Today’s guest is Luke Williford.
Luke is a successful entrepreneur in the laundromat business, who shares his journey to success and insights on the industry. He emphasizes the importance of delivering excellent customer experiences and identifying underserved markets.
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Excellent Customer Experience [00:00:00]
Luke Williford's Background [00:01:08]
Growing the Laundromat Business [00:03:46]
Creating a Niche Market [00:08:16]
Consistency and Scalability [00:10:55]
Proprietary Payment System [00:13:11]
Knowing Your Primary Customer [00:16:28]
Opportunity to Bring a New Product to Market [00:17:55]
Frugal Approach to Growing the Business [00:21:25]
Financing [00:24:46]
Pitfalls [00:26:54]
Emotional Risk Tolerance [00:29:35]
Luke's contact information [00:33:32]
Closing remarks and call to action [00:34:42]
End of interview [00:34:38]
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Connect with Luke:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukefwilliford/
Web: https://www.thewillifordbrothers.com/
Connect with Sam:
I love helping others place money outside of traditional investments that both diversify a strategy and provide solid predictable returns.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HowtoscaleCRE/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samwilsonhowtoscalecre/
Email me → [email protected]
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Want to read the full show notes of the episode? Check it out below:
Luke Williford (00:00:00) - And our three words that we say every day, excellent customer experience. That's the mission behind everything we do. Why am I out checking on the stores? Uh, why am I out checking on HVAC systems right here before summer? It's because we wanna deliver an excellent customer experience. It all kind of stems from that. Yeah, we're on the roof fixing a repair on the roof, but it's all because we don't want water coming in because we wanna deliver that excellent customer experience. And when we do that, customers refer other customers, and it's just crazy how you build a family and a tribe of customers. Welcome
Intro (00:00:35) - To the How to Scale commercial real Estate show. Whether you are an active or passive investor, we'll teach you how to scale your real estate investing business into something big.
Sam Wilson (00:00:48) - Luke Williford, welcome to the show.
Luke Williford (00:00:50) - What's up, man? Thanks Sam for having me. Glad to be here. Absolutely.
Sam Wilson (00:00:54) - Luke, the pleasure is mine. Normally I have like a one sentence bio where I give somebody's great glowing intro here on the show, but I didn't get yours here for this recording. So if you don't mind, just really quickly tell us, uh, who is Luke Williford?
Luke Williford (00:01:08) - Luke Williford. Oh, thank you. Well, mine's not that great anyway, so maybe, maybe that's why you didn't get it. But now, man, I'm a, uh, hard worker from North Carolina, North Carolina. I live in Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm, uh, in the laundromat business as well as commercial real estate. Uh, but mainly the laundromats is, uh, where I have, I've built my, uh, you know, my influence, my brand and, and you know, my, um, wealth in the laundromat business. So, uh, I was born and raised in a rural town in eastern North Carolina. Uh, you know, baseball, football were kind of my identity. And I played college football and baseball and a little bit of, uh, of, uh, professional baseball. And then I realized the world ran on money. Uh, I was born into the laundromat industry. My dad was a multi-store owner in rural eastern North Carolina. Uh, he offered me a job after I sold insurance for a few years.
Luke Williford (00:02:05) - He offered me a job. I, I knew he wasn't gonna take a pay cut, so I knew he had to grow this thing. So I started to work really hard and pray, and the Lord led me, uh, to the bigger cities of North Carolina. And I moved my family to North Carolina about 10 years ago, and we started growing. Um, my goal there was to have like 14 locations in a certain amount of revenue, but the Lord went before us, uh, as we worked hard. Uh, and, and today we have about 35 locations in that area that I hope to, uh, grow 14. So I'm a general contractor. We build, uh, these things out and, and I love people. And the laundromat business is a people business, and I'm just blessed to be here and blessed to have opportunities to share with you and, and all those listening. Um, but, uh, yeah, I'm just a testimony of God's grace and, and, and hard work. I am a workaholic. Uh, so I have to, uh, battle that. But, uh, I love people and I love opportunities like this to, to share with you and, um, be on here with I'm sure other like-minded entrepreneurs. So, yeah, thanks for having me, and glad to be here. Glad to talk laundry and, uh, business today.
