You Want Passive Income, He Wants an Empire with Kevin Lumpkin

Jordan Berry [00:00:00]:
Hey. Hey. What’s up, guys? It’s Jordan with the Laundromat Resource Podcast. This is show 172, and I am pumped you’re here today because today, back on the show, is the hardest working guy in laundromats. He’s gotta be the hardest working guy in laundromats. Kevin Lumpkin is back. He was on the show a while back, and I you know what? I had to have him back on, because while the method that he utilizes is not for everybody, I think that what Kevin is doing is kinda refreshing in a world that is obsessed with passive income. In an industry where a lot of people are obsessed with passive income, Kevin is taking the exact opposite route, and he is working.

Jordan Berry [00:00:43]:
He is working hard and he is trying to build his empire. And he talks about how he’s doing it. And he is he’s doing a lot of very unique things in trying to build this empire. So it listened. For me, it is inspirational. And I think for a lot of people who are trying to get into this business, maybe, you know, you don’t have a lot of money to get in or maybe you are just desperate to exit a 9 to 5 or whatever. I just think that taking a page out of Kevin’s book and getting to work, figuring out ways to solve problems and to create new problems to solve, because he’s doing all those things, and and it’s just awesome to hear. So, anyways, today, I know you’re gonna love this episode with Kevin.

Jordan Berry [00:01:28]:
Be inspired by his, just his work ethic and his creativity, and whether or not his methods are for you. Set that aside unless they are for you, I guess, then copy them and go for it. But try to see kind of the method behind the madness that he’s doing. And anyways, I’m super inspired by this. This is an awesome interview. I I think you’re gonna love it too. We’re gonna jump into it. But first, today’s Fastlane tip is, did you know that you can book a 1 on 1 consulting call with myself or one of the consulting team members that we have over there, Andrew Cunningham, Lauren Bercoski, Nick Costantinue.

Jordan Berry [00:02:07]:
All of those people are available for 1 on 1 consult, consultation. So if you’ve got questions on how to get into the business, if you need help analyzing a deal, if you’ve got a laundromat, maybe it’s underperforming or you’re looking to scale your business, feel free to book a call with any of us, any of the times that are available on those calendars. So go check it out over there at laundromatresource.com/coaching, and that link and all the other links will be in the show notes as always at laundrometresource.com/show172. Alright. With that said, let’s get into this craziness with Kevin Lumpkin. We’re gonna have a really good time, learn a lot of stuff. I just one one thing that I wanna point out is at the very end of this interview, I asked him because he owns Laundromats all over the place, and I asked him for advice on managing Laundromats remotely, because I get asked that question a lot, and he gives us a pretty good 7 steps on what you need to do to manage remotely. So, that is one highlight to look forward to of many, but let’s jump into it right now with Kevin.

Jordan Berry [00:03:09]:
We are back with the hardest working podcast guest that has ever been on this show. What’s up, Kevin? How you doing, man?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:03:17]:
Hey. What’s going on, Jordan? How you doing today?

Jordan Berry [00:03:19]:
I’m doing awesome. Thank you for coming back on. And, give us a little update. I, you know, after your episode, a lot of people were like, man, this guy is hustling like crazy.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:03:29]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:03:29]:
And I thought it’d be fun to get you back on here and just see what you’ve been working on and what you’ve been doing. So, let’s do that. But, first of all, just real quick for anybody who missed your first episode, give us a quick little rundown of you and who you are, and then we’ll jump into talking about your laundromat.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:03:46]:
Alright. Yeah. My name is Kevin Lumpkin. I’m, I live in, Cleveland, Ohio, and I’ve been in the laundromat industry for about a year now. I’m married, I’ve been married for 10 years, have 2 daughters, and I’m just a businessman. I just love business, so and I love laundromats. I’m not gonna lie, I love laundromats. Laundromats are fun.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:04:06]:
When when they’re not, they’re not. They’re fun.

Jordan Berry [00:04:10]:
Yeah. Yeah. I I mean, I think that’s no true statement has ever been said. Laundromats are fun, but when they’re not, they’re not. But in general, they are fun. So Absolutely. That’s great. Well, listen.

Jordan Berry [00:04:21]:
Give us a give us an update on your laundromat that you’ve got right now, and how how are things going with it?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:04:29]:
So laundromat number 1, which is in West Virginia, that’s going actually pretty well. So we really sustain, money there. Us making decent money is paying its own bills. That’s more than what really really I could ask for, considering the situation that I found myself in when I took it over. Upgrading equipment like always, you know, trying to find the best mix of equipment, just trying to add things for the community. And that’s that location, so I enjoy that. That’s my learning location, I call it. Well, the location that taught me taught me about the business, really.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:05:04]:
And, we took over the 2nd location, and it’ll be a year coming up in December is when I signed that lease, and that one is in Monroe, Louisiana. And, actually, the past month, that’s what I was doing, for the past month and bringing equipment down there to get that secondary location open and meeting, meeting the community and just getting to know everybody and trying to get a feel for them so they can get a feel for me. But I’m really excited about location number 2. I’m really excited about that just because of population size.

Jordan Berry [00:05:35]:
Yeah. That that one’s not open yet?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:05:37]:
No. That one’s not open yet. Nope. Yeah. So we had we actually had I actually had a couple setbacks. So I know you you know I’m in the commercial cleaning space, and I, I had 3 contracts that were probably about 70,000 altogether in contracts to go out and do a high factory ceiling space vac cleaning. And we go in there, and we rid all the dirt out of the tops of ceilings in large factories. And I had a lot of that set up for the beginning of this year, and all of that money that I was gonna make doing that was gonna pay for all the equipment I needed down there.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:06:10]:
And the companies that I had, they went to, they went to they decided not to switch their services to food service business, so we kinda lost those contracts. We kinda pushed our my plans on hold for a little while. So that’s what I’ve been

Jordan Berry [00:06:27]:
It’s business. Yeah. It’s

Kevin Lumpkin [00:06:28]:
business. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:06:29]:
That’s this business is what happens. That’s a bummer. Sorry to hear that.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:06:33]:
Not that bad.

Jordan Berry [00:06:33]:
Do you have a timeline on when that Louisiana one’s gonna open?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:06:37]:
I’m looking at when are we in 9? I’m looking for November 1st, honestly. So I got all the equipment. Okay.

Jordan Berry [00:06:43]:
I

Kevin Lumpkin [00:06:43]:
actually have to pick some dryers up, but, I got a I got a issue. So I’m actually, when I plan this, creating these businesses so far away from my house, I understood that I needed to be able to get to them, and that would be figuring out that part would be, like, the key to success in all of these. You know, Louisiana is 16 hours from it. So what I started doing was I I got a truck, and I got a trailer, and I started hot shotting, which now gives me the ability to go around the country picking up loads. So now when I travel down to this laundromat, that’s so far. I’m not just doing it for free, and it’s not costing me money because I’m making money in the process of doing it. So

Jordan Berry [00:07:22]:
Yeah. Explain what hotshot is real quick.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:07:25]:
So hotshot is when you take your f 250, Chevy 250, 350, or 450. You connect, you know, 30 foot, 40 foot gooseneck trailer onto it, and you go pick up freight from different companies, and you drop it off at another location. They call them, like, hot load. This needs to go from here to here. So I started doing that in order to be able to get to these locations, and in order to learn the United States a little bit more as far as just demographics of people. You know, so far, I think it’s I’ve been doing it for about 3 or 4 months, and I’ve been to about 30 states in those 3 or 4 months. So, you know, been around trying to see, like, hey, this is getting me into communities to get to to get to get to my ultimate goal, which is laundromat ownership. You know? So that all of it is a means to an end to own multiple laundromat.

Jordan Berry [00:08:15]:
Yeah. What what I love about that, you know, obviously, like, oh, you know, a lot of people are gonna hear that and be like, oh, dude, there’s no way I would ever do that. But what I love about that is, the the hotshot thing. Right? But I love about that is, like, you’re like, okay. I have this problem. How can I solve it in a way that pays me to solve it?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:08:33]:
Yeah. Absolutely.

