46. Distributor Secrets for Your Laundromat Success with Michael Ambrose

“Laundromat Mike” joins us on the show today to drop a boat load of laundromat wisdom! As a distributor and broker, Michael Ambrose knows this business forwards and backwards. He meets with owners and operators, tours laundromats, and goes the extra mile to ensure his clients have success, and today he wants to make sure you’re set up for success, too!

Michael leverages his knowledge, experience, and relationships to help you know what to look for in a distributor, how to best work with a distributor, and even gives his insight into what he sees successful owners consistently doing. 

With a servant’s heart, humble attitude, and wise counsel, Michael is the kind of distributor you want in your corner!

In today’s show, Michael and I talk about:

  • The Laundromat Mike brand
  • What is a distributor
  • How to best work with a distributor
  • The process of getting his first laundromat
  • What successful owners do consistently
  • Commonalities among struggling owners
  • Due diligence
  • The importance of a good lease
  • What makes a good lease
  • Diligence Capital Investments
  • Passive laundromat investing

And WAY more!

Watch The Podcast Here

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Episode Transcript

hey what’s up guys it’s jordan with the
laundromat resource podcast
i’m pumped you’re here today because
today i just can’t even say it with a
straight face anymore because you guys
make fun of me about it so much but i
am pumped today because today i have a
super good friend of mine on his name is
michael ambrose
and he is awesome like
he is one of the coolest guys that you
will ever meet
and in fact he’s so cool he and i have
partnered in some stuff together
and you’ll hear a little bit about it
today and hear how maybe you might be
able to get involved in what we’re doing
but not only am i pumped because he’s my
friend but he just brings
so much wisdom so much experience in
this business
and i i think you’re really gonna learn
a lot uh he comes at it from
the distributor side and the agent
broker side
and he’s gonna talk a lot about uh
distributor ships and how to work with a
good distributor and how to find a good
distributor
but he’s also going to share a lot of
wisdom that he’s gained
just from going through a ton
of different laundromats meeting a ton
of different laundromat owners probably
some of you guys who are listening right
now
if you know him you know he is just a
solid solid human being
and really knows his stuff in this
business so i know you’re gonna get a
ton out of this
i’m really excited for you guys to meet
him if you haven’t yet to hear what he
has to say because it’s
awesome uh all right so number two
the other reason i’m so pumped today
like incredibly pumped i don’t know if
you have tried
to go on londonmentresource.com over the
last like week or so
but it has been a nightmare over there
uh the website was off and on it was
glitching out like crazy sometimes you
couldn’t even get on it
it was slow as molasses even slower than
normal which has
been slow but i am so pumped
and genuinely excited to let you know
that
it is like lightning fast over there now
and everything should be good and taken
care of so
if you have been on the forums and it’s
just been too slow in fact i got an
email
from one of you uh which was uh part
uh compliment and part uh hey get your
act together which i really appreciated
both sides of
uh but one of you guys sent me an email
that said hey your site is the slowest
site that i’ll go visit
and i was like first of all thank you
for saying that second of all
we’re getting it fixed and we got it
fixed it’s like lightning over there now
uh super fast so if nothing else that
should make the forums
way way way more easy for you to
interact
and get to know each other so go check
out the forums on at resource.com
forums over there and go ask a question
answer question it’ll take
a third of the time it used to take you
and you’ll be really excited and again
we’re just we keep trying to do a little
bit better a little bit better
making it a little bit easier for you
guys to connect with each other
and to connect with us and what we’re
doing and
also to share wisdom with each other
whether that’s
you know on the podcast on the forums uh
in the blogs on the youtube wherever
that might be
we want you guys to connect with each
other and connect with the people in
this industry that are going to help you
succeed
and meet your goals financial freedom or
whatever it might be
so anyways so pumped so so relieved and
pumped is
so stressful for me uh having the sight
down and
and just causing so much trouble so
apologize for any of the inconveniences
but
we’re back up in online so go over to
londonmanresource.com check out what we
got going on we got webinars every
single week they’re free
on thursdays you can sign up at london
resource.com
go check out the forums everything else
we have going on over there it’s
awesome and we got a lot more in store
uh coming up super excited okay uh
the other thing i want to mention is
this gets alluded to
kind of throughout uh the the podcast
episode and we don’t really go into it
until the end so i just wanted to
briefly just fill you in on what we’re
talking about i’m not sure if it was
clear or not but i just want to make
sure it is clear
so michael and i and ross dodds who’s a
former guest of
the podcast have started a syndication
group
uh called diligent capital investments
and we are
um partnering with investors who
want to be a little bit more passive in
uh
their laundromat investment or who may
want to
ease their way into laundromats and so
we’ve put together the syndication
in order to buy some laundromats and or
real estate together
and we talk about this at the very end
and how you can get involved but check
out diligentcapitalinvestments.com
link is in the description on youtube
the show notes
that link every other link of everything
we’re talking about including the forums
everything that gets mentioned in the
podcast episode
they will all be at
londonmightresource.com show 46
so check those out there without further
ado
and without any other interruptions
let’s get into it
with michael ambrose a good buddy of
mine a distributor
and just a solid solid human being
you’re gonna love it
let’s check it out michael what is up
man
i am so excited for you to finally
finally come on the podcast thanks for
coming on man how you doing
i am so excited to be here i’ve seen
like maybe 45 or 50 people before me
and i’m finally glad that i was able to
make my succession in this line
um i’m really really excited to be here
as well
yeah i like what you’re doing um
the platform that you’ve created is uh
helping people
you’ve had some incredible people on
i’ve watched a bunch of podcasts not all
of them
honestly and uh because i don’t have the
time
but uh let’s talk about who you hate and
haven’t watched their episodes
let’s name them by name there is no one
everyone you have on is very it’s very
educational
um and it’s something that i’ve i’ve
actually i’ll wake up early in the
morning and i’ll work out right
and i’ll have your podcast on while i’m
listening on speakers
in the garage yeah and i’ll listen to
that and think that it’s uh
that’s how that’s where i make the time
to do stuff like that and when i’m
driving too
yeah but um i’m learning a lot and i’m
learning a lot i’ve been in the business
for quite some time
and i can only imagine uh how everybody
else
what they’re getting out of it so thank
you for doing such a great job in the
industry
i really appreciate what you’re doing i
personally enjoy what you’re doing
as well i appreciate that and i can’t
think of anything
that would pump somebody up more to work
out in the morning than the podcast i
just i can’t think right
usually yeah and all of that like
yeah i mean laundromat can you please
say it for me i’m pumped oh i
am pumped dude here you go but i want to
hear
super pumped pup well you’ll hear you
have to listen to the intro because i
haven’t recorded it yet and i might just
be mega pumped i don’t know man
i just have to see where he goes well
hey man
uh you know i cannot say enough good
things about you
so i really am pumped that you’re here
uh on the show and i want
i know that you have a ton of things to
share with people that are really going
to help them out help them
either get into their first business or
to optimize you know their laundromat
business or maybe even to scale their
laundromat business those are kind of
the three
main things that that i’m trying to
focus on over here to help people
you know buy laundromat optimize the
laundromat and scale their laundry
business so
um dude before we get into any of this
vast knowledge and wisdom that you have
because you have been in the in the
industry
for a while now and in a few different
roles
before we get into that why don’t you
tell me
a little bit about you who is michael
ambrose
well first and foremost i i think i’m
the best at being a father
everything else after that i just work
really hard at
um you are a good dad background is
um background is i was born and raised
in um arizona
and i went to school in tucson i was
there for general business at the
university of arizona
and then um i did this careers project
you know when you do this careers
project or actually you know when you
take an elective right
you always do the easiest selective so
you can keep your gpa up right right
right so i do this uh it’s this careers
project and it should take it to
everyone in the class probably took an
hour and a half and aced it i sat there
for two days and i was like what in the
heck do i want to do with my life
general business where am i going with
that
and then so i took some time and i
figured out i like to travel
because i’m from yuma so i wanted to get
out there and just see things
and um and uh i didn’t really care if i
made a ton of money
but i wanted swift and you don’t have to
you know i didn’t i wanted to travel and
have fun and the hotel industry was
very sexy to me at that time so i pretty
much packed my bags left to university
arizona went to unlv
and finished hotel administration school
so uh
after i did that i um
boosted my career in the hotel business
with i worked for hyatt hotels
and i started off in monterey i was in
their management training
program i was in monterey and then moved
out to atlanta and then i was in
knoxville chicago and then i ended up
way back out here so at first i was
operations manager
as assistant levels director
housekeeping front office manager
there along when i was in atlanta i had
this uh
this room’s executive and she was just
like i think we’ve got this great
opportunity for you i
think and you we’ve all heard that
before in our lives yeah famous last
words there yeah
right and then i was like no way i’m not
going to laundry i am going to be the
youngest general manager
in this organization
mind the last i was 23 right and i’m 23
we all think we’re going to conquer the
world right
yeah so so um so she basically took me
by the ear
i said no thank you she said yes please
and grabbed me by the air
drove me in the office threw out all the
files and said
here’s your new job you’re the new
laundry manager right
that was 1999. i’ve been doing laundry
ever since
so then it was uh knoxville chicago back
out here
i worked for a chemical company after my
uh
stint with the resorts and hotels for
about ten and a half years so that was
pretty cool because it was back in the
house operations
i was selling chemicals but then it was
an easier sale because i had been in
those positions
and i knew like the i knew that
the times that a director of
housekeeping goes through a laundry
manager so
i wasn’t this salesperson trying to sell
them chemicals i had been in their shoes
at 800 room hotels so it was a nice
little niche
um so i was there for about 10 and a
half years and then i got this
job with the distributorship here in
southern california
and so i’ve come full circle from
operations to chemicals consulting
now i sell equipment and then eventually
that evolutionized into real estate so
it’s uh
it’s come full circle you have been here
i am
all over well and here you are at the
pinnacle probably of your whole life i
would say
