SPEAKER_02 0:13

Welcome to CCI Drive Time, the podcast for vended laundry distributors. I'm Steve with CCI using your drive time to cover laundromat trends, payment systems, and practical topics you can use in the field. Today I sat down with Jamie Sewell. Jamie has been in the industry for many years and has just an incredible resume of experiences that led to a terrific conversation. She's done everything from technology for laundries. She was part of the CLA. She's currently part of the CLA. She worked within manufacturing. She is known for her marketing prowess in the industry. She owns a store now, and she also has just recently acquired Laundry University. We get to learn a little bit about that. But she's a wealth of information, great conversation. Without further ado, here is Jamie Sewell. Jamie, how are you today?

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Hi, great to see you. Thanks for having me, Steve.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

It's great to see you as well. Thank you for joining me here on a Friday afternoon. The uh the time everybody wants to sit and have these kind of conversations. But uh thanks, you it's really great to uh to have you on. And I'm looking forward to this. Um you know, we have bumped into each other on the road for a number of years, but we've not spent a lot of time together. Um maybe a little more recently, because uh you're you're you seem to be really doing a lot, and that's actually one of the things I was really impressed as I started to kind of look into what you've been up to, and you are into a lot right now, and I am extremely impressed uh with uh what you've been doing, and your resume is also extremely impressive. I think it's gonna be a great conversation here because of your perspective comes from a lot of different parts of the industry. Um, and so I really appreciate you taking a few minutes today to talk to me. While um, but to get started, why I would love for you to just kind of give everybody an introduction to yourself and kind of like how you started in the laundry business and you know, give us a little bit of that resume. We don't, I mean, there's a lot to it, so we could spend uh probably an hour just talking about the things you've done. But give us the give us the Cliff Notes version of it because it's pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Yeah, so um, yeah, I'm Jamie Sewell, and uh I've been in this industry uh since the beginning of 2013, and uh my background was in sales and marketing for technology, so not laundry initially. Um I worked for Dell Computers in a specialty touchscreen manufacturer in Austin, um, and then I moved up to Chicago and ended up getting recruited to work for the Coin Laundry Association. Uh so I led marketing for them and um, you know, was frequently asked to speak on uh marketing and how to market your laundromat. And I'm like, oh man, I guess I better figure this out. Uh so you know, I got to figure out um how to market a laundromat. And so that was really um one of the things that I've kind of become known for. Uh and so I uh worked for CLA for a few years and um then ended up being one of three people that started um the world's first cashless laundromat. Um so that was called Wash Lava. And so we were a vertically integrated technology company. Um, and the whole concept was, you know, you're gonna pay from your phone with an app. Um but we started that company in 2015.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

You know, so um it was fairly revolutionary at the time. Like I remember calling a CLA board member and being like, we're gonna get rid of the quarters.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

You know, so I think it was like about 90% coin operated at that point. Um, and so it was um a really interesting concept. And so we did do a completely cashless laundromat um in a suburb here in Tampa. And um, and then I ended up uh overseeing um a lot of technology initiatives for alliance laundry systems. Um and so I brought Speed Queen Insights and Hipch Command uh and a few other uh tech platforms to market for Alliance. And um, and then after that, I uh went into consulting for laundromats. Uh so a lot of marketing consulting, but also some technology um and strategy consulting. And um and then I thought, you know, I really want to um do something that's really gonna have a bigger impact on people in a bigger way. And um, so I actually left the industry um and I became a certified coach um for women entrepreneurs and a yoga instructor. And um, and then lo and behold, I had this epiphany and I said, you know what go really well with my coaching business is a laundromat.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

You get pulled back in.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Yeah, yeah, I got pulled back in. And so um I bought a laundromat um in Tampa, Florida, uh called Clean Vibes Laundry Company, and um and then uh from there got asked to help store owners with marketing. And uh uh now I serve on the board of CLA. And um yeah, I get to talk about laundromats and marketing and technology all the time. So it's super fun.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

Yeah, I mean, that's uh that's a it's an amazing resume, as I said, and it you guys have really come full circle to it, and I love how you've taken the stuff that you started working on when you left the industry and you've kind of roped it back into what you're doing now, and I and I have had the opportunity to hear you speak a few times on the road, and I think we're gonna be at the same event here in early August again soon, so we'll get to see each other again. But um, I I love the um the store ownership journey a little bit, and so tell me a little bit about because I think again, I know this is a podcast for distributors, but I think understanding store ownership a little bit from people who are doing it and why they get into it. You've you obviously had all of this experience in the in tech field, marketing, more how's I'm gonna say corporate related, but then you found your way back to store ownership. What was the draw? Why, what what brought you back?

