Jamie Sewell [00:00:00]:
Pick one thing and commit to it, like go all in for 90 days. And then at the end of those 90 days, see, like, do I keep going with what I’m working on? Or have I gotten clarity here? And actually, I need to go in this other direction.

Jordan Berry [00:00:15]:
One thing that I think that we need to do intentionally is figure out what we want our lives to look like.

Jamie Sewell [00:00:22]:
What I’ve realized is, even as an entrepreneur, you can’t control everything. There’s going to be things that come outta nowhere that you never could have expected or never could have seen coming. That’s why I come back to like, follow your excitement and follow what brings you joy.

Jordan Berry [00:00:40]:
What I see for a lot of owners is they get stuck somewhere.

Jamie Sewell [00:00:46]:
Mm-hmm.

Jordan Berry [00:00:46]:
On the spectrum. There’s no right or wrong. There’s no place where you should stop or shouldn’t stop or any of that. There’s no, nothing like that. But Hey, hey, what’s up guys? It’s Jordan with the Laundromat Resource Podcast. This is show 259 and I am pumped you’re here today because today we have back on the show Jamie Sewell, who is dropping some knowledge bombs. She’s got like a decade and a half of experience in this industry and combined we have twice that. So lots of experience going on, uh, in today’s episode.

Jordan Berry [00:01:21]:
And she’s been in the industry from all kinds of different angles, from working with manufacturers to the CLA to running her own laundromats. And now she runs Laundromat University, which we talk a little bit about as well. But we dig into what it takes to be a laundromat owner today, these days. So awesome, awesome episode. She’s always just a blast to have on the, on the podcast anyways, and is always a fan favorite. So this is a great one. I know you’re gonna love it. And, uh, you know, let’s, Let’s not, you know, let’s not dilly-dally here like I normally do.

Jordan Berry [00:01:54]:
Let’s jump right into it with Jamie Sewell. Jamie, back on the show. How’s it going?

Jamie Sewell [00:02:01]:
What’s up? Thanks for having me. Good to see you.

Jordan Berry [00:02:04]:
Oh, thanks for coming on. I’m excited. And in fact, I was so excited that we just spent like an entire podcast episode talking without even recording a podcast episode. So we get to do it even more, which is awesome. I’m excited.

Jamie Sewell [00:02:18]:
2 times. So fun. We did it twice. So fun.

Jordan Berry [00:02:21]:
We did it twice. Uh, hey, listen, why don’t you give like a, just a quick rundown of you and then let’s talk a little bit about your business and then what you got going on in this industry outside of your, your laundromat.

Jamie Sewell [00:02:33]:
Yeah. Um, so I’ve been in this industry almost 15 years, not quite. And, um, my background’s in marketing and technology and, um, done a whole bunch of things in the industry, worked for CLA, uh, built some technology in this, in the industry, worked for a tech manufacturer, um, got out for a brief period of time, realized that a laundromat would go great with my coaching business.

Jordan Berry [00:03:02]:
Mm-hmm.

Jamie Sewell [00:03:03]:
So I got back in and, um, done marketing, uh, for laundromats and, uh, recently acquired Laundry University. So I’ve—

Jordan Berry [00:03:15]:
Are you bored or?

Jamie Sewell [00:03:16]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:03:17]:
Like what’s the, I mean, you’re, you just seem like you’re stacking everything on top of each other. You’re gonna take over the whole industry right now.

Jamie Sewell [00:03:23]:
I love it. You know, I, uh, we’ll have to do it together, Jordan. Yeah. I, I don’t think I can do it alone. I’m gonna need a wingman.

Jordan Berry [00:03:32]:
Starts now. Well, listen, I, I refuse to do that with you unless I also can somewhere purchase one of those. Laundry University jerseys that you’re sporting right now.

Jamie Sewell [00:03:44]:
Yes, it really is my fan fave. Like, um, if I leave the laundry industry again, it will be to make more jerseys.

Jordan Berry [00:03:50]:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, listen, we should probably get a link up for, uh, for us to go out and buy— anybody who out there who wants to buy one before this thing goes live, because it’s money.

Jamie Sewell [00:04:01]:
All right, let me spin up Claude real quick.

Jordan Berry [00:04:03]:
It’s money.

Jamie Sewell [00:04:03]:
Claude can print jerseys, right?

Jordan Berry [00:04:05]:
I think AI can do anything. So yeah, probably.

Jamie Sewell [00:04:10]:
All right.

Jordan Berry [00:04:11]:
Uh, awesome.

Jamie Sewell [00:04:12]:
Okay.

Jordan Berry [00:04:12]:
Okay. So you, I mean, you’ve been in, in the industry, you’ve been outta the industry, you’ve been on the, you know, the, the online side with like marketing and tech stuff. You’ve been on manufacturing side, you’ve been on the ownership side, you’re on the education and consulting side. You’ve worked with the CLA, you’re all over the place. So listen, you’re a wealth of knowledge and wisdom right now. Let us have some of it. Give it to us.

Jamie Sewell [00:04:38]:
Yeah. Well, you know, the funny thing is like the last time I was on your podcast, uh, I, the word, I did not have this planned, but the word I ended up saying, you know, if I was going to do something else in the industry, I think I would, you know, own a distributorship. And, uh, so I didn’t, you know, I didn’t open a distributorship, but I did acquire Laundry University, uh, in June, which really wasn’t on my radar. Um, but that’s what happened.

Jordan Berry [00:05:09]:
That’s— well, real quick, uh, well, first of all, let me just insert a word here into everything you just said that’s going to clarify everything. Yet. You did not buy a distributor yet. Uh, so I just wanted to make that clear.

Jamie Sewell [00:05:23]:
I, I do have enough on my plate right now. You know, there is something to be said for contentment.

Jordan Berry [00:05:29]:
Uh-huh. Yeah. Right. I mean, I feel like if you were gonna have it, you would’ve had it already. So that contentment. So you’re, you’re rolling.

Jamie Sewell [00:05:37]:
Dang.

Jordan Berry [00:05:39]:
Uh, um, real quick.

Jamie Sewell [00:05:41]:
Well, we just do it because it’s fun.

Jordan Berry [00:05:42]:
Yeah, it is fun.

Jamie Sewell [00:05:44]:
That’s, that’s really it, right?

Jordan Berry [00:05:45]:
It’s super fun.

Jamie Sewell [00:05:46]:
But that’s fun.

Jordan Berry [00:05:47]:
Yeah. Owning a distributorship would be fun too. I’m just saying.

Jamie Sewell [00:05:51]:
Uh, let’s call a distributor.

Jordan Berry [00:05:54]:
Dude, should we buy one right now? Live on the podcast? Hey, if you’re a distributor out there and you’re looking to sell—

Jamie Sewell [00:05:58]:
Spot on that too.

Jordan Berry [00:06:00]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:06:00]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:06:00]:
I’ll, I’ll get Claude working while we’re doing this. Maybe by the end of this thing, we’ll, uh, all right.

Jamie Sewell [00:06:04]:
So we’re going to have a distributorship and t-shirts, jerseys, jerseys, and t-shirts.

Jordan Berry [00:06:09]:
I don’t know. We’ll just merch it up, you know? Yeah. Uh, all right. We’re going to get into a whole bunch of this stuff. Uh, but real quick, why don’t you just plug Laundry University? How do people find Laundry University if they’re like, what is that?

Jamie Sewell [00:06:20]:
Yeah. So Laundry University, laundry-university.com is the new website. Uh, we’ve recently launched a new website. I haven’t even had time to announce the new website, so I’m announcing it here.

Jordan Berry [00:06:33]:
Breaking news. I, I will say actually, and I don’t even think you know this, or maybe you know this now, but you didn’t know it at the time, but I did break that news on our news episode maybe like a month ago or something like that.

Jamie Sewell [00:06:46]:
Thank you.

Jordan Berry [00:06:47]:
It was broken on the news episode even before we talked about it. So thank you. I got your back over here.

Jamie Sewell [00:06:52]:
You, you do have my back. Thank you, Jeremy.

Jordan Berry [00:06:54]:
That’s right.

