Amy Berkowitz [00:00:00]:
I would always recommend to network with those guys if you’re trying to buy your first laundromat, because they have. They have first dibs generally, right? They get first dibs on that laundromat that they’re servicing.

Jordan Berry [00:00:14]:
I’m a huge subscriber to the quote. Your net worth is in your network. And so who you’re networking with, how’s that possible matters? I don’t know. It’s not my quote, so I love it.

Amy Berkowitz [00:00:29]:
When I first started listening to you, I was like, I want to be on this podcast one day. So it is kind of. I’m probably going to start crying as soon as I get off of here, but it’s pretty cool. Tony the repair tech called me up one day and said, hey, you remember this laundromat? Because we had talked about it before. I think you can get it for free. And I’m like, okay. Hey.

Jordan Berry [00:00:55]:
Hey, what’s up, guys? It’s Jordan with the Laundromat resource podcast. This is show 202. And I am super pumped to have you here today because today we’ve got Amy Berkowitz on the show. And this episode is. I mean, there’s something for everybody in this one. So whether you own a Laundromat or you don’t own a Laundromat or you’ve got pickup delivery or you’re trying to start a pickup and delivery, there’s literally something for everyone here. Amy is one of my favorite people, and this is one of my favorite episodes, and you’re going to get a ton out of this episode. That’s a get some money back guarantee right there and get excited about it.

Jordan Berry [00:01:30]:
Hey, the last thing before we jump into it with Amy is I wanted to just let you know that we’ve got Mastermind groups launching again. Our new Mastermind induction ceremony. Mastermind. I forget what we call them. Mastermind Induction Night. I don’t know. We’re putting together new mastermind groups for our pro community over there. If that’s something that you want to do.

Jordan Berry [00:01:50]:
If you want to have a group of people who are in insane about Laundromats, just like you and me, and who can help you get to the next level, whether that’s buying your first one or optimizing your existing laundromat or Laundromat pickup and delivery business or scaling out, we’ve got people at all levels in the pro community over there, and we love to pair you guys up. Not pair, but group you guys up into groups of about four. To six max, so that you can keep each other accountable, help each other solve problems, have some community and camaraderie within your group, and a whole lot more. So these mastermind groups have by far been the most popular thing that we’ve done with the pro community, so that’s included in it. So head over to laundmyresource.com pro if you want to get in on that. And then obviously you also get unlimited access to all of our tools, resources, calculators, all that stuff as well. A bargain.

Amy Berkowitz [00:02:46]:
What?

Jordan Berry [00:02:46]:
A bargain. Okay, speaking of bargains, you’re getting a bargain right here and right now with a interview with Amy Berkowitz, who is just going to give you a whole bunch of knowledge and wisdom hard earned by her. Free to you. Let’s jump into it with Amy. Amy, you are here and I am pumped about it. How are you doing today?

Amy Berkowitz [00:03:07]:
Great. Beautiful day in San Diego.

Jordan Berry [00:03:11]:
Listen, I’m, I’m in Hawaii, so we’re doing the paradise to paradise podcast today. That’s like a good podcast. Maybe we should start a podcast called Paradise Paradise.

Amy Berkowitz [00:03:20]:
Hey, I’m, I’m down.

Jordan Berry [00:03:23]:
I know. We can just talk laundry all day.

Amy Berkowitz [00:03:25]:
All day, every day. Yes, I, I do have to tell you. So I was telling my son this morning about what I was doing today and I was like, I’m gonna be on Jordan Berry’s podcast. And he says, okay, so mind you, he’s 16. Anyone who has 16 year old kids knows. He’s like, mom, stop glazing. You’re glazing so hard. You know what that means?

Jordan Berry [00:03:56]:
Tell, tell me, tell me what it means.

Amy Berkowitz [00:03:58]:
Teenagers.

Jordan Berry [00:03:58]:
I’ve got a 13 year old and 11 year old.

Amy Berkowitz [00:04:01]:
Oh, the glazing is like, like flattery. Like you’re just like fawning or like you want to flatter somebody. You’re just like praising them. You’re kind of almost like a kiss ass, suck up kind of thing. But yeah, yeah, at the same time, like, like I’m not worthy. I’m not.

Jordan Berry [00:04:20]:
No. Well, I appreciate the sentiment, but listen, I, I was kind of doing the same thing this morning because when we, we got on a consulting call, I think like last July or something, or maybe before that even. Maybe it was. I can’t remember exactly. Is it last July or.

Amy Berkowitz [00:04:40]:
I think it was July. It was July.

Jordan Berry [00:04:42]:
I think it was.

Amy Berkowitz [00:04:42]:
Or August.

Jordan Berry [00:04:44]:
Sure, it was July. I know it was July 24th. I have it written down. I have notes from it. So anyways, I’m just pretending like I don’t know But. I know. But I was, you know, when we were talking, like, you had an interesting thing going on, and I was, like, super excited after that call and to see you here now kind of doing the thing. I’m just excited to hear more about it.

Jordan Berry [00:05:08]:
I’m excited for you to share kind of your story about it because it’s pretty cool.

Amy Berkowitz [00:05:14]:
Like, it’s very cool.

Jordan Berry [00:05:16]:
Pretty cool.

Amy Berkowitz [00:05:16]:
And I’m not trying to. I’m gonna glaze you throughout this process, throughout this podcast.

Jordan Berry [00:05:21]:
I’m gonna deflect every time. I’ll just let you know.

Amy Berkowitz [00:05:24]:
But yes, I do feel like I kind of went through the Laundromat resource academy podcast consumption and was all in on my journey to. To get where I am today. And I have a clear vision for the future. Well, it’s not super clear, but I. It’s out there.

Jordan Berry [00:05:52]:
I love it. Okay, so why don’t you tell us a little bit about who you are and then why you got into this laundromat idea.

Amy Berkowitz [00:06:01]:
Okay. All right. I’m gonna try and be brief here, but that’s okay.

Jordan Berry [00:06:07]:
Actually, this more I’ll just tell you, just put your mind at ease is. First of all, everybody always tells me I’m too long winded and all that. Even this morning, I woke up to a YouTube comment from a previous, like, a way long ago podcast episode, like 60 something episode, and somebody’s like, stop talking so much and. And all that. So, you know, like, it just is what it is. And if you want the wisdom that Amy’s got for you, you just have to wait through the conversation. So, yeah, there you go.

Amy Berkowitz [00:06:35]:
I go for it.

Jordan Berry [00:06:36]:
You’re in good company is what I’m trying to say.

Amy Berkowitz [00:06:37]:
I appreciate, I appreciate that and I appreciate. I appreciate your long windedness.

Jordan Berry [00:06:41]:
So thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [00:06:45]:
So, okay, let me. We’ll start, I guess in October. Yeah, October of 2023. So I. My previous job was a marketing strategist and part of my job to work with our advertising clients and like, kind of engrossing myself into their business and trying to learn other ways in which we could promote their services, their offerings, whatever. And so kind of beyond just the tactical ad sales spots and dots and digital ads and whatnot. So we had a new. So basically I was supposed to, like, learn a lot about businesses, our advertisers.

Amy Berkowitz [00:07:33]:
We had a new car wash come in, and we already had like, all these car wash clients in the last, like, maybe three, four years. And so. So when this new one came in, it was Coming kind of new to the market. And so I was doing research on it, I was like scratching my head, I’m like, what are these car washes? Like buying advertising that’s not cheap, you know, like this is not no small ad budget advertising, you know, for a local car wash. Right. So anyway, I found out that of some like researching this company, I find out they’re like majorly expanding across the US Huge expansion plans, all this stuff. I was like, dang, like how much money is in car washes? You know, so here I am, like next thing you know, is. Which is kind of part of my job.

Jordan Berry [00:08:34]:
Yeah, yeah, you’re working, you’re working, you.

Amy Berkowitz [00:08:36]:
Know, accountant going down a rabbit hole of like car washes. Laundromats storage units are amongst the, you know, top semi passive businesses. Lucrative. Next thing you know, I’m on biz by sale, looking at a laundromat for sale. So that’s the kind of the, the starting point. And it made me flashback to I kind of grew up, my brother and I grew up in Laundromats. We had a single dad, we had no washer and dryer at home. And you know, it was really old house.

Amy Berkowitz [00:09:12]:
So we were at the Laundromat every week and he was, you know, putting me in a dryer and spinning me around, pushing him in carts and you.

Jordan Berry [00:09:21]:
Know, nightmare of every laundromat owner, by the way.

Amy Berkowitz [00:09:24]:
Yeah, we were those kids.

Jordan Berry [00:09:26]:
Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [00:09:26]:
You know, way pre device time, you know, it was like, what are you gonna do? You’re gonna mess around with your brother?

Jordan Berry [00:09:33]:
That’s trouble.

Amy Berkowitz [00:09:34]:
Yeah, that was trouble in the Laundromat. But at any rate, my dad had, I just recall and I, I, I haven’t talked to him so recently about exactly what happened, but it sounded like in my mind it was like he was on the verge of buying it. And the little bit that we’ve talked about it since then, it was like, no, I was never gonna buy that laundromat. But I think he was just like overwhelmed. But in my head I, I remember it being like we almost bought a Laundromat and I thought it was going to be so cool for us to have this laundromat.

Jordan Berry [00:10:08]:
Yeah. And it is, by the way, super cool.

Amy Berkowitz [00:10:11]:
It is super cool.

Jordan Berry [00:10:13]:
Super cool. I don’t care what anybody says. So cool.

Amy Berkowitz [00:10:17]:
Oh yeah. Kind of like getting into that and like flashing back to that, you know, childhood memory of being in the dryer and whatnot. I was like that, like I said. And the next thing I know, I’M on biz myself seriously, looking at Laundromats and it’s just like going on my head, I’m like, huh, maybe, maybe I could kind of, you know, fulfill my dad’s dream, which was really apparently my dream.

Jordan Berry [00:10:46]:
Your perception of your dad’s dream? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Amy Berkowitz [00:10:48]:
My perception of my dad’s dream. It’s exactly what it was. So yeah. And then I started talking to the owner of one and was just like, geez, it happened really, really fast in terms of the conversation and me basically kind of flipping a switch going, I think I can do this, I think I want to do this. And then December of 2023, I got fired a week before Christmas, which was devastating. And I basically, you know, had a pity party for a couple of weeks and then I was like kind of half ass, half way looking for a new job in my same industry that I’ve basically been in, advertising sales for 30 years. And I just was like, my heart is not in this. Like, I think I cannot go back to corporate life.

Amy Berkowitz [00:11:51]:
And so, and what I have done for most of my career is help small businesses like laundromat owners and car wash owners and H vac companies and you know, small, small service companies, small businesses in general. So it kind of basically I decided that’s what I’m gonna do.

Jordan Berry [00:12:12]:
Time to help yourself.

Amy Berkowitz [00:12:14]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:12:14]:
Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [00:12:16]:
So listening to. So I started listening to you probably in October of 2023 and probably the.

Jordan Berry [00:12:23]:
Best month of your life, I would guess. Just kidding.

Amy Berkowitz [00:12:28]:
Especially when I found out you were from one. You’re not from Tennessee, right?

Jordan Berry [00:12:32]:
You’re but you family from Tennessee. I spent all my summers in Tennessee. My, my Tennessee draw comes out. What’s that?

Amy Berkowitz [00:12:41]:
Where?

Jordan Berry [00:12:42]:
Knoxville East. East Tennessee.

Amy Berkowitz [00:12:44]:
Okay. Yeah, we just talk about this.