SPEAKER_00 6:54

You know, I think the um the draw is what draws a lot of people um to buy laundromats, right? Uh so it's the sem, it's not passive, right? We know it's not passive, but the semi-passive nature, the flexible nature. Um, you know, I was like, I think this would be another complementary um income stream uh for me. And, you know, um I was like, you know, it's a it's a big investment, but I actually know something about this business. Um and I have relationships uh with people in this industry. Um and as we know, relationships are so important. And so, you know, I was like, I get to, you know, work with people that I trust. Uh and so it was a really a combination of those things, you know. I'm like, if I'm gonna make this big investment, it needs to be in something that I think I know something about. Uh and so yeah, that was laundromats.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

So what surprised you most? You know, obviously you spent all this time supporting the industry and laundromat owner, and then now all of a sudden you own a laundry. So do you what's something that was maybe that you surprised you once you actually were in the throes of operating a store?

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Um well, I think the thing that still surprises me, even though it's not really a surprise, is uh how hands-on um you have to be with your staff. Um I have a part-time store manager who's fantastic. He's really a little bit more of like an operations manager, um, and he handles a lot of the things um with staff. But I think until you get to maybe a certain size, um, maybe a whole fleet of laundromats, you know, um nothing really replaces the owner, not completely. You know, so and we see that in all sorts of businesses, not just laundromats. Um you know, so he he handles a lot of the day-to-day, but um, you know, I am involved every single day. Uh so you know, I think you, you know, you have uh you can have great processes and procedures and checklists and onboarding and all of these things, and um it still is going to be a challenge. Always.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Yeah, I I think that's important, particularly for people who are trying to get into this business to realize that you know, and I you use the term is getting tossed around about being passive and all these things, but I I that you followed it with the term I use, which is flexible. I think you have better flexibility than maybe a lot of other things you can get into, but passive is not the right word to choose to be in this. And I you're leaning me right into where I wanted to ask you next, which is so go back to all of the years that you've been supporting this industry. What are the patterns or things that you notice the most successful operators adopt? What kind of traits are they taking on? I have a feeling it might have something to do with what you just said that you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Yeah, yeah, that's true. So um I've worked uh with some of the most successful uh laundromat operators in the country. Um, and they've got many stores over multiple states. Um and so I've learned a lot from them. And some of those things would be that they make decisions really quickly. Um, they're not afraid to try things. Um, you know, at Excellence, um, the coach from the Savannah Bananas was there. Uh we probably heard him. And, you know, he talked about that, right? Like they they get more reps in. They try things, they test things, they iterate, and they iterate faster than everybody else. And that's something that I've seen over and over again. Um, where they're curious and they say, Yep, let's try it. They don't overthink, right? So they're not in this like analysis paralysis. I think that's one of the biggest things. Um, I think they're a little bit more risk tolerant. So I think they treat it a little bit more like a game. Um, and so they're they're not afraid to take some calculated risks. Um, they definitely invest in their marketing and their brand, and they definitely invest in their people and their processes. Like though to me, that's like the winning combination.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

It seems so um obvious, but not at the same time. And um, I love that. I think this idea that um you're investing in your people that's number one. And you would you just talked about your manager and you've obviously invested in that person to get you there, but your own involvement has to be there in the early stages. Um yeah, you know what? This this idea too, I think that many small owners get into, and I'm sure maybe you feel it too, is you're there's always a little bit of a fear that if you make a change, that it's gonna somehow have this. Oh, we always overthink what the impacts of that change are gonna be. And overcoming that fear and trying new things, try something different. If it doesn't work, then you learn that that doesn't work, you check it off the box and you move on to something else. But not being afraid to try something really needs to be part of all small business, I think, to some layer. I think it's mostly in our own heads that something, some little change is gonna make a massive impact on our business in some way or the other. Um I think we're all just trying to push the needle a little bit at a time. I don't think there's one thing that's gonna explode anybody's business. We're just in in either direction, frankly, we're just trying to make the right changes that are gonna improve either our time or this or the business's performance in some way or the other. And um, we should be less fearful to be agile, you know, and to make changes like that. That's that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Um, I'll say one more thing. I think the most successful operators, and this is for any small business, is that they actually end up making their own game. Like, um, you know, you have to know what you're doing, right? But like the most successful people have they they're playing their own game, they're not playing somebody else's game. You know, and so um, you know, if you put five of us in a room, none of our businesses are gonna look exactly the same, even though in theory we might be selling or doing very similar things because we all have our own unique gifts, skills, abilities, we all see different things. Um, and I think for store owners in particular, the best ones are playing their own game. They're not playing somebody else's game.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Yeah, I think that leads into um this idea that, yeah, we're all doing laundry. I mean, we all know that we're all issuing a similar service to the to the communities that we're in. But if we're just replicating what the next the guy down the street is doing, or we're just playing his game, then what makes us different? Why would someone go here versus there? Or, you know, and so you know, that just leans in perfectly uh with what you said is you know, play your own game and uh, you know, be different. You know, why not? Be bold, you know, be unique, why not? And give people a reason to a noticeable reason to do business with you versus someone else's, you know, uh offering. I love that. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Well we talked about go ahead, finish.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