you know on the podcast i hope not i
hope there’s
where to go
this is like the pinnacle of life to
come on this podcast you’re about to be
a laundromat
superstar i mean where is there left to
go
um all right maybe you got plenty left
in the tank and there’s
plenty higher to get but uh one of the
things i love i mean thank you for that
background on who you are and where you
came from i think that
i didn’t know a lot of that stuff
actually and so i think that gives a lot
of context no i didn’t
um but one of the things that really
intrigues me
about you is you are
laundromat mike oh my gosh
can you tell me a little bit about
laundromat mike who is laundromat mike
and and what are you all about
well let’s see so
i i go into so in sales i go into
laundromats all day long
all day long resorts hotels and so forth
so i get to see
behind every closed door what nobody
else gets to see you know in regards to
the laundromats
um many owners they go out and they’ll
see their competition or
when they’re looking to buy their store
they’ll go out and check out 10 places
or 15 places or they’re really
aggressive guys will go out there and
see 20 places
and so so uh i was walking out of a
place one day and i’m like
you know what this is i’m blessed to be
able to go in
and hear all of the voices and
see all of the places look at all these
successes
learn from the failures learn from the
successes i’m talking to people who have
one store
talking to people have no stores who
want a store who’ve been searching for
five years
i’m talking to people who have ten
stores um
so it it resonated like well
you know i’m not more of a social media
guy but i become one to some extent
because
why not covet all of this that i’m
seeing
why don’t i just bring it out there and
so in laundromat mike it’s uh
try and put a little spin on it try to
make it personal basically it’s the life
of a guy
who sells laundry equipment for a living
who travels around and
tries to show you you know the
professional side of the business things
that are great things that
aren’t working great things that i see
are really sexy because
there’s one thing that we’re going to
get through this whole podcast jordan
laundry is sexy so yeah
so if i can bring that into the homes
and if i can show someone a bulkhead
that was just recently done or a store
that was recently done or
the before and after shots of of of a
retool
if that can get into someone’s home and
they can say you know i like that design
out there in southern california
i’m going to apply that out here or i’m
going to apply that with my own little
version
and that makes their laundromat great
then my job is done
it’s pretty cool so i have the ability
to do that
yeah what i love about that is i mean
that’s pretty similar to like
what i’m trying to do too right it’s
like we’re just trying to
take people behind the scenes and help
them learn
the best ways to to get in this business
and the best ways to run this business
when you’re in
and uh i mean i love you know and
oh we should mention that the the
meeting that you’re
posting this stuff on is on instagram
right yes
laundromat mike it’s on facebook too and
facebook i’m gonna link
i’m gonna link to those you guys need to
go follow laundromat mike
on instagram and on facebook i don’t
think i follow you on facebook
uh but i’ll i’ll go follow you on
facebook too i definitely follow you on
instagram and i always love seeing your
post so go follow along or matt mike
on on instagram too i’ll put a link in
the description if you’re on youtube or
in the show notes uh if you’re listening
on the podcast
thank you jordan yeah so what’s what i
mean have you gotten any feedback about
laundromat mike are you are you
interacting with people because of it
i’m assuming you are
it’s pretty cool it’s it’s it’s been
great it’s been something like coming
out of his shell like on this podcast
and
yeah it’s been tougher to sit here and
talk to i think you’re what like three
billion people
um are watching your podcast right now
at least yeah i thought it was like
you know twenty thousand and then when
you told me three billion i got a little
nervous
yeah but yeah um it’s third of the world
really yeah i felt like we were going i
felt like with the super bowl obviously
so i talked to people and i messaged
with people all over the country and and
some out of the country which has been
pretty cool to see
people see things resonate within people
and they actually reach out to you
um so it’s very difficult
to give opinions when i’m in southern
california
and this market here is on steroids
talking to someone
in you know florida or
somewhere in alabama or anywhere else
because
everything changes every quarter of a
mile in l.a
demographics change people change
competition change
and that’s one of the things that i
thrive on in this business i love it
um you wake up every day and nothing’s
the same
every single day you have the goals and
the visions of
what we know the fundamentals of this
business that everybody can focus on
and then outside the fundamentals and
different markets things
change um so i i really enjoy that about
um this business i was recently back in
um north carolina the wash house the
willaford family you um oh
luke williford who will eventually own
every laundromat in the world i’m
convinced
but yes their family is incredible i
went back out there with a partner of
mine and um
it was it was eye-opening um by the way
luke was a top ten just to let you know
i think i’m seven yeah
45th maybe you’re that 46 is what you’re
46
being yeah there i go there’s a silver
lining i thought it was 70.
no you’re good you’re you’re definitely
top 50. so
but i’ll link speaking of luke though
i’ll link to his podcast episode it’s
amazing you got to listen to it if you
haven’t but go ahead continue i watched
it before i went out there to meet the
family
and uh it was impressive um
back to saying that you know the
difference in ways changed
demographically
i went back there and um they owned 37
launch rates in north carolina
um it was an eye-opener because
everything out there was different
demographics were different
layouts of the facilities were different
the stores were
different we actually had a room where
in southern california everything’s
packed in like how
tight we pack this in and you know have
five foot
in between the aisles i remember post
speaking of laundry matt mike you posted
something
on uh on your instagram of
behind his dryers and how much room
there was and i didn’t really realize at
first that it was actually behind his
dryers because there’s like
you could probably fit three rows of
dryers behind the drive like there was
so much room back there it was crazy
so i got some comments there like oh why
are you doing that you can’t do that out
there well
they can do it back there and the thing
with that building well there was a
little thing they
they were there was a the building was
an awkward shape
so in order to make everything square in
the building
that side of the building behind the
dryers was a little bit larger than
usual
but point in case is there was room
and it’s important to have access yeah
yeah
but so so it’s back there and um
the layout the rents are different the
labor is different the competition is
different
um and then you go to and then here in
southern california
um like i said l.a is i like to market
on steroids um i live in ventura county
and ventura county has you know you have
um san valley is still l.a county which
is
um pretty heavily dense but in ventura
county you have like santa maria
and then oxnard which are the heavily
dense areas with laundromats
um oh that’s uh so so santa maria is in
uh
santa barbara county and then you get up
into slo county
and it’s like a blast from the past
there’s nothing going on in slow area
like la oxnard um santa maria it’s just
completely different so going back to
the
i’ve been able to talk to people all
around the country and people have
um liked the personal touch and like the
business touch and every once in a while
i make fun of people in a very
lighthearted way
just to drive a point in to don’t do
this in your laundromat
but it’s been nice hearing from
everybody around and uh
being able to go around and see that
this is a
very very very unique business and uh
many times as a distributor people ask
me a lot of questions
how much is this door gonna make well
you know
i’ve got 20 questions for you to answer
that question do you know the answer to
those 20 questions
yeah well that i mean that leads us
right
into i mean you are a distributor and
you have been for a little while now
and i i mean i think i talk to people
all the time
about you know the importance of having
a good distributor i did not have a good
distributor getting in
uh people have been hearing me whine
about that for a while now uh
but uh there’s another dig we met a few
years ago right you bought
nothing from me yeah like i don’t even
think i got a follow-up call thanks for
driving all the way down here to l.a
and uh spending your time um like but
but it’s okay we’ll talk about that here
bro at that point in my life
i was bewildered i had no idea
what i was doing and i was just trying
to stop the bleeding so i apologize
but obviously i couldn’t help you at
that point but here’s
you know and we’ll talk about this a
little bit later on that was about five
years ago that was one of my first year
in the business we met
yeah and you had that laundromat which i
still think you have right i do
yeah that was that was an experience the
music and
the everything going on around your
laundromat
was was was entertaining and believe me
as a distributor
and as a salesperson it’s all about
telling people stories right yeah and so
your laundromat believe it or not for
that quick little stint that we met
had a lasting impression yeah well
probably
the car wash across the street called
the wet spot was probably remembered
more i wasn’t gonna say anything
no that’s yeah it that’s gone now but
that was uh that definitely brought a
little flavor to our little neck of the
woods over there
it was definitely a lot of added
enhanced flavor for that neighborhood
yeah but i do plan on making it up to
you and some and we’ll talk about this a
little bit at the end
but uh you know you and i have partnered
with ross dodds who have
also have been on the podcast and if you
haven’t listened to his story
you’ve got to listen to his story and
i’ll link to that too he’s got a crazy
entry
but you know we’re going out now and
we’re syndicating
laundromat deals and real estate deals
and we’re going to be buying equipment
i’m sure
you know we’ll probably probably use you
as our distributor i’m guessing may
don’t grind me
don’t mind me well i want to get into
that okay
so let’s talk about that what is this
right because i’m telling people you got
to have a good relationship with the
distributor right but
let’s talk about what a distributor is
and then i want to get into
how do you best work with the
distributor how do you find a good one
what is a good one supposed to be doing
all those questions so let’s talk about
what is a distributor so um this is one
of the questions that you gave me that
you were going to ask me
um i don’t think you’ve had a
distributor on yet have you i don’t
think i have no
date top 10 all of a sudden number one
number right
right i love it that’s right um so i
prepared a little bit so it’s a business
that works for a specific manufacturer
and distributes their product
okay um and there’s a distributor
does that for all brands for all
different things from payment systems to
equipment to
vending machines all of the above
so the sales reps are responsible for
the direction
of the sales sales path of the product
each path is different based on
customers experience and needs
so they provide information on the
product and competitive products
information on the industry they supply
demographics and give their opinions
on demographics
they work with you on the surrounding
competition
if you go into a situation where you
need to re-equip the store
it would be there to look at the
demographic surrounding competition
and help you discover your new equipment
mix
your washer and dryer ratios they’ll
give you
their uh their experience from
previous experiences based on the
demographics and competition