Sam Wilson (00:03:13) - I love it. Luke, thank you for that intro. I normally ask that question, you know, in 90 seconds or less, where'd you start? Where are you now? And how'd you get there? But you, you, you already answered all that for us, so, so that's awesome. You covered, you, you knew exactly where I was going with this, so this is fantastic. So you guys are, you're long in the laundry business. You kind of maybe touched on this where you said that your dad said, Hey, come work for me. And you, you knew you needed to grow the business, but what was the spark? What was it, or when was it that you said, man, I think we're onto something here?
Luke Williford (00:03:46) - Well, once I saw it was successful and I went, I traveled to other cities and I saw that the market seemed to be underserved. And then I started to look at the population of those cities and I looked at the population of the cities that we were in and the cities we were currently, uh, doing business in, had populations of 5,000 people. And I knew the revenue we were able to generate with that many people. And I thought, Hey man, if we go into a city with 200,000 people, you know, how would that look? And then, uh, we got a store in Raleigh and then ended up getting one in Fayetteville, which are kind of two pillar cities for us. We've got about 15 locations in both of those areas now. And that just started over a few years ago. And we grew mainly through acquisition.
Luke Williford (00:04:31) - So we would find, uh, locations, uh, just through networking. So I'm out in the field, uh, you know, talking to a lot of different people and you know, you find opportunities when you're out there beating doors. And, uh, we were able to grow mainly through acquisitions. So we buy out, uh, laundromats. Some are really bad and, and need complete retools, uh, and a retool is when you overhaul everything and get all new equipment. But early on, when we started, we didn't have the cash flow that we have now, uh, to be able to buy all new equipment. So we would maybe, you know, paint the walls more economically, come in and put in our brand. But slowly after time, uh, we really started to hone in our brand, uh, which is the wash house laundromats. Uh, so I'm very fortunate, uh, that my brother and I are now 50 50 partners.
Luke Williford (00:05:21) - Uh, his name's Lee Williford. We have our own podcast called The Wash House Laundromats. Uh, and you know, that's kind of what's grown us to here, and it's just been one at a time. And every store has its own testimony. We don't like go, Hey, we're gonna be right on that corner in Raleigh and we go there. The laundromat business doesn't have the revenue for that type of investment, so you have to be very frugal on the front end. So now we actually do consulting. So I help a lot of other people avoid the pitfalls that come, uh, with getting into the industry for the first time or trying to grow too fast. So I've also started consulting and helping other laundry owners, uh, with, with the challenges that'll come. And entrepreneurship can be lonely, so it's good to kinda help people along. So that's something that I've started about three or four years ago, and I really love helping other entrepreneurs.
Luke Williford (00:06:10) - We, uh, have guys fly into town and we share, uh, what we do with them. We take 'em into the back rooms. You can see I'm in Fayetteville, North Carolina, uh, today. And I said, man, I've gotta get somewhere cro quiet. So I came to one of our stores and there's just the back room of one of our stores. So sorry about the scenery, but it just goes to show you that, that, you know, it's realistic. We're out here working. There's no glam or glitz to, uh, a lot of these cash flowing businesses, but they're very rewarding when you work 'em hard. So that's kinda where I'm at today,
Sam Wilson (00:06:44) - Man. You said it. And, and that's, I, I think that's one of the beauties of the business that you're in. There is not a lot of glam, there's not a lot of glit, or what'd you say, glam or glitz? I don't know, however you said it. I like it.
Luke Williford (00:06:56) - Like the glam. Yeah.
Sam Wilson (00:06:57) - Yeah, because it, there's not, but it's a cash flowing business and it's one of those things that produce a, a, a very, very robust and healthy return when done properly. And it's like, I, I don't, I don't need it to be sexy. I just need it to work. And yeah. And, and it's like you're saying, man, you're, you're in, you're in the store room. I don't know if those are fireworks or chips behind you, but whatever it is, it, uh, you, you're clearly in the store room at the back of one of your stores checking on checking and seeing what's, what's going on there at that location I got. That's really cool. A word you used that means a lot to me is underserved. What did you mean by that?
