At 29 years old, Curtis Lyons is a multi-laundromat owner and real estate investor with aspirations of big growth going forward. In this episode of The Laundromat Resource Podcast Curtis tells us how he found himself owning multiple laundromats and rental real estate at such a young age. 

Curtis is an inspiration to the many young investors and business owners out there because he has found success despite his young age. In this episode he shares his secrets to success and his simple, yet persistent ways that he continues to grow his businesses and his assets.

Also in this episode, Curtis talks about the value of community in his successful laundromat and real estate ventures. He has received knowledge and support from his family, his community, and the community of laundromat owners found online.

Join the Laundromat Resource community today and be a part of those of us finding financial freedom through laundromat ownership together!

Listen To The Podcast Here

Watch The Podcast Here

Today's Sponsor

Laundromat Resource Marketing If you need help building or managing a website for your laundromats, let the experts at Laundromat Resource Marketing help you design and build a custom, professional website for you! As experts in the laundromat industry AND in web design and online marketing, we at Laundromat Resource Marketing are able to provide you with a professional website at an affordable price. We’re always transparent so there are no hidden fees. What we quote you is what you pay. Satisfaction and performance guaranteed! With no contracts to sign and guarantees like that, why not let us take care of your online presence while you focus on welcoming all of your new laundry customers? Click the logo or link above to find out more information. 

Join The Laundromat Resource Community!

    I want to buy my first laundromat
    I own 1 laundromat
    I own multiple laundromats
    Upload
    Remove
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Google

    Episode Transcript

    [Music]
    you’re listening to the laundromat
    resource
    podcast the show by laundromat owners
    for laundromat owners with your hosts
    jordan barry
    what’s up guys it’s jordan from the
    laundromat resource podcast
    this is show number 14. i’m super
    excited that you’re here today today
    we’re talking with
    curtis lyons and he uh
    is just blowing it out of the water he’s
    out in birmingham
    alabama he is 29 years old he’s a real
    estate investor
    he’s a multi laundromat owner and he’s
    just plugging
    away out there and he’s going to tell
    you all about it today in today’s
    podcast so i’m really excited for you
    to get to know curtis a little bit more
    maybe you’ve seen him around on some of
    the uh
    forums um or on facebook or something
    but
    he’s been around i’m super excited for
    you to hear his story hear how he got
    into uh laundromats and hear how he’s
    doing it at such a young age a super
    inspiring
    story today so i’m i’m really excited uh
    to get into that but before we do
    there’s a couple of things
    that we need to get through so number
    one is i feel like
    almost every episode we’re celebrating
    something around here and today is no
    exception
    uh i’m so excited so next week
    uh a week i think a week about a week
    from when this
    podcast is coming out uh will be
    90 days since we launched the first
    episode and
    that’s a feat in and of itself that we
    made it 90 days that’s
    you know pretty much longer than i’ve
    stuck with anything uh except for maybe
    my wife
    um but uh i’ve been enjoying it
    thoroughly but something that just blows
    my mind
    about this 90-day milestone is that
    you know we’re not even there yet and we
    have already crossed uh
    3 000 downloads 3 000 podcast downloads
    and it just blows me out of the water
    and i’m just so grateful to you guys i
    never
    expected um to have that kind of
    traction
    and you know i had i had a friend whose
    wife was like
    three million downloads and i was like
    well no like three thousand i was like
    really excited about
    the 3000 until you said it like that
    so a little bit of wind came out of my
    sails from that but
    i’m still seriously i’m blown away that
    we have three thousand dollars i just
    wanted to say a huge thank you to you
    guys
    and an even huger thank you to the
    guests that have come on
    the show uh man i’m just so grateful not
    only that they
    they took their time to come on the show
    but just that they’ve shared so much
    with me
    with us with all of us um of just the
    wisdom that they’ve gained from owning
    their laundromats and
    uh just everything that they’ve learned
    man i have learned so much i hope you
    guys have learned a ton
    and i hope you continue to learn a ton
    with me
    uh through through these interviews um
    today of course
    uh but going forward and uh while we’re
    kind of talking about that
    if you’re someone who owns a laundromat
    or maybe you own multiple laundromats or
    even commercial real estate that has a
    laundromat in it
    um we would love to hear your story and
    how you
    kind of got into it and what you’ve
    learned along the way so if that’s you
    and you’re interested in coming on and
    talking shop with me
    i would love to do it uh well i promise
    i’ll make it fun for us it’ll be low
    pressure
    and uh you know we’ll pull out all the
    wisdom you got
    right out of your brain and you can
    share with everybody so that everyone
    can be in awe
    of you um if you’re interested in doing
    that
    check out laundromat resource dot com
    slash
    podcast guest excuse me laundromat
    resource dot com slash podcast
    guest all one word and uh there’s some
