166. Mastering Laundry Pick-up & Delivery (without a laundromat) with Ricky Salazar

Ricky Salazar [00:00:00]:
Hey. Hey.

Jordan Berry [00:00:00]:
What’s up, guys? It’s Jordan with the Loan About Resource Podcast. This is show 166, and I’m pumped you’re here today as always. And today, we’ve got Ricky Salazar on the show. It’s gonna be a really great show. He kinda talks about how he took a side door into this industry and how he created a pickup and delivery service in Las Vegas from, you know, basically nothing, and now it’s booming. So he’s gonna talk all about that, give a lot of really great tips. You’re gonna love this interview for sure. And real quick, before we get into it, today’s fast lane tips, the same as the last couple, which is this week, August 14th, we’re launching our next, round of mastermind groups.

Jordan Berry [00:00:42]:
If that’s something you’re interested in, comes with the pro community. So go check out laundromat resource.com/ pro. You get all the perks of the pro community, plus a mastermind group, which is a small group of people to help you get farther faster by meeting together regularly, getting some accountability on actions you need to be taken to accomplish your goals, encouraging each other, so much more problem solving together. It’s just it’s an accelerator towards success in my experience and in my opinion. So go check it out. Laundrometresource.com/pro. If you do it before August 14, 2024, you can, join this round. If not, we’ll have a round coming up, in another 4 to 6 weeks or so where we’ll launch some more groups.

Jordan Berry [00:01:27]:
But that is, coming up. So go check that out and let’s jump into it with Ricky in Las Vegas. Oh, Ricky, thank you for coming on the show, man. I’m super pumped to have you here. How are you doing?

Ricky Salazar [00:01:39]:
Good. Good. Good. Thank you for asking. Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure. It’s I’m excited.

Jordan Berry [00:01:44]:
Yeah. No. Me too. And, you know, I’ve been looking forward to this one. Actually, we’ve we’ve chatted, a little bit, and, I know a little bit about what you got going on. And I think people are gonna be excited about what you got going on. So can’t wait to hear about that. But let’s start with well, first of all, I was a little worried you weren’t gonna be here because I thought maybe you might be melted in a puddle on the sidewalk somewhere because you’re out in Vegas right now.

Jordan Berry [00:02:08]:
Right?

Ricky Salazar [00:02:09]:
Yes. And it’s very hot. Hot is an understatement. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:02:12]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, we’re smack dab in the middle of summer here. And whenever I just know whenever it’s hot here, it is like cooking it on the sidewalk over there. And, yeah. So I’m glad I’m glad you’re still, you know, solid.

Ricky Salazar [00:02:28]:
Thank you. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:02:29]:
Yeah. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about who you are, and, and then let’s get into how you got into this business.

Ricky Salazar [00:02:36]:
Yeah. My name is, Ricky Salazar. I was born in Anaheim, California, raised out in Ontario, California, went back to Anaheim. You know, my work background, I was in the carpenter’s union for a while. Then I went and get got my BBA at the Inland Empire Center For Entrepreneurship. And I’ve always had a passion for laundromats. We used them growing up. So I was donating plasma in Anaheim.

Ricky Salazar [00:03:00]:
At that time, forget what exact year it was. 2019, 2020, Boulder Express was being developed and built off of, Euclid and Catella and spoke with a contractor. And to do part of my market research. I applied for a job, ended up telling the director of operations the truth in the interview. Like, hey. You know, I don’t really want this job. I was just trying to gather information. You know, I have a $250,000 loan, and I wanna buy a old laundromat up the street.

Ricky Salazar [00:03:36]:
You know, he rebuttal that and said it would be a good idea to hire me. And I was like, you know, I’ll think about it. And That

Jordan Berry [00:03:45]:
is a bold move, man, to go in the interview and be like, actually, not only do I not want a job, but I wanna I wanna buy one down the road here.

Ricky Salazar [00:03:53]:
Like, it’s an old move.

Jordan Berry [00:03:54]:
And somehow that worked for you.

Ricky Salazar [00:03:56]:
That was a rookie move. But, you know, that that, the director of operations there, he’s a really great guy, and he just, like, rebuttal that. Like, no. I think you’d be, like, a good full time employee, and I don’t have full time. And I kinda just looked at him, walked off, came by through when it once it opened, looked at it. And one day, he’s like, call me. Come in. He’s like, I have a management job in Vegas for you.

Ricky Salazar [00:04:21]:
I was like, nah. I’m you know? He’s like, well, in the interview, this guy was special because he remembered that I had a son out here in Las Vegas. So I was like, he’s pretty good at saying You do. Yeah. You do. And I thought about it. I still turned it down, and I started out as an assistant manager there. And then after a couple weeks when I seen the photos of how big this location was gonna be, I was like, no.

Ricky Salazar [00:04:45]:
I wanna do something risky. I want a store all to myself that’s huge and to just jump off the cliff and be like, I want that store to manage.

Jordan Berry [00:04:54]:
Yeah. Okay. Well, hold on. I don’t wanna go to Vegas yet because Yeah. We’re still what where was where was the, the Boulder Creek location?

Ricky Salazar [00:05:03]:
Boulder Express.

Jordan Berry [00:05:04]:
It’s Boulder Express. Sorry.

Ricky Salazar [00:05:06]:
Off of Euclid and Coachella. And

Jordan Berry [00:05:08]:
Okay.

Ricky Salazar [00:05:09]:
But, yeah, next to, there’s a plasma center there. I think it’s called AquiPharma. Now there’s a UEI there, and then there’s a Hugo’s Acapulco.

Jordan Berry [00:05:18]:
Okay.

Ricky Salazar [00:05:19]:
Next to it.

Jordan Berry [00:05:19]:
I mean, you’re and you’re down the street from Disneyland there. You know? You’re you’re not too far.

Ricky Salazar [00:05:24]:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. This is a hot location, and they got the ozone sanitized wash system there. So

Jordan Berry [00:05:30]:
Yeah. Yep. Okay. So, I mean, this guy, he sounded like he he met you and was like, this this is my guy. Like, I gotta get him on board.

Ricky Salazar [00:05:39]:
Yeah. He said that to me repeatedly. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:05:41]:
Yeah. What do you what do you think it was? Probably your your good looks.

Ricky Salazar [00:05:44]:
You know, at that point in time, everybody that I went around, they’re like, you have this glow to you. Like, you’re gonna do something. You know? And I was only working at Dollar Tree that time, but I was working the front to the back, helping the freight manager, store manager. I don’t know what it was. I just got off my butt at that point in my life. This was 4 or 5 years ago, and I haven’t stopped. I haven’t had a day off since, and I feel good. I felt like I’ve had a vacation recently.

Jordan Berry [00:06:12]:
Nice. Well, I I mean, you do have you do have sort of that, like, aura about you. I mean, we talked, you know, earlier, before all this. Right? And I was like, dude, this is gonna be a this is gonna be a money interview because not only are you doing cool stuff, but you’re just you just seem like a really good guy. So Man. Okay. So you I mean, you weren’t really looking for a job. You were looking No.

Jordan Berry [00:06:34]:
Not really. Maybe. At that

Ricky Salazar [00:06:35]:
point, I was between a side hustle and Dollar Tree. I was already making $70 a year. Yeah. And that’s right before the pandemic. So

Jordan Berry [00:06:44]:
Okay. I was gonna say, so what made you take that as assistant manager job?

Ricky Salazar [00:06:49]:
You know, I’ve always pushed away management jobs and assistant managers through the back end to fulfill their role so they can have time off. And I never really wanted that title. Mhmm. But as I matured as a human being and as a man, you know, when I started to look in the mirror, I said, at some point, great leaders face things they don’t wanna do. Let’s just be realistic. Yep. No, Elon Musk or Trump or whoever we would like to consider as successful has ever just did the minimum or what they wanna do. I didn’t want the management position.

Ricky Salazar [00:07:32]:
Let’s just face it. I didn’t want the responsibility that came with that title. And I just faced it. I said, you know what? Let me just face this and do this instead of backing down. And and it was good for me. I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I’ve treated people wrong in certain scenarios, and then those same employees also taught me how to be a better manager and a better person and a better father and just a better leader, better business owner. So that’s what made me just those fears of saying what if.

Ricky Salazar [00:08:08]:
You know?

Jordan Berry [00:08:09]:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that’s what happens. Right? Like, you when you confront yourself and say, hey. Look. Like, I can’t just coast through life forever. I’m just I’m never gonna reach my potential. Right? And

Ricky Salazar [00:08:20]:
Absolutely.

Jordan Berry [00:08:21]:
You you step out. And like you said, you do the things that you don’t necessarily wanna do. That’s that’s where that growth happens. Right? That’s how you become a better manager. That’s how you become a better employee. That’s how

Ricky Salazar [00:08:33]:
you become

Jordan Berry [00:08:33]:
a better boss. That’s how you become a better owner. That’s how you become a better father is doing those things in in your your learning, your growing, and getting that experience, that it ends up translating throughout, you know, all your life. Right? And there’s a lot of people sitting on the fence who are scared, which understandably so. Like, it’s scary, to take whatever that next step is. But, you know, sometimes you just gotta buckle down and and do the thing you don’t wanna do or confront. You have to. And it’ll make you.

Jordan Berry [00:09:07]:
Yeah.

Ricky Salazar [00:09:07]:
Yeah. I agree.

Jordan Berry [00:09:09]:
Yeah. And and I’ll be I’ll just be a witness. Like, you know, for myself, I stepped out in fear. And when I bought my 1st laundromat Right. And I was I grew like a ton and things did not go well for me initially there. But without going through all that stuff, like, I’m not the person that I am today. And would I wanna go through it all again? No. No.

Jordan Berry [00:09:35]:
But, you know, I mean, part of me is glad that I did because it it shaped me a lot. Yeah. So I love that. Okay. So you ended up, taking this assistant manage it, management position there. But in I mean, initially, you said, you know, you had a loan for 250. You’re looking to buy 1. What happened Right.

Jordan Berry [00:09:57]:
What happened there? How come you didn’t end up doing that?

Ricky Salazar [00:10:01]:
You know, when I sat down when I sat down and I really thought about everything that goes into a laundry, I would have bought a job. The way Boulder Express was doing things, the owner is Rick Hutton. And he’s with Red Mountain Retail Group. They actually own that shopping center at one point, and they sold it after they branch office started. They owned 200 shopping centers. Mhmm. So when I did my research to find out who those guys were, the the retail management group, I was, like, astonished. I was like, oh, no.