Luke Williford (00:07:32) - So, a lot of times we think a market is fixed. In other words, these are the amount of laundry customers. This is the amount of money they spend on laundry every week. And that's just fixed. I like to use an illustration of a pizza. We just think it's the pizza. Another laundromat comes to town, we're just gonna slice the pizza, the more, uh, more slices. But really it's all this market outside, uh, that that is able to be captured if the market serve well. Does that make sense?
Sam Wilson (00:08:03) - Certainly does. It certainly does. And I, and I couldn't agree with you more. So what is the opportunity then, and, and why do you see continued opportunity then in the laundry space?
Luke Williford (00:08:16) - Well, this new era, man, a lot of people don't know a flathead from a Phillips head. So they don't wanna own a mechanical washer and dryer. Not to mention that the stuff's very expensive and it's not built as good to last like it was years ago. Uh, so you just see a lot of people, even homeowners, you know, they don't wanna own a washer dryer. And then rent ratios are up, like, people like to rent. They don't like the burden of having to own a home. Yeah, you and I love it cuz we build equity and uh, you know, we build that. But some people, they would rather just rent it, uh, than, than own it and put the worry on somebody else if something start leaking or whatnot. So they come to us and, uh, we just have found a niche in, in an underserved, uh, market, if you will.
Luke Williford (00:09:07) - And, uh, we create customers, we create more laundry being washed. So I, I like to use Starbucks as an example just because they're a national brand with coffee. If they put a Starbucks on a corner in your town that is not serving coffee, now the same amount of coffee's not gonna be consumed in that area. They're gonna create coffee drinkers, they're gonna create people who drink coffee, drinking it more, more often, spending more money on it. We try to do the same with laundry and our three words that we say every day, excellent customer experience. That's the mission behind everything we do. Why am I out checking on the stores? Uh, why am I out checking on HVAC systems right here before summer? It's because we wanna deliver an excellent customer experience. It all kind of stems from that. Yeah, we're on the roof fixing a repair on the roof, but it's all because we don't want water coming in because we wanna deliver that excellent customer experience.
Luke Williford (00:10:02) - And when we do that, customers refer other customers and it's just crazy how you build a family and a tribe of customers. We've been able to create a brand in the laundromat space here locally cuz the laundromat brand, the most important, uh, is like a three mile radius. Those are the people who are gonna come and pay. So what the people think on national forums don't really matter. It's all about that customer. And, uh, we've really been able to pour into our customer by pouring into our staff. We run a self-service only model. We don't do wash, dry fold pickup and delivery. Some people wash it and say he may be crazy, but it's a trade off. We wouldn't be able to have 37 uh, locations today. Had we done all that, we'd had hundreds and hundreds of employees in the logistics. There'd just be a lot of trade-offs that would be hard to manage that many locations.
Luke Williford (00:10:55) - The reason people like our industry is because it's, uh, low labor, uh, no accounts receivable. Um, you know, it is capital intents on the front. And I think that's one of the good things for people who are in the laundromat space, is that it is a barrier to entry. So if you're looking to get into this space, you think a hundred thousand dollars is gonna get you there. It's not, it's just gonna cost a lot more, um, than, than you might think. Um, the investment, the equipment's high, but there is a re healthy return there. And, uh, we've been able to really hone in our model. I'm so peculiar on consistency, the paint on our walls, um, you know, our back rooms, everything. I'm just a stickler. Our hot water heater, our laundry, uh, equipment is all Dexter laundry equipment. Um, you know, we run a lot of these same things, but to do anything at scale, whatever it is, if you're watching, you have to have systems and anything that's a hiccup at one location, when you scale that across 10, 20 or 30, it becomes a real problem. So, uh, we've been able to work really hard, uh, to, to kind of make this business scalable.
Sam Wilson (00:12:01) - If, if I understand correctly, what was it, 20 15, 20 17 really, when you guys went long in this, what, what year was it? You said, Hey, we're about to just blow the doors off of this business.
