Branden Unnerstall is an All-Star! Today he shares the incredible wisdom he’s gained from growing up in the laundromat industry from diapers to now owning 10 laundromats in 2 states. All before 30 years old!
In this episode we talk a little bit about what it’s like growing up in the laundromat industry, how his family has scaled to building their 10th laundromat, and what his secrets are to his early success!
This episode is packed with great advice for those wanting to buy a laundromat and also for current owners wanting to improve their laundromats! Don’t miss it! And be sure to reach out to Branden to say thanks for giving us all so much of his time and knowledge!
Listen To The Podcast Here
Watch The Podcast Here
Jump To These Show Segments
Interview Starts: 5:47
Down to Business: 21:04
Secret Sauce: 31:46
Pro Tips: 39:44
Recommended Resources: 42:15
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Links from the show
- Laundromat Resource Forums
- Laundromat Resource Blog
- Be a guest on the podcast!
- Buy a laundromat
- Sell your laundromat
Resources from the show
- Laundromat Resource
- Start With Why
- Good to Great
- How Did You Do It, Truett? A Recipe For Success.
- Les Brown Speech- You’ve Gotta Be Hungry
Connect with Branden
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @mr_unnerstall
Episode Transcript
[Music]
[Applause]
you’re listening to the laundromat
resource podcast the show by laundromat
owners for laundromat owners with your
hosts Jordan
hahaha right what’s up guys this is
Jordan from laundromat resource calm and
a loner Matt resource podcast this is
show number 7 and I hope you’re pumped
here today because today apparently
we’re getting a little gangster that
intro was a little bit gangster for me
so turn your hat sideways get excited
because today we have on an incredible
guest his name’s Brendan under stall he
reached out to me on Instagram and he’s
like hey I have a story to share I have
some stuff that I think will benefit
some other people and that was the
understatement of the year because
Brandon basically grew up in the
laundromat industry since he was in
diapers he’s not even close to 30 yet
and they’re building their tenth store
right now and so this episode is packed
with just wisdom and tips from Brandon
and he just brings it it’s it’s
literally packed and there you’re gonna
find so many valuable things in fact
there’s there’s so much in there I put
links to everything if you’re on youtube
it’s down in the description if you’re
on the podcast it’s in the show notes
you can find those at lauder matt
resource calm / shows seven and this is
with Brandon under stall so get super
excited about this because he’s
literally not only bringing a ton of
things that you can implement in your
business but he’s just a good dude and
we had a ton of fun recording this
episodes and I think we’re gonna have a
lot of fun listening to it but before we
get there real quick I wanted to
highlight a question that came out the
forums this week from a Anne Marie and
Anne Marie has the question of all
questions she says how do I know if a
laundromat is a good deal and that is an
outstanding question because if you know
that then you’re gonna do well in this
business and I know a ton of you guys
know the answer to this question you
have tips to share you have wisdom to
share
so do Anne Marie a favor go help her out
go to laundromat resource comm slash
forums again link in the descriptions
and the show notes laundromat resource
comm slash forums click on Anne Murray’s
question and just give her a little bit
of wisdom help her out because it won’t
only help her out it’ll help a ton of
new people out everybody wants to know
this when they’re getting in the
industry how do I know if it’s a good
deal or not should I buy this laundromat
or shouldn’t I and I know so many of you
guys have wisdom to share there so a lot
of men resource comm slash forums and
help her out with that question and I’ll
actually want to challenge you guys to
do something this week because I know
that so many of us have wisdom and so
many of us have questions and me
included I know I have some stuff to
share but I also know I have some
questions and so I want to challenge
everybody to this week you know when
this episode is over go to a lot of Matt
resources comm slash forums and ask one
question and answer one question because
I do genuinely believe that we are all
gonna succeed more when we do this
together when we’re contributing to each
other when we’re interacting when we’re
networking be a part of the community so
go to lotta Matt resource comm slash
forums ask one question answer one
question and I think that’d be a lot of
fun this week I really want to come back
next week and share some of the
questions that you guys have asked and
and maybe even some of the answers that
you guys have given because I’d just be
super excited about that so so do that
again show notes for this episode
because there’s so much packed in there
is laundromat resource calm slash shows
seven so go check those out there
there’s links to everything we talk
about all the resources that are brought
up there’s links to all of those in
there and man again get excited about
this episode because it is incredible
and before we get into it here’s a quick
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description all right without further
ado let’s get into it with Brandon under
stall let’s do it all right what’s up
Brandon how you doing man how are you
doing I am doing awesome thanks for
being on the podcast I’ve been excited
since you reached out to me on Instagram
I’ve been excited to have you on and
hear your story and you know we talked a
little bit before this but you know you
just told me that you basically live and
breathe your businesses and I love that
so can’t wait to hear about that yes sir
yeah so I want to ask you a little bit
about your story here in a second but
before we do can you give us a little
context where you at right now so I am
on the edge of st. Louis so we live on
the Illinois side but half of our alarm
out sorry Illinois and the other half
are in Missouri so that’s awesome yeah
that’s awesome I want to ask you a
little bit later if there’s any
complications to being in two states or
you know different laws or different
ocassions or if it’s pretty similar so
