you know, the the energy level that you have, that mindset Head of like, hey.

Jordan Berry [00:33:05]:

You know, whatever I need to get it done, I’m gonna get it and get it done, and then I’ll figure it out along the way. That mindset is is huge, and not everybody has that. And I think you nailed it. Like, that that 9 to 5 job kinda lulls you into, you know, getting that steady income. So when the money goes out and You know exactly how much is coming back in in your 9 to 5 job, and you’re like, I’m seeing more money going out than coming in. It’s Hard to adjust that mindset to say, no. I’m investing in this, and I’m building something here that’s gonna carry more value and bring in more income, on the back end. So, I mean, I think you nailed it that you need to be running with the the kind of people that have the same sort of mindset as you.

Jordan Berry [00:33:48]:

Unfortunate, though, that, that it worked out like that. How did you and your partner meet in the 1st place or or decide to partner with?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:33:56]:

Through a mutual Through a mutual friend. He, again, because I’m business, people bring me around, and they’re like, what do you do for a living? And I’m like, oh, I want a virtual reality escape room. And they’re like, What’s that? You know? And then a lot of people throw parties up here at my store. So because of that, I meet a lot of people. And we just became friends Hanging out, meet his family, met my family, and we just became friends. And I have a, virtual reality roller coaster. And me and him partnered on that deal on a VR roller coaster. And then it was just like, hey.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:34:27]:

What we were looking to do, the real estate, Buying flip houses. So we were going into that, but then we just weren’t really finding anything. So I just say, hey. Maybe we pivot into this laundromat thing. We’ll be able to, you know, come up with more capital, have more cash to be able to go find better deals. That’s just kinda how me and him we’re still friends. You know? We still hang out. So, you know, Took a little while to get back to that point, but, you know, we are cool.

Jordan Berry [00:34:51]:

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So alright. So you got this, Laundry. You’ve been you’ve been hustling around, buying up equipment, trying to get that stuff installed. Did you install all of it yourself?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:35:03]:

Yes. 100%. So I went and I found another, another laundromat owner who was literally, like, 10 minutes away from my store. He had some double stack dryers, and the deal was gonna fall apart. And I’m like, listen. I’m a be honest with you, man. I’m I don’t have any more money. I’m probably 15,000 into this project.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:35:21]:

If you can just look out for me, and I’ll pay you. He’s like, yeah. Sure. You know what? Let’s go install them. So we loaded them up, took them to my store, and that night between that night and the next night, I literally Install. I had to lift the 600 pound dryer up on the lips that they sit on, but that took about 7 hours because I had to do it by myself. What? I got it all in. You know? I so far, I’m I’m I was had been able to I have 9 double stacked Dryers.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:35:53]:

So far, I was able to get 6 of them hooked up to get going. So what I had to kinda do was because Oh, my my commercial cleaning company is set up to support me in my personal life. It’s also set up to support This business right here, why this business finds its rhythm. It was never set up to support a laundromat business. It was never set up to support multiple companies. It wasn’t Put together to do that, but it’s doing it. But I needed to get the doors open. I had to take some pressure off of that.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:36:25]:

So I had to take out a home equity loan to get some pressure off of it to get the rest of the equipment to get the door open. And one day, I went down there with, Think 20, 24 top loaders and, dryers and a whole bunch metal. And I started going to work. And that day, somebody walked to the door, and they say, hey. Are you open? And I said, no. I’m not. But you know what? Those washing machines over there, they do work. And if you wanna use them, you can.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:36:53]:

They said, okay. And then 3 days later, I opened the door. That was the 3rd that was Friday 13th.

Jordan Berry [00:37:04]:

That’s awesome. That’s actually my daughter’s So, you know, that was just a good day, all the way around.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:37:10]:

Oh, yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:37:12]:

Okay. So, dude, Here’s what I love about this story. Right? It’s like you so many people and, you know, and I understand this too. So I’m not this is a knock on anybody, but so many people are afraid to step out and and start a business, buy a business, do a business, or whatever. And because it’s scary. It legitimately is scary. Like, you could lose everything. You could find yourself in a situation where you’re Fifteen grand down.

Jordan Berry [00:37:38]:

And, you know, if somebody doesn’t help you out if somebody doesn’t help you out, you’re out of luck. Right? Like so it can be scary that Right. But, you know, what I love about this story is I mean, this is like a story of grit from, like, beginning to end. Right? Well, we’re not the end yet, but from beginning to now, oh, at least. And it sounds like you got some more grit left to have, to keep going. But we’ll get Oh, yeah. Big Yeah. But I love the I love the grit that, you know, you have where you’re just like, I’m just gonna do what it takes to make it happen.