they help you order and receive um
they’re
a guide in the project they’re not doing
the project physically but they’re
associated with everybody
who’s working on your and their goals um
assistance in any obstacles jeez have
you had
any obstacles in development of your
businesses no not at all no
no i want to work with you
yeah right yeah no tons of obstacles all
along the way
wish i had somebody like you to help me
through them well
it happens no matter who you have it’s
just the nature of the beast nature of
the business and
when you’re doing big projects whether
it’s 50 000
or 650 000 things come up because you
got so many other people involved
um so so sales reps that work for
distributors help with the guidance of
the project and they’re there for you
as an expert to help guide the process
to
its concluding days which is grand
opening
um so they assist you with stuff like
that and then also you know it’s
it’s it’s interesting when when you’re
re-equipping a store
and going and you get this opportunity
to make it better to do different things
and you look at everything around you
um you’re able to help with the psyche
of the consumer
um there’s being the stone things being
the
the psyche of the the store owner or the
psyche of
the customer of the laundromat or both
the end user um
where do people go when they walk into a
place um
what do you want to see what impression
do you want to give them
um right when they immediately walk into
a store
um out of order you know it’s funny how
this isn’t all the time but a majority
of times you walk into a laundromat and
if there’s a
top pockets that’s out of order and a
stacked dryer
the five around it like nobody wants to
touch them like give me away
that’s out of order it’s sick it has the
big rhona virus you know
yeah there’s something wrong with that
dryer and
and it’s like guilty by association
because the other fire driers are
sitting around and going
use me use me
you can’t so stuff like that and then
walking into a place and
you know uh the big machines in the
front you like a lot of people want to
see big machines when they walk in
because the first impression is
wow this place i can wash
for my whole entire family in one load
or whatever it may be but
stuff like that they help you with the
psyche they help you with installation
um they’ll either have an installation
team
know of an installation team or guide
your installation team through the
project
and then you know they help maximize the
performance of the equipment
there’s a lot of networking systems out
there that allow you to
maximize the performance of your
equipment there’s a lot of
uh different things out there that you
can do during installation to give your
equipment ease and for the next 20 plus
years
be able to perform well so they help you
with that stuff too
they’re supposed to follow up on results
so
so that is part of the job description
of a sales rep
and good sales reps follow up and build
a partnership
because um we should be doing that
um and then continuing the relationship
with the customer um
you should be there before during and
after
and after after whether jordan you’re
buying one store or not
i should be checking up with you making
sure everything’s good and let you know
i still care
and uh hope one day that you uh
purchase another store or you sell your
store so i can help you sell it
but you keep the relationship going in a
good forthright and honest way
that’s it well thank you for kind of i
mean that’s a thorough breakdown of what
a distributor is and i think that’s
awesome because i think a lot of people
don’t really understand
i know i didn’t understand what a
distributor was i thought yeah i go to a
distributor because they’re the
gateway to equipment and
in you are right as a distributor you
are kind of the gateway to equipment
but you should be a lot you know all
these other things that you
described you know and for me you know
and you’ll hear people
uh some of like the top these top owners
top operators
the ones who’ve been on the podcast or
maybe see them in you know the forum
um or facebook groups or whatever um
people
you know top operators say hey have a
good working relationship
with a distributor a good distributor
who’s really going to take care of you
because they’re going to end up making
you money and you’ll make them money and
it’ll be a great you know relationship
and nobody nobody told me that and
the you know the distributors that i
have worked with in the past
are great people but they didn’t do
most of these things that you just
listed off and now
here i am i’m partnered with you and
with ross and
and we’re going out looking for pretty
big
laundromat deals now right and
we’re partnering with investors
nationwide to go out and buy a bunch of
laundromats and real estate and
guess who’s not going to be
making any money off of that the
distributors that i’ve worked with in
the past because they were not these
things that you’re
you know that you’re talking about um
you know and so
just good human practice is doing these
things good
sales practice is doing these things
that you talked about
and good business practice is doing
these things that you talked about
so so that’s what you know that’s what i
should be looking for and a good
distributor
right i i believe so and i
try to do all those points effectively
i can land probably 90 of them but um we
are
we are human we do get busy things
happen but yes that’s what you want in a
distributor you want someone
to carry you along the way and and it’s
it’s
it’s interesting because so this whole
stigma of a salesperson
it’s like i can’t tell you how many
times that i’ll walk into a place and
it’s like i’m walking
through or i’m walking into a wall of
ice because
it’s called an icebreaker for a reason
right you you i have to burn my way
through this ice because right when i
immediately walk in they’re like
sales guy sales guy
and then so you have to you have to
develop the relationship early in the
partnership early you have to get to
know them
um what is their background and
experience in a distributor plays
a big role if you jordan i just met for
the first time and
you were new and i’ve been where i am
now
um it would be a path that we would go
through that would help you along
more than if i was new um i’d have a lot
more
stories a lot more uh let’s say
projects under my belt that would help
us move forward
and and then through all of that i’ve
made a bunch of mistakes
that’s how you get to be better in
everyday job it’s called being human
so so if you get an experienced person
you’re stoked
but if you get a new person it’s darn
well just as good sometimes
um when i was brand new um
it’s so funny so ross right ross
reno ross he was the first
person that i did a deal with and i was
new
and he was new and i was just glad that
he
um he allowed me to move with him
through his first big project that
laundromat that burned down it
was rebuilt oh spoiler alert spoiler if
you haven’t listened oh yeah
yeah go listen to it
so um it was so so he took a chance at
someone who he
saw that wanted to learn um had some
fire in the belly
was transparent about i’m just in this
business i’m going to do my best i’m
going to do all the research i can to
make this happen for us so he he went on
a limb and
took me and here six years later um
we’re got a company that we’ve got
together
and then on the side like i i mean i
went to
him with north carolina last week and um
and then uh he’s got five laundromats
now and he’s sold one and i’ve been a
part of
all of those transactions well not all
of them he’s gone through
a couple different distributors early on
um but
um but i’ve been a part of that whole
thing and that’s
taking a chance with someone who has a
bunch of knowledge or taking a chance
with someone
who’s new they both can serve you well
but you just have to get to know them
ask questions be
transparent be kind um it’s funny when i
went into the industry
there’s a lot of uh the stigma of the
salesperson when i went into the
industry
there was a lot of older guys who’ve
been doing it for like 20 25 years and i
was like why are you all so crotchety
why are you all so mean why aren’t you
over did you do you know anything about
customer service
right and and then six years later i’m
like
ah wow people can be brutal
like like everyone thinks that sales
people are you know
sales people but the general public can
be just as brutal and salespeople
that um many times you know it forms the
salesperson to be a little bit
non-customer service oriented um
can you can you tell us a little bit
more like from the distributor
side about that because i think that’s
important to understand that side of it
for uh you know for how to work with
well with a distributor right we need to
understand what you guys go through
as sales people um you know can you take
us through maybe like
from that initial conversation and
through
you know your sales path a little bit
and what that’s like for you as a
distributor um
as far as how uh like what a distributor
looks for an
an individual no no just or no just like
along with a uh sales how to make the
best partnership
with the distributor well i i just want
you to talk a little bit about
i mean you said like it could be like
people can be brutal
like to you right so what do you mean by
that i guess
okay okay so a lot of times it’s just
the initial conversation it’s like
walking into the room all happy and
you’re excited to be there and
you want to make some money you want to
help people you want to
take on this new project which is going
to be different than the last 300 you
had
and you’re going to lose something from
this project and you immediately walk in
and it’s like
speak to the hands you know you have to
break the ice
um so you have to break the ice you have
to get to know them um
i think you can just feel that they
automatically think that you’re not
trustworthy a lot of times um so i
generally take the time to get to know
them a bit and that’s the sales person’s
job
um it’s not the customer’s job the
consumer’s job to
to try and get to know the sales person
many times in my belief i think it takes
two parties
but i try and get to know their long and
short-term goals so i can
help them with you know their future um
uh how and why they got into the
business
a little bit about their family
laundromat industry is a personal
business
it’s okay to know about people and not
be so corporate
in this personal business that we’re
doing so you know a lot of times you got
to break the ice but then after that
people get to know and see each other a
bit
um the trust and the credibility gets
starts to formulate
then um then bam there it is um
so so that’s that’s the goal is just to
get to know each other
know each other’s experience and know
each other’s directions and goals
and then availability i mean the
customer should always be like okay does
he answer his phone is he responsive
um is is he following up with what he
said or she said
um those are those are big big things um
follow-up is is key to a good
sales rep that works for a
distributorship um
it’s it’s funny though i was talking
about how how it can be
pretty tough i’ve had a um a few
circumstances where
you know you jump through hoops you’re
on fire you invest all your time put
hours of time
and then they like ghost you or do you
like
seriously i kid you not i spent so much
time
with this these wonderful people like i
i i kind of got personal i kind of had a
little heart for him you know and
i thought the deal was going to go
through and it was a couple store deal
and
and i like i went to their house i
traveled afar to see this place which
was
completely out of my jurisdiction right
and i got excited and that’s sometimes
what you know it’s the passion
that you want your distributor to have
and then
when it all came down to it they were
price driven and i got one of these
uh we’ve decided to go elsewhere like on
a text i was like next breakup
i got a text breakup i’ll never forget
that i still think about it all the time
it’s like uh
um and then i’ve called back several
times i’ve emailed
and nothing no nothing but a but it’s
okay
and um it’s it’s fine and i would
the moment that they called me up to do
business
i’m gonna be just as excited as um i was
upset that they didn’t call me and tell