but before we get there take us back you
know so I get asked all the time you
know when I tell people that I owned
laundromats people are like what you a
lot like where did that come from and so
where did that come from how’d you get
into laundromats so what happened was my
father started the business
in 1986 and so I basically grew up in a
loan amount it’s all I know
so that’s where we’re at he made me
clean the alarm at before I would go to
school in the morning he had one that
was unattended I would have to go there
every morning at like 5:30 get up go to
school make sure it’s to clean and go
there after school and then come home so
it’s all we know and there’s all
household is laundromats that is awesome
in fact last night my kids have been
I’ve been begging me to go help me clean
and so last night yeah that’s the last
night we just you know like two weeks
ago we had an employee he had a family
emergency so I’ve been kind of filling
in yeah and so last night we went and my
kids helped me kind of clean up and they
were wiping down carts and Feliciano
that’s right I’m so thankful my dad did
that like that was one of the best
things he could have done for me yeah
that’s awesome yeah I might go back and
forth sometimes they love it sometimes I
hate it so I guess that I get that a lot
yeah cool so you kind of grew up in yeah
in the industry so did you guys on one
or multiple when you were growing up or
how did that work so he owned I think he
owned five of them when like I was
really young
I have four brothers and a sister and
then so I just he had to have a lotta
Lotta that’s to feed all of us kids and
then whenever I graduated or when I was
a senior he built the third one or if he
sold some of them he built the third one
when I was a senior and I took off way
too many days of school and I had helped
with them and so I learned a lot and I
just knew like I don’t want to go to
college that’s what I wanted to do so
yeah yeah that’s that’s cool and I would
consider helping your dad with the
business and learning about the business
I’d consider that school yeah so I was a
private school kids so they allowed you
to do stuff like that yeah
that’s awesome that’s awesome well if
anybody had an issue with it just send
them to me and I’ll vouch for you yeah
good okay so so you had a bunch growing
up so how did you cuz you own some now
right is that true okay so we’re all
same all kind of
kind of going together okay okay as my
mother always gets some money at the end
of the day so yeah so you guys are just
slaving away for your mom yeah basically
yeah there’s a good life I love that I
love that so how did you get how’d you
get more involved did you go straight
after school or what so basically what
happened was there was a wonderment that
came up for sale like um one town across
from us and it was $40,000 and I bought
it and it was just disgusting I mean
everything about it was was your typical
laundromat I mean no air conditioned had
a fan in it every machine was a toddler
everything was broken and so I bought it
for $40,000 put some new machines in
there it did good but it never did great
because it was just such a small store
the cool things about the store was it
had a subsidized water bill because the
city has a refinery there so her water
bill was like $80 a month oh my gosh
yeah it was awesome so it’s like a
laundromat dream runs itself so yeah
that’s like I don’t pay for my house
that was my worst experience in the
lumber business I was like they’re all
gonna be like this yeah yeah so good
experience on the one hand and on the
other hand kind of spoiled you a little
bit yeah pretty good yeah yeah that’s
good okay so you you kind of redid that
one and it did it did okay and yeah and
uh okay so now like what is your what is
your role look like now so you know with
with the laundromats what do you do and
you know you say it’s a family business
so what are you doing with business so
basically my my father I try to learn as
much as from my father at pasta Kenny’s
the smartest guy I’ve ever met so I’m
very blessed to have him but then he’s
kind of trying to he’s slowing down and
stuff like that he’s older so I really
right now really he’s probably wisen up
and he’s acting like he’s slowing down
because he’s got a he’s got a mule now
the cool thing is we’ve learned so much
for the last few years like I mean I
don’t know in the like when I was
younger he used to always have to go
work on machine
I mean in alignment business you don’t
really have to do that anymore I mean
they should maintain themselves so I
mean if you’re doing things properly so
user only have to do much but our goal
is to build two stores every year so
that’s my focal point is to build two
long baths every year and just make sure
that the best wash experience is the
same throughout all the locations so I
usually try to go to each store once
maybe twice a week just to make sure
expectations are being that everything
is running well yeah
but we’re starting to pick up and
delivery so this week I’ve been training
a young man to help me out and to take
over that obligation which is no easy
task like I had imagined so yeah I mean
that’s a big I honestly I think that’s a
lot of where the law tamenund she’s
going right now is yeah up and delivery
and see I see quarter I see the coin
laundry side doing the same and probably
increasing a little bit but I also see a
huge opportunity so I said you know I
really like this kid he actually cleaned
a laundromat for her for me is when he
was in high school so before he went to
school and so he went to college and
then he got a job working for UPS and I
for some reason when we like I thought
about this I was like you’d be perfect
for that and so I just sent him a text
and he was like that sounds awesome and
let’s start it so we did dude so cool
exciting when did that start like when
did you Monday Monday had this like last
Monday yeah last month less than a week
ago so we’ve got three orders so far and
Pappajohn so I was stoked for that is
awesome yeah awesome well uh man well
that just means we’re gonna have to have
you back on down the line to hear how
pickup and delivery like this before man
you natural I can already tell it’s
awesome so cool man okay so I’m gonna
just jump ahead a little bit but I got
to know how many laundromats do you have
