Jordan Berry [00:00:00]:
What’s up, guys? It’s Jordan with the Laundromat Resource Podcast. This is show 250, a quarter of the way to a thousand episodes here on the Laundromat Resource Podcast. Congrats to all of us who have gone along this journey partway or full way. Man. It’s been a wild ride and it will continue because today I am pumped to here because we have on the show Hiacin Tucker, who is sharing her incredible journey to Laundromat ownership and in her experience as a Laundromat owner, lots of amazing takeaways from this episode. Cannot wait for you to be Hyacinth. This is a really fun one and a lot of really practical stuff for you. So tune in for that real quick.

Jordan Berry [00:00:49]:
Before we jump in with Hyacinth, I want to. I want to just let you know that we do still have some things going on in the pro community over here. We haven’t really talked about them on the podcast for a little while, but we are still putting together mastermind groups, which I know a lot of you guys have joined the pro community over there and have joined a mastermind group. It’s been revolutionary for some of you guys, which I know, and I love to hear those stories. So if you’re somebody who’s interested in getting together with a group of other Laundromat dorks like us who want to talk about your laundry business or getting into the laundry business, doesn’t matter. We’ve got groups for both. So head over to laundromresource.com pro and join the pro community over there. And I wanted to just point out that once a month we’ve got a live Q and A where, you know, a handful of us get together and, you know, you can ask your questions to me and to the other pros that are in the Laundromat resource pro community over there, and we have some really great discussions.

Jordan Berry [00:01:54]:
We talk about all kinds of stuff from getting into that first deal and due diligence stuff. Recently, we’ve talked about ozone in your Laundromat. The pluses, the minuses, some of the little nuance things you need to know about that pickup and delivery. I mean, we get into all kinds of stuff over there and it’s not just people asking questions and me responding. I do respond to all the questions, but we throw it out to the community because there’s a lot of wisdom in those communities. So again, if you want to join a mastermind group or, and. Or you want to be A part of those pro community Q&As. Head over to laundromatresource.com pro jump in there and we will get you updated on when all that stuff’s going on and how you get into that mastermind group.

Jordan Berry [00:02:38]:
So looking forward to seeing some of you guys over there. And for the rest of you or the all of us, I guess, let’s jump in with hint and talk about this incredible journey and what we can learn from it. Welcome to the show. Hi, Asynth. How you doing?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:02:56]:
I am doing wonderful. So wonderful to be here.

Jordan Berry [00:02:59]:
Jordan, I am super excited to have you. You know, it’s so funny the way that I connected with you is that you basically won awards galore and started popping up on all the news feeds and have a little news segment of the episode and we’re like, we got to reach out to this lady. She’s. She’s crushing it out there in Maryland. So we’ll get to those awards and what they’re all about and how you got them and all that stuff in a little bit. But yeah, before we do, just give us a little background on you. Who are you? And. And then how’d you get into this business?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:03:29]:
Sure, sure. So once again, I am hyacinthucker. And let me see. I’m a mom, I’m a wife, I’m a veteran, and of course, the proud founder and CEO of the Laundry basket. So my journey is a little bit interesting. So I had to always set the stage when I tell people about how I got into the business. So I’ve been a serial entrepreneur for about two decades. So I started with insurance.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:03:53]:
I was an Allstate insurance agent. Did well with that. Started from scratch, built it up to a couple of billion and sold it back to Allstate. And with those proceeds, I went into events. So I actually had four event venues because I love to party, I love to celebrate. And so everything. I know, right? And so everything was going well until this thing called Covid happened. And of course, we know that during that time, we couldn’t congregate.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:04:18]:
So the event business went down. So I lost that business. And actually during that time, I was actually going through a divorce as well. So I lost two main sources of revenue. Actually, my only sources of revenue was, you know, for my business and then, you know, being a part of a two parent household. And so I was doing different jobs, different gigs just to kind of, you know, make ends meet. So now we’re in. So I was doing more like instacart I was ubering, I was pet sitting and I really even like animals.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:04:48]:
But once again, just doing what I have to do.

Jordan Berry [00:04:51]:
Do what you got to do.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:04:52]:
Yeah, doing what I have to do. So July of 2022, I go and I visit my friend and I walk in and she has piles and piles of clothes and everywhere and I mean everywhere. And you know, we’re just joking and laughing and you know, because you know who loves to do laundry, right? And she’s telling me how stressed and frustrated and overwhelmed she is. So I have a major in psychology and so my friends always saying I’m trying to psychoanalyze them. So I’m always like, is there something you need to talk to me about? You know, anything I can help you with? And she’s like, girl, no. So we, we were looking at this pile of laundry and what I noticed is that she’s buying new clothes instead of washing the clothes that she has. And we’re not talking about a pair of underwear, right? That’s kind of normal sometimes, you know, it happens. We’re talking about full on outfits because that’s how much she hated doing laundry.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:05:43]:
And I looked at her and I said, that’s not sustainable because at some point we’re going to have to do laundry. And now all you’ve done is just made it the pile bigger, right? And so she looks at me and she says, I wish there was someone that could come and take all this laundry and do it for me and I would pay for it. So remember, I set the scene of like where I was and you know, in my journey at that point, because normally if I wasn’t going through that, I would have said, okay, when you find that person, you let me know so they can actually do my life. Well, that’s right, because that was my situation at that time. I said, okay, I’ll do it. And then we took that $20 that she gave me and turned it into half a million dollars two years later. And so it has been a journey. It has definitely been a journey.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:06:26]:
We now own a fleet of vans. We’re a team of nine. We’ve been able to maintain a five star Google rating for the past three years. We now not only do laundry, but we do dry cleaning and alterations as well. And we’ve expanded into not just Maryland, D.C. northern Virginia, but we also are in Houston, Atlanta, Cleveland, and we have a small footprint in Toronto as well. We do residential customers. We do businesses like gym spots, hotels, restaurants, airlines, universities, schools, and then we do government contracting as well, on the local, state, and the federal side, so we’ve done a lot in the past three and a half years, but it’s amazing.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:07:11]:
It’s amazing. And so we’re just enjoying the journey.

Jordan Berry [00:07:16]:
Okay. I mean, that was a mouthful right there. We’re gonna have to really dig into how you got all that accomplished in three and a half years. First of all, let me just pause for a second, say thank you for your service. Appreciate that.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:07:30]:
Thank you.

Jordan Berry [00:07:31]:
And. And, yeah, appreciate that. And second thing we appreciate about you is the hustle. Getting it done, getting into the events and then pivoting when you had to, and kind of scraping and scrapping and finding a way. And like, a true entrepreneur found a problem and decided to go solve that problem. And. That’s.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:07:52]:
Right.

Jordan Berry [00:07:52]:
Sounds like it’s turning out pretty well, so.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:07:54]:
Wow. Okay.

Jordan Berry [00:07:55]:
And. And also, thank you for just giving me the title of this thing. $20 to half a million dollars. Pretty catchy right there.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:08:02]:
Thank you.

Jordan Berry [00:08:03]:
So, yeah. Yeah. Okay, so let’s. Let’s kind of back all this up here a little bit. And so you had your friend who needed some help with the laundry, and you said, okay, I’ll do it. It solves her problem, it solves your problem, and that’s mutually beneficial. And so you did that. So tell me, how did you get from that into, hey, maybe I could do this more?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:08:27]:
So once again, it was just helping. Right? And so about a few weeks later, I went to, like, a mom’s group, and we’re just sitting around and doing what moms do, just chatting about our week and our weekend and that type of thing. And I just happened to mention, like, hey, I’m helping a friend with some laundry. And I’m telling you, the way that they looked at me was like, oh, my gosh, you’re doing laundry. Like, I have some in my truck right now. And I was like, okay, wait a minute. But I said, you know, and I still didn’t think of it as anything serious, but I said to the group, I said, well, you know, if you’re interested, you know, I’ll just pass around a piece of paper, and, you know, you can put your name and your phone number on it, and then, you know, I’ll reach back out to you. Whatever.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:09:08]:
Had no intention. No intention of it being what it is now. But when I got that paper back, by the time, you know, the end of the session, it was filled on both sides, you know, with people with names and numbers of other moms who just didn’t want to Deal with it. And then it was like. And even then, I still was like, okay, this is something. And I was like, I think I, you know, I bit off more than I can chew. But it was like one of those things. Like, you know, I always tell people, like, when you buy a blue car, and everywhere you go, you see a blue car.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:09:37]:
That’s what it was like. I would go on Facebook, people would be talking about laundry. I would go to the grocery store, Someone had on a this is my last day, you know, shirt for laundry or something like that. Like, it just seemed like it was like, this is what you need to be doing is. And this is what you need to be doing. So at that point, I was like, okay, let me, you know, let me try this out as a business now. I started with it just being me, right? It was just me. So I was picking up, I was delivering, I was washing, I was folding.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:10:06]:
Didn’t have a website, nothing like that. It was like, basically referrals. And then I got to a point where I was like, okay, if I really want to make this into something bigger, I can’t do it by myself. So that’s when I hired, like, my first team member just to help me with just the washing. And now we’ve changed the model. So we now partner with local laundromats and dry cleaners. So that is our model now. So we vets local professional laundromats and dry cleaners, and they handle the fulfillment, and we handle more the logistics, the payment, the customer experience.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:10:39]:
So now we’re more just of a connector. And that’s how we’re able to kind of, you know, move into different spaces and expand, you know, being asset light. So we don’t. I tell people I’m not a specialist in stainless appliances. You know, I leave that to the professionals at the launch of that. But we create this great partnership. So we have about 20 partnerships.

