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You are here: Home / 2019 / Archives for February 2019

Archives for February 2019

In the News, 90% of Retail Businesses Fail to Account for Lost Sales

February 22, 2019 by Asif Nazeer Leave a Comment

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The budgeting you did at the end of last year for 2019 was really important work.

We, of course, assume you did some budgeting at some point before the start of this year. As we said, it’s really important work.

But new data that we got in this week suggests you may want to go back and look at your figures. Make sure you’re accounting for everything.

In one report from Neogrid, we learn that 90% of retail businesses are not accounting for lost sales when doing sales forecasts. If you’re not tracking your lost sales, you probably should. These could be sales lost online in abandoned carts or people who walked out the door without making a purchase.

You need to determine how lost sales apply to your business but then track them. When you’re doing sales projections for the upcoming year or any time period, consider those lost sales.

Another survey released this week shows how IT professionals say they’re limited in their abilities by a company’s budget. Namely, they’re talking about cyber security. About half the IT pros surveyed by BAE Systems Applied Intelligence say a company’s IT and cyber security budget limits the protections they can offer.

Check out what other stories were making headlines this week in our news and information roundup below:

Employment

AI Among Latest Trends in Employee Expense Reimbursements

Small Businesses implementing AI to make employee reimbursement decisions achieve 100 percent visibility, contrasting with 2-10 percent for businesses that don’t have this ability. Those are just two of the findings from AppZen’s,  “The State of AI in Business Spend” report.

Franchise

Can Dunkin Donuts Franchises Create Their Own Middle Class Economy?

The Daily Caller News Foundation Editor-in-Chief Chris Bedford appeared on “Making Money with Charles Payne” on Fox Business Thursday to discuss how Dunkin’ Donuts’s business model was more beneficial to business owners and the middle class. “If you look at the Dunkin’ Donuts model, that’s a franchise, Bedford said.

Social Media

Facebook’s Messenger, Instagram and Whatsapp Integration Isn’t Complicated, 8 Things to Know

If you haven’t heard, Facebook announced that it’s working to integrate three major chat platforms — Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp — in order to allow cross-communication for users. This is a huge development. Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, making this power move possible.

Startup

How to Deal with Seasonal Affective Disorder in Your Small Business

Do you feel happier in spring and summer times? For most people the answer is probably a definite yes. Asking that question in the middle of winter might be a bit harsh, but there is a good reason for it. According to a new infographic created by NowSourcing, and presented by BestHealthDegrees.

Only 1 in 10 Federal Employees Turn to Side Business During Government Shutdown

The last government shutdown showed how vulnerable we all can be when the paychecks we rely on to survive suddenly stop. For the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who didn’t have a paycheck during the shutdown, it meant finding an alternative source of income until it opened.

Technology Trends

39% of Businesses Use Texting to Talk to Customers – How Can Yours?

A new study from Zipwhip underlines the importance texts have on making your small business a success.  In fact, their 2019 State of Texting Report  says that 39% of businesses use some kind of texting to communicate with clients.

One Million New People Come Online Daily, Is Your Business Reaping the Benefits?

Did you know a staggering one million new people are online every day? Hootsuite and We Are Social’s Digital Trends 2019 Report uncovered this staggering statistic in analyses of digital trends and use of social media across 230 different countries and territories.

Image: DepositPhotos.com

This article, “In the News, 90% of Retail Businesses Fail to Account for Lost Sales” was first published on Small Business Trends



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His Dog Days Over, Wilfred Star Gets Into The Pre-Roll Business

February 21, 2019 by Asif Nazeer Leave a Comment

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Aussie comedian, Jason Gann, searched extensively the for the perfect outdoor flower. Now he wants to share it with you.


February
21, 2019

6 min read

Opinions expressed by Green Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


Jason Gann is either the least likely — or perhaps most likely — candidate to start a cannabis company.  

As the creator and titular character of the comedy Wilfred, which won awards in his native Australia before being reimagined for a healthy run on American TV, Gann has spent a good part of his adult life walking around in a dog suit. On the other hand, as the bong-ripping lead of a quintessential “stoner comedy,” it was almost preordained that he make his mark in the industry.  

Related: 23 Celebrities in the Cannabiz

In an exclusive interview with Green Entrepreneur, Gann talks about why he got into the business, what weed means to him, and the origin story of that canine costume. 