Jordan Berry [00:08:34]:
I just I that’s yeah. That’s what I loved about, our last episode too is, like, you were just figuring stuff out as you went, and you’re just like, I’m just gonna make it happen. I think you were talking about picking up equipment forever away from your other one and then driving it all the way back there last time. And, where where are these dryers at that you gotta go pick up? Are they close to your laundromat?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:08:57]:
Absolutely not. So I found a great deal on some dryers there in New Jersey. Right? Here’s my here’s my here’s my issue. I got a problem. I got a problem. So I have to get 23 dryers from New Jersey, Louisiana. Right? Now thank god I got friends who have

Jordan Berry [00:09:12]:
in Ohio.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:09:13]:
I’m in and I’m in Ohio. So thank god I have friends who have semi trucks and things like that. So here’s my dilemma. The guy who’s selling me the dryers can’t disconnect them for a certain time. I still have to work in Ohio and take care of business, so I can’t just stop my life when he’s ready. And at the same time, I have to get him from New Jersey to Louisiana. My trailer is rated for £14,000. So that roughly means that my trailer weighs 7,000 and I can put another 7, 8,000 on top of that.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:09:45]:
So that’s about 11 dryers. So I need to pick up 23 of them. So if I pick up those 11, am I gonna go from New Jersey all the way to Louisiana and then back all the way to New Jersey again to to then pick up the rest? So you see my that I’m I’m I’ve been figure trying to figure this out, and it’s been bugging my mind. So I think what I might do is is I might call a buddy of mine, tell him to come with me, rent a like a Penske truck, put do half and half, and then we drive him straight down Louisiana. That’s what I was thinking.

Jordan Berry [00:10:21]:
I’m gonna I’m gonna I’m gonna throw an idea out there for you. Why don’t you start an air freight company, where you buy some air freight airplanes and you fly stuff around for people, and then you just have an air freight airplane. Right. I’m just saying. I don’t know.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:10:39]:
Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, I gotta figure it out, but it’s been it’s been wrangling my mind lately. So what I was actually thinking about doing, what I was thinking about doing was taking some of those dryers down to Louisiana first. I mean, West Virginia first because West Virginia and, basically, New Jersey, New York is not that far from each other. And then now my own trailer and truck can now get me down to Louisiana. So Yeah. That’s kinda where I’m at.

Jordan Berry [00:11:08]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, it’s interesting. I love it. Like, on the one hand, you’re creating problems. And then on the other hand, you’re you’re making them.

Jordan Berry [00:11:19]:
You’re solving them. Right? It’s like like, okay. I’m gonna buy equipment in New Jersey, and then I’m gonna figure out how to get them to Louisiana, which is where they need to be. And you’re like, okay. I’m gonna create this problem. And then I just believe in myself that I’m gonna be able to solve this problem somehow, and and you get to work at it. So I love that.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:11:36]:
I just went and purchased 20.40 pound machines. So it was a guy who was closing his laundromat in, in Dallas, Dallas, Texas. So he’s closing his laundromat, and he had this equipment, still in great condition. And I’m like, I need to get to Dallas. He’s like, hey, man. You think you could be here by Saturday? And I’m like, today’s Sunday. Can I get there by I said, I’m a be there? So I called the freight company and I said, hey. I need loads headed to Dallas.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:12:07]:
So Monday I leave, I drop my first load in Michigan, and I pick up a car in Detroit, Michigan, and that’s going to Dallas. Drop that car off in Dallas on Thursday, and I meet this guy Saturday at his laundromat. Now then I have to I had to go pick my buddy up from Houston because he had to help me. So I went from Ohio to Michigan, from Michigan to Dallas to drop the car, from Dallas to Houston, from Houston back up to Dallas, picked up the equipment. And he said, man, I’ll be honest with you, you’re the first person who ever come just he said, you got the tow motor, you got everything on this thing. And I said, yeah. I I was gonna pick up the equipment. Loaded it up, and then we drove from Dallas to Louisiana to drop it off to Monroe.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:12:53]:
And then we had to drive back down to Houston again. So for roughly 2 weeks, that’s what I was doing. That Houston, Dallas, Louisiana, Monroe, back to Houston, back to Dallas, back to, Monroe.

Jordan Berry [00:13:04]:
Good. You better be getting good deals on this equipment to be cruising around all

Kevin Lumpkin [00:13:08]:
of this. If it was, I mean, great deals. That’s the only reason why I’m doing it. Because I look at it and say, well, the cost of gas, which again, I didn’t have to pay for it because I hauled the freight down, so thank God my gas was covered. Mhmm. But outside of my time, it’s kinda like when I look at the cost of brand new equipment and I’m weighing that cost out, I’m saying, well, here, this guy just gave me a quote for brand new equipment for half a $1,000,000. So I mean Mhmm. You know? If I can get this laundromat because my thing is I don’t know if these laundromats will produce what they will produce.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:13:42]:
I don’t know that. So before I’m willing to fully invest 400, 500, $600,000 in equipment, I’m gonna go get decent working equipment, I know how to fix it on my own, Put it in these locations, see what these locations produce, and then start pulling that equipment out slowly but surely and replacing it with new equipment as I see the number.

Jordan Berry [00:14:02]:
Yeah. I I love that. What did you I mean, listen. This is in your this is in your wheelhouse. This guy’s closing down his laundromat in Dallas. Did you try to get ahold of the landlord and try to set that location up?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:14:14]:
Or He he was the landlord. I tried. I said, hey, man. As soon as I walked in, I said, hey, what are you gonna do with this location? He said, I got a big firm come big laundromat company, you know, what’s it called? Like, franchise. They’re taking over the location, but they said that they want me to get all the equipment out of it so that they can come into a blank slate. I said, dang. I almost got me one.

Jordan Berry [00:14:33]:
I knew you asked. I knew.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:14:34]:
Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:14:35]:
That’s what happened. Hey. I’ve been hearing, tides coming to tides coming to Texas lately. So I wonder if it’s tied. Do you know what what franchise it is?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:14:44]:
I do not. No. He didn’t tell me.

Jordan Berry [00:14:47]:
Yeah. It’s interesting. And a laundry lab has been expanding a lot too. So, but lots going on there. Okay. So you’re dry, you know, but this is great. This is great timing for me to have you on because my daughter is in 5th grade, and she is learning all the states and capitals and their locations. So I am doing that along with her.

Jordan Berry [00:15:09]:
So I’m I’m tracking you right now in my mind on where you’re going. Otherwise, I might not even know where Michigan is. I don’t know.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:15:15]:
Yeah. Absolutely. I’ve been everywhere.

Jordan Berry [00:15:19]:
Okay. So, man, yeah, that’s awesome. So you so you dropped those ones off in Louisiana.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:15:24]:
Mhmm. Right?

Jordan Berry [00:15:25]:
Is that

Kevin Lumpkin [00:15:26]:
is that

Jordan Berry [00:15:26]:
what you said? Yep. The ones from Dallas?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:15:28]:
Correct. Yep.

Jordan Berry [00:15:29]:
Okay. And so you’ve got most of the equipment over there. So you’re just waiting to get dryers or do you gotta get more washers over there too?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:15:35]:
I gotta get more washers too, which I already have arranged. But again, I’m dealing with other people, and I’m dealing with their times. So, you know, I had a lady in Florida who has some good equipment. I made some good Dexter solid Dexter equipment. And I’m telling her, like, look, lady, please. She’s like, can you give me a deposit? And I said, well, I don’t know you to give you a deposit. I don’t. I’ve never met you before, and I do not live in Florida.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:15:59]:
So why would I send you my money and I don’t know you? But I say, I’m listen. I even took a picture of my truck and my trailer. I said, if you hold this equipment till next week, I said, I’m in Louisiana now, so I can’t just jump to Florida. I said, I can just drive over there, pick all of it up. Just give me a week, and I’ll be there. And she just wasn’t trying to budge, and I told her, like, listen. I can find equipment anywhere. I I go anywhere.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:16:21]:
So it’s either you’re gonna sell it to me or some guy in Chicago is gonna sell it to me.

Jordan Berry [00:16:26]:
Does she does she is she gonna sell it to you?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:16:28]:
Not the owner. The owner of the equipment was real stringent upon. He wanted a deposit and he needed the equipment out by this date. And I’m like, there’s no way that I can get to you by that date. This is not possible. I told her, so if the date that I had arranged that I could come, I said, if you still had that equipment on this date, then I’m on my way. If you don’t, then, hey. My loss, I’ll move on.

Jordan Berry [00:16:51]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Listen. I’ve got I’ve got to fly to Louisiana. We get this thing open and check it out. I mean, you got equipment from Dallas, from New Jersey, from Florida, from who knows where.

Jordan Berry [00:17:03]:
I I could see you, you know, flying to Europe to grab some equipment or something.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:17:08]:
I don’t know. If I could, I would.

Jordan Berry [00:17:10]:
Cargo freight airline company that you’re building now. Right. Dude, this is this is this is wild to me. This is awesome. And I love I mean, like I said, I love, like, you’re you’re just kind of jumping in and in going for it. Right. Taking the action. You’re sort of the you’re the polar opposite of, I think a lot of people who are like, I’m apprehensive about jumping in.

Jordan Berry [00:17:34]:
I know, feel like I need to learn more and that never ends for a lot of people. And for you, you’re just like, I don’t know. There’s equipment. That’s a pretty good deal in New Jersey. I know it needs to get to Louisiana. I don’t know how to do it, but I’m just gonna buy the equipment. And I know I can get it there. I’m just not sure how yet.