Luke Williford (00:12:12) - Well, it, it really wasn't one dec decision, uh, to like blow the doors off. It's just three or four or five stores a year consistently pounding the pavement, consistently, uh, you know, working on our brand consistently marketing, nobody in our industry goes broke through marketing. Like they use 0% of revenue back into marketing. So we've been consistent at putting two or 3% back into marketing. I do a lot of the marketing myself on social media. We make sure our Google page across 37 stores right now, we have a 4.7 star, uh, listing across, that's the average across 37 locations. And that is very, that's just a testament to our team members, uh, and, and our and what they're doing out in the field. Cuz the laundromat, the average laundromat across America's probably two and a half stars on Google. We've got 37 at 4.7 and we get about 30 reviews, uh, a week.
Luke Williford (00:13:11) - Uh, so we get one per location a week typically. Um, so, and that's just a testament of, hey, when we've got a number that they can call somebody bilingual answers, uh, we do, uh, quick response through text messaging. And one of the biggest things I wanna share with you, uh, that one of the most pivotal things we did was a few years ago we created our own proprietary payment system. Uh, you know, that was a leap. You know, we didn't just say, Hey, we're gonna do that. It's kind of just all fell into place. Um, met a guy who was a software engineer, and, uh, long story short, that was about seven years ago. We knew we couldn't scale this business on coin, uh, just because you would have to collect and collect and it's not verifiable. And it, it was just, just a thing that we, we either figure something out.
Luke Williford (00:13:57) - So we looked at the systems on the market and we tried a couple of them and we just weren't pleased. And actually, this gentleman named Lucas, who's still one of my good friends, works for us full time leads our, our, uh, our company called Interactive Payment Systems, which created freedom, our payment system, which is a R F I D based, uh, full loop card system. Uh, you know, he created that and we, we did it all together, you know, really on a drawing board seven years ago. But it was all to deliver an excellent customer experience. It all comes back to that. So what we did was we created, uh, I'll pull out my card and, uh, so each customer, when they come into the wash house, we wanna figure out how to make 'em loyal customers. So they get a card like this, they register with their name and phone number, and then they, they continue to come back, uh, and if they ever lose this, they can come back and replace it by using two-way authentication and putting their phone number back in.
Luke Williford (00:14:54) - So that's when we really started to brand the wash house. We started to put one, you know, every mile or two around these cities. And that way people, when they're on the other side of town, they can come, come use us, uh, anywhere they're at, if, if they're on a different part of town. And then when they go into that location, it doesn't matter which location that they go into, we want that consistent, excellent customer experience, consistent paint on the walls, consistent, large capacity equipment available. And, uh, by doing that and investing heavily, uh, we, and working really hard and, and the Lord's grace, we've, we've been able to continue to, uh, grow and, uh, and yeah, I mean, it, it, it really continues. Opportunity continues. We're always building a couple stores or got a few in acquisition. Right now I'm building, uh, two. And, uh, we've got, uh, one that we just, uh, went under contract, which is an existing location, but every situation is different. So a lot of times and, and there's a lot of emotions involved in these transactions. So I typically build a relationship with these owners, uh, of the business or the real estate, either one. So anyway, I know that was a lot, but
Sam Wilson (00:16:07) - No, no, that's good. It's great, man. You're, you're rocking and rolling. I didn't wanna stop you mid stride. Carry on that. That's awesome. You, you've come back to the excellent customer experience comment several times. And I'm gonna give you a leading question here, so I'm gonna lead the witness. What, what is, what is lacking in the industry that makes what you do so different?
Luke Williford (00:16:28) - Uh, just knowing who you're serving. Uh, I think we, we try to serve who is my primary customer. So, you know, a lot of laundromats, they focus on the pickup and delivery commercial client. They focus on, on the, uh, pickup and delivery residential client. They focus on the wash drive fold client, and the self-service client kind of gets left behind and is not prioritized. So I, we laser like focus on who we call Angela. Angela is our primary customer. That's just a name we, we figured out. We make all business decisions based off Angela. Angela is a typical, um, mother of multiple children. And our goal is to make her life of doing and the task of doing laundry easier for her. Um, she's not gonna have somebody come pick it up at her house. She can't quite afford that. She loves coming to the laundromat, uh, using the wifi and knocking out hundreds of pounds of clothes at one time, backing up to the door and, and once a week or twice a week. So, uh, we make all of our decisions based off of her. And of course we serve a lot of different customers, uh, you know, transient customers who are traveling, uh, you know, uh, customers like my wife who come in a few times a year to do the larger household items. But we don't prioritize that customer. We, we prioritize, uh, that mom with multiple children who comes in, uh, multiple times a month, uh, regularly.
