As part of our ongoing women in laundry series, we caught up with Saichelle McNeill, founder of The WashRoom Laundry in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in 2016, The Washroom offers pickup and delivery, wash and fold, dry cleaning, commercial laundry and pet laundry services.
With almost 8 years in the industry, Saichelle has a wealth of knowledge and experience. We discussed the highs and lows of her journey, the challenges that laundromat owners face when starting out and get her top tips for anyone thinking of starting out in the laundry industry.
Tell us a bit about your journey into laundry
My journey into the industry is probably a bit different to the average. I studied biology and chemistry for my undergraduate degree. I was going to be a pharmacist. That was the plan at the time. But I actually ended up going into manufacturing and that’s where I spent 13 years. I’m Six Sigma green belt certified, I learned Kaizen principles, my job was to bring operational excellence to businesses. That’s my strength really, I’m able to see the bigger picture and then put plans and processes in place, it’s what I really enjoy doing.
I had never envisioned owning my own business, I stumbled into it out of necessity. I’d been through a difficult period personally. I’d recently been released from federal prison, I needed a job and I was really struggling to get one. One day I was talking to a friend and I told him how in prison I’d had a side hustle doing laundry, I’d collect it, clean it and return it, and he said ‘well why don’t you do that.’ So I put a plan together. My friend had an old beat up Chevy which he was willing to loan me for a dollar. I paid $1,500 for the most basic website imaginable, it was really not very good at all but it just about worked. Then I started approaching dry cleaners and laundromats to see if they would process the orders that I collected. I must have tried 50 different places, and every single one said no. It was really disheartening, but then finally I visited one guy, and he said ‘you seem trustworthy, ok let’s try it’. And that’s how I got started with my drop store.
Starting out
Getting started was a real wow moment for me, I felt really blessed to have the opportunity. Of course I was also nervous, I didn’t know if it would work. So I gave myself 3 years to make it a success, because that’s how long my lease on the drop store was. In the early days it was a very small operation, I was probably only turning over $1,200 a month and it was hard work. I was working six days a week to really get it off the ground. I started adding services along with wash and fold, we offered alterations, shoe repair and even some retail like selling bow ties. I started focusing on providing wash and fold for people doing events, tablecloths for restaurants that sort of thing. Month by month the work paid off and by the end of the first year I was doing $15,000 a month. I had a team I employed, the business was doing well, everything was going great.
The impact of Covid
Then Covid hit and it destroyed us in a day. Everything stopped overnight. I lost all of my employees because they all had small children and schools and daycare closed. Everything was closed, people didn’t need laundry in the same way because they weren’t going out to work, they were at home in their pajamas. I needed to figure out a way to pivot the business, fast. It was very stressful, I actually started to get really physically sick with the worry. One day, the phone rang and to be honest I almost didn’t answer it, I still don’t really know why I did, but I picked up. It was a call from the City of Charlotte, they were looking for local laundry businesses who could help them during Covid. They were providing temporary accommodation in 9 hotels to men, women and children during the pandemic, and they needed a way to manage laundry. They’d tried two other services in the city, and they hadn’t answered the phone. I was third on the list, and I’d picked up. That was a blessing.
To be honest at that point, they didn’t really know what they needed other than laundry services. But that was fine, because putting together processes is my strength. So I told them my capacity, what I could handle. I was just talking it up, never mind how I would manage this with no staff but those 13 years of experience in looking at operational efficiency and putting plans in place all came together and over the course of a few days I’d built out that proposal. They accepted and I was back in business.
I ended up processing 8,000lbs of laundry a week with just one driver and a handful of staff, it was insane, but it saved the business. Between them and one other client I was suddenly making $500k in a year. It was an incredibly crazy time. I’m very thankful for that opportunity because that really kept us in business until the pandemic was over and gradually life returned to normal.
What are the biggest challenges that you have faced as an entrepreneur and laundry owner?
The first is that I don’t think people take what we do seriously. This isn’t an industry that’s sexy or glamorous, you know it’s not like people are like ‘wow, you work in laundry’. But they should be, because we’re an essential service, and I think people just don’t realise how much we contribute to the wider community. Events, hospitality, hotels, air b&b’s - all of these require laundry services. You won’t get to sit on a chair with a beautiful cover on it if there isn’t someone to do the laundry. I think there’s some real education that needs to be done around what amazing and relevant businesses laundry services are.