    information on there and there’s a form
    to fill out
    that will start the sequence of uh
    figuring out you know if it is something
    that you want to do
    and uh and if so then when we can uh get
    it going so
    check that out if that’s something that
    interests you i really encourage you i
    know some people
    have said they feel like they uh they
    aren’t doing well enough or they aren’t
    good enough to be
    on the podcast and i just want to just
    take a second to debunk that
    right away um because we all have
    a story to tell and we all have lessons
    that we’ve learned
    and even if you feel like you’re not as
    successful as maybe some of the other
    podcast guests
    uh that does not matter i know it can
    easily be intimidated
    by these owners who’ve owned like 30
    plus laundromats or even two laundromats
    um but if you’re just a single
    laundromat owner
    man come on and talk to us about your
    your experience with that because that
    is super valuable too and and very uh
    just interesting for all of us so lot of
    my resource dot com
    slash podcast guest i will put that in
    the show notes which you can find
    today on show number 14 at
    dot laundromat slash show 14 that’ll
    have all the links that we talk about
    today
    uh you know in in the interview in this
    whole episode
    um you’ll see there’s a youtube video
    embedded there the podcast audio will be
    there
    and more so go check it out um you’ll
    learn a little bit more about who curtis
    lyons is
    and his story so laundromat resource.com
    show 14. okay
    uh there’s that i wanted to uh take a
    second because
    this is actually another milestone so
    our uh our membership
    at laundromat resource.com has been
    growing by leaps and bounds
    every day we’re getting a bunch of
    people signing up that’s just blowing me
    away also and i’m super excited we have
    a free membership over there
    go be a part of it if you haven’t a lot
    of resource dot com and just
    uh join us over there because again
    i strongly believe we strongly believe
    that all of us will do better in this uh
    in this industry
    if we work together if we help each
    other um it’s just gonna elevate all of
    us and that’s what i’m all about
    elevating this industry and helping you
    and and us helping each other find
    financial freedom through laundromat
    ownership
    so come join us we’ve had a bunch of
    people doing that and but
    one of the milestones uh like a week i
    think last week or maybe the week before
    i i opened a new forum
    on uh learning resource.com forums uh
    and it’s for just new member
    introductions we have all these members
    coming in
    and i really want us to get to know each
    other and i really want you to go
    introduce yourself over there
    let people know who you are where you
    are and you know what you’re up to
    if you own laundromats if you are
    looking to buy a laundromat
    but big milestone and a huge
    huge shout out to todd miles todd i hope
    that you’re listening to this because
    i appreciate you but also
    more than that you will forever be
    immortalized
    by the first new member introduction in
    that new member forum so thank you
    todd is uh he’s a new investor
    he does real estate investing and he’s
    got a group of partners and they’re
    looking to buy a laundromat
    and wanted to introduce himself so go
    meet todd
    at lottermatresource.com forums again
    link is in the show notes or in the
    description
    uh and and go say hi to todd and while
    you’re there
    uh go introduce yourself also and and
    introduce yourself to the community
    because
    that’s when the networking will start to
    happen and that is
    when when you start networking with
    people that’s when stuff starts to
    happen for you so
    go do that todd huge shout out i’m going
    to be doing shout outs for a little
    while so if you’re brand new
    or even if you’ve been a member and you
    haven’t introduced yourself yet
    go over there to the new member
    introductions forum
    introduce yourself and i’ll be doing
    shout outs on the podcast for the next
    you know few weeks or so so go get in
    there while you can
    todd you’re the man looking forward to
    getting to know you
    and looking forward to having you on the
    podcast after you get that first
    laundromat alright man
    uh so there’s that speaking of forums
    laundromat resource.com
    forums i want to remind you that i am
    brainwashing you every single week to go
    over there
    and ask a question and answer a question
    and i want to just say
    particularly if you’re if you’re an
    experienced owner
    we got a lot of people coming over right
    now who are
    are asking questions because they’re new
    investors
    um they are you know they’re trying to
    figure it out
    and as you know if you own a laundromat
    that is the most critical phase when
    you’re trying to figure it out you’re
    trying to get these questions
    answered um and uh case in point
    you know john wrote on the podcast i
    mean on the
    forums this week um he he was concerned
    because he has a laundromat that he’s
    got his eye on
    and it’s sandwiched uh between two
    competitors within a mile of his laundry
    mat and he’s wondering
    he says it’s uh it’s showing that it’s
    making money on the pro forma but he’s
    wondering if that’s
    something he should be concerned about
    now
    that is something that a lot of you
    experienced owners can really help john
    out with
    and there’s a lot of questions like that
    on the forums right now and we’re really
    lacking
    um just some some solid uh
    down to earth wisdom from the people who