Jordan Berry [00:12:45]:
Yeah, we did.

Amy Berkowitz [00:12:47]:
I grew up in Fountain City.

Jordan Berry [00:12:48]:
Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [00:12:49]:
Like I split time there and in Knoxville. Fountain Cities. Anyway. Yes. So that was the best month of my life. Starting my laundromat journey, which I didn’t, I didn’t really realize, you know, what started out as like, hey, I’m gonna do this little side hustle thing and then getting fired and like, like, hey, you know what? I think I wanna, I’ve been helping advertisers with their marketing and sales on that side. And I always. And, and it’s kind of funny because I really, I did along the way a little bit.

Amy Berkowitz [00:13:28]:
But in hindsight I had major envy of the, my clients and their, you know, their freedom of time and, you know, profitable business and having, you know, what that can afford you Right. And so I. Yeah, I really just kind of was like, I’m. I’m so burnt with the. With what I had just gone through with getting fired and everything. I was like, I’m just gonna do it. I’m going all in this. Obviously, I learned a lot from your podcast.

Amy Berkowitz [00:14:07]:
Here we go. Glazing again. I’m gonna glaze a little bit more, but, yes, yours. And then I got turned on to Dave Minns and Laundromat Millionaire. So, you know, consumed. All yours. Consumed. And I was.

Amy Berkowitz [00:14:22]:
Didn’t have a job. Right. So I had a lot of time on my hands.

Jordan Berry [00:14:25]:
Yeah, yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [00:14:26]:
Like, really take it in. And it’s funny because I never watch. I almost listen. So it’s like, you know, driving. I started the pickup and delivery business and actually, like, well, I started planning it right away in January of 2024. Really kind of launched in March, like a year ago. And then.

Jordan Berry [00:14:48]:
Happy anniversary.

Amy Berkowitz [00:14:49]:
Thank you. It’s getting there. I was actually. I need to go back and look at my calendar because I. Yeah, it’s definitely a year or it’s about to be a year. But yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:15:02]:
Yeah, we’re recording in March, so that’s.

Amy Berkowitz [00:15:04]:
I have to have you right on it.

Jordan Berry [00:15:05]:
You should have a party. Yeah, a bubble party.

Amy Berkowitz [00:15:10]:
What?

Jordan Berry [00:15:11]:
A bubble party. Bubble. You know, like bubbles. Bubbles everywhere.

Amy Berkowitz [00:15:15]:
You should definitely have some bubbles.

Jordan Berry [00:15:17]:
Maybe like a foam rager like the kids, you know, the college kids do.

Amy Berkowitz [00:15:20]:
You know, I like that idea. Yeah. Yeah. I still have a lot to do, but so after started the pickup and delivery service, I. So I got an app. So I got that. You know, I wanted to just go big out of the gate. People are like, you have an app? Like, I have an app.

Amy Berkowitz [00:15:44]:
That sense made me.

Jordan Berry [00:15:47]:
You get credit for it. You got to give them credit for anything.

Amy Berkowitz [00:15:50]:
Like, wow, that’s so cool. Yeah. So anyway, I then. So I’m in search of Laundromat. So the original Laundromat.

Jordan Berry [00:16:00]:
Okay, wait, hold on, hold on. So. So you’re laid off in December 2023, you have your pity party. January 2024, you start planning your pickup and delivery service. No. Laundromat, right?

Amy Berkowitz [00:16:21]:
Yes.

Jordan Berry [00:16:21]:
Around Somewhere in March. Yes, Yes.

Amy Berkowitz [00:16:25]:
I knew it was going to take time. So in the meantime, started the pickup and delivery service.

Jordan Berry [00:16:29]:
Okay, so March, you launched this pickup and delivery business. Is that okay? So can we talk January to March for a second? What.

Amy Berkowitz [00:16:40]:
Yes.

Jordan Berry [00:16:41]:
What is planning this out look like? And the launch of that look like?

Amy Berkowitz [00:16:46]:
Yeah. So I did tons of research on platforms, you know, like software systems, And I kind of felt like I was interviewing those companies. I. I think I interviewed, quote, unquote, four different ones, ultimately decided with one. Can I say. Can I. Yeah, you can say, yeah, okay. I went with Sense.

Amy Berkowitz [00:17:17]:
And I’m, you know, I’ll glaze on them too. You know, it’s going to be a little glazing party for everybody, but there’s positivity going around.

Jordan Berry [00:17:25]:
I love it. It’s great. It’s great.

Amy Berkowitz [00:17:27]:
So I actually started with clean Cloud, and then I ended up switching. And part of the reason I ended up switching is because apps are sense. Two things. Sense. Well, three things, now that I think about it. They had. They offered the app. Creating the app for me.

Amy Berkowitz [00:17:47]:
A branded app. Right. It’s not. People aren’t going to try sense.com or whatever. So it’s bubbles app. And the other thing that I wanted to do, which this, you know, this came from inspiration also from listening to you and your guests.

Jordan Berry [00:18:05]:
Probably. Probably the guests. I’m just gonna deflect all the praise you’re giving me. Most of the guests, yes. Like, people don’t want to hear from me. That’s what I’ve learned on YouTube. People don’t want to hear from me. They want to hear from you.

Jordan Berry [00:18:15]:
So apologize for interrupting. You keep going.

Amy Berkowitz [00:18:19]:
But you’re. You do a great job as a host pulling this information out of people, which is so valuable to. To us. Right. So, like, thank you for doing such a good job with that. I do appreciate it.

Jordan Berry [00:18:32]:
Thank you. Yeah, keep going.

Amy Berkowitz [00:18:35]:
So I also started a nonprofit at the same time. So my thought was, is that I will give. So in 2020, Covid, I also had breast cancer and went through breast cancer treatment. So I wanted to. And again, kind of came to be epiphany. And as I was creating these brands is that I wanted to. Also part of my previous job was to, like, I was mentioning is to kind of like, dig deeper into companies that are working with us and find out ways in which we can promote them better. One of the ways we always kind of just went down the path of is their philanthropy and what they’re doing.

Amy Berkowitz [00:19:21]:
Because obviously people, you know, it’s been proven people have an affinity towards somebody who’s doing good community service and good community partner and all that kind of stuff. Right. So I wanted to have that component to my business as well and my cause, which is breast cancer laundry service. Free breast cancer laundry service. Not breast cancer laundry service. Free laundry service for people undergoing breast cancer treatment.

Jordan Berry [00:19:53]:
Okay. I’m glad you Clarified that. I was really confused on what was getting washed.

Amy Berkowitz [00:20:01]:
No. So it’s.

Jordan Berry [00:20:03]:
I love that, by the way. That’s.

Amy Berkowitz [00:20:05]:
Yeah. Thank you.

Jordan Berry [00:20:06]:
So cool that. I mean, it really is. It’s so cool. And, you know, my mom’s had breast cancer twice, and I just know, like, what it’s like to go through that. And you’ve got these moms who are. A lot of them are the ones doing the laundry. Right. And so being able to take a chore off, I.

Jordan Berry [00:20:24]:
That’s a. That’s a really, really cool nonprofit.

Amy Berkowitz [00:20:27]:
Thank you.

Jordan Berry [00:20:27]:
Really.

Amy Berkowitz [00:20:28]:
Thank you. Well, and you know what? I think, knowing firsthand, Yes, I was. I was very fortunate that through my treatment, I. I was not, like, consistently down and out. So I would say, for the most part, I fared very, very well. I know people who do not and did not and. And. And even when I had my bad days, if somebody would have said, hey, we’re gonna just throw your laundry and your kids laundry outside in a bag, and the laundry fairy is going to come and pick it up and put her little pixie dust on it and bring it back, and it’s going to be amazing, I would have said, yeah, I’ll pass on the casserole.

Amy Berkowitz [00:21:16]:
Give me the laundry service or come clean my house or whatever it might be. So.

Jordan Berry [00:21:21]:
Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [00:21:23]:
Yeah. So a portion of our sales goes to the Bosom Bodies Relief fund, which offers the free laundry service to.

Jordan Berry [00:21:34]:
Awesome. Awesome service. And awesome name as well.

Amy Berkowitz [00:21:38]:
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I kind of aging myself a little bit because it’s. It’s kind of funny because people, you know, don’t remember that show.

Jordan Berry [00:21:49]:
I remember it. I mean, I’m kind of old now. I’m not kind of old now, too, but I remember it. So.

Amy Berkowitz [00:21:54]:
But there’s a lot of people who. Younger people are like, bubbles for Bossom Basam Bosom. Like, they don’t know how to say it.

Jordan Berry [00:22:03]:
Yeah. I think now you can just say boobies. You know, that’s what the.

Amy Berkowitz [00:22:09]:
As a possible brand name, too. But.

Jordan Berry [00:22:12]:
Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [00:22:13]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:22:13]:
Well, considering the. The. The preface that you gave me to recording this is that you’ve got a little bit of a sailor mouth, I’m surprised you didn’t go a little more graphic on it. So.

Amy Berkowitz [00:22:26]:
Pretty good. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:22:27]:
Yeah. Very cool. Very cool nonprofit. I love that. And, you know, I think. I think there’s a lot to be said about, you know, I. I talk a lot about things that you can do with your laundry service to serve your community and stuff. That is a very, very cool one.

Jordan Berry [00:22:48]:
And one that I maybe I think it’s so cool partially because it just, it’s close to home. Right. With my mom having gone through it a couple times and just seeing how hard that is. But I love that. Okay, so you’re, you’re planning this all out. You’ve got your, your software locked in.

Amy Berkowitz [00:23:07]:
Yeah, so that was one of the things is I wanted to do with my software program is for customers to have the option to bubble up their change or like, you know, round up to the nearest dollar and then that would go into my nonprofit to support the free service. So they have that feature. They currently don’t have the feature that would go to the operator’s choice of securities, but they’re working on it. And then I think the third thing for me at that time was not having a laundromat and kind of being a one woman show doing everything out of my garage. And my, you know, one laundromat partner was they have the option to turn on gig drivers and not just Uber or Lyft. They have like I don’t know, five or something. Five or six that they, that the app will automatically choose. I feel like I’m a Sense commercial right now.

Amy Berkowitz [00:24:10]:
But the Apple automatically choose like which is the most affordable option of the many different services they use. So anyway, I ended up switching to Sense and for that reason because I was like I can’t, I can’t necessarily be driving and processing at the same time. Right. And, and then doing marketing and sales and everything else. So I liked that having that feature and I think some, a lot of people do now too. But anyway I ended up going with Sense. So yeah, that was. And then the next step I guess would be that I.

Amy Berkowitz [00:24:49]:
There was this. In my little community in San Diego it’s about, I think it’s not quite 30,000 people and it’s very only like two ways in, two ways out. Like you, there’s not a. When people come here, you kind of, you either live here or you’re delivering something here or whatever. Anyways, not a lot of traffic, whatever. We have this little flower stand. There used to be a flower stand and on a. Busy.

Amy Berkowitz [00:25:17]:
On the main street and it’s been like broken down. Nobody’s. Nobody’s leased it for years and I hunted down who owned it and it was the church that it’s in front of owns it. So I approached them and asked them if I could fix it up in exchange for like some free rent, you know, or some rent abatement concessions, whatever for A while. And they love the idea, love the idea of the service. And so my idea there was, I put in lockers, laundry lockers, because there’s no water there. So it’s just electricity. That’s all they had.