Ricky Salazar [00:10:41]:
Like, I can either go jump off the cliff with 250,000 and be stuck in a laundromat or take a huge loss because mine let’s go let’s go back to me making 70 k a year prior to signing with them with Boulder Express. When I say them, I’m talking about Boulder Express. I took a pay cut. I actually quit doing the Dollar Tree in my other side hustle to make $16 an hour as an assistant manager

Jordan Berry [00:11:09]:
Mhmm.

Ricky Salazar [00:11:10]:
There in Orange County. That was in Orange County with cost of living. Mhmm. So that that’s why I decided I decided to go take a loss to learn more. I wanted to learn what these guys are doing. Like, what more do they own and what are they doing? He owns a car wash. And then I looked up who Mike Muegle is, the CEO and founder of Red Mountain Retail Group or Red Mountain Group. They’re and I’m like, man, these guys are commercial real estate guys.

Ricky Salazar [00:11:40]:
So then I saw this whole different world from a whole another dimension. It was like, okay. These if I wanna be like anybody, it’s these guys because, you know, that phrase, and it’s kind of people joke about it. You you think you’re too small. You gotta be thinking big. And that’s when I said, okay. I I really gotta change the way I’m looking at this job that I’m gonna purchase. And mind you, right now, I purchased another job.

Ricky Salazar [00:12:05]:
But I wanted to see laundry differently. And if it wasn’t for joining that team, I’m telling you, my watch and fold wouldn’t look the way it does. My brand ability wouldn’t. So I’m very grateful for that opportunity. You know? Yeah. There was a little bit of differences upon my departure because I gave a lot of love and nurture to this store, the Boulder Express store here in Las Vegas. So there was kind of a little bit of pushback when I left. But, no, if it wasn’t for me signing with these guys, my quality would be different.

Ricky Salazar [00:12:36]:
The way I talk about laundry would be different. I saw these guys are putting this was pre pandemic. Nobody can say that this guy, Rick Hutton, was putting ozone in there because he knew the pandemic. It was pre pandemic. He wanted to stand out, and was putting sanitized wash systems in his laundries, and didn’t go with the original Speed Queen. Put Continental equipment in there. And, I saw the way they were doing that. I said, I wanna be a part of a team instead of trying to be an outcast, I guess, or just have the title owner, but actually only be profiting $20 a year.

Ricky Salazar [00:13:12]:
Some of those small laundries, they you know what they do, the the numbers on them. You know?

Jordan Berry [00:13:17]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, you’re telling the story and it’s coming straight out of the, like, rich dad, poor dad playbook. Right? I mean, Rich Dad Poor Dad, he talks about how, you know, he and his buddy basically worked for free, and his buddy’s dad, his rich dad, you know, basically said, hey. I’m not I’m not gonna pay you. Find opportunities. Right? Like

Ricky Salazar [00:13:41]:
Yeah. Go go work

Jordan Berry [00:13:42]:
for somebody and look for opportunities. Right? And and as you’re saying, yeah, I take a pay cut so I could go learn from these guys and look for opportunities. I mean, that’s like straight out of the playbook there. But I mean, I think so. It’s so hard except less money. It’s so hard to go take a title that’s, you know, I I know for you, it wasn’t like a necessarily, the title wasn’t lower, but, you know, a lot of people, like, I I just know that it’s hard to swallow your pride and do that.

Ricky Salazar [00:14:11]:
It is very difficult. Yeah. And it’s Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:14:14]:
And and sometimes more than just your pride. Right? It’s your lifestyle aspect.

Ricky Salazar [00:14:18]:
Yeah. It’s it’s rather

Jordan Berry [00:14:20]:
making less money in Orange County.

Ricky Salazar [00:14:22]:
It’s rather emotional at some points. And, you know, the my boss at that time used to tell me that, You know, you you’re you do very well here, but you when you don’t like something or something’s not going well and you start doing the numbers, you know, you get too emotional. And I did, and it, and that’s exactly what it was. And I get lost in the sauce thinking, okay, I’m going to manage this thing forever. And then reality sets in when I wake up. I’m like, you can’t be a rich or a successful manager at some point. You have to train somebody to do your job to move on. And, that was emotional too because I really loved the brand they had at the time that I was with them, for the time that I was with them.

Ricky Salazar [00:15:07]:
Mhmm. You know? So but, yeah, it’s and then at one point, I became here. Then my goal my short term goal was to become the highest paid single laundry manager in all of Nevada. And I did. And I’ll be open about it. I was making 52,800 without bonus a year for Nevada. Most laundromat managers are making either less than that or that, but for multiple stores, for 10 stores. I was at one store and growing the Washington fold I mean, gigantic.

Ricky Salazar [00:15:42]:
You know, they even expanded for storage. We We had hotel orders in there that I went and got, and I literally walk in there and throw a price on a paper and get a callback. You know, hey. Come pick this stuff up.

Jordan Berry [00:15:55]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Ricky Salazar [00:15:56]:
Which is awesome.

Jordan Berry [00:15:58]:
Which is awesome. And and, you know, you mentioned kinda getting emotional. I just wanted to chime in because this is it’s somebody just said this, and I was like, yeah, that’s totally right on. Somebody was just I can’t remember who it was. So apologies, whoever was out there. But they were just saying being an entrepreneur or being a business owner is mostly about managing your emotions. Right? We got high highs and we got low lows and

Ricky Salazar [00:16:23]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:16:23]:
One of the big keys to being successful is learning how to manage those high highs and those low lows and not getting too high and not getting too low and do what needs to be done either way. So that’s a great lesson to learn on somebody else’s dollar for when you go out and do your own business, you know, and so just that was just a timely statement that you made there that really resonated with me.

Ricky Salazar [00:16:44]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:16:46]:
Okay. So you so you decided, you know, okay. I’m gonna how how well, how long were you assistant manager here in Orange County? Because I’m in

Ricky Salazar [00:16:54]:
I was only an assistant manager from March 26 of the year I was hired. I think it was 2020 I was hired. 2019 or 2020. But from March to, like, April, A month or 2, maybe. Okay. Yeah. Because that yeah. March, I hired.

Ricky Salazar [00:17:10]:
My birthday came. I worked. I moved to Vegas May 18th.

Jordan Berry [00:17:15]:
So you just packed your bags and, like

Ricky Salazar [00:17:17]:
Just left. You I called my sons I mean, I’m grateful to god for my son’s grandparents. Those this my ex my son’s mother’s parents, and she remarried. Yeah. And with another baby. But I am grateful to her and her family. I told them what was going on and that I had a job opportunity, and they wanted me to be around my son. So they were very even though I’m not with my son’s mother, they were like, look.

Ricky Salazar [00:17:45]:
This is our house. We’re gonna do what we wanna do. Your son would love to have you around. So I literally I mean, the direct they gave me $1500 relocation fee. That’s how bad I wanted it. They were like, we can only give you this much. We just started our company. I was like, let’s do it.

Ricky Salazar [00:18:01]:
I saw the store. I saw how big it was. I saw they had, I mean, 26 dryers on one side and 25 on the other with, 4 bulkheads and 38 to 34 no. 43 washers. I was like, oh, yeah. This is this is the kind of store I wanna run. I ran circles around the small one in California as a new hire. So this was like, I wanna be front to back of this huge one and generating sales and, you know, telling customers about the sanitized wash and, doing pickup and delivery out of a big store.

Ricky Salazar [00:18:35]:
So

Jordan Berry [00:18:36]:
What were the what what did you find were the differences between working at a bigger store versus a smaller store, California versus Nevada? Any any big differences

Ricky Salazar [00:18:53]:
retail customer service, as a retail customer service, wash and fold type of employee or manager, come out here. Here, you is a lot more work to grab customers, especially if you’re in an area like the store was out here. We didn’t have a lot of customers at first. California, you can throw, like, a store together, and it’s just busy. You know?

Jordan Berry [00:19:18]:
There’s people everywhere. Yeah.

Ricky Salazar [00:19:20]:
Yeah. There’s people. And then it costs living so high that you have a house with a washer and dryer, but there’s 26 people staying there. So you have to use a laundry facility. So, you know, smaller store, you’re limited to the amount of money you can make as a owner. And to me, that would limit your manager salary if you’re gonna bonus them. With a larger store, you can do a whole lot more. I get a lot of calls from Californians that move out this way and they’re like, what is your policy and how much do you charge if I come 30 days later to pick it up? And I’m like, what? And they’re like, yeah.

Ricky Salazar [00:19:56]:
You know, in California, they want it picked up, like, within 24 hours of completion. And I’m like, oh, oh, okay. Well, here, you know, we don’t charge for that. Okay. This is a win win for me, and you only charge a dollar 50. So the larger store, you can do a lot more. You can store a lot more. You know? And, I mean, you’re not there’s less of a limit on your cap.

Ricky Salazar [00:20:16]:
You can make as much money as you want with a bigger store from my perspective. And I saw all the numbers on Fast Card. I was in admin because I was a manager. So I saw what we’re doing about a1000 200 a day on a slow day, almost 2,000 on a Sunday in sales for South turn. Plus another we’ve got up to, I think, at some point, $30 in Washington full. Yeah. And that was all footwork that I did. You know? So for a bigger store, you can do a lot more.

Ricky Salazar [00:20:46]:
Pick up a deli you can do a lot more. You can employ a lot more employees. You can open earlier, close later.

Jordan Berry [00:20:55]:
Yeah. Yeah. And

Ricky Salazar [00:20:57]:
you From my or maybe I’m wrong. I don’t I don’t own one yet. So

Jordan Berry [00:21:00]:
No. I I think that that I mean, I think that’s true. Right? Like, I mean, obviously, if you have more capacity, you can do more business. Right? And Yeah. You’re only limited to how much business you’re willing to go out there and get if you’re doing pickup delivery, especially. Right? Like,

Ricky Salazar [00:21:16]:
you

Jordan Berry [00:21:16]:
know, self serve, you might be limited by how many people are nearby Right.

Ricky Salazar [00:21:21]:
More or less.

Jordan Berry [00:21:21]:
But you can go out and get that business on the service side. And you got the space and the capacity, you can do that.

Ricky Salazar [00:21:28]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:21:29]:
Okay. So, I mean, when you when you moved out there, had that one been already all built out? Were they still building it out? Where was it at in the process?

Ricky Salazar [00:21:36]:
No. It was a 100 well, let’s say well, to my standards, and I came off I came off at the you know, I I’m very strong spoken. So to me, it was 95%. Okay. Because there was a lot of finishing touches. There are things that need to be tightened up, like drain caps, small stuff. But it was a 100% complete. As far as, like, contractor wise, everything permit, everything was up and running.

