Leaning business has become a money spinning venture as our daily busy schedules have made the task of washing, rinsing, starching and ironing our clothes tedious and time consuming. Laundry business is an easy and convenient business to start. It is no capital or management intensive as you can start the business right from your home and grow to own a building for your business. This business is increasingly becoming lucrative as not everyone that puts on clothes has the time to do the laundry involved thereafter. But before you venture into this business, there are information you need to know, things you need to do and be conversant with.
INFORMATION YOU NEED TO KNOW
A laundry business can be an easy and profitable business to start. There are many aspects of laundry business that you can engage yourself in, which includes dry cleaning franchises, home-based laundry, etc. Knowing how to begin a laundry business usually starts with selecting the right type of service you intend to offer.
There is a difference between laundry and dry cleaning. Laundry involves washing clothes using water and detergent while dry cleaning is cleaning clothes using chemicals (no water).
Hence a dry cleaning service can also have laundry services, but not all laundry services have dry cleaning services. Both laundry and Dry cleaning can be capital intensive especially when starting on a large scale, as the equipment’s required are very costly. This kind of business requires a technical know-how You can’t just wake up and set up a laundry outlet. You will need to first know how to run a laundry shop, operate the machines, take customers’ orders, sort the clothes, etc.
Laundry business is highly dependent on electric power supply because all the machines use electricity and when there is power failure, you would have to resort to alternative power supplies such as generators, to be able to stay in business. This will invariably increase your cost of doing business.
THINGS YOU NEED TO DO
YOU NEED TO HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN: A business plan is very, crucial to the success of any business. You have to describe the way you would like to run your business in writing as this will help you outline everything you have to do and provide you with an idea of how to reach your goals. A business plan will also help you share your idea with potential investor who may provide you with the capital needed to start your business.
Your business plan must be well thought out as it’s expected to be a directive tool’ towards achieving and attaining success.
UNDERGO NECESSARY TRAINING: There is need for you to learn and understand the basic skills involved in the laundry business. You must understand that all fabrics are not washed or even ironed under the same heat temperature. You do not need to be in a hurry to become a dry cleaning business owner, undergo training first and learn the following:
How to wash different fabrics.
How to dry clean different fabrics
How to iron and what heat temperature works for different fabrics.
How to fold and package.
Time management.
Client/customers Relation.
The extra smooth touch.
The extra mile attitude.
GET A GOOD CONTRACT LOCATION
Except you intend operating from home, your business location is something you should not handle like a pinch of salt. When choosing an operating space or location, you need to look for an area that is accessible and close to apartment, buildings, as this will help attract customers who do not have laundry machines at home. The location of your laundry and dry cleaning business is very important. If you situate your business in a low profile area, chances are that people that reside there will rather wash for themselves and save money.
If you’re starting from scratch, make sure your building is large enough to provide room for a reception area, sorting area, storage of all the necessary chemicals, places for all your machinery, and an area to hang all the finished.
Dry cleaning and laundry services requires some specific equipment and you will need to invest in a variety of machines such as conveyors, laundry carts, leads detergents, vending machines, foam finishers, shirt finishers, and other machines to accommodate all the clothing and household items brought for dry cleaning.
You can also buy top-load washers to economize your money, or better still, you can lease or rent equipment and run your business until you are buoyant enough to buy your own equipment outright.
FINANCE: Figuring out your start-up capital will not be difficult if you have a good business plan, you can take things slowly and start your laundry service business from home with just the basic washing supplies and equipment. If you want to get into washing machines, dryers and other heavy washing equipment make sure other related factors have been put into consideration. Don’t employ more hands than is needed. But let your expenses grow in relations to your profit.
MARKET YOUR BUSINESS: Marketing your new dry cleaning business is essential in bringing in the customers to keep it running. Use the internet Facebook Creating an online presence is very important since the majority of people will search online for services than in other form of advertising. You should as well hang fliers on local bulletins boards and places advert in papers. You must be ready to visit offices, workplaces and corporate organizations and let people know the type of services you offer. You may also consider the placement of directional sign post at strategic locations within your neighborhoods.