    have been there
    who have done that maybe you’ve made the
    mistakes
    or maybe you’ve uh happened to do it
    right and you know
    the right ways to do some of these
    things so go help john
    out and also i just want to point out
    that tracy is still waiting for someone
    to talk them out of
    buying a laundromat on the forums that
    is the title
    of the forum uh somebody talked me out
    of buying
    uh a laundromat so go do that
    laundrymateresource.com
    forums and go ask a question answer a
    question do it every week
    uh because again that community is where
    stuff
    happens now real quick before we jump
    into it with curtis i want to just
    throw a quick shout out you may have
    listened to show number two with dave
    mintz he’s come up a few times
    since he’s been on the show and i know a
    lot of you guys really resonated with
    him
    i just want to shout out real quick that
    dave men’s
    has a youtube channel called laundromat
    millionaire and i want you guys to go
    check it out because he’s bringing some
    really really cool stuff
    he has got a ton of experience a ton of
    wisdom
    and you will not fail to learn something
    from his youtube channel again i’ll link
    it in the show notes and in the
    description
    so go check it out or go to youtube and
    search laundromat millionaire
    check him out because he’s doing awesome
    things for the industry
    and it’s stuff that’s really going to
    help you out
    so good job dave looking forward to the
    content that you’ve been putting out
    and i’m really really excited about it
    all right let’s jump into it with curtis
    lyons in one second
    in today’s world if your laundromat is
    not online
    you’re losing business customers
    increasingly decide who to trust with
    their laundry
    by the quality of your web presence but
    creating a professional logo
    and website that instills trust in
    potential customers
    and can be found on page one of google
    can be difficult to create on your own
    and expensive to purchase through a
    traditional marketing company
    as part of our mission to help
    laundromat owners succeed
    and find financial freedom through
    laundromat ownership we are launching
    our done for you marketing service
    tailored specifically for laundromats
    after ranking number one on google with
    our own laundromat website
    and consulting with many others to help
    them do the same
    we guarantee that we can build you a
    professional website that ranks on page
    one of google within six months
    our joint expertise in the laundry
    industry and over 15 combined years
    in website design and online marketing
    allow us to offer
    affordable transparent pricing for a
    high quality web presence
    for your laundromats you invest so much
    into providing your customers a quality
    laundry experience
    don’t let anyone miss out on what you
    have to offer simply because they can’t
    find you online
    let laundromat resource marketing take
    care of your online presence
    so you can take care of your customers
    visit laundromat resource dot com
    slash get online today for more
    information that’s
    laundromat resource dot com slash get
    online
    or click on the link in the description
    all right i had to jump in with one more
    quick thing because i just found this
    out and i wanted to throw a
    quick congratulations out to mitch who
    got his very first laundromat
    under contract we’ve been talking for a
    little while now he’s been super excited
    he’s had some deals fall through
    and he just got his first laundromat
    under contract so congrats
    mitch keep up the good work and make
    sure you do your good due diligence
    uh to make sure you got a good deal on
    your hands all right man uh
    keep at it and without further ado let’s
    jump into it
    with curtis lyons right now all right
    what’s up we are here
    with curtis curtis what’s going on man
    melanie’s how you doing today i’m doing
    good thanks for jumping on today and
    sharing a little bit about your
    experience with
    laundromats uh dude i’m super pumped to
    have you on
    uh can before we kind of get into your
    uh you know what you’re doing with your
    laundry mats and stuff
    can you just tell us a little bit about
    yourself who you are and
    and then maybe transition that into you
    know
    how did you get into the laundromat
    industry it’s kind of random
    yeah it’s very random but like you said
    my name is curtis
    i’m 29 in birmingham alabama
    um been in the industry for
    officially four years a little over four
    years
    but i actually got started in my mom’s
    dad he like mom’s from miami
    and her dad owns uh
    kind of it’s not like a strip mall but a
    good little piece of land
    where he had like a bodega a hotel
    and another part of it was a coin
    laundry man so
    my parents first got married that was
    kind of like one of the things that they
    always wanted to have
    so about five years ago in birmingham we
    met a guy
    who didn’t have kids and had nobody to
    pretty much pass it on to
    it was kind of like just wanted to keep
    that going
    so he ended up purchasing the first one
    from him
    and the six months of just
    working side by side with him learning
    the ins and outs of the business
    just pulled the trigger and been four
    years since
    dang that’s cool so you bought it when
    you were 25 years old
    yeah oh man that’s crazy how was that
    it was definitely interesting definitely
    a lifestyle change
    yeah i wouldn’t take it back for nothing
    yeah did you get comments from people i
    mean i just i
    remember back when i was 25 because i’m