Ricky Salazar [00:22:03]:
The they were they the owners and the directors of Boulder Express were trying to put a date on a grand opening. So when I saw that the director went out there and said, FaceTime me and send me pictures. When he sent me the pictures, I I said, I gotta have that store. They had the 70 pound 5 pound dryers, £45, and a £32. And I said, Oh, yeah, I got to have that. I got to have that store as a manager. He’s like, All right, but I’m letting you know. Rick Hutton isn’t the kind of guy that you just kinda like, oh, I want that store, then you’re not gonna take it.

Ricky Salazar [00:22:36]:
Like so if you’re gonna say that you want that store to manage, and I tell them, you gotta do it. And I’m like, no. I don’t even need to second guess it. I know I want that store. So, what are we going into again? I’m sorry.

Jordan Berry [00:22:51]:
No. No. No.

Ricky Salazar [00:22:52]:
There’s a lot of excitement in that because that that moment, my life kinda changed. You know? So, I mean, I think of when you when we’re talking about that, I think of all types of different exciting things that happened at that point in time in my life because it changed. My life changed drastically in a good way. I mean, it was sacrificial, but it was, like, the best. It’s like I always say this. It’s it was like going to college. You eat a bunch of top ramen. And if you really go to college for the right things, it’s I mean, like, those lawyers and attorneys when they finish, there’s, like, you know, pandemonium.

Ricky Salazar [00:23:29]:
It’s exciting. And that’s what that part of my life was for me.

Jordan Berry [00:23:33]:
Yeah. What what what made it so exciting for you? Because there’s a big change.

Ricky Salazar [00:23:39]:
It you know, I’ve never I’ve always had I’ve always was a happy employee, child that, like, we would like to eat all the chocolate. Let’s say we just we’re kids that love to make fudge and eat it and put it in our ice cream and put it in our cookies. That’s what laundry was for me since I was a kid. And I became infatuated with them because we needed them as me and my sister were kids. We grew up in a 1 bedroom house. We didn’t have a washer and dryer. You know, we weren’t always, even a middle class family. We were poor.

Ricky Salazar [00:24:16]:
You know? Mhmm. Even though my dad was a marine, we just so the poverty line, we’ve always had to use them, but I’ve always used to have this infatuation with the quarters going into the machine and calculating the numbers and, you know, every this machine is $4, so 4 times a 100, that’s how many turns the machine has. I just became infatuated with laundry. And so that’s why this job was like and and there’s people that would tell me, you’re so childish, but I love it because you’re so happy when I’ve had a bad day, and I love coming to this laundromat because you come in and you’re you’re joking about something. And it could be something that’s, like, inappropriate. But everybody’s laughing, even, like, even my Christian folks in there. You know? We’re we’re just having a good time. And and that’s what it just what to me is like being a kid all over again.

Ricky Salazar [00:25:08]:
The laundry, the washing full, and, I mean, on Christmas. I mean, I think I argued with the director because, we’re both Christian. It has nothing to do with anything. You know? I’ve employed, Buddhists and, you know, had nothing to do with with anything but going to towards, holidays. He’s like, Ricky, I really would need you to have the day off. You know, I’d like you to give all the employees. I said, I understand that, but I took it upon myself for Boulder Express in Vegas to be open through all holidays. And my reason for that is I’ve been homeless and depressed.

Ricky Salazar [00:25:45]:
And on those days, I would like to do my laundry to pass the day by. And we have a lot of military out here or retired police officers or widows that on those days, they like to do the same thing. So I like to break bread on those days and be open for those clients that aren’t from here. They’re from Chicago, but they’re stationed here. They moved because the cost of living in California was so high. You know, we had those kinda debates or arguments. Okay. This year, are you gonna take it off? And it’s like, no.

Ricky Salazar [00:26:16]:
Well, then who’s working? I I don’t want you forcing the employees. I’m working. Open to close.

Jordan Berry [00:26:22]:
Yeah. Well, I I love that because holidays are, you know, they’re fun with family and stuff, but there’s just so many people. I saw that too. I stay open on the holidays too.

Ricky Salazar [00:26:33]:
Oh, did you?

Jordan Berry [00:26:33]:
Yeah. And, you know, a lot of people, like, a surprising number of people come and do laundry because while it’s happy for a lot of people, it’s also just a difficult time for a lot people.

Ricky Salazar [00:26:45]:
And it’s not even the

Jordan Berry [00:26:46]:
homeless people. You know, it’s widows or widowers and it’s, you know, like you said, people who’ve relocated don’t have family in the area. It’s, you know, who it it can be a really sad time. So if you have the opportunity to, you know, provide a space for them, something for them to do and then bring some joy to their life along the way. I I love that. Yep. I love that. I love that mentality.

Jordan Berry [00:27:07]:
And I I mean, you know, it’s like as you’re talking, I’m like, yes. Like, there’s so many things that you’re saying right now that are leading you to where you’re at now that you probably didn’t know kind of along the way. But just, you know, this mentality that you have where you just love what you’re doing, you know, all that that passion is just so visible, you know, in you right now, and you can hear it in your voice, that it, you know, it I mean, like you said, like, you feel like you’ve just got off a vacation and you haven’t, you know, you haven’t.

Ricky Salazar [00:27:43]:
In years, I haven’t had a day off in years.

Jordan Berry [00:27:45]:
Yeah. You keep working all the time. Right? But you have it. And and that shines through. And I’m sure it shines through with customers and employees and and all that as well.

Ricky Salazar [00:27:54]:
It does. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:27:56]:
How long did you how long did you work for Boulder Express?

Ricky Salazar [00:28:00]:
I worked for 4 years. February 9th was the 4th year. Well, it would have been March, but about 4 years.

Jordan Berry [00:28:07]:
Just about 4 years. Yeah. And then, before we kinda go to, like, what what you did after that, we’re, like, are there any, like, big I mean, we talked about you working with sort of these guys who are doing bigger things and how it kinda opened your mind a little bit to, like, what’s available, what’s out there, how to think a little bit bigger. Any other, like, big takeaways from these guys? I just don’t wanna gloss over that in case there was anything else that you you took away from working with these guys.

Ricky Salazar [00:28:36]:
No. I I learned, you know, I overstepped my boundaries a lot with with, the Rick Huttens Boulder Express, And I’m grateful for that. But the reason I overstepped my boundaries is because I had my own it’s almost toxic to put a CEO or a baby in the making CEO under a brand. Because that brand, Boulder Express, was already developed prior to me probably since like 2017 or 18. Came around like 2020 when they launched the face of the business. But their licenses were already existing prior because they knew that’s what they wanted to do. So there was times where Rick kind of had to tell me in front of my boss, hey, you know, like, this isn’t a democracy. This is like we’re we’re gonna build 25 stores.

Ricky Salazar [00:29:27]:
We’re not trying to take over the world. And Ricky on this hand, you know, I wanted to take over the whole laundry industry in all of Nevada and Vegas. So, you know, that’s kind of where I had to wake up in reality and realize, hey. You know, if you wanna do your own thing, you gotta respect these guys and do your own thing. So, but, no, there was not nothing I really to take away. I’m grateful that I got to be a part of that brand and its, like, upbringing and the nurturing portion of it launching from May 18, 2020 and up until the 4 years, it it was a definitely an experience that I don’t wanna relive again, but it was that I had fun. If you ask the customer, it was a party in there all the time. I mean, I did have I had taco trucks out front.

Ricky Salazar [00:30:17]:
I didn’t charge them rent. I didn’t. I could’ve. I could’ve tried to take backhand pay from but I did it because I saw a lot of my customers loving to wash there. And I said, what can they do that would support a local vendor At the same time, these some of my customers didn’t have cars, and I’ve been there before, and they’re coming on buses. So then they have to Uber to a restaurant while their laundry is stuck in a machine. We have to they get upset. We take it out.

Ricky Salazar [00:30:44]:
So I’ll put a taco stand out front. You know? No problem. And they loved it. So, you know, I always overstepped my my boundaries with, Boulder Express. And those guys were very special in a sense that they let me do whatever I wanted. My illegally. Legally.

Jordan Berry [00:31:03]:
Yeah. Right.

Ricky Salazar [00:31:03]:
Except for the vendors being out front and them saying, Ricky, did you let her yes. We’re giving you know, they’re spending a lot of money. Okay. You know, because once once I mentioned that to the owners, hey. You know, but they spend these customers spend about, you know, $1,000 a month. Okay. No problem. But but I did overstep my boundaries a lot.

Ricky Salazar [00:31:20]:
I made flyers that probably they wouldn’t approve of with my number on it with the company to get it exposure. And it worked. The numbers were coming in. They probably found out later and never mentioned it. But I did all that to learn when I’m ready to do my own thing. I trialed it with that company, and it worked for them. They make very good money while I was there.

Jordan Berry [00:31:41]:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, in that that, you know, number 1, you see that a lot with a lot of younger people and not just age younger, but, like, newer, I guess, to where you’re very passionate about something. Right? And you have opinions and it’s hard, you know, if you’re if you’re I mean, you you kinda got all the signs, all the telltale signs of being an entrepreneur at heart. Right? And if you’re an entrepreneur and you’re passionate about something and you’ve got ideas and you’ve got thoughts, it’s just hard to keep those in. Like, I I did that a lot too in my early days. I was a youth pastor early on and

Ricky Salazar [00:32:18]:
Oh, nice.

Jordan Berry [00:32:18]:
You know, I I was had all kinds of ideas and overstepped my bounds and all that stuff too. Right? But all that’s part of the process, right

Ricky Salazar [00:32:27]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:32:27]:
Of learning, of growing. And and the one thing that don’t wanna do, right, is let bump in heads with, you know, the higher ups and that kind of thing kill your passion. Right?

Ricky Salazar [00:32:42]:
No. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:32:42]:
That, you know, one thing that I think is interesting that you did, which was good, sounds like, was you you sort of pivoted to do your own thing after you left Boulder Express. Right? So can you talk about that transition and what you did and how you decided to do that?

Ricky Salazar [00:32:59]:
So the trend transition was based off of growth. I started transitioning faster. I started NextGen Laundry Services April of 2023, but I didn’t really go like push it. I started it, had the license, created it to be able to serve clients that I was unable to serve because I didn’t have enough ground control with Boulder Express. So instead of turning away clients and potential dollar signs, I started funneling. This was always my phone number, the 714 number I have. I’m not gonna say the whole number, but the Orange County number I have has always been mine even when I listed them on Google. I owned it prior to being employed with Boulder Express.