we’ve got nine or breaking
a 10th one and to me the first one from
the ground up next month I hope Wow yeah
I’m stoked
that’s awesome 9 laundromat is that
tough to manage not really
I probably should say yeah but no it’s
we’ve got we’ve got really good people
to help me out so that makes all the
difference everybody who I’ve talked to
who’s got a bunch of stores yeah if
they’re if they’re rolling it’s because
they have good people okay I’ll just you
say if they’re struggling it’s because
they don’t have good people have you
ever read the book good to great yes I’m
right yes that’s the best business book
there is but do you remember when they
talked about getting the right people on
the bus mm-hmm absolutely no sense
that’s a stupidest thing ever like I you
know it makes so much sense now that I
look back and I was like that guy’s a
genius
yeah yeah yeah maybe it doesn’t make
sense until you get the wrong one on the
bus and then you’re like oh right or II
take it the right one on the bus to have
you around intended that she can say she
was the wrong one or he was the wrong
one on the bus yeah tend to fight a
customer one time and I was like what is
happening right now yeah yeah it was
yeah not good get the right people on
the bus and read good to great I’ll link
that I’m gonna link that in the show
notes in case you want to get it get it
good – great good one I highly recommend
it yeah okay so you so you have nine
laundromats you’re breaking ground on
your 10th you guys are trying to buy –
every single month or every single year
here yeah have you read the 10x rule yes
I have okay let’s get on the bus man –
sounds like plenty yeah plenty for me
right now that’s pretty awesome now yeah
okay see you guys are you guys are
rolling and what what kinds of things
allow you to have that many laundromats
one is I just think having great people
around you mm-hmm
the other ones just having good
relationships with everybody like we
have we have a great plumber we have a
great electrician you know everybody
everybody knows what to do at this point
so they can just do it they can work by
themselves I mean I try to be on there
as much as I can to help them with
anything but just having the people that
can do it and think for themselves I
think it’s huge yeah yeah I think that’s
key to the the thing for themselves part
you know cuz if you got somebody asking
you every little thing then it just it
makes your work infinitely more
difficult and stressful and I also can’t
mentally take that like if my phone
rings over a certain amount of times a
day I just noticed that humming ain’t
like I’m not as happy of the person and
I don’t like doing that so you know
that’s just me yeah well this is kind of
a little bit off script but out of
curiosity and I know putting you on the
spot a little bit but out of curiosity
if if there’s somebody listening right
now maybe who owns like one laundromat
and they’re and they’re thinking about
maybe expanding to having multiple
locations is there anything any advice
you would give them or any ways that
that they could do that in like a way
that would be beneficial when you said
one is I would we like to own a real
estate I mean everybody’s not like that
like if you look at the will of her
brothers they have thousands of
laundromats it seems like and they do
unbelievable I mean they’re just
incredible and they have a different
philosophy than I do but I like to own
the real estate that we build on just
because so that’s one key thing for us
but we’re also in the Midwest so real
estate is really cheap for us so it
takes fan I would just say make sure
you’re one stores doing great before you
jump into another one I think that’s
good advice
I think it’s really good advice well
good okay so you have these nine
laundromats and you’re looking to buy
our to build because you’re not really
you’re not really buying existing
laundromats or are you know so like the
last one we did was a Hardee’s and then
one before that was a bank the other one
before that was a 7-eleven so we’ll go
anywhere where we can see basically what
I like to do is I like to see really
ugly laundromats
and then I go in there with just the
biggest smile in the world just build
the best watch learn about there so I
know that sounds terrible but that’s I
really good joy I’m fat
yeah I hate the thought of a hot dirty
water man that just drives me it’s 2020
we should not that should not be the
thought process of somebody when they
walk into a lot of that yeah you know
yeah and I think that that is I mean I
think that’s how laundromats have been
run for a realtor and and I you know
obviously I see that changing a lot you
know right now where people are coming
in and they’re they’re taking better
care of their customers by taking better
care of their stores and having the
right equipment and having the right
people on the bus first and I think
that’s the way it’s move in and you know
on the one hand it’s it’s sad for those
businesses that are gonna lose business
to a laundromat coming in but on the
other hand you know the customers
deserve better
so they do you know so I I’m with you I
think that’s an awesome you know
business model go find a community with
the need for a nice clean laundromat
with working machines and fill that need
it’s not that hard of a job that’s why I
was like that’s why I was like you know
this is really easy you know if you give
people what you know what’s common sense
they’ll don’t come to your business so
yeah I love that
so is that do you have any okay aside
from you know you’re starting to pick up
a delivery service and you’re trying to
build two laundromats a year do you have
any other kind of goals or aspirations
kind of looking towards the future or is
that what you’re focused on right now
and so I always said 50 water mats is my
goal 55 0 50 yeah so but I don’t know I
just I just love the process of things
so like if I won the lottery tomorrow
which I know you play the lottery but I
did I
silly the same thing I just I just enjoy
building one that’s just just one from
it’s just what I’ve always done so yeah
I think that’s awesome yeah so that’s
like my goal and then just honoring God
throughout the whole process
love that I love that and you know I
love you know I love the the 50
laundromat number you know I think