Jamie Sewell [00:06:54]:
Um, yeah, so Laundry University, uh, lets laundry professionals train, standardize, and scale their professional laundry businesses. So it’s really designed, uh, well, I mean, it was created by a longtime laundromat operator, um, and I am a laundromat operator, so it does have a little bit more of a laundromat focus, but actually it was originally designed for more of like the gig style, um, uh, folks who wanted to, you know, do laundry and not own a laundromat. So it works really nicely for, you know, folks who own a laundromat and want to know what the heck they’re doing and then train all of their employees. Uh, and then it also works really nicely for, you know, folks who are doing laundry, you know, out of somebody else’s laundromat, um, or just starting their business from their home.

Jordan Berry [00:07:47]:
Yeah. Which I know for a fact there’s quite a few people listening that are in that camp who are like, I’m just gonna start a pickup and delivery either because they can’t find one right now, because that’s easier said than done, or they’re just not ready financially yet. It’s cheaper to start one without a laundromat, uh, than to buy a laundromat and start one or buy one with that. So I know that there’s a lot of people that this would for sure help. So, We’ll dig more into Laundry University here in a little bit. Yeah. But let’s start with you and a little bit of your experience maybe on the ownership side. Talk to me about how the ownership side has been, what you’ve kind of been learning lately.

Jordan Berry [00:08:31]:
I know that we’ve talked a little bit about your history in our previous episodes, so definitely go check that out if you haven’t yet. But maybe like, You know, what, what are you seeing? What are you experiencing in your business? And what do you see industry-wide? That’s what I want to get at today, I think. Okay.

Jamie Sewell [00:08:45]:
All right. Well, I’m, uh, I just got back literally today from the Wash Dry Fold conference in Austin. Um, so I’ll kind of like use that lens and, you know, industry-wide, what I’m seeing is that this is without question the most dynamic fast-paced changing and consolidating time that our industry has ever seen. Um, you know, the barriers— it used to be that we didn’t have a lot of technology, you know, so it was like, oh well, the industry is fragmented and, you know, lack of data because we don’t have a lot of information, we don’t have a lot of technology, we don’t have a lot of data. And that argument just holds zero water anymore, you know?

Jordan Berry [00:09:35]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:09:36]:
And so, um, now it’s like, now we’ve got, um, you know, really serious folks in this industry that have, you know, some really sharp expertise in other areas, and they’re coming to this industry and they’re saying, hey, this thing is like ripe for disruption. We can make a lot of money. Um, the technology is there. Like, let’s go. Um, and then obviously now we’ve got AI, which is just kind of like fueling, um, what was already, you know, happening. We kind of already had the ingredients for like just disruption and, um, you know, really just a whole new level, uh, to the industry. Almost, you could almost even call it a, a new industry in a way, right? Like a, a Laundry 2.0.

Jordan Berry [00:10:24]:
Mm-hmm.

Jamie Sewell [00:10:24]:
And so now with AI, it’s just between technology, between the technology for monitoring and, and maintaining and managing our machines and our facilities to now we’ve got AI, um, enabling almost anything we could want on demand. You know, you and I were talking about, hey, we’ll just put it into Clog code real quick and we’ll have it before, You know, the end of a call.

Jordan Berry [00:10:53]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:10:53]:
Um, it’s just changing things so fast. So, you know, at a macro level, the industry is just completely transforming.

Jordan Berry [00:11:05]:
Yeah. Well, and you use the term, I think a couple times of like fast moving, quick things like that. And that are, those are not typical adjectives for our industry. You know what I mean? Like that.

Jamie Sewell [00:11:19]:
Yes.

Jordan Berry [00:11:20]:
That’s, that’s never been said about us before. Uh, you know, it’s like, uh, my mom calling me handsome or something. I’m like, whoa, that’s never been said before. You know, I was like, uh, but it’s true because, you know, a lot of this stuff that you’re saying, like even just like the data and stuff like that, like that is new, like the last couple, maybe like 3 years. Or maybe 4, uh, that we’re really starting to see data in a useful way. And now it’s really interesting, the timing, because now we’re at a point where, you know, a lot of people are, you know, pulling their data from their payment systems or their POS systems or, you know, wherever they’re collecting data and they’re able to get really good analysis and insights just by utilizing AI with that data, right?

Jamie Sewell [00:12:15]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:12:15]:
So if before, you know, I think when I started talking about that data on the podcast here, it was like, how do you actually, what do you do with that data? How do you actually use it? What’s the, you know, what’s the benefit of it? And now you don’t really even have to know. You can just say, hey, here’s all this data that I have about my business. What can I learn from it? How can I improve my business? Are there, is there anything weird standing out? Like you just ask it like in that language, like, hey, I’m a bozo. Tell me what I need to know about my business here. Just type that in and it’ll tell you why you’re a bozo and what you need to know about your business.

Jamie Sewell [00:12:59]:
Yes. Uh, it might also say like, well, you’ve got a customer retention problem or yeah. Hey, you’re doing pretty good. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:13:10]:
Uh, or like, it won’t say that. These ads, it won’t ever tell you you’re doing good. Uh, that’s been my experience. Maybe it will tell you. It’s never told me that.

Jamie Sewell [00:13:19]:
Look, it’s, it’s, it needs to be needed, you know? Yeah, we all need to be—

Jordan Berry [00:13:23]:
it’s like a lawyer. I mean, I want to put down lawyers because I have clients who are lawyers, but whenever you go to a lawyer, they need to be needed. So they’re going to tell you something’s wrong with a contract or a document, or—

Jamie Sewell [00:13:34]:
We would like to apologize to all the lawyers that are watching this video.

Jordan Berry [00:13:37]:
she would, and I would. If you’re thinking about suing me for saying that, I will formally apologize. No, but, but I mean, it is true. And that’s another good point, right? Like the whole marketing aspect, like we’re able to optimize ads way better now, even if you don’t really know what you’re doing. And same with your marketing companies, like your marketing companies can do a better job for you because of AI. So there’s a whole lot, and we were talking about some other stuff too. You know, I had, uh, uh, we were just talking about the AI cameras, right? And we, we talked about this on the podcast a couple weeks ago too, uh, but using AI to, with your camera system to track orders, to see how efficient your employees are, uh, and maybe some more capabilities coming down the pipeline too with that. So interesting stuff happening.

Jamie Sewell [00:14:27]:
Yeah, it’s, it’s just changing. Honestly, it feels like by the day at this point.

Jordan Berry [00:14:33]:
Which, well, yeah. And, you know, one of the things for me that AI does, you know, obviously like it can be a thought partner, it can help you kind of analyze data and, you know, draw some conclusions, stuff like that. But, you know, one thing we’ve been talking about for a while now, a few years at least, if not a little bit more than that, is the consolidation happening, like you were mentioning, in the industry. But what AI and some of this new tech has allowed is for smaller ownership groups to own many more locations, right? And to be able to manage those locations effectively and efficiently in a way that was not possible before, right? Like one obvious example is having a card system versus having to accept coins, right? Like that’s— Obvious, but there’s a lot of things happening right now that are allowing owners to have larger portfolios, and we’re seeing that.

Jamie Sewell [00:15:40]:
Yeah. I mean, the average owner now owns more than 2 according to the CLA research.

Jordan Berry [00:15:48]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:15:48]:
And it was only a year or 2 ago when that happened.

Jordan Berry [00:15:52]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:15:54]:
So that’s— yeah, I mean, when I got my laundromat, uh, Clean Vibes Laundry Company, um, I ran it— I bought it and renovated it and ran it from Ohio, and my laundromat is in Tampa.

Jordan Berry [00:16:09]:
Yeah, I think when you were on the podcast, that’s how you were running it.

Jamie Sewell [00:16:13]:
Yeah, and I mean, last time, I, I still don’t really advise— I mean, now you’re in Hawaii, you know, like Obviously, you can run laundromats from other states or, you know, islands. It’s obviously possible. What’s that?

Jordan Berry [00:16:32]:
I said, or other countries.

Jamie Sewell [00:16:34]:
Or other countries. Absolutely. You totally can. Yeah. So I don’t recommend that folks starting out in the industry run their laundromat from far away. But it’s possible to do it. Um, and that’s really only through technology.