Amy Berkowitz [00:26:04]:
So basically it was perfect for a locker situation. So I set up lockers in there and manned it for a while because it just took a while for people. It’s still taking a while for people to understand what goes on there. So that was in May. I’m trying to think of like the timeline. So May. No, yeah, May. I secured the spot of May of 2024 and.

Amy Berkowitz [00:26:32]:
Which was like coincided almost perfectly with our little town parade that we have, you know, our annual par. And it’s right on the, the route of the parade. So we had my bubble machine going. We had like the flags out, which are like my bags. They’re not flags, they’re my pink bag as you can see behind me. But we had, you know, just a whole bunch of fun giving out bubbles and playing with bubbles and trying to draw people in. There’s a lot of interest. It couldn’t have been better timings to kind of open the door.

Jordan Berry [00:27:07]:
Yeah. So awesome. So I love having the drop location and having the lockers and stuff. Before you did that, like, how did you. Okay, you got your, you’ve got your software, you’ve got your app. How did you, how’d you actually start, How’d you start getting, how’d you get your first client? Like, how do you. Because, you know, there’s a lot of people I think who are interested in doing like pickup and delivery before they get their laundromat either because they can’t find one yet or they don’t have enough money to buy a location so they just want to get in the business. How did you, how did you start, how did you get this thing launched?

Amy Berkowitz [00:27:47]:
Great question.

Jordan Berry [00:27:49]:
Thank you.

Amy Berkowitz [00:27:50]:
Marketing. So I have background in marketing. So I created my logo with a girlfriend of mine. Shout out to Elise, thank you so much. She’s a graphic designer. So I started out with, you know, really kind of started out with creating the brand and, and then, you know, kind of coming to terms. Doesn’t sound right, but like basically deciding what I want the brand to be and represent. Right.

Amy Berkowitz [00:28:20]:
So we created the logo, created the non profit and then I just kind of started networking like crazy because I was also at the Simultaneously, you know, I’m looking for a laundromat. Right. Because I know that I had the guy, my laundromat partner. I Mentioned he is actually the guy I was going to buy the laundromat from in earlier or late in 2023. So he, what ended up happening in that situation was that he ended up taking off the market. He didn’t, he prematurely put it on the market, long story. But he, he didn’t want to sell it after all, so. But he and I became friends and he gave me a lot of good advice and basically kind of assured me that like when it goes back on market, which he knows it will, I’ll be the first one he calls.

Amy Berkowitz [00:29:22]:
And you know, we kind of built a nice little friendship and I consider him a mentor. But he, I worked with him to create a partnership where he would offer me 20% discount on using machines if I certain, if I hit a certain threshold of pounds. And then also, you know, once I get to a place where I’m needing, you know, after hours access, those types of things, he was going to offer that as well. So I never ended up needing like the after hours access or anything like that. But I ended up turning my garage into kind of a little mini laundromat. So between my house and using his big machines for comforters and the bigger, bigger orders and things like that, yeah, it was kind of got the operation going, but the marketing, I think going back to your original question, just creating the brand and then promoting it, networking, sending it out, you know, I very active, I was very active on LinkedIn, created social media channels for the brand and really just started promoting the heck out of it. The town parade helped. You know, I distributed tons of cards there.

Amy Berkowitz [00:30:45]:
I’ve been supportive of like I sponsored the football team. We actually did a little trade. Right. So I watched the football uniforms and I get a banner at the games. Doing lots of gift baskets for fundraisers, really trying to do a lot of community stuff because for one I do absolutely love my community. And even though it’s, you know, tucked in San Diego, it’s, it’s definitely a unique. They call it the island in the hills because kind of what I was talking about, like there’s, it’s not, there’s no pass through here so you, you have to come in and go out. So I love doing the community sponsorship type stuff.

Amy Berkowitz [00:31:32]:
There’s a animal hospital behind my little hut. I call it the Bubbles Hut is where the lockers are. And they do, it’s like once a quarter. They do like free dog. Well, it’s not, I guess it’s not free dog wash, but they do it on a, for a donation to their non profit of dog washing. And so at that time too, like we did like a little social media thing where they were promoting their, their event. I was promoting like if you get your dog wash, I’m going to give you and, and do your pet bed. Drop your pet bed off with us.

Amy Berkowitz [00:32:08]:
We’ll give you a free pet bed wash if you make the donation for this of that. So we kind of really did a lot of community stuff, social media, some Facebook posts, boosted posts, things like that. I. Then I started Google Ads. So I put some budget around PPC and that helped. Yeah. So it’s. But I’ve been.

Amy Berkowitz [00:32:36]:
And I’m not a numbers person, so I, I know you might ask me about pounds and stuff like that. I don’t really, don’t really look at that. I really just look at the money. But. I know, but. Well, part of it is like the. I’ve just been crazy busy. So after getting the hut, let’s go back.

Amy Berkowitz [00:32:59]:
Well, wait, did I answer your question? Keep.

Jordan Berry [00:33:01]:
Keep going. Yeah, you’re, you’re good.

Amy Berkowitz [00:33:02]:
You’re on a roll after.

Jordan Berry [00:33:04]:
How many, how many pounds did you do? No, I’m just kidding.

Amy Berkowitz [00:33:11]:
I. So I, you know, all this time I’m still on the hunt for my own laundromat. I, I know I’m on a mission and so I took all your advice, your guest advice, wherever I got it from, all my consumption of podcasts, Laundromat, all things laundromat podcasts all day long. Like, I seriously thought I was like, my family probably thought I had like joined some cult or something. Yeah, like, well, it’s a little cultish, right?

Jordan Berry [00:33:40]:
Like, I mean, a little bit. But listen, like it’s be obsessed or be average. Right? Like, there you go. You got to kind of be a little obsessed, a little crazy if you want to do something great. So.

Amy Berkowitz [00:33:51]:
No. And like, like you and your guests are my people. Right? So like, yeah, this is where I feel like not many people really get. Get it right. So it’s. I think that was, that’s always one of the things that I enjoy so much about your podcast, Dave’s podcast is that I feel like we’re all. Yeah. Obsessed or.

Amy Berkowitz [00:34:21]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:34:22]:
Why do you think I started the podcast? I mean really, it’s just to have friends that get it. Like, that’s my main goal here is like make some friends that I can talk about laundry with. So.

Amy Berkowitz [00:34:34]:
Yes, because it is. And I hear this a lot too. With, you know, now I’m kind of branched because I, I’m I’m not that far backed up on yours and Dave’s podcast. I’ve not branched into other business and entrepreneurial type podcasts and there I hear that all the time that like it is lonely and you know, if you’re, you’re, you know, immediate people don’t get it. It’s like, yeah, I can’t imagine what it was like to be an entrepreneur pre podcast. Like, yeah, what do they do? I guess maybe pick up the phone or have in person meetings and stuff like that. But yeah, no, the community has been truly is an inspiration to me and hearing other people’s stories and really kind of fueling my journey. And like the quotes I know I showed you on our consulting call.

Amy Berkowitz [00:35:31]:
My. My little thing of. Of quotes that I’m writing down constantly and I know you, you love the quotes too. But, but that they truly have helped me as like I’ll give you a two that I say all the time to myself mostly. But being that perfection is the enemy of progress. And that one sticks with me all the time because I tend to be a perfectionist and overanalyze and you know, and I’ve really grown. I feel like as a person and in my skill set of like, you gotta just move on. Like make a decision, move on, learn from it.

Amy Berkowitz [00:36:15]:
If it’s not the right one, whatever, but stop. Like being in this stuck mode, right? So another one kind of along those same lines, speed trumps accuracy. Like that is another one where I’m just like, okay, just pull the trigger. Like, just go like, let’s go. So thank you again to you and your guests for, for all that and, and the community is, is truly amazing and, and so supportive and inspirational and I look forward to the opportunity where I can help some people too, which I, I have some of the distributors that’s going to like, I’m all over the place. Sorry. But I did network with distributors. You know, per you and your guest advice.

Amy Berkowitz [00:37:01]:
It’s like befriend distributors, go to their events. I, you know, I was like just walked into. I’m sure he would tell a funny story about it, but walked into the. The alliance district local distributor and you know, I was like, that’s lady coming in with all her pink on and you know, I’m ready to take on the laundry world. I think they were probably like, this girl is crazy but. But we’re gonna help her. We’re gonna, we’re gonna, you know, invite her in and meet some other operators. So I went to an alliance event which Was really cool because they had all the vendors there learning about a lot of this stuff that I was hopefully going to have to use when I.

Amy Berkowitz [00:37:43]:
Whenever I got my Laundromat. And yeah, so then from there joined Facebook groups and then met other people. I met my laundry Lux distributor rep through a Facebook group, a laundromat owner’s Facebook group, and through that guy who’s been an amazing, amazing mentor as well. Shout out Dan Swiger. He is, was incredibly helpful. He is building his own laundromat. I think it’s open now in New Jersey. So the networking thing, I can’t say enough about, and I’ve said this really, it’s kind of like a belief I have just as a person is like, you know, network as much as you possibly can, meet as many people as you possibly can, because you never know who can help you along the way.

Amy Berkowitz [00:38:35]:
Whether it’s, you know, advice or connections is amazing. So that’s how I got my first Laundromat.

Jordan Berry [00:38:47]:
Okay, hold on. I want to say just right on that, right on the heels of that. And you’re talking quotes, you’re talking network. I mean, I, I’m a huge subscriber to the quote. Your net worth is in your network. And so who you’re networking with, that one. How’s that possible matters? I don’t know. It’s not my quote, so I love it.

Jordan Berry [00:39:09]:
Maybe, like, it sounds like Jim Rohn or something like that, but I mean, I think who you’re networking with, who you’re spending your time with, both online through, you know, podcast, YouTube, social content, like who you’re letting influence you, you know, digitally is hugely important and also in person, right? Like who you’re meeting up with. And a lot of times what I found is that when you’re, when you’re networking, I mean, obviously, like, especially when you’re getting started, you’re going to get a lot from the people who. Doing the thing that you’re doing. But a lot of the power actually can come from finding people also who are doing very cool things that aren’t doing what you’re doing and finding new things to incorporate into your business through what they’re doing in their business or relationships. I mean, like, I think the, the, the pet washing thing is like an interesting collaboration, right. Where, like, you probably never would have thought to do that, whatever that was, right? Like on your own. But because you had this network, this opportunity came up, right? And maybe it played out well and, and benefited you, or maybe it didn’t. But you learned something, and.

Jordan Berry [00:40:23]:
And your network grew. Right. So I. I’m a huge fan of that.

Amy Berkowitz [00:40:27]:
I love that. And that quote is so spot on because that definitely. Well, you also. You also get friends.

Jordan Berry [00:40:36]:
Yeah, exactly.

Amy Berkowitz [00:40:38]:
People, like, are obsessed in this cult laundry world as. As much as I am, so, yeah, it’s very cool. So through my network, I. Which this is kind of a funny story too. So one of the ways in which I was hunting for laundromats is, again, part of the advice of, you know, the community is sending letters. And I just cold call. You know, I. I’ve done.

Amy Berkowitz [00:41:13]:
I’ve been in sales my whole career, basically. So not afraid of cold calling. I’m obviously not very shy, so I would just pop in, try and. Try and meet the owner. So I pop into this cute little laundromat, and the owner’s there. Of course. Of course, he’s not necessarily the owner until he knows exactly what I want to talk to him about.

Jordan Berry [00:41:38]:
Yeah, he’s the manager until then. Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [00:41:41]:
You know, it’s. Are you the owner? It depends.