    super old now uh but when i was 25
    and like i don’t know if i’m buying
    businesses when i’m 25 i don’t know i
    feel like i might have gotten comments
    from my friends like what are you doing
    yeah people just looked at it kind of
    like strange but a lot of people was
    happy for me just because they just saw
    a young guy doing something positive
    and making a change in the community
    because the other guy he was kind of
    like a quarter driver
    like i ain’t going to do nothing all i
    want to do is just collect all the
    quarters and
    yeah run up out of here but when i took
    over
    like this man didn’t even have air
    conditioning with a tv
    in it so yeah thing i did was i’m not
    going to sit it gets real human in
    birmingham so
    not going to sit in there no summer with
    no ac so i put some ac
    or some ceiling fans in and just been
    making slowly but steady improvements
    ever since then
    dang that’s awesome yeah i can’t even
    imagine
    you know with no error in there how
    anybody ever even went to that
    laundromat
    unless they had no choice yeah how you
    ended up
    going to do laundry then you come out
    needing to do the laundry that
    that’s right he’s sweating while you’re
    doing the laundry i know
    ain’t no fun that is no fun man that’s
    crazy
    but that’s cool though that you got a
    lot of support um
    you know as a you know as a 25 year old
    getting into business
    uh man i love hearing that that people
    were happy for you because sometimes
    people aren’t happy
    you know that younger people uh are
    making positive steps like that but i
    think it’s a big deal
    [Music]
    a lot of good community well cool okay
    so did you grow up in birmingham
    no i’m actually born and raised in
    atlanta i’m going down
    birmingham in 2005.
    okay transferred us down here and
    steal here yeah how do you like it there
    i’ve been there i liked it
    but it’s very different from los angeles
    that’s for sure
    but it’s very different from atlanta too
    so yeah it’s like
    it’s a whole lot slower but you still is
    still at that southern charm to a good
    folks and southern hospitality yeah a
    little bit more than atlanta
    it’s more so they don’t have as much to
    do in birmingham
    yeah more hospitable environments
    yeah yeah it’s not as big of a not as
    big of a place you got that good
    southern food there too right
    oh yeah that seems important plenty of
    places to go eat some good southern
    cooking around here
    yeah all right so 25 years old you
    bought your laundromat like how did that
    go when you first take over
    like what what did that feel like and
    then what was your experience like
    the first like year or so uh the first
    year it was hot like i said we had no ac
    so uh went through that first
    year with just kept everything the same
    just pretty much trying to see
    and make sure what we were told what the
    sales were to make sure that all that
    equated and to see what the business was
    about
    yeah did it do it did it equate it okay
    so that was that was a promise and then
    just pretty much learning the day-to-day
    hustle of having to run a laundromat
    um because like i said about six months
    we train with the other owner
    but when you’re off on your own and you
    guys are responsible for doing
    everything to
    get a little bit different yep that’s
    right
    um just in doing all that and um
    trying to because he kind of pieced the
    whole store together with this
    old equipment he bought off different
    laundry mats and just kind of stuck it
    in here
    so after we got some ac in here
    you know did a whole retool on the store
    and
    just still play some steady learning to
    this day yeah
    yeah it had a lot of good support from
    the community so that always made it
    easier well i’m sure they really
    appreciated
    you know somebody who really cared about
    the business coming in and
    doing their best to improve it you know
    even if it took a little bit of time to
    get that ac
    in there you know just the fact that you
    guys were there and improving it that’s
    that’s pretty good when you when you
    retooled it
    did that help business a lot yeah it
    definitely did because
    all he had was about 10 50 stack old
    ebay stripes
    so when we did a retool i added
    [Music]
    with eight 35 pound dryers and
    four stacks of 45s and 275 pound dryer
    and of course for the washers i added a
    80 pound washer
    i went with three new 55 pounders got
    about
    six new 40 pounders and about 20 new 20
    pounders
    so that definitely helped because
    everybody wants something new versus
    something old but you don’t know what
    it’s going to do if it’s going to stop
    so i know something new durable and
    reliable
    it’s definitely a plus for everybody put
    everybody in a good space
    yeah yeah that’s what i saw always you
    know joke when i bought my first one
    before i got the new machines in there
    it was kind of like
    uh playing like roulette like you just
    don’t know you’re gonna put your
    quarters in and
    you don’t know if you’re gonna get your
    clothes washed or not
    could go either way and with the whole
    washers he had it’s like
    that first year you spend so much money
    on parts like
    yeah you know it’ll just be go ahead
    easier just buy new equipment don’t have
    to worry about it for seven years
    yeah exactly exactly i get that question
    all the time like doesn’t the equipment
    overhead
    just like kill you and i’m like well
    yeah if your machines are like 30 years
    old
    you’re gonna break down every week so
    yeah that’s cool so that’s probably a