Jordan Berry [00:16:54]:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and it’s, it’s more possible to do it now than it ever has been to. And again, I, I’m in the same boat. I don’t necessarily recommend it, especially getting started in the business. Like you, there are things you need to have in place and there are things you probably should know about your business. And most importantly, You’ve gotta have the right people helping you run it if you’re gonna try to run it remotely. And that, to me, that’s like the tech stack and all that stuff.

Jordan Berry [00:17:22]:
That’s the easy part.

Jamie Sewell [00:17:24]:
Exactly.

Jordan Berry [00:17:24]:
Having the right people in place helping you run it is the crucial factor in my mind. And it’s harder to find that right person most of the time than getting the right tech stack in place.

Jamie Sewell [00:17:38]:
100%. Well, and it’s not even— it’s like, it’s finding the right person and also like training them properly and then also consistently holding them accountable.

Jordan Berry [00:17:52]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:17:53]:
Um, because earlier, uh, in my laundromat ownership journey, um, I didn’t have as many training processes and procedures. and operational. Um, like, my operations are much tighter now, and it makes me wonder if I could have helped, like, previous employees be more successful if I had run tighter operations sooner, you know? Because it’s like, you’ve got some employees who start out like just freaking rock stars, you know what I mean? And they’re motivated, they’re excited. Everything’s great at what they do.

Jordan Berry [00:18:35]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:18:35]:
But, but then you need the mechanisms to keep them focused and motivated. And, you know, I think in that case, you know, sometimes like the default becomes like, oh, well, I need to spend more time with them, or, oh, I need to be in the laundromat more. But the fact is, is that most operators today are not imagining that they are going to be hanging out in their laundromat all day. I certainly don’t at mine, and that was never my vision, you know. So it’s like, how do you keep the quality of your people, you know, at a 10, you know, maybe an 8 on a bad day, uh, you know, and keep them focused and motivated? And I think that’s where a lot of us— I know for me, like, I’ve had to learn how to You know, implement tighter operations as well as a whole bunch of levels of redundancy, you know, to make sure that the quality stays high. Yeah, that’s probably one of the biggest things that I’ve learned over the last 3 years.

Jordan Berry [00:19:42]:
Yeah. If only there was like a platform out there available to help us put that in place. Oh wait, there is Laundry University.

Jamie Sewell [00:19:52]:
There is.

Jordan Berry [00:19:53]:
There is.

Jamie Sewell [00:19:53]:
There is. Go buy your jersey. There is. Yeah. You know what’s surprising is that it didn’t, like something like this didn’t exist earlier.

Jordan Berry [00:20:03]:
I know.

Jamie Sewell [00:20:04]:
And not saying like bits and pieces, right? So you’ve got some stuff and I’m not saying that. So there are folks out there that, you know, have bits and pieces, but like Laundry University, um, when I acquired it, it was, this is your wash, dry, fold. You know, training on how to do wash, dry, fold professionally. And what I realized basically as soon as I acquired it is that the training is as good as the people that are going through it.

Jordan Berry [00:20:34]:
Mm-hmm.

Jamie Sewell [00:20:36]:
And so it’s not just about having great training that will teach somebody how to do wash and fold professionally. It’s about making sure that you’ve got the right people aligned with the right processes. You know, and the right training. So that’s what I’ve been working on like the last few months is taking really the stuff that I’ve been using at Clean Vibes and plugging it into Laundry University so that you know people who are just starting out in this industry and they don’t have a handbook, they don’t have checklists. You know, they don’t have, um, KPIs, like what constitutes success for my employees and how do, how does that translate into success for my business? Uh, so those are the things I’ve been building inside of Laundry University, um, so that basically not everybody has to learn the hard way.

Jordan Berry [00:21:36]:
Yeah. Well, and I think it’s more, not to turn this into a Laundry University commercial, but I mean, I think it’s more important than that. Like if somebody’s getting started in this business, it’s more important than ever to start strong and to come into it with the intention of building a professional business. Because like you said, there’s, there are players coming into this game now that are sophisticated business owners. We’ve been saying that for a while and the pace is only increasing. And the people who are in this industry already are becoming more sophisticated themselves. It’s a classic, classic case of rising tide raising all boats here.

Jamie Sewell [00:22:20]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:22:20]:
And if you don’t come into it with the intention of running your business professionally, you will not last in this industry. So having something like Laundry University to give you a platform to jump off of. You’re not starting on ground level. You’re starting, you know, right with some of these tools that help you professionalize right off the bat. I mean, it’s a natural, I think it’s a natural fit for where our industry is heading. And for somebody who wants to break into this business, it’s a no-brainer. Again, not to turn it into a commercial. I’m not trying to sell any.

Jordan Berry [00:22:59]:
I don’t get anything if, if you go out and, and buy Laundry University, but like, it’s a no-brainer in my mind.

Jamie Sewell [00:23:04]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:23:04]:
If that’s your, if that’s your goal, or if you have a struggling one or one that’s not being run professionally, right? Like, right, get your act together and go to Laundry University. You know what I mean?

Jamie Sewell [00:23:16]:
Yeah. You know, that’s the no-brainer. Like, that kind of is where my head ended up because it was just like, wait, how have we operated in this industry all of these years without having You know, some frameworks.

Jordan Berry [00:23:32]:
Everybody’s winging it.

Jamie Sewell [00:23:34]:
We’ve, we’ve all been winging it. We’ve all been learning the hard way. Yeah. You know, and, um, to your point, we can, you do want to start strong and you do want to make the most of every customer that you get the opportunity to serve, but you want them to come back. You know, you don’t want to just acquire them and then never see them again. Um, you know, so that, you know, if you can keep your customers coming back consistently, you’ll just scale so much faster. And I think since COVID um, we see so much more demand for drop-off and delivery.

Jordan Berry [00:24:19]:
Mm-hmm.

Jamie Sewell [00:24:20]:
And that’s only going to continue to grow. And, you know, it’s like we have kitchens and we go out to eat, you know, or we have a lawnmower and we don’t mow the lawn, you know. So it’s just kind of a natural evolution of people want to have— want to put more time back in their schedules to spend time with their families, or maybe their washer’s broken, or it’s kind of like—

Jordan Berry [00:24:48]:
Mm-hmm.

Jamie Sewell [00:24:48]:
The spa day, the new spa day, you know, they want to treat themselves and feel a little pampered and not do laundry. And so that’s what I’m seeing too, is at every level is just more demand for, you know, professional laundry services.

Jordan Berry [00:25:06]:
Yeah, I agree. I’ve been saying that for a long time, and I think we’re, we’re gonna go the way of the gardener, uh, you know, eventually where You know, less, I, I don’t know, I don’t know the stats on it, but just anecdotally from my observation, less people do their own lawn probably than have it done for them. Uh, you know, maybe that’s marketing and all that. But anyways, I, a lot of people don’t do their own lawn anymore. Yeah. And a lawnmower’s cheap compared to, you know, a lawnmower’s like 2 months of having a gardener, right? But we’re still kind of outsourcing that.

Jamie Sewell [00:25:41]:
Mm-hmm.

Jordan Berry [00:25:43]:
I, I do think it’s going that way and is going to continue to go that way because laundry is kind of a pain, and especially folding. Especially, um, especially folding. Yeah. And if you can outsource it, yeah, no-brainer.

Jamie Sewell [00:26:00]:
Yeah. I mean, I’m always surprised at how many, like, moms in my mom’s groups just, they’re like, they don’t even realize that it’s a thing.

Jordan Berry [00:26:08]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:26:08]:
So like, that’s the level of education that’s still happening is, you know, these moms are pretty smart and they don’t even realize that they can order a laundry service.

Jordan Berry [00:26:20]:
Yeah, I know. So, yeah, well, and again, I’m not trying to make this a commercial, but I think we were talking about this beforehand. I’m, I’m just bringing it up for you so you don’t have to, uh, you don’t have to, I’ll just promote it for you. I’m excited about it. Um, but I mean, I mean, we’re kind of talking about, yeah, we’re kind of talking about like, uh, getting into this business, starting the right way, all that stuff. You were mentioning me before we recorded and, uh, I just want to, you know, I want to preface this by saying this is not something Jamie asked me to bring up or anything like this, but I think it’s a natural kind of fit here. If you are trying to start this business, uh, you got something coming up that I’ll just throw out there that might be of interest to, to somebody. Yes.