Jordan Berry [00:41:44]:
That’s right.

Amy Berkowitz [00:41:45]:
I’m not selling anything. I want to buy something. So, you know, if you. If. When you do that community. Yeah. Let them know straight away, you’re not a vendor. You want to.

Amy Berkowitz [00:41:57]:
You’re a buyer. So. But obviously, they also get those people a lot, too, I’m sure. Right.

Jordan Berry [00:42:05]:
So, yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [00:42:06]:
Anyway, he and I became friends. I made an offer. He had only owned it for not even a month.

Jordan Berry [00:42:13]:
So, like, aren’t you tired of this yet? Yeah, it’s been three weeks. Come on, man.

Amy Berkowitz [00:42:18]:
Want to do that?

Jordan Berry [00:42:19]:
Try something new. You’re an entrepreneur. We try new things all the time.

Amy Berkowitz [00:42:23]:
Turns out that, like, it just. It’s been a beautiful relationship because he bought this with his sons, his adult sons and young adult sons. And so he is a repair tech, and he bought the store from the guy that used to, you know, use his services for. To repair the machines. Which. Man, those guys. Big. I would always recommend to network with those guys if you’re trying to buy your first laundromat, because they have.

Amy Berkowitz [00:43:00]:
They get first dibs generally. Right. They get first dibs on that laundromat that they’re servicing because they know the ins and outs of what’s going on with those machines. You know, what’s going on. You know, generally they have a good relationship with the owner, so they kind of know. Right. So definitely, I. I did not realize that when I was searching until it happened, but.

Amy Berkowitz [00:43:30]:
So he. He. They didn’t accept my Offer to buy it, but they liked it and they, you know, and I. I was like, I really like them. They’re. They’re great guys. And I. So we started a partnership.

Amy Berkowitz [00:43:47]:
Not a partnership, a friendship. I guess it would be because basically just telling him I’m looking as a repair tech, hey, I’m looking for laundromats actively, please, please help me. And so that’s actually a lot of ways the alliance guy turned me on. The alliance distributor turned me on to a guy who was selling. I ended up not buying on buying his either because I think he just. He’s doesn’t really want to sell it. So you’re gonna put like some crazy number on it.

Jordan Berry [00:44:16]:
Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [00:44:17]:
So I’m glad actually that I didn’t force myself into that. Although I really wanted to because that was going to be my first one. But in hindsight, I’m glad. I’m glad I didn’t get that one. So. Yeah, Tony the repair tech called me up one day and said, hey, you remember this laundromat? Because we had talked about it before. Not. Not the one I just talked about, but this other one.

Amy Berkowitz [00:44:45]:
I think you can get it for free. And I’m like, okay. Because I did look at buying it before and I hard pass it was. They were out of their mind for what they were asking for.

Jordan Berry [00:45:00]:
They were asking 299. I wrote it down and I revisited it.

Amy Berkowitz [00:45:05]:
Yeah, that’s good. 2.99. And then at the end of the day, I told the broker I would take it for free if they wanted to, you know, get out of the release or whatever the situation was. And. And then a couple months later, it is up for lease. Not the laundromat, just the space, but the space with everything in it from the laundromat. So yeah, you may also recall this, that basically at the same time then it was a bogo buy one, get one free deal because another one came up for sale. I ended up getting.

Amy Berkowitz [00:45:47]:
That was just kind of a bananas time. But yes. And that’s 10. It’s two miles, but it’s 10 minutes away from the. The four lease one.

Jordan Berry [00:46:01]:
What was the time span between those two of getting those two?

Amy Berkowitz [00:46:05]:
One month. I mean one month. Like starting the lease. Yeah, October. So start the. The four lease one I got in October of 2024 and November, literally one month later, I got the. The buy one.

Jordan Berry [00:46:30]:
Straight to the deep end. Straight to the deep end. You’re just like throwing the floaties off and just diving right in.

Amy Berkowitz [00:46:38]:
What?

Jordan Berry [00:46:38]:
Cannonball?

Amy Berkowitz [00:46:40]:
Maybe that Whole Steve accuracy thing, it’s.

Jordan Berry [00:46:46]:
Got its limits, but, you know, let’s go. I love it. Okay, so let’s. Let’s back up before we jump into two at once. Listen, I. I can’t tell you how many calls I’ve fielded. People looking for a free laundromat, so. And you are in a.

Jordan Berry [00:47:04]:
You’re in, like, one of the most competitive markets, right? SoCal market is ultra competitive, and you found one there, so enlighten us. What did this process look like for you? I know you kind of, like, looked at this one to buy, and I remember having that conversation and saying, like, what are you. What are you buying?

Amy Berkowitz [00:47:24]:
Like, well, yeah, I’ll tell. Tell everyone that. The consulting call, if you may recall, which, obviously, if you don’t recall, you’ll have notes on. But I. We. I basically started off with like, okay, Jordan, I. I know I’m going to run this by you, but I already know what you’re going to say. You’re going to tell me to walk away.

Amy Berkowitz [00:47:52]:
Like, you know, this is dumb, but I kind of felt like I needed to get that direction from you, which, again, I also very much appreciate the consulting services because not everybody gets what we’re doing, right? And so to have, you know, someone to talk to who’s. Here’s the stuff all day, every day, lives, it, loves it all that kind of stuff was super helpful, too. So starting off the call with, like, I kind of felt like I was gonna get scolded. Almost like, you know, like, have I taught you nothing?

Jordan Berry [00:48:24]:
Like, yeah, you’re right.

Amy Berkowitz [00:48:26]:
Listen to everything and, like, what are you doing? The lease is terrible. Walk away. And then after our conversation, you’re like, oh, gosh, this one is a little different. And you know it. The. The thing that, like, I felt like I have permission now that you said was, you’re. But you’re betting on yourself. Like, it was game over, honestly.

Amy Berkowitz [00:48:57]:
And again, I don’t want this to come across as glazing hard, whatever, but it. It truly was like, oh, yeah, sorry. Like, yes, hello. I know me. I know what I’m capable of. I can do this. So I can. I can do this.

Amy Berkowitz [00:49:17]:
Let’s go. So thank you for that because it truly was. Again, I kind of felt like I was getting permission. Like, getting permission for my. My laundry daddy. Like, okay, I have taught you some stuff, but I’m gonna go against what I taught you in this specific case. Like, it was kind of. So.

Amy Berkowitz [00:49:42]:
Yes, anyway.

Jordan Berry [00:49:43]:
Yeah. Well, it’s funny because I, like, literally right before we jumped on this call, was in a consulting call, and I, you know, in the. And. And he was thinking about, you know, signing up for a consulting package. And we’re kind of going through it. He was kind of expressing his feelings and why. He was kind of debating on whether you should do that or not. And I was like, look, really, here’s what we’re selling is we’re.

Jordan Berry [00:50:06]:
We’re selling confidence. Like, that’s what we’re selling. We want to give you confidence that you have clarity on the business you’re buying before you buy it, if you’re. If you’re buying one. Right. We wanted to make sure you have clarity on that. But we also want to give you confidence that this is something that’s going to match up with what. What you’re trying to do and who you are and the criteria that you have and all that stuff.

Jordan Berry [00:50:29]:
Right? And I mean, it’s just true. Right? And, like, I have steered plenty of people away from deals that I. Probably hundreds of people I’ve steered away from deals that I weren’t good fits for them for one reason or another, either because of them and what they’re looking for or because of the laundromat itself and what it was compared to what they were looking for. Right. And. And sometimes we talk people into buying them that just need a little, like, that confidence boost. Right. They just need the permission to buy because you don’t know what you know.

Jordan Berry [00:51:01]:
It’s scary. Like, this is just a scary process. Right? You’re. You’re risking a lot of money. Yes. But also time and reputation. Like, I know better than anybody just about the reputation you’re also risking. Like, a lot of people said, you’re buying a Laundromat.

Jordan Berry [00:51:20]:
Like, why are you doing that? And then it went south on. And I had to sort of, like, face the facts of, like, yeah, that one wasn’t a good idea for me. And so I had to decide, like, was it laundromats that weren’t a good idea or that one specific one? Right.

Amy Berkowitz [00:51:34]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:51:35]:
But I didn’t have anybody saying that’s not the right one for you. Go find the other. That’s why we do that. Right? So that. I mean, it was huge. I’m so glad you decided to just bet on yourself, because it. For me, it was, like, very clear, like, okay, she’s just not gonna fail. Like, it’s just not gonna happen.

Jordan Berry [00:51:54]:
Yeah, she’s not. She’s not gonna let it happen. And so, yeah, awesome.

Amy Berkowitz [00:52:01]:
I think it definitely was a Little like when I, when I made the decision not to go back into corporate America and just, you know, it could have been relatively easy to just continue it in, in my industry and marketing and sales or whatever. But I, yeah, I think once I realized I didn’t want to do that, I wanted to be on the, the advertiser’s side of the desk and in college dots and do fun stuff with marketing and all that kind of stuff. So I was like, I can do this, I can do this. And, and, but having, you know, taking that lease was. Yeah. If, if it were, if, if the person who was going to do that was just gonna take it and open the doors back up, that would be, I think a, that’s dumb because yeah, it’s going to fail again, which is what happened with the previous owner. He didn’t. The location is amazing and the previous owner was juggling family and his full time job, which was demanding.

Amy Berkowitz [00:53:15]:
And I don’t know what the other issues were. He had two Laundromats. So my repair tech, the story is kind of. Because it has a lot of twists and turns. My repair tech, the one I tried to buy, who only owned it for a month and passed on my offer because they, because they were like, we kind of want to own it for a little while. Yeah, yeah, yeah, more than 30 days. We want to kind of see how this goes too, but you know, let’s stay in touch. He, his store that he bought was owned by the same guy.

Amy Berkowitz [00:53:50]:
So he calls me up one day and is like, I know, you know, obviously he knows I’m looking for a laundromat. We talked about that one before and that it was, you know, not a good purchase. He said it’s, it’s up for lease. Call this guy now. And I was like, like I’m calling this guy now. And so, yeah, long story after, you know, a lot of, of over analyzing and, and you know, looking at everything we decide, I decided to pull the trigger and, and go for it. And you know, with your permission.

Jordan Berry [00:54:29]:
Yes, permission granted. Why didn’t the repair tech guy spring for that deal?

Amy Berkowitz [00:54:36]:
That is a great question and that is a really smart question too because, and you asked me that on our consulting call because yeah, obviously he’s like, well, why wouldn’t he buy it? Because he had just bought the other his, his and he was, he has his repair service business irony in this.

Jordan Berry [00:55:00]:
Because you, you’re about to get your second one in like a month in the story here too, so. Third. Yeah. Third. Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [00:55:07]:
No, yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:55:08]:
I mean. I mean, in the story. Yeah, the story.

Amy Berkowitz [00:55:10]:
Yes. So. So, yes. Yeah. Anyway. Okay. He. Wow.

Amy Berkowitz [00:55:19]:
Sorry. I’m a little off track. Where. Where were we?

Jordan Berry [00:55:22]:
Well, I. No, I. I was asking why he didn’t snatch it.

Amy Berkowitz [00:55:26]:
I mean. Right. Yeah, because he. He just bought that one that was going to be his first ever owning one with. And he’s trying to coach his sons, right? So he had his repair tech business. He has this laundro manage his family and his, you know, kids managing the business and, and all that. So he’s like, it’s too much for me to, to take on another one. They did seriously look at it, but they decided like, it was also a very short term.