The second is access to capital. It costs a lot to get started, even if you’re being really careful and you’re bootstrapping, you need to be able to invest some money in order to get going but it can be hard to get access to capital. And this goes back to my first point, I think it’s hard to get the investment because there isn’t an understanding of the necessity of the business. Certainly for me personally, these two have been the biggest challenges.
I’d say the third is about winning over customers, in my experience it can take a lot to get a customer to switch from one place to another. Finding the right tactics or the right marketing to convince your customers to give you a try can be really tough in the early days. It takes a lot of time and perseverance.
What do you love most about your job?
Without doubt the community aspect of the business. This is a people industry, it’s a very personal industry whether that’s through the customers that you serve, or the people you work with, it’s very much about building relationships.
I’m a little different from some laundromat business owners in that I’m not in a customer facing role as we’re solely P&D but I still serve my Community and that’s what I love. I’m on a couple of local boards that support community projects in my local neighborhood - things like job fairs and providing employment readiness courses. We also do a lot of work with providing laundry services for unhoused people in the community which I think is very important - when people have clean clothes they feel better, their attitude changes.
I’m also a proud second chances employer, it’s something that’s close to my heart. We partner with several agencies to give second chances to people who for one reason or another have found themselves in difficult circumstances and are looking for a way to start over. It gives back to the community and it's a huge untapped market, there is huge potential there and if we don’t tap into it then we’re the ones missing out.
What do you think are 3 key considerations for anyone thinking of entering into the laundry business?
I guess first up its location - where is this business going to be?
Then you need to figure out whether you’re going to build or buy, because you’ll need to take a slightly different approach depending on what you choose. If you choose to build out, then I’d definitely recommend taking your general contractor with you when you start looking for the space. Don’t find a space and then get them involved. I made that mistake, I looked for a space and thought I’d found the one, but it turns out it didn’t have everything that I needed. If you’re a first time owner you might not know exactly what you need access to, things like access to city water pipes and all kinds of other things which won’t have occurred to you. So go with your general contractor and take your plumber, your electrician, basically whoever is going to make up your ‘team’ and get them to scope it out before you make any big decisions.
The third is to choose your equipment supplier carefully. Really understand what they specialise in, and how they work with their customers on an ongoing basis. If you’ve got ambitious growth plans, will they be able to support that and grow with you or are they only geared towards a small business.
Where would you recommend people start looking for information if they’re looking at entering the laundry industry?
I would say look for local business groups - find the people in your industry that can share your problem, who can support you as an entrepreneur and an individual. For me, that’s where I’ve found 90% of the answers to my questions, whether I’ve been looking for answers to questions about banking partners, or investors or even just looking for reliable plumbers, local business groups are where I’ve felt I’ve had the most support.
I would also really recommend going to industry talks and conferences, like those hosted by the CLA - for me that’s where I found my tribe. I remember walking into my first conference and thinking I’ve found my people. The information is really, really good, they have so much knowledge of the industry and data, and you’re able to get that at scale, it’s definitely worth becoming a member.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known when starting out?
I wish that I had been a little bit more knowledgeable about SEO from the start and that we had begun the build out of our mobile app a little earlier. We started out with google ads, which helped us in the short term but I think if we’d worked really hard on our SEO up front and focused on getting that right then maybe we'd be in an even better position than we are now. Long term I think SEO is the better play, it’s more about long term reputation management and I think that in the early days it’s often hard to keep that in mind, you get focused on the quick wins. But if you’re building a business to last you need to think more long term and build up that footprint in your local area, so if I were to start again I’d put all that money I spent on ads into good SEO and my mobile app.
What’s your best piece of advice for anyone looking to get into the laundry business?
Have patience. And money. Because nothing about this business is cheap. If you’re looking for cheap then you’re in the wrong place. This business takes patience, perseverance, investment - both time and money. And that’s something I hear about a lot, you hear about this passive income that laundry generates. And maybe there are some business models where that might work, but my experience is that there is nothing passive about being in this industry. But if you’ve got patience and you’re committed it really is an amazing industry to be part of.