Jordan Berry [00:17:53]:
Right. But I’m going for it. Right? Like, you’re the exact opposite. And I mean, I I I said this last time, like, I think that action first mentality is I think there’s something to be said to it. You know, I think some people will be like, you know, dude, it feels reckless or whatever. But listen, man, you’re never gonna get anywhere without taking the steps. And, you know, I I just I love that. I love the action first mentality.

Jordan Berry [00:18:19]:
I love it.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:18:21]:
I would say if it wasn’t if it was if I was using other people’s money, I probably wouldn’t be this reckless. And I’ll probably be a little bit more cautious in in in the process. But because it’s mine and I worked very hard for it in other endeavors, and in reality for me, the laundromat is the end goal 100%. So when it’s all said and done, there will not be me driving trucks. There will not be a commercial cleaning business. As you see, I’m at the VR escape room. This won’t exist. The end goal is for me is laundromat ownership 100%, and like I told you before, if I can do a 100 of them, I’ll do a 100 of them.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:18:58]:
No. It’s just

Jordan Berry [00:18:59]:
Well and like I told like I told you before, I have no doubt that you’ll probably get to a 100 of them at some point.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:19:06]:
Yeah. But that that

Jordan Berry [00:19:07]:
that Although, it I would say, although, if you have to drive all over the country for every single one of them, I don’t know. It’s gonna take you a 100 years to get to a 100 of them that way.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:19:16]:
Well, see, that’s my that’s my goal. So my goal is now that I really see the country for what it is, I’ll take back what I said before when I said I wanna own them in every state because I don’t. Like, I’m I’m not coming out there by you you too far. Like, I’m just not. It’s just not It’s

Jordan Berry [00:19:31]:
not super easy to yeah. It’s not super easy to do business over here either.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:19:34]:
So At all. So Yeah. I I was I I can see myself because I like where the Louisiana is located. Right? It’s kinda like it’s at the top of Louisiana by Arkansas. So I can see me building a route back to my house. So because there’s such a so many states in between, I believe I can build that up, head it down, and it won’t be me needing to haul freight. It’ll just be, hey. I went from Cleveland to Cincinnati, and I stopped at one laundromat.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:20:05]:
Then I went from Cincinnati to Kentucky, and I stopped at another laundromat, And the process continues. Mhmm. Eventually, I’ll streamline it. So it won’t be me going to pick up quarters because that would be foolish. It would be 100% a car store. The more of them I acquire, the less likely I will go wanna go to 60, 70 laundromats in the hall, 100 of 1,000 of dollars in quarters away. That that would be foolish. You know? But

Jordan Berry [00:20:31]:
Yeah. You’re gonna need that trailer just to carry quarters getting heavy real fast, man.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:20:36]:
Absolutely. This is it. So

Jordan Berry [00:20:40]:
I I wanna talk about 2 things about this West Virginia one real quick and then jump back into this craziness that you got going on in Louisiana over here. But, you know, 2, 2 things on the West Virginia one. You know, number 1 is how how are you? You were pretty early on last time we talked about this on that one. How are you managing that location?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:21:04]:
Actually, the management of that location has been, like, to the t. So it’s taught me a lot on what to do now. So, again, I have the employee. She’s she’s been perfect for me. You know? She does the wash dry fold herself, and it’s just her opening up the store for me and her closing the store, and her just being an asset to the customers. So that’s one thing that it taught me is I don’t want non attended stores. I’m gonna have an attended store, and I pay her every month. And she loves what she does, and she lives literally across the street.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:21:39]:
And I took that same mentality to Louisiana, and my employee down there works literally lives right across the street from that laundromat. So it’s like, hey. You don’t have to be here all day. That’s not what I’m asking you to do. If you making your money, make your money. But I expect this is what I expect the store to look like. This is what I expect the customer experience to be like, and we’re all gonna make money from

Jordan Berry [00:22:00]:
it. How are you how are you ensuring the store looks how you wanna look and customers are treated how how you want them treated. And and the reason I’m asking is because I get asked easily on a weekly basis, if not almost daily, can I own outside of my state? And, you know, traditional advice is, hey, it’s better to own close to home, at least for that first one.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:22:23]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:22:24]:
And it’s definitely easier. You’re not cruising around the whole country or whatever. But, you know, I think it’s more and more possible, you know, than ever to own remotely. Not easy. There’s unique obstacles like talking about here, but that’s why I’m kinda asking because I get asked a lot. I think a lot of people are curious, like, how are you how are you ensuring quality service and cleanliness at your laundromat when you’re so far away?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:22:47]:
I think the so the first thing I did was I put a ring camera inside of the store and there’s a big sign over it that says push for help even though I haven’t attended. Mhmm. So people who are not shy to push that button. So when they push that button, it goes right to this phone, and I’m right there talking to them. How can I help you? What can I do for you? And if it’s something that I can’t solve immediately, I can click over and call her. Hey. Can you go to the store? This customer has this issue. A lot of the issues that I have because my stores my this store is in, like, a older neighborhood.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:23:18]:
A lot of the issue is that, hey. I put a quarter in here and it won’t start. And she comes and she says, oh, you gotta put another one in. So it’s just that type of communication. So letting everybody know that this is my phone number. I’m the owner. You can call me anytime you need some help. That’s the first thing.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:23:35]:
I’m also go to that store once a week, sometimes twice a week. So I’m actually in the store. When I go down there, I’m down I’m not just going picking up money and leaving. If I’m gonna go down on Friday, I’m not gonna leave till Sunday. So now this gives me the opportunity to, you know, talk to people, see what’s going on, see what’s not going on, make some adjustments myself. If she’s not doing something that I see, hey, I could just make that adjustment really easily, and just say, hey, make sure you’re hitting this, make sure you’re doing this so we won’t have these issues and, you know, go about it that way. So even though I’m not hands on every single day, I’m still very much involved in the day to day activity of the business.

Jordan Berry [00:24:13]:
Yeah. I like I mean, I like the ring camera idea where customers can talk to you and get that immediate feedback. I think that’s awesome. Remind me again, how far away is that laundromat from you? I mean, you’ve gone every week. How far are you going?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:24:25]:
2 and a half hour.

Jordan Berry [00:24:25]:
Okay. So it’s not crazy crazy.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:24:28]:
No. It’s not crazy far.

Jordan Berry [00:24:30]:
I mean, it begs the question then. Louisiana’s use I do use that 16 hours. Right?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:24:35]:
Absolutely.

Jordan Berry [00:24:35]:
What’s the plan with that one? Are you are you are you probably not gonna be able to be at both of these once a week?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:24:42]:
No. So

Jordan Berry [00:24:43]:
So how or are you? I don’t know. It wouldn’t surprise me if you tried to do that.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:24:48]:
Okay. So even though it’s 16 hours drive, then it’s roughly 5 hours to get there. I took a plane. So I could leave the the the route to get to this location is set in stone already. So you either gotta go to Georgia, and then you can go over to Shreveport, or you have to go to Dallas, and you can go over to Shreveport, or you can drop right down in Monroe. So when I took the trip the first time on the plane, if I leave Cleveland, Ohio at about 6 in the morning, I can be to the laundromat at roughly about 10, 11 o’clock. And I can literally do what I need to do and I could be back because if you take a flight out of Monroe, which is unique about Monroe, is that the flights come in at a certain time and they leave at a certain time. So there are no in between flights.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:25:36]:
So if you wanna leave, you need to be back here at 6 o’clock at night so you can get back on that flight to go back home. So literally, in one day, I can literally wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning, and I could be back home about 1 o’clock the next morning if I if necessary. Right. The difference between

Jordan Berry [00:25:52]:
if you need to.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:25:52]:
The the difference what I saw in the communities now these are two different type of communities. West Virginia is predominantly a older white community, and Monroe is predominantly a middle class, younger, African American community. Alright? I actually have more help here in Monroe than I do in West Virginia, and it’s location based. So my laundromat in West Virginia kinda sits in you have to drive through the neighborhood to find it. The one in Louisiana sits right on the corner of the main neighborhood, so everybody has to stop right here at corner to get to it, which gives a lot of visibility. When I was down there, a lot of people wanted to help, which is what I don’t have in West Virginia. So I was able to meet so many people, and when I had an issue, again, I had an issue with the water company. Met a guy in the neighborhood, I said, man, I’m having an issue with the water company, man.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:26:49]:
They just don’t wanna stop. He made one phone call and, like, 10 people from the water company showed up. So I just think it’s mainly those relationships and maintaining the relationships with the owners of that building. The owners of that building, they’re around my age. 1 is a police officer in the community. 1 is a real estate developer. And they’re always saying anything you need, you just let us know. We can go take care of it for you.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:27:11]:
So it’s just a different environment down there. And to know that I have that type of help is a lot different. So now I know as I’m going around the city, I’m going around the states, and I’m looking at these laundromats, the number one thing I need to be looking for is is who will be my resources in these areas.