    good feeling when you got new machines
    in there and
    everybody’s excited about it and that
    was a good week right there
    yeah yeah all right so then
    after you kind of retooled and you kind
    of ran for a little bit you have another
    one right yeah
    how did that one come about how’d you
    get into that one
    um a distributor that i knew
    he knew he had actually toured that
    store before
    so him and the owner still kept in
    contact
    and he uh she
    previously told him that she was looking
    to get out the business
    and he knew i was looking for another
    one or
    wanted another one and so danielle
    kind of talked about it and talked to
    her about it
    that was a little bit more shaky because
    she wasn’t as
    honored her employee
    but it was a great move because now i
    retooled that story and i
    just put some new drives that one about
    a month ago so
    taking a lot of other people customers
    in that area so
    yeah they helped the business a lot put
    the new machines in
    oh yeah yeah i get that i get asked that
    question a lot like
    how do you know when you need to put new
    machines in and how do you know that
    you’re gonna
    uh when you put new machines in like
    that they’re obviously they’re
    very expensive so how do you know that
    it’s going to be worth the cost
    you know to put new machines in but i
    think hearing
    you know from people like you who did it
    and saw a bump in business
    uh it just gives people more confidence
    then if you really know your area if you
    know what the other laundromats have to
    offer
    it kind of makes it easier for you
    because the only thing that the second
    story that i bought
    was lacking with dryers but my first
    bought it went
    for washington you might have out of 20
    washers you might have four
    good ones guaranteed to work geez
    so outside of that they have 10 30 pound
    stacks of dryers
    but they were hit and missed as far as
    getting high
    so when i just rolled around the area
    looking at all the other laundry mats
    i was really in competition but it was
    about 10 15 miles down the road about
    five miles down the road there was
    another laundry mat that was
    run down didn’t have ac and stuff like
    that
    so once i took that last step of putting
    the dryer
    i kind of took all his customers now
    that i have reliable good driver
    yeah man just hearing that you’re even
    considering looking
    at a laundromat 10 miles away as
    competition is crazy to me because
    there’s probably like 400 laundromats
    between me and a laundromat that’s
    10 miles away from me here in l.a it’s
    crazy
    yeah that’s great yeah that’s funny so
    what was the
    what was the purchase uh process like
    for that second one
    did you uh just kind of roll in
    you know some of your profits from the
    first one and and get in there how did
    you get into that one
    uh a couple of real estate deals helped
    out with that one
    and some savings nice like uh
    are you like a real estate agent no
    a real estate investor oh that’s what i
    like to hear all right
    all right cool so you got some real
    estate investments and you kind of
    leveraged them or sold them or something
    yeah sold a couple properties and made
    that deal happen get in there
    is your is your cash flow better with
    the laundromats
    or with the real estate that you sold
    uh i say they are equal
    as long as i’m making money that’s right
    what i’m doing
    i don’t really put one more than the
    other but real estate can hit that swing
    at any point in time
    yeah that’s more of a steady business it
    grows but it doesn’t grow as much as a
    real estate would
    yeah as far as just a quick net profit
    on the deal
    yeah that’s why i like uh i like the
    combination of having laundromats and
    real estate
    just for that very that very reason yeah
    how’d you get it this is a little bit of
    a side note but i’m i’m super intrigued
    by this
    how did you get into real estate
    investing uh
    my my grandfather and my father they
    always had rental houses and stuff like
    that
    so growing up i used to always help them
    collect rent and
    paint houses and stuff like that so once
    i finally got old enough
    i just kind of i really just followed in
    my father’s in my grandfather’s
    footsteps and everything i do
    that’s awesome role models and support
    systems through everything
    yeah yeah that’s awesome i think a lot
    of people
    you know who don’t come from families
    like that struggle with like how to get
    into their you know into like real
    estate investing how to know what to do
    but it just it’s you know
    so i come from a family like that we
    didn’t do any like investments or
    business or anything like that
    and kind of my philosophy going into it
    was like hey i’m going to get in there
    and i’m going to figure it out and it’s
    probably going to be messy and i’m going
    to make a ton of mistakes
    but once i figure it out i can teach my
    kids you know about it
    and then they’re going to be you know
    even better at it than i am and
    hopefully it goes down the line like
    that so
    that’s cool i like that uh so let me ask
    you what is like uh
    what does like a typical work week look
    like for you
    now that you got two laundromats and
    what do you what are you spending your
    time doing and how much of that time are
    you spending
    well i’ve pretty much been i don’t know
    it could be really flexible
    um i’m more hands-on with it because
    it’s
    more it it
    it isn’t self-operated as much as the
    second one is
    so the first one i actually work a