Jordan Berry [00:10:59]:
Yeah. Okay. All right. I mean, this is awesome. And here’s. Here’s. What I love about this is that, you know, I do so many calls with people who want to get into this business, and, you know, they spend their time like, you know, not there’s anything wrong with this necessarily, but they’re forming their LLC or their S Corp, and they’re, you know, working on a logo and they’re building a website, and they’re, you know, doing all this stuff, and it’s all, you know, it’s all good stuff. It’s fine.

Jordan Berry [00:11:26]:
But it’s not the stuff that gets the business moving. It’s not the stuff that, you know, builds. Builds a bit. Inadvertently or inadvertently. Either way, it sounds like it was mostly inadvertently to you or for you, but, you know, it’s. It’s actually going out and getting in front of some people, and everybody wants to do the. The scalable stuff right away. A lot of times getting started, you just go out and you go to a mom’s group, or you go knock on a couple doors, or, you know, you go visit a few businesses and just see if they need some help.

Jordan Berry [00:11:58]:
You know, stuff like that. So. Yeah, so I love that, that you started that way.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:12:03]:
A lot of relationship building. A lot of relationship building, yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:12:09]:
Did you. Did you end up doing laundry for any of those moms that were on those groups?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:12:14]:
Yeah, right. Like I said, I was doing it. It got to a point and I was like, maybe going in for, like, four or five months. Of course, that was so, you know, there’s levels to it. Right. Of course I was doing it at home, you know, with the, you know, washer and dryer in the basement. And then I would go to a Laundromat and then actually do it. Um, and then it’s just like, but you’re wearing all these hats, right? So at what point do I get to market if I’m the one picking it up, then going there, doing it, and then delivering it back, and then for multiple people, there’s really no time for anything else.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:12:45]:
So I was like, I’m pretty much doing to myself what my friend was. It’s like, now I’m overwhelmed and stressed right now.

Jordan Berry [00:12:51]:
Right.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:12:51]:
I want to outsource it. You know, I’m like, I don’t want to do this anymore. And, you know, there were times where I was just like, is this really what I want to do? Like, you know, I remember going to someone’s house. It was raining. It was like. Like all these stairs to get up there, and I’m just in the rain. And of course, it would be the person that has, like, the bag that’s like, it feels like 75 pounds of laundry, and I got two of them, and I have to go back down the stairs, and it’s pouring rain, and I’m in my little car, my little hatchback, and I’m just like, yeah, I don’t want to. Yeah.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:13:24]:
So then I was like, okay, let me be strategic and let me see how we can actually. So they’re going to do it. Let’s see how we can really grow it. So that’s when I was like, I need A van. I need to, you know, some help. So.

Jordan Berry [00:13:34]:
Yeah, yeah, man. I mean, you said something I think a lot of business owners, entrepreneurs can relate to is like, you, You. You find these problems that people have and you figure out a way to solve. But a lot of times the way. I. I don’t know, I. I’ll just speak for myself, maybe nobody else can relate to. I can relate to this.

Jordan Berry [00:13:54]:
A lot of times I figure out a way to solve it by making it my problem.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:13:58]:
Yeah, right.

Jordan Berry [00:13:59]:
And so I take on the burden that they were feeling, and then now I’m all stressed out.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:14:04]:
And.

Jordan Berry [00:14:04]:
And that question inevitably comes like, is, is this what I was trying to do? Is this. You know, I’ve. I’ve for sure been there. And. And it’s sounds like you. You knew the way, right.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:14:17]:
The.

Jordan Berry [00:14:17]:
The way out of that. Like, if you’re there, if you’re out there listening to this right now and you’re at that point where you’re like, oh, man, like, I just made somebody else’s problem my problem, and I’m not sure I want to be here. I mean, the way out, I think, and maybe you have something to say about this. The way out is to create the right systems and get the right people in place to help you out.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:14:35]:
Yeah, it’s.

Jordan Berry [00:14:37]:
The problem’s a systematic problem, usually. And a people problem.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:14:41]:
That’s exactly what it is. It was definitely the systems, because even as people are calling me, I’m watching me, and I was just like, no. So it’s a lot of automation. It’s a lot of systems. And that’s how we actually, like I said, be able to, like, expand, is that it’s like a system of how we do things. Step one, step two, from the time that someone finds us all the way till they get their clothes back. And so for us, you know, we look at it as like, our models is like logistics. Right? Right.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:15:10]:
So it’s like, how do we pick up this laundry and bring it back in the most efficient manner? Right. Because of course, for us, it’s cost. You know, all the things, like the expenses. Because our biggest cost, of course, is staff, gas and maintenance. And so we’re always looking at how we can reduce that, which is why that model of just like partnering with local laundromats who already have wash and fold. And so it’s a great model. It’s a great part, is that they don’t have pickup and delivery. We provide that service for them.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:15:38]:
As an added benefit, we now have capacity. We now have Room and storage space, because that was also the thing. Once we’re finished, sometimes we don’t deliver that same day. So we also wanted space that we can actually leave the laundry there. So that was rebuilding those. Those relationships.

Jordan Berry [00:15:55]:
Yeah. Yeah, that’s. That’s great. So I want to dig into that and, like, how you started those relationships here in a second. But first, I want. I like to hit the pivot points, because those are kind of the moment of truth for people, at least for me. I look back, I hit these pivot points, and I usually do one of three things. I’ll pivot and I’ll change the model or change the system or something like that.

Jordan Berry [00:16:23]:
Or I just decide I’m going to gut it out. That’s kind of what I did with my first Laundromat when I bought it, and it didn’t go well, and it was not doing what the seller said. And I made all these mistakes, and I didn’t know how to pivot. And so I just decided to gut it out and grind, really, and put time and effort and energy into it, hoping that that would work. And eventually it did. But it was a long haul, and I don’t recommend it if you can avoid it. Yeah. Or you.

Jordan Berry [00:16:50]:
Or you quit, Right? You quit. You do something different, Right. Go back to Ubering or. Or whatever there. And so, I mean, you got to this point where you. The laundry was starting to pile up on you.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:17:02]:
No pun intended.

Jordan Berry [00:17:04]:
No pun intended.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:17:07]:
How.

Jordan Berry [00:17:07]:
How did you make a decision, okay, I’m gonna get a vehicle and bring on some help? Because that’s a. That’s a scary step for. It is a newer business owner, and I know you had some experience with some other stuff, but that’s a. That’s a scary step because you’re like, okay, I’m gonna take some of this money that’s going into my pocket right now, and I’m gonna give it to someone else, or I’m gonna buy a vehicle with it to try to grow the business. A scary step. So how. Talk me through your thought process on this.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:17:38]:
Yeah, so the first thing was, and usually when it comes to hiring staff, it’s like, how am I gonna afford that? Because that was the thing we weren’t priced for expansion. Let’s just say, like that. Like, once again, $20, you know, what can you do with, you know, with $20? You know, then to say to hire someone to get staff, to get this, to get that, you know, fancy CRM systems. I didn’t have that. So the first Thing when I realized that, once again, it’s like different choices that I had. And so my choice was, I want to continue with this because I see the need, right? You know, I was like, I was. My mom ain’t raised no fool. And I was just like, I see that this is a.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:18:16]:
It’s a blooming business, right? You know, it’s a billion, know, $140 billion global industry. You know, as long as we have to wear clothes every day, they’re going to get dirty, and you have to find a way of cleaning it, right? So laundry isn’t going anywhere, but it’s just, how do we make it, you know, for us, how do we make it the most efficient? So the first thing was looking at our pricing. And then that’s when we first we wanted to make sure that we were getting recurring revenue. So we started doing a subscription. So we were like, okay, you’re going to be. You’re busy now. You’re going to be busy next month, too, so why don’t you just continue to pay a price to actually have a service? So we changed to a subscription model, and then we had to see, like, the pricing, you know, what could it. What could the market be, right? So that was, of course, doing some market analysis, looking at our competition, and we’ll talk about the competition in a.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:19:02]:
In a second, too, looking at what they were doing, what benefits were they offering, and then seeing it and being scared, right? Because it was like, okay, I’m going to change this price from $20 to, you know, to this other, you know, to this different price. And so we tried out some different pricing. We tried out packages, and then we kind of, you know, stuck to what we are. We kind of looked at how much people were paying and how many bags they were using. So our model is the bag model. So we do the whole, like, transparency. It’s this amount per bag, you know, and you can choose how many bags you want per month, um, type of thing. But, yeah, so it really was deciding that I really wanted to hire someone.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:19:45]:
So of course I hired someone who. It was more of a younger person, so they didn’t really ask for too much money. And then it was kind of like, now we need to have more staff. But it was a scary. It was a scary thing, but it was really just doing the numbers, reverse engineering it. This is how much I need to, you know, make so I could have a profit so I can pay myself. I’m very big on paying myself, so I’m not one of those founders that is like, okay, well, you know, after a year or two, I’m gonna be honest. I’m like, no, because, remember, this was.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:20:14]:
The whole point is that I need money, I need to eat. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:20:17]:
Yeah.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:20:17]:
You know, so in. My situation is different. Like, you know, most founders in the industry, then, you know, they have money, they have loans. I didn’t have any of that. So this is how I ate, you know, and so I had to make sure that there was money enough for me. But the customers really, at this point, when I made this decision, this was like six, seven months in. So the customers were in love with the service. And that’s good, right? Because now you kind of.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:20:38]:
It’s sticky, like we say, right? So they didn’t want to leave, and they were just kind of like, oh, great, we’ll put some extra, you know, 20, $30, 40, you know, that type of thing. Until, you know, someone really balks, and then you’re like, okay, let me really back in. A little bit of error, honestly. A lot of trial and error.