Jordan Berry [00:27:26]:
Yeah. Well, that that who is the big thing. Right? Like you you’ve gotta have the right who’s around to help you manage. If you’re gonna try to manage remotely, like, it’s just critical. You gotta have some good technology, which I like the ring camera, idea, but you’ve also got to have the right who the right people, are gonna need to

Kevin Lumpkin [00:27:47]:
help. Absolutely.

Jordan Berry [00:27:49]:
Now for, for that one, are you planning on, are you planning on that one being a coin store?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:27:56]:
Yeah. That one will be

Jordan Berry [00:27:57]:
a coin store. Louisiana? Yes. So are you gonna have somebody helping you collect? Or what’s the what’s the game plan for that?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:28:04]:
So that’s the one of the reasons why I started hauling. So that’ll be my job to collect. And it’ll be me doing my job on top of me already doing what I’m already doing. So I’m on the road 3 weeks out of a month. I’m out I’m out on the road. So at any time when it says, hey. One thing about the machine that’s down in Louisiana compared to West Virginia is is when it gets low, it lets me know on my phone. So now I have those systems in place to say, hey.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:28:31]:
Your machine’s getting low. You know? You might wanna head down here. So now it’s like, okay. I make a phone call. Hey. I need to go to Louisiana. Get me freight headed to Louisiana. So, again, I’m not losing anything to go here because I’m already I might be in Georgia at the time.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:28:46]:
Well, okay. I’m just gonna take a freight over Louisiana, do all what I have to do here, make sure everything’s fine, pick up a freight out of Monroe, and head to another part of the country. So it’s just incorporating what I already got going on with what I’m trying to do.

Jordan Berry [00:28:59]:
Yeah. Well and which is which is really smart. Right? Like and and, again, this I’ll just say it, like, because I know some people are probably thinking this, like, this is not for everybody what you’re doing right now. Like, this is not for everybody. But what but what I love about it is, you know, I’m I’m always looking for okay. Here’s what I’m doing. How do I, you know, squeeze more juice out of what I’m already doing as opposed to, you know, let me let me go in a whole different direction every other I mean, I’m I’m very prone to shiny object and

Kevin Lumpkin [00:29:32]:
Me too.

Jordan Berry [00:29:33]:
I wanna do that and I wanna do that and I wanna do that. And I think we’re kinda kindred spirits in that. Right? But anytime you can kind of merge those together and figure out how to sort of streamline them and add new assets or more value somewhere in something that you’re already doing, it’s far more valuable than adding something totally out of left field that, you know, can be great too. But streamlining that, can be a huge, huge win for you. So I, I like that you’re doing that again. This is not going to be for everybody and you know, some people are, are going to be like, you’re insane. And guess what? You probably are a little bit insane, right? I think you have to have a little bit of insanity to do any business really, let alone laundromats, which tends to attract all us crazies around here. So absolutely.

Jordan Berry [00:30:24]:
So I love it, dude. I love that. That’s what you’re doing. One and the other question I had for you here is, you know, you talked about maybe having a having a line of laundromats from where you live now down to, you know, down to Louisiana or wherever else. Right? And just kinda having a route. Are you doing anything active? Like, you’ve got this location in West Virginia. You’ve got this location in Louisiana that’s about to open.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:30:50]:
Mhmm.

Jordan Berry [00:30:50]:
Are you doing anything active to try to find other locations in that general area of those ones there? Because, I mean, obviously, again, it probably benefits you to have more in a smaller area if you can find them. The trick is finding them. Right?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:31:09]:
Right. So actually do

Jordan Berry [00:31:10]:
you do anything active to try to find those?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:31:12]:
Yeah. So before I actually get any location, like so before I sign on the dotted line, I find every laundromat in that community, and I go to all of them. I wanna see how they operate, who owns them. I wanna talk to the owners. I wanna see what their prices are. So I’m gonna go around and, you know, attempt to build. I’m not really personally, for myself, I’m not necessarily interested in owning multiple laundromats in one location. So before I try to go down to Monroe and have 5 laundromats, I will try to have fond I’ll try to get 1 laundromat in Arkansas that’s headed down to that way and try to work myself back up and have 5 that way compared to trying to compete with myself.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:31:51]:
West Virginia is a unique situation because it’s only 3 laundromats in this location. And the other guy wants to sell his, but it’s not worth it. You know? And it’s not worth it because, again, the population is just not there. Mhmm. So when I look at, for instance, Monroe, I think it has 15 laundromats in this city, but, again, the city has about 80,000 people who live here. So makes sense why it’s a lot of laundromats. Would I wanna own multiple laundromats? I don’t I don’t I would wanna do that at home. So if I employed that strategy, that will be done here in Cleveland.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:32:28]:
I would like to own multiple laundromats here in Cleveland, Ohio, but I wouldn’t wanna do multiple laundromats in one city or one location.

Jordan Berry [00:32:35]:
Because you feel like you’d be competing with yourself. Is that the main reason?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:32:39]:
Yeah. Be it it’ll be kinda be like, okay. Yeah. You can go over here. That’s my laundromat. You can go over here. Not not that what that does is is that forces me to have to be locked into one area, and my whole strategy is not to be locked into one area. My whole strategy is to have multiple in multiple areas and be kinda even though most people call it being spread out, I wanna be in different networking networks.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:33:02]:
And I understand that the network that I’m in in West Virginia is gonna be different than Ohio. It’s gonna be different in Indiana. It’s gonna be different in Kentucky. So if I just have all my laundromats in Cleveland, Ohio, I was born and raised here, my net my the people that I meet here is the same people I’ve been living around my whole life. So I’m trying to kinda get out of this bubble that I can find myself in really easily and kind of expand out to meet new people, meet new environments, get into different communities, and start seeing how other people live compared to the way I live. And seeing if, okay, if I did, you know, I’m a black guy. If I drop myself into this 99% white community, would this white community accept me? Well, let’s go see if it happens. Or okay.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:33:46]:
I’m not as I’m not a ghetto, so if I drop myself in this black ghetto neighborhood, can I communicate with all of them the same way as I did in this neighborhood and become friends in this neighborhood and build assets in this neighborhood? And And if I can do that, then I feel like me personally, I’m growing as a human, and that means you can drop me anywhere, and I can communicate with anybody.

Jordan Berry [00:34:05]:
I mean, listen, I you know, again, not for everybody, but I I just I think it’s intriguing. Right? Like, there’s there’s a purpose. There’s a method to your madness beyond, just, you know, just laundromats too. Right? Like, in in one of the things I talk about a lot is, like, this whole thing, yes, it’s about building wealth. Yes, it’s maybe about financial freedom or cash flow or leaving your 9 to 5 or whatever. Yes, it’s about laundromats and laundromats are an asset that can help you do those things. But really, all of this is about who we’re becoming as people. Right?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:34:39]:
Absolutely.

Jordan Berry [00:34:40]:
And and, I mean, I think that it’s easy to lose sight of that, because it’s easy to get wrapped up in the problems of, like, how am I gonna move dryers from New Jersey to Louisiana? And can I get these washers in Florida? And I’ve gotta get freight to go from here to there so that it makes sense and, you know, all that stuff. And it’s easy to get caught up in the day to day. But, you know, if we can keep that perspective of like, hey, man, it’s about who we’re becoming. Like, I actually I mean, I like the thought behind that. I like the philosophy behind that, you know. And again, probably not for most people to be traveling around everywhere, but it sounds like you’re just a traveling guy. You’re not you’re not the guy who’s gonna be staying put. You’re not gonna sit around, on the beach or whatever.

Jordan Berry [00:35:24]:
You wanna you wanna be moving, and I like that. I like that.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:35:27]:
I wanna be the guy who wherever I go, whether I’m on vacation or not on vacation, there’s something here that’s beneficial to me in this state. That’s kinda what I wanna be. You know? Yeah. I might be on vacation in Houston, Texas today, but can I own a laundromat to be on vacation here? So my laundromat paid for my vacation this week. You know? I don’t know if I don’t know. Maybe maybe it’s unrealistic, but I’m not I’m gonna figure out if it’s unrealistic or not. Because I look at

Jordan Berry [00:35:54]:
Well, listen. Go ahead. Go ahead. Keep

Kevin Lumpkin [00:35:57]:
me on. I look at I try to look at the the people who are at the top as an example and try to mimic what I see from the top successful people and see if it can be done on a smaller scale. So I don’t see the owner of Walmart at the Walmart store. I don’t see the owners of McDonald’s at the McDonald’s store, but they have billions of these things around, you know. So the question comes is is can you mimic that same type of structure just on a smaller basis? Or is everybody gonna keep telling me, well, you can’t own a laundromat in a different state. You have to own them all in this one area. Well, how come how can if I can’t do it, then how come that guy over there, how can he can have, you know, 7,000 Walmarts in one in one state, but he doesn’t have to go to them? Them. What did he figure out, and what did he have he started with 1, but now you know? And that’s kinda how I’m viewing things.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:36:51]:
Can I franchise this thing out and, again, see what can come from it? I don’t believe that myself personally, I don’t believe that failure is doing something and it not working. I believe failure is not trying to do something.