No, go ahead. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

I I think what I wanted to do is kind of pull this back a little bit. We we because before we we hit play here, hit record, uh, you know, this is a distributor-focused conversation, but I think it's obviously important for us to to continue to understand what store owners are going through, what they're thinking, you know, what's what works, because that's advice that distributors can can lean on, you know, and they can they can they can call upon that. But uh we you just talked about you know opening a store yourself not long ago um and you know working with a distributor and I think maybe not having the experience that you would like to see. And so as somebody who's been through it firsthand, now obviously you work with distributors pri in your prior life, laundry life, and now you have a store owner, and now you're now you even have other things that you're doing. We're gonna get to some of that, but I would love to hear from your perspective what role you think distributors should be playing. Obviously, they're gonna sell you equipment, but what should a what should the what should a good distributor do for a store owner? What are the traits they should take on?

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Yeah. So to me, I think about um distributors like tour guides, right? So um distributors, they kind of see a whole bunch of different things. And so um they see a whole bunch of things that work and then they see some things that don't work. And, you know, I also think of distributors really as uh trusted advisors and consultants. And you know, the coach in me says, hey, and actually I always use this um at Alliance, how do you want to run your business? What do you imagine for yourself? What do you imagine for your future? You know, what do you want the customer experience to be? And I think when we start to get curious from that perspective, that has a that's a completely different conversation. Um, you know, when we you you've obviously been in this industry a very long time. Um, you know, when I got into this industry, you you'll you'll know this. The line was, do you want core uh coin or card?

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Do you run a card store or a coin store? You know, it's like this or that. Like that was the choice that we gave owners when they got into the business. That was like the defining thing about the laundromats. But now it's especially with technology and more sophistication with ownership and their past experience and owners that um quite frankly have more skin in the game. Um, the conversation has changed so much. And so I think uh as much as distributors can think differently for their customers, like, you know, really kind of put yourself in the customer's shoes and help imagine with them how they want what they want to create for their community. I think that's I think that distributors that do that, that's gold. And, you know, um, I don't think their customers would want to let them go. You know, that's that's it's so that and that's thinking long term. You know, I think um it's easy to think like, okay, we're gonna do this store and then we're gonna go do this store, and um, you know, you're just kind of checking the boxes. But, you know, as a store owner, I want to be partnered with somebody on two, three, four, five. I don't want to have to like recreate the wheel with my equipment and my distributor um, you know, each time I open a store.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

Yeah, for absolutely. And you and you said a bunch of things there that I think are worth circling back to, and and particularly this idea that a good distributor, and you you said it, not me, takes and it goes back to the previous conversation, it's like be something unique and different, be the observer of those unique and different things, and and and provide a channel to somebody that's not thinking uniquely and give them some ideas, some thoughts. Uh, it's not to copy them, but to show these examples of how being different can be uh successful, you know, how you can find success that way or find something to solve a problem. And that the distributor is supposed to be this observer of everything going on and then a concentration of the things that are working and the things that are not, as well as being an observer of just the communities too, of like, yeah, stores generally do better in this side of town than that side of town, and just that kind of observation, and then being that last layer of education on on all the hardware stuff, which is frankly the last thing you really should worry about. One is getting the business right, getting the location right, getting his other things right, how you're gonna is his business right for you, and and seeing the observations. I love that. Um and you know, I I think that um the relationship part, which I think you also kind of landed on at the end, is underutilized as well as it shouldn't just be a thought of as a single transaction. It should be an ongoing relationship. Again, prior to us, you know, click and record here, this idea that in my day, you know, 27 years ago, that that was that there was no other when you someone bought equipment from you, they were like your friends. They were you your families almost were together for years because you were so closely bonded over the fact that he needed to be successful enough to open store two, and you were gonna do whatever it took to get there. And he also had a a strong enough feeling that he needed you to be successful so that you would be there for them to kind of support the efforts, and there was, you know, um clear definitions of responsibilities in that relationship, but then there was also a merger of success that needed to be symbiotic in a lot of ways. Um, we talked about Jason Fleck uh before we got into somebody that we both have spent a bunch of time with. And Jason talked about this recently about him doing these blitzes, you know, when he was um uh uh working with distributors regularly. And that's a perfect example of seeing all of his locations and then being able to talk about what he saw when you finally connected with somebody. Because I'd obviously in a blitz you might connect with somebody one out of every 15 or 20 stops, right? But you got to see every one of those locations in between. And when you landed on somebody that was there, you had something to talk about and it was happening in that area. So the distribution is so much about being that observer and then being being the guy that shares what he's seen. That's a that's perfect. I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Yeah, yeah. And one other thing uh I want to say there is it it so it's the observer, and then it's also like um over a sustain period of time, right? So especially as our um culture at large has changed, right? We think that uh success is like overnight. These overnight successes that are like, you know, 20 years in the making, right? Uh it was just instant. And um, you know, for store owners, we have to think long term about our success. Um, this door may just be, you may open and it's just hot day one, um, but it may not, right? You've got to evaluate the success of the business over a long period of time. And distributors need to have that perspective as well, because it's not just about doing um a bunch of stores in one year or two years or something like that in the short term, but like Like to your point about family, right? Like, what does success look like over a 20 or 30 or multi-generational period of time? What does that look like? And that's a different conversation.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