me no
because we can take the answer no you
know
a lot of times in life you win by
default
um i’ll win by default you go with
someone else and they don’t do a good
job and you come back to me because of a
price now you know why
you know i had a great product and i
brought value to the table
um so so that’s that’s one of those
things at the end of the day just be
honest with your time
and their time um and remember the best
gift that you can give someone is what
jordan time man yeah so
so but there’s the other side too
well yeah and well before we get to the
other side i mean i i think it’s a good
point for us as owners to keep in mind
that
i mean it’s it’s like a real estate
agent right like you don’t get paid
you know unless you make a sale so if
you’re investing all this time
energy effort that’s time you could be
spending on something else
and you know if you break up with
a distributor who’s been pouring a lot
into you a lot of time energy effort
into you
and you break up over text and then
ghost them from there
like they get nothing out of that right
that’s
that’s tough i mean it’s not it’s not
something to base
your business decisions off of um but
uh you said something that was kind of
interesting to me and i um
there’s actually dave men’s has a really
good youtube video and all
if you don’t know dave mann’s laundry
matt miller the distributor guy right he
he says get good relationship with your
distributor right yeah he says have a
good relationship with your distributor
and he has a video that he says price
versus value and you mentioned that
they were price driven and not
value driven which i think is the
implication of what
you were going for there and i’ll link
to that video too because it’s a really
good one
but uh price price is
a significant factor obviously you know
when you’re
investing money in a business but it’s
not the only factor so there there’s
more to factor into that
and i would argue with somebody who was
price driven
in my first retool uh and
and got the best price that i could
and uh but that’s all i got
right like as soon as those machines
were in i
did not see at my distributor again i
didn’t get any help
from them and i needed it right because
i was
struggling after even after my retool so
uh yeah so i just wanted to point that
out that you know price is a huge factor
but it’s not
the only factor so but tell us about the
flip side i mean
i know you i’m sure you have plenty of
horror stories about you know customers
who’s
you know who’ve given you the shaft
people still say that
does it say that no it’s probably not
close i think it’s more of a
beer conversation with your buddies
conversation like when you say the shaft
okay you got that shaft yeah but anyways
uh so tell me about the flip side of
that are there some good
you know stories that you have go back
to the other side real quick so
um the true colors of someone always
shows up in
certain times and um i i would say
i said i’ve won by default quite a few
times
like i’ll lose a deal and then they’ll
go out there
and then they’ll come back like a year
later and be like hey you know i really
appreciate you following up for last
year and like you just sucked it up and
you’re like
oh yeah i can lose and this person was
great and i want to do business with
them down the road and
you put it to the side and you carry on
like
i don’t know if a lot of other sales
people do that i’ll continue to follow
up if i lose a deal
and um just if i see something in
someone that i i want to work with them
i will continue to do so and and so uh
it’s it’s
it’s an industry where you you have to
be able to forgive and not take things
personally
um and you don’t ever know what people
are going through so
or what other factors were considered in
that no
to you or that yes to you so you just
i mean at the end of the day you just
gotta shake it off
and um know that you would you
you you will do business with them again
because
that’s what we do and there’s a few
times that i’ve had
that come back to me and right now i’ve
got some amazing
partners that i work with that were
because of that story so you just
never say no be tenacious and and don’t
take anything personal and
when they come back just do a better job
so you they never go anywhere
else again yeah and i like that attitude
it kind of puts it
back on you right like you can’t control
what other people
do you can only control your own thing
and i i kind of have this funny
thing that uh you know if somebody like
forgets my name or something
you know i said hey you don’t feel bad
about forgetting my name like no big
deal it just means
i didn’t do anything memorable enough
remember my name right like
that’s on me not on you for not
remembering my name right but it’s kind
of a similar concept right where you’re
like
okay well i’m just gonna i’m gonna take
it up a level
you know if if they come back around and
you know it’s on me
they they make their own decisions but
all you can control is you and what you
do so
i like that absolutely get knocked down
get back up and be better
right and take accountability for
obviously i didn’t do
a good enough job to get their business
whether it was price or whether it was
whatever reason it was whatever yeah you
you take that back the next time and you
just do better
and and you know what i can’t wait that
they come back i’m gonna knock it out
apart that’s right
that’s right um the other side though i
mean
is uh people are cool people are great
people are nice people are kind um not
saying that what we were just talking
about they’re not
it’s just we’re talking about how oh
sales is tough
and you come across a lot of people and
you give your time and your efforts so
so uh i’ve got a customer that uh i
i swear i poured in probably more time
than
um than the last scenario i was telling
you about
and at the end of the deal i walked away
with uh
absolutely zero and this guy was just
like man we’ve done a lot of business
together you’ve helped me out a lot and
then um
i don’t know if i don’t know if i should
say this but
he delivered a kegerator to my house
that’s so awesome i was like what is
this about he’s just like you put in a
lot of work
you did a lot of time i see what you did
you didn’t get anything out of it i know
you like ipas
here’s a kegerator that’s a little
awesome
that’s so so awesome so and then my best
story is and
this has only happened once it will
probably only happen once in my lifetime
um i was i did another great partner
that i have it started off as business
and now we’re just friends and know each
other’s family and everything like that
he comes up to me one day he’s like
michael
how are you doing on this deal
what what do you mean how am i doing
we’re doing a great job that’s how we’re
doing
how did it become me instead of us right
and he’s just like are you getting paid
all right i’m like looking at him like i
have no idea where he’s going with this
i’m like yeah yeah i’m i’m okay
and then he goes i just want you to know
that
we’ve done a lot of work together and i
see how
what we’ve done together you’re gonna
you’ve just helped us make money for the
next 20 plus years
and i know that you get a one-time
commission
i just want to make sure that when you
walk away from this deal
that you’re happy and can’t wait to work
do business with us again
i’m like i’m not gonna
the deal doesn’t end we’ve gotta forever
deal with you like that like
like who does that and when does that
happen and and that’s kind of how they
run their whole life which is really
cool
and they are um uh super
successful at what they do and they’re a
it’s great to work with them so well
it’s one of those things where it’s like
uh you know are they like that because
they’re super successful
and people would say that right but
there’s probably a pretty good argument
that says no they’re super successful
because they’re like that
right like they take care of the people
and they see it as
they see the value in what you’re doing
and they view it as a
partnership right and they appreciate
that
you know not just in word but also
indeed and that’s
i would say that’s that’s pretty key to
success
my view i’ve told that story quite a bit
because it’s
a remarkable story and nobody has ever
been like yeah i have the same story
so so i think i found one in a million
human being who uh
who has that approach and that approach
isn’t with me it’s the way it approaches
everything which is pretty cool
yeah yeah pretty cool okay so
i mean thank you for walking us through
that too and like you know how to how to
think about your relationship with your
distributor how to work with the
distributor
um i think it’s super valuable you know
like you’ve been saying
like you know some of these other top
operators are saying like it’s really
important to
you know have a good relationship with
your distributor um
but we’ve never really at least on this
podcast never really broken down
what does that mean how do you how do
you even have a good relationship with
your broker
and how do you know if you’re working
with a good broker or not right and you
broke down those two things
beautifully but i got a question for you
uh because you’ve been in this game for
a little while and
as far as i know unless something’s
happened in the last few days
you don’t own a laundromat yourself so
what’s the deal dude
i mean your laundromat mike man you got
to get a laundromat here
well and aside from you know here’s the
thing like
i know we’re going out we’re putting
together deals right now for
you know our syndication and stuff like
that so i know that but i’m just curious
are you planning on getting any
yourself well let’s just say that i’ve
had a few
curveballs thrown at me over the years
and um
and i’m getting close it’s been on my
mind since day one
and i actually had a little deal just
fall out in a close by uh
area which is unfortunate um
but um yes it’s going to happen
i can’t wait for it to happen it’s got
to be the right deal the right location
the right lease the rights uh
the store like right now i can’t take on
a
3500 square foot store and manage it and
do
you know my job the best that i can and
do the real estate side i need something
a little bit smaller and that’s kind of
hard to find that’s within 30 minutes
with a good lease
in an area that i can manage from afar
so uh the time is closed i hope and
that’s one thing i would
love i mean just for everybody to
understand that you got to have patience
in this job
or not in this job but in this in this
field if you’re looking for a laundromat
sometimes it takes two or three years or
whatever it may be
and uh the other day i was talking about
so my cpa
um is started in laundry then became my
cpa now
it’s been a couple years that we’ve
known each other and called me the other
days like michael i still don’t have a
laundromat we do all this business we
talk all the time and i’m like
shaq let me tell you there’s got to be
the right laundromat for you you have
family you have a job you have all kinds
of things going on
i’m not going to just find you any
laundromat i’m going to find you a
laundromat that you can have life
balance
and still make some money however money
that is i don’t know because
how much time do you have to give as
often times
directs how much money you’re going to
make um to some degree unless you have
someone to manage that for you and if
you have someone to manage that for you
that cuts the profit
so anyways it it it takes time
to find the right place for you and i
would never just jump into something
like i’ve been around
six years looking for a laundromat most
of those years
i haven’t been able to do so but now i’m
able to do so
and i’ll spend another two finding the
right laundromat if that’s what it takes
to do something that accustoms my
lifestyle and allows me to be effective
at jobs number one and number two
and then um and jobs number one and
number two and number three
jumps one is be a good dad jobs two is
distributorship
and job three is the real estate so um
they have to six
it’s a sequential order and uh i’m not
gonna lose all or take away from the
other two
and not be successful for job number
four yeah
i like that and i like i mean kind of
what you’re saying is you gotta find
the laundromat that fits your situation
right whether it’s you your cpa somebody