Ricky Salazar [00:33:46]:
And that’s something that we’ve talked about with them, and they just were like, yeah. Just use your phone. You know? So I’m always getting calls because of my marketing. I do my own marketing. None of the marketing for this store was paid for by the owners or subsidiaries or proprietors of Boulder Express. It was all my my income that I spent on the marketing. So because I already built that momentum and I already had my license, it was an easy transition. I didn’t mean to leave when I did.

Ricky Salazar [00:34:20]:
I’ll be honest. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. I didn’t mean to leave when I did. It’s just that the talks of acquiring multiple locations in Vegas were a constant thing since the 1st year and just never transpired. So being that these gentlemen are far more mature than I am in age, I decided, okay. Like, the from and I know there’s a lot more to contracting and permits and, negotiating leases when well, that’s a whole another podcast, but there’s a whole another real estate even if you’re not trying to own the property that the laundromat is on, there’s a whole another portion of purchasing the laundromat. So I’m not badmouthing Boulder, but it just didn’t happen fast enough for me with the amount of momentum that I had. Already told these clients that I would have this many locations and this many vehicles by this day.

Ricky Salazar [00:35:19]:
And then also that we would expand in to the location we already have out here for commercial equipment with OPL setup. It didn’t transpire fast enough. And then, the the deal was the talk was that at 6 and a half turns or spins per day, that we would start building that out. So, it came around closer to my departure. I talked about that with the director. You know, we purchased some vending machines, and I said, hey. Look. You know, I’m no longer gonna push this anymore because this is, you know, this is what the talks was at 6a half and about acquiring this location and that location, and things just didn’t fall through.

Ricky Salazar [00:35:59]:
So, no hard feelings, but I’ll never ask again what happened with that. You know, I’ve been asking for 4 years, but, he said, alright. Well, there’s nothing we can do. You know? I said, okay. So then from that day forward, I just focused on solely managing the team and continued my marketing. And then, I had my eyes on a property that I wanted to put some OPL equipment at, and I relayed that to this is how I knew I had something special and I had some secret sauce, is I relayed that to a pretty big client. Like, I had to build up all this unemotional conversation before I met with this guy, and I had saw him, and I this is a client, you know, with a real estate group. And I never could build that courage without getting emotional.

Ricky Salazar [00:36:49]:
And then I finally did one day. I said, hey. I just been wanting to tell you, eventually, in about a year, I’ll be resigning with Boulder Express. And right away, he didn’t even let me finish. He’s like, okay. Well, I need your license and information and, w nine, and and we’ll get the and I said, well, let me finish. I said, I have nothing but good intentions and good things to say about Boulder Express, but I can’t do that. So you what you’re gonna need to do is is deal with whoever’s gonna be managing it on my last day, and we’re gonna shake hands, and you’re gonna meet all the employees.

Ricky Salazar [00:37:23]:
And they’re gonna be the ones to do all the routes and pickup and delivery and process orders. I’ve done enough. I’ve showed enough to every employee about the stain treatment, about order process. And he’s like, well, then we just won’t we just won’t need laundry service because we wanna work with you. And I said, but, you know, you didn’t even let me finish. And, you know, that’s when I he said, listen. Anything anytime I’ve ever had a problem with laundry, like, on your day off or you’re supposed to be with your son, you’ve always answered and you’ve always you’ve always found a solution, which is why if you look at my logo, it says we have, NextGen Laundry Services. We have a solution.

Ricky Salazar [00:38:01]:
Mhmm. And that’s where that came from. So I didn’t intend to take any customers from Boulder Express, but the trans that was the transition. And, speaking, the blue shirt you have on there, that’s actually there’s a new location here that opened when I started separating and pulling away from Boulder Express. I was still employed there. But I was processing my orders over there and still managing Boulder Express. And the owner, I mean, thankful to God, was allowing me to process orders in there during normal business hours. And I was paying full price for the equipment.

Jordan Berry [00:38:40]:
So So

Ricky Salazar [00:38:40]:
it was a very challenging transition because the the emotions between maybe me and the new management and some of the employees that were kind of disgruntled maybe with me while I was there or felt like I was doing something wrong or maybe the director. The energy was a little different. So that was a very difficult time for me, but I I didn’t have time to look back. You know, this is I just purchased the job at that point. You know? So when I left, I gave a 33 callback rule. Customers from Boulder Express would call me. I tell them no three times, And I’d explain to them that, you know, I don’t want to tear down anything that I was ever a part of help building upwards. So you need to try to give them time to have somebody that’s in place train.

Ricky Salazar [00:39:39]:
And, just like when mistakes happened when I was there, you guys were very supportive of that and gave me time to develop, you know, a different strategy for your customized commercial orders, you guys I would like for you to do that with Boulder Express. And then after a while, if they came back, they came back, you know. Then I just put them in my system and, you know, we walked away with it. Where most laundry owners are like, screw that. I would’ve took them off bat. You know? But I never wanted to hurt anybody when I left. But, you know, it was a very challenging transition. I had a van that a Toyota Sienna that I was doing my pickup and deliveries out of.

Ricky Salazar [00:40:17]:
And, I mean, that thing was sagging. Scraping the tires.

Jordan Berry [00:40:20]:
Hey. That’s good.

Ricky Salazar [00:40:22]:
And, it was just I mean, I I was just talking about this with my son’s mother yesterday. I said, you know, I told our son, don’t know how I made it through February to July. I just closed my eyes, and I’m here. But I fought, man. I bought a $20,000 Ram 25100 cargo van. 7 days later, I put a new transmission in it.

Jordan Berry [00:40:47]:
Oh my gosh.

Ricky Salazar [00:40:49]:
I drive that thing so much, the mechanic was here that this morning, but I got me a good fleet guy. Yeah. But, and then I and then all this is going on, and I started increasing my prices and changing different service area pricing. And I’m and that’s how I’m surviving.

Jordan Berry [00:41:07]:
Yeah. Okay. Well, I mean, that’s a lot that’s a lot to unpack.

Ricky Salazar [00:41:11]:
No. It’s it’s

Jordan Berry [00:41:13]:
Yeah. I mean, listen, the transition thing, I mean, that’s that’s a tough that’s a tough one to handle, you know, and

Ricky Salazar [00:41:20]:
You know it is.

Jordan Berry [00:41:21]:
Tougher especially when you’re going in the same industry and you’re basically heating, you know, at that point, and you’re trying to figure you’re trying to navigate how do you do that well. Right? Yeah. That’s that’s tough.

Ricky Salazar [00:41:35]:
While while your previous employer feels like you’re trying to compete and you’re not. You know? I’m not trying to compete. If you look at my branding, the color of my bags now, I’m putting stickers. I’m putting bands around my socks, and I’m not even copying what Waleed’s doing. I’m using just white paper bands. I’m not, you I’m not offering sanitized wash to any customers like they are. I’m not, I’m not using curbside laundries like they are. I’m not doing anything the way they run their facility facilities like.

Ricky Salazar [00:42:06]:
So, I mean, I’m very much so oil and water. Yeah. You know?

Jordan Berry [00:42:13]:
Well, it’s just tough.

Ricky Salazar [00:42:14]:
I’m just I’m owner ran. Their their owner invested and lets the employees run the show, I am hands on.

Jordan Berry [00:42:24]:
Yeah. Well, and that and that’s gonna make all it’s gonna be hard for and I’ve said this before on the show. Like, it’s hard for somebody who’s trying to run their thing passively to compete with somebody who’s passionate about laundry and who’s running hands on. It’s just gonna be hard for them to compete, you know, with you. And, you know, I mean, the reality is there’s tons of business to be had in in Vegas or really any any area. And so there should be enough for both, obviously. But that transition is just tough. It’s just tough when you’re when you’re leaving a spot and you’re trying to do something similar to to what they’re doing, it’s just gonna be tough either way.

Ricky Salazar [00:43:04]:
Well, let let me let me say this. If if anyone was to ask, how do I prevent that from happening? I have a really good manager, and they are very much so capable and coherent, and they have a BBA, you know, Bachelor of Business Administration. They’re capable of doing their own thing. If you really want that manager or that employee around, there’s no need for that employee to leave. Do an LLP offer them partnership, an LLP or an LP, you know, which is a different type of license and give them a different deal. That’s what companies do when they find if somebody’s not really a threat, but they don’t wanna lose that employee, so they offer them a unique situation. So

Jordan Berry [00:43:55]:
Yeah. And an opportunity to participate in the upside. Right? If you’re going out there getting a whole lot of business for them and you’re you’re not really seeing any benefit from that, you know, I I mean, I I see what you’re saying there.

Ricky Salazar [00:44:06]:
I see what you’re saying.

Jordan Berry [00:44:07]:
And an employee in retaining good employees is is tough. Right? There’s no denying that. It’s tough. Yeah. But it, you know, retaining an attendant or something like that’s a little bit different than somebody who’s helping you run Yeah. Run your business. Right?

Ricky Salazar [00:44:24]:
So Right.

Jordan Berry [00:44:25]:
That’s that’s a good tip. A good tip there. Do you think if they if they had like, increased your pay, do you think you would have stayed? Like, let’s say they gave

Ricky Salazar [00:44:33]:
you You know,

Jordan Berry [00:44:34]:
a 20% pay raise.

Ricky Salazar [00:44:36]:
You know, I I I asked for 60 before I left, and I told them I was thankful. They said they didn’t say no, but they didn’t give it to me. And I don’t think that excited the director, but I am I am grateful to let me take a deep breath. I am grateful to god that that didn’t happen because I would have been stuck in a bear trap. Yeah. And so I am like I think about that all the time when I’m going through something. I’m like, I am so glad I’m not, like, imprisoned by employment anymore. But would I would I recommend any manager to do that theirself? No.

Ricky Salazar [00:45:13]:
Because most of them do it with bad intentions. Most employees leave companies, and they wanna show that owner that they took that client or that they did that. That’s not the case here. So and then they’re like, well, you did it. And I’m like, no. I didn’t. I don’t have nothing. Those guys, I love what they’re doing.

Ricky Salazar [00:45:28]:
They’re building 25 stores. There is I’m I’m not competing with that. I can’t compete with that. They’re building 25 stores, and they own 200 shopping centers. You think I wanna go to war with these guys? No. You what you are doing as a carpenter is leaving because you don’t like your boss, and now you’re gonna go start your own business and do remodels, and you’re gonna do it in spite of that company. And that’s not what I did. So I don’t and I don’t recommend anybody do what I did.