Wilfred was always considered a stoner comedy. In fact, your character smoked quite a bit on the show. So, Wilfred pre-rolls seems like a natural next step. When did you come up with the idea for the business, and what made you think you could succeed?

Wilfred was a stoner comedy because I was a stoner when I did the comedy. I never set out to do a stoner comedy. I wasn’t even aware that it was a genre. It was just that I was high when (co-creator) Adam Zwar told me about getting cock-blocked by his date’s dog. It’s a true story: He was on a date, they went back to her house, and there was a dog on the couch looking at him like, “What do you think you’re doing?” I thought it was really funny, and we figured it had to be a short film or something. I wasn’t trying to wave a banner for cannabis, though I’ve been using it and singing its praises for many years. But now, to live in a place where you have legal marijuana [California], I couldn’t even imagine that. And then to be able to enter the industry, it feels like I’ve gotta do it. I mean, who gets famous putting on a dog suit? But doing the pre-rolls makes perfect sense. And win, lose or draw, I’ve already won, just by getting to do it.

Image credit: Eric Weinberg

What differentiates Wilfred pre-rolls from whatever specials any local dispensary is offering this week?

For starters, it’s a sun-grown, outdoor flower, and it’s grown in the richest soil in Yolo County, California. When you think about the origins of pot growing, they had to go into the mountains to avoid being seen. But now we’re in the richest farming regions, and they’re fourth-generation vegetable farmers. I mean, there are cannabis-based religions that think plants have souls and they’re our partners, and I definitely believe that there’s such a thing as happy plants — so having an outdoor flower is very important to me. And I searched extensively to find the right flower.  I’ve been in analytics, in budgets, in sales… because I love it.

Why did you focus on pre-rolls?

You know, I didn’t really plan on doing pre-rolls. I was looking at vapes, edibles, pet CBD products.  But I did a lot of research — I’m a big fan of Lowell Smokes, they’ve got a great history, great packaging — and I ended up on pre-rolls, which in California are only 6% of the overall market.

When did you first start smoking weed?

When I was about 17, and I just loved it. I was in a rock band in Brisbane in the early ’90s, and I’d go to these musical festivals, and everybody was smoking, and making out, and you’d never see fights. There was such a great vibe everywhere. I’m a highly-functioning stoner, but too much of anything can be a problem. That’s why I think the introduction of CBD is fantastic, where you can enjoy the medicinal value without the psychoactive experience.

Related: This Week in Weed: High-End Hemp!

Has cannabis remained a part of your creative process?

I, 100 percent, don’t believe my creativity comes from weed, because there have been times when I’ve thought my writing is better when I’m not high. But my writing is definitely different when I’m high. I’d just say my relationship to creative writing and my relationship to cannabis are two different things. If I’ve got a deadline, I can’t go off on tangents, I’ve gotta stay fairly structured. But my relationship with cannabis is spiritual; I step outside of myself, it’s still me but it’s like another me, and sometimes when I haven’t smoked in a while, I feel the need to reconnect with myself and contemplate life in a different way. 

Image credit: FX Networks

​​​​​​Do you see more celebrity cannabis products coming out, like with all the boutique tequila brands?

We won’t really know until it becomes federally legal.  hen it’s gonna be very difficult to enter this business, as it is for tequila. If I didn’t believe I had a brand here, I’d get out.  Licenses are too expensive, you have to jump through too many hoops. Unless you’re a vertically integrated company, where you’re doing it all yourself, the margins just aren’t there. And anyway, Wilfred is the celebrity, not Jason Gann.

What would you say has been the most challenging part of being a cannabis entrepreneur?

Turning words into actions. To turn an idea into something physical, that’s a great feeling.

Any thoughts about expanding into other cannabis products?

I just want to offer the best pre-rolls, and at a more affordable price than they are now. Wilfred aired in 35 countries, so I could see expanding internationally, but I’d rather create an international cannabis brand than try to do, say, edibles or drinks; I’d have to spend another year studying just those. I want to do one thing well.

Related: 9 Business Ideas for People Looking to Cash in on the Marijuana Boom

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A Guide to Modernizing Your Company's Technology

February 21, 2019 by Asif Nazeer Leave a Comment

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An essential pocket guide for your digital transformation, from legacy technology systems to the platforms of the future. For more insight, read “10 Principles for Modernizing Your Company’s Technology.”

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How to Prime Your Home-Based Office Space for Productivity

February 21, 2019 by Asif Nazeer Leave a Comment

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Working from home can be both a blessing and a curse. This is especially the case when it comes to optimizing productivity in your home-based office.