Sam Wilson (00:17:55) - No, I think that's great. And knowing, knowing who your avatar is that you're serving, I think is really, really helpful. I think it's fun that you've, you've got a name, name for your avatar and all that's, that's, that's a really great, a really great thing there. Yeah. And bringing that, I guess, you know, that opportunity in the, in the space, I think you said it was like 2.5 stars is the average laundromat. Mm-hmm. . I mean, I always joke that it's like, you know, the average laundromat experience is like, you walk in and you're afraid of getting stabbed or catching a disease before you leave the place. It's like, what is going on here? So the opportunity to bring, to bring a, uh, a brand new product to market, new retooled stores, clean, welcoming, inviting, functioning equipment, unique payment systems. I mean, that's all just, that's a, that's, that is a and you're serving, you're serving a customer that's not used to being serve, if I can just be honest about it. Exactly.
Luke Williford (00:18:44) - Mm-hmm. . Yeah. And
Sam Wilson (00:18:45) - I think that's a, that's a really, a really cool part. Uh, I love what you guys are doing on that front, because I think that's the, there, there's, there's some, some redemptive work there going on as well where it's like, Hey, you know what? I can deliver an excellent product to somebody that's not used to being the one that is receiving excellent products. So that's, uh, that's really, really cool that you're doing that,
Luke Williford (00:19:05) - Sam, I always use the illustration of if we're building a steakhouse, the bar's gonna be here. Right? You know, when people come in, they're gonna want to, you know, as laundrymat owners, we have the, you know, the bar set here. So I'm really working, and a lot of the entrepreneurs in the laundry industry are working to raise that bar. And when the customers come in, they are wowed, you know, it, it's really simple things. They'll literally be throwing $20 bills, uh, in the cash validator, loading up their accounts and thanking us simultaneously. Because a lot of people, you're right, haven't served them well. They haven't poured, they realize the investment that you make and, uh, they're just grateful for that. And then the finances take care of themselves, you know, as long as the market's there and the demographics to support the business are there. But yeah, you're, you're so right there.
Sam Wilson (00:19:54) - No, that's really, really cool. I love that. Tell me, tell me about this, talking about finances. I mean, this is not, as you mentioned, an inexpensive business to get into. Mm-hmm. a hundred grand isn't gonna take you very far. I'm thinking of, and you know, you know this story full well. I mean, gosh, our, our, another last store we just bought it was, I think we put 700,000, almost $800,000 in retooling that store. I mean, for, yeah, that's a lot of money. You know, that's a lot of money for these stores. So tell me, how have you guys meaningfully grown? I think you said it there, you said it earlier, you said you were frugal on the front end, but how have you meaningfully grown your stores? I guess how has the financing side of this worked out for you, especially growing at the, at the pace that you have?
Luke Williford (00:20:37) - Well, we do, we DIY everything all the way to the payment system. You know, uh, if you're a first timer, you're gonna, uh, get with your local distributor, price it out, that's gonna kill a lot of time. And then they're gonna price you at the peak just because they can and they're not sure. And there's, you're a dime a dozen. These distributors are getting these calls. So we've been able to create a relationship with our distributor, uh, where they realize that we, we are, we are hands off for them and they give us a great price on the equipment. Uh, and then, you know, we build it out ourselves. So I have the same subcontractors. Our crew does all the installs. So my subcontractors, my electrical, mechanical and plumbing, they all kind of know what we're doing now. Um, and we kind of just move from location to location as needed.