Jordan Berry [00:20:56]:
Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s good. I mean, well, at that point, were you. Were you still doing it at your house, or had you already shifted doing it at Laundromats?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:21:07]:
Partnering with Laundromats, Right. So I shifted doing it the Laundromat. So, you know, there was additional costs with that too, because now I’m using machines. And that is actually how I was, like, starting to get into a model of, like, you know, so as I’m in the Laundromat, of course there was a staff person doing wash and fold, and I was just like, okay, so how do we do this where, you know, you know, you know, that’s a better model, right? Have them do it. And so looking at what their pricing

Jordan Berry [00:21:31]:
was, that’s always a better model, by the way, if you can ever do it, whatever it is, whatever it is, have someone else do it. Yeah, yeah.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:21:39]:
And that’s another thing, is that I saw that we were in that space now where all this convenience was coming up. So, remember, after Covid, people were now used to, like, food coming to your home, groceries coming to your home, a car that you don’t know who driving is taking you everywhere, you know, so that was like, our client. Our client who honestly had more money than time, but they were used to convenience, right? They had, like, a housekeeper. They had. You know. Cause that was also. Thing is, like, how do we get the people that we actually want? So not just throwing on the wall and just hoping someone finds me, but, like, who Is that target market that’s going to pay the prices that we want and stay with us. So.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:22:21]:
So yeah, this was still at the laundromat, so it’s like, different levels. So once again, it’s only been three and a half years. So we’ve been iterating, growing, trying new things as we go to kind of get to, like, that sweet spot to where we are now. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:22:34]:
Okay. So when you started going to these laundromats, sound like you were doing it, doing the laundry at the laundromats for a little bit. And then you kind of noticed, like, hey, there’s already people doing laundry here. Maybe we should utilize them. Is that.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:22:49]:
It was. It was. Once again, I don’t have a degree in laundry, so it was like I was kind of just going off of, like. So even the poding, I was, like, looking at how they fold, and I was like, ooh, that’s much better than how I fold. I was looking at how they package it and, you know, like, how it’s all nice and tight. And I was like, oh, these guys are good. Like, they’re. So I’m like, this is a better customer experience.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:23:10]:
Right. Than what I was doing because it was just like, you know, I could fold, but I wasn’t folding like them. They were. They heard down pat, you know, from the packaging to the way they sealed it up and everything. And they were just quick with it. You know, for me, it was a process. So it was, like, long. I’m, like, sorting.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:23:27]:
I’m trying to figure things out. I’m like, do I push shot on this? Do I do this? Do I use? Like, I was going through all the things, and they were like, they have, like, a system going on. So. Yeah, but now. So now with the pricing, it was like, now, okay, this is their pricing, and so how can I make money off of it? So at that time, we had maybe, maybe 15 or 20 consistent clients. And so I kind of struck that deal with, like, the owner. So the owner was there, maybe not too much, but I got, you know, there was like, a store manager. And so I really got a relationship with the store manager, and I said, can I speak to the owner? I want to talk to her about, like, a business, you know, proposition, that type of thing.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:24:10]:
And after speaking to the owner, I was like, if. If you would allow us to part partner and I would give you the business and, you know, we take a percentage of it. You know, I guarantee that as the business grows, like, this would be the laundromat. That we use. And then. And so, you know, and they said, okay. And then. That was our first partner.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:24:30]:
That was our first partner.

Jordan Berry [00:24:31]:
Yeah. Did you. Okay, I like a couple questions around that. Let me, let me back up a little bit. Did you have a software that you were using at this point yet or not yet?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:24:43]:
No, not yet. This was just, you know, it was very rudimentary. It was just like people would schedule, they would call me, I would put it like on a Google calendar, you know, they would just call like my personal phone number. So yeah, at this point I didn’t even have like a website. Honestly. This is still just referrals. This is still just referrals. Like I know somebody, I know a girl who can type a thing.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:25:07]:
Yeah, okay. Okay.

Jordan Berry [00:25:08]:
And then, so when you were charging, you were doing the pricing and stuff, were you like, for example, you know, if they’re, I mean, were they charging by the pant? Like how is how. Because the typically wash and fold is gonna be like by the pound, you’re by the bag and it’s not a one to one. And so did you take the money from the customer and then strike a deal with them on per pound or like how did the logistics of all that work?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:25:36]:
Yeah, so actually that was also a way of how we came up with our pricing. So we looked at the bag. So the bag that we. So we were basically saying like you know, a 13 gallon kitchen trash bag. And so we kind of waited in different stages to kind of see like, what’s the maximum? Because you know, there’s always going to be people on the, on the spectrum. There’s going to be people who just put in like eight things and there’s people who put in like the kitchen sink. Right. And so we were like, okay, how do we kind of come up with like a great thing? So we realized like that bag on, on average it would be like 17 to 19 pounds.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:26:09]:
And so then we got their pricing of what it would be per pound. We did the numbers like that and then we added on 20% on top of that. So if we got it lower, that mean, you know, someone didn’t put as much, then, you know, we made more. If they put a little bit more, we would maybe our margin then be like, you know, 15%. And if we got it right, that sweet spot, it’ll be 20. Now of course we’ve moved on from that. You know, now we charge more than that. But that was like the first iteration of it was that, that’s how we came about price.

Jordan Berry [00:26:41]:
Okay. So again, a little bit of just trial and error, like weighing stuff and fill this thing up with. With jeans and you got £19 or whatever and you put some baby clothes in there and you’re at £4.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:26:55]:
Yes, yes. Just make your exact.

Jordan Berry [00:26:57]:
Happen sometimes.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:26:58]:
Exactly. It does, it does. So that. Oh, baby clothes. Folded baby clothes. That’s another thing that probably would have had me quit. Those little socks and onesies will wear you out. But so now I agree.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:27:09]:
Yeah. So now we do. So now of course we get, you know, discounts from our partners so we don’t pay like their, you know, their regular price. And then in some cities like Atlanta, it’s more of a split. So the money is split. So whatever it is that money comes in, they make 70% and we take 30%. So we’ve had. We have different models that kind of just work for different areas and different partners.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:27:37]:
And so each some contracts a little bit different. That we do.

Jordan Berry [00:27:40]:
Yeah, that. That first partner you had, did you negotiate a different price with them or you just said, hey, we’ll pay your. Your normal price.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:27:48]:
So that is our original partner that we still have three and a half years later. So yeah. So with them it’s definitely, you know, looks different than it did three years ago and. But yeah. So we get good pricing from them.

Jordan Berry [00:28:02]:
Yeah, good. Yeah, good, good, good. That’s. Yeah, that’s pretty cool. I just, I love hearing this story because like I said, I talk to people all the time who just. It’s so hard to get over the friction of actually getting started.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:28:17]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:28:17]:
And you hit these little roadblocks. Real like, ah, man, I’ve been charging by the bag and now they’re by the pants. Like that could easily just stop somebo.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:28:24]:
Yeah. From.

Jordan Berry [00:28:26]:
From evolving their business that way. And you just said, okay, well, let’s figure out a way. I don’t know if it’s going to be the best way or not, but we’ll figure out a way to make it work and then we can figure it out as we go.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:28:37]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:28:37]:
And iterate. And it sounds like that’s what you’ve been doing for three and a half years and probably will continue to do until. Sell this business.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:28:45]:
Yeah. Down the line we will continue to do it. Yes. And we’ll talk about some stuff we have coming up, but yeah, we’ll get to that. But yeah. So different changes this along the way. That’s along the way.

Jordan Berry [00:28:57]:
Out of curiosity, when. I mean, I’m assuming you’re utilizing some kind of software now and you got A website and all that. So when did that enter into the equation for you?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:29:10]:
That entered into the equation. Maybe I would say like a little bit after like maybe like nine, 10 months. Because now we realize that we have these individuals and it was hard to keep track of them. So we definitely needed a system that you know, so like somebody would say something and like, you know, like your preferences. And I was just like, I can’t remember what you said. You want this and hot this and this. You want this hung up. You want this? Don’t use bleach on this, use bleach for the app.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:29:37]:
So we was like, we have to find a way of putting all this person’s information and that if anyone looked at the information they’ll be able to know and see the payments that have been made and everything like that. So we just invested in a CRM system. CRM system. And so that is what we’ve been using now and it’s a all in one CRM system. So from the time to person we built our website in the CRM, you know, all the SMS reminders, email reminders, Google reviews, all the communications. We can do different phone numbers, we can do marketing out of that. So it handles our social media, everything that we kind of need. And it also has like a membership platform that we at some point may want to do like a membership thing, like a community.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:30:26]:
But yeah, it handles everything, our subscription, everything at this point.