Of course, there is a certain sense of freedom that comes when you escape from your old corporate cubicle. For a while, that sense of freedom can boost your creative mojo. However, familiar distractions can soon interfere with your intention to buckle down to uninterrupted hard work.

Therefore, whether you’re a freelance SEO marketer or an interior design blogger, setting up your home-based office for success is one of the most crucial pieces of putting together a dynamic workspace. With that in mind, the following methods of priming your home-based office will transform your productivity level in a few easy steps.

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO CREATE A BLOG: A SIMPLE GUIDE FOR BEGINNING BLOGGERS

Go Minimalist

Going minimalist takes a great deal of decluttering. In order to do that, you’ll need to assess what you need and what you don’t to an extreme. If you’re the distractible type, for example, ridding your workspace of temptation in its many forms is the first step to going minimalist.

Any tech you don’t need should be the first to go. For example, there’s probably no need for a 65-inch TV or an iPad if you don’t use either for work. Additionally, keep decorations to a minimum. For those who tend to let their minds wander, analyzing photos or intricate pieces of art will only result in wasting time. Therefore, pick a only couple of pictures or a couple of pieces of art on Etsy for aesthetic effect.

Declutter Your Desk

As we mentioned earlier, decluttering is part of the minimalist movement. What’s more, your desk is the easiest place to run wild. This is especially true given the amount of paperwork, bookkeeping, and note-taking you need to complete for an effective day’s work.

However, swimming in an abyss of pens and papers gives more room for distraction and less room for focus. Therefore, equip your office space with a multi-drawer storage stack to give a home to those loose materials. Also, invest in a wall calendar to keep track of important timelines. Use sticky notes for reminders. The more available space, the better. Do yourself a favor and clean that desk up!

Pick a Productive Space

Select a room in your house that has plenty of natural light, an operable window, and enough space to foster your big ideas. That’s because tiny, cramped, closet-sized offices can feel claustrophobic after a few hours. Therefore, be sure to pick a room that you can stand to be in for long eight-hour days.

Additionally, if you’re running a business out of your home and expect to have clients over from time to time, be sure the space is one you are proud to show.

Add a Splash of Greenery

Plants will brighten the space. What’s more, they will also improve the air quality in your office.

So consider buying a spider plant or a dracaena plant. Both are easy to care for and look gorgeous in any space. However, be wary of plants that may attract nasty insects. This can compromise the integrity and cleanliness of your office space. Though Housecall Pro’s pest control software makes finding a solution simple, you’re better off avoiding plants that attract pests in the first place.

home-based office 2

Light up Your Space with Warmer Tones

Use warm colors rather than cooler ones. This could put your brain in the mood for learning and creating.

It’s interesting to note that studies over the years have shown that extended exposure to fluorescent lights has a number of negative effects on stress and anxiety levels. So instead of fluorescent lighting, use lights with yellow tones. This can make your space feel warmer and more conducive to work production. You are, after all, looking to make your home-based office feel productive. You might as well invest in things that make it sustainable, too.

Use a Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant could be the hands-free help you need for small tasks that would otherwise distract you. The Sonos One and Google Home Hub are both excellent options for voice-recognition commanding. If you need a reminder or simply want to know what traffic is like to the local print shop, your virtual assistant can let you know in seconds. All you have to do is ask! What’s more, their compact and sleek style fit into a minimalist setup without any extra clunk or distraction.

Apply These Tips to Make Your Home-Based Office More Productive

Having a career based out of your home is becoming more common. Further, telecommuting seems to be the next big move in the job world.

However, instead of falling into the trap of being too comfortable to work effectively from home, change up the pace of your workspace. Boost your productivity in your home-based office with these metamorphic changes.

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How Smart Is It to Play Your Money in Online Casinos?

February 21, 2019 by Asif Nazeer Leave a Comment

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Photo by Carl Raw on Unsplash

Experts warn that because of its easy availability, online gambling can be even more addictive than gambling in brick-and-mortar casinos.

However, if you do decide to indulge in online gambling, perhaps to take a quick break from the never-ending stress of running your business, remember that playing games in online casinos should be fun. And they are even more fun if you can improve your chances of winning. 

There are ways to make sure you don’t lose your bankroll within a few minutes of starting to play. Moreover, many online games players have become wise to these tips.

So if you want to take a break from the pressure cooker of running your business by playing games in online casinos, do so with caution, applying the wisdom you’ll find in this post.