Amy Berkowitz [00:55:53]:
So they had only owned their Laundromat for five months at that time. Four. Not even like four months. So it was just too much for them to take on it at that time.

Jordan Berry [00:56:04]:
Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [00:56:06]:
Far for him too, of like where they live in the county. It’s a little too far of a regular commute.

Jordan Berry [00:56:15]:
Yeah. Can I ask. Can I ask a. It’s like a little bit of a personal question, but you don’t have to get like detailed on it or numbers or anything.

Amy Berkowitz [00:56:23]:
I’m an open book. Sometimes too open.

Jordan Berry [00:56:25]:
When you, when you, when you were going to get this Laundromat, the pickup and delivery business, was that paying your bills yet? Was that okay? No, because, I mean, there’s all kinds of scary happening here, right? Like you, you’re not covering your bills with your pickup and delivery yet. You’re. You’re committing to a business that needs work and has already failed. And then you’re about to get another one in the story right here. And so how are you, how are you. How are you pulling the trigger on this? How are you doing this? Because, I mean, so many people I talk to get stuck. They can’t take that step. How are you doing this?

Amy Berkowitz [00:57:11]:
So I took out a home equity line of credit. Thank goodness I did that before I got fired. So I had that going because a couple months before I was like, oh, I. That’s when I, like, the Laundromat bug started, right? So I was like, I’m gonna pull out some money from my, from my home equity and have that available to buy Laundromat if it, you know, presents itself. So I had already set that up. So I used that to. Plus for the. So for the, the free one, which obviously Tony, my repair tech, he was like when he called me and said, this one is coming, it’s for lease, it’s Got everything in it.

Amy Berkowitz [00:58:05]:
He knows because he was the repair tech at that store, right. So he’s like, it needs about 10 ish thousand dollars worth of new equipment and repairs. So I was like, okay. So I basically just kind of knew that I had my home equity to leverage to, to get it up to speed. And then I also with the new machines, I leverage the financing, the manufacturing financing, laundry looks going with for that store.

Jordan Berry [00:58:42]:
Yeah, I mean, I just, I just want to point out like that’s a whole another layer of scary, right? So now you’re tying all those scary things to your home. I mean, I just, the reason I’m point this out is because like you’re, you’re betting on yourself here. Like it’s so easy to, you know, and, and you know, you’re, I’m sure you’re not exactly even like where you want to be and you probably haven’t even optimized all this stuff to like be performing how it is. But, but like it’s so easy to see, you know, your brand and the fun that you’re having and your positive attitude and think, oh, like you’ve. You did it. Like this is. Awes went really well. But it’s so easy to lose sight of you.

Jordan Berry [00:59:34]:
You got fired or laid off. You. Yeah, yeah. Let go. You got, you got let go. You got. Sorry, I didn’t mean fired like that.

Amy Berkowitz [00:59:42]:
No, I say fired.

Jordan Berry [00:59:43]:
I mean, you let go. You got let go. You started a business from scratch. It wasn’t covering your bills yet, and you got another one where you had to put money into it. You risked your home essentially in order to make all this happen. And you got a second one like right after. Right. Like, this is, this is a lot like.

Jordan Berry [01:00:07]:
And, and I just, I don’t want people to kind of lose sight of sometimes this is what it takes to build a business and it’s scary. And unless you’re just kind of independently wealthy and you’ve got all the money in the world to just throw at some of this stuff, like this is what it takes, you know, this kind of thing is what it takes to make it happen. So kudos to you. I just, I wanted to give you credit for being brave. I mean, it’s genuinely, it’s just a brave thing to do.

Amy Berkowitz [01:00:37]:
You know, one way I look at it also. So like kind of, it’s, it’s almost a way which like you can’t fail.

Jordan Berry [01:00:45]:
Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [01:00:46]:
You’re, you’re taking out so much risk. Failure is not an option. Right. Like, is it Is it that or am I just like, I’m not, I’m not a risk adverse person obviously, but I do overanalyze things. I do, I don’t know if I overanalyze, but I do analyze things a lot to death. But I’m almost like, am I subconsciously like taking these big risks? So I, I have to succeed. Like, it’s just not an option to not succeed. Not fall back and go, oh, I can just go get another job at marketing or sales or whatever.

Amy Berkowitz [01:01:29]:
For one. I, I can tell you wholeheartedly today that is never gonna happen. I am not. I’ve been bitten so hard with, you know, the laundry bug, but not even the laundry bug, but I started with the laund, obviously. But the just being my, creating my own destiny and, and having that is such an amazing feeling. And the, the past year, as much as it, or year and a half really is like as much as it’s been. I never say stressful. Like I think need a better word than stressful.

Amy Berkowitz [01:02:16]:
It’s like it’s stressful, but good stress. It’s not really even stressful. It’s really more of like, it’s just a lot to do. Yeah, just a lot to do. I have so much to do. At the same time, another quote I have in front of me is, you know, enjoy the journey. And that is also something that really taken to heart is like, this is freaking fun. It’s so fun.

Amy Berkowitz [01:02:41]:
And I know, you know, some of the risk I think about too. Like, I’m like, oh, like I need to hurry up. I need to get the store open. I gotta like, rush, rush, rush, rush, rush. Get this door open, get those machines turning so make some money. At the same time, like I have this, this vision in my head and this like comfort and knowing it’s all gonna be fine. It’s like, this is, this is going to be successful. Like, I have zero doubt in my mind that this is all going to be fine.

Amy Berkowitz [01:03:15]:
It’s gonna be great and it’s just gonna get better. It’s just so much to do. Like, I can’t. There’s not enough time in the day.

Jordan Berry [01:03:21]:
And I know why. It’s because you did all the things all at one time. That’s why.

Amy Berkowitz [01:03:28]:
A crazy person. But no, it’s, it’s kind of one of those things. I just tell my kids this. I’m like, not so much anymore because I have been able to slow down a little bit. But you know, I have one of the things I really wanted to strive for was spending more time with my kids. You know, that is one of the things that I just also decided, like, you know, that is one of the, my goals of owning this, these businesses is I want to be more available for my kids. And, you know, we have breakfast together nearly every day, dinner together every night. Like, we, you know, have those, those times.

Amy Berkowitz [01:04:07]:
And I cut those out specifically. But like, I tell. I was telling them at dinner one night, we were talking about the laundry business, because I always talk about the laundry business. But it’s really cool because they, they have watched me, you know, they’re 13 and 16 now, but they’ve watched me for the past year and a half, like, go from this devastation of losing my job to, like, like, it, sorry, like, screw it. I’m, you know, I’m going all in on this business. There’s no turning back. This is happening. And they’ve been helping.

Amy Berkowitz [01:04:41]:
You know, they’ve processed many orders. They’ve done lots of pickup and deliveries with me. They’ve held the map, you know, the phone with the map, telling me where to go and all this stuff along the way. But I was telling them, I’m working this hard so I don’t have to work this hard like that. That is the goal right now. It’s like, it’s not going to be like this forever, you know, like, I’m, I’m getting there. You know, I’m getting there. But at the same time, it’s really fun.

Amy Berkowitz [01:05:11]:
Like, I don’t, I don’t feel like it’s work. Right. It’s, it’s, it’s not work to me. It’s, it’s growing a business, and it’s super fun for me and our people. Right. Our Laundromat people.

Jordan Berry [01:05:26]:
That’s right. Well, and I, I, I think that’s the essence. I think you just, like, boiled down entrepreneurship, business ownership right there. Right. Like, a lot of people are looking for, you know, passive income. And there’s, you know, all the jokes on, you know, the Facebook groups and all that stuff are like, passive income. Here it is. I’m, you know, my Laundromat’s flooded again, or somebody just just drove through my front window or whatever it is.

Jordan Berry [01:05:55]:
Right. And, you know, and I, and I get that, and I definitely empathize with that sentiment of, like, there’s a whole lot about this business that is not passive. But with that said, like, I, I think the, the, you know, if you’re working your marketing job, you know, going forward, like, you’re working your marketing Job, like, that’s. That’s how you’re bringing in revenue. You know, it’s that time for money. When you own a business or multiple businesses, you know, the goal is you’re building something that gives you that freedom, right? Or. Or at the very least, that gives you that flexibility so you can carve out the times for your kids and, you know, you can do stuff that you want to do with life. Right? And like, that to me is that’s the essence of it, right? That’s why we work so hard.

Jordan Berry [01:06:47]:
That’s why we, you know, we work so hard so that we don’t have to work hard. I thought that was a great way to put it because it’s not passive, especially early on. You’re building something, and once you’ve built the thing, then you can throttle back if that’s what you want to do. But I love that.

Amy Berkowitz [01:07:08]:
Or really just like, focus on the things that I like to do. Like I mentioned, I’m not a numbers person, right. So like, I. And today’s, you know, programs the amount of data that is accessible to us as operators now. Right. Is. Which still sounds really cool. Like, I feel like I kind of get chills when I say, like, I’m an operator because I have had, like, side much Laundromat owner envy for.

Amy Berkowitz [01:07:42]:
I had it for so long before I got mine. And now I feel like I’m, like, I’m one of them, you know, like I’m right. Have my own Laundromat. Two actually now three, which we’ll get into. But yeah, it is. It’s very cool. The flexibility, I think is. Is one of the greatest things ever, is that, you know, I can work when I want to work.

Amy Berkowitz [01:08:08]:
I can, you know, spend more time with my kids. I can, you know, get them to their practices. I can run the carpools. I can do, you know, whatever. So that is. That is fantastic. But also just really having that control of how big do I want to get, how small do I want to be? You know, am I okay with just this? No. Do I want more? And being the one.

Amy Berkowitz [01:08:35]:
One who calls the shots is super cool. That is very cool. So it’s kind of like, you know, making. Making all the decisions. But yeah, getting to a place and scaling to a place where I want to be, where I’m not doing everything and that I just get to do the fun stuff. For me, that is, you know, what I consider fun. That’s where I want to be. Because I.

Amy Berkowitz [01:09:00]:
I don’t foresee anytime soon Wanting it to be a passive business. Right. So, like, it’s. It’s fun. Like, why would I not want to work in it? Like, you know what I mean? I don’t. I don’t. I don’t want it. I don’t want it to ever be passive.

Amy Berkowitz [01:09:18]:
I want to be able to, you know, I want, like, the data analysis to be passive or obsolete, just not me doing it at all. So, you know, that’s where, you know, we can talk a little bit about, too, is partnership I’m entering into that brings that side of it. So.

Jordan Berry [01:09:39]:
Awesome. Okay, well, before we get into that, let’s. I want to talk about. Okay, so you took over this lease and sound like you had to do a little bit of work, maybe add a little machines, fix machines up and stuff. A lot of work. Okay.

Amy Berkowitz [01:09:54]:
Because the owner, I think, thought it was going to be a passive investment. He was going to buy these two laundromats and run them both into the ground, essentially. So it was in bad shape. It had been closed for eight months. So it was all boarded up and closed down. And it looked like he just left yesterday. Like, literally, the POS was there and on. The radio is on.

Amy Berkowitz [01:10:25]:
Chemistries are there.

Jordan Berry [01:10:27]:
You just locked the doors and walked away.

Amy Berkowitz [01:10:29]:
Yeah, yeah. He only took the Internet modem. That’s all he took. So I wasn’t afraid of, you know, him going down the street and opening another laundromat or anything. So there was a lot of work to do to get that one up to snuff, which enter the. The second one. Right. So the second one I saw come up for sale, and I was shocked because I had made it very clear to who the broker who was brokering the business sale was.