    couple hours a day
    in this one and i have somebody come in
    and they keep it clean throughout the
    middle of the day
    and uh then i just come back at night
    and close it up and
    take care of that part but usually by
    about 5 30 in the morning i’m
    up and probably don’t go to bed it’s
    about 12 just
    running errands and paying this and that
    and
    supplies and stuff like that hustling
    i like that how in the world did you
    have time to buy another one when you’re
    working like that
    uh you just got to make the time to do
    it
    that’s what i wanted to hear yeah just
    got to make the time
    but the second one is a little bit
    easier because it’s more of a
    self-operated like in the in the first
    one i actually have like a counter
    where people come up and buy soap right
    i also have like a drop-off service that
    i offer at this one
    so i have to have somebody here to do
    drop-offs and stuff like that
    versus the other one i just have like
    bended
    soap machines and all i have them do is
    just clean up throughout
    the day yeah to keep it clean the answer
    any uh
    customer questions yeah
    do you see this is uh just out of
    curiosity do you see
    more sales with the counter
    uh or the vending or are they about the
    same
    and you’re too much
    you know well the
    counter i would say i would say the
    first one does more
    because i actually have more people that
    come
    this store has a bigger uh customer base
    versus the second one
    okay okay yeah i guess i’ll probably
    have to say the first one do more
    because
    the second one all i have is a little
    box soaps
    versus that the first one will actually
    sell like big bottles of extra and gain
    and stuff like that yeah yeah yeah i
    just found that as soon as i put in
    a store like that in mine like
    my sales like skyrocketed
    versus having the vending so i was just
    curious if that was true for you too
    yeah yeah cool all right so you’re
    hustling pretty much all day
    um are you doing like repairs on your
    own or
    are you hiring that out or what are you
    doing oh
    you might not have a lot because you
    have pretty new machines
    as far as repairs at the first one i
    kind of have i
    probably got about seven older machines
    but even on like some of the new ones
    if it’s something like that’s a quick
    fix
    i’ve i’ve learned to do it because one
    of the guys
    who still works here with me he used to
    fix on all the machines
    so i if i don’t know how to fix it i’ll
    just ask them to but i’ll stand there
    and watch them and do it with them
    yeah and that’s pretty much every common
    problem outside of putting bearings on
    the washing machine i’ve done
    i still had to do that
    i’ve done that on the on the top loaders
    i haven’t done a front loader i just
    kind of refused to do it so
    yeah but i think that’s good i mean
    that’s a good tip for anybody right
    there is
    you know whenever you have repairs if
    you can’t do it even if you hire a
    repairman to come in
    you know sit back there and watch them
    because a lot of times they can fix them
    real quick
    and you know a lot of times it costs you
    like 75 bucks just for them to come out
    you know so if you save that 75 bucks
    and a five-minute fix then yeah it’s
    pretty good
    pretty good money per hour oh yeah
    yeah on down the line when it happened
    two or three other times
    yeah yeah well
    man i so you have two now
    have you thought much about and some
    real estate investments
    have you thought much about the future
    and like what your goals are going
    forward and you know it doesn’t have to
    necessarily just be with laundromats but
    have you thought about
    like business and investing wise what
    what your goals are going forward
    yeah i’m actually looking at trying to
    get a third laundromat are you
    yeah i got a couple of them that i’m
    eyeing right now
    just waiting on the sellers to get ready
    to want to sell it to me
    yeah um i actually just met a guy
    last week when i was going to pick up
    something
    and talk to him about it so another
    owner
    yeah another owner that was looking to
    sell yeah so
    i don’t want to talk to somebody gonna
    sell it to me that’s right
    it’s a numbers game for sure oh yeah
    yeah
    all three come throughs and we’ll figure
    out how to get all three that’s what i’m
    talking about
    so you gonna stop at three are you gonna
    keep going or do you know
    i’m gonna keep going so i can’t go no
    more all right
    all right well i know for a fact because
    we had luke williford on and he has like
    37 or 38 or i don’t know maybe by now
    a few weeks later he has like 50 i don’t
    know but he has at least 37
    so i know it’s possible to have at least
    37 so oh yeah
    yeah you know i met an older guy one
    time he told me
    uh he didn’t he wasn’t too
    um ecstatic about me buying the second
    one
    because his philosophy would just take
    the one and run it to the best of your
    abilities
    and then he said because you can’t focus
    all your time on it
    and the way i look at it is you can make
    time for whatever you want
    just prioritize and manage your day yeah
    i like that i think that’s i think
    that’s huge and i think
    you know and there’s nothing wrong with
    just getting one and i think that’s
    fine for a lot of people but you know if
    you
    if your goal is to do more than one
    it’s like you said if you can make time
    for it
    or you can you know find other people to
    spend their time on it and
    drop that let them do more and you drop
    back more into a management role too