Ricky Salazar [00:45:54]:
This is very this is a very big struggle. I’m sure you know what’s the Madison girl? The girl that I like the

Jordan Berry [00:46:01]:
Madison Anderson.

Ricky Salazar [00:46:01]:
Yeah. She is amazing, and I love that she’s telling the truth. It isn’t easy. This is not a get rich quick scheme. This isn’t a get rich quick scheme. It’s not.

Jordan Berry [00:46:11]:
Well and yeah. And and, you know, Mark Vlastkamp who, you know, he started the fold. He did something similar where he started

Ricky Salazar [00:46:17]:
with Yes. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:46:18]:
Laundromat. Right? And, like, he he’ll be the first one to tell you, like, he does not recommend going this path because it is hard. Like, he worked yes. He built an awesome business. He built a big business. He ended up selling that business for good amount of money. He earned every cent of it. He worked really hard.

Jordan Berry [00:46:35]:
Yeah. I mean, just it’s the same thing as what you’re saying. Right? It’s tough. So you you started your own pickup and delivery. You don’t have a location. Right? So where are you where are you processing your laundry?

Ricky Salazar [00:46:47]:
So I do have Sents. I think the only holdup on my Android and Apple app is me. I’ve been so busy, but I have, the POS. And that’s how I am streamlining slowly but surely pickup and delivery so they’re not calling and texting. And then, I have a big house, so I store the orders not inside my house, but on my property. And we process them every day. 7 AM to 11 AM, I’m willing almost like the blast camp guy did. Yeah.

Ricky Salazar [00:47:22]:
I believe I would believe so. I haven’t really I’ve heard about him. I’m not gonna lie. I’ve heard about him. He’s messaged me on Instagram. Told him in about a year, we’ll set a date, and we’ll talk some things out. He said he wanted to share some tips. And I’m I could imagine that he struggled like I did as far as, like, this last minute order, then you don’t wanna tell a customer no.

Ricky Salazar [00:47:42]:
So you’re processing. If something happens, a girl’s sick at the laundromat or your process, man. You gotta figure that out. So, no. I mean, yeah, I’m storing orders at my house. Now, not I’m storing commercial orders. I do not, my mindset and my ideology on regular clothing is to be processed immediately upon pickup. So I don’t store any dirty laundry here unless it’s, commercial linen.

Ricky Salazar [00:48:12]:
Commercial linen, I store at the property. I got cameras. So if customers have any questions about how what the process is, then I can be transparent like that. And most people don’t care. They’re they’re like when they see my product the way it comes out, they’re like, oh, yeah. This you’re blowing your I don’t care who Joe Blow’s laundromat is anymore. That’s crazy. Like, what you I love I love you.

Ricky Salazar [00:48:35]:
They tell me flat out, I love you. I love what you do. And I spend a lot of money on chemical. And there’s and there’s a lot of laundromat owners out here. I won’t say a lot of, but it’s not a lot. But I’m gonna make it seem like it’s not one person that wasn’t happy about me doing what I’m doing, And they did come behind me and say, like, oh, he’s using all these chemicals because he doesn’t have, the sanitized wash system and blah blah blah blah. And, yeah, he’s using Laundra Labs’ new equipment, but, he’s using very harsh chemicals. And it was an easy fix to customers, like, well, we we haven’t had a complaint about a breakout.

Ricky Salazar [00:49:13]:
But when we were using your service or that service from other laundromats, it comes back yellow. But I use a surfactant called ScrubTech and part of the Entegra chemical program. I don’t know if you’re familiar with that. And then I use a 93 enzyme spotter. It’s to me, it’s real simple because, you know, laundromats don’t want to do the work. They don’t want to open the sheet, see a stain, and you just spot it. It takes it takes a little bit longer. That’s a secret sauce that I have.

Jordan Berry [00:49:43]:
Yeah. Well, that

Ricky Salazar [00:49:43]:
Staying treatment.

Jordan Berry [00:49:44]:
Yeah. And you don’t you don’t hear a lot about that. Where are you where are you getting your your chemicals from?

Ricky Salazar [00:49:50]:
I’m getting them from, reliable I was getting them from Arizona because when I left Boulder, I guess they they did the repairs at Boulder Express. So I was getting them from Arizona just because I didn’t wanna get it from the same distributor. I didn’t know if they were gonna price gouge me, but, Wayne, the owner, has been very good to me, and he brings it from Utah and brings it to me. It’s reliable commercial laundry equipment or something like that. And they’re based out of they sell equipment. They do all the repairs on the strips, the jails, the prisons, the VA, veterans’ homes. So they don’t really need to sell me chemical. I appreciate these guys doing it.

Ricky Salazar [00:50:27]:
You know? But I do spend about anywhere from on a slow month, 300 to a 1,500 in chemical. It’s 11% bleach they bring me.

Jordan Berry [00:50:37]:
Yeah. Yeah. So okay. And you’re doing you’re doing your laundry at just a laundromat in the area? It’s not yours. Right? Did you work out any deal with them or you’re just paying whatever they do?

Ricky Salazar [00:50:51]:
I pay them full price.

Jordan Berry [00:50:52]:
Yep.

Ricky Salazar [00:50:53]:
Yep. I pay full price. I did get a an offer from I won’t say that that company’s name because it was a customized pricing, where if I spend a certain amount in a month, they’ll give me, 10% in loyalty points and some type of cash check or something towards whatever I spend with them. But, you know, for I for me right now, that’s a little bit complex. So I’m using a laundromat that has a low price, you know, 4.75 for a £40, and I think it’s 25¢ for 20 minutes or something like that.

Jordan Berry [00:51:30]:
Yep. They they need to up their game, especially

Ricky Salazar [00:51:34]:
in the Well, they they’re making they’re it’s working for them. They’re, they got a low lease. They’ve been there for a long time. I’ve had I told them too, if you should raise your price, I’ll still pay it. They’re like, no, man. We we our customers in the community, we’ve been here a very long time. We have a very we’re almost paid off our lease. You know? We’re looking to buy just this.

Ricky Salazar [00:51:53]:
So I’m like, alright. You know? And that’s where I’m at doing the orders. I always keep my mind peeled on different laundries just because holidays, and I don’t ever want it to stop my flow. I do have a couple offers, and I’m open to offers for, partnerships with mini laundry OPL plants for businesses like me. There is a couple other individuals out here doing what I’m doing with their family. Mhmm. It’s common. And and I’ve heard a distributor that sells me chemical said that in Arizona, there’s a woman who’s a big part of her church that she has commercial OPLs in her garage.

Ricky Salazar [00:52:29]:
And her nice big garage, and it’s flipped into a mini OPL wash and fold central. And she runs they said she does a ton of wash and fold. So this is probably something that’s evolving. You know, I’m not gonna act like I’m the only one doing it. You know? I’ve heard there is other other people breaking out and doing it their own way.

Jordan Berry [00:52:50]:
Yeah. So, I mean okay. You you broke off and did your own thing here, and you’re doing pickup and delivery. Right? And then how how are you getting how are you finding customers here?

Ricky Salazar [00:53:03]:
Yes. Let’s let’s dive into that.

Jordan Berry [00:53:05]:
Yeah.

Ricky Salazar [00:53:05]:
What’s that?

Jordan Berry [00:53:06]:
Is it growing?

Ricky Salazar [00:53:08]:
It yes. It is very exciting. So that’s why I postponed our original day is because I was, like, I was juggling, and I got so nervous. And I said, oh, my god. I gotta postpone. It is crazy how I mean, I’m getting a chills right now how you know what they say, you’ll know you’re putting into something because the the results will come. And I’m like, okay. I gotta I just printed flyers.

Ricky Salazar [00:53:32]:
I ain’t even got to hand them out because I it just started coming. But that’s 4 years of hard work, my momentum. And I thought I lost that momentum. See, I started all over. When I left Boulder, my intentions weren’t to have the clients. The only client that I had was this special customer Mhmm. That and let me tell you, speaking of how I get my clients, this is my style. This is how I just organically generate new clientele.

Ricky Salazar [00:53:59]:
There was one day on a slow day. My slow days were usually Wednesdays when I was a Laundromat employee manager. I came back to my house. I got in my laptop and my phone, and I was googling vacation rental services. I had already called all the companies that popped up, so I started going janitorial services, cleaning home cleaning services. Because if I can’t get through to the real estate company or the vacation rental management, guess what? They need housekeepers. Right? So if I hit every housekeeper up, call them, tell them, hey. You know, why be stuck cleaning 1 property when you can partner with me as a laundry service provider? You show the invoice to the owner, let them pay it, and I pick up and deliver clean laundry on a cycle.

Ricky Salazar [00:54:44]:
At one time, the midterm vacation rental in Henderson checks out. I deliver the clean from the previous time, pick up the dirty. And then, I sort and separate all the stains. Cleaners would love that. Right? So I was doing just cold calling. I called this company called, we end up becoming really good friends. His name is Jeremiah Sydney with Prime Cleaning Services. Called them.

Ricky Salazar [00:55:09]:
He’s like, yo yo. Call me back. Call me back. And, I got another I’m on the other line with a customer, but I need your service. He told me flat out, I need your service. I’m like so I waited, sat there, called him in 10 minutes. He’s like, dang. You called me back.

Ricky Salazar [00:55:23]:
He’s like, I didn’t think you’d call back. I’m like, no, man. You gotta see what we do with laundry. Like, I’ll go to that house and pick it up right now. Like, I’ll I’ll pay for it. If it doesn’t come out good, I’ll I’ll buy new linen. Like, where are you located? I told him where we’re located. He dropped it off.

Ricky Salazar [00:55:38]:
He loved it. Something happened business wise, and that guy, stopped offering service to these I think there were 40. They weren’t Airbnbs. They’re like midterm rentals. Because in Vegas, there’s different laws. So, these are all in Henderson, and they’re midterm rentals for like corporate business. Even someone like you might want to travel and get into a home with a pool and kind of so you feel at home. Well, they’re fully furnished and linen.

Ricky Salazar [00:56:05]:
So he stopped servicing them. Well, I didn’t wanna stop doing laundry for these people. This is this is how I get people. So I’m like, what is the name of this business? I am thinking I need this customer. You know? I wanna work with these people. So I lied. I looked up Cunningham Real Estate Group, and I called and I said, there was a woman that managed like these midterm rentals for people who need temporary housing furnished units. I have her name somewhere here on my desk.