And I think if you if you're open to the idea of having a relationship deeper than just the contract on paper, it's also a much more comfortable way to work every day. When you are going to work to work with the people that you like that has a has a similar feeling about you that you have with them as far as them wanting to be successful, it's not one side trying to, you know, squeeze the price down to zero where there's no margin left. And it's not the distributor trying to overpile equipment into a store that doesn't need all the it's a sim again, it's this relationship that forms and the fact that because you have this uh family feeling, um it's just more enjoyable, you know, it's just a more enjoyable day. So uh I love that we're talking about this because I think uh even for new people getting into this business, and there's gonna be lots of new people you know having to get into the distribution side of things like every layer of this industry, they need to be thinking about it not just about the the the iron that they're expected to sell this month, but it's about if you want to sell a lot of iron, start forming relationships with these and they'll they'll take care of you for 20 years. Don't just be thinking about next quarter, next month. Start thinking about the next 10, 15, 20 years. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, absolutely. I love it. Um I'd love to circle back a little bit on your marketing experience. And um, you know, you you spent you are known for marketing. I've seen you do a number of things to talk about marketing. I think I even tried to hire you once for marketing, but you weren't in, you were not at in that place at one point. Thank you. I didn't take I didn't take it, I didn't take it in card.

unknown 23:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

You took my call, I asked, and you declined very graciously. But it's only a statement of that you were known for that, and it was something that I certainly thought was valuable, and and you've you've leveraged it. So I I think it'd be it'd be interesting to hear a little bit about what you think, what kind of mistakes. And maybe it doesn't have to be mistakes, but maybe maybe it's a lack of trying. But what are what are the mistakes that store owners are doing when it comes to marketing?

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Yeah, that's a great question. And you know, one thing I always say is, you know, so let's think like say you invest half a million dollars or a million or two million or three million, like you know.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

There's almost no limit anymore. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

All of those are large amounts of money, right? And so, you know, you're gonna invest this many in this store, uh, and then you're not going to set aside a healthy budget for your marketing, like um, you need to protect your investment. Like, just point blank, you have to protect your investment. And um, if you can ensure that you can consistently and reliably bring people into your business, then uh that will solve a lot of problems for you. And so I think um, you know, some business uh some manufacturers and distributors might provide marketing packages.

unknown 25:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

Um, that usually concerns me a little bit because it's free. Yeah, but um I think sometimes it ends up being like the most expensive marketing you can do, you know, because you're not investing in your brand, you know, so it's easy to think, oh, brand is like a color and logo. No, a brand is like the essence of who you are, you know, as a business. Um and and so really thinking through, you know, what is I what do I want the customer experience to be? Um, and how do I incorporate all of the five senses into that experience? Um, you know, the online marketing is obviously how most of us find local businesses first. And so, you know, local marketing is so or I'm online marketing is so important. Um, but then you know, you've got a storefront, right? And how does what does that say to the world about your business? And is that an exciting, inviting, interesting, clean, safe place? Like what does the marketing on your exterior say about your business? And then, you know, there's print mail and things like that, billboards. And so you gotta look at like the whole picture. Um, and especially like year one, year two, you kind of have to do all of it. Um, you know, I think it's it's easy like to look in the forums and and people will say, oh, you know, Facebook marketing doesn't work, or Google ads are the only thing that works, or you don't really need a website, or you don't really need to do mailers, um, you know, just do a free laundry day and all your problems are gonna be solved. But the reality is that how you do each of those things matters tremendously, you know, so it matters, you know, how your website's SEO performs. That matters, you know, it matters um how you have your ad campaigns dialed in. It matters if you're showing pictures of your laundromat, you know, online or in mailers. Like that, those things matter. It matters how you're um tracking your conversions, and so there's all these things that go into um successful marketing. And I think that um a lot of times people don't understand all of the mechanisms, and so um we end up with bad information.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Yeah. Yeah, and I think what I'm what I'm hearing to kind of condense that down, first off, I'm hearing is you got to spend some money. I mean, you you have to invest in your investment here. And so the the marketing layer of your operating budget needs to be significant and in the first few years it's critical as anything else. But I think what I'm also hearing from you is that you can't you can't just look at um marketing as a checklist. Oh yeah, website, uh yeah, I got a Facebook page, oh yeah, I'm on Google Maps. I mean, it's not just checking boxes, oh yeah, I've got all of that. I I must be done with my marketing. There's there's there's there's layers to every one of those things that requires follow-up and a little bit of understanding, a little bit of work behind some of that. Um and so, you know, probably having somebody help you is probably a really good idea. And some of the, it's like you said, some of the manufacturing offerings are a sign package or uh, you know, maybe maybe a few things that they do, but they're just checking the boxes. And again, you if how free is a very good term for maybe the way some of these are, you got to invest something. And I feel like what I see um is they spend nothing. And then they just and again, uh we run retail businesses, so we have storefronts. I mean, that that's a big part of our advertising, right? Is having a storefront with a sign on it, and there is a layer to that, but that's that organic growth is probably gonna come to how much traffic do you have? What are your anchors around you? And that thing. If you want to actually open eyes and have them forced to be look at you, you're gonna have to spend a little bit and you're gonna have to look at all of those layers. So yeah, it's a good reminder. It doesn't just happen. That's good. Good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