Jamie Sewell [00:27:06]:
Yes. So, uh, October 15th, we’re going to be doing our first—

Jordan Berry [00:27:10]:
this is new owner 2026, by the way, 2026.

Jamie Sewell [00:27:13]:
But don’t worry if you’re watching this after October 15th, 2026, I will do more.

Jordan Berry [00:27:19]:
Yes.

Jamie Sewell [00:27:20]:
Um, so October 15th, there’s going to be a new owner mastermind. Um, it’s going to be small groups. So if you’re hearing this and you do want to get in, uh, make sure to register on the website. laundry-university.com. And, uh, so it’s gonna be 6 weeks virtual. We’re gonna talk about assessing where your laundromat fits in the marketplace, how to price for both your machines and, um, your wash, dry, fold, um, hiring employee handbooks, operating procedures, um, interview questions, brand marketing brand opening and community engagement. Uh, so it’s really kind of an amalgamation of a lot of different things that I’ve been working— Big word. Big word.

Jordan Berry [00:28:09]:
Listen, you can’t use words like that around me. I want to know what you’re talking about.

Jamie Sewell [00:28:14]:
Join your smock.

Jordan Berry [00:28:14]:
You’re talking about me behind my back? What’s the—

Jamie Sewell [00:28:16]:
Your smock. Uh, yeah, like it just kind of came together really organically because it was a bunch of things I already had. Uh, and in some cases was already selling previously. And so this was just kind of like a no-brainer. It’s like, if you’re a new owner, um, this, the perfect time to do this mastermind would be like in what I call the doldrums. Like when you’re waiting for your baby to come, but your baby’s not here. Like you can’t like open your doors, you know? And you’re like, just give me the freaking baby. I just want the baby.

Jordan Berry [00:28:52]:
Do you have to be pregnant to do this?

Jamie Sewell [00:28:54]:
Or what’s that?

Jordan Berry [00:28:55]:
Do you have, do you have to be pregnant?

Jamie Sewell [00:28:57]:
I mean, I hope not.

Jordan Berry [00:28:58]:
Okay.

Jamie Sewell [00:29:00]:
I hope not. You do not have to be pregnant.

Jordan Berry [00:29:03]:
Okay, good.

Jamie Sewell [00:29:04]:
But it is surprising the number of people who compare opening a laundromat to having a baby. Guys do. Have you seen this?

Jordan Berry [00:29:13]:
Yeah, I have actually.

Jamie Sewell [00:29:15]:
Yeah. I think it’s a thing.

Jordan Berry [00:29:17]:
I think it’s a thing too.

Jamie Sewell [00:29:19]:
So, um, you do, you do not have to actually have a baby.

Jordan Berry [00:29:23]:
It’s easy to open a laundromat. It’s easy to have a baby. That’s my—

Jamie Sewell [00:29:27]:
It’s easy to have a baby.

Jordan Berry [00:29:28]:
I’m just kidding.

Jamie Sewell [00:29:28]:
If you’re, if you’re you.

Jordan Berry [00:29:30]:
Yeah, I know. It was super easy.

Jamie Sewell [00:29:32]:
Don’t put your wife on here.

Jordan Berry [00:29:33]:
Yeah. Well, it was not so easy for her.

Jamie Sewell [00:29:37]:
I’m just kidding. Um, yeah. So anyway, that’s like the ideal, like that’s the most ideal time. But obviously, like, if you’re just, uh, if you just started, if you just opened, um, I would say it’s still super worthwhile. Uh, or, you know, if you’re just bringing on employees, um, or you’re like, I have employees and my processes suck, you know, all of those are like good times to join, um, the mastermind. And so the idea is actually that you can go through this, customize all the resources for your business, and then Laundry University actually has like a custom training hub. And so then you can put them in your training hub for your employees, and then you actually get like full access to see who’s reviewed all each of the assets, how much time they spent on the assets. Uh, and then go through whatever levels, um, of the Wash Dry Fold certification that you want employees to go through.

Jamie Sewell [00:30:42]:
So it’s just kind of like a natural evolution.

Jordan Berry [00:30:45]:
Yeah. Yeah. Fits right in. Uh, which is pretty cool. Um, so again, I mean, if that’s, if that’s something that, you know, you’re looking to build your wash and fold business, uh, or start it, I mean, Um, I’ve said this over and over and over again, and I know sometimes it can maybe sound self-serving because, you know, we do stuff with people, you know, but this is not something I’m doing. This is something someone else is doing. And I mean this genuinely. It’s a no-brainer to invest in something like this to get your business started on the right foot.

Jordan Berry [00:31:20]:
Like there’s just, it’s a no-brainer. So, um, if that’s where you’re at, at least go check it out. Go to laundry-university.com. And again, I don’t get anything for this. I think, you know, we’ve got the rising tide, you know, uh, raising all— well, dang it. Now I forget.

Jamie Sewell [00:31:38]:
Lifts all boats.

Jordan Berry [00:31:39]:
Lifts, lifting all boats here. Yes. Uh, happening. So it really genuinely benefits the industry as a whole. The more of us that are professionalizing our, our business, and there’s a lot of aspects of our businesses that need professionalizing. For many of us.

Jamie Sewell [00:31:56]:
Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was, uh, talking at the Wash Dry Fold conference, um, one day, and when I’m on one of the slides, I’m like, think, like, think about what you would want as a customer and then give your customers that. And I think on like the, you know, there’s parts of that, right, that are kind of like intuitive, you know, where you’re like, okay, I’m gonna make sure I answer the phone, make sure the store is clean. Like, make sure my attendants are friendly. But I think that operations is something more that people feel. Like, your customers will feel if your operations are tight, but they won’t necessarily be able to put their finger on why they like your business so much.

Jordan Berry [00:32:44]:
Yeah. Yeah. I, I think that that is true. And I would say You know, going back to, uh, my experience having a baby here, uh, if you’re listening to this and you’re not your ideal, I mean, your, your typical customer, uh, like I would say, I’m, I’m probably not my typical customer in my laundromats, right? Um, find some people that you know and trust who are your typical, you know, customer and get their experience and get their input, uh, on it too. I mean, use your own brain as well. ‘Cause you said there are some intuitive things and you can have your unique experience. And I’d, I’d probably say for anybody, get, get a few different people’s experience of your business and try to get them to put words to what they’re good, the good, the bad, the ugly.

Jamie Sewell [00:33:33]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:33:33]:
Uh, right. And really it’s the bad and the ugly. That’s the most valuable stuff. Obviously it’s nice to hear the good stuff, but the, the bad and the ugly is really what you’re looking for. So find that blunt friend or friends that you got. And, uh, give them some free laundry service and hear about their experience.

Jamie Sewell [00:33:51]:
Yeah, I, uh, I’m gonna put together, uh, I don’t know if I’m gonna put it in Laundry University or not, but, uh, I’m gonna put it together for my own laundromat. And that’s like a secret shopper program because I want to know. And I’ve got really great customers who will tell me, like, and I’ve got their phone numbers, like I can call. I called one earlier today about something. You know, I can call them, which is, which is great. But I also don’t want to just like ask my customers like all the things that are right or wrong with my business. You know what I mean?

Jordan Berry [00:34:24]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:34:25]:
Um, I don’t want to put that on them. I think that’s just weird. Um, so I’m actually gonna start a secret shopper, um, process for my store because I really want to know and The interesting thing about that is, so there’s 5 areas that I assess my employees’ performance on. And so I actually now do quarterly performance evaluations with them, similar to actually what we did even at Alliance, which sounds maybe a little overkill, but when you break it down, everybody wants to know, like, where do I stand? So for my employees, it’s coming to work, schedule adherence, their appearance as a professional, their Google reviews, making sure that they are following their shift checklist. So we actually have like, did you do this or did you not? And we can measure that for each shift. Uh, and then the number of pounds that they’re processing per shift. So, you know, it becomes like a very easy way to measure, like, does this per— does this person deserve a raise? Um, how, like, how are they actually doing? And I think that the, something like a secret shopper, um, process just fits right in there, right? Because then it’s like another data point to say, like, this person is crushing it. Or like this person needs some improvement.

Jamie Sewell [00:36:00]:
And, you know, earlier we were talking about like how you keep somebody at like a 10 and it’s like something like a secret shopper is gonna help that happen.