Amy Berkowitz [01:11:09]:
An alliance guy that I had met at one of the shows. So I call him up because I have his number personally, and I called him up and I’m like, why am I seeing this laundromat on biz? By selling, like, what have I, you know. Yeah, like, I thought I made it very clear to you, I want to buy Laundromat. And this is right up my alley. So I made an offer on that one. I didn’t get it, but I. When he told me that I didn’t get it, I did have an opportunity to counter. I did counter.

Amy Berkowitz [01:11:44]:
I really wanted it. I really wanted it, and. Which was crazy. So. So why? I really wanted it for a couple reasons. One, it’s. It’s been managed incredibly well for years. Location, again, is amazing.

Amy Berkowitz [01:12:05]:
And when I did the math I’m like, I actually really need this one because the one I was, you know, got one free in this bogo deal was not going to make money for a while. You know, I kind of came. Well, I knew that, but I also figured I could not bleed as much money every month from this free one. To get, you know, open and up and running and build back the clientele and get those customers back was gonna take a while. You know, it wasn’t gonna be like, just open the doors and all of a sudden you have a amazing customer base who does their laundry there every week. So, you know, it’s taken a while to get people to even realize that it’s open again. So, you know, signage and blah, blah. Anyway, so once this other one came up for sale and people thought I was crazy.

Amy Berkowitz [01:13:09]:
Like, are you, you, you, you just got one, now you’re gonna buy another one. Like, literally this almost the same time. But then when I like, explain to people, I’m like, but this one makes money and this one doesn’t, and this one actually loses a lot of money and this one can kind of help offset that. So, so. But I was also really sad that I didn’t get it, you know, the first go round. But the talking to the broker and trying to get some feedback about my offer, I learned that it was a competitive offer, that the seller just felt like they wanted to go with somebody who was perceived as being more stable. So it was like a married couple. Husband had a full time good job, wife wanted a, a job, I guess maybe right to clean the laundromat or whatever because this one is fully unattended.

Jordan Berry [01:14:15]:
So.

Amy Berkowitz [01:14:18]:
Turns out they fell through. And then it went to a second, the backup offer. So I was technically third in line for this place. And the second buyers fell through also. So who turned out to be the most stable person in this whole deal? That would be me.

Jordan Berry [01:14:41]:
That’s right.

Amy Berkowitz [01:14:42]:
So I ended up getting it, and I ended up getting it less for less than I, A lot less than what I was gonna originally pay for it. But then when his deals kept falling through, I think I got really lucky and fortunate that I think he was kind of worn down. You know, he’s like, can I just sell this thing? Like it’s already been. We’ve already gone through, you know, two buyers that have fallen out and, you know, and this lady is all in on it. So like, let’s, let’s. Can we just find whatever she wants? Like, let’s just close.

Jordan Berry [01:15:20]:
Did you, did you amend your. How’d you get it for less? Did you amend your offer and say, well, now I’m at this price.

Amy Berkowitz [01:15:26]:
Yeah. And you know what? So it was also. They were offering seller financing. So that’s another, you know, thing to go back to in terms of how am I doing all this. That was very appealing, obviously. So, but yeah, like, working through the seller financing numbers, I was like, again, I’m not a numbers person. So it took me a few days to like, like, try to come to come up with this offer of, like, how are we getting this number with seller financing? And then after racking my brain for literally, like a full day of me number crunching, I just picked up the phone and called the broker and I was like, would he just take cash? Because, like, this is this, like, like, this is making my head hurt and I’m not getting to, like, where I want to get the offer to. And he was like, yeah, I think he would take cash.

Amy Berkowitz [01:16:31]:
So I was like, okay, this is. This is my offer. And he’s like, okay. I’m like, what do you think? And he’s like, I think he’ll take it. And I’m like, okay, well, call me back. And he called me back within, like half an hour and he’s like, we have a deal. I was like, oh, my God. Like, I’ve been agonizing over this stupid stellar financing thing for days.

Amy Berkowitz [01:16:54]:
And so, okay, going back to again, how, where the cash came from. Again from your community and learning. One of your guests talking, which I’ve since connected with to get more information on the Robs program rollover for business startup, which I had to rewind that probably 10 times listening to your podcast. I’m like, I’m like, whoa. Like, wait, what? What? I could. I. I. I’ve been wanting, I thought I did research it pretty well to figure out how I could tap into my 401k, which was now an IRA at the.

Amy Berkowitz [01:17:38]:
Since I was no longer with my company. But. But I was over the moon to learn about the Robs program, so I knew I had my home equity line. I have my ROBS program at my fingertips, which again is the rollover for business startup is essentially, I’m not paying penalty or taxes on taking that money out to buy a business or start a business. So there’s a lot to do. Like, there’s lots of regulations. So I highly recommend not doing it yourself, which I had no interest in anyway. But yeah, I used guidance, so they helped me.

Amy Berkowitz [01:18:22]:
I connected with the. The guy that you had on your podcast. I Can’t remember his name off the top of my head, but asked him a ton of questions, which he was super helpful to learn more about that. But anyway, so with that, that I bought the Laundromat. The second one that helps to pay for the first one was.

Jordan Berry [01:18:42]:
Was it performing as advertised when you. When you took it over?

Amy Berkowitz [01:18:47]:
Yes. Yes.

Jordan Berry [01:18:51]:
Okay. Was it? Or. I mean, you say yes, this is.

Amy Berkowitz [01:18:55]:
This is another reason why this one was so attractive and people. You know, I have, like, my best friend, and she is very nurturing and concerned for her best friend and not like, you know, doing stupid things or foolish things, but, you know, she was like. Has a million questions like, oh, my God, like, how do you know, spending all this money? So the. The. As I mentioned, it was managed incredibly well. So it’s kind of. I guess you could liken it to, you know, buying a car that has every single receipt, repair service thing that ever happened to it. Right.

Amy Berkowitz [01:19:36]:
And the, you know, certified mileage, you know, whatever. It was the most assured I could ever imagine, honestly, especially hearing and talking to so many people in the industry of like, you know, receipts. What. What? No. Bank deposits? No. Like, you’re gonna have to just trust us, right? Like, how many times have people heard that I’m liking. Well, take it or leave it. Like, you’re gonna have to take some trust.

Amy Berkowitz [01:20:07]:
But this one wasn’t. Like, everything was documented. There was literally down to, you know, the. The cash that he would take off the top of. Like, it’s documented. Like, he was like. And so, yes, at the end of the day, it was as advertised. I hesitated about that because there were.

Amy Berkowitz [01:20:31]:
It was just like, I. I took the lease over. No. In November, November 1st, Christmas time, hot water pipe bursts, place gets. The Laundromat didn’t get flooded, but it jacked up the machines. It caused all kinds of problems. And so I dealt with that. Had to close five days, which was brutal because it was.

Amy Berkowitz [01:21:01]:
My family was in town. I was constantly getting calls to the machines were. You know, we were able to use cold water while we, you know, cold only, which nowadays is not a horrible thing. But still, people were, like, turned off, right? Like, oh, it’s only cold water while you get these repairs fixed. So that. But also when people would choose. And I learned this is good for other owners, new owners, I guess, when the customer would choose hot or warm water, even though they know there is.

Jordan Berry [01:21:34]:
No cold water only. Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [01:21:35]:
You know, maybe it’s a habit of, like, hey, I’m just. I just. That’s what I do, because I do this all the time. It. The machine is pulling, is looking for hot water, and then it goes into error mode. So I was constantly getting calls like, the machine’s not working. Machine’s not working. My, like, having to flip breakers doing all this stuff.

Amy Berkowitz [01:21:56]:
I’m like. Like, I should have probably, in hindsight, just closed for. Instead of, you know, dealing with all the problems. But at the same time, obviously, you need to get those. Keep those machines running. Right. Because I’m like, I’m using this good one to pay for the. The new.

Amy Berkowitz [01:22:10]:
The free one. So any little bit of money that that one is losing is. Is twice as bad, basically.

Jordan Berry [01:22:17]:
Yeah. Yeah, that. Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [01:22:19]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:22:19]:
I mean, you’re. You’re one of us. Yay.

Amy Berkowitz [01:22:24]:
You made it.

Jordan Berry [01:22:25]:
Yay. Christmas time. Dealing with burst pipes and.

Amy Berkowitz [01:22:29]:
Yes.

Jordan Berry [01:22:29]:
Machines that are. Yeah. And yeah. But what you went for, like, again, you know what I mean? Like, you went for it. Yes, there’s consequences, but in the long run, I mean, I think the consequences will be positive consequences. Even though along the way, you know, you got to deal with stuff, like, stuff happens like that and you got to deal with it. How is the. I’m gonna put it in.

Jordan Berry [01:22:55]:
In air quotes. How is the. How’s the free one doing now?

Amy Berkowitz [01:22:59]:
Great.

Jordan Berry [01:23:00]:
Good.

Amy Berkowitz [01:23:01]:
Thank goodness. I mean, it’s still. So we opened. We. We basically took like, the paper off the windows Thanksgiving week. So I did not have signage, the new signage up yet. I didn’t have sheets. Yeah, I guess they did have the new machines.

Amy Berkowitz [01:23:29]:
It was all cleaned up, but it was still needed a lot of work. But obviously I was really trying to, like, I got. I gotta open the doors because even, you know, going there every day cleaning and fixing stuff and trashing stuff, because it had built up, like, a lot of stuff that was just no longer needed. And so cleaning all that out, I had two junk loads, two different times taking junk out of that place that had just been there for years. But even when I was there, every day people would stop by. It’s right next to 7:11. So people will come by and they’re like, are you. Are you opening? Are you open yet? Can.

Amy Berkowitz [01:24:09]:
I literally had a guy, like, roll in with his suitcase, and I’m like, painting or cleaning or something, and he’s like, can I use one of these machines? I was like, no, not yet. Sorry. Like, we’re not ready yet. But so I knew that there was going to be interest. And obviously it had been a laundromat for like, 30 years before it had closed. Down. So people. It had the 711 built in traffic.

Amy Berkowitz [01:24:34]:
It’s on a very busy main street, so I knew the traffic would come eventually. So it’s. It’s taken a while, but, yeah, it’s been five months. December, January, February, March. Four months. So it’s. It’s getting better every week, which, you know, that’s what I’m hopeful for. And the.

Amy Berkowitz [01:24:59]:
I will say very, very happy to say that. The. I kind of projected out. Out, Kind of made up numbers, but I kind of projected out, like, how much it was going to lose the first year before I took the lease. Right? Like, I mean, I think you and I even talked about, like. Like, I am, you know, not naive to think that, like, it’s gonna take a while. Like, it’s not. It’s not gonna start happening.

Amy Berkowitz [01:25:29]:
But I also knew that I could step up the pickup and delivery, too, right? To, like, okay, well, now I need to step that up so I can help offset this losing Laundromat. And I did negotiate some free rent as part of the lease, so I. It wasn’t. I didn’t have to pay rent for a few months, so that was helpful, obviously, too. But fortunately, the projections. From January to February, my projections, I exceeded by a hundred percent, which was crazy. Crazy. So.

Amy Berkowitz [01:26:12]:
But, yeah, I’m really happy. And the other thing I was very nervous about, even my Tony, my repair tech’s like, you’re bold. But. So I had some new machines. Not all new machines. I didn’t retool the whole place because I could not afford to do that. But. But I.