Luke Williford (00:21:25) - Uh, my subcontractors are not full-time with me. Uh, they're just on the projects. The guys that you see in a lot of my videos are regional managers. So they manage five to seven locations every week on the regular. But then when we have a project, they come together, we bring 'em all to one location and, uh, we work on installing the washers and dryers. Uh, we do all of that ourselves. So it's a great time for our team to build camaraderie, my guys, to get some overtime hours and to learn more about the equipment. And then they go back to their, so if we're not doing a project, uh, the regional managers who are the technicians that are my team and help me with the installs, they're actually covering five to seven locations, is, is how I have it broke out. They do, uh, collections, maintenance facilities, uh, it's, it's theirs.
Luke Williford (00:22:13) - You know, don't call me. And, uh, and, and we, we serve them. Well talk to 'em regularly, and they, they've really grasped that and, and have really all become good leaders. And they, they love that, that we trust 'em with that. Once we train somebody, we don't mi micromanage 'em. So, uh, that's, that's kinda where, where we, we, we save a lot. Um, but it took a while to get to that point. Uh, you know, you said you spent seven or 800,000 on a retool man. Yeah. It can go quick. And just making sure that you buy exactly what you need and nothing more. The, the people who sell equipment distributors, they'll always take an order later down the road, is what I tell first time investors. Right. You know, they're like, they say, I've gotta do this. Well, no, you don't. If you get to where your store's so busy that it can't keep up, we can always order more equipment.
Luke Williford (00:23:04) - And at that time, you'll be paying for that equipment outta the cash flow of the business rather than just out of whatever you have to invest on the front end. Um, but I would say that the cheapest thing you, you can do and is to find somebody who's done it like me or someone else, uh, you know, I always save, uh, whoever I work with tenfold, uh, what they spend with me. And I've only had to start charging over the last four or five years with consulting just because there was a demand on my time. And I'm really, uh, wanting to add value to the people I work with. If you're looking to get into the business, um, you know, just a little bit of advice can, can go a long ways. And ha having somebody there to guide you who's been through it multiple times and it's simultaneously going through it.
Luke Williford (00:23:50) - So I, I'm doing this ti this, uh, stuff along with all the guys that I'm, I'm able to coach who are out there, uh, also doing the same thing. So it's a lot of fun. I prayed for it and, and the Lord has gone before me, man. And, and yeah, the money is is extremely important though. And for those watching, they're like, well Luke, what does it take to build a location? And I say, build a location. There's so many ways to do it. You can acquire an existing laundry, you can buy building and renovate it. You can buy land and build from the ground up. Something I've never done. Right, Sam? We've never bought dirt and built from the ground up cuz we've always made it a financial decision. Not emotional. We try to, we, we play broke while we grow, you know, I'm sure you, you've heard that before, but, but use, use your gun powder if you will, as frugally as you can because you know, the number one death of any, uh, small business is growing too fast.
Luke Williford (00:24:46) - Right. Uh, my brother always says, the trees don't grow to heaven. They just look like it. You know, you can't, can't grow too fast, you know? Mm-hmm. , there's, there's, there's, there's steps that we have to take. So, uh, we try to keep a certain amount, uh, in case a catastrophe happened, we could have some stay power and get through it and pay our staff. Uh, so yeah. But, but back to my, what I was saying is the person asking, well, what does it take normally if you find a space, if it was a laundry or not, and you wanna order equipment, say the equipment's $500,000, they're gonna, the finance companies are gonna want you to have 20 to 30, possibly 40% down on that, right? Uh, depending on credit and, and experience and stuff like that. So for the guy watching, you're gonna need to have that, uh, to put into that new equipment.
Luke Williford (00:25:36) - Now there's some creative ways to avoid that. There's ways to get private lending and such, but, uh, that's the typical route. There's a lot of different companies, all these manufacturers, Alliance Laundry who sells hips, uh, and speed, queen washers and dryers, they have their own finance company, Dexter Laundry, uh, they have their own finance company. Eastern Funding, uh, has been in the laundromat space for years. Lending, there's a bunch of different ones I'm probably missing. But, uh, you can find, uh, ways. But, uh, yeah, you got, you gotta go out and I would say get in. If you want to get into the laundromat business, go out and visit laundromats. Take your laundry to 'em, start to realize who you're gonna be serving. Mm-hmm.