that’s it’s like it’s an audacious goal
but I I love it you know and I think
it’s something that’s totally doable and
it’s you know it’s it’s just a big goal
it’s something that I’ll stretch you but
it’s gentle I told my dad that when I
graduated high school I thought he
thought I was an idiot and now he knows
it’s achievable and so he’s like eight
now he just thinks I’m stupid for 151 or
Matt so it’s I went from an idiot to
just stupid now so okay making progress
baby stuff moving that’s awesome well
coolest so that’s a little bit of your
story and appreciate you sharing that
with us and how you kind of got it in
right now we have a little section we
like to call down to business
[Applause]
yeah it’s exciting
[Laughter]
down to business we just we want to hear
a little bit of kind of the details
about you know your your business is a
little bit so start off by telling us
again kind of where so you said you’re
in two different states tell us where
you’re where you’re located your
laundromats are located and and maybe in
this part kind of tell us a little bit
about if there are any differences
between the two different states yes so
we have three of them that are
unattended and then we have six of them
that are attended okay and so that’s
where I like is I like the attended
model better I mean everybody has a
different thing but I just like it
tended better because I feel that we can
give people better service not because
we make less money off of it it’s just I
think we can provide a better service
that way so yeah um don’t learn much
just cleaner you know people are I don’t
have as many phone calls I actually I
have more phone calls but they’re less
things that you know so I have to run to
the store so we have or on the Missouri
side and we have five on the Illinois
side our newest one is going to be in
the Missouri side so so we’re gonna have
five and five now awesome keeping it
keeping it equal yeah are there any gift
to run them any differently because
they’re in a different state or are
there any different regulations that you
have to we have a few more as are a
rougher neighborhoods so that’s I mean
you always kind of run things
differently that way right but for the
most part I mean things are pretty well
the same you don’t just treat people
with respect you know pay your taxes
it’s just simple stuff like that is yeah
same cool all right so you got nine
laundromats and you are breaking ground
on tenth and you said you like to buy
them with real estate so can you tell us
a little bit about what real estate you
have what do you mean by I’m sorry like
do you have so are do you have real
estate with all of your laundromats or
we have real estate on eight of them on
this last one that we just did we rented
it and to be honest with you I didn’t
even want to do it because it was in a
rental building ISM it’s big strip
center it’s right up the street from
where one of our other ones one of our
unattended ones and the lady it was she
was just getting older she didn’t want
to do it anymore and I actually told her
no and she called me back like two
months later and she’s like would you
consider it for this amount I was like
hey I really don’t have to pay the
landlord so I feel guilty about how good
of a deal we got off of it because but
things worked out for the best
so yeah I knew I walked away happy yeah
and you know they probably helped her
out and she yeah so nothing to feel
guilty about there that’s the thing that
scares me like it’s like if you ever
read like Planet laundry where they’ll
do like the store of the month or
whatever it’s like these people are
paying like thousand dollars a month for
rent and I just I don’t know I know I
kid I don’t want to ever think like that
that just stresses me out the thought
process behind that yeah yeah we like
that one for sure doesn’t sound super
outrageous
around here oh my god I mean it is
outrageous yeah already just that’s a
different world out there though like do
you guys even have like a dollar tree or
do you have a dollar meeting you out
there we we do we do there’s less and
less things on the dollar menus and and
those things get smaller and smaller
every year yeah you know so there we do
we have them good yeah yeah all right so
you’ve I normally ask people how long
you’ve been in the business but you were
in diapers pretty much so basically you
tell us a little bit about like vinne
prices I don’t really know like what
event prices look like out out your so
that’s another thing that separates our
stores is I guess I should have told you
this we have we have five stores that
are free dry and then we have four
stores that are paid right so oh
interesting yeah so I don’t do you guys
have free dry out there another thing
yeah there’s there’s store probably I
don’t quote me on this percentage but
maybe like 35 40 percent IRR okay I’m
dry and then the rest or pay dry I’m
curious about that how what tell me
about that how that works out the
numbers work out for those yes so we
usually do 20% utility cost is about
average for us across the board okay
it’s just everybody likes free you know
so you tell people free and just it’s
like a light bulb in their head so um
what are our paid dry stores are to like
two dollars for double order we don’t do
top-loaders you know don’t do dopplers I
just think that’s something that totally
people can get a table at home why would
they come to alarm at when they can do
it at home so that’s just something that
I think really differentiates us from
everybody else so two dollars for a
double odor 350 for a triple 60 pounders
are $6 100 pounders or 975 hey DRI store
are free dry stores 1275 for 800-pounder
775 for a 60 or 75 for triple and then
350 for a double okay you’re working
that cost in there but people still feel
like they’re getting something totally
man it’s marketing that’s a smart
marketing
yeah I love that so do you see just out
of curiosity do you see a major
difference in kind of store performance
based on free dry versus is there a
reason why all your stores aren’t one or
the other
so there are attendant stores are all
paid dry and you know opposite of that
so if the store has employees in there
it’s free dry so that’s just the way we
look at it yeah
but no really all do the same across the
board I just think it’s especially if
you are in the south or if you go on st.
