There is a WAH business that many people don’t know about that requires no special skills, very little startup money, and everything you need to run it can be found in your laundry room. Not sure what I’m talking about? Here’s a hint: it already does and probably has for years. I’m talking about a washing and folding service.
Dirty clothes. It’s one of life’s most dreaded tasks, but it can cost you an extra $ 100- $ 300 a week.
Many SAHPs looking for a WAH job or business probably don’t think of a wash and fold service as an option. It certainly wasn’t something I initially thought of when looking for something to do from home. But after trying a few different things and being disappointed with each result, the idea of a home wash and fold service was born. It took me some work, some trial and error, but now I clean my clothes once a week and earn $ 1,100 a month. Not bad just to clean clothes.
I’m going to share with you how I started my home laundry service and give you some great tips that would have saved me a lot of time. I’ll include a step-by-step guide, as well as ideas for marketing. Starting a home laundry service is a great way to earn extra money without sacrificing a lot of time!
Step by step guide
1.) Take care of the legal issues. You will need to check with your state about possible licensing and registration requirements. There will be a sales tax that you will have to pay frequently; It is imperative that you know what the sales tax is in the county in which you will operate.
You will also need to establish how it will be organized; Sole Owner, LLC, S Corp.
2.) Open a business checking account. I highly recommend keeping your business and personal laundry transactions separate. Although it is not necessary, it is easier at tax time to report your income and expenses if they are not combined with your personal finances.
3.) Set up your record keeping. You will need to keep track of several things, including; Laundry customers, payments received, expenses and mileage. This does not mean that you should go out and buy fancy financial software; Google Spreadsheet does a good job of keeping track of everything and the price is right; free!
4.) How will you be paid? Determine your payment terms. Will your clients pay you before or after services are performed? Will you accept only cash or also check? These are policies that you will need to establish before accepting clients. Almost all of my clients prefer to pay by credit card. PayPal is an easy-to-use credit card processor with a reasonable fee (3% of transactions) that you can set up in a matter of minutes.
You will also need to determine how much you will charge your customers. The two most common methods that I have observed are by the pound or by bag size. If you choose to charge by the pound, you will need to purchase a hanging scale (Amazon sells it for $ 10) and determine your rate ($ 1 – $ 1.50 / lb is the average). If you choose to use bags, you will need to determine the dimensions and desired material for your bags and then find a supplier that fits your budget. I use a nylon bag that measures 22 “X 28” and holds about two loads of laundry. You can expect the bags to cost you between $ 2 and $ 4 / bag.
5.) Create a website. Some may argue that this step is not necessary, but I would have to completely disagree. You don’t have a physical store like laundries, so your website, in a sense, is your store. You NEED to have a way for customers to find you and get information about your services. You will achieve this through a website. WordPress is a free web design site that is very easy to use. You can easily create a website and find a web host in the “Hosting” section. I initially used GoDaddy for my website and then hired an independent contractor to create what is now laundrycare.biz.
6.) Market your services. There are various online and offline ways to market your services, I’ll start with online marketing.
When it comes to creating your online presence, you will have two options; free marketing and paid marketing. I use a combination of both to promote my wash and fold service. Free marketing would include appearing in free directories like Google Places and Yahoo! Local. Craigslist is another great source for advertising your laundry service for free. Paid marketing is the sponsored ads you see on search engine results pages; the best dogs are Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search, Microsoft Advertising, and Facebook Ads. There are MANY more free and paid online sellers, but this is a good starting point.
Social media marketing is an imperative piece for your marketing efforts. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn are just a few of the available media sites. You don’t need (and won’t have time) to create multiple accounts, one Facebook page is enough to get started. To get customers to “Like” your Facebook page, you can offer an incentive, such as a discount on their first order.
Online marketing only takes time and a computer; For offline marketing, you’ll have to roll up your sleeves and do some real leg and mouth work. The first thing to do is create an attention-grabbing flyer. Brochures are an inexpensive way to promote your business, and if there is a local college campus, you can expose yourself to hundreds of potential customers every day. Make sure your brochure has an attention-grabbing headline and print it on vibrantly colored paper. Include pull-out tabs at the bottom of your flyer that contain your company name, phone number, email, and web address, if you have one. Business cards are another marketing tool that you will need for those times when you are talking to a potential customer. You can get 250 free printed business cards through Vista (with $ 5 shipping).
Make a list of local businesses that could use your service (spa, doctor’s offices, daycare, restaurants) and contact them by phone or in person. I know, I know, everyone loves to sell; However, this does not have to be an aggressive sales pitch. A brief introduction to you and your laundry service, along with how your service can benefit your business, is all you need to do. Here is some inside information that I have used to win business clients; it is less expensive than large commercial cleaners and does not require lengthy contracts. Most large commercial cleaners require a contract of at least one year and will charge for various items such as fuel, processing, towel / uniform rental. Knowing this information can give you something attractive to offer potential business customers.
Lastly, you will need to talk about your business as often as possible. Networking is a very powerful tool. You never know when you will meet someone who simply needs your service or meets someone who needs it.
7.) Ready … Ready … Launch! Now you are ready to start working with your business. Please be patient and understand that Rome was not built in a day. You will need time to grow. I didn’t get my first customer until 2 months after launch and trust me, I was starting to think that I never would. After that first client, I grew to 4, then 8, then 14. As a stay at home mom, I was making a lot of extra money just doing laundry at home.