Jordan Berry [00:36:10]:
Yeah. I love that. I think you should set it up as a service for the industry. That would be, that’d be money. I think.

Jamie Sewell [00:36:18]:
I, I wanna test it first. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:36:22]:
Yeah. So I think, I think once you got it down, I mean, ’cause I, you know, we, we do like when we have our, our mastermind groups and stuff over here, you know, we, we encourage people to do what, what I call an outside eyes audit, right? It’s like really, you know how like, you know, you can go nose blind to stuff. Like if your house has a unique scent, you don’t smell it, or—

Jamie Sewell [00:36:43]:
Yes.

Jordan Berry [00:36:44]:
You have a teenage boy in the house who reeks. but they don’t know it, you know? I’m just kidding. My son’s right here, so that’s why I said that. He just walked by. Uh, you know, but, but similarly, like, we get to our own laundromats and, you know, we don’t see things that other people see because we just get used to them, right?

Jamie Sewell [00:37:07]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:37:07]:
And I know probably for a lot of laundromat owners out there right now, and probably myself too, even, even just at my house, you know, there’s things that I kind of know I need to do to, you know, touch stuff up and stuff. But it kind of falls down the priority list, or I forget about it because it’s been like that for a while or whatever. Yeah, doing like those outside eyes audits, secret shopper type thing. I mean, those are, you know, input, you know, it’s, it’s, uh, it’s like one of those things where it’s easier to see and solve other people’s problems than yourself, right?

Jamie Sewell [00:37:39]:
Totally.

Jordan Berry [00:37:40]:
And so get those other people to see the problems so that you can get out there and fix them, because we go We go blind to ’em sometimes. So I think it’s, I think it’s genius.

Jamie Sewell [00:37:49]:
Well, and also I think it’s about like maintaining momentum and like the thing is, is like it’s so easy for somebody else to do that, you know, like boom, boom, boom, quick.

Jordan Berry [00:37:59]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:38:00]:
Like for us, like the amount of like mental energy that it takes for us to try to like make sure that we’re catching everything, like I think it like kind of slows us down. For sure it does.

Jordan Berry [00:38:13]:
And so I’ve shared before that I’m like naturally lone wolfy over here. Uh, it’s my like natural tendency, like, oh, I’ll just solve the problem, or I’ll just do it, or I’ll just, I can take care of it, right? That’s like my natural tendency. And I’m, I have to make a conscious and concerted effort to keep that in mind. Like, hey, when I out, like, you know, editing the podcast episodes, I used to do all the podcast episodes. And then I started like wearing out and burning out and, you know, the episodes would slip and I’d be like, well, you know, whatever. But then when I hired an editor, it’s like, oh dude, the episodes are better.

Jamie Sewell [00:38:54]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:38:54]:
They get done.

Jamie Sewell [00:38:55]:
Right.

Jordan Berry [00:38:55]:
And Tristan, who’s the editor, is just an awesome person even just to have in my life. Right. So, um, I’m, that’s, that’s something I’m proactively working on and have been on myself. Uh, but there’s so much wisdom in it.

Jamie Sewell [00:39:11]:
Yeah, because it’s like your zone of genius, right? Like, yeah, like nobody’s gonna put on your tombstone— for mine, nobody’s gonna put on your tombstone like, Jordan Berry, awesome at video editing. No, right? Like, it’s just not ever gonna be what you’re known for. You might be known for making great videos, And great content, but, you know, maybe, well, hopefully you’re gonna be known for helping people make a lot of money and avoid a lot of bad decisions.

Jordan Berry [00:39:43]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:39:44]:
Um, you know, so it’s like, just stay in your zone of genius.

Jordan Berry [00:39:48]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s so simple, you know, but it can be difficult to do. Right. And especially I would say too, like when you’re getting started, like not to go back to Laundry University again, but like when you’re getting started, you know, you, when you start something new, you either have capital to put towards it, like money, financial capital, or you’ve got time and energy to put towards it. And if you don’t have a lot of money, you’re doing a lot of things, right?

Jamie Sewell [00:40:17]:
Yep.

Jordan Berry [00:40:18]:
And that’s how I got started in the industry. And so making that transition can be very difficult to do also, because you get this mentality of like, Or I, I, I got this mentality of like, I gotta keep the store clean and I gotta, you know, make sure that, you know, everything is running smoothly and properly. And I gotta do the marketing and I gotta make sure, you know, this and that and that, the books and collections and fix all the problems and repair the machine. Like it can just get to be so much.

Jamie Sewell [00:40:48]:
I know.

Jordan Berry [00:40:50]:
But for me at least, transitioning from that was a process and was not something I was doing intentionally. But I think that it’s something we should all, no matter where you’re starting, whether you’re starting with capital and you’re outsourcing stuff right away, or you’re bootstrapping it and having to do a lot of stuff, the plan should always be, how do I keep moving up the tier of getting to my zone of genius and spending the majority of my time There, like you’re saying.

Jamie Sewell [00:41:22]:
Yeah. Yeah. You know, uh, part of, and I think it’s important for everybody to know like what their process for like identifying their zone of genius is. And like part of my, I feel like a lot of times people’s process involves exercise. Like for me, it’s yoga. Like I usually do yoga at 6:00 AM and like That’s when I realized I needed to hire a store manager.

Jordan Berry [00:41:51]:
Mm-hmm.

Jamie Sewell [00:41:52]:
You know, um, I, I started my laundromat in Ohio, I moved to Florida, and so I was a lot more hands-on. The store was running much better, um, because I was around. And then, um, I’m like, I gotta get some stuff off my plate, but I wasn’t really sure exactly what I wanted to put— take off my plate. And like, I was just doing yoga one morning and it was like, you’re going to hire a manager and they’re going to do this, this, this, this, this. And you’re going to keep, you know, these few things. And like, I got a manager, a great manager within a week, you know, and he’s still with me, you know, more than a year later.

Jordan Berry [00:42:31]:
Mm-hmm.

Jamie Sewell [00:42:32]:
And so I think it’s just like even understanding like, how do I get into flow? Like, how do I get into flow state? You know, because then the answers can come so much faster. Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:42:41]:
Yeah. And I remember, I, I think I did an episode on this like a long time ago. I don’t even know when, but one of the things that I learned after struggling for so many years, cuz I was doing everything, is getting a little space in your life, whether that’s doing yoga or You know, now I like to just go sit on the beach right there and watch the waves or, you know, whatever. Go for a walk on the beach.

Jamie Sewell [00:43:10]:
I think that, I mean, that’s flow state. Look, the waves are flowing.

Jordan Berry [00:43:14]:
That’s right. It’s literally flow state. I love it.

Jamie Sewell [00:43:17]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:43:17]:
Uh, but finding space in your life to think and dream and to take all the pressure off, it’s easier said than done to get there sometimes. But I would say it’s critical.

Jamie Sewell [00:43:33]:
Mm-hmm.

Jordan Berry [00:43:34]:
I would say it’s critical to find space, whether you have to buy it by hiring somebody to take on tasks that drain you. I think I shared this, like the first time I ever hired an admin to help me with Laundromat Resource stuff, I gave her what was weeks worth of work for me. And I apologized to her. I said, I’m sorry, I’m just like behind. Here’s, Weeks worth of work and it’s tedious. I hated every second of it. She finished it in half a day and said, what else do you need me to do? And I was simultaneously flabbergasted and panicked a little bit. Like, can I keep this person busy?

Jamie Sewell [00:44:15]:
Uh, yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:44:15]:
I don’t know if I have enough. That was like weeks of stuff, right? But, but talk about zone of genius. Um, and then the time it freed up for me, was huge because it allowed me to explore new ideas, explore new, uh, you know, directions for my business, explore ways to expand, do things that were more enjoyable both in my business and outside of my business, right? And just improve life. But that space is critical, and I think you need to put it on the calendar and then just keep it sacred because stuff will always come up. There’s always more to do when you own your own business. It doesn’t matter. You gotta put it on the calendar, keep it sacred, find a quiet spot. Don’t scroll, you know, doom scroll and fry your brain.

Jordan Berry [00:45:04]:
Like be, be quiet and, and think.

Jamie Sewell [00:45:09]:
I don’t know. My soapbox.