Jordan Berry [00:30:32]:
That’s awesome. Yeah, yeah. Is it a laundromat specific one or

Hyacinth Tucker [00:30:35]:
is it just a not. So we just use like a CRM that was customizable so we kind of white label it and so we’re able to tell them exactly what we need for our business to make it, to make it work. And so it has worked perfectly for us for the past two years.

Jordan Berry [00:30:53]:
Nice, nice, nice. Yeah, I know. I mean we’ve got some great software in our.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:30:59]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:30:59]:
In our industry too but you know, people are always looking for other options and.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:31:03]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:31:03]:
Like experimenting and, and stuff like that. So it’s cool to hear that you, you know, because found some good success.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:31:09]:
Yeah, because you know, because we’re not a traditional, you know, we’re not a laundromat. So some of the stuff that we need, it’s kind of little, you know, it kind of needs a little customization and I think that the software is out here, you know, they do a good job of understanding like the wash and fold part. But we’re 100% wash and fold and we needed something that connects with our Partners. Right. So that’s the part that was missing. It’s like, so when we get something, like when something comes in, it needs to actually translate to our partners, like, oh, there’s some laundry that’s coming in that we end, and also that we’ll be able to route it to that person. So that was the part that, you know, we found was kind of missing. And so we had to customize that.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:31:49]:
And then also with our drivers, we needed something where it was like, you know, more like I said, like the Amazon ups, you know, model where Geo tracking, they could take pictures, they can communicate with the clients. You know, we needed some of those types of things with our model.

Jordan Berry [00:32:07]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very, very cool, though, to be able to customize that. And I’m sure that’s been iterations.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:32:14]:
Oh, yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:32:14]:
After iterations, you know, going and continue to be as you keep expanding.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:32:20]:
Yes.

Jordan Berry [00:32:21]:
Okay. So when you. When. When you got into this business, I know you kind of sort of accidentally got into this business and then sort of accidentally grew it for a little while there until you decided to do it on purpose. What about competition? I mean, has there. Was there competition in the area? How has that played out?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:32:41]:
Yeah, yeah. So I want, you know, name names, but, yeah, we have competition. And so, of course, you know, we always talk about when it comes to competition, our first competition are the people that are doing it themselves. Right. So it’s our cousins that we call them in the basement, you know, the standard household washer and dryer. So it’s changing the mindset of, you know, yeah, you could do it yourself, but why would you want to? Right? But that’s always, like our thing. Like, we say, weekends are for family, not for focus. Right.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:33:10]:
So we have different taglines that we use in some of our marketing to get that mindset shift of, like, I don’t even want to use this. This Kenmore that I have down here in the basement or whatever. And so that’s like our first customer. And then we have, of course, like, the bigger customers who of course, have all the ad spend and they’re more technology companies. And so how we combat that one is like the personalized local feel. Right? Because sometimes people want to do business with people they know like, and trust. Like, so let’s be honest. So being the face behind it, being the brand, like, you can see me at your kid’s basketball game.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:33:45]:
You can speak to someone that’s on the team. You can feel like you have a relationship, because what we wanted to see, what we want people to feel is like, we’re just part of the family, right? So we’re someone that is invested in you and your life. And so I tell people that for us, like, we’re not the hero. It is our families, right? And so we’re looking at how do we make their life easier, you know, and that’s. That’s our whole purpose. How do we make your life easier? And if we can come in and take something off of that to do list so that you can do the things that you actually value, you know, that’s our job. And so I tell that to, you know, my team. And, like, that is the culture of what we’ve built.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:34:21]:
So that’s how. So for the other companies, that’s the part that I think that they’re missing. It’s the whole, if you have a problem, email us and somebody will get back to you in 24, 48 hours when you’re missing something or there’s something wrong. Like, that doesn’t fly, right? So there’s someone that they can trust. And then of course, we have, like, other people who do wash and fold respectively as well. So. But we’ve made a name for ourselves because we decided if we’re going to get into the space, we’re going to be serious and we’re going to be a thought leader in the space. So we write articles for like, Good Housekeeping, Martha Stewart, Apartment Therapy, the Spruce, all those things.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:34:55]:
You can see articles that I’ve written on sustainable fabric care or just how do you do this? Just those tips. We have a monthly thing on the news, like a. I don’t know what it’s called set. Anyway, on the news.

Jordan Berry [00:35:11]:
Like a segment. A segment of the news.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:35:13]:
That was like an segment. Yes. And it’s called the Laundry School. And we go over tips, you know, we go over, like, how to get that stain out that stubborn stainless steel. And so we’ve kind of built a space around the laundry basket that kind of gives it more of like, if other people try to, you know, you know, kind of guesses, it’s like, it’s a lot. Right. And so, yeah, we’ve really, you know, create a name for ourselves and brand for ourselves. We’ve trademarked the laundry basket, so we own the trade, you know, the rights to use the laundry basket.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:35:44]:
And we’ll go out to people that don’t, you know. But yeah, so, yeah,

Jordan Berry [00:35:50]:
yeah, Very, very cool. I mean, listen, yeah, the more you keep talking, we haven’t even gotten into some of the stuff I want to talk about here. But the more you keep talking, the more I’m like, how did you do all this in three and a half years? You’ve been, you know, you’ve been working, you’ve been working hard over there building, which is pretty cool.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:36:07]:
Thank you.

Jordan Berry [00:36:08]:
Okay. So, you know, initially, I mean, we sort of talked about how it was kind of, you know, your friend and then the mom’s group and then kind of word of mouth happening. I mean, is it. I’m still, I’m sure you still get a lot of really good word of mouth growth. Is that still your primary driver of growth? Are you doing marketing? Like, what’s the. How are you growing this business? So, yeah, three and a half years.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:36:31]:
Yeah, definitely. Referral, Definitely. We’re really big on like the numbers. So once again, because we’re recurring, so we know, you know, how much money that we’re making each month and then we know how much we want to add on to that to kind of really hit like the numbers. We do a lot of speaking as well. So it’s a lot of like community impact type of thing. So we partner with like local nonprofits as they get clothes donated, we laundered them, we deliver them to our unhoused population. So we’re doing good in the community as well.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:37:01]:
And I think most laundromats are, you know, doing something of the sort as well. But that’s really important as far as getting the name out as well. But yeah, we have been doing. Now we do have when it comes to. On our B2B side. So this is still all the thing that we’re talking about now has been like our residential client. Now when we talk about the business, it is a different strategy. Right.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:37:25]:
So our residential clients are our low hanging fruit. Right. Everywhere I go, no one wants to do laundry. So that’s fine. But the businesses, you know, it’s a longer process. You have to massage it. You have to, you know, come up with the right numbers. And so it takes a lot more logistics with our business clients.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:37:41]:
But our first business client was like a massage place. And so she found me somewhere and it was just like, hey, you know, I have these sheets I want to do. And we were like, oh. So we were like, okay, now how does this work on a business side? So we had to figure that out. And then we started doing Airbnbs and I really then doing restaurants. And then we started doing healthcare. And then we decided to get certified in like infection control and bloodboard pathogens. And that kind of created a door opening for us, for like dental practice, pharmacies, like, you know, everything in like that healthcare mode.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:38:16]:
And so, yeah, it’s just been growing and people are referring us and. But we’re looking always for different opportunities.

Jordan Berry [00:38:24]:
Yeah. So the, I mean, you talked about the, that first commercial client. That was one of the questions I was going to have is, you know, mom’s groups, kind of all that stuff, word of mouth there, typically residential stuff. How did, how did you find that first commercial? Did you decide, hey, we’re going to go after some businesses and just start knocking on doors? Or how did you get that first commercial customer?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:38:43]:
So for us is that we did, I’m sorry, we did invest very heavily in SEO. So we wanted to be like that name that comes up when you’re looking. We also like, our platform of choice is LinkedIn. So between LinkedIn and SEO. So we do a lot, we’re very consistent on LinkedIn, which is, you know, where we get like our business, a lot of business clients. And then definitely the SEO we wanted to make sure because we were doing that anyway because of course, if something like the laundry basket, if you were to Google it, Amazon and Walmart are going to come up first with all the wicker baskets. So we had to compete with that anyway. So we did do a lot in making sure that the laundry basket, you know, our laundry basket kind of came up in the search and that type of thing.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:39:27]:
So we get a lot from, from just the search, the Google search as well.