Sam Wilson (00:26:19) - . Mm-hmm. . No, that's great. That's absolutely great. I love, I love that. Thank you for taking the time really to share on that. We've talked a bit about team and how you guys have grown your team with the regional managers, how you guys do your own installs, how you save on money, on maintenance, on that front. We've talked, uh, about financing as well. How about this one thing you did mention was some pitfalls and you've mentioned grow too fast, uh, I think here a couple times already and maybe you can give some more color to that. And then if there are any other pitfalls that really come to mind, I'd love to hear those.
Luke Williford (00:26:54) - Yeah, so fortunately we've been in this industry a long time, so we got to soak up some wisdom from my father, uh, a lot of wisdom and avoid a lot of those pitfalls. But I hear stories and I talk to guys every week who have, you know, acquired a store and it looked good on paper and they paid 2 million and it's a lease location and they just, they had to have it because they thought that was the only way to do it. And the store up the street was 400,000, but it was junky. And they didn't realize they could have just put 600 into that and they'd have a million into a similar store, but instead they've squeezed themselves and they're, they're working this business and now they're trying to grow revenue a million different ways. Uh, you know, and, uh, just to, to make ends meet.
Luke Williford (00:27:42) - Uh, I've heard horror stories of, uh, I know a story, definitely won't use any names, but I know a story of a, a lady who invested her retirement and, uh, you know, recently sold her store, uh, to someone it didn't work out. She lost all of her retirement. And, and it typically is just, uh, not using wise council. Mm-hmm. And that's why consultants have become popular in our, our business. Lot of laundry owners are like, what do you need that for? Uh, you know, but for these first timers and the guys who I helped, the, the most, the person that I can really help the most is the guy that has two to three, four or five laundries and really wants to scale it because I've walked that path, man. Right. I know, uh, you know what you're gonna face. I'm facing it. I have faced it and continue to face it.
Luke Williford (00:28:31) - Cuz you know, this isn't something where you set it and forget it. Like a lot of people think a lot of laundries around the country, uh, insurance salesman owns on the side. He has this insurance that he pro prioritizes and he just comes and takes the cash. A lot of times they don't show, uh, what they're making. A lot of times the laundry will be for sale and it's like, it's doing 200,000 in revenue and netting a hundred thousand, but they cannot prove that on paper. And that's all fun till you go to sell. Right. So, um, yeah, but I may have got off of the exact question. Did I answer that? What was the You did,
Sam Wilson (00:29:06) - We were talking about pitfalls and just kind of some of the things as you get Yeah,
Luke Williford (00:29:09) - Yeah.
Sam Wilson (00:29:10) - I mean, and it goes and it goes back to those revenues. I think that's one of the things is that in this space, and it's not us cuz we record every last quarter. Unfortunately, we still have a store that takes quarters. My next, our next door does not. Yeah. But that comes through the door. But a lot of people see this as their own kind of little private piggy bank where they can Yeah. Shuffle some money to the sideline and put it under their mattress and spend it. And so then it's great, like you said, until you go to sell.
Luke Williford (00:29:35) - Yes. And one of the things I like to say is, uh, that not only you have to have financial tolerance for this business, but you also have to have risk tolerance emotionally. So if somebody who dies in the, in the bathroom overdosing on drugs is gonna like literally make you not the same person anymore or really affect you, then, then this isn't the business for you. That's something I've seen too, Sam, where people get into this business, they're like, oh, you didn't tell me I was gonna have, you know, uh, homeless doing drugs in, in my store and have to consistently get rid of 'em. Well that's also something that comes with this business that people don't take account for on the front end. So you gotta have financial risk tolerance to get into it. But then secondly, you gotta have emotional bandwidth to handle the day in and day out.