Jordan Berry [00:37:05]:
What what more is there to say about that? I love that. And, you know, I I’m sure I I know for a fact there are people listening to this right now. They’re thinking that won’t work, that you can’t do that, that won’t happen. And I I mean, dude, I get psyched up when I talk to you because you’re doing things so different from most other people. And it’s a little outrageous, a little bit out there. But, dude, I I mean, the mindset is for me, it’s spot on. Like, you know, it’s like, okay, maybe the methods are are not gonna be compatible for most people or for, you you know, a lot of people. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:37:43]:
But, you know, the mindset of, like, I’m betting on myself. I yes. Problems are gonna come up. Yes. I’m gonna create some of those problems. Like, I’m gonna buy equipment in New Jersey without knowing how to get it to Louisiana. But I believe in myself that I’m gonna figure it out. And if I can’t figure it out, then I’ve gained still because I’ve learned some like, I just I think that that is, I I think it’s admirable.

Jordan Berry [00:38:07]:
Like, I think it’s awesome, mindset to have. And, you know, the methodology is almost secondary to me. You know, and I am curious that, I mean, part of the reason I had you back on is because I wanted to hear how things were going with your methodology and all of that. So it’s cool to me to hear kind of how you’re putting things together and how, how things are happening, for you. And I’ll, I’ll be, I mean, listen, you’re going to have to, we’re not done here, so don’t. Yeah. Not done yet. But, but I’m going to have to have you back on again because I’m just so intrigued by how you’re doing things and how it’s turning out because it’s so different for most people.

Jordan Berry [00:38:48]:
I don’t know how it’s going to turn out for you and you don’t know how it’s gonna turn out for you. So we’re all kinda in this, like, let’s make it happen. I hope it works out. This is awesome.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:38:58]:
And it it’ll it’ll get me eventually. I’m kind of so me personally, I’m kind of a loner. So this is kind of like a loner loner thing. So trying to get out of that loner box that, hey, I could do it all by myself box. Trying to get away from that and incorporate myself into more circles of people, more people who are in the laundromat industry, meeting more people, getting out because I know what I’m capable of, and I’m just gonna go do it regardless. But that’s not always a recipe for success, you know. And especially when I again, I was I’m not gonna lie to you. I was 100% shocked when I went down to that that laundromat number 2.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:39:34]:
Again, I went down there in December last year. I signed the lease last year, and I haven’t been back since. And this was last month was the first one I’ve been back. And to see the community rally around it and come in and say, man, this is needed. And And even have somebody who lives in another part of the city say, man, thank god when I was talking to the people of the water company, they’re like, thank god somebody, like, you are blessed and you don’t even know it, that you came all the way from Ohio to put a laundromat for us down here. You’re doing more than what you do, even you know, you know. And that that would just was like, okay. Yeah.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:40:09]:
I’m on the right path. Just stay this course, just do it. Don’t, you know, don’t bitch about it. Don’t, you know, yeah, it’s some money. Yeah. You lose money. Yeah. Yeah.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:40:18]:
You can’t sleep, but, you know, hey, that’s the part of the process. Don’t enjoy it because if all the money start flowing in and you become rich, then you go sit back and say, well, look look at all that work I put in. So Mhmm. You know, you you got in life, you gotta take the good with the bad regardless.

Jordan Berry [00:40:36]:
Yeah. Yeah. I yeah. I mean, you’re right, dude. I mean, this it’s it is the good and the bad. And, you know, when you’re trying to do something different than other people, you know, there’s there’s good and bad that’s gonna come out of it. And there are people that are gonna have opinions on on it. And, you know, you’re kinda saying it doesn’t matter to me.

Jordan Berry [00:40:56]:
Like, I’m gonna do it anyways. Yeah. But I I was I was vibing with your, like, kinda being the lone wolf type thing. You know, I I’ve traditionally I mean, I I grew up sort of being a DIYer kinda guy, like, do it yourself lone wolf type deal too. And I’ve just I’ve come full circle over here, and I’m not full half circle. I’ve come half circle, and I’m I’m on board, man. I I think that, you know, one thing that I say is we go farther, faster when we’re working together. Right? When there’s other people involved, you can you can go a long ways on your own, but you can only go so far and you can only go so fast when you’re doing everything on your own there.

Jordan Berry [00:41:40]:
And so but but with that said too, like, sometimes, you know, sometimes you gotta do stuff. You gotta you gotta use the resources you got. Right? If you’ve got some time and you’ve got, the the ability to to drive a route, where it makes it easy for you to move equipment or pick up locations other places. Right? Like, doing it yourself. There’s nothing wrong with doing things yourself at all, but as you grow, your you you need like, going back to like, it becomes about who we are becoming. Right? Like, we have to evolve, as we go and, you know, eventually you’re gonna have so many locations in so many different places that you you’re not gonna be able to go to all of them every single week. And we’re gonna have to evolve and grow and, you know, give over more responsibility or adapt new technology or both or or whatever. So, Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:42:32]:
I just think it’s intriguing, man. I think I think what you’re doing is interesting. I wanna talk about, you know, before we hit record, you were kinda telling me about some other deals that you’ve been sort of working on or trying to lock down and some struggles you were having. But can you talk to us about any of these other deals that you’ve been, you know, trying to lock down around the country?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:42:53]:
Yeah. So I’ll start with, the one in New York. So, guy had posted that he had a laundromat that he was trying to rent out, and, you know, contacted him. I had contact him on Friday. I told him, hey, I could be out there Saturday. Me and my wife got in the car. We drove there. And I I’m again, if I’m being 100% honest, when I walked through the doors of that laundromat, man, this got a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:43:16]:
I was so excited. I said, oh, here we go. Here’s another one. You know? I hit the nail on the head. Talked terms with him. He was with the terms. I told him what I was gonna do. Like, okay.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:43:26]:
I’m gonna use your equipment that he was, like, basically giving us to get started, then I’m gonna start bringing my own equipment in, and I’m just gonna give you your stuff back. You know? If something breaks or something, don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it. And we just couldn’t get past the security deposit of things. Me, I have never paid a security deposit on a laundromat. And the reason why I don’t pay a security deposit on a laundromat is because I break down numbers to laundromat owners really well. So it’s easy for me to say, well, I’m gonna pay you $2,000 a month. That’s 24,000 a year, and and I’m gonna sign a 25 year contract with you.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:44:05]:
For you, that’s a 7, $800,000 deal that I’m gonna put in your pocket, in your family’s pocket for the next 20, 25 years, at your life and in my life if this is successful. For me to have to for me to do that for you, this is what I need in return. I need you to say, don’t worry about that security deposit because it means nothing compared to the size of the deal. And I also need some free rent because you know I don’t live here. So there’s no way that I could just come here and poof, the doors are magically open, and everything’s perfect. I have to meet people. I have to go around and look at other laundromats to see what they’re charging. I kinda gotta get a a pulse on this community because I don’t live here.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:44:44]:
And to try to do that day 1 and pay you rent is almost impossible. Most laundromat owners don’t they’ll they’ll hear that and be like, okay. Let’s do the deal. This guy, he was kinda new in the game, and he just wasn’t trying to close that deal. Even though it hurt. I’m I’m stubborn, very stubborn guy. And I was like, you know what? I was thinking f this guy. I’m not gonna give him my money.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:45:09]:
But the more I thought about it, the more I really wanted that laundromat. And I started calling him back. It was like, hey, man. We can work. We can figure something out. And it was just wasn’t going it wouldn’t happen. So it was like, you know, I I have kinda like a saying in my head, I’m not gonna force you to take my money from me. You know, that’s kinda thing.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:45:27]:
Like, if I go to a restaurant, the food’s not good, or you not don’t provide me good service, I’m not gonna force you to take my money. You know? So you just walk away from that deal. You know? And just because in my mind, I understand one thing. I can find deals when it comes to laundromats fairly easy because I’m always looking for them. So they always just pop up randomly. That’s the problem I was having at that location. Then I’m running into the landlord to believe that they have an asset in a laundromat, that they’ve never actually operated the laundromat. So I’m it’s confusing, like, you’ve never been a laundromat owner.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:46:06]:
You have a building that’s a laundromat that’s not open, but you’re trying to sell me the space. So to my in my mind, I’m thinking, why are you trying to sell me a space for me then to turn around and pay you rent? Why would I do that? I might as if I’m gonna go give you 50,000 for an empty building or 50,000 for old equipment, I might as well take my 50 and go try to find a working laundromat there. A laundromat that’s operating already, and use that as a down payment to secure that. If I’m gonna give you that for one that I have to still turn around and do all the work in. So that’s kinda been my struggles in dealing with these laundromat owners. But one thing I do personally is I just put them on a list, and I keep them close. And every 3, 4 months, I just throw them a text message. Hey, I see you got that laundromat still over there.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:46:54]:
And then I won’t say nothing else. Hey, if you would have worked out a deal with me, you’ll be getting rent by now. But you didn’t, and I say it’s still there. You know? Yeah. It’s still here. I say, try to tell you, man. There’s not a lot of people who’s going around doing what I’m doing. Like, most people want a laundromat in the community they live in.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:47:16]:
So that’s what you’re waiting for. You’re waiting for that guy who lives where you live to say, today, I wanna be a laundromat owner. So while you’re waiting for him, I’m gonna go find other ones, and then I’m gonna circle back to you and say, you ready to do that deal yet? In the meantime, I’ll get what comes to me.