Jordan Berry [00:45:10]:
I’m gonna get off the soapbox.

Jamie Sewell [00:45:12]:
My best business, um, planning session recently was at a Korean spa. You ever been to Korean spa?

Jordan Berry [00:45:21]:
No.

Jamie Sewell [00:45:22]:
Well, first of all, it’s life-changing.

Jordan Berry [00:45:24]:
Okay.

Jamie Sewell [00:45:25]:
Second of all, it will make you a little bit uncomfortable. Yeah, it will make you a little bit uncomfortable at first. And then you’re like, whatever. Because you do have to be naked.

Jordan Berry [00:45:36]:
Okay.

Jamie Sewell [00:45:36]:
I didn’t know we were gonna go here. But we’re going here.

Jordan Berry [00:45:38]:
We’re gonna— I’m normally just walking around in a Speedo all day anyway. So I’m like mostly there. So yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:45:44]:
So, um, so you learn, you know, you learn a lot about yourself and your friends if you’re trying to bring your friends with you.

Jordan Berry [00:45:50]:
Okay.

Jamie Sewell [00:45:51]:
You know, um, I don’t know, maybe it’s less, maybe it’s less of a thing for guys. I don’t know.

Jordan Berry [00:45:56]:
I’ll let you know. I’ll let you know. But next episode we do—

Jamie Sewell [00:45:59]:
what’s that?

Jordan Berry [00:46:00]:
The next episode we do together, I’ll let you know.

Jamie Sewell [00:46:03]:
Yeah. Well, you know, um, if anybody has experience at the Korean spa, you can drop your comments.

Jordan Berry [00:46:09]:
Yeah, that’s right.

Jamie Sewell [00:46:12]:
But that was really like my best, um, business thinking recently. To your point, you can’t have your phone, right? So there’s no scrolling. And, um, I did not plan on thinking about work at all. I was there to relax. And then I had space. It’s quiet. There’s nothing going on. And, I actually had to go— there’s a really great Korean restaurant in this spa and you are clothed in the restaurant.

Jordan Berry [00:46:47]:
I was going to say, do you have to be naked for the restaurant?

Jamie Sewell [00:46:49]:
No, it would be weird. Okay.

Jordan Berry [00:46:50]:
Yeah, it would be.

Jamie Sewell [00:46:51]:
That would be weird. And yeah, I had to borrow some paper from the restaurant because I’m like, shoot, I need to write this stuff down. Uh, because it was like, you know, giving me space to think. And also, you know, I, I felt great afterwards. So it was really like 2 for 1.

Jordan Berry [00:47:14]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:47:15]:
Next time I’m gonna, you know, charge it to the business.

Jordan Berry [00:47:18]:
I was gonna say, it sounds like a business write-off to me. I think it sounds like a business meeting.

Jamie Sewell [00:47:24]:
Uh, yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:47:25]:
Yeah. Well, I mean, and it’s so, I think it’s really easy. You know, one of the, one of the things that I’ve been Realizing for myself in the way that I want to run my businesses is, you know, I started off doing all the things, mopping, cleaning out the lint, all the things. And I, and, and, you know, there’s the whole like dream or ideal of this passive income thing, right? Where you don’t do anything at all. Right. And then I think what we do is we move up the spectrum, or like, that’s the goal, right? But what I see for a lot of owners is they get stuck somewhere on the spectrum and they just settle into there, right? Some people, and I’ll say this too, is there’s no right or wrong. There’s no place where you should stop or shouldn’t stop or any of that. There’s nothing like that.

Jamie Sewell [00:48:23]:
Right.

Jordan Berry [00:48:24]:
But, you know, some people, they do go and sit in their laundromat all day, every day.

Jamie Sewell [00:48:29]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:48:29]:
It’s not the aspiration of most people, but they like doing it or they want to do it.

Jamie Sewell [00:48:33]:
Right.

Jordan Berry [00:48:33]:
Or it’s just what they do and they do that. And I think a lot of people get to a place where they hire attendants or people who process their laundry and they don’t do that part of it, but maybe they’re managing, you know, other parts of the business, right? And I, I think that one thing that I think that we need to do intentionally is figure out what we want our lives to look like and how do our businesses, whether it’s a laundromat, Laundry University, some other business, how does that help us build the life we want? Right. And I do so much consulting.

Jamie Sewell [00:49:14]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:49:14]:
I hear people all the time saying, I have a 9 to 5. And I want to get out of that. And I get that completely. Um, but you know, one conversation I had with my dad when he’s getting ready to retire, I was like, okay, you’re retiring from your job, but what are you retiring to? Right? And there’s all these stats about people who retire, and people who retire from something don’t typically last that long after they retire.

Jamie Sewell [00:49:40]:
Right.

Jordan Berry [00:49:41]:
And people who retire to something live longer and have fuller lives and more meaningful lives. Right. And so, you know, just getting out of your 9 to 5 is great, but you, you’ve gotta dream up, you gotta have that space, right, to dream up, what do I want life to look like? And is laundromat the right vehicle?

Jamie Sewell [00:49:59]:
Right.

Jordan Berry [00:50:00]:
And where kind of on that spectrum do I need to get to, to make life what I want it to look like? And that’s what I did. You know, when I was like, hey, there’s this house for sale on the beach in Hawaii, I’m interested in that.

Jamie Sewell [00:50:16]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:50:16]:
My life currently does not look like how it needs to look to be able to do that. What do I need to do? Right. So I had to reassess that. Uh, yeah. Again, another soapbox. Sorry.

Jamie Sewell [00:50:28]:
But, uh, see, this is why I love talking to you, Jordan, because like, I feel like we, we have these deeper conversations. I know it’s about laundry. But it’s also about life, you know what I mean?

Jordan Berry [00:50:39]:
That’s right.

Jamie Sewell [00:50:39]:
Like, and I think laundry is one of the facilitators, right, that lets us enjoy our lives more.

Jordan Berry [00:50:46]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [00:50:47]:
Right.

Jordan Berry [00:50:47]:
Um, I think that’s what makes the business so attractive.

Jamie Sewell [00:50:50]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:50:50]:
Is that you can build a life that you want with a business like a laundromat. And it’s not, it’s sold as passive, but passive or active, I like, to me it’s all irrelevant. It matters of can you build the life that you want with the business that you have? And if the answer is yes, the other question that I think we forget to answer or ask ourselves is, is that what we’re doing? You know, it’s easy to get into the day-to-day grind of running your business because there’s always problems, but are we still striving for that?

Jamie Sewell [00:51:26]:
Yeah, you know, it’s like, um, lean into Like what lights you up, you know what I mean? Like, it’s like follow your excitement. And it’s like not every day, every task is gonna be like the most exciting, but like follow your excitement. I think that’s one of the things that I’ve just learned a lot over the past few years is, um, you know, sometimes like the things that come the easiest to us, we dismiss. But that’s like, you know, part of our superpower is like those, those pieces. And then it like takes us like forever to realize like, oh yeah, this was like the simplest. It makes me the most money and I like it the most. You know, I think that, um, that was, I think a lot.

Jordan Berry [00:52:14]:
That was a big one for me when I first started consulting. I was like, you know, I, I, I consulted for free for like a year and a half because I, you know, I had like imposter syndrome and, you know, like I was like, well, you know, and I was genuinely trying to help people and stuff. But the only reason I ever started charging was because I was too overwhelmed. There’s too many people. Um, and I was trying to just kind of dull it down a little bit.

Jamie Sewell [00:52:43]:
Uh-huh.

Jordan Berry [00:52:43]:
And like, it was overwhelming my life. But, you know, with that, when I, when I started, you know, charging for consulting, it was like, I felt weird about it because I’m like, I’m not saying anything special. Like, and it took having other people in my life saying the things that, you know, the experience that you have, the people you’ve talked to, the things that you’ve learned, The businesses you’ve run, not everybody has that experience, right?

Jamie Sewell [00:53:19]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [00:53:20]:
And it took me, my thick skull, a while to realize like, oh, it seems easy to me and obvious to me, but it’s not obvious to everybody. And I didn’t realize that to your point of like, the thing that seems easy and obvious to you is often your area of expertise and is worth something to yourself and maybe to other people as well.