Yeah, well, the other thing, and I think this is important for distributors, right? So distributors put together performas. Well, a lot of times there's just not enough marketing spin. It is a line item. I think it says like marketing and advertising or something like that. I think my performer maybe had $300 at $800.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

I was I was gonna say, it's just $50 in there, you should be fine.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

Yeah, you know, and and so we would think about like, and this is I I found that a lot some like successful laundromats generally do fall in this range too. But you know, most businesses are spending between three and twelve percent of their revenue on marketing. And when I calculated the numbers from for myself, I also fell in that range. And you know, I think that we uh in the laundry industry we've been spoiled. That um we've had many, many decades of you know, great harvest. And the fact of the matter is that uh the dynamics in our industry are changing. And I don't say that for like doom and gloom, but I'm saying like we have to treat this like a real business. And real businesses do invest in marketing uh for customer acquisition.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

Yeah, no, that's that's that's well said. You've got to earmark the right amount, and we need to, we can we can easily look at other industries and find out what they're spending on marketing to find out that it works and uh and the competitiveness that we're seeing, um, particularly with some of the you know, we're seeing PE firms come in and buying a lot of stores, they're not gonna skimp on some of those spends because they've been doing it in the other uh industries that they've been involved in. You know, I mean it's just a natural thing. So, you know, for independent store owners, I think we're not at a disadvantage. We just have to do the right things, you know, we have to spend in the right spots.

SPEAKER_00 31:31

We just have to up our game.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

That's it. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Up up your game. You know, and I think even within my laundromat, so um, I intentionally chose colors that are not laundromat colors.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

Good.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

So my colors are like a um a greenish teal and like coral.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

So not laundromat color, like not not blue, right? And I have no bubbles. There are no bubbles.

SPEAKER_02 31:58

No bubbles. Oh, I love this.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

You know, and I think at the end of the day, everybody, both individually and as our bit with our businesses, we're selling a feeling.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

We're not just selling, you know, washers and dryers. We're not just selling clean laundry, we're selling a feeling. And um, and so for my business, that's how I approach it is like that's what I'm selling. You know, every customer, it's they're gonna get um good vibes and clean laundry delivered in every load.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

That's awesome. I love the tagline. And it's uh it's refreshing to not have any bubbles on uh on any of your walls. It's like the default, anybody that creates you send any kind of artwork in to somebody, there'll be bubbles on it as soon as you mention laundromat is like, okay.

unknown 32:51

I know, you know.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

Yes. Yes, you'll find zero bubbles on mine.

SPEAKER_02 33:02

Okay, good. Um, let's touch on that just briefly because I want to get into something that I'm excited to hear about. But you know, you have a technology background too, and so you've you've experienced um different approaches here. You know, you to this you know, cashless store, you are way ahead of your time, I think, to some degree there. Yeah. Uh we talked about that. But even the manual, you know, getting involved in the manufacturers, developing their own platforms for uh technology that we hadn't seen. Um, I think certainly Alliance probably made probably one of the biggest investments there to try to you know get more technology focused, um, even in and obviously adding their own payment layers to the to the equation. Um I'm curious what your thoughts are on that. You know, you can tell me whether or not you is there something that you're excited about that you're seeing? Is there something that makes you nervous? I my my feeling is that we've got some people are very nervous about some of this technology, and the other people that are super excited about it. Um tell me where do you what are you excited about? Is there anything out there that you're excited about on the tech side?

SPEAKER_00 34:04

You know, uh one of my friends uh outside of the industry, she says, you know, your job is to chop wood and carry water. That's your job. You show up, you chop wood, you carry water. And so anybody who's worried about the technology side, you know, show up, chop your wood, carry your water, like do the things that you need to do. Um, and so I think hopefully, like maybe, maybe that helps, maybe it doesn't help with like the the the AI and the PE. Everybody's coming to get us. You know, like we we get we have a lot of choices, you know, um on a we have a lot of agency on a day-to-day basis. And so um, you know, I think the cool and exciting thing is that we have a lot more technology options now than we did um, you know, 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

Um tell me about it. Okay, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 35:03