Jordan Berry [00:47:33]:
Yeah. Yeah. Well and it’s interesting. You know, the reason I wanna talk about it is because, dealing with landlords has been interesting lately, especially kinda post COVID and with inflation kinda going crazy a little bit. Interest rates going up and commercial lending has been, you know, there’s a lot of commercial loans that, have been in trouble or will be in trouble. And so landlords have been a little more skittish, a little more difficult, I think, to work with in a lot of not always, but in a lot of cases. And so it’s just interesting to hear about some of the struggles that you’re having because you’re, you know, you’re looking in different parts of the country too. So it’s just kinda interesting to hear that perspective, there from, from you.

Jordan Berry [00:48:19]:
Any, any, you know, from these 2 in the, the one in New York and the one in Indiana, any, any takeaways from those interactions? But real, actually real quick. I want to say one thing. Sorry. You think about that while I’m going on and on over here, for a second. But one thing I like about what you’re doing, and again, you know, people will have different opinions and different perspectives on, on this. And, and to me, it’s less about the details and more about the principles. I like that you have a defined criteria in your mind about what you need to make your model work. And again, the details, I’m not really kind of hitting on right now, but I like that you have a criteria that you’re, you know, for you, you, you mentioned a few things like, for example, you know, I don’t I don’t want to pay a security deposit.

Jordan Berry [00:49:11]:
For example, I want some free rent time, so I can get myself set up, you know, and having that criteria and and sticking to it. Right? Now, you know, maybe there’s a way to make a deal work where things can shuffle around or whatever. But I, I, in concept, I like that you’ve got a defined criteria for yourself and that you’re saying, Hey, this is my buy box. This is what I’m looking for in a laundromat deal in a laundromat location. And if I don’t get it, it’s outside of my buy box, so I’m gonna move on. And again, betting on yourself, I have the confidence I’m gonna be able to find another deal. And for you, one of the benefits to you is that that deal could be anywhere except California, apparently, which is a great place to vacation. So

Kevin Lumpkin [00:49:57]:
Yeah. Absolutely. I don’t know.

Jordan Berry [00:49:58]:
If you do wanna get one over here.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:50:00]:
I was looking.

Jordan Berry [00:50:01]:
Just

Kevin Lumpkin [00:50:02]:
I I was I was looking. I don’t know. I don’t know. You guys are rough over there. Yeah. It’s a little, it’s

Jordan Berry [00:50:09]:
a little rough over here. It’s a little rough doing business. These parts. Okay. So anyways, going back to my original question when I asked it and then interrupted you promptly.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:50:19]:
No, sir.

Jordan Berry [00:50:20]:
Apologies. Any any takeaways or any lessons that you’re taking away from these interactions with these landlords at all?

Kevin Lumpkin [00:50:27]:
So the the first lesson I noticed is that I get I’m able to I guess because of the strategy that I’m using as far as how I acquire laundromats, I’m able to get landlords to drop their guards really quickly as far as the initial part of the conversation. Because the first question that they all ask, and every single one of them always asks this question is is, do you own laundromats right now? So that’s the first question they always ask. And when I say, yes, I own a laundromat in West Virginia, and, yes, I own a laundromat in Louisiana, and then I say, I live in Ohio, that automatically drops their guard because they’re to me, it’s almost like they’re saying, well, if you’re capable of doing that, then I can trust you with what I have. You know? So that’s kind of the first that’s kind of the first thing.

Jordan Berry [00:51:10]:
Yeah. And real quick on that. I I mean, I hear that question comes up all the time too too with like consulting clients or coaching clients that I have, or if I’m talking with the landlord, to, and it’s one of the reasons I say, look, man, once you have your foot in the door, once you get that 1st lawn or mat, opportunities open up to you, You know, whether that’s a location like this where a landlord wants you to have some experience, financing options, more deals come your way, all that stuff. So sometimes it’s about getting your foot in the door, which you’ve done, which is great. Alright. Sorry. Keep going.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:51:40]:
No. You get the next thing I would say is is learning about the industry is probably one of the most important things. Like you said, I have this criteria that I have. So my criteria is set in stone, and I don’t really deviate from it as much. And when I’m using the criteria to talk to a landlord, I know exactly what I need in order for me to become successful in that criteria. That also helps them become successful. So I’ll give you an example of that. My landlords in Louisiana may not love them to death.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:52:13]:
They’re great people. But because they didn’t really know a lot about the industry, they were worried because I didn’t open up that store as fast as they wanted to. Alright? And they were continued to worry. Well, if he doesn’t open, how is he gonna pay his rent? If he doesn’t open, how is he gonna pay his rent? And it was just me consoling them and telling them, listen. Even though I signed a 25 year lease with you, I might not ever open the doors. That’s a possibility. I don’t know. But even if I don’t open the doors, you still got your rent.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:52:41]:
You’re still gonna get your rent money, so why should you care? And getting them just to lower their guard to say, okay. So after the 6 month rent abatement ran out, and they started getting their rental time, it was like, oh, well, this guy’s a man of his word. Yeah. Because I’m not on a particular time frame. When I find a good deal, that just because I signed a lease with you, that doesn’t mean that I’m running and rushing down here to hurry up and open up the laundromat just to hurry up and make a whole bunch of money. That’s that’s not my goal. I saw an opportunity. I saw that it could be something great long term, and I’m gonna take my time to do it.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:53:17]:
And I’m not gonna let anybody rush me because they wanna do something on their side just because, you know, it this is what they want. No. I’m gonna pay you your rent on time. And if it cost me if I if I get a location that’s $1,000 a month, I look at it like I have to make $12,000 to cover that rent for that year until I’m ready to get to this particular location to then do what needs to be done the right way. I already learned how to do it the wrong way with the first location. So the first location, I was in a rush, and I did things the wrong way. So now that I know that, I see a good deal. I’m a close that deal, and I’m gonna take my time and put everything into place in order to make once it opens a smooth transition.

Jordan Berry [00:54:00]:
Yeah. Yeah. And again, I mean, having that having that criteria that you’ve got and, you know, one of the benefits again of that action first mentality is that you’re learning quickly. Right? A lot of times it’s learning what not to do. Absolutely. But, you know, as you as you learn more of what not to do and when certain things hit or certain criteria proves to be, valuable or beneficial, then you’re just stacking that on top of each other. And so, I mean, again, not for everybody, but I think that, you know, there’s some there’s some method to this madness here, and there are definitely some perks of being action action first, oriented, which I love. Yes.

Jordan Berry [00:54:44]:
And, you know, as we’re kinda talking about, you know, landlords and negotiating with landlords and stuff, I, you know, I just wanted to kind of mention for anybody else listening out there who’s, you know, maybe struggling with a landlord. And a lot of times when you’re in these conversations and there’s especially if there’s like one sticking point, you know, with the landlord, for example, had a consulting client who, you know, he the landlord had a hard, hard criteria that he wasn’t going to lease it out to anybody unless they were already a laundromat owner. Right. Which you’ve got that box checked, there, but he didn’t yet. And one of the things we talked about in our, in our coaching session was, you know, sometimes when they have a hard criteria, maybe it’s like the security deposit or whatever. Sometimes it’s it beneficial to figure out what’s behind that hard criteria. Right? Like, why is he so adamant about wanting this security deposit? Why is this, you know, landlord so adamant about wanting the next owner to be, you know, to have experience and, to be an existing laundromat owner, you know, and in that case in particular, you know, I said, Hey, it it’s likely because he’s not thrilled with how the current owner is running their business and, you know, want somebody who knows what they’re doing coming in here. So let’s pitch to him.

Jordan Berry [00:56:08]:
Hey, I’ve hired a consultant, you know, who’s well known in the industry. He knows the business. He’s a laundromat owner, yadayada yada. And here’s our plan that we’ve come up with on what we’re going to do with this to make sure this thing succeeds. Right? So we jumped on a call with that landlord and guess what? The landlord didn’t even bat an eye. It was like, it was like, it was never even a criteria. He’s, you know, he, it was like, great. That’s fine.