Jordan Berry [00:38:08]:

Right? That’s the mindset

Kevin Lumpkin [00:38:10]:

Yeah. Shift,

Jordan Berry [00:38:12]:

that I think is really difficult to to make, especially You’re coming from, like, a w two job or something like that where you’re like, you know what? No matter what, I’m just gonna make it happen. Right? No matter what it takes, if I have to stay up all night installing dryers, I’ll stay up all night. If I have to let somebody use a washer while I’m still kind of installing the only stuff and trying to figure out things when we’re not technically open, I’ll do that. Right? If I have to drive

Kevin Lumpkin [00:38:39]:

Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:38:39]:

All the way to the northern part of Michigan and then all the way to West Virginia, I’ll do that. Right? Like, there’s that that grit and that mindset is is critical.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:38:50]:

Yeah. Yeah. 100%.

Jordan Berry [00:38:52]:

So I I

Kevin Lumpkin [00:38:53]:

Yeah. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:38:54]:

I love that. Okay. So you, okay. So you said you let this guy or gal or whoever it was do Laundry. And then 3 days later, you opened up. So take us back to Friday 13th. And what was the

Kevin Lumpkin [00:39:08]:

life of

Jordan Berry [00:39:08]:

opening the doors for that laundromat?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:39:11]:

Okay. So now I have all the equipment ready. Everything’s kinda cleaned up. I know I’m opening up Friday 13th. The person has come to test a couple machines, so I now know that everything could work, but there could be still problems. I don’t know. My attendant is, like, hey. Are you open? And I’m, like, yeah.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:39:29]:

You got a job. Come on. Let’s go. It’s time to work. And I sit there, and people start coming use stuff, and There’s problems. You know? I got a washing machine that’s not working over here. I’m trying why is this washing machine not working? Oh, I forgot to turn on the water to this one. You know? And this washing machine’s breaking over here, you know, and it’s like, oh, not not that washing machine.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:39:47]:

Okay. I gotta take that one out and then put it replace it with this one because I had some extra ones in the back. And it’s just the filling out process of a laundromat business. I got some big ones over here that wants to run down the street because I didn’t bolt them down right. Hey. I gotta catch those. Bring those back. You know? And it’s just like, okay.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:40:05]:

I’m learning. So then the day ends with us making some money. So it’s like, okay. I got to the point where I can see it more so than anything now. Let me go back and move some things around and make it a lot better, improve some things, but just keep a close eye on what to do. And that day was, like, okay. Step 1 has been completed. Now let’s move to step 2.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:40:34]:

How are we gonna get some new equipment? No. And that was that was kinda how my mindset was on that day.

Jordan Berry [00:40:42]:

Yeah, dude. Well, yeah. First of all, congrats on getting that thing. Like, I feel like you just willed it open. Right? You just, like, just 400%. Straight you just made it happen with pure effort.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:40:55]:

Yeah. It had it had it had to open.

Jordan Berry [00:40:57]:

Like It,

Kevin Lumpkin [00:40:58]:

It had to open.

Jordan Berry [00:41:04]:

Yeah. Yeah. And okay. So you you got that 1st day under the belt. How did how did you let people know that you were opening?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:41:13]:

Okay. So one good thing about okay. So the story I didn’t tell about my laundromat was It was it’s been there since 1959. The person who made it a laundromat

Jordan Berry [00:41:23]:

Right.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:41:24]:

Who ran it until she passed away, The attendant at the laundromat, when I met the guy who owned it, was her sister. So because her sister has been literally in laundromat since 59. You can imagine how old this lady is. Everybody knows her. So when she was like, well, you know, I’m the attendant for this Guy, but if you don’t want me to work for you, then it it’s okay. And I was, like, no. Like, I hear you’re the person that everybody knows. So when we get open, All you have to do is talk, and everybody’s gonna listen.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:41:54]:

So I just kept her on, and I the lady who owns the the building, they’ve been in this community for, You know, since the creation of the community or since they were born. So they have their ears to the street. So it was just why, hey. Guys, we’re open. Let all your friends know that we’re open. And, you know, we got Facebook, of course. You know, we have couple marketing things we have going on with, what’s it, marketplace. Just, hey.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:42:18]:

Now we’re open, and then I just started sharing it in different forms. So what I would do is our laundromat is located in Moundsville, West Virginia. Right? So what I would do is I would go on Facebook, and I would just type in Moundsville, West Virginia and see every single page that popped up, whether it’s the church page, the fire department’s page. It really didn’t matter. And I would go in there, and I would join their group. And then I would say, hey, guys. The laundromat’s open. Here’s our flyer.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:42:42]:

And the 1st week, it was kinda slow. 2nd week, people started sharing that flyer around that city, but they were doing it electronically between themselves. And ever since 13th, we went from, you know, $200 in a week. Then the next week, we’re doing, like, 2.50, and then next week is 2.80, and then, oh, Hey. That’s a whole week. And then all of a sudden, now I’m getting a call and say, hey. The light come on on the machine. Well, that means that in 2 days, now we’re making moves.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:43:08]:

It’s making last week. So now I can start to see, okay, now it’s picking up to where people are starting to get in really get involved and really like this thing. And it it’s only 3 laundromats in this community. And the other one is owned by the guy who owned this one, so we can, you know, condominium additions that one’s in. And And the other one wasn’t built for the community. It was built for its own special RV community. So that’s kinda how we kinda got the word out. We’re lucky on that part.

Jordan Berry [00:43:35]:

Dude, I love that. Yeah. No. I love that. And I and, you know, it’s all about, like, the who the who you know thing is it’s real, man. It’s, you know, if you know the right people who know the community and stuff, like, this is That’s how that’s how it works. Right? That’s how it works. And so I I love that.

Jordan Berry [00:43:56]:

Real quick. I’m curious, now

Kevin Lumpkin [00:44:00]:

Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:44:01]:

How how are you how often are you going making that 2, 2 and a half hour drive to this laundromat. How are you managing that that laundromat right now?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:44:12]:

Okay. So I go once a week guaranteed. That’s that was the whole plan. So what I did was I I adjusted the hours here at the VR escape room so that when the VR escape room closes Saturday night. So we’re open from 4 to midnight. Saturday night at midnight, I hit the rope, and I hit to West Virginia. Give me a Airbnb down there, and I’ll stay Through Sunday, and then Sunday night, I’ll hit the road and come back home. So that gives me opportunity to fix anything that may happen that week.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:44:42]:

That gives me opportunity to do the to do the coin collecting down there and just evaluate what needs to be done to continue to change the face of this particular laundromat. And I have an attendant who goes and opens it up for me and does all of that. I just hired her and brought her in, but she’ll she does wash and fold also, so she has customers of her own, so it kinda just worked out that way for us.

Jordan Berry [00:45:06]:

Yeah. That’s awesome. Okay. So, I mean, because that’s a long way. And I get asked a lot of times, like, can you own a laundromat far away like that. And, you know, one of the things I say is that one of the crucial things you’ve gotta have is the right person helping you manage it on the ground. Right? Like, at at the actual location. Sounds like your attendant who’s been there forever is your is that’s your person, right, who’s helping you run this business and make it possible for you to be so far away.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:45:36]:

Her and the landlord also. So yep.

Jordan Berry [00:45:40]:

And the landlord. Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. Awesome. Okay. So I have a segment of the Podcast called Down to Business.

Jordan Berry [00:45:50]:

And that’s just where we get, dig a little bit deeper into the details of your business. So remind us one more time, where is this laundromat located?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:45:59]:

This particular laundromat is, Moundsville, West Virginia. We’re looking to do here in Cleveland, Ohio, and then we have 1 in, Louisiana. Monroe.

Jordan Berry [00:46:08]:

Oh, you have 1 in Louisiana too?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:46:10]:

Yes. Yeah. Uh-huh.

Jordan Berry [00:46:11]:

What? Where did that come from?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:46:13]:

Yeah. We own we we have 3. So and we’re looking to close on 5 within the next couple months.