Louis every floor mats very dry even
like the dealers have free dry
laundromats I mean that’s kind of a
weird thing for a dealer to have a free
dry log map but it’s just if you’re in
downtown st. Louis that’s what you have
so it’s just kind of normal
mmhmm yeah yeah that makes a lot of
sense I have one attended store and one
unattended store and I’ve thought about
very briefly early on maybe I should go
free drive with my big is it it’s it’s a
1,800 square foot okay it’s it’s
relatively small I think this is good
just beat me but whenever we go above
3,000 square feet I always go free drive
just because it’s gonna have somebody in
there and it just means it’s gonna be
busier you know I don’t know how much
busier but that’s just what I’ve seen
yeah yeah yeah
so just in even just the neighborhood
mine was in it was it wouldn’t have been
a good idea
yeah cool so you we talked about
attended and attended are you are you
doing all your stores coin are you doing
any card so we do oh well that’s that’s
kind of a different story we’re doing
Spider wash so yeah okay yeah so we do
quarters dollar coins which we do dollar
coins not yet I think that’s a big
opportunity we absolutely love the
dollar coins so and then we do Spider
wash so they got basically every option
but again the Wilford brothers they
started this new payment system it looks
pretty sweet so I’m excited to check
that out so I’m supposed to go visit him
soon to see that awesome yeah I was I
was starting to talk to him about that
he sent me over a link yeah I’m sure I
have to get him on the podcast I think
he is
salesman I mean he is yeah like you
didn’t know people talk about their
brands and stuff like that I would buy
anything offered just because like he’s
Luke Willeford he’s got the brand you
know yeah yeah
that’s awesome cool and then if you had
to guess how many hours you think you
spend on working on your laundromats
maybe at your laundromats okay so like I
would say probably spend two or three
hours in each longer map per week okay
really do berries like right now we’re
retooling one of her stories that
probably like five years old so um we’re
adding on and getting all new machines
in there so obviously I spend more hours
in there right but usually just two to
three hours okay so even with your ten
laundromats you’re looking at a half
time job pretty much oh yeah no it
should be a full-time job
mmm like but whatever I graduate high
school like I lived in that little
laundromat that there was like I went
back in it was like that laundromat did
so good and I knew everybody that walks
through that door like I was training
that kid that I told you was taking over
the pickup and delivery he’s like how do
you know everybody I’m hugging people
during the virus that’s one of the
things I love about laundromats is they
they tend to be kind of a community
gathering place so it’s super easy to
just you know make friends and be family
with the people who were there I also
think if you go in there just with the
mindset oh I’m just gonna collect money
I’m not gonna talk to people like don’t
expect it to do break you know go in
there with you know be a positive for
the community that’s always yeah I’ll
take care of them yeah I love that
mindset so I I do a lot of coaching you
know like consulting for people who are
interested in buying laundromats and so
I’ve talked to a lot of people and I
I’ve talked a lot of people out of
laundromats because of that very reason
you know it’s people who just want to
make a buck and and that’s fine like I
think you can just make a buck with
laundry breath
but I think not only are you gonna do
better business-wise but it’s gonna be
more fulfilling for you and better for
the community if you’re also able to
just invest a little bit in the
community yeah you know and it to know
that people say we ever got to the goal
offer though fifty laundromats and you
know we didn’t we didn’t help anybody
out what’s the goal what’s the point of
that I mean if you didn’t help anybody
you didn’t do anything you didn’t bring
anybody along with you don’t nothin so I
love that mindset oh that mindset okay
speaking of which my favorite segment of
the podcast I don’t know if it’s anybody
else’s favorite but it’s by far my
favorite segment it’s called the secret
sauce a secret sauce oh yeah you’re
getting me hungry
awesome well maybe you can answer this
question and then tell us your actual
favorite sauce okay food sauce after
that the secret sauce
but here’s the secret sauce as this
what’s one thing that’s working well in
your business right now that the other
earners can kind of implement in their
business to help them grow without
question big machines so our equipment
makes I thought my father was crazy
because he came up with this sensei I
just thought he was totally naive
whenever we built one and then the
person are we weren’t really close with
hips I mean they’ve done great for us so
when we were giving this list our dealer
he was like sure about this I was like
dad are you sure about this but so we do
very minimal small machines so we’ll do
like the last hour that we did we did
six doubles we did eight triples we did
860 pounders and then we did six 100
pounds so that’s something that really
separates us and one of the reasons why
is because we’re free dry so we have a
lot of customers that will come in once
every two weeks or we’re not always just