Jamie Sewell [00:53:44]:
Yeah. Yeah, I think that’s so true. You know, the other thing when you’re talking about like folks who want to get away from their 9 to 5s, um, one of the things I realized it, it only recently actually. So I’ve been an entrepreneur of sorts for almost the better part of like 10 years. and almost completely an entrepreneur the past 6. And I thought that I wanted to chart my own course, which is great, but there was also an element of I had some setbacks that I didn’t see coming a while back. Uh, I thought, you know, I wanna be in control of my destiny and control. But what I’ve realized is that even as an entrepreneur, you can’t control everything.

Jamie Sewell [00:54:47]:
And there’s gonna be things that come outta nowhere that you never could have expected or never could have seen coming. And so that’s why I come back to like, follow your excitement and follow what brings you joy. Because, um, you know, like, it’s like chart your own course, be your own boss. But then it’s like, oh crap, like—

Jordan Berry [00:55:10]:
I’m my own boss.

Jamie Sewell [00:55:11]:
I gotta, I gotta pay my mortgage, you know what I mean? Uh, I gotta like feed my kids. And so it’s like, there’s— I think that entrepreneurship has been kind of sold as like the mecca Like, it’s been like, this is the thing we all want, we’re all working towards. And like, a lot of us are— probably a lot of people that are watching this podcast really probably are entrepreneurs, and that really is kind of like their heart’s desire. But I also think it’s— we’ve kind of like made entrepreneurship kind of this thing that it’s really not, you know, where it’s, it’s great because you have freedom. But it doesn’t really insulate you from things, um, that, you know, you think you have more control, but sometimes you actually don’t have more control.

Jordan Berry [00:56:01]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s not for the faint of heart. Uh, that’s for sure.

Jamie Sewell [00:56:07]:
It’s really not.

Jordan Berry [00:56:08]:
It’s not. Yeah. I think that’s, I think that’s huge. Uh, I mean, I feel like we could keep going, uh, with this because I feel like all of our episodes end up talking about the life stuff and maybe kind of bigger picture.

Jamie Sewell [00:56:24]:
Okay. Coming to a computer near you, Jordan and Jamie’s Life Course.

Jordan Berry [00:56:30]:
Life Course. Here’s how to live your life. Actually, maybe, maybe we should do Jamie’s Life Course. And, uh, I don’t know. I don’t know if anybody wants to take life advice from me. I’m not sure. Um, But hey, okay, listen, I wanna, I wanna bring us back for just a second to the laundromat industry. I mean, you have this varied experience of having worked with manufacturer and the CLA, but also in the business, Laundry University, kind of this breadth of experience in the industry.

Jordan Berry [00:57:04]:
Tell me just from your experience and your perspective right now, in having just come back from this conference to and all that, right? What do we as owners need to know about our industry? It’s very easy to get head down on our businesses and see the micro, and it’s harder to see the macro. I think we have like a unique position where we can see a little bit of the macro as well. So I’m just kind of curious, like, what do we need to know as owners? about our industry now?

Jamie Sewell [00:57:40]:
Well, what I’ve actually— I, I think there’s a few things. One thing that comes to mind is like, you know, start with the end in mind, right? Kind of what you were talking about earlier is like, maybe you don’t have all your goals mapped out, or maybe you’ve got like your 20 or 30-year goal, and then maybe you’ve got like year 5, and then you’re like, well, how does that help me now, right? And so it’s like working backwards to to figure out what you need to do to hit those goals. And then also, like, what’s the next step? I know a couple years ago, I could see kind of like the bigger picture, but then I would get like really stuck on like, oh, how to like plan it all out. And what helped me was actually just focusing on 90 days at a time. So like commit to something. So if you’re like, oh, I don’t know if I Want to go just do another store, or I want to launch pickup and delivery. Like, pick one thing and commit to it. Like, go all in for 90 days.

Jamie Sewell [00:58:45]:
And then at the end of those 90 days, see, like, do I keep going with what I’m, what I’m working on? Or have I gotten clarity here and actually I need to go in this other direction? Because it’s not necessarily that it’s an either or. And I think that’s where we get zoomed in, is like it’s an either/or. But so it’s like, um, zoom out, but then also like pick one thing and like commit to that. And then know that you still have these other things, but you’re gonna like try the next thing.

Jordan Berry [00:59:15]:
Mm-hmm.

Jamie Sewell [00:59:16]:
Um, so, so that’s the, the thing that I think helps me. And then the other thing is there’s a lot happening right now with the world. Not, you know, there’s a lot happening with our industry. There’s a lot happening with the world. And to me, what it comes down to is like, run your own race. Uh, and I think that’s really important for all of us because if we start looking at, you know, what this person’s doing and what this person’s doing and what this person says and our competitor down the street and this person over here, we are gonna get so turned around. And we’re going to miss sight of the path forward. And also, it doesn’t matter if there’s other competitors that are doing something similar to you.

Jamie Sewell [01:00:07]:
Maybe you’ll lose some deals to them. Maybe you’re not going to get all of it, but focus on what you need to do. Run your own race and see where that gets you. And then I think it goes back to follow your interest and excitement, um, and just like, just do that. You know what I mean?

Jordan Berry [01:00:27]:
Yeah. Yeah. I, I love all, all of that advice. I mean, I think it’s so good. I, and I would say too, the, the run your own race thing, I think that applies both ways, right? Like, don’t worry about what other people are doing and what other people are saying and that kind of thing, but also. On the flip side, I see, I don’t see a lot of this, but I do see some people criticizing other people’s laundromats or the way they do the business and that kind of thing. And just run your own race, right? Like, I get it. There’s a lot of laundromats out there that I would say are underperforming and are not serving their communities well.

Jordan Berry [01:01:09]:
But I also know that there’s a lot of different situations people were going through, and there’s a lot of different, uh, ways that people struggle, and that everybody’s doing the best that they can. Um, and, you know, so that running your race, I think, can go both ways, you know.

Jamie Sewell [01:01:30]:
100%.

Jordan Berry [01:01:31]:
Don’t worry about what other people are doing, but also don’t worry about what other people are doing. Like, do your own thing, uh, kind of thing. So, yeah.

Jamie Sewell [01:01:38]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:01:40]:
Right. Yeah, that’s— I, I love that. I love that. Um, is there any— like, we talked a little bit about new technology and new tools that we have available to us. Is there anything that you’re particularly excited about that’s either happening now or coming up, or you hope is coming up, or you think maybe is coming up for our industry?

Jamie Sewell [01:02:04]:
Oh, That’s like a million-dollar question, you know, maybe a billion-dollar question.

Jordan Berry [01:02:08]:
Yeah, maybe. Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [01:02:11]:
You know, I think, um, depends on your answer. Yeah, right. I think that in 5 years our industry might be unrecognizable. I don’t even know exactly what that means, but that’s how fast I think it’s changing. And, you know, also consumer behavior continues to change. Um, and so I think that’s my biggest prediction is I don’t even— I don’t think any of us really have a clue on how much it’s going to change. Um, at the Wash Day Fold conference, you know, I think we already talked about this earlier, but like the, the AI cameras, um, with like how fast can you process laundry. And, um, and shoot, like, could it also tell you, um, if the order— a wash, dry, fold order— is processed properly, you know? And obviously it can help you figure out if something’s lost, um, you know.

Jamie Sewell [01:03:17]:
So I mean, that’s just like— I mean, but that’s like here. Like, it’s not, you know, it hasn’t It’s not spread out to every laundromat yet, but that technology is already existing, you know. And I’ve always expected, um, technology to help us like hyper-personalize. Like, you know, you walk into a laundromat and maybe, maybe it’s not this version because this version might not have enough privacy, but like, hey, welcome to Clean Vibes, Jordan.

Jordan Berry [01:03:44]:
Mm-hmm.

Jamie Sewell [01:03:45]:
Hey, would you like your 60-pound machine Again, and like, would you like, you know, the Tide soap that you picked last time injected into the machine for you? You know, or like, are we going to have robots that like bring you coffee? Like maybe they can’t fold your clothes yet, but can they make you, you know, a cold brew? I just don’t think we have any idea of what’s, you know, already in the works, quite frankly, and how it’s going to all come together.