Jordan Berry [00:46:18]:

So talk talk to me about number 2 and number 3.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:46:20]:

Okay. Number 2 came about in Monroe, Louisiana. I did the same I did the same thing I did in West Virginia. I just, yeah, I did the same thing I did in West Virginia. I just moved the cursor over to the middle of the country, or I moved it to Texas, or I moved it to California. I mean, I check every state. Yeah. There’s a free laundromat somewhere in every state.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:46:39]:

You know? Can you find it? So I found 1 in Monroe, Louisiana. I contacted the owner. Same story, but this guy was a operator of a laundromat. So he operated the laundromat, and he owned the building. And he just basically told me, look, man. I suck at this. Like, I’m just not good at operating the laundromat. And if somebody can come operate it, I would whatever you need, you can have.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:46:58]:

He said, I got the distributors here. I I know. I’m a realtor. I know the I know the place. But whatever you need to be successful, you let me know, and we can put something together. I just told him, like, hey, man. I need about, you know, 6 months free rent. I wanna sign a 15, year contract with you with 2 5 year extensions.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:47:16]:

You can get 3% increases on your rent. We agreed to a 90¢ a square foot, and I am actually leaving November 17th through 20th. I’ll actually be in Louisiana For for the 1st time looking at that store, and I take it over January 1st. Number 3 number 3 came about because I went to A laundromat here in Cleveland, and the guy was trying to sell it for 60,000. He was a distributor, from ATAG. And I was like, I kinda look for, like, infrastructure, but we don’t really look for to spend money to buy it from you. And then one day, he just called me out of the blue and was like, hey. I got an idea.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:47:54]:

Meet me at this address, but you need to sign a nondisclosure agreement that if I show you this, that you’ll use me as the person who gives you the equipment. I said, okay. Let’s go see it. Drove about 25 minutes away from my house to a 34 100 square foot laundromat that’s just sitting there waiting to be waiting for equipment. And I’m, like, Alright. Let’s get on it. And the realtor got the landlord, and I’m like, hey. This is the terms I need.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:48:18]:

If you agree to the terms, we can take this over. So we’re Still waiting for that landlord to agree to our terms.

Jordan Berry [00:48:23]:

Dude, this is incredible, incredible stuff. Like, I I had no idea that’s what that’s where we’re going with this, and you’re already looking for more. So what was it that made you think, okay. I’ve done this first one. Now I’m gonna go get some more. What made you decide to do it, especially after the struggles of getting that first one going?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:48:45]:

So I started you know, I I bought Danny DeAngelo’s course, so I started learning on him. I started learning from Joe, Khloe, laundromat millionaire, you. I mean, I’m just soaking up all the information soaking up all the information. And then I really sat down, and I said to myself, and I told my wife this, that the way I identified this business and the reason why I liked so much. So it’s not necessarily if I can get it done, because I know I can just because, again, like you said, I got the grit to just it’s gonna get done because it has to get done. But what I liked about the business more than any basically, any business that I have currently is that the foundation of it is yours. And that’s what I liked. It’s a business that I can literally see out 15, 20, 25 years from now.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:49:35]:

It’s a business like my cleaning company. Somebody could I have contracts in commercial cleaning. Right? An employee can come into the one of the contracts and not like my employee, and I can lose that contract. I just lost, let’s say, a $70,000 year contract because 1 person didn’t like another person. That’s just the nature of that business. Nature of the VR escape room is is this a, The, it’s a entertainment business. So if times get hard with people, why would they then want to come and Give me money to play virtual reality escape room if they don’t have the money. But a laundromat doesn’t work like that.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:50:10]:

It doesn’t operate like that. It’s a needed sore resource in the community, and it’s something that I believe that I can put the foundation of my family’s life on for a long period of time. And I told myself that I’m gonna go around the United States of America, and I’m a find all of them, as many as I can get. And the first one is what actually showed me the blueprint is is, you know, you just find 1 that 1 person who’s just like, hey. I’m down here. I can help you. And it’s like, okay. You you become my business partner.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:50:39]:

You become the person who’s gonna help me build this for this community that you’re from. And it’s just like that helping people think again. You know?

Jordan Berry [00:50:46]:

Yeah. Yeah. No. I mean, I think that’s awesome. I think that that’s, you know, again, it’s just, you know, straight grit from from beginning to end and taken you know, it remind there’s a, I forget I don’t know if it’s Grant Cardone. Somebody wrote the I think it’s Grant Cardone. He wrote be extreme or be or no. Be obsessed or be average.

Jordan Berry [00:51:06]:

And and you’ve got that vibe where you’re like I’m obsessed. Like, I’ve I’ve got a model that I like that I think I can Duplicate, you know, multiple times. Yeah. And so I’m I’m not gonna go find another one. I’m gonna go find all of them. Right? It’s like that. Yeah. Correct.

Jordan Berry [00:51:23]:

They’re all mine. Like, I’m going to find all of them. Right? So if you’re listening to this right now, you better get You better get off your wall.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:51:29]:

You better get him up because I’m coming.