listening right now who’s maybe looking
to buy
a laundromat you know you not all
laundromats fit
you know where you’re at in life either
location
or business model wise or
even even i mean there’s so many
variables right condition of the story
like there’s so many different variables
that you need to find the right fit
for your goal right and you’re going to
buy a different laundromat if your goal
is to
is to retire from your you know from the
rat race from your nine to five job
you know you’re probably gonna buy a
different laundromat than you would if
you had excess cash and you wanted to
you know just make some cash flow on the
side you know and if that’s the case for
you then you probably just want to
invest with us
right i don’t know um yeah
but were you placed into the laundromat
that balanced
that that was accustomed to your life or
were you placed into a laundromat
i was placed into a laundromat for sure
yeah that’s nine out of ten people
from my experience maybe eight out of
ten um
but so so that’s why you’re here though
which is the coolest thing ever
without that experience there would be
no laundromat resource
yeah yeah right so you’re here for a
reason and sometimes a lot of the
crossroads that we face in life which
are
the trials and tribulations of life mark
rocket us
into other aspects of our life that
benefit other people which is
the beautiful thing about this yeah okay
i’m done making fun of you for not
having a laundromat yet i just
needed to get a little jab jab in there
and
oh i was you just didn’t know it no i’m
just kidding
uh well i mean one of the things one of
the reasons i was really excited i mean
there’s a lot of reasons to be honest
that i’ve
been really excited to have you on on
the podcast but one of the big reasons
that i’ve been really excited to have
you on is because i know
you’re laundromat mike right like you’re
in all these laundromats you are talking
to all these different owners
and you’re seeing uh you’re seeing what
works
what doesn’t work what are successful
owners doing versus
owners that are struggling more and i’m
i’m curious if you would just give us a
little
maybe even as your as your secret sauce
maybe give us a little bit of what
you’re seeing what what are
successful owners doing consistently
that you know maybe struggling owners
aren’t doing
[Music]
great question um there’s quite a few
things and
and you’re right i get to see it and
years later there’s our consistencies
with
people who have done with i can take
the 10 most successful laundromat owners
that i know
and each one of the things that i’m
already saying it’s consistent within
all of them um maybe some are
stronger at other areas than others but
they’re they’re they’re all doing it
um one of the biggest thing is just
focus on the fundamentals
um that’s something that the willaford
family does really well in north
carolina they just keep everything so
simple
and you know why they have to it’s
because they have 37 lives
yeah you can’t make a complex and have
37 and manage them
effectively ross and i spent uh
uh a day with uh lee and luke and i
swear those guys answered their phone
maybe three times
yeah and spent ten minutes on the phone
out of an entire day
that ross and i were with them and that
just shows that a couple things that
they’re
effective owners and um
they’ve got everything aligned and
organized correctly
and it shows that they’re keeping it
simple
and focusing on the fundamentals um so
clean bright and safe everybody always
hears clean bright and safe
um a good friend of mine is always
says you know what i want my wife my
grandma and my kids to go there at nine
o’clock at night if the answer is yes
it’s clean bright and safe and you’re
comfortable having
your family go there in the evening so
if it’s not that way
try and do the best you can to make
people comfortable people want to go
where they’re
welcome where people know their names
people want to go
where um they feel safe so
focus on the fundamentals and keep it
simple you want to treat your place like
you want others to treat it and they
will do so
um my first year
in working for this distributor i uh i
evaluated over 400 laundromats in
southern california
um have them in a book a binder just
just i evaluated 400 laundromats
and one of the things that i saw is i
could go into some of the roughest areas
in southern california
and i could walk into a really nice
place
and everybody keeps it nice i can go
into
the bathroom of a really rough area in
southern california
and the ownership takes pride in keeping
everything immaculate
i walk into that bathroom and um
it’s pristine there’s no writing on the
wall there’s no junk there’s no trash
everybody’s throwing the trash in the
basket
um and going the opposite direction
i could walk into a place because i
cover uh santa barbara county too
so i could walk into like a place in
santa barbara i’m just pulling out out
of my head because everybody knows santa
barbara is absolutely gorgeous
i could go in a laundromat in santa
barbara yeah right it’s
so beautiful i know i could i could go
into a laundromat in santa barbara where
the owner
doesn’t see any of the things that i was
just talking about and what what
what’s going on there there’s writing on
the walls or spray paints there’s
etchings in the uh
in the mirror you know the owner’s not
even turning the water on
and then that’s true right because they
don’t want people to trash and take
basic showers
so how you manage that um
uh treats your place like you want
others to treat it and they will do so
um is that 100 of the time no
but don’t let those few people who don’t
do it ruin it for everybody it’s kind of
like the dog that uh
that uh poops in the park and this is
kind of a crazy
but but like i remember going to dog
parks all the time right
and then all of a sudden you couldn’t go
to dog parks because there’s three
people who
go there every day three times a day
that don’t pick up after their dog right
you can’t kill the dog park because
there’s three people
that abuse the the policy
terrible example however that’s the
first thing that popped in my mind
that terrible because i’ve had not dogs
but humans
do that in my laundromat so it’s a
relevant example
so what are you gonna do just just quit
your laundromat because someone pooped
on the floor
maybe i don’t know no no i mean you
you know he but it is difficult like i
will say
like you are absolutely right but
especially early on in
and i would say the key to that like to
you know if you take over a laundromat
that’s like that or if you let your
laundromat go and it gets like that to
where people are
abusing it basically i will say and i’ll
say this from experience that it
takes a long time of concerted
effort to turn that tide right you have
to stay on top of things
you have to you know be quick to
fix things be quick to clean up things
and even if you’ve let things go for a
little while it
is salvageable right but you have to
make that mental shift that you’re going
to be on top of things
um and you know when i’ve had problems
with
um like homeless people or things like
that
it’s the times where i’ve just been busy
or i’ve been tired or whatever and i
haven’t stayed on top of it right
but if you stay on top of those issues
that’s when you can jump into this
category where you’re
taking care of your place you’re
treating it the way you want others to
treat it
right and that message does come through
so when you’ve been consistent with that
and assertive
and making sure that you’re you’re doing
what we’re talking about
um how do things change for your
customers um did more people
come in do more kids come in um
yeah how’s that work yeah yeah that’s
exactly and people notice right people
notice
um pretty pretty quickly when
when the owner decides or a new owner
comes in or whatever
decides that you’re going to take care
of your store and that you’re going to
you know because the neighborhood talks
right and they you know they’re not dumb
they see when there’s homeless people
hanging out and they don’t want to be
there
like going back to the clean bright safe
that whole safety thing even if
you know even if somebody’s just kind of
dingy and just hanging out
and they’re not really a threat to
anybody you know people still don’t feel
safe there right and so you know as soon
as you’re on top of that
and uh people people know that you care
i mean first of all it shows people that
you care about their community
and their laundromat um as soon as they
know that you care
then not only will they come back and
start bringing kids and stuff but
they’ll also kind of rally to your aid
right and i’ve seen that a lot where you
know customers will
uh will will throw people out of
the laundromat you know if i’m not there
and they’re there and and somebody
like customers will throw them out
themselves because
you know you’ve been able to that’s
their space their place yeah
yeah and they want to keep it that way
so you’re right
do you have have you ever had someone
thank you
oh my yeah oh man well and
to be honest it wasn’t too difficult to
get that thinking coming from where it
was originally like it was
it was so bad dude it was so bad but
yeah absolutely absolutely and how cool
is that that just gives you like okay
i’m doing this and
that that’s really cool when you have
your customers come and thank you for
giving them security
a place to come and do their clothes all
over the above
so so but my next my next thing is um
with successful laundromators and the
consistency that i see
is there’s owners that truly enjoy
serving their communities um
[Music]
it’s it’s it’s evident it’s true it’s
there the people that care most about
their communities who have a laundromat
they actually excel it’s
how that works i don’t know uh but it
but it does
um you know i i have there’s there’s a
couple in la um and
what they’ll do is all day saturday
they’ll prepare um
a meal so like it’s i mean in this
laundromat’s like 7 000 square foot
in la and they’ll prepare a meal
have all the fixin’s good ends and the
all this all the spreads and every
sunday
it’s like this community barbecue well
it’s not a barbecue everything’s
prepared
so it’s this community brunch and um
this laundromat i wouldn’t say it was in
distress because of its location
it’s always going to do good i would
imagine but this owner came in and he
just said hey i want to take care of the
community
i want to serve people i want to make
people happy i want to make sure that
they come to a place where
they feel welcomed and the place is
booming
um not because of the brunch but because
of the heart behind the owner who
is serving the community and that’s one
thing that’s consistent i mean
there’s owners who come in on a hot day
and they’ll
hand out waters with their kids um
there’s owners that will come in and
go to the party city and then get a
bunch of helium and
go in there and you know do balloons for
the kids throughout the weekend
you have kids right i do how cool is a
balloon to a kid
it’s about the same as it is to me super
cool
me too
so diving into the community showing
that you
personally care um is one of the
consistencies
um so another thing is is
price leaders i had a customer the other
day call me talk to me about pricing
mike what are you talking about right
what do you think i should do
like well tell me once again it’s one of
those questions where i have
it’s a question and i answer it with ten
more questions right but he had told me
and raised his prices in eight years
i’m like tell me what’s happening
economically in the last eight years
let’s talk about all the hardships let’s
talk about all the changes let’s talk
about all the natural disasters
let’s talk about the virus you know
there’s a whole list of things
all of that has escalated the cost of
living
in my area i mean a two by four is what
uh three or four or five times that what
it used to be
six eight months ago a two by four
so um everything’s
everything’s cost more than it did eight
years ago so raise your prices
so price leaders are not afraid to raise
their pricing and they do it accordingly
um to what they’re doing
um there’s another consistency within
these people
these people actually aren’t afraid to
raise their crisis
but they also coincidentally they all
keep their places clean
and reinvest back into the business