Amy Berkowitz [01:26:30]:
Every machine was working, and I got some new machines, and I just lost my train of thought. Oh, I know. I was gonna say pricing. So the way I structured my pricing was. I do not want to go down or. Or raise. Sorry. To go.

Amy Berkowitz [01:26:54]:
Go. Yeah, to go up. So I’m like, quickly. So I’m like, I’m just gonna start out straight out of the gate really high. And so I was. I am the highest in the area, and all my competitors are much less expensive than. I shouldn’t say much less expensive, but I’m the highest. So even my repair attack.

Amy Berkowitz [01:27:23]:
He was like. He was like, helping me set the pricing, right? And he’s like, how much do you want this? How much do you want this? Top loader? I was like, he’s like, bold. I was like. Because I did. I’m like, I don’t want to change it. Like, I’m just starting out, and I don’t want to change it. Three months from now that I started too low or, you know, I’m like, I want to lock in this pricing for a year so it’s going to be high. And guess what? I’m sure I haven’t checked recently, but I’m sure the competition is going to raise their prices because they can.

Amy Berkowitz [01:28:01]:
Because people and the people who are coming in. Another thing I’ve learned from the community is if they come in and walk out, that’s okay. There’s people, there’s more people that come in and don’t give a that than people. I don’t want the price sensitive customer. So yeah, that’s part of my brand. That’s not the customer I want. So I’m going high and the customers love it. They’re appreciative of because remember it had closed down because it was turning.

Jordan Berry [01:28:38]:
Yeah. Because the service is better now. Right. And the experience is better and so you’re able to kind of charge the higher prices. Right. And there’s, you know, again, I’ve got, yeah, I’ve said this before. I mean there’s different business models and there’s not necessarily a right or a wrong one. But you know, one of the things that you talked about right from the get go and it’s coming back around right now is that brand, right.

Jordan Berry [01:29:00]:
And who you want your customer to be and how you want to position yourself in the market. And I, I did a other, another podcast interview which as we’re doing this, I don’t think it’s come out yet. Yet, but we’ll have once this one comes out. We’re talking about just the importance of brand like branding has been an afterthought in this industry for a long time. And right now, branding is one of the most important things that you can do and invest in for your business. Whether you invest that time, effort, energy to come up with that on your own or you invest money to have somebody help you build a brand like that is one of, of the most valuable things you can do for your business right now because there are some strong brands, number one, being built in this industry through other operators like you who are wanting to build that strong brand. And number two, there’s some big money coming in that have some strong brands behind them like Tide Laundromat franchises like Kathy Ireland Laundry, which is now coming in. Like these are names that are household names that we’re competing with.

Jordan Berry [01:30:15]:
So our brands, you can’t just be Laundromat or Coin Laundry or Wash Terrier anymore. Right. Like you’re gonna Struggle going forward. If that’s your quote unquote brand, you gotta get really clear on that. So I love that you’re, you’re doing that. And the other thing I want to point out is so while you’re buying this quote unquote free laundromat and this other laundromat, you’re still doing pickup and delivery, is that.

Amy Berkowitz [01:30:43]:
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s, that’s the, Honestly like that is one of the things where before I had the laundromat and I was working with the, the laundromat owner that I was going to buy from that pulled it off that he, he and I talked lots about. Like, he’s like, you know what? You might, you might get your pickup and delivery business so big, you don’t want a laundromat, you don’t need a laundromat, or you get industrial space that’s cheaper, you know, and you’re just processing orders. Like he kind of walked me through like what could happen. And you know, what, what, you know, that might be a way I want to go, I did not want to go that route because I did well one, I, it was just easier to get an established laundromat in my mind of get one where I can do the processing at and then if I need to get a bigger place to do processing, then we look at it at that point. But I, I kind of wanted both. Again, I had the, you know, FOMO of the owner community of like I want, I wanna, I wanna be an owner too. But, but the pickup and delivery, I just feel like there is such an incredible opportunity in this space and I’m sure you see it, you hear it all the time, that you know, our on demand culture.

Amy Berkowitz [01:32:15]:
It’s like my best friend, you know, who worries to death about me. She’s, I’m having the conversation with her when I started it, she’s like, I just don’t get it. You know, she lives in a small town in Illinois and she’s like, I just don’t get it. I don’t, I don’t think, I don’t see why people would pay for this service. Like, I just, I, you know, she’s scratching her head like I, I, I’m not seeing it. And then she’s like, but wait. So her, her early 20 year old daughter who’s college graduate, got a great job, straight out of college, making good money. She’s like, you know, Amanda did just, she and her boyfriend Uber to the bar.

Amy Berkowitz [01:33:00]:
They ubered home from the bar and then they ordered like $40 worth of DoorDash delivered. So maybe you are. I’m like, huh? Like this on demand society is. We’re not gonna go back, right? Like there’s, there’s never. The only trajectory is up, right? Like for this on demand service industry, we’re never going to go back to like doing it yourself when, you know, for the most part. Right?

Jordan Berry [01:33:34]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [01:33:36]:
So the opportunity is. I just feel like enormous for that, that service aspect of it. But here’s a couple things I’ll say about the brand. Going back a minute. When I was. Would be working, I was working at my little bubbles hut three hours every day and I called it happy hour and brunch because I would only work from. I’d only have the hut open from 3 to 7pm Monday through Saturday and then Sunday mornings from 9 to noon. So that’s when I would be there kind of educating people how the lockers are going to work.

Amy Berkowitz [01:34:15]:
I didn’t have the lockers working at that time, but I was like, this is what’s going to happen. This is how it’s going to go. But in the meantime, I’ll just take time. Your. Your clothes. So. But I had a customer who. A couple customers I’ll tell you about.

Amy Berkowitz [01:34:30]:
One is she. I’m standing there in my like branded, you know, shirt or hat, whatever, and we’re talking, she’s asking me about the business and then she stops me. She’s like, is this a franchise? I was like, oh my God. Like franchise. I was like, I literally almost started crying. I was like, this makes me so proud. Like, like, seriously, you know, she was very complimentary and it was, it was, it was a very proud moment for myself. But her saying that, and I’ve since had that asked of me a lot, which is awesome.

Amy Berkowitz [01:35:11]:
And I. Kudos to me where I pat myself on the back.

Jordan Berry [01:35:14]:
Yeah, absolutely. Now we’re glazing on you.

Amy Berkowitz [01:35:17]:
Yeah, let me glaze on myself. Oh no. But that’s. That makes me very proud. And like you said, I do think I, I’m very fortunate that I have that experience to kind of create brands. And like, I know tons of experience and PowerPoint and Canva and all that kind of stuff to, to do a lot of it myself. But if you pay somebody, I think it’s well worth it to just build that credibility. And again, like I.

Amy Berkowitz [01:35:47]:
A lot of my career has been spent in creating advertising and marketing strategies for small medium businesses. And that is one of the things is like you have to look credible, you have to look confident. You have to look credible. You have to, you know, make the customer feel secure and confident in your services. So that, to me, is very much the direction I wanted to go with my brand is like, this is. Is, you know, this is a mom and pop shop, for sure, or a mom shop, mom and kids job. But it’s. There’s no exception.

Amy Berkowitz [01:36:26]:
I feel like with the level of quality that I’m going to deliver, that a tide can deliver. Right. So, like, that’s. That’s my feeling. But I’ll tell you another quick story about a customer and how we are. I feel on the west coast, best coast, a little slow to adopt. I know you love that saying.

Jordan Berry [01:36:48]:
That’s right.

Amy Berkowitz [01:36:50]:
I had a customer roll up one day, and I was, like, blown away because, you know, I. When I taught, when my time was spent at the hut, I was really educating people. You know, people walk by, people stop by asking questions, and this guy comes up one day, and he’s just like, oh, cool. You got lockers. All right, cool. Oh, you have an app. Yeah. Scans the QR code, downloads the app.

Amy Berkowitz [01:37:15]:
He’s like, all right, I need a couple of bags. I’m like. I’m like, what is happening right here? Like, he’s not asking me any questions, right? So I was like, this is so weird. I’m like, so he. He didn’t have time to, like, get into it with me right then, but he’s like, all right, I need a couple bags. I’m gonna run home, fill these up, and I’ll be. I’ll be right back. And I’m like, okay.

Amy Berkowitz [01:37:36]:
And he left. I was just like. My head was spinning. I was like, what just happened? Like, really didn’t ask me any questions. Like, so long story short is when he comes back to pick up his laundry, he did come back. Fill the bags up, deliver it. I processed it, get it back to him. When he had more time to talk to me, I was like, how did you just, like, know how this goes? And, like, you didn’t ask me hardly any questions.

Amy Berkowitz [01:38:00]:
And he’s like, I’m from the east Coast. He’s like, we do this all day, every day. Like, you know, you’re like, I’m. I’m. I know about this. This is no brainer. California is a little slow to adopt on.

Jordan Berry [01:38:13]:
Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [01:38:14]:
So that was also. Honestly made me feel more confident and. And comfortable in knowing, like, the opportunity is huge.

Jordan Berry [01:38:26]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [01:38:27]:
So we’re. We’re getting. We’re, you know, we’re going to catch up to the east coast and like, they just know how this goes. But so again, kind of back to the point about pickup and delivery, I think. Absolutely. Like, if I was going to go all in on any one of the businesses, it would be that awesome.

Jordan Berry [01:38:46]:
Yeah, well, and great, great stories too. I mean, I think both of those customer stories, I mean, they just kind of illustrate, you know, the power of the brand and the trajectory of pick up a delivery. Right. And drop off laundry. Like, I think like you said, we’re kind of scratching the surface here and we’re going up and up at least for a while. So it’ll be, it should be a fun ride for anybody in that business, I think.

Amy Berkowitz [01:39:12]:
Absolutely, absolutely. That’s great.

Jordan Berry [01:39:14]:
Yeah. Well, tell us. I mean, you kind of been teasing a future endeavor slash partnership or whatever, so give us a little bit of detail on that.

Amy Berkowitz [01:39:25]:
So the latest and greatest is that. But I was approached about, I guess a couple of months ago now. A guy text me one day and basically said, hi, Amy, my name is Kyle. I got your letter from April of last year. Basically we’re now interested in selling. And again, I was like, oh my God, like, it worked. The letters work. The letters work.

Amy Berkowitz [01:39:56]:
Walking in works. You know, obviously, again, I have a marketing background, so I’m marketing my, my own self of like trying to acquire a laundromat. So. But long story is he got my letter that I had sent a while back and I actually, when I walked in on that one, so I mailed a bunch of letters and then I also, the ones that I would just drive by and liked, I would leave a letter and try to wrap out with the attendant. And this one, I was talking to the attendant for a while and of course at first she was a little standoffish, right? Like, she’s like, you know, I, I got the impression that people like me come in there all the time wanting to buy the place and. But once I like, wore her down a little bit, it was just like, you know, this is my story. Like, this is, you know, what I want to do. Like, I’m all in.

Amy Berkowitz [01:40:49]:
I’m. I’m definitely on the hunt for a laundromat and I love this place. It is so cute and great location, all the. She was great. She’s like, you know, I’ll give it to them, but they’re not interested in selling. Like, Like, I can’t imagine they’re going to sell and da, da, da. So it was like, basically like, it’s not going to Happen, lady. Move on.

Amy Berkowitz [01:41:11]:
So when I talked to the owner who. Who text me and was like, it’s now for sale, I was like, I knew exactly which one it was. And I was like, I’m only interested in buying if Rachel’s coming. Coming with, because she was awesome. And she did. She. She walked the line perfectly of, you know, the attendant who does not want to give people like us the time of day and trying to sell the laundromat or trying to buy the laundromat, but also being warm customer service of, you know, I. I’m here.