    so there’s there’s definitely ways to do
    that
    cool so you’re just kind of rolling with
    it and seeing
    where it takes you and how many you end
    up with i like that
    oh yeah well this uh
    this section of the podcast we like to
    call it down to business
    [Applause]
    over and out and down to business is
    just talking a little bit about the
    details of your
    businesses so you’re in you’re in
    birmingham right
    deep south down is birmingham’s deep
    south right is that
    considered deep south or no yeah
    i guess before you get to florida we
    right there with mississippi georgia so
    that’s the real part of the south that’s
    true all all right
    in birmingham okay and you got two
    laundromats and some real estate
    and you’ve been in the business since
    two uh two
    four years is that you said 2016. okay
    uh can you give us like a ballpark of
    like what are your
    what what do your vin prices look like
    out there in birmingham
    like a range of of how much it’s costing
    for people to do
    laundry there um
    for 20 pound machines they
    started they have two options you could
    do a
    regular watch which is two wide cycles
    of rants and a spin
    for three dollars or you could add an
    extra wash cycle
    or pre-wash we do that for 350
    and we got a 40 pounders for 425
    um
    no 30 pounder for 425
    we have a 40 pounder for 550
    and with a pre-wash is 650
    and for 55 pounders they’re
    625 for regular watching 725
    dad of pre-wash and on my 80 pounders
    you’ve got a nine dollar regular watch
    with a ten dollar pre-watch
    uh are they attended or unattended
    are you the farmer attended
    one of them partially attended is open
    from seven a.m to nine pm
    but my attendance come in from 10 in the
    morning to
    seven at night okay
    yeah yeah and then are you running
    uh all coins or do you have any cards at
    all
    uh at the moment i’m running all coins
    but
    in the next couple of weeks i should be
    getting some card systems
    waiting on the order to come in nice you
    already ordered them and you’re just
    waiting for them to go
    yeah so i’m really interested to see how
    that’s going to work
    yeah that’s awesome i i think uh it
    there’s the card systems are so powerful
    not just for you
    as as an owner and like the management
    of it but it you can really utilize them
    to benefit the customers as well so i
    think that’s awesome yeah
    so i’ll be i’ll be one of the first ones
    in birmingham well i will be the only
    one in birmingham with it at both
    locations so
    definitely an advantage right there yeah
    that’s pretty awesome
    this section of the podcast we like to
    call the secret sauce
    listen up it’s the secret sauce
    and the secret sauce is this what’s one
    thing
    that’s working well in your businesses
    right now that other owners can utilize
    uh to improve their businesses
    with me i think it’s all about facetime
    like i know a lot of people say you
    can’t go into
    major stores and see the owner but i
    think for small businesses that face
    time that you actually have with your
    customers
    means a lot to them and showing them
    that you care
    like i have a thing on saturdays and
    sundays where
    i bring in donuts in the morning and
    during the real peak times of
    saturday and sunday afternoons i’ll stop
    by grab a couple pizzas bring them so
    people
    have something to eat while they wash
    clothes and um
    just interacting with the customers
    knowing them by name and
    whatever if some of them have like
    little shirts they making or
    other little projects they’re trying to
    sell just you know
    showing that patriotism back to them
    being involved i like that
    yeah i think that’s a huge you know a
    huge perk that
    you have in the way that you’re running
    your business right now is that you do
    get that face
    time and the community does really uh
    they really
    appreciate that um and especially if
    you’re supporting what they’re doing
    that’s huge the next uh the next section
    we like to call
    pro tips pro tips pro tips
    is for people who are looking to maybe
    buy their first laundromat
    and it’s this what’s one piece of advice
    you’d give to a new investor who wants
    to buy their first laundromat
    talk to many people that in the industry
    as you can and don’t be afraid
    just learn everything you can from
    whoever you’re buying it from or if
    you’re building it pro
    if you’re building it from scratch make
    sure you find a good distributor that
    answers the phone
    every time you call and always has an
    answer they don’t have the answer make
    sure they get the answer back to you
    in a reasonable amount of time
    so talk to the many previous owners
    or owners that you know that have been
    around in the area
    and you find a very good distributor
    yeah
    solid solid advice you know and i think
    especially with the distributor
    piece of it man they can really help you
    or they can really hang out to dry if
    they
    if they don’t help you so i’m saying
    about the quick buck and they actually
    care about you
    that’s what makes a difference that
    makes a huge huge difference i think
    that’s solid advice so if you’re new out
    there and you’re looking to get in the
    industry
    and curtis knows what he’s talking about
    so find yourself a really good
    distributor to work with
    and if a distributor is not the best to
    work with find another one
    you know don’t be don’t be afraid to do
    that it’s business and that’s how
    it should be they got to earn your
    business oh yeah
    i’ve had one of each i’ve had two bad
    ones so