Jordan Berry [00:51:30]:

Trying to do this because he’s coming.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:51:32]:

Oh, 100. Oh, 100%. Oh, yeah. When I when I when I when I touch down in when I touch down in Louisiana on 17th, I’ll go from Louisiana to Arkansas to Tennessee back down to Louisiana Again, I got 1 I gotta go scout in Arkansas that I talked to the guy, another one in Tennessee that I’m looking at. And if I’m lucky, North Carolina, New York, Virginia. I’ve identified a lot of them, and I called the owners and say, hey. I’m in Ohio. Give me some time, but I’m gonna touch down in your state when I do.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:52:04]:

Let’s do some business.

Jordan Berry [00:52:06]:

Yeah. I love it, dude. I love the mindset. I love the grit. I love the tenacity, and the obsession, man. I dude, I’m digging it. And and especially, you know, coming from your just sort of the origins of story. Right? Like, this is not a path that you were aspiring to, not a path that you were heading down.

Jordan Berry [00:52:26]:

Right? You were in the law enforcement, the the I, game. And now you’re this is like a sharp left turn that you

Kevin Lumpkin [00:52:35]:

Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:52:35]:

Were forced to take. Right? And and you’re out here getting it done, and you’re making the best of it. And not only that, you’re you’re going trying to go big here, which I think is awesome.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:52:45]:

Yeah. Oh, most definitely.

Jordan Berry [00:52:47]:

So let’s talk yeah. Let’s talk about, we’re still on the down to business, but I I got sidetracked because I didn’t know there were more laundromats here. You’re rolling out quick. I love it.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:52:56]:

Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:52:59]:

So and and, again, you you basically just started this search. Well, when did you start searching for your 1st laundromat?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:53:05]:

In May.

Jordan Berry [00:53:06]:

May. Right? And we’re in November right now when we’re doing this interview. So not not very long here. What do you have your, in in that West Virginia store, what do you have your VIN prices at right now?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:53:21]:

Okay. My VIN prices are Gatterbrain. Okay. So I got a machine that you can wash your clothes at a dollar 50. I got a machine that you can wash your clothes at a dollar 25. I got a machine that you can wash your clothes at $5, and I got 1 at 2.75. So it’s it’s scatterbrained. So, actually, today has been a really good day because I was able to acquire 12 see, I got 12 lines and 12 lines behind.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:53:45]:

So whenever I do retool it, I need to do 12 and 12. So today, I was able to acquire 12, I think it’s 22 and a half pound, hips. I just got, got those today. They didn’t come in. They’ll come in next week. So those VIN prices now, the ones that I have, the coin slots so, you know, you can only take Coin slides up to $2. So because you can only take the coin slides up to $2, that’s the reason why I got a machine that you can wash your clothes for a dollar 50. So I’ll pull all of those ones out, and then replace them with the now front loaders.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:54:18]:

And then now I’ll VIN those prices at the correct price now. And then now my top loaders, now I can move the prices to where they really need to be. My 35 pounders are now be set in line with all of those. So that’ll be happening within the next week. Our dryer is 25¢ for 6 minutes.

Jordan Berry [00:54:34]:

Cool. Alright. So is is your, the the lady in the West Virginia store. Is she there all day? How are you running, that Laundromat? She there just part of the day? Hey. She hanging out all day.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:54:48]:

How’s it working? Yes. So, we’re we open at 8 and we close at 10. So she’s in and out all day. So it’s a, since it’s West Virginia, they have these, like, Internet casinos. So it’s an Internet casino built into built next to the laundromat. So kinda like her friends kinda work at the Internet Casino, so she’s kinda, like, back and forth. Or if she needs to go home for a couple hours, she can go home. It’s kinda like do what you want.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:55:13]:

You know? Just make sure that the machines get cleaned. Make sure the facility hey. If somebody loses some quarter somewhere or, you know, if something goes wrong, just give me a call, And, hey, I I’ll be on my way. Like, I didn’t was it Wednesday? Yeah. She called me Wednesday. That’s not the day that I go to, West Virginia. That’s the day that I’m here at the store. She said, hey.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:55:31]:

The light on the machine came on for the coins, and I was nervous because I remember one time it came on, and it was because a quarter got stuck, And it was only $10 in there. So now I gotta drive 3 and a half hours just to fix the $10 problem, you know, $10 in here. So I was nervous That when I was going down here, that it wouldn’t be money actually in the machines. But we actually did pretty well when I went down here because the machine was empty. So that was good that I didn’t have to waste that time. But that was Wednesday. So I went down Wednesday, left here at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. I got back at midnight.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:56:03]:

So when I get down there, it was out of quarter. So we actually did good for a 2 day period because I was just down there. Sunday morning, I left. So So to come back Wednesday and see that we’re out of court all the quarters are in my machine, and we have cash in here was kinda like, man. Maybe I did I I did the right thing by sticking this thing out. You know? And I think it’s refreshing to her because she’s like, I call Kevin and say, hey. This happened to this machine or this has happened. And within an hour or 2 or a couple you know, the same day he’s here to do something.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:56:32]:

You know? But that’s because I have flexibility in my schedule to be able to do these things. You know?