Jordan Berry [00:56:32]:
That sounds great. Right? And so sometimes finding like trying to figure out like what’s behind this hard criteria or this, you know, this rent raise or whatever it is. Right. Trying to figure out what’s behind it and then figuring out ways to solve their problem or alleviate their anxiety or the or their takeaway, their problems or whatever it is, that’s going on, there. And sometimes, it’s less about the thing that they have the hard line on and more about the thing behind the thing. Right? So I just wanna kinda say that because, you know, right now is a trickier time dealing with landlords for a lot of people. And so whatever tools we can kinda, you know, Kevin and I can sort of combine on to put in your tool belt, could be, you know, hopefully helpful for you in in landing that deal.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:57:24]:
Whatever That’s like the landlord that I not the location I found to Indiana. I’ve noted his hard point is wanting money for the equipment and going into the store. So be I know the reason that is is because he just spent a lot of money on the building itself. So he’s kinda like cash strapped, and I know that. So, again, I’m not gonna pay you for equipment that doesn’t work. That doesn’t make any sense. And I’m also not about to pay you for plumbing because that doesn’t make any sense. But I can help you sell that equipment to somebody who might want it and refurbish it, which might put 10, 15,000 in your pocket.

Kevin Lumpkin [00:58:03]:
And if that happens, then let me let’s close our deal. But I also believe that, you know, us as humans, we are stubborn people, and that sometimes you have to show people, okay. I I walk away from the deal even though it’s a great deal. But just because you it just just because it appears that I’ve walked away, I haven’t walked away. I’m just trying to come at it from a different angle later on down the line.

Jordan Berry [00:58:27]:
Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, just a comment on that particular scenario because I see that a lot, you know, where a landlord wants money or, you know, if the thing behind the thing is that, you know, they’re, you know, they just invested a lot of money in their building or whatever. You know, here’s, here’s just a little insight for, for anybody who’s listening out there who’s dealing with the landlord. One thing that’s great about commercial real estate, if you own it as an asset. So like from the landlord’s perspective is that every dollar that you bring similar to laundromat, right? Every dollar you bring in. Adds to the value of your asset, right? So if it’s a laundromat, if you bring in, you know, if you bring in money for your laundromat, it makes your laundromat more valuable, right? So our, our business laundromats are valued on a net income, a multiple of the net income. Right? Real commercial real estate is valued similarly.

Jordan Berry [00:59:21]:
However, whereas for us, say $1 of net income is worth about $5 at a 5 times multiple. It’s worth about $5, 4, $5, of of equity in our business, which is great. But for commercial real estate, it can be $1 worth $20 or more sometimes or or a little less. But, you know, it can be worth $20 for every dollar of net income. So sometimes you can say, hey, you know what? How about this? Let’s, you know, let’s forget about buying the equipment or whatever the the issue is. Right? And let’s raise rent by, you know, $50. Right? And you’re like, well, $50. Why is the landlord gonna care about that? Well, guess what? Your rent really probably is not impacting the landlord’s life all that much.

Jordan Berry [01:00:15]:
Mhmm. Right? It’s a relatively small amount. It’s a 1000, 2000, $3,000 probably not impacting their life all that much. That 50,000 or that 50 extra dollars a month is not impacting their life all that much. It’s probably not gonna impact you all that much as a business owner. However, that $50 every single month, what’s that like? $3? You know? And then when you do 20 times that $3, well, all of a sudden, that $50 a month is worth, what, $60 to that landlord. Right? And now you’re like, well, listen. Instead of me paying you $50 for the equipment, let’s let’s raise rent $50.

Jordan Berry [01:00:54]:
It’s not really gonna impact me all that much. It’s not really gonna impact you all that much, except for it’s gonna give you $60,000 worth of equity in your in your land. And and now you’re starting to speak the landlord’s language because that’s what they’re doing. And what they usually do is they build equity and then they pull out money out of it through a loan, a cash out refinance or a line of credit or something like that. And they go buy more assets or they use that money to live off of and let you pay for their lifestyle. Right? So that’s a tool to put in your tool belt when you’re talking with landlords and you’re and you’re coming up on this, you know, impasse where they want money or whatever the case is, if you’ve if you can determine that the thing behind the thing is, you know, I’m a little bit cash strapped because I just spent a lot of money on this business. Well or on this property. Well, maybe you can help them out with that at relatively little cost to you and a big upside for them.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:01:52]:
That’s why I had told you before you, hit the recording was one thing. One strategy I used is to say, well, hey, if I’m signing this long term contract, that’s money that that’s paper. You can take that to the bank. It’s worth something. You know?

Jordan Berry [01:02:06]:
Yeah. Yeah. And yeah. And that’s I mean, you were you were saying, you know, again, because not everybody was there before he hit record, but you were saying basically like, hey, I’m I’m gonna be here 20, 25 years. That’s like, what? 7, $800,000 I’m gonna be paying you over this amount of time, which is compelling in and of itself. But also, you can say, but also it’s gonna improve the value of your property by, you know, x amount of dollars too. So now they’re kind of benefiting both ways, both in cash flow and equity there. So I think that’s that’s that’s good, man.

Jordan Berry [01:02:40]:
But again, it’s it’s tricky right now with some landlords doing things, and negotiating good deals there. Alright. So what’s on what’s on tap for you, man? What do you what do you what direction are you heading now? I know you’re trying to get this, Louisiana one open hopefully in November. Fingers crossed for you. And, we’re pulling for you over there for that. What what else is on on the horizon for you? What else is on task?

Kevin Lumpkin [01:03:04]:
Honestly, that’s that’s about it. My main focus right now is getting that second store open. So I’m not real I haven’t really even been making a lot of calls to other stores that I got on my radar. I haven’t even made the calls because I just wanna, like, hone in and focus on store number 2. Like, right now, it’s time for store number 2. Store number 1 is doing what I needed to do. If I need my wife to go do something, she’s capable of doing it now because she understands the store. And it’s just let’s get number 2 open.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:03:33]:
And we’re gonna put it all together, figure it all out, get it going. And then once it’s where I know it needs to be, then I’ll now change my focus to store number 3. And but until then, it’ll just be getting equipment and maintaining what I got going on right now, not trying to overload it Unless the deal is just that crazy and I have to hurry up and go out and grab it, then I’ll do it. But if not, then I’m not gonna overload myself because, again, I’m identifying about 4 or 5 of them that I’ve identified. I’ve spoken to the landlords of those places. But when I’m talking to them, I’m telling them, hey. You know, I’m gonna give you a callback middle of 2025, end of 2025 to see if we can work out a deal. And that’s another thing I’ve learned how to do now is to say, hey.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:04:18]:
Don’t be so in a rush to grab them. Take your time. Work the program. Work the plan, and know that it’s gonna work if you do it this way, and don’t be in a rush to do it all because, again, all this is being funded by me only. So don’t overwork yourself in the process of doing this. Again, I I me personally, I like laundromats because it brings out, it brings out so much different things that you have to work on to get it all to to come together for a clearer picture. It’s one business that is very unique. Even though people call it simple, it might be simple on the outside the way we look at it, but it’s not simple on the inside putting it all together.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:04:58]:
You know? It’s a lot of moving parts. Mhmm. And just telling myself just just be patient. Just enjoy the process, be patient, and do it the right way. And the next store will just come the same way that second store just came. It’ll just happen.

Jordan Berry [01:05:13]:
That that’s, dude, that’s kinda interesting to hear. And you say, I love that because it mean, it feels like, you know, kind of going back to we’re we’re doing stuff and learning and growing. Like, it feels like a growth point from the last time you were like, I’m ready to go snatch up like 50 of them right now. Like in a real estate, if you can give them to me right now, I’m, I’m like ready to go. Right. And I’m sure, you know, if the right deals came up, you would be ready to go. But I mean, that, that feels like a. Like, like I’m maturing in your in your thought process, or I don’t want to say maturing.