so i would question yourself if you’re
actually
you know looking to raise prices and do
my customers deserve a price
price increase now do they deserve it
based on
do they deserve to pay more or do they
deserve
a quarter or 50 cents more based on
what you’re supplying them if you can
answer yes then increase it and you’re
not going to lose the right people the
wrong people
if at all you’re gonna probably maybe
lose a person or two
just as all about that and you know
that’s
sad but you know keep your place
reinvest in it don’t be afraid to raise
prices and then warrant the price
increase
not by not doing anything not by letting
everything go ragged not by security not
by hearing thank yous from your
customers
raise your prices because you’re doing
the right thing for your people and it
warrants the price increase
um but don’t be afraid oh another thing
is uh
this is i’m sure you’ll have fun with
this one
keep good records most of the successful
laundromat owners that i know
all have immaculate records but the myth
is it’s like oh yeah it’s a crash
business you can do anything you want
yeah you can do anything you want to you
try and sell it business that you
haven’t been recording on
good luck finding that you know that
makes it hard for the broker and it
makes it shady
and it’s it’s not good so keep good
records i mean
it’s all about being straightforward
honest forthright and
doing the right thing this is a business
which allows people to
um manipulate numbers so um
with that being said all of the owners
that i know
are consistent in their recordkeeping
well and i think a lot of what one of
the things i like about this business is
the people who are doing well in this
business who are running
the business correctly and doing it well
don’t don’t need to have shady
accounting
practices right like you just don’t you
don’t need to because one you’re making
money
and two you’re you’re benefiting from
your business is
you know increasing in value because you
know they’re based on how much money
you’re making right so if you’re making
more money it’s going to be more
valuable
and they’re getting tax breaks because
they’re running their business smartly
by retooling or you know whatever the
case may be
i’m running expenses through the
business but they’re getting tax
advantages they’re building equity and
they’re making income
and so they don’t need to have shady
practices
write-offs tax advantages depreciable
assets
good records strong sell strong business
it all aligns together when someone
spends more time thinking about how
they’re not gonna how they’re gonna
cheat the system
they spend more time doing that than
making money and then that whole
attitude many times is what i’ve seen
it’s not true in all circumstances but
what i’ve seen is that person ends up
not doing so well in other parts of
their business
whereas the person is record-tripping
he’s focused on the customer he’s
focused on a team
keeping it clean bright and safe he’s
not worrying about if his numbers are
going to mash out or not when he goes to
sell his store
and you know what when he goes to sell a
store he’s going to sell it for a lot
more because there’s no bs
keep good records well one of the things
we had andrew cunningham on and
uh i know you know andrew too he’s
awesome and people love that episode for
good reason but one of the things he
talks about
is uh you know first of all
you should be keeping good records from
day one
um and uh and number two
is you know when you don’t keep good
records or you keep two sets of books
or you tell the irs one thing and you
tell a potential buyer another thing
those kinds of things
those all erode trust right
and eroded trust decreases value
i mean that’s you know and in it slows
things down
all all the negative things when you’re
trying to sell your laundromat
um you know when you when you don’t have
good records or you have
two sets of records or inaccurate
records
all those things you see that all in all
your consulting
i see it all the time you know well both
from the buyer side
and and the seller side and you know it
can be tricky if
you know if a seller has not kept good
records and maybe they’re not even being
shady they just you have a transaction
right now where
you know they’re just not super savvy
the sellers just aren’t super savvy
business people and they had
uh they didn’t even have like they had a
handwritten
piece of paper that said here’s what we
made in
january here’s what we made in february
and that was it was just a handwritten
one line didn’t break it down or
anything and it was like okay well
man that makes things really difficult
to know what’s going on with this
business
right like yeah but you’re right there
are a lot of people out there who
they just don’t keep good records and
it’s not because they don’t want to it’s
just because they’re busy with
it’s supplemental income so their heads
in 15 different directions and so forth
and and they’re making money right right
they’re making money and then if you’re
making money then why keep records i’m
making money
yeah it’s just hard to bring credibility
to that if you’re trying to sell the
place
totally um another thing is
just have to stay ahead of the
competition you have to do what they’re
doing better
and then some um
so i continue to invest in the business
and the interest of the customers in the
competition um
your your investment should be done
accordingly to your customers
and to the competition
yeah well can you can you talk a little
bit of
more about that like staying ahead i
mean i think that’s
huge like do what your competition is is
uh you know you gotta do what your
competition is doing but better and you
know and then some
uh can you talk a little bit more about
that like what do you
what are you seeing um a lot of times
when people are just making money
they spend it in other places they
shouldn’t and when you invest in
competition um you’re able to bring more
value to the customer so forget about
your
jacuzzi tubs your nice rooms and going
out to eat seven nights a week
um a jacuzzi tub in the laundromat
because that would be awesome actually i
mean that would probably be
filthy jacuzzi tub in the laundromat no
jacuzzi tubs at home like you’re making
money so you just go and spend it on all
kinds of other things
all right all right all right that was
good that was good you’re messing with
me i like that
so so you want to bring more value to
the customer and
you know invest in the kids interests
the parents interest
can you do two birds with one stone
theory can i get my laundry done
and get some work done can i get my
laundry done and
enjoy time reading to my kids can i get
my laundry done and
enjoy some peace and quiet while my kids
are in the kids corner
um i have a customer in uh santa maria
same guy who said hey
uh are you making enough money on this
so he’s got like this
it’s like a 7 000 square foot laundry
now right now
and um and he’s in a very competitive
market when he first got i was like why
are you doing this
like there’s like 30 laundromats within
a mile from you
you’ve got this is impressive i want to
see how this works out
these guys are just awesome right it’s
probably why you know there’s so much
exactly
the way they carry themselves so um
they’ve got this
it’s it’s like better than a mcdonald’s
or a chick-fil-a playground
inside their um laundromat and the
beautiful thing about it is it’s the two
birds one stone can i
get my laundry done have my kids play
and
not hear screaming kids so there’s this
three birds one stone
and so um excuse me we have a trash guy
going by
can’t hear them you’re good so um so
at this laundromat you go from the
washer
to the dryer and you go from the dryer
to the folding table
but this folding table is looking
at the kids area and the kids area is
this big
huge glass enclosure so how brilliant
was that let’s go to laundromat
i’m gonna get my stuff done the kids can
play
and i don’t have to hear them but i can
watch them
yeah and then if you not a big if you’re
done with kids
and you don’t have kids and you don’t
want to go to the pool with all the kids
are and you don’t want to go to the
laundromat
where all the kids are you can still go
to this laundromat because all the kids
are an enclosure
plane and you can’t hear them so they’ve
invested in a heavily competitive area
with the kids interest and the parent
centers at the same time so
that’s where i say invest in uh the
competition and doing what your
competition is doing
and doing it better than they’re doing
it um so yeah that’s it
i think that’s awesome i think it’s a
thing man i mean that’s a pretty cool is
that that laundromat is that
in southern california yeah it’s
actually in santa maria
it’s it’s it’s an eyepiece yeah that’s
about some
i’ve had a bunch of posts on that over
the last year on uh the whole
laundromat mic thing yeah that’s pretty
cool i mean i really like that idea and
you know i you know obviously like
mcdonald’s or whatever they’ve
really thrived you know be partly
because of that model that they have
um and it’s tough to do with a
laundromat because you got to have
space right like that’s not technically
money making
space right but that’s an incentive that
i mean that’s huge
you know that’s to dedicate space like
that to a play area
where you know kids can play get their
energy out you know i
i feel i’ve done this before myself i
brought my kids you know when i had to
go to the laundromat maybe i was
cleaning up or whatever
you know i had to bring my kids along
and they’re trying to entertain
themselves so they’re climbing on stuff
or
messing with the carts or whatever you
know and people are doing this
trying to figure out what to do with
their kids all the time and
uh having something like that is that’s
like a
that’s like a deal maker they’re killing
it
they’re doing so well because of that
yeah
not because of that but yeah that’s got
to be a big part of it and
you know it takes a certain kind of
person to do
that uh for their laundry right like
they’re going to be taking care of their
business if they’re going to be
investing that much money but also space
for something like that it’s it’s
it’s pretty neat to it’s the greatest
thing about my job is i get to
see all of this it’s fun and i’m
constantly being educated and
and just when i think i know something i
realize i don’t and i learn more it’s
pretty cool
yeah um the last last but definitely not
least uh
one of the consistencies i see in
successful laundromat owners
um they’re not afraid to pay the extra
buck for the right product or the right
service i’m talking
um the products whether it’s equipment
card systems
or any any vendor item that serves the
bottom line
um they’re not afraid to pay the extra
buck
um installers they pay people to do it
the right way
they make sure the right people are
using the right materials to do the job
the right way
again the right people it’s funny it’s
it’s kind of
the vicious cycle of default which we
were which i was talking about earlier
like oh
i’ll take it next time you come around i
um i know
multiple owners who have gone through
everyone i know who is a installer
in southern california and they always
go back to the one that ends up being a
little bit more pricey who does the best
job
so winning by default in that area is
good so just find the person
find the support team you need initially
a bed don’t
don’t step over quarters to pick up
nickels
do your investment it’s long term it’s
depreciable in most circumstances
and you’re able to get the right people
right off the bat
without having the next three or four
projects
you’re pulling your hair out because uh
you wish that you’re with a guy who
happens to be a little bit more pricey
you know
maybe a little bit more slow but it
works
um the same thing for contractors same
thing for contractors as i said for
installers
um what installers or contractors are
many times installers at the same time
sometimes they’re separated down here in
southern california um
and then um repair services
uh andy was big on repair services i
think
um he uh you pay them right away
you tell them thank you you respect
what they’re doing they have a tough job
driving around
working on equipment and they’re
innovated many times more than we are
so find that good repair guy he may cost