Jordan Berry [00:56:38]:

Yeah. Oh, that’s awesome. Okay. So how like, right now, I mean, you’re You’re spending a lot of time, traveling because you’re going, you know, once a week there, and you’re you’re leaving Saturday nights and come Back Sunday nights. Right? Yep. How often do you happen to go more than 1 day a week?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:56:58]:

So During the process of building, I would go down there, like, on a Friday and stay down through Sunday so I can kinda get a lot of work done. Now that it’s kinda up and running, I literally just it’s Just that day. Now I know that I’m gonna have to go more because the more now it’s open. People are getting the word, hey. This is open. You can come wash your clothes That means it’s just gonna be more used. That means that the machine’s gonna fill up faster. That means that, hey, I might have to go down here 2, 3 times in a week.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:57:26]:

That might be a reality For me. You know? But as long as the money is there and it allows me to do it, then I have no problem. So me, personally, I’m also Doing something personally. Like, I’m creating destinations that I don’t mind being at. So, hey, me and my wife wanna go on a vacation. Hey. Let’s go to Louisiana. Hey.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:57:44]:

You know? Let’s go to North Carolina. Hey. Let’s go to West Virginia. Now it’s a reason to go here, not just we’re just down here spending money. There you go. So that’s kinda why, you know hey. Me and my wife wanna go on a nice little trip to Louisiana. Hey.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:57:59]:

We’re gonna be 3 days here and do some work down here. Then if we have 1 in 50 states, then we no. We we can go anywhere. Right?

Jordan Berry [00:58:08]:

That’s exactly right. I’m still trying to get one in Hawaii so I can go right off my trips to Hawaii over

Kevin Lumpkin [00:58:13]:

here. Right. Oh, yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:58:18]:

Belize or something. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Do you have, like, a number like, I’m aspiring to x number of laundromats, or is it just, like, as many as I

Kevin Lumpkin [00:58:28]:

can get? Do you have any Yeah. I have a number. Set goal? Kinda 100.

Jordan Berry [00:58:32]:

What is it?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:58:34]:

100.

Jordan Berry [00:58:35]:

I expected nothing less from you.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:58:37]:

Yeah. I wanna hide. It’s funny because I told my wife that yesterday, so we’re gonna have a 100, 100 minutes across the United States.

Jordan Berry [00:58:44]:

Yeah. Awesome. Okay. So we have a segment of the podcast called secret sauce.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:58:51]:

Okay. And

Jordan Berry [00:58:52]:

that is what’s your best tip for, current owners? Maybe something that’s working well for you, but your best tip for current owners to help them improve with their laundromats.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:59:03]:

One tip I could use to improve the business would be to allow the customer to voice have a voice Within your business. You know, my my customers actually which is kinda shocking. They actually hit me up on Facebook a lot, but I think that’s because now they see that they can. But it’s just let him have a voice. You know? Hey. What what would you like down here? You know? Tell me the size of equipment you like. You know? I don’t know if it was Your podcast or somebody else, but they gave me a great idea. Go around to the other laundromats, see the biggest size equipment that they have, And then go get a bigger equipment, and now say you got the biggest equipment in this town.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:59:41]:

And it was like, So I asked my attendant, hey. What you think people with size do? Oh, yeah. They really like the big size because of this. So they literally like this. And just It’s not my business. I’m just the face of it. I’m just running it. It’s their business because they they wash their clothes.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:59:58]:

I don’t wash their clothes. You know? So They need to tell me what they want more than anything. So it’s kinda like that customer feedback is necessary for me to really build a successful business. It’s easy to take it personal.