Take Advantage of Incentives in Online Casinos

Most online casinos offer incentives both to new players and their existing customer base. This is one big advantage online platforms have over physical casinos. That’s because there is no way the latter are going to hand you some cash to play with as you walk in. On the other hand, online casinos offer free games. What’s more, they sometimes even offer a cash incentive. This is intended to encourage you to either join them or stay loyal to their site.

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT PAYMENT METHOD FOR YOUR BUSINESS

There is such a huge variety of online casino games to choose from. Therefore, this very competitive market offers some great opportunities to enjoy some fun without spending a lot of your own dollars. Just be certain to check the rules attached to any bonuses. That’s because sometimes you will need to play a certain amount before you can withdraw your winnings. This is called a “playthrough” requirement. It is in place to keep players and operators safe from abuse.

Blackjack – Thanks to Taxrebate.org.uk on Flickr for the image

Bet a Bit at a Time

If you have a budget of $50, don’t bet $10 at a time. You are likely to run out of money if you do that. In order to be more likely to win some and have fun for longer, you would be better off with making wagers of $1 a time.

You could have a hand in blackjack, for example, that you are certain will win. However, you can never be sure what the dealer will have. Therefore, do not bet all your pot in one go. Any win is better than no win. And if your hand is as good as you think, you will be able to have more games with this strategy.

Learn
t
he Rules

With such a large choice of games, you may be tempted to play something new. Before you do, however, learn the rules of whatever it is you have chosen to play for the first time.

Just as an example, craps is a really fun game. However, if you have never played it before you might not understand what is happening. This could mean you bet the wrong amounts at the wrong time. That could cost you money. If you want to play craps, learn the rules first. Also, take advantage of some of the free games that will allow you to practice.

Craps – With thanks to Mark Hesseltine on Flickr for the image

Choose Games with
a
Lower House
Advantage

Knowing the house advantage on your choice of game will let you know what the odds are of winning. The lower the house advantage the greater your chances are. So pick games with a low house advantage. This can make your betting pot stretch further.

Generally, blackjack is one of the best, followed by craps. But of course this can change from casino to casino. The good thing is that with none of the overheads that physical casinos have to stand, online casinos usually offer you a better chance of being a winner.

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Inspiring Quotes to Help You Get Through Your Work Day

February 19, 2019 by Asif Nazeer Leave a Comment

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Re-energize your day or week with these inspiring quotes from some of the world’s greatest thinkers.


February
19, 2019

5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


LinkedIn Influencer, Bernard Marr, published this post originally on LinkedIn. 

If you find yourself in a little mid-week or mid-day slump, take a few moments to re-energize yourself with these inspiring quotes from some of the world’s greatest thinkers. Sometimes, all it takes is a little reminder to boost your spirits and refocus your day.

“Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.”

— Carlos Castaneda

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”

— Helen Keller

Inspiring Quotes to Help You Get Through Your Work Day

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.”

— Dr. Seuss

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

— Steve Jobs

“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, you ought to set up a life you don’t need to escape from.”

— Seth Godin

“The problem with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.”

— Lily Tomlin

“A man should never neglect his family for business.”

— Walt Disney

Inspiring Quotes to Help You Get Through Your Work Day

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”

— H. Jackson Brown Jr.

“Someone once told me that ‘time’ is a predator that stalks us all our lives. But I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment because it will never come again.”

— Jean-Luc Picard

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

— Charles Darwin

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

— Thomas Edison

“You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”

— Wayne Gretzky

“Do or do not. There is no try.”

— Yoda

Related: Big Data For Small Business – Why It Matters! (LinkedIn)

“Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it.”

— Chinese Proverb

Inspiring Quotes to Help You Get Through Your Work Day

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches.”

— Napoleon Hill

“You are not your resume, you are your work.”

— Seth Godin

“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

— Theodore Roosevelt

“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

— Will Rogers

“Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.”

— Babe Ruth

“If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.”

— Ray Kroc

“When writing the story of your life, don’t let anyone else hold the pen.”

— Harley Davidson

Inspiring Quotes to Help You Get Through Your Work Day

“A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn’t feel like it.”

— Alistair Cook

Related: 10 Signs You Have (Or Are) A Great Boss (LinkedIn)

“Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.”

— Jim Rohn

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”

— Thomas Jefferson

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

— Michael Jordan

“People inspire you or they drain you — pick them wisely.”