looking for the people that don’t have a
washer and dryer I’d say around 40
percent of our customers actually have a
washer dryer you just want to get it all
done at once and I mean that’s where the
that’s where the customer base is for us
is we’re not trying to we’re not trying
to get that person that’s gonna come in
with a top loader and spend two hours
we’re trying to get I don’t know if it
was good to great that talked about the
revenue per customer you know was that
good degree I think it did yeah okay so
we try to go for the Walgreens
philosophy is we try to get the most out
of each customer you know and that
doesn’t mean they have to come once a
week we’re trying to get the trying to
get the big load that’s our focal point
so that revenue per customer not how
many people we can get to walk through
the door we want to serve everybody
really well it’s circular amounts so we
go for the big machines a hundred
percent yeah that is that is some nice
secret sauce there yeah and so I’m
working well for you huh oh my gosh that
everybody loves 100 pounders because why
would I come to a warm out where I’m
gonna use ten top loaders you know I’m
gonna have to take one out I’m gonna
forget a toddler because everybody’s
gonna forget a top loader I mean yeah
that’s just something I think’s really
worked well for us as baking machines
and then also nobody else in st. Louis
has hundred pound or so that’s
advertising thing for us yeah I I can’t
think of any laundromats around me that
had there’s something with eighty
pounders mm-hmm those are trash
yeah garbage just throw my hey come on
waste of money yeah
we also don’t do forty pounders too so
that’s something that I’ve just never
done I don’t really have a reason why
it’s just we’ve done twenty thirty
sixties and hundreds yeah that’s
interesting because I would say actually
in mine so 60 is the biggest I have and
in both of my stores the forty pounders
are the most popular ones actually what
we’ve what my father’s said this he
thinks the 40 pounds take away from the
sixty pounders like people stuff a
40-pounder but like if they go from a 30
to a 60 I don’t know that’s logic just
like right well I just trust my dad so
it sounds I mean that yeah I mean I I
would say that he’s probably right about
that we’ve gotta get you some other
pounders in there though I know I
feeling very inadequate right now I’m
telling you I don’t even know if my
one-story even fit a hundred pounder and
their knees you said you got 60s
yeah 60s are the biggest in both of mine
what is your price on those I’m just
curious
la prices well I mean they vary widely
but I’d minor 550 I’m probably I’m
probably under price but that’s where I
thought you’d be like eight or nine
dollars no I mean so everything is
expensive here there’s also a lot of
competition here oh and so you know I’m
even pushing I’m mostly I’m most
expensive kind of around yeah I’m some
I’m trying to figure out how other
people are making money with their so
we’re always more expensive than
everybody else and I think our customers
know that but you know I would say you
don’t go to the cheapest dentist do you
so there’s a reason but I mean yeah you
always see a lot of water we have hot
water you know it’s clean it’s just you
get what you pay for at the end of the
day so I never I never worry about
somebody being cheaper than us yeah
especially right now I mean you gonna
pay for for cleanliness right now for
sure
now we have a store that’s like right up
the street from one of ours
and at that store I think we’re that
stores actually a little different in
bin price it’s 225 for a double order
and they’re a dollar twenty-five up the
street and I don’t know how or why they
do that makes no money I mean you can’t
make much money off of that
well we’re so much busier than them so
it’s just I don’t think I thinks you
know you gotta be fair with people but I
don’t think it’s the it’s the fight that
people think it is to raise your price
yeah I have a question for you that kind
of goes along with your with your secret
sauce is what would you say to an owner
I hear a lot of owners who are who are
scared to get rid of their top-loaders
you know cuz they’re the customers like
it’s their most used yeah you know
machine
I think it’s Italy it’s gonna be pulling
teeth at first I mean there’s no
sugarcoating that but you can’t argue
with it I mean it I would say I always
tell everybody it’s like going from a
flip phone to an iPhone if there’s a
difference I mean it’s it’s old
generation first a new generation you’re
always gonna have that one old lady if
you take these out I’m gonna go up the
street and I hate to say this but go up
the street it’s not gonna it’s not gonna
hurt me
I mean it is gonna hurt me but you know
like I said we’re focused on those big
loads so yeah yeah that’s good advice
okay so I mean we got to know like
what’s your favorite sauce foods yeah
that’s a good one what if you had what
if you had this is this is just coming
out right now this is beautiful what if
you could only use one sauce on any food
ever for the rest of your life so I have
recently had chick-fil-a for the first
time I read through it Kathy’s book and
I was like you know I’ve gotta try this
I love this guy I love what he stands
for and I had two chick-fil-a sauce I’ve
always been a honey mustard kind of guy
okay I had the chick-fil-a sauce stuff
will change your life it’s pretty good I