Jordan Berry [01:00:09]:

I love that. It’s not my business. It’s yeah. I love that it’s not my business. It’s it’s their business. That mindset, That that mentality is awesome. And I love that advice to give your customers, say in how their business is run and and what it looks like. So I I think that’s great advice.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:00:28]:

I mean, from my situation, I have to understand that I don’t live in these places. So I can’t come in and be the big bad wolf for the big bad boss. You know? I have to come in and kinda, like, be more humble because, again, I know nothing about I don’t see West Virginia. I know nothing about Louisiana. I don’t know about these places. So the people who do know is the people from here. Because of that, I have to come in with here. Hey.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:00:50]:

Tell me what you guys want. Let me go make it happen.

Jordan Berry [01:00:53]:

I love that. We have another segment called pro tips, And pro tips is for you know, what what advice do you have for people like you maybe 6 months ago? People who are trying to get their first deal, He’ll, trying to get their foot in the business. What’s your best piece of advice for those people?

Kevin Lumpkin [01:01:12]:

If I’m being honest, don’t. No. What? Yep. Yep. If I probably I mean, my situation is a lot different than most, but If you’re not ready to work, don’t do this. If you’re not ready to put in the work, find something else. It’s tons of other businesses that don’t require upfront so much from you. And I believe that this is a business that, yes, 6 months, 7 months, 8 months, a year, 2 years in, you start to relax a little bit.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:01:46]:

But in the biz in the first portion of this, it is tough. And if you’re not ready to be beat up, then don’t go. Don’t do it. That’s kind of my advice for that.

Jordan Berry [01:02:01]:

Yeah. And that’s like, just hard hitting advice, though. I you know? That that’s first of all, nobody’s ever given the advice. Don’t, get in the business. But, I mean, I think, you know and especially, you know, doing it how you’re doing it like that, it you’re right, man. You’re running all over the country. You’re Thorson materials from, you know, in in equipment from different places. You’re trying to get it all, you know, together in in your one place.

Jordan Berry [01:02:27]:

You think it’s gonna take a month? That takes 4. You know what I mean? Like, the the growth is not there right away, and it’s, you know, slow growing early on. And and and you’re traveling a long way to do it too. So, I mean, I think that’s great advice, for someone, especially because one of the common messages around here is that is an easy business and passive business. And while it’s simple, it’s not easy, and it’s not passive either. So great advice, I think.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:02:54]:

Yeah. That’s probably the one thing I learned. The one the one lesson that I learned in When I look at people, and they be like, hey. I wanna go in a laundromat business. It’s kinda I could fill them out easily. Like, no. You don’t. Even if you have it Easy.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:03:08]:

Even if you go find a building, and you go and you wanna get the equipment, and you just have everybody else do the work for you, if you think it’s that easy, then, you know, good luck because, you know, something’s gonna go wrong. You know? It’s you’re dealing with water, gas gas, you know, natural gas. I mean, you know how many times they get a call? Hey. I smell gas. I gotta go down there and fix a dryer. You know? Hey. I need this machine to be cut off. I gotta shut all of the water off in the store just to fix this one Shane, you know, if you’re not ready if you’re not ready for that, and you can’t this is to me, this isn’t the business that you throw money at, you can’t throw money at problems in this business, or you’ll go broke.

Jordan Berry [01:03:50]:

Yeah. Yeah. Awesome advice. Alright. The last segment that we have here is called recommended resources. And What resources can you recommend to people to help them improve their their business, or themselves personally?

Kevin Lumpkin [01:04:06]:

We’re talking about the laundromat business. Your podcast is great. I like, Joe is a Joe investment guy. I like the mix that he brings To the industry. Khloe, I like just her communication, her upbeat attitude about life. I like Danny’s just rock hard demeanor. Like, He’s right to the point, and he’s telling you what it is. And I I I enjoy people just being straightforward with me in that in that aspect.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:04:33]:

Outside of that, if you’re looking to get into the laundromat business, go learn about electrical. Go learn about plumbing. Go learn about this. You need to become the best plumber you can become. You need to become the best electrician you can become. You need to understand how machines That you’re gonna use to try to make money from how they actually work, how they run, and the different parts associated So if you’re that person who buys the machine and you take that own the manual, you just throw it to now read the manual because it’ll help you get through a lot of problems you’re gonna face in this business. Whether you want to or not, they’re gonna come your way. Whether the machine is brand new or is used, it’s gonna break.

Jordan Berry [01:05:12]:

Yeah. Great advice. And, you know, it’s Interesting. I’ve never had anybody say, I don’t think, you know, go learn electrical. Go learn plumbing. So I think that’s, man, way to way to bring the unique stuff all day today. It’s been super good, and sharing your story is incredible story. You know? Like, holy cow, dude.