— Hans F. Hansen

Inspiring Quotes to Help You Get Through Your Work Day

“The Pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.”

— John Maxwell

“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right!”

— Henry Ford

“When you change your thoughts, you change your world.”

— Norman Vincent Peale

“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.”

— Denis Waitley

I hope you find these quotes as inspiring as I find them. Let me know your thoughts and also please share your favorite inspirational quote in the comments below.

I have also put together this slide deck for you to share and download:

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‘If You Created it, You Should Be the Best at Everything in Your Company,’ Says the Co-Founder of Lenny & Larry’s Complete Cookies

February 18, 2019 by Asif Nazeer Leave a Comment

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Barry Turner, who along with his co-founder created the protein category, has evolved from hustler to creative ‘mad scientist.’


February
18, 2019

7 min read


Not many entrepreneurs can boast of not only staying with their company for 25 years, but creating an entire product category. Barry Turner has done both.

Turner is the co-founder of Lenny & Larry’s, which introduced the protein-packed cookie in 1993, years before eating protein-packed anything was mainstream. He and his co-founder, Benny Graham (they thought their names with L’s would be funnier on the label), hustled to convince stores to carry their nutritional treats for years, until they sold the brand in 2001. But Turner never left his brand fully behind, buying half of it back in 2007. He and his new partner, Don Crouch, then sold majority control of the brand to investors in 2017 “to reward ourselves for a job well done,” said Turner, who remains at the company as a shareholder and to focus on new products, PR and marketing.

Image credit: Lenny & Larry’s

Lenny & Larry’s continues to innovate; its latest product is Complete Crunchy Cookies — protein-packed vegan treats that come in chocolate chip, double chocolate and cinnamon sugar flavors. Their impressive retail door count is approximately 50,000 to 75,000 doors, per latest company figures.

Related: This Protein Drink Entrepreneur Was Able to Raise $8 Million — After Moving Across the Country

Entrepreneur spoke with Turner about his more than two decades in business, what he thinks of the current startup landscape and the strategy that almost never works.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

An entrepreneurial run with a company for 25 years is by any stretch an incredible accomplishment. How do you find ways to keep yourself excited and challenge yourself with this brand?

It’s a great question. The genesis of the brand was about fun. You can tell by the logo. I still attack this every day as if I’m just having fun and not working. It’s fun because of the category that we created, being protein fortified, fiber fortified baked nutrition. It’s easy just to be more of a mad scientist now and try to think of different ways to innovate.

You mentioned that Lenny & Larry’s created the category of protein packaged foods 25 years ago, and obviously now that’s a full-blown part of the food landscape. How does the company compete nowadays with all these upstarts?

It’s easy for us now because we did create the category, so we’re looked at as the leader. It’s OK that the upstarts come, but if they’re not different, if they’re only saying, “Hey, we’re better than Lenny & Larry’s because of this,” they don’t stay on shelves that long. I always live by this credo: you don’t make yourself look good by trying to make others look bad. Companies don’t last by employing that marketing strategy. Negativity is not a way to launch a brand or a product.

Are there any innovations that you see other brands doing that you say, OK that’s a great idea, here’s how we can absorb it into Lenny & Larry’s?

There’s some great innovation going on. I don’t know that the majority of it fits with how I see this brand, but I don’t feel like we’ve missed anything. The biggest reason we haven’t innovated even more is because when we got our hockey stick growth around 2014-15, our biggest issue was supply and demand. Everyone wanted our product and we could only sell about 70 percent of our demand. That really hurt us. You can’t be innovative when you’re just trying to keep up with demand.

How would you approach today’s market as a startup?

The main thing is just trying to be different. Don’t be a me-too product because they don’t last. Be innovative. I will admit it is harder because there is so much competition out there. You also have the advantage of what you have at your fingertips: access to capital if you need, all these amazing minds and groups out there and research. When we started in 1993, there was no internet or cell phones, we were doing it the old fashioned way of actually knocking on doors and talking to people.

Related: This High-Ranking Executive Quit Her Job to Reinvent Animal Crackers

Do you no longer see the approach of going into each store, trying to sell very slowly and then building up the brand as an effective strategy?

It is in the beginning, because you have to own your backyard. You can’t have national distribution until you actually have regional distribution. Retailers want you to prove yourself. So knocking on doors is a great way to get started, but you have to sprint these days because there will be people coming to knock you off and copy your success — even if it’s local success — if they’ve got the resources to take it to a whole different level.