Jordan Berry [00:39:31]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. SEO is, it’s, it’s massive. And you know, one thing, one thing I’ve been talking a little bit more about too is, you know, more and more people are starting to utilize AI as their search and asking questions and like, hey, where can I find somebody to do my laundry? Or you know, things like that. And, and so focusing attention on AI is going to become more and more important as we, you know, keep going as well. It’s similar to the SEO.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:40:02]:
It is, we use AI in the business, but we’ll talk about that a little bit later too. But we’ll talk about the tools that we’re using now when it comes to like AI and innovation and that type of thing. But yeah, so that was thing is definitely the SEO. So the same way like how you said that you can Google and you’ll see, you know, something about the laundry basket, that’s what we wanted our clients to see as well. And we wanted to have credibility behind it. You know, definitely we were encouraging everyone to like, you know, go in from Google reviews. So that always helps as well. Yeah.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:40:34]:
You know, your clothes are something special. So your people are not really trustworthy. And our first clients, they would give us everything but, like, their underwear or something like that, right?

Jordan Berry [00:40:43]:
Yeah.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:40:43]:
It’s like how you clean your house before the cleaners come. It’s like, okay, I don’t want to give you everything. I’m like, listen. Listen to us all. We do it all.

Jordan Berry [00:40:55]:
Yeah, I, I had a friend who was moving this last week and I was helping them move, and I went upstairs, we were just doing like that final walk through, and the, the wife was up there sweeping, and I was like, aren’t you paying for cleaners to come clean? And she’s like, yeah, just embarrass. I’m like, give me the broom. Like, no, you’re paying them good money to clean. They don’t care. You’re not even going to see them. You’re moving out of this. And they’ve seen worse. I guarantee that too.

Jordan Berry [00:41:21]:
Like, get out of here.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:41:22]:
Guarantee.

Jordan Berry [00:41:23]:
Moving’s hard enough already. But it is funny.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:41:26]:
It’s funny. And I always used to tell someone about the things that we would find and, like, laundry. Like, I told mom to, like, my own little thing about, like, the laundry. You know what you find? Laundry. We’ve had remotes, we’ve had keys, we’ve had. We have so many things. Like, people call us, like, is that remote in the laundry? It’s just everything gets into that laundry basket for some reason.

Jordan Berry [00:41:50]:
Yeah.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:41:50]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:41:51]:
Well, you kept it real, real G rated there. I found lots of stuff.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:42:01]:
We definitely see a lot. You see? We see a lot.

Jordan Berry [00:42:03]:
Yeah, there’s. Yeah, there’s a lot of stuff going on. People’s clothes, so. Well, while we’re talking about commercial, I. I also, I mean, you mentioned government contracts too, that you’re doing some of those. And you said, you know, local and federal. I don’t know, you said doing all kinds of stuff. So how, How’d you find those opportunities and how’d you land those opportunities?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:42:23]:
Yeah, those, you know, well, government definitely is strategic. And so, you know, there are, you know, there are ways of. There are ways of getting into, like, government contracting. And I tell people, even the smaller contracts, they add up. Right. And so for us, it is just being open to opportunities. We got one with Department of Public Works because we were at an event and they were talking about, like, their animal shelter. And I was like, wow.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:42:48]:
Well, the animal shelter, they probably have blankets and they probably have this that needs to be laundered. And we were able to get that, you know, that, you know, that contract. We’ve done park and planning, the school system, We’ve done the board of tourism, We’ve done the VA hospitals. And so for us, it has been strategically going after them, but going after smaller contracts, that has been like an easier path for us. And then once we got that body of work that we were able to go ahead and make apply for, like, bigger contracts. So, as you know, laundry is a very niche thing, you know, so it’s kind of like there’s not a lot of. There’s not a lot of competition or people doing it. Let’s just say that are actually applying for it as well.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:43:32]:
So if you feel like you have the capacity to do it, know that there’s probably 95% of other laundromats or laundry providers are not doing it. So it’s a path that you can really, you know, niche out for yourself is to go into contracting. You know, private contracts are really good, too, but government contracts are really. Are doing well.

Jordan Berry [00:43:52]:
Do you just find those through word of mouth or.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:43:56]:
No. So, like, websites. Yeah, websites. So, you know, I can only, of course, probably speak, but Maryland. But, you know, we have, like, a state government website, and of course, we have the federal website, you know, the Sam. Fam.gov. so we’re in all of the. We have a local one for our county.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:44:10]:
We’re in the state. And so we actually. They actually come find us because there’s not a lot of people in there. So they actually come and seek us out. We’ll actually get phone calls. And that’s how you really want it to be. You want it to be, like, where people are really more attracted to you. You have to do too much work and, like, finding them.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:44:28]:
So.

Jordan Berry [00:44:28]:
Yeah, yeah, it’s like dating. You just want. You just want people to be attracted to you and come to you. You don’t. Yeah, I know.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:44:38]:
That’s.

Jordan Berry [00:44:39]:
That’s what I’m saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s funny. I don’t know if anybody’s ever likened government to, like, dating, but there you go.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:44:48]:
I don’t think that is perfect.

Jordan Berry [00:44:50]:
Yeah, that’s not. That’s not there. Okay, cool. So I appreciate you sharing that with, you know, it’s. It’s so cool to hear, like, it really is, like, you turn 20 bucks into, you know, the empire that you got now, and it’s just kind of like step by step, and it seems like it’s been, you know, I’m. I’m sure Three and a half years probably feels like. Like having a kid. Right.

Jordan Berry [00:45:11]:
Like, goes by really fast, but it also.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:45:13]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:45:14]:
Goes by really slow when you’re in the middle of it. But, I mean, you’ve just gone a long way in. In a short amount of time. You talked about being in multiple markets, multiple areas. How did I. Can you tell us about, like, that first? Okay. You know, we’re. We’re in.

Jordan Berry [00:45:35]:
We’re in my neighborhood market with my.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:45:37]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:45:38]:
My friend who needs help with laundry and my mom’s group who needs help with laundry, too. I think we’re going to go to a different market. Like, how did that happen?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:45:46]:
Yeah, so it happened because, you know, so, of course, everywhere I go, I talk about laundry. And, you know, it’s that common thing where people say, I wish you were out here in Tuscaloosa, wherever, you know, or when, you know, we really would need, you know, really confusion here. So I had a similar situation where I had a girlfriend who lives in Cleveland, and she was like, wow, like, we really need your services here. And so I said to her, really jokingly, to be honest, I said, well, if you find none other people that would use the service, then we’ll come out to Cleveland. And she did. She found nine other people who had committed to using the service, and that’s how we did it. So Cleveland was kind of like our. You know, I was just putting it out there and to see if it worked.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:46:31]:
And so that was interesting because now it’s a totally different area. Totally. It’s not like an urban metropolitan city. Like, you know, I’m used to here in a Maryland D.C. area. So totally different type of advertising, marketing, everything. Then, of course, I’m not there now. Atlanta and Houston, of course, are more similar to the D.C.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:46:51]:
area. You know, urban metropolitan areas, busy professionals, all that type of thing. So that’s pretty more aligned with where we want to go as far as, like, those types of things. Yeah, but Cleveland was kind of like a crapshot. It was just kind of like, let’s see if it works.

Jordan Berry [00:47:06]:
That’s your. Yeah, that’s your experiment. You got to put it out there and see how it works. And if it works, you got something, and if it doesn’t, you. Yeah, you know, you learn some lessons.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:47:14]:
That’s right. That’s right. That’s right. So definitely learning lessons for all of them. You know, learning lessons just in this whole process, like, you know, what keeps me up at night is people. And so whether it’s the team, whether it’s our Customers and then just making sure that the quality is consistent across the board. Because what we don’t want is someone to say, you know, when I was in D.C. it looked like this, but then when I went to Atlanta, it looked like that, you know, so keeping making sure that all of our partners are aligned.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:47:42]:
We’re on the same page. You know, we do have training, you know, we have, like, brand ambassadors, those types of things to kind of, you know, bring in business and to also make sure it’s consistent as well. So. Yeah, yeah, but the people. Yeah, the people is the thing. It’s.

Jordan Berry [00:47:59]:
It’s always the people. It’s always the people that make or break you.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:48:03]:
That will make or break you. My team love them. Love them. But sometimes I’m like, you know, so. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:48:14]:
Well, talk to me about that a little bit. Like. Yeah, first of all, tell me how. I mean, you kind of made that. That first. Like, how did you build this team? How did you find the people that you were going to hire? The people you knew already? Did you put out job posts? Like, how did that. How did that happen? Because building a team is like a whole other skill set. Like, you’re building a business, and then building a team is.