Jordan Berry [01:05:33]:

And and still, you know, for me, it’s still, like, a little bit like, holy cow. Did that really And and for you, I’m sure it’s that and some. Right. But, you know, you haven’t let it hold you back. You’re still getting after it there. So, I mean, 1 last question before I ask you how to how people can, you know, get in contact with you if they wanna ask any questions. When is the when when is the school coming out here? Like, you You led this school while you were in prison. When’s the, when’s the school for the rest of us coming out?

Kevin Lumpkin [01:06:09]:

So, I I I kinda started it when I came out. It was a passion of mine, so we created a company. It was called Black Entrepreneurs of America. And we were looking to put that together, together, but the more and more I go into business, the more and more I know that I really don’t wanna be the mouthpiece. You know? I’ll lead that up to the YouTube. I I put videos out on YouTube also, but I don’t really do it to get a following. I just do it because it’s kinda fun. Kind of exciting to be able to talk about knowledge that you have.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:06:39]:

So I’ll let the experts be the experts. I’m just I’m this I’m the guy in the background who you can bring forward every once in a while, but I don’t know if I really wanna to to to teach. You know? It I’ve learned through that. Again, I’ve turned on at least 70 people to the commercial cleaning business, and those people still have to call me. Hey. I’m facing this problem. And this I’m thinking in my head, hey. You wanna know the problem I’m facing? Okay.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:07:08]:

So for me, it’s like, That’s great. But, no, I don’t think I wanna go that path quite yet.

Jordan Berry [01:07:14]:

Yeah. Well, I’m gonna make it my job to work on changing your mind on that because I think it’d be awesome

Kevin Lumpkin [01:07:22]:

Okay.

Jordan Berry [01:07:23]:

To have you showing yeah. Teaching those business skills because you know what? You know, it’s one thing to teach, you know, prisoners in prison, how to make money. And, again, that was mind blowing concept for me. But it’s another thing to teach them before they get into prison so they don’t end up there. Right? And Dan.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:07:38]:

I like that. I like that. There’s some

Jordan Berry [01:07:40]:

pretty big opportunities, there too. So we’ll keep working on that. You maybe me and you will pow wow on that a little bit and think through it

Kevin Lumpkin [01:07:47]:

a little

Jordan Berry [01:07:47]:

bit But, dude, this has been incredible. Thank you again for sharing your story, just being so vulnerable, sharing, you know, your your roots in entrepreneurship. And they’re, those are some pretty, tough roots to deal with. Right? And, you were here and you shared you were and shared that story and how you got in this business. So I I appreciate you coming on. And, I know a ton of people are gonna love this episode and get a ton out of it. If if anybody wants to ask you a question, is there a good place they can go to ask you that question?

Kevin Lumpkin [01:08:19]:

Yeah. They can, we’re on the WASH Laundromat on YouTube. We also, it’s t [email protected]. That’s the name of our company. It’s The Wash Laundromat. So you can kinda find us on there. We’re on Facebook, The watch laundromat, Instagram. So you can also check out our VR escape room, Lumpkin’s VR escape room on Instagram.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:08:43]:

So

Jordan Berry [01:08:44]:

Nice. Lumpkin’s VR. Yeah, dude. I love that you got such a Such a diverse set of businesses too. Like, the cleaning business, the the virtual reality escape room, and laundromats is it’s great. Yeah. I love every 2nd of this, conversation.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:09:02]:

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Jordan Berry [01:09:03]:

Appreciate you coming on and, really thoroughly enjoyed

Kevin Lumpkin [01:09:09]:

You too. I appreciate it.

Jordan Berry [01:09:11]:

Yeah, man. We’ll do it again soon. Alright. I hope you guys loved that interview with Kevin. It was so much good stuff. His story, I didn’t know any of that story before we did record. A lot of times, I try to just not learned too much in the front, and so that I can learn it as you guys are learning it in the interview. And that was a wild ride that, that Kevin took us on.

Jordan Berry [01:09:33]:

So, kudos to him. Love, love, love his drive and ambition. But I’m curious, what’s your one Tangible takeaway that you are going to implement this week. Pick something. Put it into action. Maybe it’s, hey. You know what? I see the level of activity that Kevin is doing and the results he’s getting. So I’m gonna up my level of activity.

Jordan Berry [01:09:53]:

Maybe it’s something completely different. But no matter what it is, pick something, one thing, Put it into action this week, and maybe go share it on the forums.