Yeah, right. Yes, yes, so many more technology options. And I think really that's to people's benefit more than it is to their detriment. Um, you know, there's always gonna be surprises and things that you didn't foresee. Um, but at the end of the day, like we have access to so much more. And um, and I think that a lot of laundromat owners are taking advantage of that. Um, you know, we've got more multi-store owners than ever before. Um I opened my laundromat when I was living in Columbus, Ohio. Uh so you know, I knew that I needed a stable payment system that didn't have quarters, that I could, you know, have some automation built in and visibility and all that stuff that I could manage from anywhere. And so, you know, I think that's what any of the technology systems give us is the the freedom and the ability to manage it from anywhere. Um, and I think so. I I just think that's super exciting. Um, you know, I think uh we're gonna see more uh with AI, obviously. And so some store owners are building their own dashboards and uh things like that. So I think we're gonna continue to see more with predictive analytics. Um obviously there's smart sensors on some of these machines these days. Um so there's some uh the start of some predictive analytics already built into that. Um so I think that it's really overwhelmingly positive, you know, if we choose to look at it that way. Um, you know, AI is not gonna solve all of our problems. It's not, you know, but if we want to use it and if it's fun for us, if it's exciting, like, you know, go for it. Uh so I kind of think that's where it's going. Um, and I think that we'll also roll into the marketing side. I think we'll start to see more marketing automation. There's we're starting to see some more of that. Um, but I think we'll start to see, you know, just a continuation of that so that we really start to um tailor the customer experience and personalize it uh to you know, we can use AI to kind of foster that relationship, more leadering and things like that. So that's where I think it's headed.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

Yeah, no, I I agree. Um, you know, uh it being being an old timer at this point, I remember a time where I uh there was only a couple of us that were doing a lot of technology, doing technology and laundries. And so certainly there's a part of me that wishes those days were still here, but that's unrealistic. But I can tell you what it has done is it, you know, it's like you know, this this term, you know, high tide rises all boats. And so it has certainly forced anybody who's decided to stay in this business, you know, because it's not easy to get better, you know, and I think that's just good for everybody. It's good for all the store owners, all the consumers of any kind of goods when there's good competition, when they when there's um more demand for it, because certainly the demand has also increased immensely since there's been more options available, and then all of the options just get a little better and they keep getting better and they keep getting better and stronger, and we have more minds thinking about this industry in that way, then there's gonna be better ideas of how to leverage these tools. So, yeah, no, I think I think you're right. Um, I'm not overly concerned about AI um taking over uh the store business, but I think it's there's gonna be some there's gonna be things that are that are gonna be good, you know, good for it. So yeah, that's uh that's well put. Um thinking of technology a little bit in this right, I want to talk about your new venture here. The latest thing in Jamie's world here, Laundry University. So um I'll admit that I don't I never knew much about this product until I started looking into you acquiring it and starting to kind of figure out what it is. And um, so I want you to start by just explaining what is Laundry University. You recently acquired this company. Just tell us about what this what this is.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

Yeah, so Laundry University is an online training platform that helps uh train, standardize, and scale professional laundry services. Uh so it was built by uh Colleen Unima, uh, who had uh brio laundry um on the West Coast, and she was a former uh biology professor. And so um, you know, she took her teacher brain and uh she went into the laundry industry, and so she was making all these binders with like she at the time her laundry was uh called Q laundry, so she was making Q-tips for all of her employees, and so she had all these binders, you know, because she was a teacher, right? So she wants to teach all of her employees about you know the proper way to do laundry. Um, and then she she realized that there's a thing called uh employee turnover. No matter how good, you know, you run your store, you're gonna have employee turnover. And she realized that she was like repeating herself over and over, you know, and nobody's really looking in these binders, right? Like they're busy, they're at work. And um so she ended up creating um this online platform, learning platform. And um, so there's it's a four-part certification program for owners and employees. And um it like as I started to look into it, I've known Colleen for a long time, you know, more and more. And now as me owning it, I'm like, this is a no-brainer. Like it's literally a no-brainer because um I hive I've hired 13 people from my laundromat in the last year. Yeah, and I think I'm a pretty good owner. Um but that means that's 13 times that myself or my managers have had to walk somebody through the proper way to do laundry. Um, and then there's a learning curve, right? And so um it uh there's it's really great because there's um uh quizzes at the end of each video. The videos are short.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Great because our attention span.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

Attention span, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

Um, and so um there's short videos, there's a quiz after every video, and then there's um a final quiz at the end of each level. Um, and so then you get a certificate. Um, and and so that's great for um owners because it allows them basically to like scale themselves or multiply themselves. Um, they don't have to walk every employee through all the ins and outs of how to fold laundry and how to package it up and all of and how to you know get whiter whites. So um, so all of that is in the laundry university program. Um, and then level 400, which is the top level, is for owners. And so that's actually teaches the business of laundry. So it's the numbers, it's how to manage the staff, like it's how to acquire more customers. Uh, so it's all the business stuff is in level 400. Um, and then there's a whole um learning library, which is um specialty items. Um, so how to treat elder care laundry, how to do smoke remediation laundry, how to treat waterproofing items. Um, so there's a whole uh library dedicated to really the things I say um are gonna make you the most money. Um, you know, so if for the first part is like kind of get your feet under you, like if you're a new owner, sure and then and your employees get their feet under them. Uh, and then the second part is like, okay, how do I actually like scale this thing? Um, you know, how do I specialize myself and and differentiate um myself in the market um, you know, with these specialty items. Um, so I'm really excited about it.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