mean it’s like Jesus I mean it’s I swear
you did something man that’s awesome so
you’re going with chick-fil-a sauce
that’s our question the rest of my life
does that mean like when I eat sushi
like I can’t have soy sauce with that
because I’m you’re a sauce sauce man I
don’t know here I mean it’s an unfair
question I’ll give you that right no you
push those hard questions on you want
less thing well here’s the thing I sent
you a list of questions but I kept the
good ones off he’s like you council
Manya genius no thank you for thank you
for sharing about the big the the big
machine I think that’s I mean we haven’t
gotten that answer yet but I think that
again I think the industry is moving
that way too when I see new stores going
in I’m not seeing people put in top
loaders or maybe one or two top loaders
and there’s also feeds in which machines
are you gonna work on are you gonna work
on a hundred partly your just been the
same amount of time working on one
hundred pounder as you are a top loader
and which one are you can work on more I
mean I got some fingers working on top
loaders are you gonna spin on those top
loaders and Hunter pounders for sure
Nancy come in overload blankets in there
it’s like oh my gosh I’m gonna have a
heart attack watching you yeah yeah and
I mean the new machines are just the
last I mean so yeah yeah I agree
all right well this section of the
podcast we call pro tips and pro tips is
this what’s one piece of advice you
would give a new investor who wants to
buy their first laundromat somebody
looking to get in for the first time do
your homework do your homework I mean
live you gotta be hungry I mean as Les
Brown let’s say you gotta be hungry so
that’s one of my guys I always listen to
any time like I need to work harder I
was listening to Les Brown so but yeah
just do your homework I mean it’s a
simple business but you gotta work at it
I mean especially if you’re gonna be on
your first one like the further I get
the more systems we have in place to
protect things going wrong but I mean
you got you could be able to spend that
that time and effort into it we had
somebody that wanted to purchase one of
our existing stores and it wasn’t that I
I don’t know how to says I didn’t want
to sell in Milan a minute because I knew
that when I sold it to him he wasn’t
gonna he wasn’t gonna ride properly and
I have an obligation to those people
that come into the store and I don’t
know if that’s a good app I don’t know
that it’s good or not but I just know
that that’s the way I felt that I knew
that he wasn’t gonna work hard at it so
yeah
yeah I mean I think you’re right I think
you know when I first got into the
industry I did I did research but I all
said I didn’t know what I didn’t know
you know yeah I mean so it’s gonna get
easier it’s just you know you gotta be
willing to put in that sweat equity at
first yeah and people are gonna just
take advantage if you Brighton left I
mean yeah they still do but yeah yeah
yeah that’s why I always encourage
people hey have somebody in your corner
you know when you’re getting into the
industry just have somebody in your
corner who knows yeah
the tricks of the trade I liked what you
said have so many besides a broker at
the house really that’s great advice
go ahead yeah I’ll just say those
expensive advice so money to like even
your dealers back of course this is a
great location give me my two hundred
thousand dollars now you know of course
towards you know I always tried to talk
to business people like chance I kids
just you know even if they’re in a
different totally different business I
mean they’re gonna have so much advice
for me it’s time to learn yeah man I
love that mindset and in fact that’s a
good segue but I love the mindset of
that you have of just like continually
growing we’ve been talking about
different books that you’ve read before
we got on here we’re talking about
different business books and stuff like
that so I think you know I just love
that mindset so with that do you have
any resource that you would recommend to
other people maybe a business book or
any kind of resources that you recommend
mm-hmm that’s a resource of course of
course of course
thank you the resource mm-hmm like I
drink up anything in the alarm at
business so if it’s there’s anything out
there I’ve most likely seen it all right
I’ve tried to search for it so I just
always try to do my homework I mean um
there’s always gonna be somebody that’s
climbing the hill even if you’re at the
top of it so you gotta you know you got
to do your homework so yeah yeah and
good degree you mention any other great
no true at Cathy’s book like I was just
talking about he’s just comes to mind
first because I mean he started that
from the ground up
twice and you know the third time was
the charm for him so that’s awesome I
haven’t read that book off to pick out a
really good book it’s one of the most
powerful books I’ve read because I mean
everything was against him I mean
everything so yeah yeah plus it changed
your life because now you like
chick-fil-a sauce and you’re gonna live
with it the rest of your life you know
maybe it’s an acquired taste
I don’t know I don’t know chick-fil-a
sauce yeah yeah great when we bring you
back on when you get your 50th
laundromat Orange County pretty soon you
know oh man if you’re coming out this
way you better let me know definitely