Jordan Berry [00:48:35]:
It’s tough to do while you’re growing.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:48:37]:
It is. Well, first of all, I learned a lot of lessons with it, but with the team, we looked at what were the areas that we really needed help with. So, of course, I needed to take myself out of the business, so I needed to stop driving, and I needed to stop being the person doing the work. So those types of hires were easier. It was, you know, we know we needed someone to do laundry, and we know we needed someone to drive to pick up and deliver. Um, and then we knew that we needed. I realized that I’m more of a. A visionary than I am more of a manager.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:49:08]:
So, like, I’m more of a leader than I am a manager. So I didn’t know needed a manager. Um, and then, of course, marketing. Right. Someone that’s going to make sure that on social, you know, we’re doing something consistent. Because I’m like, that’s not my. That’s not my gift is doing, you know, technical stuff or anything. Graphic design.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:49:26]:
So those were, like the first hires. So our team consists of operations and marketing, and then, of course, you know, PR as well. So making sure that we are in different publications, you know, media outlets, those types of things. But as far as hiring, you know, we hired some. You know, at first it was just like, Whoever, anyone who said that they needed a job. So it was like friends, family. And I realized that wasn’t a good thing because when it’s times when it doesn’t work out, it’s a very, it’s very painful. So I’ve learned lessons from that.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:50:02]:
Not to just hire just anyone really. People who have the skill set and the. Really more of like the, the personality. Because they always said you can hire for skill. I mean, it’s not too much skill with like long that. But you know, but it’s more like personality. Someone who is coachable, someone who, you know, really takes pride in their work. Someone who’s customer oriented because even the people that are not customer facing you have to have that thing about you, like where you have pride in your work.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:50:31]:
Right. Knowing that someone is going to see it. And so those are things that you really can’t train someone on. Like, that has to be like really inherent. So it’s really finding like those types of skills. So when I’m interviewing, trying to drawing out those types of things and of course sometimes, you know, people will just tell you what you need to hear. Right. But for the most part, like, those are like the individuals that we’re looking for.

Jordan Berry [00:50:54]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I mean, like we’re saying like team can make or break in. So if you make some of those, you know, wrong hires, it can get messy and slow you down and set you back. But I mean, it’s also kind of part of the process too. Especially if you’re, you know, building this team for the first time and you’re learning the industry, you’re learning the business and you’re scaling it and you’re trying to figure out how you actually do laundry and how you fold and you know, all that stuff. And you know, it’s, it’s just part of the process. And you know, again though, that’s like another point where I can see I, I see people getting stuck right where they’re like, nobody’s going to do it. Like, I can do it, so I’m not going to hire anybody.

Jordan Berry [00:51:35]:
And then, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but you’re plateauing at that point. You know, you’re, you can’t scale beyond what you can do.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:51:43]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:51:43]:
If you do that, which is, you know, it’s okay. Some people, that’s what they want to do. But, but if you’re trying to grow a business and you want to focus on the things that you’re best at, like the, the visionary, like I’m Very visionary, too. And. And not a great manager, really. And so I want to spend more of my time, you know, dreaming up how do we make this thing better? How do we make it more efficient? What’s the next idea? What’s the next path for revenue? How can we service the community better? You know, all those things. That’s what I want to spend my time doing. Not trying to figure out, you know, what detergent this particular client needs and that, you know, but some people that’s.

Jordan Berry [00:52:25]:
They love that, and they’re great at that. They want to do.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:52:27]:
That’s true. You’re right. It’s. No, it’s like. It’s so. It’s like really knowing yourself.

Jordan Berry [00:52:30]:
Right?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:52:31]:
Really knowing your strength, because you’re right. I’m like, that. I’m not like a type A, but coming from the insurance world, I am kind of, like, numbers driven. I am kind of like. I’m not really, like, a person. I’m kind of like, all right, let’s get to the point. The. What’s the bottom line? What are we saying here? So that’s more of my thing.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:52:48]:
So I was like, yeah, this is kind of that warm and fuzzy for people. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:52:53]:
Yeah.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:52:53]:
Maybe there should be a layer because, you know, like, with the staff, I’m like, so what happened? I was like. Because they were, like, doing things at the beginning. So this is not the staff I have now where it was like, they weren’t understanding the numbers right? So it was kind of like, okay, so I would get, like, a driver, and they would say, oh, we left the bag back at the store. All right, no worries. We’ll just go back and get it. Okay. So do you know how much that costs every time that you have to go back? Like, how much that cost me on gas. On.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:53:21]:
You know, I’m like. I’m like, right time. Like, I’m not. It’s not a. Just. I’ll just go back and do it, or I’ll just rewash it. Do you know I still have to pay for those machines? And so it was kind of like this. Like, this, like, laissez faire with my money.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:53:36]:
It was just kind of like, oh, no big deal. It’s just detergent that spilled. It’s just a machine that we have to rewatch because we didn’t pay attention to it. Okay, I’m having flashbacks. Bring me back, bring me back, bring me back.

Jordan Berry [00:53:50]:
No, I’m. I’m also having the. I’m. It’s like the PTSD over here. I’m having Sympathy flashbacks with you over here. I mean, it. That I loved. They’re being laissez faire with my money is like, good.

Jordan Berry [00:54:03]:
Somebody should put that on a T shirt or something. Like, stop being laissez faire with my money.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:54:08]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:54:08]:
Because I mean, it really is. Right. Like that’s, it’s, it’s important. And you know, part of it is like, we have to realize it’s important.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:54:16]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:54:17]:
And then part of it is we have to be able to communicate that to our staff. And then if they’re not responding to that, then you’ve got to find different staff. Like, but that’s, that’s the hard part about having employees and being an owner, being a manager is, you know, communicating that and instilling that vision and then enforcing that vision. Yeah, you know, that’s, that’s not, that’s not fun.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:54:43]:
Yeah, it’s not. And so we, so we service. So just to keep in perspective when we don’t even think about the other cities we service Maryland, D.C. and Northern Virginia. That is a very large area that we service. Right. And so our strategy is that our drivers are used to like driving, so they’re more like long haul truck drivers. They kind of just like, kind of go.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:55:04]:
But the issue with that is that they’re used to their mindset is that as long as it gets there by the end of the day, so that they’re used to like, I have a whole truck that needs to go to California. And so as long as I get to California by 9pm and unload this stuff, everything is great. And so I’m like, no, no, no, no. So we have time frames. Right. And so someone is expecting their stuff between 8 and you get there at 11. And then because they were just like, oh, well, it’s no big deal. They want.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:55:32]:
And I was like, that’s not the point. Right. It is about the promise that we make a person. If we tell you it’s going to be there between 8 and 10, it needs to be there. Or you need to communicate that with the client. I don’t care that they were going to be home watching their soap operas anyway. No, it is a big deal because in their mind they’re like, oh, the laundry basket isn’t reliable. Right.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:55:51]:
They may not say it to you, but this, little by little it chips away. Like they’re not a reliable company and that’s not the brand that I want them to. So like I said, I’m the protector of the brand and I need everyone else to kind of fall in line with that as well. So during the first. So it was like a trial and error of that. Of like. Nah. Because when they see, you know, you are, you know, the brand when they, when you’re out in the public and.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:56:15]:
Yeah, yeah, so. So we’re much better now. We’re much better now.

Jordan Berry [00:56:19]:
Yeah, well. And I mean, you’re talking about being laz fair with your money. Like you’re spending money on marketing and PR and things like that to have a brand image that you’re proactively designing and putting out there. And you want, you know, showing people how you want them to think of your business. And then if you’re, you’re drivers are being, you know, casual with those time frames, I mean, you could always do the home D. But we’re doing a lot of work on our, our house out here right now. We’ve got construction going on and we have Home Depot deliveries all the time. And they’re like, okay, it’s gonna be.

Jordan Berry [00:56:53]:
This is literally what the guy told me the other day. I made an order and he’s like, okay, the Delivery window is 6am to 8pm Is that okay with you? And I’m like, are there any other hours like, of pot? I guess it’s okay. Like, what, so you could just make those hours wide? I guess Home Depot does it. But, you know, if you’re gonna say, you know, 8 to 10, you’ll be there between 8 and 10. Or like you said, communicate. Yes, communicate. Well, yeah, Home Depot’s got the loophole working over there for sure.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:57:24]:
That’s funny.

Jordan Berry [00:57:26]:
Yeah, I know. He, he literally asked me that and I just looked at him like, I mean, what if I say no, right? Do I have another option? Is it like 8pm to midnight or what?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:57:38]:
Like, I’ll let them ask. Yeah, that is interesting.

Jordan Berry [00:57:43]:
Yeah. No, but I love that. I mean, I think, you know, that’s the part that makes. Well, I mean there’s a lot of parts, right. That make scaling hard. But the, the employee thing.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:57:54]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:57:55]:
Getting that right is it’s gonna cover over a lot of other sins. You know, you have a lot of like trial and error or you probably something wrong for a little bit or you get a, you know, you get, you get, you know, a little over ambitious on a government contract and you price it too low and you know, but if you have a good team, yeah, it’s going to make up for, you know, we’re going to be like, okay, well we learned from that one and we’ll just keep moving on.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:58:19]:
Exactly.

Jordan Berry [00:58:20]:
You know, being who we are.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:58:21]:
Exactly.

Jordan Berry [00:58:22]:
But you have the. You have the wrong team in place, and it compounds those things. Right. It compounds the problem.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:58:30]:
We, you know, there’s, you know, there needs to be grace. Right. You know, laundry is, you know, a lot of you, not a lot, but, you know, that’s human error in it. Right. It’s actually someone actually doing something. Right. And so the grace that we’re able to get if something were to go wrong, because we built, like, that brand of, like, you know, trust and reliability, so when something happens, it’s not like the norm, so they know it’s like, oh, okay. You know, so it’s.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:58:53]:
Yeah, it’s. It’s definitely been interesting.

Jordan Berry [00:58:58]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, very cool. I mean, you know, first of all, congrats on. On growing the business to the different markets and having your team are, by the way, Are most. Your team. I mean, I know you got somebody in marketing. Sounds like you have, like, a manager. Are the rest of your team drivers? Is that.