Yeah. Well, I I didn't realize the owner part of it, and you know, it makes a lot of sense um to have another tier of that to talk about things that there is, because you know, again, we go back to distribution a little bit and we think about um when someone's getting into the business and they've never owned a laundry before and they decide I want to be in this business, I want to I found a location when I do this. And sometimes the attractiveness of laundromats, one of the things, certainly not your experience because you had so much experience, is you don't need to have any specific kind of experience to own a laundry. You know what I mean? If you are opening a restaurant, you better know food. You know, you better know how to cook. You know, if you're gonna open these, you may you have to have a certain kind of skill set, but laundry is something you can learn as you go. But nobody talks about, well, you still have to learn it. You know, you still have to learn it. You yes, anybody can start a washing machine, but that doesn't mean that you're gonna get the same results that are expected out of that, right?

SPEAKER_00 44:08

Right. And um yeah, I think that's such a good point because like I, you know, I was on a different side. Like I didn't know how to do laundry. And then and then so I inherit, so this happened to me, and this happens to a lot of owners. So I inherit wash-dry fold employees. I don't know if they're doing a good job or a bad job, right? Like I hope they're doing a good job. Um, you know, so I ended up bringing in one of my friends who owned laundromats and doing a training because this was pre-laundry university. Yeah, you know, so that was like how I started to like learn, okay, like what is a good wash-dry fold product? Like, how do we deliver that consistently? Um, you know, so so then Colleen uh put together laundry university. Um, and now I use it as part of my hiring process and my onboarding process, you know, so they're gonna train uh with my employees, and they're also going to go through laundry university um before they get turned loose onto the floor.

SPEAKER_02 45:13

Customer stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:15

Yeah, and it also is like a good litmus test. Like, I mean, I pay the new hires to go through it, but it's a good litmus test to say, like, is this person going to work? You know what I mean? Like, if they don't want to go through Laundry University and you're gonna have a certificate, so like you you have you can prove that you went through this, you know, like is that gonna be a good hire for you?

SPEAKER_02 45:39

Yeah. Yeah, that's another good, that's a good other angle of that is that you know, we talk, we we there's so much conversation out there about all of the challenges of owning a laundry, and we talk about labor comes up all the time. Labor, and that's every business, but particularly in our industry. And so, where do you how do you make sure not only that you've hired well, um, but then you can hire somebody and you still don't know? And I love this because it's another layer of like, will they go through this? Will they show enough interest in their job to be able to sit there for I don't know however long the courses are and to feel a sense of there you go. It's just to accompany to feel a sense of accomplishment after going through these little levels of this. Um I love that. And you'll find that out sooner versus after they've been with you for a few weeks or whatever the case to find out that's the thing. After they've screwed up the laundry. That's right. And and they've caused some disastrous uh you know um situations for you. That's great. So so what is the mechanism here? So uh a store owner subscribed to this is kind of the sense that I'm getting. And they um they uh tell me more about how what does somebody do when they they sign up.

SPEAKER_00 46:46

Yeah, so you uh you pay per seat. So I'm I'm gonna be rolling out some additional um options, but uh you basically pay per seat. So, you know, um if you're opening a new laundromat, you know, you've got seven employees, you pay for seven seats, and um, and you you pay for each level individually, or you can buy um a bundle and kind of go through um either the employee levels, uh levels one through 300 or 100 through 300, and and then the owners uh level 400. So you can do it that way. Um, if you're a larger organization, um we're gonna be rolling out um like custom learning um landing pages for uh laundromats, and so you'll have the ability to also host maybe you have welcome videos, maybe you have videos on um uniforms, you know, and things like that. And so uh you can include those videos in your landing page um in addition to having the certification program. Um that way you kind of have like your own mini hub of an onboarding experience.

SPEAKER_02 47:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:55

This is this is where you go for your um onboarding and training. And um, you know, I think this industry we we love to complain about our employees. We need them, we love them, but you know, they're you know, it's tough too. And and that is um, I've I experienced that every single day. But then on the other hand, it's like, okay, and what is my part? You know, my part is making sure that I've got like the best trained, most successful employees. Um, you know, so that gives me confidence as an owner and also gives my employees confidence that they know what the heck they're doing.

SPEAKER_02 48:37

They're doing, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

And they can take pride in that, you know.