get some chemistry together that’s what
I love to hear and it’s 85 right now so
yeah it’s it’s rhenium 67 here so yeah
that’s like a like harder the winter
weather for us yeah that’s like it’s bad
as a gift so I don’t need you right now
it’s it’s quite often here but yeah this
is home so I can’t ever imagine living
anywhere else yeah yeah I was telling
you I spent a bunch of summers out there
I really like that that area it’s a
little muggy for me out there in the
summers but man I just run around you
know fishing all the time and and stuff
it was a lot of fun I always like teased
my parents or something like that be
like I’m gonna build a line about down
in Florida because I’m a big Florida
beater fan like anytime we both water
out they’ll be like that’s weird that
it’s right next to like so-and-so’s
restaurant because I’m like I just too
addicted so yeah that’s just the way it
is so I still have a goal to open a
laundromat in Hawaii just so a business
expense to go out to Hawaii if we could
just me
you’re just making noises your goal man
that’s a great question I I used to have
big goals like you know stores and right
now I
I don’t have a number that I would say I
think one of my goals is I’d love to
start you know just partnering with some
people and picking up some retail
centers here and putting in laundromat
or redoing laundromats for sure you know
you know and do it a little bit bigger
deals then then I’ve been doing so
that’s kind of one of my goals but I
don’t I don’t necessarily have a
specific number right now I mean I
should define that actually throughout
the process I’ve been trying to ask
myself why like why am I doing this
yeah and I don’t really come up with
that like it why do I want the dealer
meds I mean I can make a living off of
one you know I can make a comfortable
living but for some reason it’s just
what I’ve s I enjoy doing it but I also
feel like I’m supposed to so um yeah
yeah I think that why question is a big
one you know because I don’t have you
read start with why no I that’s that’s a
good one with why yeah I mean obviously
the titles a little bit self-evident but
you know it it goes into a little bit
more than that and you know but I think
that that is you know that why question
is kind of what what drives us like if
you want to get to 50 or even 100 or
whatever that why question I think we’ll
get more and more important as you get
yeah
we’re there and further down that goal
because you’re right you can’t live off
of just one laundromat
yeah pretty comfortably so at some point
you’re gonna wonder why you’re killing
yourself it’s also fun I just got a new
truck and I’ve like I’d spent like two
weeks old probably and I’ve got like
2,100 miles on it and it’s like why am i
spending so much time in this dang van
you know by the way if you’re another
one my secret sauces yeah a fan it’s
awesome yes you never gonna be like do
you have any pine saw yeah
I’ve got pine saw yeah that’s awesome I
love that yeah so cool listen Brandon it
has been awesome having you on the
podcast
one one question is if anybody has any
questions for you or wants to hear a
little bit more about you do you have
any way they can kind of get a hold of
you yeah they can send me an email at
best swash 1 1 @ gmail.com of Cour they
can find me on instagram at mr. under
stall awesome awesome and you can also
find them if you go through the lot of
my resource Instagram you’ll find them
through people that we follow or they’ll
follow us – so can’t find them but I’ll
put the link to your Instagram and your
email in the show notes that way people
can get ahold of you and again thank you
so much for coming on the show and just
sharing your story and your secret sauce
and your Pro tips all of that really
really appreciate it and I’m definitely
definitely hoping to have you back on
just to hear about your pickup and
delivery service and you know sometimes
you need somebody to keep you
accountable make sure you’re moving
towards that goal so we want to hear
about yeah that’s huge right there I
think you’re doing a great job I mean I
can’t imagine anybody else better at
this and the warm up business thank you
so thank you appreciate that again
yes sir all right well thanks for coming
on and I will catch you on the next time
that you’re on sounds great
man I told you that this episode was fun
and that Brandon was amazing and he’s
bringing a ton of great tips he just
brought stuff that nobody else has
brought yet and I dude I hope he gets 50
laundromats because I really want to
have him on here when he has 50 and
figure out how in the world he got there
and how in the world he’s managing that
mini but I hope you found value again
don’t forget about that challenge that I
that I brought up in the very beginning
of the episode go to lauder matter
resource calm slash forums and ask one
question and answer one question
sometime this week and I man I just
think that everybody’s gonna benefit
from that so I’ll go do it – this week
I’m gonna ask a question I’m gonna
answer probably a bunch of questions
that come up and I’ll be hanging out
there so come hang out with me and
everybody else in the forum’s this week
thank you guys for listening to the law
term at resource podcast show number
seven and again you can find show notes
law term at resource calm / o 7 and
we’ll catch you next week
[Music]
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