Ricky Salazar [00:56:34]:
I can’t pin it out, and I I lied. Said I can’t pin it out, and I just don’t know. She goes, oh, Shannon. Shannon out. Let me give you her cell phone number. I said, that’s the name. I have it right here, but I don’t have the number. What’s the number? And I got the number and cold called her and told her, hey.

Ricky Salazar [00:56:51]:
You know, I don’t know what happened with the last cleaning guy that I met you guys too, but we provide pickup and delivery laundry service. And I even have a housekeeper that specializes in midterm rental cleanings, which is reliable cleaners. And she was like, okay. Be at this property at that at this time on this day. This was like September 20th. I remember the exact date because, you know, these are very these are, like, great people to work with and work for. They’re, I think it was September 23, 2022 was the first day I initiated service, and I still service them till this day. But they’re very special people.

Ricky Salazar [00:57:29]:
They are Cunningham Real Estate Group, they are like, I’ve never seen a vacation rental or like a midterm rental management company that doesn’t illegally list their properties. They’re all in Henderson because that’s where it’s legal. Nowhere near a hotel because that’s where it’s legal. And they have I mean, they got fire extinguishers in these properties. They’re like hotels, and they’re really professionally ran. And they’re not trying to undercut vendors like housekeepers and laundry, guys, and pool cleaners. They outsource all of that. And that’s how they’re able to have multiple properties because they’re so smart that, hey, we’re not laundry people.

Ricky Salazar [00:58:12]:
We don’t clean pools. We’ll hire these people to do it. And, I still work with them. It’s almost it’s going on 2 years. This September will be 2 years. And, that was a company going back in our conversation where I was kind of telling them, hey, in a year, I won’t be with Boulder. And they were like, no. We gotta have your service.

Ricky Salazar [00:58:30]:
And that was a that was a you know, to be able to still offer service to them, that’s where the bulk of my commercial comes from. I did just get a couple new commercial clients that are really big. I mean, 18 bedroom properties. But for the time that I’ve been in business or been offering service, Cunningham Real Estate Group has been like, the most solid. I mean, they even have an app where, you know, it tells you what what to pick up, where to pick it up. They’re so streamlined. It’s almost like the sense for rental properties.

Jordan Berry [00:59:08]:
Yeah. No. That’s awesome. And, you know, finding finding clients like that is huge because it gives you that that baseline that baseline security, to be able to go build off of now. Because once you have sort of that consistent revenue you can count on coming in Yeah. It makes it easier to go out and find more, and be able to take kind of bigger risks actually in in Yeah. Land other clients, which is I mean, that’s key. Right? Like

Ricky Salazar [00:59:39]:
Yeah. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t know how to turn over these big properties that I just acquired for laundry service. I acquired these properties for laundry service. They’re huge. Biggest, probably one of the biggest vacation properties I’ve ever seen. It’s not even listed on Airbnb. It’s listed on some corporate like for events or like where you go stay for 2 weeks in Vegas, and they have all these treats or whatever. And they got fully furnished rooms and a DJ and, you name it.

Ricky Salazar [01:00:08]:
You know, there’s you pull up there to pick up laundry. There’s Rolls Royces pulling off. But these properties are so big, and I’ve turned I I turned them around. I pick them up like say, I pick them up now, and I turn them around next day with just me and Tuath Place with all that laundry hit. But because of Cunningham giving me that foundation to grow upon, I wasn’t perfect when I met them. I made a lot of mistakes. I’ve had to buy sheets, replace them. You know, you’re mixing one property with the other, so you gotta find the missing pieces.

Ricky Salazar [01:00:38]:
So they’ve really helped me to be able to serve bigger clients and grow my plan. And they told me that at one point, you know, I’m like, why did you guys choose myself? We will, you started with us, and our stuff came back wider. So, we wanted to give you a chance, just like we do all our housekeepers, to grow and build their small business. And that is very special for, I think the owner’s name is Sean Cunningham. It’s Cunningham Real Estate Group. That is very unique and special. Do you know how many real estate agents fire people? They don’t have the patience or time, like, I’m the real estate guy. You made a mistake.

Ricky Salazar [01:01:14]:
Bye. You know? For these people, they’re very, very special in that sense of understanding that Ricky has a small business or older express even. That’s still a small business. Or, these housekeeping companies like Reliable Cleaners, they have a small business. Let’s assist them in growing by giving them more properties to manage the cleanings on, and hire more employees and make mistakes and fix mistakes to be a better company.

Jordan Berry [01:01:45]:
Yeah.

Ricky Salazar [01:01:46]:
So and Were you no.

Jordan Berry [01:01:47]:
Go ahead.

Ricky Salazar [01:01:48]:
Yeah. Go ahead.

Jordan Berry [01:01:49]:
No. Go ahead. I didn’t wanna cut

Ricky Salazar [01:01:50]:
you off. No. I was gonna say, so that’s how I get my clients. So by networking, as you can see, I brought reliable cleaners in with me, and I don’t ask nothing back. I refer people all the time, but just networking. Everywhere I go, I talk about this. My son tells me, you’re in a baseball game. How do you know that lady? Oh, I used to do their laundry for the spa they used to have.

Ricky Salazar [01:02:07]:
Oh, you do it now? No, I used to Boulder. They still use Boulder. Oh, you always know somebody where just talking, man. If you if you talk to people, I think Elon Musk said that if you talk to people, like, you’ll you’ll eventually gonna talk to the right person. You know?

Jordan Berry [01:02:23]:
Yeah.

Ricky Salazar [01:02:24]:
And it’s worked for laundry.

Jordan Berry [01:02:26]:
Yeah. And it does work. And and that goes hand in hand with, like, the passion you have for the business. Right? Like, you Yeah. You only talk about it because you’re you like it. You are passionate about it, and you’re trying to grow it, obviously. Yeah. But yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:02:40]:
Yeah. That’s great advice. Like, just tell people what you do everywhere you go.

Ricky Salazar [01:02:45]:
Just tell them. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:02:46]:
Are you doing much residential right now?

Ricky Salazar [01:02:49]:
I have a small portion of it. It’s so odd because a lot of it is private. Like, these are a lot of the stuff that I do are, like, business owners personal laundry. Okay. So, like, entrepreneurs. And that is my target market because I am not priced high or low, but I don’t want to overcharge customers for, like and I can do all of that with my software, with SENSE. Like, I can 25¢ a dryer sheet for free in general, it cost this to sort baby clothes. I don’t do that.

Ricky Salazar [01:03:21]:
It’s a a dollar 75¢ per pound. And, I’m doing a small portion of residential stuff right now, but it’s growing little by little.

Jordan Berry [01:03:31]:
Are you are you marketing the residential at all?

Ricky Salazar [01:03:34]:
You know what? I’ve been meaning to do that, but then I just turned around and got new commercial accounts. So that’s the challenge, and I need to nip it in the butt is calibrating that and then also taking the risk of spending the money to hire an assistant manager or a manager. Because I don’t plan on managing this stuff forever. I do plan on being present physically every day for a very long time, but I do believe in giving someone like myself an opportunity. Because that’s what happened with me. I was given an opportunity and it worked for me. And if I can do that for one other person, I’m not trying to hold anybody back, you know. So with the residential, I don’t have much of it right now, but it is growing 1 by 1.

Ricky Salazar [01:04:19]:
Maybe, like, I got 3 new customers this month. To me, that’s slow. But when I tell other lot of preneurs, they’re like, what? That’s crazy. I haven’t got 3 in like 3 months, you know. But no offense, but I I really talk my butt off with clients. That’s what I do. Yeah. You know, I was talking to a guy at Big Lots yesterday.

Ricky Salazar [01:04:39]:
He ended up being a ex police officer, fell into a management position, and an expert sniper, and I was just talking about my laundry. You know?

Jordan Berry [01:04:48]:
Yeah. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. But what’s the plan? What’s the goal? Like, are you are you trying to do you have, like, a target you’re trying to hit? You got a revenue number or a pound number or, anything like that?

Ricky Salazar [01:05:00]:
You know, I’m trying to cap out at £30,000 a month. K. Right now

Jordan Berry [01:05:06]:
today. That’s a lot.

Ricky Salazar [01:05:08]:
I’m fluctuating. I you? Uh-huh. I’m doing right now, I’m doing about, well, it it keeps going up. So started 9, then I went to 12,000 and back to 9 thou no. Back to, yeah, about £9,000. And then now, about £14,000 per month.

Jordan Berry [01:05:27]:
Dude.

Ricky Salazar [01:05:27]:
But and then I still have overhead. So Yeah. But what helps with that is comforters because I sell those for $25 each, the comforter wash. So little things like that, little upsells, minimums. I got minimums for far zip codes. But as far as my diverse my, diversifying my client base, I have that with commercial. I have an art studio, a dog daycare. I have a small hotel.

Ricky Salazar [01:05:58]:
I have corporate housing, short term rentals, midterm rentals, long mid term rentals, which they’re not really midterms, but sometimes they they rent for like half a year, and then I gotta clean the linen, which I don’t know why they don’t just buy new linen. But, I mean, what there’s so many customers I forget. I have janitorial companies. I clean their rags, mop heads. There’s so many that I I forget. Yeah. And then now it’s just growing my residential. I would love to have more of the residential because the I like hearing those stories about, you know, when you drop it off.

Ricky Salazar [01:06:36]:
Thank you so much. Everything was so easy for us. You have all of Timothy’s stuff altogether. All all I have to do is give it to the kids and send it. Those are the stories I wanna hear more of, And that those are more challenging customers for me to get considering I have large volume of commercial. So it’s like, how do I break away to market that without going over budget? And I think that’s where Sense is really gonna help me out. You know? Doja in the past, I spoke with Jordan in a Sense, and then they got Stormy as their success manager. So, and they tell me, here’s my number call.

Ricky Salazar [01:07:12]:
I I really need to put forth the effort and call and and get this stuff going with them. So it’s it’s a me thing, but they’re definitely supportive of my growth.

Jordan Berry [01:07:23]:
Yeah. Well and it’s tough when you’re trying to do the actual business, and then you’re also trying to build out Yeah. The infrastructure and the systems of the business. It’s it’s tough, but you gotta find time to do it. Right? Like, you cannot Yeah. Grow or if you do grow without doing those things, you know, getting the right systems in place, getting the right people in place and all that. Right? Like Yeah.

Ricky Salazar [01:07:46]:
It’s a

Jordan Berry [01:07:47]:
disaster waiting to happen. Right? So

Ricky Salazar [01:07:49]:
Right.