SPEAKER_02 48:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 48:41

Uh so that's kind of how how I look at it. I'm like, this is like a mechanism to really help elevate the whole business, you know, the employees, the owner, um, obviously their bottom line. So I'm like, yeah, to me, I'm like, this is a no-brainer. So I'm excited about it.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

I love it. And and so it kind of ties right back into this idea that you know, we don't, we don't, not everyone jumps into this business understanding every layer of it and having these channels to go and to learn a layer of this that again, wash dry and fold to me is almost its own uh business inside the laundry. I mean, obviously we're self-service, you know, people do their own stuff, they they take their own hands and they they do their own wash, they're gonna get whatever outcome they get. But when you pay somebody else to do laundry, there's an expectation there. And just saying, Oh, yeah, I do wash and fold without actually saying that I've done anything to like validate the fact that I can do a good job for someone else. So this is a great avenue. Um, and I think from a distributor perspective, again, to kind of pull it back in, you know, I I have no, you know, even though um, you know, not everything that we do as a distributor results in us selling something per se, but again, it goes back to saying, well, you should go you should have something like this so that your as you open up, your team understands how to run your business the way you want. Um and so do you have you have you thought about it all how a distributor can help get their investors connected with you and kind of be involved in some way to encourage this? And doing anything there?

SPEAKER_00 50:16

Yeah, I think there's a few different things that will roll out. I think one will be, you know, uh for an uh distributors who want to create their own landing page and have the courses and maybe maintenance uh videos of their own. Um, because I mean it's pretty cool, right? Like if you have your logo at the top and like you know, we talk about like investing in owner success. One of the ways that you can invest and in your client's success is create your own landing page with the certification program in there and say, Hey, congratulations on your new store. Here's a special gift from us to you, you know, um, because we want to make sure that you succeed.

SPEAKER_02 51:01

I like that.

SPEAKER_00 51:02

Yeah, um, so that's one way, and then I think there'll be um another kind of like referral program way um where you know they can um earn um money or or something. We'll figure out what we're what they're earning, but um we're gonna roll something out um where they can you know be rewarded for for sharing um it with their customers. Yeah, I think I've owned it for um like uh it'll be a whole month. It'll be one whole month tomorrow. So I'm figuring it out.

SPEAKER_02 51:36

I I get it, I get it. And you know, that's exciting. Um yeah, that I again this there's there's a lot to this, and I'm sure, you know, with your background and your experiences here, you're you'll turn it into exactly where our uh where it should be, and uh it's in a good place uh with you. So you know, congratulations there. That's that's really exciting. Um I'm sure we will hear more from you as you get your feet under you and kind of get your game plan in place of how you're gonna take this first. And so, but I'm certainly gonna look forward to seeing uh you know what what happens next. So that's awesome. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 52:10

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 52:11

Um, you know, kind of as we kind of roll to the end of this conversation, I'd I'd love to have you know plant some wisdom on us, look into the future. Uh where where do where do you what's the next big thing? What's what's gonna happen next in this business that you think that we're all gonna have to pay attention to?

SPEAKER_00 52:27

Isn't that the the wild card, right? You know, because I think I think if you asked me like, you know, seven years ago, right, the answer was technology.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:37

You know, and so like Well that's here, so you know, uh, and so I think we're kind of seeing, you know, at least some of what's next, and and that's consolidation. Um, and per but but I think that has a lot of benefits too, right? Because we're we are all uh, you know, like you said earlier, the rising tide lifts all boats. Um so we're all professionalizing. Um and so I think I think that's what we're gonna see is is more consolidation. Um I expect that we will have to kind of sharpen our game. Um, but I think it's still gonna be a great business. Uh so I think that, you know, um we gotta focus, you know, and and um and lean into it. Um, you know, and that's where I think um the other things that we talked about with like marketing and like play your own game. You know, like on on TikTok, I I've seen like um moms like doing um car seat cleaning services. Oh my gosh. Like I think you could have a whole business just on cleaning car seats, you know.

SPEAKER_02 53:52

It's been a few years for me, but that's not a job I wanted it ever do. No, there's some nasty stuff that ends up in those things.

SPEAKER_00 54:02

No, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 54:03

I know great business, great business though.

SPEAKER_00 54:07

Yeah, yeah, you know, so I think that that's where it's like, where is this gonna go? Like, yeah, I think like I think it's gonna be really cool and interesting and exciting and dynamic because honestly, that's how this industry has always been. Uh so I think that I, you know, the the interesting thing is when we have constraints, it also forces us to learn to do things different and to try new things. And so I think that that's what's gonna happen. I think there will be con there will continue to be some more constraints and pressure, and we will have to figure out new and interesting ways to keep doing what we're doing and make money.

SPEAKER_02 54:49

Yeah, if you weren't gonna say it, I was, but I I feel like all of those pressures are what makes changes. You know, that's what makes things happen, and I think likely in the right direction. Um yeah, amazing. You know, Jamie, this has been a this has been wonderful. Thank you for sharing this. It's been great to hear your perspective on things, and uh I look forward to having more conversations like this. Uh if you'll have if we can have you back. So much.

SPEAKER_00 55:16

Thanks so much for having me, Steve.

SPEAKER_02 55:18

Thanks a bunch. We'll see you soon.