How to Start a Laundry Business

There are quite a number of positive reasons why you should start a laundry business, might be one of the best moves yet. For one, people don’t have enough time anymore. They work between eight and twelve hours a day and get home late at night. Weekends are spent with friends and family as well as recuperating and preparing for the demands of the week to come. If they have children, then that makes the demand on them and their time even higher. So what happens to the laundry?

In addition, you’ll have to consider before you start a laundry business that not everyone who deals with their own laundry, regardless of the profession of the individual – attorney or housewife – really likes to do the ironing and the folding of the clothes. If they could, perhaps if there was a laundry service in their area, then they would more likely than not have their washing sent away. So what does it take to start a laundry business? What will you need and how will you get yourself known in the area you choose to operate?

Well, first off you’ll have to consider the numbers. The key concept to anyone who wants to start a laundry business is focussing on what you get in every month versus what you will be spending. Take the time and do the research. Obviously you’ll need to think about renting a premises as well as adapting said premises to suit your needs.

In addition, you’ll want to find suppliers for the equipment you want to use as well as for the various chemicals you will need to stock to start a laundry business. You’ll have to think about whether you will be employing staff and perhaps drivers if you plan to include deliveries in your laundry service. All this should go into a carefully put-together laundry service business plan so that you can get a clear view of what road to take.

Seems daunting, doesn’t it? But just remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day and you needn’t have the final product before you start earning money; starting big will most likely result in taking an unwise risk. So start off small. Most of the laundry service equipment can be rented and if you buy your cleaning liquids and chemicals in bulk, you’ll most likely be able to negotiate a discount with your retailer. In addition, if your place has the space, installing a couple of coin-operated machines where people can do their own laundry will result in a passive positive addition to the profits of your laundry service.

You would, however, need to employ at least one or two people when you start a laundry business – considering that your client will have high standards, you’ll be hard pressed to iron a high volume of clothes in time to meet a promised deadline.

So, you’re just starting out. You registered your laundry business, managed to get yourself insured and will be opening your doors to the public, but have you considered the fees you will be charging? Is there a laundry business in your area that offers the same or additional services? Perhaps you are the only laundry business providing a specific service for miles around, which will allow you to push up your rates. Doing research in this area is always a sound move and could prevent the premature closure of your laundry business.

The next thing you need to do is to get clients. Needless to say, we’re talking about marketing. To start off we’ll have to go through the basic motions: listing your laundry service with your local Yellow Pages, handing out flyers or coupons and advertising in the local media. Perhaps you’ll consider setting up a website and, if your current laundry service capabilities allow it, you’ll provide potential clients with the ability to arrange for the collection, cleaning and dropping-off of their items.

Remember that marketing is intended to get you as many customers as you can positively handle. Employing the services of a professional copywriter or perhaps a team of marketing professionals who’ll be able to assist you in a marketing campaign will give you the best possible chance in beating the competition and help you to get the business when you start a laundry business.

Finally, after you’ve done the marketing and the money is finally coming in, you need to do one more thing to see that your laundry service is heading in the right direction: get a bookkeeper. This may seem unnecessary and initially you’ll be able to do it yourself, but as your laundry service grows it will become an intricate operation of additions and deductions and you’ll want to find someone to do it for you. Nowadays there are thousands of self-employed bookkeepers that are good at what they do and will be able to do the job you need at a fraction of the cost of a big accounting firm.

Other than that, when you start a laundry business always keep your eyes on the figures and make sure you deliver the best possible service to ensure that clients keep coming back.