Jordan Berry [01:04:17]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [01:04:18]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:04:18]:
Yeah. And I think, I think it maybe it was before we were recording, we were kind of talking about the AI camera tracking stuff and, you know, and then we’re talking about Laundry University, right? And like professionalizing thing, you know, I think there’s a very real potential that our little laundromats turn into like little factories basically that are, you know, cranking stuff out and able to do. you know, process more capacity and, you know, serve better, you know, whatever that looks like, whether it’s cold brew from a robot or, you know, whatever, or personalization. I love the personalization idea. Like, I think that that is probably coming.

Jamie Sewell [01:04:57]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:04:58]:
You know, I know I’ve seen, um, people using like Meta glasses, uh, to record stuff. Um, yeah, I, like, I, I think that there’s, you know, augmented reality really hasn’t hit hard yet. I think in, in general, in our society and definitely not in our industry, but I think that that is coming and can change some of the game. You know, it, it’s obviously robotics. Like, I think it’s really interesting time. And I, you know, the hot take, the industry may be unrecognizable in 5 years. I, definitely can see that as plausible. Obviously we’re still going to have some laundromats that are run the way that they’re run and have been run forever, but maybe it’s 10 years.

Jamie Sewell [01:05:45]:
But you know what’s so interesting is I used to work for a touchscreen technology company, uh, in Austin, and in, oh, what year was that? Probably 2010. I helped our CTO create a present— a presentation called An iPhone is all you’ll need. You know, it was like, yep, you don’t need to worry about any car keys, any house keys, a credit card, your driver’s license, a computer. Like, that happened.

Jordan Berry [01:06:21]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [01:06:23]:
So it was slightly, I think it said within 5 years was its prediction. So it wasn’t quite 5 years, but it wasn’t far off.

Jordan Berry [01:06:34]:
Yeah, I know. Well, and the rate of change right now, I think there’s a lot happening behind the scenes with AI and robotics, uh, that, you know, in, in virtual reality and augmented reality and like stuff like that, that there’s this pressure building that I think will eventually break the dam and, you know, we’re gonna hit a threshold point where that stuff is just fully integrated to everyday stuff, including our businesses. Um, so I think—

Jamie Sewell [01:07:08]:
Yeah. And, you know, we see this.

Jordan Berry [01:07:10]:
You know, to your point, I think it’s more important than ever. This is not something we’ve been traditionally good at in our industry, but I think it’s more important than ever. That we as laundromat owners and as business owners are paying attention to new technology, to AI, to what’s happening in our industry, because the, the people who are paying attention to that are going to be running businesses that compound in like exponentially better than A traditional laundromat. And you will get left behind in this business if you’re not paying attention to that.

Jamie Sewell [01:07:56]:
For sure. You know, but I think that’s where, uh, you know, Claude AI or, you know, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, whatever you want to use. It’s like we were talking about this earlier too. Like you could just give AI your data and let it help, like, ask it to help you assess what’s important. Like, that’s amazing, you know? So then I think it comes down to like, okay, just creating enough space, um, so that you can have the time to, to work with AI and, you know, assess those questions in your business.

Jordan Berry [01:08:41]:
Yeah, full circle, full circle, full circle. I feel like we just solved like everybody’s problems.

Jamie Sewell [01:08:48]:
We said we solved everybody’s problems today.

Jordan Berry [01:08:50]:
It’s a pretty— and we talked about naked South Korean spas. And I mean, we like not only solved problems, we did it in style, I would say.

Jamie Sewell [01:09:02]:
I mean, it was unexpected, right?

Jordan Berry [01:09:03]:
Jerseys.

Jamie Sewell [01:09:04]:
You never— you never— like nobody ever saw that coming.

Jordan Berry [01:09:08]:
But like, well, we did. We knew, we knew this is what we were doing. We’re solving problems, right?

Jamie Sewell [01:09:12]:
Okay. Yeah. You know, but look, it’s, um, you don’t wanna be boring.

Jordan Berry [01:09:18]:
No, no.

Jamie Sewell [01:09:19]:
So be unexpected.

Jordan Berry [01:09:21]:
That’s right. And here we are solving problems for everybody. Uh, but Jamie, genuinely, this, uh, this really has been a fascinating episode. I mean, I think having your You know, boots on the ground experience as a laundromat owner, obviously super valuable, but also having your kind of broader perspective, uh, as well, super valuable. And, you know, jumping into the game here with Laundry University and, you know, getting people, you know, up to par, up to snuff, rising, rising that tide, you know, that’s bringing, bringing everybody up.

Jamie Sewell [01:09:58]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:09:59]:
Uh, it’s huge doing big things. Um, checking my Claude right now. We don’t have a distributorship that we’ve acquired yet. Um, but something we’ll keep working on.

Jamie Sewell [01:10:09]:
Uh, all right. Well, look, if anybody would like to buy machines, to buy a jersey, or, I mean, I think people are going to be in for this life course.

Jordan Berry [01:10:18]:
Yeah.

Jamie Sewell [01:10:18]:
You know, the Jordan Jamie life course.

Jordan Berry [01:10:20]:
We’ll put it together. Just reach out. We’ll put it together.

Jamie Sewell [01:10:23]:
Coffee book, like coffee table book. Yeah. Like, yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:10:26]:
Yeah, whatever. We’re, we’re selling it all over here today. It’s great. It’s great.

Jamie Sewell [01:10:31]:
Yeah.

Jordan Berry [01:10:32]:
Uh, but, but genuinely, if you’re, if you’re looking to, you know, start or level up your wash and fold game, definitely check out laundry-university.com, uh, over there. That mastermind, no-brainer to me. If that’s something that you’re interested in, uh, do that. Drop us an email or a comment if you want any of the other stuff going on. If you’re a distributor out there looking to sell, Hit us up. We might be interested. We might be interested. I don’t know.

Jamie Sewell [01:11:01]:
We’ll see. We’ll see.

Jordan Berry [01:11:02]:
Hit us up for sure. Uh, any parting words of wisdom from you?

Jamie Sewell [01:11:06]:
Uh, it was great to see you. Um, if anybody has any questions, uh, you can email me at [email protected]. And, um, you know, I think I will be adding more masterminds as we go along. Um, my next one will probably be a marketing one. You know, so if people are like, ah, I don’t really need, you know, I’m not a new owner anymore, you know, but you’re interested in the marketing one, let me know.

Jordan Berry [01:11:35]:
Well, and it’s a natural kind of step too, right? Like get your business established and then you gotta get the word out there. So I love that. And then you’re—

Jamie Sewell [01:11:41]:
Absolutely.

Jordan Berry [01:11:41]:
Obviously a marketing expert. So, uh, natural in all sorts of ways. No-brainer. Uh, check it out. Check it out.

Jamie Sewell [01:11:48]:
Thanks so much, Jordan.

Jordan Berry [01:11:49]:
Jump in those. Thank you for taking the time to come on and, uh, You know, hopefully I didn’t turn it into too much of a commercial, uh, for you, but even if so, you know, hopefully it benefits you and everybody else who’s buying your stuff. Um, but always, always, always a pleasure, uh, having you on. Anytime you want to come on, you have an open invitation for sure.

Jamie Sewell [01:12:09]:
Thank you, my friend. Yeah, it’s great to see you.

Jordan Berry [01:12:12]:
Likewise.

Jamie Sewell [01:12:12]:
And I’ll see you again, I’m sure.

Jordan Berry [01:12:14]:
Let’s not, let’s not do it. Let’s not wait too long to do the next one.

Jamie Sewell [01:12:17]:
Let’s do it.

Jordan Berry [01:12:18]:
All right. All right. I hope you loved that. Fun fact that I learned, I can’t remember if it was before we recorded or during the recording, but Jamie’s husband is 7 foot tall. What? What? Insane. Uh, anyways, I hope you love that episode. And as always, just keep in mind that you will have wasted all of this time listening to this episode if you don’t take any action on something you heard today. So pick one thing, Put it into action, big or small.

Jordan Berry [01:12:47]:
We need to stack those wins with taking action. It’s literally the only thing that’s gonna help you achieve whatever your goals are, is taking action. All right. With that said, I’ll see you next week and we’ll all be a little bit better for having taken some action. Right? Right.

Jamie Sewell [01:13:03]:
Peace.