    i’m still looking for a good one i know
    i know some good ones too
    here at laundromat resource we’re all
    about you know helping each other out
    helping each other find that
    financial freedom through laundromat
    ownership and one of the ways that
    i like to do this on the podcast is
    through
    um asking guests if they have any
    resources that they’d recommend
    to help other people either grow their
    businesses or just grow personally
    in their own you know knowledge and
    experience
    [Music]
    um like i said well a lot of stuff that
    i if i don’t know
    or if i just can’t if i need a quick
    answer there’s a lot of groups on
    facebook
    where a lot of large fat owners are in
    like i believe one of them’s called
    laundromat how-to
    it’s different laundromat owners from
    across the world where they post stuff
    about
    quick questions and how to do this or
    where to find this
    at that’s a great resource and
    your community like if there’s anything
    because there’s a customer your
    laundromat that knows something
    probably about what you’re looking for
    oh yeah
    so being involved with the customers
    again
    that’ll definitely help you out yeah
    that’s cool
    we’ve never had anybody suggest that or
    like uh
    give that as a recommended resource but
    that’s a pretty cool one because there
    are
    people in your community that have a ton
    of different experiences and skills and
    knowledge
    you know that you don’t have that’s
    genius i like that a lot
    yeah yeah i think that’s one of the
    benefits of running the laundry mat the
    way that you’re doing it where you’re
    there
    a lot and you’re giving a lot of face
    time is that you’re getting to know
    those people and you’re getting to know
    you know build building relationships
    with them and so
    you know you scratch their back they
    scratch your back kind of thing that’s
    pretty cool
    oh yeah yeah that’s that’s solid advice
    well cool man anything else you want to
    share about your uh
    your journey your experience in
    laundromats or any other advice you want
    to dole out
    before we uh jump out of here
    um no i believe they pretty much touched
    on just about everything
    awesome well curtis if somebody wants to
    get a hold of you
    is there a place they can find you um
    that’s the best to kind of contact you
    uh you can generally find me on facebook
    at curtis lions
    okay you can look up either one of my
    laundromat pages
    one’s five points highlander laundry the
    other ones fairfield coin laundry
    or you can visit us online at www.5
    points highlanderlaundry.com
    is it uh the number five or spelled out
    five spelled out by okay
    cool i’ll have those uh those links in
    the
    show notes um or if you’re on youtube
    i’ll have them down in the description
    in case you want to get in contact with
    curtis who’s killing it
    at 29 years old the ideal age
    for anybody in the middle age which is
    29 years old
    but killing it with real estate
    investments and with two laundromats
    looking to buy a third and possibly a
    fourth and fifth if they all just came
    it came some of the better that’s right
    and he’s hustling
    and he is killing it so man if you have
    questions about laundromats or if you’re
    uh in his area hit him up because he’s a
    cool guy and he’s
    here uh answering questions that you
    know not a lot
    not a lot of people are answering and
    he’s doing it right here for you guys to
    help you out
    so hit him up curtis thank you so much
    for being on the podcast
    uh it was truly a privilege and an honor
    to hear your story
    and your wisdom i thought you really
    brought a really cool perspective so i
    appreciate that man thanks for coming on
    hey thanks for having me man i
    appreciate it yeah all right we’ll have
    you back on some time to
    to get a uh um update all right i
    definitely look forward to it
    all right man we’ll talk to you later i
    have a good one
    how cool was that interview i mean
    curtis is 29 years old he’s just he’s so
    down to earth
    and he’s just got it going he’s got two
    laundromats now
    he’s gonna just roll over and end up
    with five in no time i just know it he’s
    got real estate investments he’s doing
    he is just killing it down there in
    birmingham
    and i’m super pumped about what he’s
    doing
    and i it was just seriously it was just
    a huge honor to have him on
    on the show and again curtis thank you
    again for coming on
    and just sharing your wisdom sharing
    your experience
    i know i learned a lot i want to
    encourage you like i do every week or i
    try to remember to every week
    take one thing that you heard today and
    put that into practice you know if you
    remember back to luke williford’s
    uh show which is um
    lotimateresource.comshow10
    uh his his quote that he shared with us
    was
    you know the biggest gap in the world is
    the gap between knowing and doing
    well curtis gave us some things to uh
    you know to absorb in our minds now go
    pick one of those things and
    do something about it implement it
    something into your personal life
    something into your business
    but take something from this podcast put
    it into action
    and also go to the forums laundromat
    resource.com
    forums and ask a question and answer a
    question this week
    thank you guys so much for joining us on
    the laundromat resource podcast
    show number 14. we will see you again
    next week when we will
    bring it i can’t wait to see you guys
    and we will talk to you then all right
    peace
    [Music]

    0 Comments

    Leave a Reply

    Avatar placeholder