Jordan Berry [00:59:17]:
Is that the main roles or what are the main roles you got?

Hyacinth Tucker [00:59:20]:
Yeah, so the main roles would be the drivers, because here in the Maryland area, we do. We still do. We do everything, you know, for the most part. So we do the driving. There’s still some of us doing the washing, and then we still use our partners as well. So it’s. There’s a lot of hybrid going on with the other markets. It is strictly.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:59:39]:
They handle a lot of the stuff. So you’re definitely a driver. Yeah, I’d say that’s the. That’s the biggest role.

Jordan Berry [00:59:45]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Hyacinth Tucker [00:59:47]:
Okay.

Jordan Berry [00:59:48]:
I mean, it makes sense. That makes. Makes perfect sense. Okay, listen, I am not at all surprised by this any longer now that I’ve heard your whole story, but you have been stacking up awards left and right for your business over there. So, I mean, I know with, you know, within the last couple months at least, I mean, you’ve won a few awards. What awards have you won? How did you win these awards? I’ve never really won an award in my life, so give me the secret sauce on how to win some awards.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:00:23]:
Well, the first one. So it’s actually been in the past month because this was the middle of April. It was the ups, the UPS Store Small Biz Challenge. Right. So that was a couple of weeks of different challenges, social media pitching. And so we, out of 6,000 people, we came in at number one. We went to Nashville and grabbed the grand prize. And then we came back and we got an award from the U.S.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:00:48]:
chamber of Commerce, which was really great for the work that we do. Hiring our Heroes. It’s a Hiring our Heroes program. So work that we do with veterans. And that came with a nice little prize money to it as well. And then we became the SBA Veteran Owned Small Business of the year as well. You know, so it’s about doing things and people notice. Right.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:01:14]:
So once again, it’s about the things that we do. We’re very visible about it as well. So I’m not one of those like, oh, I’m going to hide it. No, we talk a lot about, you know, things that we’re doing in the community, the individuals that we service. You know, we do stories about, you know, just laundry life as well. So basically the same as what you’re doing with, you know, just putting things more in the forefront. And so people are looking and they’re watching and so we are.

Jordan Berry [01:01:42]:
Yeah. Well, congratulations on winning the awards. Like I said, I mean you. This is not a surprise probably to anybody listening to you talk right now, just the way you’re talking about your business and how you’re approaching it. I mean, it’s just I am getting ready to go get off this call and pack my bags and come drive for you out there in Maryland. And I’m in Hawaii right at the, on the beach right now. And so it’s saying something that I’m, I’m tempted. So it’s not genuinely though it’s not surprising to me that you’re winning these awards and you’re doing, you know, great stuff.

Jordan Berry [01:02:16]:
One thing you mentioned that I forgot to ask you that I wanted to is we started talking about AI and you got some AI tools you said you were working with or using. What. What are you doing with AI?

Hyacinth Tucker [01:02:31]:
Yeah, so we are. And I guess on my trade secrets. So the first thing is that to handling the customers. So we have AI agents that do the customer experience for us. So we have Lana, the laundry attendant. Yeah, so that is our AI agent. So she is the friendly voice that you’ll hear when you call the laundry basket. She has the knowledge base of everything that we do from praising to all the questions that people were asked.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:03:02]:
And so that kind of definitely takes a load off unintended, off my staff. So that’s one thing that we don’t have to worry about. We also are now in Robotica.

Jordan Berry [01:03:17]:
Okay.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:03:17]:
So you’ll be seeing Willow soon. So Willow is trained to wash and fold and sort and dry and do the things actually that training now. And so that will Help us because, you know, 24 7. So that will help us to increase our capacity as well. We also use Meta AI glasses, so that helps us box things, do work orders, train staff as well. So it’s kind of like we’re right there next to the person when things are going on. We also have databases that show, like, customer behavior when it comes to wash and fold. We’re doing some things as far as allergy sensitivities.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:04:03]:
So we’re creating some products around that and some kits around that. So we have a lot of things in the works. We have the Laundry Basket Institute. That is our workforce training, but also our. Where all of our partners get training on the Laundry Basket way as we continue to expand. And sure that everything is consistent. So those are the things that we’re. So some of the things that we’re currently working on now.

Jordan Berry [01:04:30]:
Dude, that’s cool. I’m the better glasses.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:04:35]:
Fun.

Jordan Berry [01:04:36]:
Yeah. The metaglass thing is interesting. That’s what I’m saying. Well, for someone else, though, right? Not for you. Nothing for you. Yeah, still. Still, it’s not that fun.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:04:46]:
Yes.

Jordan Berry [01:04:48]:
No, the metaglasses thing is interesting. So you said you’re using that for spot stains?

Hyacinth Tucker [01:04:53]:
Yeah, because what it does is that when we’re getting a lot of like, what’s this? And how do we treat this and how do we do that? And it’d be like, take a picture, send it to us, then we gotta look at it. Then we do that. With the better AI glasses, it’s like, we’re right there. So we all like the Meta AI glasses. Like, what are people that needed Aussie? And so it’s like they’re right there so that they can actually just see exactly what the person is seeing and handle things right there. So it cuts down that whole back because that’s really what it’s about for us. It’s just like the back and forth. We need to cut that down, you know, so it kind of needs to be.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:05:25]:
And then they can do training like that. They can put in work order. They just snap it and it just kind of goes into the system of like, you know, there’s a hole in this. So, you know, let the client on this, you know, the notes, because so it’s just a real thing that can be just recorded in real time instead of, you know, so there’s just some tricks. Don’t say, I didn’t give y’ all some checks on this call. So. But yeah, so very helpful.

Jordan Berry [01:05:49]:
That’s. That’s cool. I like that. I Hadn’t even thought about that. I’m sure other people are doing that, too, but I haven’t seen it yet, so that’s. I like that. All right, I got. I got a couple more questions for you if you got a couple more minutes here.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:06:04]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:06:04]:
Uh, number one, I mean, I gotta know, being the visionary that you are and how quickly you move in, like, what. What are the plans here? What’s your. I mean, do you have a grand vision that you’re aiming towards or.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:06:14]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:06:14]:
Are you just winging it?

Hyacinth Tucker [01:06:16]:
What’s.

Jordan Berry [01:06:17]:
Doesn’t sound like you’re winging it to me anymore. Sound like you started off winging it and you’re not winging it.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:06:21]:
I’m not winging it anymore. So, honestly, we are, of course, in this laundry industry, but we’re really big on the logistics part, so we want to be a leader when it comes to laundry logistics, how we move laundry from one place to another. So that is really, like I said, our big thing we want, when people think about that. So, you know, when we think about Amazon, UPS, FedEx, those types of things, then laundry back there, when it comes to laundry, you know, kind of gets into those conversations. So that is like our. That is our ultimate goal, honestly. So that’s what we see ourselves, of course, more cities. We would like to be in 25 cities by 2030.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:06:59]:
It’s kind of aggressive, but, you know, that is also a plan for us as well, so that, you know, the Laundry Basket brand continues to grow. So those are our two things. We’re going to kind of stop it, too, over the next five years. So those are.

Jordan Berry [01:07:14]:
Yeah, I mean, I feel like you’re probably still on pace to hit the 25 by 2030.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:07:22]:
Maryland, DC, Northern Virginia, Cleveland, Atlanta, Houston. With 1919 water down.

Jordan Berry [01:07:29]:
Well, yeah, I mean, it’s only been three years, and it sounds like that first year at least, you were only in the one market

Hyacinth Tucker [01:07:38]:
in my basement.

Jordan Berry [01:07:39]:
I mean, really.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:07:40]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:07:40]:
One mark on really, like two years. You’re doing. You’re doing three a year at least.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:07:46]:
Yeah, yeah, you’re.

Jordan Berry [01:07:48]:
Yeah, you’re on it. You’re on it. Dang. Okay. All right, listen, I’ve got. I’ve. I mean, I’ve got to ask these questions. So I’ve had other people on the podcast who have started to pick up and delivery business who don’t have.

Jordan Berry [01:08:06]:
Who don’t have a location, don’t have a physical location, partner with other laundromats, or have a shed in their backyard or whatever. Yeah, all great. Most if not all of them have said it can be really difficult to start that way. So. And I know it’s. It’s getting, you know, it. It’s popular. There’s different routes to get into this business now than there were.

Jordan Berry [01:08:33]:
So if somebody was like, hey, I don’t have, you know, 200 grand to go out, buy a laundromat right now, but I’d like to get my foot in the door and get in the business. You got any tips for getting started on. On doing, like, a pickup and delivery in your local town or. Or wherever?

Hyacinth Tucker [01:08:50]:
Yeah, yeah. So I would say go where your target market is, but know who your target market is first, right? Know exactly who it is that you want. And so I looked up upon the. The busy professional mom, and that was like my target market. But it could be seniors, it could be, you know, families. It could be, you know, whatever.