Amy Berkowitz [01:41:45]:
I’m hearing you. I am going to actually give the letter to the owners because, you know, how many times do people probably throw it in the trash? Because they get them all the time. But she actually did. And so, anyway, so, yes, that one came up. Long story is I was tapped out. Like, I can’t do this by myself. And I’ve had a friend of mine who’s just a friend in the community. Our kids have grown up together.

Amy Berkowitz [01:42:13]:
They’ve been in school together since they were in preschool. Neighborhood friend. He’s, like, one of the only people speaking of community that ever has, like, like, shown much of interest in what I’m doing, right. In terms of the Laundromats and, like, digs deep. Every time I see him, you know, at neighborhood parties or sports events around the neighborhood or whatever. You know, he really, very genuinely was like, what’s going on? What are you doing now? I’d love, you know, he’s always compliments me on the marketing and stuff like that, but very interested. So he. We.

Amy Berkowitz [01:42:49]:
He and I had a very serious conversation that he initiated of, like, I want to. To get in on this laundromat stuff. And I. Oh, that was a funny thing, too, is when he first told me that he wanted to get in on it, I was like, okay, I’m gonna send you some podcasts to listen to. And it was. I felt like it was almost like a test, right? So I was like, if he doesn’t listen to these podcasts, then he’s not really interested. So then he would, like, send me texts of like, oh, my God, like, this is so good. And like, yeah.

Amy Berkowitz [01:43:17]:
Or like, did you hear this? Or did you hear that one? And I’ll. So I’m like, okay, he’s. He’s. He’s serious. He’s really kidding on this. So again, long. I’ll try and be brief, but essentially, we. Now I told him about that one.

Amy Berkowitz [01:43:31]:
I’m like, I want to get it I. I will figure out a way to get it. And he’s like, I’ll do it. I get it. Like, I’ll get that one. We’re going to put it under the Bubbles brand, and we now have like, three Bubbles stores, so. Yeah, so that one is. That one’s happened.

Amy Berkowitz [01:43:50]:
We haven’t changed the brand quite yet because again, going to the brand stuff, I’m like, I don’t want to put the Bubbles brand on the store because it’s not ready yet. So we have to do it. You know, it needs some work. So I, I’m not going to put the Bubbles brand on it until it gets up to bubble standards. Yeah, enough.

Jordan Berry [01:44:15]:
Yeah, Yeah, I like it. Well, you know, it’s crazy right now. Like, I’m, I’m listen to your whole story and I talk to people all the time, right? You kind of hit like, you hit the trifecta. Listen, everybody’s trying to find free laundromats. You got a free laundromat quote, unquote, right? Everybody’s looking for seller financing deal. You found a seller finance deal. You ended up not using it, but you found a seller financing deal. Everybody’s looking for a money partner to partner with so that they’ll bring the money and you bring the.

Jordan Berry [01:44:47]:
Know how you’ve. You found a partner, right? Like, you’re hitting the trifecta. But it, I think it demonstrates, like, the power, number one, of, like, those quotes you were hitting in the very beginning of, like, just get after it. Go do it. And like, I think that, number one, is what has led to a lot of this. And then number two, doing what you’re doing kind of in front of people, right? Like letting people know what you’re doing them, whether that’s distributors, service technicians, people of the community, people on the podcast, like, ever. Like, you’re letting people know what you’re doing. And, like, stuff happens when you do that, when you just get after it.

Jordan Berry [01:45:27]:
You don’t say, no, you say, okay, let me figure out a way to make this happen. Tap in various resources, whether that’s equity in your house or retirement funds or other people’s money or whatever it is. Like, you just kind of make it. It happen. And you’re doing it in a, in a. I don’t want to say like a public way, but kind of in a public way where you’re just letting people know what you’re looking for, what you’re trying to do. People get behind that. They see that, they get inspired by that and, and want to Be a part of it.

Jordan Berry [01:45:57]:
They want to be a part of it.

Amy Berkowitz [01:45:58]:
That’s what my new partner says is he’s like, it’s contagious. Like, you’re contagious. The laundromat. I’m like, it’s not me. Like, it. It is. It’s.

Jordan Berry [01:46:09]:
You bet. You bet on yourself. Like, it. I mean, yes. Like, listen, there’s the cult. The cult aspect there, right? That’s just. But you bet on yourself and like, this is. This is what happens when you bet on yourself and then you put everything into that bet, right? Like, win or go home kind of thing.

Amy Berkowitz [01:46:25]:
I just have so far that, like, you have to.

Jordan Berry [01:46:28]:
You have to.

Amy Berkowitz [01:46:29]:
Yeah, but no, it is. It is fun. And like I said, it’s not. I don’t feel like its work because it’s so fun. It’s so fun. I love the customers. I love customer service. Like, I love playing store.

Amy Berkowitz [01:46:44]:
Like, that’s what one of some girlfriends I was talking to recently, they were like, tell us, like, tell us about, like, how, like, what is your day like? Or, like, you know, how are you liking it? Or whatever. And I’m like, well, when I’m at the Laundromats, I’m like, I really love that part too, because I. I’m like, when a customer comes up and is like, oh, can I get a box of Tide box of, you know, detergent or whatever, I’m like, sure. And then like, I feel like, you know, do the register or the pos. I’m like, I. I loved playing store when I was a girl, little register and, you know, had the fake money you’re giving back. And, you know, I loved. I loved being in customer service and making customers happy and.

Amy Berkowitz [01:47:28]:
And. And also, obviously the way to do that is delivering a great service and a quality service. So I love that aspect of it. I just think it’s super fun. And unfortunately, I do get to play with the POS occasionally, but then not, you know, have to do it all day, every day by myself. So. Yeah, and that is another thing, too, that, like, I could potentially, you know, know not bleed as much money if I did want to work in the store all day, every day. Right? So.

Amy Berkowitz [01:48:02]:
But that’s not also the kind of store I want, and that’s not what I want to do all day, every day. Like, I love sales and marketing. I want to do sales and marketing. So another great thing about the partner is that he loves data and he loves analyzing data, and he comes from the energy industry, and so he loves efficiencies and looking at not only like equipment efficiencies, but operational efficiencies and like, how, how can we get, you know, these, these machines specifically because we know from the data that they don’t turn as much as these ones or what, you know, all that stuff. So I think at the end of the day, the partnership is, is going to be great because we have that complementary skill set. Right.

Jordan Berry [01:48:55]:
I love it. And you know, it’s solving multiple of your problems all at one time there potentially, man. Too soon to tell, but potentially it could be solving. How do I get that third one? How do I offload the data analysis, the number stuff that you don’t like? All right, listen, we, before we hit record, we agreed on a do not pass time that we have far surpassed already. So. Which is great. I mean, I. Listen, we gotta keep.

Jordan Berry [01:49:25]:
We could do this all. We already said we could do this all day and maybe we just need to maybe just do another one again and talk more about it. But I don’t want to end this thing without like one of the themes that has run through this entire interview, this entire episode here has been networking. So. So with that said, if somebody is listening to this and is like, you know what, Amy is infectious. And that is somebody that I want to know or that’s somebody I want to ask questions, or that’s somebody that I want to talk business with, what’s the best way for people to connect with you and network with you? If they want to reach out, they.

Amy Berkowitz [01:50:08]:
Can email me is probably the best way right now. Amybbles laundryservice.com huh?

Jordan Berry [01:50:14]:
Awesome. And we’ll have that in the show notes or if you’re on YouTube, that’ll be down below so you can reach out to Amy. Amy, this has been not only incredibly entertaining just to hear your story and the stories within your story, but like, so informative. And like I said, you’re out there doing the things that so many people want to do, even, even owners who are existing owners. You’re doing stuff that a lot of us want to be doing too. And you’re doing it with a lot of joy. It is contag, if not even infectious. And I’m.

Jordan Berry [01:50:49]:
I don’t know, I’m jazzed up. I knew I would be, but it’s also, yes, I am a little bit, but that’s right. I’m already. I’m a. Yeah, I’m a full fledged member over here. Can’t get out of. I’ve been jumped in and can’t get Jumped out now.

Amy Berkowitz [01:51:04]:
It’s a great cult to be in. I. I honestly. Yeah. And. And I would say to people, too, that, like, you can do it. It’s way easier. I wish.

Amy Berkowitz [01:51:13]:
I wish I would have known probably 10. At least 10 years ago. There are ways you can. If you really want to make it happen. There. There’s ways. I didn’t realize that, but now I love it.

Jordan Berry [01:51:26]:
I mean, I think that’s a. That’s a mic drop moment right there. There are ways. Don’t, you know, don’t go into it with that negative attitude of you can’t do something, figure out how to do it, and you’re a perfect example of figuring out how to get things done and how to. How to make stuff happen and how to bet on yourself and get out there and earn that victory. Right? Like, earn that. That win on the back.

Amy Berkowitz [01:51:51]:
And I couldn’t do it, honestly. The community. Not to be more blazing, but without your first podcast. I started listening to and consumed nearly every single episode up until lately. But. And then the community that. That thrust me into, too, with other, you know, laundromat podcasts and whatnot. But yes, and.

Amy Berkowitz [01:52:15]:
And getting friends through the community, having that, you know, mutual understanding is. Has been amazing and so incredibly inspiring and supportive and building the confidence. So I appreciate what you’re doing, because I definitely would not be where I am today without podcasts like this and the great questions you ask and pull out of your guests. So thank you so much, Jordan, really. Well, well.

Jordan Berry [01:52:42]:
And I’ll end it with this. Like, thank you for coming full circle and coming on here and volunteering your time, truly doing some great stuff, and.

Amy Berkowitz [01:52:53]:
All of mine, too, by the way. Like, not to I’m gonna turn the ladies, but, like, it is. Honestly, when I first started listening to you, I was like, I want to be on this podcast one day. So it is kind of. I’m probably gonna start crying as soon as I get off of here, but it’s pretty cool.

Jordan Berry [01:53:09]:
Yeah. Well, listen, it’s downhill in life from here. This is probably the pinnacle. No, I’m just kidding. No. Well, and again, like, thank you for doing that because it means. It means a lot. Like, it meant a lot to you for the people who’ve come on before and shared their stories, and guess what? Now you’re in that line, and people are going to feel the same way about you and the story, and there’s just so much good stuff in here.

Jordan Berry [01:53:32]:
Yeah. Yeah. So reach out to Amy. Amy, you are instant star. I know this will be an instant classic episode and a fan favorite. So thank you again for coming on and let’s do this again sooner rather than later. I would love that.

Amy Berkowitz [01:53:50]:
I would love to. All right. Thanks, Jordan.

Jordan Berry [01:53:53]:
Hope you loved it. I mean, I don’t even hope. I know. I know you loved it. Huge shout out. Thank you to Amy for coming on the show and sharing so much Again. One of my favorite episodes ever. So much good energy.

Jordan Berry [01:54:04]:
Her story is awesome and she just shared so much practical stuff. Amy, you are welcome back on the show anytime. Let’s do it again soon. For those of you who are listening to Amy, however, she has been putting in the hard work. Taking action. It’s your turn now. Pick something. One thing from this episode.

Jordan Berry [01:54:21]:
Put it into action today, if possible. If not today, this week. And let’s keep stacking actions every single week. Help us build our dreams and our goals through lawnmower ownership. All right, we’ll see you next time. Peace.