a little bit extra
but he’s gonna show up on time and when
you pay him when he leaves
or when you buy him lunch or her lunch
when they uh
when they’re there and when you give him
a sincere thank you
um i guarantee you when you call them
jordan
on friday at 5 p.m and they’re an hour
away
um and you actually need them like need
them need them
they’re going to be there a lot sooner
than if you didn’t pay them on
time and say thank you and and buying
lunch every once in a while
it just makes sense so um building a
support team
is another consistency these these
owners find the right people to do the
right job
they typically pay more for the job to
get done um
and somehow um that just makes them part
of that’s just another one of the things
that i see consistent within owners
yeah i you know invest in the people
that
are investing you know in your business
with you you know like the repair people
the contractors like
invest in them and they’re going to take
care of you i love that um okay
i wanna just had similar experiences
with your uh laundromats
have you have you had to go have i had
to win by default
uh well i
yeah i’ve struggled man i mean and part
of it is got your team now
kind of so well part of it is this like
this is why i think
this this is like a very good lesson for
everybody like learn this from me right
like
i didn’t know what i was doing early on
i got involved with
you know distributors and brokers who
weren’t looking out for me
really um they’re looking to make sales
and
that’s fine whatever that’s their
prerogative
but because of that there’s been ripple
effects of that for me right so
the people that i uh connect with to
help me
you know do installs i’ve had really
great people i have an installer who
installed some equipment a few years ago
still owes me 1 500 bucks
i don’t think i’m ever going to see that
money but i text him every you know
couple months like hey does that money
come in and i always get a new excuse
but he’s a great guy but you know
so and and same with repair people you
know because
i have been connected with uh you know
early on
because i got connected with people who
really weren’t taking care of me i kind
of just had to fend for myself right so
i’ve had to go through
a lot of people to find
good people to work with and i always
try to take care of
you know people but then you know you
start to realize oh
this person’s you know probably not the
best person out there
you know there’s he’s not really very
responsive and he doesn’t really show up
when he says he’s gonna show up and
you know he’s come three times now and
actually none of the machines that he’s
supposed to be fixing are fixed
like what’s going on here and i’ve
already paid them you know like
uh so just a lot of hard lessons right
but that’s part of like
that lesson of you know if you if you
cut the wrong corners if you are look if
you’re strictly price driven
you know that whole you get what you pay
for saying
is you know it’s got it’s got truth to
it so
hard lessons to learn that have had
ripple effects for years for me
really how many how many uh years have
you on this
five or six now yeah like six or seven
somewhere in there
i remember meeting you shortly after you
got them yeah
yeah i think i got one and then a little
over a year later i got the second one
so well real quick can we
can we blitz through these i want to
just kind of blitz through you know the
flip side of that do you see anything
that
that owners who maybe are struggling a
little bit more
what do you see anything consistent that
they’re doing yeah
we can elaborate on what people are
doing good um
and the consistency there that’s
important um some things that i see that
people
lack on that affects their business is
they they forget about customer service
we’re customer service industry
it’s a business they’ll cut the rock
wrong corners
um uh which is the opposite of what we
talked about
is doing things the right way not
cutting
the wrong corners um you know it
requires time remember the biggest gift
you can give someone is your time as we
said earlier on
so give your investment which is your
laundromat give it some time
it’ll reflect in your profits
um a laundromat is not a check-in once
or twice a week and collect a bunch of
quarters it’s just not it’s a business
it needs tlc it needs to be
thought out it needs to be driven and
people need to be thanked
and you know a lot of times people don’t
build the laundromat
according to the community that it’s in
so know your community know what the
community wants
um don’t get into the laundromat that
you’ve been thinking about for the last
20 years and you finally get your
laundromat and you build it what you
were thinking about
but you forgot about the community you
built it in um
and then you know a lot of times people
just don’t understand the
least they got themselves into but
that’s what i would say is
that’s what i would say would be some of
the things that um
don’t do so i would say well yeah i
think those are that’s a great list
right there but i want to kind of
jump on a tangent a little bit i mean a
very relevant tangent but let’s please
well look i want to talk about the
leading horse over here
i mean the the lease is a huge thing
right it’s like
gonna be your number one or number two
expense probably
uh you know behind labor perhaps or
maybe in front of labor
so it that lease is a super important
document
so i mean can you talk just a little bit
more about maybe
some things to look out for in a lease
or maybe mistakes that you’ve seen
people make
i would say before signing the lease and
jordan you have
you have more experience on this side
than i do this is um
a place that i’m i’ve gotten into over
the last year year and a half so
please um if i say anything that you
disagree with be like stop right there
stop right there but you definitely have
more experience in this
than i do but um some of the things that
i do see is
people don’t record check they don’t do
the
utility comparisons and they don’t
observe as much as they should be
um during due diligence i’m i’m talking
to reference to due diligence
before they sign the lease they just
automatically assume they’re gonna walk
into this place the guy’s been making
money for 20 years and
they’re going to start to make money too
so
once again that’s record checking
utility comparison
and observation and remember that
observation
that’s the one area where people can
actually cheat on you
so observation is good
but remember that’s the one that people
can be a little bit shifty on they can
make you see what they don’t want you to
see
um speaking of andy cunningham
um he always says numbers don’t lie
people do i think i’ve heard it 20 or 30
times
and he’s right and and people can
manipulate numbers but is that still
fine possibly you may manipulate numbers
to make them
say what you want them to so um so it’s
really important to record check and do
your
utility comparisons you want to see are
the revenues credible and can they be
validated are there
are the expenses credible and can they
be validated
um is the labor credible
you know if it’s 3 500 square foot and
they’re spending 2 000
a month for labor or even one thousand
i’ve seen
and they’re saying they’re fully
attended okay well
so-and-so’s niece and cousin cover it
most of the time
are their niece and cousin gonna work
for it for free when you take it over
like
you’ve got to have that consideration
where is how is the
how is the labor allocated from the
number that’s on your
information sheet um and then most
importantly
is what’s currently here all sustainable
throughout the life of the lease that’s
the most important thing right there is
it sustainable
and then if it’s not maybe it’s good for
five seven eight years and then you get
into these options that are just
insane and then you’re trying to sell a
laundromat that’s eight years old and
you’ve got these crazy increases
and uh your your profitable laundromat
for the first five years
is now a thorn in your side so uh you’ve
got it
you got got to know if it’s sustainable
um and you
got to understand the lease itself and
this is something that i see
quite often many people don’t understand
their lease when you know why
because i don’t like reading 25 pages if
print that good
if you had a lease and in a picture book
i think i would get it
nobody likes to read like that yeah
right we should start doing ikea
book leases ikea elise right you don’t
have to even speak the language
be great so many people type many times
people don’t understand their terms
they don’t understand their rent
increases how does it
schedule out over the course of the next
15 years
um is it assignable
if i have a 20 year lease can i reassign
it let me give you
um a quick little thing that i’ve ran
into
um about people who are in the business
too and this goes for everyone not just
newer people um there’s there’s people
who have multiple stores been in the
business for time
who get at least that they end up
scratching their heads going does that
really say that
you know uh current situation i wouldn’t
say current situation i ran into a
recent situation
and um these owners
had 14 years left on their lease and
they were going to
do some stuff to make a long story short
they’re going to do some stuff
transferred around sell that to get
something else
and then we go to read the lease and
it’s four years left on the lease with
two five-year options
how many years you got we got 14 years
right
not unless after the term lease
after the term lease you’re not able
after that ends
the options are only assignable to the
original lassie and they’re the second
tenant
so what that says is okay you’ve got
four years and if the landlord
wants to give you the next ten they
could
now the original se if they have that
and they were still in the building it’s
automatically warranted
because that was under the master lease
so
stuff like that um and that’s a big deal
too
right because they really only have a
four year lease and the landlord could
double the rent
or decide they don’t want a laundromat
there anymore and all of a sudden
they don’t have a laundromat there
anymore right or they’re not making
nearly as much money as they were
so these owners invested they invested
wasn’t like they just took over and it’s
standing they they
it’s they’re killing it and is the
landlord going to work with them
probably probably does he have to
does he have to no no no and he can he
can gouge him too
you know especially if they’re killing
it and he knows it right
right oh yeah we’ll give you a new lease
we gotta forget about the options we’re
gonna get you a new lease
and it starts out three times as much as
you’re paying right now
yep comps in the area have gone up it’s
a beautiful area things have changed
you know it’s so it’s uh you want it you
want to know the least the assignability
is
is huge um
uh and then here’s another story you
know um here
you can reflect on this is the
laundromat that
you can personally is it a laundromat
that you can personally be successful at
it’s kind of like when i was talking to
my cpa i’m like look shaq
i’m not going to just throw you into any
laundromat i’m going to consider your
life balance
what you got going on make sure you can
be successful in that laundromat
uh for a couple reasons why because it’s
common decency for a human being it’s
truthful and it’s transparent
hello and number two is i don’t want to
see you fail
i i don’t um what do you feel
i don’t know it depends on where to put
them into you know if i put them into a
7 000 square foot laundry store that’s
that’s that’s killing it
and he has a job and a family and
everything like that he’s probably not
going to be that successful
um so you got to put the right person in
the right seat let’s say
um and then you know get a professional
to review it
um find a good broker that you trust
just like your distributor
brokers aren’t crooks everyone’s always
like the stigma of a broker i can go do
the whole thing
well you know he charges a lot i don’t
want to pay for it you know how many
times
i’ve seen someone lose their ass because
they didn’t get someone
a professional involved in their
decision to get a 20-year lease
um we could do a class on that jordan
i mean you could do a class on that i’m
learning about that stuff here
