Home laundry service

There is a WAH business that many people don’t know about that requires no special skills, very little start-up 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: You already do and probably have for years. I’m talking about a wash and fold service.

Dirty clothes. It’s one of life’s most dreaded tasks, but it can cost you an extra $100-$300 per 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 I was looking for something to do from home. But after trying a few different things and being disappointed with every result, the idea of ​​an at-home wash and fold service was born. It took some work, some trial and error, but now I do laundry once a week and make $1,100 a month. Not bad just for cleaning clothes.

I am going to share with you how I started my home laundry service and give you great tips that would have saved me a lot of time. I will include a step by step guide as well as marketing ideas. Starting a home laundry service is a great way to earn extra money without having to sacrifice a lot of your time!

step by step guide

1.) Take care of legal matters. 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 be operating.

You will also need to establish how it will be organized; Sole Proprietor, LLC, S Corp.

2.) Open a business checking account. I highly recommend keeping your laundry business and personal transactions separate. Although not required, it’s easier to report your earnings and expenses when it comes time to file taxes if they don’t come with your personal finances.

3.) Set up your record keeping. You’ll need to keep track of several things, including; Laundry Customers, Payments Received, Expenses and Mileage. This doesn’t mean 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 the services are performed or after? Do you accept only cash or also check? These are policies that you will need to establish before accepting clients. Almost all 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 minutes.

You will also need to determine how much you will charge your customers. The two most common methods I have seen are by the pound or by bag size. If you choose to charge by the pound, you’ll need to purchase a hanging scale (Amazon sells them for $10) and determine your rate ($1 – $1.50/lb is average). If you choose to use bags, you will need to determine the desired dimensions and material for your bags and then find a supplier within your budget. I use a nylon bag that measures 22″ X 28″ and holds about two loads of laundry. You can anticipate that the bags will cost you between $2 and $4 per bag.

5.) Make a website. Some may argue that this step isn’t necessary, but I’d have to strongly disagree. You don’t have a physical store like laundromats, 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 it 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 from its “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 will 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 listing in free directories like Google Places and Yahoo! Local. Craigslist is another great source to advertise your laundry service for free. Paid marketing is the sponsored ads you see on search engine results pages; the best are Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search, Microsoft advertising, and Facebook ads. There are MANY more free and paid sellers online, but this is a good starting point.

Social media marketing is a must-have piece for your marketing efforts. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn are just some of the media sites available. You don’t need (and won’t have time) to create multiple accounts, a 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 requires only time and a computer; For offline marketing, you’ll need to roll up your sleeves and do some real leg/mouth work. The first thing you’ll need to do is create an attention-getting brochure. Flyers are an inexpensive way to promote your business, and if there’s a local college campus, you can get exposure to hundreds of potential customers every day. Make sure your brochure has an attention-grabbing title and print it on vibrant colored paper. Include pull-out tabs at the bottom of your brochure that contain your company name, phone number, email, and web address, if you have one. Business cards are another marketing tool you’ll need for those times when you’re talking to a potential client. You can get 250 free printed business cards through Vista ($5 shipping).

Make a list of local businesses that could use your service (spas, doctor’s offices, daycare centers, 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. All you need to do is give a brief introduction about yourself and your laundry service, as well as how your service can benefit your business. Here is a bit of inside information that I have used to win business clients; You are less expensive than large commercial cleaners and do not require long 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 to 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’ll run into someone who just needs your service or meet someone who needs it.

7.) Ready… Ready… Launch! Now you are ready to get your business up and running. 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 client until 2 months after launch and trust me I was starting to think I never would. After that first client, I grew to 4, then 8, then 14. As a stay-at-home mom, I made a lot of extra money just doing laundry outside of my house.