Jordan Berry [01:05:47]:
Like it wasn’t mature before, but like an evolution, I think of your your thought process on how you’re thinking about this stuff, which is cool, man. And, I think it’s a reflection of you you getting after it and doing that stuff and learning along the way too.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:06:03]:
I believe now that I see I see the truth of the industry. And now I really understand that at first, I used to look at it from a perspective of if I don’t hurry up and go get it, it won’t be there for me later. So that was my thought process before not really being that involved in the industry. Now that I know, that I’m looking at a laundromat that’s been sitting at 2 and a half years and it’s still sitting there, like, wait a minute. Why do I have to be in such a rush now? Obviously, it’s not a lot of people who wants to go into this industry as YouTube and everybody’s making it seem, so let me slow down and understand that that opportunity is still gonna be there. Let me not overwork myself to go get an opportunity that may still be sitting there a year and a half from now, and I coulda just waited, got location number 2 to his max, got location number 1 to his max, and maybe location 12 will pay for 3 instead of me having always have to go out and work to pay for 3. You know? And then then at look look at how how long I waited to get number 2 open. And by waiting that long, now I met people with semi trucks, 18 wheelers to possibly be able to say, hey.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:07:12]:
Can you do me a favor? Listen. I’ll pay you $1500 if you can go pick all this equipment up in New Jersey and take it to Louisiana for me. And now I have that connect connection where I did not have that before. It was just me trying to figure out, well, how how am I gonna do this? I’m a move this. You know? So

Jordan Berry [01:07:31]:
Yeah. Well, and what what’s what I like about that too, is, you know, one thing I’ve learned is that systems replicate, but also problems duplicate. Right? So if you don’t spend your time, you know, kind of optimizing store number 1, getting store number 2 up and running and sort of optimizing that you can keep transplanting your system, but all the problems you have at your current stores are gonna duplicate to future ones too. Right? So eliminating as many of the problems, the issues, the sticking points, the inefficiencies eliminate as much of those as you can is only going to help you as you expand in your portfolio. Right? And grow to more and more locations. Absolutely. So yeah. And I think it’s wise.

Jordan Berry [01:08:20]:
I think it’s wise. Awesome. Well, dude, I mean, anything else we need to talk about? Anything else? I wanna make sure we’re

Kevin Lumpkin [01:08:27]:
getting we’re covering all

Jordan Berry [01:08:28]:
the bases here. This has been Yeah.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:08:29]:
No. We we we covered a lot. Yeah. No. It’s a great conversation. Again, if I was if I was a multimillionaire, I’d be running around the country doing this more, but I believe I don’t know if it was you or somebody say, what’s what’s one downside of owning a laundromat or something like that? And I said, there’s no downside of owning a laundromat. The only downside is I can’t have more of them. You know?

Jordan Berry [01:08:51]:
That that’s right.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:08:52]:
You know, but just, you know, taking a enjoying the I always tell people to enjoy the process, so I guess I gotta kinda take my own medicine and say, enjoy the process, man. You know? Because the reality of things is

Jordan Berry [01:09:04]:
Well, let’s see what

Kevin Lumpkin [01:09:04]:
Oh, I must say the reality of things is if Yeah. Would it what if okay. Because it’s a if nobody knows, but what if laundromat number 2 is so successful that laundromat number 3 is not needed? I I don’t know that. You know? So that could that could well, I could want a 100 stores all I want to, but if store 12 is doing what I believe store 100 would do for me, then what if I stop there? Would I be satisfied? Because it’s saying, well, hey. I I made it. I did it. I got that store that does these numbers and, Hey, that’s cool. I don’t have to do, I don’t have to keep going, you know, that that could be a possibility.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:09:44]:
So I don’t know.

Jordan Berry [01:09:45]:
Yeah. I mean, and that’s, that’s great. I mean, it goes back to that sort of criteria. Like, what do you, what’s the goal here? What do you what’s, you know, what are we trying to do and what’s it really gonna take to accomplish that goal? And maybe it’s a 100 stores and maybe maybe you get it done into, you know, all all the better. If you do. Let’s, let’s wrap this thing up with this. I’d be curious to know, again, because I get asked this so much. Do you have any advice for someone who’s maybe thinking about owning a laundromat remotely? You know, more than a couple couple hours away, you know, from from their house or maybe even 16 miles or 16 hours away.

Jordan Berry [01:10:24]:
You know, do you have any advice for that remote manager aspiration?

Kevin Lumpkin [01:10:29]:
The first advice is look to your personal life and see who in your personal life can handle your personal things when you have to be in another location. That’s the first thing. So if you have a spouse, brother, sister, mother, cousin, analyze how they can help you because without my wife, this is not possible for me to do. I can call her again, I own multiple companies, so I run a lot of companies. And sometimes I have to call on her. Hey. They need you to I I need you to go do this, and I’m in a whole different part of the country. So if you don’t have that support system, then I would not advise you to do what I’m doing.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:11:04]:
If you don’t have the ability to make a lot of money really quickly, which I do, and I’m talking about when you need 15, $20,000, can you go out and make it tomorrow? If you don’t have that ability, stay home and look home. Look close. If you if I could honestly tell the truth, it’s easier to have one great store than 10 mediocre stores. So just keep that in mind. It it it’s probably better to have just one solid great store that’s doing the numbers you wanted to do. Find that number you wanna hit. I mean, that’s basically what number how much money every month do you want? You know? And when you find that number in yourself, then be content with that number and just strive for that number. And I guarantee you can probably get it out of which you have, you know, systems.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:12:02]:
You need to be able to see every square inch of your store. You need to be able to communicate through speaker in every square inch of your store. You need to be able to control the locks, the doors, and everything from your cell phone. You need to have control over the Internet at that store. You need to be able to create systems that work together to give you the full picture. Example of that was is the other day, somebody was walking around my store. Again, that’s Monroe, Louisiana. It’s 4 o’clock in the morning.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:12:33]:
They’re just walking around my store. I don’t know who these people are. My store is not open. My phone’s letting me know this, and within moments, I’m on the phone with the police. Hey. I got some people walking around my store. They’re there quick, fast, and a hurry checking on these people. Hey.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:12:45]:
Why are you here? What are you doing? So you need to have a relationship with city council. You need to have a relationship with law enforcement. One great way to do that is offer free donuts and coffee at your laundromat if you need law enforcement around all the time. Give them some free. They’ll be there. So if you’re gonna do this remote thing, the number one thing I would say is you need relationships with people. You have to be people, people, people, because you need people to help you accomplish this. Without people, this is not I’m just being a 100% real.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:13:16]:
This is not possible. You know? And don’t be naive to you’re gonna machines are gonna break. Things are gonna happen. Set the plan. Be prepared to take the loss. As a matter of fact, not even be prepared. Let me let me restate that. Be happy to take the loss.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:13:36]:
So when the loss comes, you better smile just as fast as when the money comes. If you’re gonna choose to be remote and you’re gonna choose to do this in different states, just as fast as somebody calls you and say, hey, man. Five machines went down, you better smile. Man. I’m happy, man. I’m about I’m on my way to fix them. Just as fast as when they call you and say all the all the money is filling up in the machines. Because if you get the wrong mindset that, I got to go back down here.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:14:03]:
I got to do this. You’re not gonna make it. It’s just gonna become a pain and a pain and a pain and a pain, and you’re gonna be trying to figure out how to get out of it instead of how to fix the problem and solve the problems that you have.

Jordan Berry [01:14:15]:
Listen. That was like mic drop right there. Great great advice. I I was just jotting all that stuff down while you were chatting, and just spitting it out loud. So, dude, I appreciate you being willing to come back on. Give us an update. Like I said, we’re gonna have to have you back on again because you’ve you’re always moving and shaking and trying new things. And I wanna hear what’s working and what’s not working as you’re learning, that stuff too.

Jordan Berry [01:14:41]:
And, just know, man, I me, myself, and a lot of other people listen to this are are rooting for you to just kill this thing and and, you know, get that 100 stores or whatever it’s gonna take to get you to whatever your goals are. Absolutely. Thank you again, man, for coming on a second time and really appreciate it.

Kevin Lumpkin [01:15:00]:
I appreciate you. I appreciate the community and information you put out as awesome. I might not be visible to you, but I’m watching you.

Jordan Berry [01:15:08]:
I appreciate that a lot. And you know, for me, it’s humbling. I get to talk to people like you and all these other guests that I’ve had on, and and learn from you guys and spend time with you guys and build friendships with you guys and see you succeed and and learn lessons. All that stuff. So huge, huge thank you and very humbling to just have you on again, sharing your success

Kevin Lumpkin [01:15:31]:
with us. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Jordan Berry [01:15:32]:
Alright. Hope you love that. Now, you know what? I know you love that with Kevin because Kevin is doing just some cool stuff. Cool, cool stuff, and he’s getting after it, and I love it. So all that to say, listen, you gotta take a page out of Kevin’s book. Nothing is going to be handed to you. Nothing’s gonna fall into your lap here. You have got to take action.

Jordan Berry [01:15:52]:
So take a page out of Kevin’s book, take some action, pick something that inspired you today from today’s interview, put it into action this week, today, if possible. Do do the stuff. Right? Do the thing. Don’t just keep learning about it forever and ever. You gotta learn and do at the same time simultaneously and nonstop. Never stop learning. Never stop doing. Your goals will be inevitable.

Jordan Berry [01:16:18]:
You will reach those goals. So that’s it for today. Huge shout out and thank you to Kevin for coming back on and sharing his journey and the struggles, that he’s going through and the ways that he’s solving those struggles. And, appreciate that, Kevin. You always have a spot here anytime you wanna come back on. Appreciate you, man. Alright. We will see you next week.

Jordan Berry [01:16:40]:
Peace.