Inflation, I don’t have much control over, and Patience I am learning to gain control of.
At the beginning of the Fall last year, I was starting to feel pretty excited that our Wash & Fold business was picking up. We were seeing several repeat customers on a weekly basis, feedback was positive, some were referring friends and we gained a few more commercial customers.
Then wham-o… I received our gas bill for December which was $7,000! October’s bill was a little over $3000 and November’s was $5000. Surely there must be a gas leak, right? I called SoCal Gas to ask how I might be able to have someone come out and test for a leak. The woman said that she would take a look at my account to see what the usage look like. “I can pretty much guess what your hours of operation are because there is zero usage between 11 PM and 5 AM. And there is a spike shortly after 5 AM. Is that the time you open?” Well, yes… as a matter of fact, it is. if there was a leak, there would show some usage while we are closed but that was not the case. She then went on to explain that this winter, their rates have increased 36%.
Not only are gas prices out of control but it trickles down to pretty much everything we do in our daily lives. Groceries, eating out, haircuts. In fact, The Dollar Store or 99-cent Store should now be called “The Dollar and a Quarter Store” since their prices have also increased by 25%.
To offset the outrageous gas bill (and all other utilities), we raised prices just before Christmas. I know… BRUTAL! It was either going to be before Christmas or after so I chose to rip the bandaid off sooner rather than later. I have gotten many, many phone calls from angry customers about our recent price increase. I have been called “greedy, selfish, nasty, heartless, a bitch”, been told to “go to hell” and to “F%#@ off” and countless other things that I try to let roll off my back. This leads to my main focus for 2022 which is…
Patience! I realize I don’t seem to have much of it but I am trying and learning to sit with things. So when customers are screaming down the phone at me, I listen… to a point! I will not be disrespected and will not tolerate disrespect towards our staff. We need more kindness in the world and there are always calm, appropriate, mature ways to handle situations. If someone is dropping ‘F’ bombs and causing unrest, we do not need those customers. I have politely asked people to visit another laundromat where their needs will be better met.
There are some positive signs to being impatient. Those being that I tend to find a way to make things happen, push things forward, initiate and plan far in advance. On the flipside, I am realizing that I might be a little too overscheduled and it’s important to allow space for things to happen organically on days when not much is on the calendar.
Ironically, by allowing downtime in my schedule, I am finding that I am more patient, less on-edge and things seem to fall into place. There was a really exciting opportunity to attend a Laundromat Owners meeting in Florida last month and I had to fight my desire to go. With my 50/50 custody, I would be giving up two precious days with my boys and that wasn’t an option. Yes, I know that I am missing out on networking, brainstorming and ideas that could transform my business, but if the timing isn’t right then it isn’t.
The Clean Show is the largest laundromat convention for laundromat owners. It is in Atlanta in July but I will also be skipping that one this year. I will be patient and wait for Clean Show 2023!
While we can’t control inflation, we can control other things that can quickly and easily fill our buckets! I have partnered with Brandon West of Vision360 Media for our social media. He is a young, energetic, creative mind that wants to do a lot of fun things with The Laundry Room brand. He accompanies me a few times a month on my drives from Long Beach to Culver City, comes around to do deliveries with me and follows me around the laundromat as I work. Sometimes we have an outline of what we will film but most of the time we just wing it. He set up some Google Ad campaigns for me and we touch base on those a couple times a week to track how they are performing. It’s interesting to see that “laundromat near me” is the number one search phrase used, instead of simply searching “laundry” or “laundromat”. Working with Brandon is a substantial investment but I am being patient and confident that it will start to bring in additional business.
Another thing that I am focusing on is one-on-one customer interaction. I have been making phone calls and sending texts to ask how they heard about us, thank customers for their business and extend offers for future wash & fold orders. Not surprisingly, they are so pleased to receive this type of correspondence. It really is the small things that make a big difference! Whether it’s in your personal or professional life, take a moment to do something special for someone. Pick up flowers at Trader Joe’s and drop them off to a friend, buy a coffee for someone behind you in line, give a very generous compliment to a stranger, mail a card to your mom or dad. It only takes a moment and I promise that you will feel amazing!
Have a great rest of the week!! Thank you so much for reading and supporting. 🙂 p.s., if you haven’t been to Sedona, go soon!