Luke Williford (00:30:24) - I tell a lot of my friends, sometimes, I don't mean to one up you, but your top five won't make my top five of the week. I mean, we're having people drive through stores, if you can think of it, it's happening. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. We serve over 40,000 customers a week, and none of those are online. They all drive to the location and park and they don't park properly and they don't enter the store properly. And they, you know, it's just, and that's not accounting for all those who aren't customers who are using our bathrooms, who are, you know, it's a constant battle. But it, it's one worth fighting and the, and the, uh, but if you're not wanting to sign up for that, know that that's part of it. And of course you can hire these things out, but that cuts down your margin. And also that person that you hire out, they're gonna have to be managed. Right. Um, so yeah,
Sam Wilson (00:31:11) - You said it man, you said it. If, if, if you can think it, it's happened. I've, I've used that line before. Uh, just, just, just rewinding, you know, the last five years of us being in the laundry business and going, yeah, yeah. We've, we've seen some stuff, but, but I think on the other, the other side of that, and this is, this is the overlook part of it, cuz I've been in other industries, is, is that the, uh, the downside risk. Like, okay, so X happened, something happened a month ago and it cost me like 1500 bucks. I'm like, okay, not the end of the world. You know what, I've been in other industries where a far simpler mistake cost me 10 times that amount. Mm-hmm. multiple times a year. I'm like, in this business, usually the the things that go wrong just aren't, they're just not that expensive. And other than even like you said, just the dumb stuff, you're like, you know, the the, we, we do get to see all of God's children in our, in our laundromats. Yes.
Luke Williford (00:32:06) - That's good man.
Sam Wilson (00:32:09) - So it's, we're
Luke Williford (00:32:10) - Really, it is a, it is such a wonderful place for ministry. We see our business, I mean really just, just because we have a lot of the least of these come in, right? And it's, it's, I've been able to meet some of the homeless, hire some, some workouts, some don't. It's ugly work. It's not pretty. But hey, I'm thankful for the opportunity. And you get to meet a lot of people with a lot of different perspective. And some of the strongest people I've met are women in the laundromats, uh, because you can talk to 'em and they're share stories. They've lost their husband, you know, I love that personal side of things. Uh, so I love spending time in the store because you really get to hear people. And I think in our fast-paced society, we get so in a hurry to get everything done, get the laundry done, and we stop and we miss out on a lot of conversations. And I'm thankful for the laundromat because it's, it's led me to so many wonderful relationships and really people in the laundromat pouring wisdom back into me just by understanding their perspective and sharing a little insight on their life. It's, it's always fun to hear,
Sam Wilson (00:33:15) - Man. Luke, this has been absolutely insightful. Thank you for taking the time here to come on the show today. I've learned so much from you. I know we went a little long here today. I apologize, uh, for keeping you over time. Not at
Luke Williford (00:33:26) - All.
Sam Wilson (00:33:26) - If our listeners in touch with you or learn more about the wash house and what you guys are doing, what is the best way to do that?
Luke Williford (00:33:32) - Um, I would encourage you to, uh, check out the Williford Brothers podcast. So we have our podcast and then we've got the williford brothers.com, that's me and my brother. And then, uh, follow me on social media, Luke f Williford, uh, on Instagram and Facebook. I put out daily stuff so I'm sharing every day as I go around to my laundry as also some of my personal life. Uh, so would love for you to follow me there. And that's Luke f Williford. Our company is the Wash House Inc. So you can go to the wash house inc.com, check out the wash house laundromats, and uh, yeah, would, would love to, uh, to connect or hear from any of you. Uh, but go to the williford brothers.com and you can, uh, subscribe there and you'll get our emails and you'll be able to see when we have updated podcasts, cuz you'll probably have a lot of laundromat questions. And there we answer a lot of that, uh, for you. Um, and you'll be able to also see the different offerings that we offer to, uh, hang out with, uh, with me and, and my brother in person and, and dive a little deeper if you're serious about this industry. Bud. Sam, thank you for having me, man. It's, it's been a pleasure.
Sam Wilson (00:34:38) - Thank you, Luke. Appreciate your time. Have a great rest of your day.
Luke Williford (00:34:41) - You too, man. God bless.
Sam Wilson (00:34:42) - Hey, thanks for listening to the How to Scale Commercial Real Estate podcast. If you can, do me a favor and subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, whatever platform it is you use to listen. If you can do that for us, that would be a fantastic help to the show. It helps us both attract new listeners as well as rank higher on those directories. So appreciate you listening. Thanks so much and hope to catch you on the next episode.