Jordan Berry [01:07:49]:
Gotta find some time.

Ricky Salazar [01:07:52]:
Yeah. That and I’ve had a couple offers from that are kinda private for now, but from out of state. Offers to buy into the brand to push it and then offers to buy me out and keep me in the laundromat. There’s about 3 different offers on the table right now. I’m gonna look at them. I’m probably gonna, I hope I mean, I hope they don’t get mad when they see this. I’m probably gonna stay doing what I’m doing and Yeah. For a little bit longer Yeah.

Ricky Salazar [01:08:21]:
Because I do have, like, a 4th option with a distributor, and we might do something that we might not we’re deciding if I wanna go laundromat or private and warehouse OPR. And I like that. It’s different. So Yeah. You know, we’ll see where it goes.

Jordan Berry [01:08:42]:
That’s awesome. Just so everybody’s on the same page, OPL is on premise laundry. It’s basically a laundromat that’s not for the public. So you don’t put coins or cards or anything in.

Ricky Salazar [01:08:50]:
So what was that?

Jordan Berry [01:08:51]:
I was just explaining what OPL was.

Ricky Salazar [01:08:54]:
You know, everybody’s On premise laundry. Yes. You’re right. Yeah. Yeah. I used to look at that like, what is that? Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:08:59]:
I didn’t wanna leave anybody behind here.

Ricky Salazar [01:09:01]:
Yeah. And the benefits of of OPL so I do all my chemical dosing right now by hand with measuring cups. The OPLs, the reason why we’re looking at that is their waste management. So if on these OPLs, the way they I’m sure you know, but so everyone else knows. OPLs, if they have them built and programmed to where if you wanted to push white duvets, it’s gonna know exactly how much bleach and surfactants and alkali to use or whatever detergents you want to go in it. Softener, sour treatment. And that’s why we’re talking about maybe just doing OPL. And then, you know, the talk obviously to do residential, do we do a plant based OPL or fragrance OPL or do we just have a couple pieces of equipment for regular wash and fold? You know, and then having I do have Spanish speaking employees.

Ricky Salazar [01:10:01]:
And are we gonna be able to put English and Spanish on the touch screens to

Jordan Berry [01:10:09]:
Well, it sounds like we’re gonna, I mean, we’re gonna have to do another episode down the road.

Ricky Salazar [01:10:13]:
We you know, let’s have fun.

Jordan Berry [01:10:15]:
Answer all these questions that you’re asking yourself right now. It sounds like you got some big decisions to make and, but like good stuff. Right?

Ricky Salazar [01:10:22]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:10:23]:
We got a couple of segments I wanna get to, here in a second. But before we get to that, I mean, anything that you feel like you’re doing in terms of, like, the service side of things that’s helping you succeed? Like, it sounds like, you know, at least some of your customers are just very excited about what you’re doing for them. And, you know, I’m sure part of it is just your passion oozing out of you as you communicate with them and and then doing a good job. Any any any, like, touches you’re doing or details you’re doing that make sure your service

Ricky Salazar [01:10:56]:
Yeah. Yes. We’re stream we’re streamlining the folds. And when I thought of that, that’s why I’m excited for what Laundra Lab is doing. I said, they have like this sheet that they use to fold up, and that’s their secret sauce that everything is uniform because their shirts they have a map. I don’t have that, but I have a couple employees. I have about 14 employees, 11 in circulation. I have a certain size that I fold t shirts by and a certain way of folding baby clothes.

Ricky Salazar [01:11:32]:
And, I also wrap Vans on bras, undergarments, and socks. They’re just t shirt bands I get from cleaner supplies. So if anybody wants to check those out, I don’t mind sharing that tip. I’ve had a couple other laundrepreneurs or laundromat owners ask where I get the bands. It’s on cleanersupply.com, and they are these bands that they’re for, like, dry clean t shirts, the colored shirts, and I use them to wrap on the underwears and socks. So, that’s something I’m doing different. And I bag like items separate. So, I’m not bagging like shirt, pants.

Ricky Salazar [01:12:07]:
Everything is uniform. Not by color, but by size and by by Garment. Garment. Yep. Garment type. Yep. And, so packaging. Yeah.

Ricky Salazar [01:12:17]:
I’ve also implemented, blue bags that I got from Cleaner Supply. And I noticed that my girls aren’t I’m a little crazy with my hands, so I tie these crazy knots on the bags. So I noticed that the challenge to get our bags to look the same way as I’m doing them, you know, is a huge challenge. So, now, I got the bread ties from cleaner supply, and we’re using those. Mhmm. So that’s something that I do different. But my serve my customer service and the way I do business is what stands out. I’m very vocal.

Ricky Salazar [01:12:53]:
I’m very communicative. I’m very look. We’re 365 days a year. You know, just the way I do my wash and fold, you know, package it, custom talk to customers. I love it.

Jordan Berry [01:13:09]:
I love it.

Ricky Salazar [01:13:10]:
Would think that it’s like everybody does wash and fold, then then I get that a lot too. A lot of Lander Landermat owners are like, oh, yeah. I get it. But then they end up calling me back like, dude, my customers went back to you. Can I go watch what you’re doing?

Jordan Berry [01:13:24]:
That’s good, though.

Ricky Salazar [01:13:25]:
I mean It’s a yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:13:27]:
Yeah. Well, you got that experience behind you, which, again, you sacrificed to get that experience. Right? But now that, you know, you’ve got that experience and, you know, you’ve kinda made that transition as difficult as as it was, you know, you’re you’re off to the races now because you’ve you’re not you’re starting from scratch, but you’re not starting from scratch because you’ve got this sort of huge wave of knowledge, experience, and an idea of how to do this thing behind you, from getting that, which is

Ricky Salazar [01:14:00]:
Yeah. And I learned how to fold myself. I never, I do wanna clear that up. I didn’t learn how to fold. I learned how to fold while I was employed at Boulder Express, but nobody taught me. Mhmm. And when I asked my my boss about that, he’s like, because I knew you’d figure it out.

Jordan Berry [01:14:17]:
The real answer is because he didn’t know how to fold either. That’s why.

Ricky Salazar [01:14:20]:
No. He’s pretty good, but he folds, almost like you know, Matt and Aaron Simmons are? He folds like them and they fold all the same way. I I do have you know, I’m not trying to say it’s the best way. I don’t have the best way of folding, but I do have my I fold my, my t shirts this size. Because the typical laundry and this isn’t to like like, teach anybody anything or put anybody in check. This is like me sharing a tip that is thinking like your clients. If I fold them rectangular because realistically, do we have 700 drawers to put our shirts over? You know, when you buy a t shirt, it’s on the stand this big. It’s a big rectangle.

Ricky Salazar [01:15:03]:
I don’t fold like that. I fold like this because you can fit 26 shirts into a drawer being realistic. So, I did that and I got a lot of good response when I learned to do it that way from my customers. I love the way you fold. Everything is so nice, neat, small, and it fits in my drawers. It never fits in my drawers, which is why we keep using your service. So going back to, like, a tip or a secret sauce of being different and it benefited me, that’s a tip that You know? And that’s all those are all good things that you can risk practice on a slow day in your laundromat or at home with your pants, with your garments. And doing that, and I’m still doing that.

Ricky Salazar [01:15:44]:
I’m not the best yet. I’m still always breaking myself down with discipline and like, okay. This this looks like crap. Rip that bag open. Let’s redo this. And helping my employees do that too. They kinda shake their head, but it’s making them better.

Jordan Berry [01:15:59]:
Well, yeah. And it’s it it yeah. It’s it makes a big difference. Like, presentation is

Ricky Salazar [01:16:04]:
Yes. You have to work.

Jordan Berry [01:16:05]:
So much more important than I think it gets credit for, you know, because how you present gives it a different feel. Right? If you if you have sloppy folds, people just assume it’s sloppy service. Right? If you have, you know, crisp folds that in a good presentation, it’s like a it’s like a a gourmet restaurant. Right? Right. And if you’re not getting a lot on your plate, the presentation is great, and people pay a lot.

Ricky Salazar [01:16:30]:
It’s everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s what you pay for.

Jordan Berry [01:16:33]:
Yeah. So but there’s also that balance too of, like, being able to process everything. And so it is. It’s an ongoing it’s an ongoing thing.

Ricky Salazar [01:16:41]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:16:41]:
It’s good. Keep keep learning. Keep growing there. Alright. Last question I have for you before we hit secret sauce is, I mean, obviously, you’re spending a lot of time here, and you mentioned, like, you bought yourself a job here. How much time do you think you’re spending working

Ricky Salazar [01:16:57]:
in You know what? The funny thing is it’s a lot. I guess I don’t really count the hours, but it’s a lot it feels like a lot less than what I was putting in at Boulder. I was putting in 18 hour days sometimes, 16 to 18 hour. Because if someone broke into the laundromat on here, I come running again. You know? Something happened with an order, and we were doing a lot of commercial there. But I am probably putting in physically 7 AM to 3 so 8 hours there. And the rest of my day, doing work like this or networking or doing social media. But I put in 8 order processing hours, which is really good for £14,000.

Ricky Salazar [01:17:43]:
I mean, we process 5 or £600 with me and 2 girls in a matter of 3 to 4 hours.

Jordan Berry [01:17:51]:
Yeah. That’s a lot.

Ricky Salazar [01:17:52]:
I mean, I don’t know. Yeah. I mean, we can do a 1,000. But I don’t know, but that’s slowing down on purpose to kind of like perfect a fold and separate certain color towels. And but if we were to just blurt it out and knock it out, we could probably be done in 2 hours. I mean, laundromat, employees and owners are like, we love you doing the laundry. Look, we don’t mind sending you orders because you guys we it’s not as fun when we do it. And they have fun when we’re in there.

Ricky Salazar [01:18:20]:
I mean, I have so much fun with my employees. When it’s time for me to finally break away, it’s gonna be pretty sad.

Jordan Berry [01:18:29]:
It’ll be tough. Another transition. Right?

Ricky Salazar [01:18:31]:
And it’ll be exciting. And, you know, and all there’ll be some guy my age now and that’s excited about it or some girl. And

Jordan Berry [01:18:39]:
Yeah. You know? That’s part of the process. Right? Like, you you don’t wanna you don’t wanna stay the same. You wanna keep growing. You wanna keep learning new skills. You wanna keep Yeah. You know, growing your business, all that stuff. So yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:18:49]:
Absolutely. But yeah. You’re right. I mean, it’s

Ricky Salazar [01:18:51]:
it’s Who knows? Maybe I’ll sell this, and I’ll be your cohost. That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what I’m talking about. I like

Jordan Berry [01:18:57]:
this now.

