The Laundry List Blog

80% of people are in survival mode.
They are living paycheck to paycheck.
Once they have spent their paycheck, they are broke.

80% of businesses are in survival mode.
They are living payroll to payroll.
Once they have made payroll, the business is broke.

Broke people and broke companies make money to ...

Ever since the mid-1980s, drycleaning and laundered shirt piece counts have declined. Sure, you can increase piece counts overall if you increase your market share by adding new clients. You also need to focus on being a specialist in at least one growing service.

I chose bedding and it has really p...

If there’s one thing every drycleaner could use, it is a consistent flow of new, ready-to-buy referral clients each day. However, like most things, it’s easier said than done.

Referrals are your second easiest client to sell to, only behind your current clients.

It is important to understand a few ...

There are two keys I have noticed with almost every successful drycleaning owner.

First, they have a strong bias towards taking action. They honestly take an audit of where they are and make sure their thoughts and actions are in alignment with their ideal destination. Then they rigorously take acti...

There are two ways to get everything you want in life.

One is to take it. Someone else has it. You want it. You figure out how to take it from them. Like robbing a bank. Or a one-night stand.

The other way is to help others get what they want in life. In exchange for that value, they give you what y...

Products are generally paid for before they are used. For example, you buy toothpaste BEFORE you use it. You buy toilet paper BEFORE you use it. You buy gas BEFORE you use it in your car.

Services are generally paid for after the service is rendered. You pay a plumber AFTER he fixes the leak under y...

Do you want to make more money?

Have more freedom?

Make a greater impact?

The average person who has a regular job, or works in corporate America, has roughly 35-40 working years where they work hard, advance their career, get promotions, and save for retirement. Then they retire between ages 62 a...

Most drycleaning business owners exit their business WHEN they sell their business, or in many cases, AFTER they sell their business (typically in the case of an earn out agreement).

Here’s what usually happens:

#1 – the owner sells at an amount that is far less than optimal and has narrowed the typ...

Why Most Marketing Fails

You are not in the drycleaning business. Rather, you are in the business of marketing your drycleaner.

This does not sit well with the 60% of our industry who does not believe they need to market their drycleaning businesses. But therein lies the opportunity. When the majori...

One of the best ways to acquire new clients is to give an irresistible offer to people when they move into a new home or condo in one of your target areas. They are new to the neighborhood, and in many cases, new to the city. They often don’t know where to go for services, and so they are open to su...

In my previous article, I shared with you why I put so much energy into creating subscriptions for my businesses. Almost any business can create monthly recurring revenue (subscriptions, memberships, etc.) but for some reason, drycleaners have been late to the party.
 
One of the primary benefits to...

A few years back, when I started offering subscriptions to our clients (we call them Time Saver Plans), I had a blind spot. I didn’t realize it would be more challenging to periodically raise prices with the subscription plans than it is to raise per item prices.

We raise our regular prices twice pe...

The start of 2024 for many drycleaners proved to be sluggish at best. Not sure if I have a good answer why but many of my members reported a slow first quarter compared to the past couple of years.

If this was the case for you, and you are in a bit of a cash crunch, here are some ideas to increa...

For most drycleaners across the United States, the months of April / May / June are some of the highest revenue months of the year. I wanted to give you a few reminders as you enter this season so you can make sure to maximize both revenue and profits.

As you enter the change of seasons, you will st...

What is the Number One Challenge in your business right now?

Your number one challenge can easily preoccupy your resources, including your time, money, confidence, and energy.

Left unresolved, your number one challenge usually keeps you from seizing your number one opportunity.

Here are some of the...

I recently finished reading The One Thing by Gary Keller and he suggested asking yourself the following question:

What is the ONE THING I can do so that everything else will be easier or unnecessary?

What an awesome question! It asks you to focus on the one thing you can work on to create leverage t...

I ventured down a rabbit hole on YouTube recently and found myself watching a video of Warren Buffett. He was telling the stories of two companies – Nebraska Land Furniture and Enterprise Rental Car. Both of these companies were built from almost nothing – one with $2,500 and the other with 17 cars....

There are only three ways to increase your revenue:
1. Get more clients
2. Get current clients to come more often
3. Get current clients to spend more each time they visit
It is critical you have an intentional plan to acquire new clients. Even if you want to keep the same amount of top-line revenue fro...

Earlier this week, I talked to a prospective member about our new Warrior group. He said he would be interested in joining but wanted to make sure I would not make him discount his services. He was concerned such a thing would degrade his brand and he didn’t want to do that.

I get this all the time....

If you want to be a great marketer, it is important to understand what makes people tick. You are in the fulfillment business. A client or prospect has a problem and you have a solution to make their problem better. You are able to monetize this solution since it is valuable to your client or prospe...