but i i’ve seen a lot of it yeah so so
yeah that makes sense yeah yeah
absolutely absolutely um so a good
broker
or good consultant can save your butt
and it’s you know you can
you can go to brokers and get consultant
or you can go to a consultant spend
three grand
um and i would love to spend three grand
um for a guy to get me out of a deal
that i thought i was gonna get myself
into
to five seven ten years down the road
realize that i
just lost a couple hundred grand um
so that is not an exaggeration of a
story either because i
i mean i’ve said this before on the
podcast is i mean that was my situation
like if i could pay if i could go back
and pay somebody
10 grand a consultant 10 grand to talk
me out of buying that first laundromat
it would have saved me so much
money and emotional stress in those
early years
at this laundromat you know that i would
i would go back and do it in a
heartbeat but you know i mean i didn’t
know better right so
then like you said like this is all part
of my story and part of why i do
probably a big driving factor of why i
do what i do now um
but man getting the right people
on your side huge love that love that
message
again build your team and i’m glad that
that happened to you because
uh you wouldn’t be helping we would not
have this platform right now if it
didn’t happen
don’t take that personally i’m glad it
happened to you but it happen to you
yeah
thank you rejoice in my pain i love it
well
listen this has been incredible
and i mean you just dropped so much
knowledge and i love just your
perspective
and this is i mean this is stuff i’ve
already known about you we’re good
friends and
it’s why that you know when when we
started talking about
getting together putting together a
syndication group
diligence capital investments you know
and
and you kind of asked if if i was
interested in being a part of what
you’re doing
and you know all that like
i on board 100 right away not only
are you uh just an awesome
guy you know and an awesome dad and
you know and all that but you’re super
knowledgeable and you joke all the time
with ross and i about
you know oh you guys let me join blah
blah blah
but you know when we went and checked
out this last uh
this last project we’re thinking about
jumping into
um which is a build out of a of a
retail space um for a laundromat
and i saw you in action i was like
this is your element like this is your
like this is your wheelhouse right here
and you just went right to work
and the wheels were turning you knew
exactly what to do exactly what to look
for
exactly what we needed to be successful
in that spot and
i could not be happier to have you on
part of
diligence so let’s talk about that just
for a second
thank you very much i appreciate that um
i do thank you uh you get i think i just
teared up there jordan
[Music]
well hey seriously i mean i know we like
joking
back and forth but i i mean every word
of that like you
no seriously i did tear up yeah
[Music]
all right quit being a crybaby over
there and uh
yeah i yeah i’m just i’m super pumped to
be you know
partnering with you and with ross and i
think it’s a it’s a special thing we got
going
and i’m excited about not just uh you
know making some money with
you know laundromats and real estate
because i think we’re gonna do that
right and
and we’re gonna partner with people and
you know they’re gonna make money too
but even more than that for one it’s the
way that i know that we’re gonna do it
because i know who you are i know who
ross is i know who i
am and the way that we’re gonna do it
means something to me and um you know
coming with integrity
and you know that that servant’s heart
like i know that you have and that ross
has
um all of that and and not only that but
i
i i’m excited about doing good things
for
the communities we’re going to be
involved in which i think is one of the
beauties of this
industry right like elizabeth brick and
rick and wilson came on the podcast a
little while ago
and i’ve said this quote a few times now
that she said but she said you know your
laundromat is really
an extension of the community’s home
right because
it’s a home chore right laundry’s a home
chore and
um i love that
people like you and like ross and
you know and me get to get together and
you know make that happen
in some community so i’m excited about
that you said servant’s heart
and there’s when we tried this and i was
the third to come on by the way so i
was humbled that you guys invited me
with your experience and with you guys
are
doing but how you got in the business
what you’re doing uh
for on this platform is amazing and then
ross is
i that guy is all about giving back to
the community
his heart is in the right place um i’m
sure you’ve seen his video
um have you seen the video that i’ve
just done seen it and it’s awesome and i
will link to it so other people can
watch it too because it’s
we don’t even have to talk about ross
we’ll just let everybody watch the video
and that video does a lot better job
than you and i can ever possibly talk
about
uh that guy and i honestly like
like i see a lot of people are out there
he is one of the most effective owners
that i’ve come across
in southern california i have a lot of
respect for him yeah
yeah definitely a top operator and
yeah i love it well it just you know
just to throw it out there if that’s
something that you’re interested in
doing if you’re interested in
in you know being a part of one of these
syndications the best
best way to hear a little bit more
information is go to
diligencecapitalinvestments.com
um and i’ll link to that also so you can
check that out
and uh if uh if you’re interested in
that there’s a little forum on there you
can just drop your name and email
address we’re not spamming anybody but
basically the way that we uh the way
that we function is that we’re going out
looking for
laundromat deals to either buy or to
make
and or commercial real estate deals and
and we’re really wanting to partner
those two together to marry laundromats
in real estate together uh to
create a whole lot of value for
everybody involved so if that’s
something that you’re interested in go
drop your name and email address on the
form there
and when we have deals that we are
interested in investing in basically
what we’ll do is we’ll put together a
package
with just a bunch of information about a
particular deal
you know what what the plan is for that
deal what it’s going to look like
uh when it’s done and what investment
opportunities in that deal
there will be um and the parameters
around that and we’ll
you know we’ll send that information
that package out to
that investor list so i know a lot of
you guys are already signed up it’s been
pretty cool and we’re really excited to
to partner with you guys and we would
love to um
you know to also use this as an
opportunity to educate people
you know about the industry so if you’re
looking for a relatively
passive way to get in that you can start
to learn this business and you want to
learn from
the best and by the best i mean ross and
michael and i’ll be there
to learning with you guys and
you know maybe offering a little here
and there but um
this this could be a really great way
for you know the right kind of person
and going back to michael’s you know
point is
you know this is for the right kind this
is not for everybody right this is for
the right kind of person maybe somebody
who already has some money that they
want to put to work for them
and either wants to do it passively or
wants to
do it in a way where they can learn the
business we you know
we’ll be we’ll be open with our
investors and we’ll run it very
transparent we’ll also be available
um to talk laundromats so i don’t know
you want to add anything to any of that
no it’s uh you’ve noted it all and
it’s i’m happy to be working with you
and ross on this
and and thank you for allowing me to be
here today yeah
i’ve enjoyed the conversation it’s not
too often that you could actually sit
down and have
laundry talk and have the other person
actually be interested
and in this case there’s there’s what
three billion people out there
listening so yeah i mean by the time it
comes out they’ll probably we’ll
probably hit that 4 billion mark i’m
guessing
well dude it has been my honor my
privilege and even though
you know we’re 46 or so episodes in
and you know desperation drove me to ask
you on i guess it’s worked out pretty
well
no but seriously man it’s been an honor
and a privilege to have you on and to
hear
your wisdom and insight into this
industry so i really appreciate you
coming on dude
well whatever i brought to the table i
learned from everybody out there so i’ll
keep on
keep on getting on the streets and
learning from all of the owners
uh new and and people who have been
around for a while and
people like yourselves and ross so uh
i’m humbled thank you
very much and uh we’ll be in touch soon
i know that for a fact
yeah go follow the laundromat mike on
instagram and on facebook
and connect up with him great dude you
gotta know him all right guys
all right i told you michael is such a
solid guy so cool his heart really comes
through in that episode and i
loved loved loved that uh
and hopefully you got a chance to just
get to know him and just benefit from
the immense wisdom that he has
so good and i also hope that if you’re
watching on youtube you really enjoyed
my mustache which my wife already made
me shave
off lamely even though it was glorious
and
if you are listening on the podcast you
might want to go check it out on youtube
briefly
check out that glorious mustache because
it’s i mean there’s not really another
word
than glorious okay anyways uh back to
michael because he
uh dude he just brought so much good
stuff i really loved
uh hearing from his perspective from the
distributor side of things
uh about uh you know what makes a good
distributor what distributors should be
doing and how to work with a good
distributor
to benefit you as the owner and benefit
them but mostly you as the
owner over the long haul and i just
thought he brought a
ton of great wisdom one of the things
i encourage you every single week take
one thing whatever it is big or small
take one thing put it into practice and
uh let’s do that every week and see
where that takes us because i think
it’ll take us big places
so for me i mean again there’s a ton of
stuff in this episode
that uh i mean he broke down what he
sees you know successful owners doing
and he broke down what he sees
struggling owners doing so there’s a ton
of things to do and not do
just in that those two sections alone
um but really the one thing that just
keeps getting driven home
to me is to be value based
like don’t be price based yes price is
important and i will always think price
is important
and i do think that you know this is my
personal opinion but i do think that you
can negotiate a little bit with these
guys and you don’t have to necessarily
take the first offer and you can get
multiple quotes and i think you should
get multiple quotes
however i don’t think price is the only
factor and a big
reason that i think this is being driven
home to me is because
i think it’s one of the mistakes that i
made early on
where i was mostly just price driven and
it was kind of at the expense of having
that relationship
with a good distributor who’s going to
help me succeed in this business
and i struggled i mean you guys most of
you have heard my story or they
struggled so much on the
in the early years of owning that first
laundromat
and i think if i had somebody on my team
who was good who could say okay here’s
what we need to do
um i would have just done it and gotten
out of that situation a lot quicker so
uh value-based and so going forward i
i mean i’m i’m sold on it but it just
keeps getting reinforced to me about how
important that is and that theme just
keeps coming up over and over so for me
that’s the thing for you uh i would love
to hear
what that thing is for you what’s the
one thing you’re putting into action go
drop it in on the forums
again lightning fast over there now
laundromat resource.com
forums and uh go ask a question answer
question and drop your one action
uh that you’re gonna take this week over
the forums all right cannot wait
to see you next week
[Music]
peace

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