Jordan Berry [01:09:14]:
Sports team, college students, you know.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:09:15]:
College students. Exactly. Oh, talking about that real quick. I forgot about that. So we have our dorm Fresh, which is our college and university branch. So that is our laundry services just for college campuses. So we have some pilot programs coming up. But anyway, so, yes, but yes, it could be whatever your target market is.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:09:38]:
And then when you figure out who it is, go where they are, right? It’s no longer that thing of, like, build it and they will come. We’re now in the. We have to be a constant irritant in the. In the face of the people who we really want to be. When I say irritant, it’s just like they always see us. It’s just like, man, everywhere I go, I see the laundry basket. So they must be doing something. Let me now try out their business.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:10:00]:
And so go wherever that target market is. And please know your numbers. Please, please, on your numbers, know where it costs, you know, to break even. Know what your profit margin is. Know, you know, you have to know your numbers. Because the worst thing is to have, like, the grand opening and the grand closing, because we can have. We can. So we see all these numbers.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:10:19]:
But if. If I’m, you know, spending 499, 999 out of, you know, 500,000, that doesn’t, you know, that doesn’t serve me. So make sure that this is. That the numbers are correct and right. So something that you can actually do or be in community, be around other people who can give you advice so you know who or who are in the industry, you know, those. It is so important to know what’s going on in this industry. But it’s also to have people that inspire you, that you can talk to, can you can say, hey, this happened or I need to show the crown. This is a rough day because you’re going to have some rough days, right? So definitely be a community and if possible get a mentor as well, you know, so someone who is like, who can tell you what it is that you need to do, like the next step and all the things.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:11:08]:
So that would be my advice. It is not easy, but I’m telling you it is a service that is needed. And you know, I say I’m so free with what I do and how I do it because it’s so many people, like I can’t take, you know, all the people. So it’s like, it’s so much opportunity in this laundry industry. So whether it’s the laundromat, whether it’s, you know, wash and fold, where’s pick up delivery, whatever it is, the opportunity is there. But just gotta be very clear on what it is that you do and how do you do it uniquely. Like, you know, I’ve already hear some things that kind of make us a little bit different. So.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:11:40]:
And then be able to talk about it as well. So be clear, be unique, but you know, be compelling when you’re talking about it as well. Like why would somebody want to work with you versus someone else? So yeah,

Jordan Berry [01:11:54]:
that was, that was awesome. That was awesome. Clear, unique and compelling is great. I love that. I mean, and such, such good advice too, right? Again, it kind of goes back to like, everybody wants to skip to doing the stuff that scales real big. We hear the big tech startups that get all these massive customer bases online and you know, all that stuff and you know, when you’re starting something like this, most of the time the best way to start is do the stuff that doesn’t scale. Go to the mom groups, go to the sporting events, you know, go knock on doors, go, you know, visit businesses, you know, stuff like that.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:12:34]:
Like, exactly.

Jordan Berry [01:12:36]:
You got to get out there and do it. Yeah. Okay, what about, I mean, I just, I was gonna ask this question. I’m not even sure I need to ask it because this whole episode was full of it. But I’m going to give you an opportunity just in case you, you think of anything else that you want to throw in there or if you want to just highlight one thing for people who are already doing this business who want to just take it, take it up a notch, Take it up. I mean, I’m inspired by you and what you’re doing. Just talking to you right now. So I know other people are going to be inspired and fired up.

Jordan Berry [01:13:09]:
You know, if. If there was one piece of advice for somebody who’s already doing it to take their business to the next level, you got one thing you’d highlight. You’re giving a lot of stuff already.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:13:21]:
Yeah, it’s, you know, if you want to take it to the next level, figure out, like, what we call, like, what is. Like, how do you create a moat around your business? How do you create a differentiator for your business? How was, you know, an innovation? You know, what is it that’s going to make you different and stand out among the others? And I think that, you know, and I see, like, with the laundromats, like now I see, like, you have the childcare centers, the dog washes, the ones that now turn into a cafe at night. But, you know, it’s something different, right? And that is, like, what? They’re differentiated. It’s like, you know, we do laundry. Like, I think sometimes we think we should pass about the laundry. Like, I think we kind of get stuck in the laundry. The laundry is what we do. But it’s so much bigger than that.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:14:04]:
How do we make people feel? How do we change people’s lives? Like, when we start thinking, like, in that way, like, all these different ideas come up. Like, the people who came out the cafe, I was like, oh, my gosh, that’s cool. It’s like, how do we make this into a place of community? How do we bring in people who, you know, how do we make it to, like, the next Starbucks? Like, that’s what Starbucks did. It was like, it was just coffee. But now Starbucks is known as, like, the place that you come when you can, wanna have a meeting when you want to just, you know, get away from the house. And so it’s not about the coffee anymore. It’s now about the space. And so when you have Laundromats, or whether it be wash and fold or whatever, what is it that’s gonna make you different? And so I think that that is what I would say.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:14:42]:
So, of course, continue doing what you’re doing, but just have those moments of thought of just, how do we kind of put a little sizzle on this in this laundry world? And so it’s so many different opportunities. I think so, yeah, that’d be my advice.

Jordan Berry [01:14:56]:
Well, you’re putting the sizzle on the laundry world out there where you’re doing it. That’s what I like to hear. I mean, and a little shoulder Shimmy with it too. I love it. I love it. Well, listen, this has been genuinely like super inspiring. I think this will probably be just an instant classic. Oh, you know, we’re coming up on, depending on which episodes you count, somewhere between 250 and 320 episodes.

Jordan Berry [01:15:23]:
I think this will be, this will be an instant classic. I think a fan favorite because I mean, you’re just, the stuff you’re doing is very, very cool. The way you’re going about is you’re just, you know, finding these obstacles and you’re just pushing right through them. And that’s, it’s not, you’re, you’re making it sound really easy. I know what’s going behind each of these, you know, obstacles that you’re, that you’re pushing through. I know it’s not easy, but you’re doing it with a smile and you’re doing it with a little sizzle and you know, it is inspiring. So last question I have for you is if people want to hear more about what you got going on or check out your operation or get their laundry picked up from you, or just connect.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:16:07]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:16:07]:
What’s the best way for them to connect with you?

Hyacinth Tucker [01:16:09]:
Right. Well, definitely from a laundry perspective, go to Laundry Basket Delivery. That calm. That is our wonderful website. And to connect with me, I’m a LinkedIn girly, so please connect with me on LinkedIn. Hires and Tucker. There shouldn’t be too many Hires and Tuckers. And if there are, you let me know.

Jordan Berry [01:16:28]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:16:29]:
But yes, you should start a club

Jordan Berry [01:16:30]:
if there’s more of you. Yeah, yeah.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:16:33]:
So definitely connect with me on LinkedIn. You know, I talk more about the journey on LinkedIn and yeah, you kind of see some cool stuff that we’re doing as well.

Jordan Berry [01:16:44]:
Yeah. Awesome. And we’ll have links to all that in the show notes. If you’re on YouTube, those will be down below. Hi Zent, Thanks. Thank you so much. I’m, I’m just gonna, I’m just gonna see if we put on the calendar now, you know, like a year or so from now, we gotta do this again because who knows, you might own half the world by then. I’m not sure.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:17:03]:
Jordan, stop.

Jordan Berry [01:17:06]:
Yeah, I, I’m, I think that might be the case. I don’t know, you might be at 25 cities by next year. Patient going. So listen, I really, really appreciate you taking the time to come on here and share your story and to share your hard earned wisdom and your perspective. You know, it’s people like you who, I mean, you you even said like, hey, you know, find some people in the industry to get some inspiration from, to be mentored from. And here you are. This is where a lot of people come to be mentored and get inspiration and to connect with people in the industry. So I appreciate you taking the time to do that.

Jordan Berry [01:17:41]:
I know you didn’t have to do that and you’re busy, but I really, really personally, you’ve gotten a lot out of it and I know a lot of other people have as well. So go connect with Hyan on LinkedIn and check out the website so you can see their cool operation. And you are amazing. Continue to be amazing and we’ll check back in here with you in the near future.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:18:06]:
Sounds good. Thank you so much for this opportunity. This was fun. You are absolutely amazing. Jordan, you have a new fan as well, too.

Jordan Berry [01:18:14]:
Well, right back at you there. I’ll. I’ll fangirl over you. Right back at you. So awesome. Well, let’s definitely do it again then because that was a good time for sure. Definitely hope you enjoyed that episode with the Hyacinth. So much good stuff, so much wisdom, so much fun all throughout that whole process.

Jordan Berry [01:18:34]:
Man, what an incredible interview. And let me just say, not only was this interview incredible, we’ve got a a good lineup of interviews coming up. So I think you’re going to be super psyched. Make sure you’re subscribed in all the different channels podcast here or if you’re on the YouTube channel, make sure to subscribe because there’s some good stuff coming up that’s a guarantee money back. Guarantee, actually. Willing to put my money where my mouth is. How about you? Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is? Because listen, listening to these episodes is great and all, but you will be wasting your time if you don’t take some action. So pick something from this episode.

Jordan Berry [01:19:14]:
Maybe it’s something Hyacinth said that sparked an idea for you, or maybe it’s just joining the pro community [email protected] pro. But either way, you gotta take some action in order to get to your goals. So go take some action today and we’ll see you on the next one.

Hyacinth Tucker [01:19:29]:
Peace.