Ricky Salazar [01:18:58]:
I like it going. You know?

Jordan Berry [01:18:59]:
Yeah. This is great.

Ricky Salazar [01:19:02]:
No. I love I love your your platform because you allow everyone to be their self and tell the truth about what’s really going on in the laundry industry because it’s something that not everybody thinks of. You know? So

Jordan Berry [01:19:15]:
Yeah. And and it’s hard to get it’s hard to get sort of the real stuff and in the stories behind, like, this is such a weird industry. Right? Like, it’s always easy to hear how people get into this weird little industry that we’re in and and what they’ve learned kind of along the way. Cause we all learn different lessons, you know, along the way. So it’s really cool to be able to share that. And so appreciate people like you who come on and Yeah. And share your stories. Alright.

Jordan Berry [01:19:41]:
I got a couple of segments for you as we break this thing up. First one is called secret sauce.

Ricky Salazar [01:19:47]:
There we go. Secret sauce.

Jordan Berry [01:19:49]:
Secret sauce. Secret sauce is this. If you have let’s say I wanna start a pickup or no. Let’s say I have a pickup and delivery business already. It’s already up and running. What’s your number one tip for me to help me take it to the next level?

Ricky Salazar [01:20:04]:
To take it to the next level, it could be a variety of steps. But I would say to take it to the next level, find a way to package where your customers and everyone else in your community will know if it’s next gen laundry service or not. So set your do something to set yourself apart to be different, so you can be noticed. Because my customers will know when I’m not present or when I didn’t do the service. And that’s what keeps them coming back. I put stickers, once in a while. I don’t wanna be too wasteful, but I do have these vinyl stickers, and they say, we have a solution, next gen laundry service. Used to have my number, but I thought, screw it.

Ricky Salazar [01:20:51]:
We don’t need the number. Let’s put the nice logo with the it’s actually on my, my water bottle there. There it is. But, so we put that on at least one of the bags. And even if it’s a one time hit, they Google your company, find your Instagram, and and also create content for pickup and delivery. Just because you have pickup and delivery and you figure, oh, people need my service. They’re either gonna need it or not. So we’re just gonna wash it, throw it in the bag, package it real really nice, and also create content while you’re doing your orders and shoot videos.

Ricky Salazar [01:21:28]:
Even if you’re not a real in front of the camera type of male or woman, find an employee that is or pay somebody to fold and make a video explaining what you’re doing and why your service is special and what makes it different. That’s what I do. I create content about my stain treatment process. I I even, Waleed was just commenting on that, video I made a video, showing a mistake that I made with commercial laundry towel, I cleaned up some bleach and it ate right through the towel. I failed to rinse the towel out after cleaning up the bleach with it. I let it sit for a week until the order was due, processed it, came out of the washer, it had holes in it. And I put that on the Internet and used that to say, hey. Look.

Ricky Salazar [01:22:16]:
I made a mistake, but this is to show you how strong, bleach we use. The regular bleach is 7%. This is 11% bleach. And that mistake, you know, turned into it showing the customers real live secret sauce.

Jordan Berry [01:22:33]:
Yeah. It it I mean, it turned it into trust. Right? Like

Ricky Salazar [01:22:37]:
Yeah. Transparency.

Jordan Berry [01:22:38]:
Acknowledge. Yeah. When you can acknowledge a mistake, say, hey. You know, I’m gonna make this right, you know, for the customer. But I wanted to show you, you know, number 1, sometimes mistakes happen. Here’s how we deal with it. But also number 2, here’s here’s the spin on this. We use better bleach, you know.

Jordan Berry [01:22:54]:
Right? Like, it cleans it cleans better. Right? So and that translates to trust and trust. I have found that trust directly translates to the bottom line. Like, the more people trust you, the more they wanna do business with you.

Ricky Salazar [01:23:09]:
Absolutely. That’s

Jordan Berry [01:23:10]:
a huge, I I love that. I love that piece of advice. I think that’s great.

Ricky Salazar [01:23:14]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:23:15]:
Alright. Next segment we have is called pro tips.

Ricky Salazar [01:23:19]:
Pro tips.

Jordan Berry [01:23:20]:
And pro tips is, let’s say, I wanna start from scratch doing what you’re doing. What’s your number one tip to help me get started? Or or maybe one thing I need to know?

Ricky Salazar [01:23:31]:
It’s gonna be something that most solopreneur, entrepreneurs, and individuals think. Right? Because everyone sees you doing what you’re doing and what do we think. I have always wanted my own business. Right? So my pro tip would to be go about it. Don’t only do the market survey or study or research and study the market, but actually get a business license and actually get yourself some business insurance. And if you’re using a vehicle for your business or you’re even commuting to and from where you’ll be doing business, have business insurance separate from your vehicle insurance on them. Trust me, things do happen. And fortunately, I went about it the right way legally.

Ricky Salazar [01:24:19]:
I have a business attorney, and I was asked by all of my commercial clients for my business license, copy of my business license and insurance so they know who they’re working with. So that and, create a business card. Let people know who you are. Just talk about what you wanna do.

Jordan Berry [01:24:41]:
Yeah. And I I mean, I might add just on top of it, just based off our conversation is get out there and make it happen. Don’t look for especially if you’re starting from scratch, like, don’t expect to have a passive business, No. Actually, and and not for a long time probably. You know, especially if you’re starting a pickup and delivery, you know, kind of from scratch. Like, this is it’s gonna take work unless you’re unless you’re independently wealthy and you can go out and find yourself a

Ricky Salazar [01:25:08]:
Ricky who’s

Jordan Berry [01:25:09]:
gonna go out and do it, you know, build it for you. You know, a a past Ricky, not a current Ricky. You know, it’s gonna take work. And so don’t expect it to be passive, nor, you know, I I don’t know. I mean, we cut we talked a little bit about this before we hit record, but, you know, the the the passive train has been rolling on YouTube, Instagram, all that stuff where people Yeah. Like, passive, passive, passive. But I’m starting to see that mindset shift a little bit cause I think people are starting to realize, number 1, there’s nothing really passive out there actually. And number 2, passive is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Jordan Berry [01:25:48]:
The better, I think, way to think about it is, you know, how can I how can I set myself up to where I like my life?

Ricky Salazar [01:25:56]:
Yeah. You know,

Jordan Berry [01:25:57]:
I mean, like, you’re passionate about it. You have you have to be passionate about the business you’re building necessarily, but maybe it gives you opportunity to do the things that you’re passionate about. I think that’s what Yeah. Cause a lot of people to laundromat ownership. Right? Is while it’s not gonna be passive, most likely, it it is flexible and you can kind of make your own schedule so you can build the life that you want, whether you love the laundry necessarily or not. You Yeah. Are lucky because you love what you’re doing, which is great. So awesome.

Jordan Berry [01:26:29]:
Last question I have for you as we wrap this up is, number 1, like, thank you for coming on the show, taking the time. I know that you’re, like, crazy, busy and building that business and hustling and getting things done. So I appreciate you taking the time to come on here and share all that. This is awesome. So many good tips, on how you are building that business and how you are distinguishing that business in the, in the Vegas market there.

Ricky Salazar [01:26:56]:
So I

Jordan Berry [01:26:57]:
appreciate you coming on and sharing all that. If people are vibing with you or they wanna ask you tips on how they can get started or they wanna just kinda mastermind with you on how you all can grow your business. What’s the best way people can get in contact with you?

Ricky Salazar [01:27:11]:
You can tap in on my Instagram. It’s nextgenlaundrylv. So that’s n e x, t as in Tom, g as in go, e as in Edward, n as in Nancy, l a u n d r y l v. That’s for Instagram. And then my email is also next gen [email protected].

Jordan Berry [01:27:37]:
Awesome. And we’ll have, we’ll have that in the show notes along with all the links and everything Yeah. There. So appreciate you again coming on. This was awesome. And, dude, I mean, we’re gonna have to do another episode down the line to

Ricky Salazar [01:27:50]:
see Yeah. We have to. I’m excited. You know? Doing. Thank you for having me.

Jordan Berry [01:27:55]:
Yeah. And I wanted to say too, you might need to extend out that goal here in not too long. If you’re already hitting close to £14,000 a month and your goal is 30, you’re I mean, you haven’t been going that long on your own yet. So

Ricky Salazar [01:28:09]:
you’re No. No. So

Jordan Berry [01:28:11]:
on this thing. So I just wanna, you know, put that in your mind there. You might need to talk about thinking bigger, you

Ricky Salazar [01:28:17]:
know? Yeah. Exactly. I gotta stop thinking small. I gotta start thinking big.

Jordan Berry [01:28:20]:
Well, £1,000 a day does not sound small to me, but, you know, you’re crushing it over there. So keep crushing it. Keep doing your thing.

Ricky Salazar [01:28:28]:
And Thank you, man.

Jordan Berry [01:28:29]:
Stay in touch for sure, man.

Ricky Salazar [01:28:31]:
I appreciate you, Jordan.

Jordan Berry [01:28:32]:
Alright. I hope you loved that episode with Ricky, out in Vegas, baby. And, listen. All well and good to listen to the episode, to gain a bunch of information, to hear his story. All that stuff is really great, but really, we’re here to help you accomplish your goals. And in order for us to help you do that, you’ve got to help yourself. And what that looks like is picking something from this episode and putting it into action. Pick one thing.

Jordan Berry [01:28:58]:
Do it this week. Don’t wait. Don’t delay. Don’t get stuck in the learning loop. Gotta put it into action. So, pick something. For me, I I mean, I really loved our conversation about the details. Like, you know, it’s all about the details for him and his context.

Jordan Berry [01:29:14]:
It was the details on the service, and I I love that. I’m a big picture kinda guy in general. And so once you start getting down into those details, it becomes a little bit tedious for me, but that’s the work we need to do to really provide a great service. And I was reminded of that this past week at the laundry, the laundry CEO conference that Wally Coe put on, Details were impeccable. Impeccable. So good. So, man, I need to pay more attention to details. What’s your one thing? Pick something, put it into action.

Jordan Berry [01:29:50]:
Maybe go share it on the forums, laundrometresource.com/ forums and, have a conversation about it. But, really, the the thing is you just gotta put it in action. So find something and go do it this week, and come back next week for another awesome episode, and, another action item. Alright. Let’s stack those action items up every week. See you next week. Peace.