So during your long career in entrepreneurship, have there been any challenges that vexed you that you’re still looking to solve today?

The biggest challenge was to educate the consumer on protein and the importance of protein. Now because it’s so mainstream people are putting protein in everything, even in water. I mean my gosh, it’s just crazy to think about that. But as a former bodybuilder and an athlete, we knew the importance of protein. The genesis of our brand was to educate people on protein — we didn’t know it would take two decades to do it. Fast forward to today, I don’t think we really have challenges today that we can’t meet, outside of the supply and demand issue in 2017.

What has been the most effective marketing tactic that you’ve employed?

For Lenny & Larry’s it was just organic or guerilla marketing. Our strategy back then was to get on shelf, but be on sale for a long time. What draws people to our product if they haven’t ever tried it is that the product is on sale. Plus we have the greatest logo in the history of logos so it made people want to try it.

What’s your goal for the business for the next three years?

To continue to build what I call a legacy brand. I always dreamed when I started this that it will be sitting between Oreo and Chips Ahoy, and that’s going to be taking place this year at a major retailer. We’re just going to be innovative and continue to be a legacy brand that people look to as a leader in a category that we created. We don’t have a dollar figure on where we want to hit sales wise. We want to continue to grow every year but we don’t have a clock ticking for us now because we have been successful over the past two decades.

Related: This Popular Cookie Company Was Started on a Whim by a Couple Out of Their Home

How does that affect your thinking now that you’re not in hustle mode?

What’s happened now that we have a good team in place, we have doubled our staff. When we did take on an equity partner we had less than 20 people and we were approaching $100 million in sales. We also had no investors and we had no debt. But what you had was entrepreneurial founders, my partner and I were actually the best salespeople. We did everything. We were very hands on. And a lot of times now brands say they’re going to hire people to do sales, etc.

If you can’t do it, no one can. If you created it, you should be the best at everything in your company. When you have a certain level of success, that’s when your team can start growing and you can start adding more proper pieces to it. We were in hustle mode for 20-plus years doing this. My hustle now is to try to come up with more and more products for our lineup and continue what we’ve built all those years ago.

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Five Ways Companies Can Give People a Good Work Experience

February 18, 2019 by Asif Nazeer Leave a Comment

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Workers today want careers that fit their values, are enjoyable, and contribute to society. Here’s what business leaders can do to deliver on this idea of “good work.” For further insights, read “Good Work.”

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Good Work

February 18, 2019 by Asif Nazeer Leave a Comment

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In the last few years, business leaders have turned their search for creative, innovative talent into something of an arms race. They understand the competitive advantage of being a highly rated place to work, and they are striving to show just how much they value their employees. The recreation rooms and wellness centers springing up at many companies have helped in recruiting, but they can also be seen as superficial. To attract the best and brightest people, young and old, companies must take a stand on profound questions being raised today about the value of human activity in the workplace. These questions concern not just Instagrammable workplaces and perks; they concern the context and the content of organizational activity. People want to do “good work,” in two ways: They want intrinsically rewarding experiences, and they also want to make a contribution that fits with their values.

Part of this new focus on the nature of work has to do with technology. Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are threatening to replace some human tasks, and it isn’t yet clear what jobs will be left or how jobs will be reconfigured. But what humans will most likely focus on are the more participative, collaborative, and transparent aspects of business. As companies seek their employees’ commitment, not just their clocked-in time, people will naturally think less transactionally and more strategically about their jobs; the emphasis will be on the roles people play in how tasks get done, or the input, and the value of that work, or the output.

Typically, institutions lag behind when technological revolutions occur. It took almost a century to relieve the appalling working conditions that were initiated during the Industrial Revolution. Laws designed to regulate work in the age of AI are not yet in place. We believe companies can and should act now to find their own 21st-century definition of good work and develop strategies to deliver it, not only for the sake of employees but because it will keep them competitive (pdf).

What is good work (pdf) in today’s world? We believe it should, at the very least, involve a decent workplace context: fair pay, tolerable levels of change, autonomy and control over one’s work, and a chance for fulfillment. Employees who give customers what they want because they are inspired by their job will create a powerful feedback loop that increases business. For some, good work might include a satisfying work–life balance and opportunities to travel. Good work also encompasses the nature of the organization: Is it inclusive, diverse, and respectful? Do people’s values align with those of the organization? Do employees approve of the goals of the enterprise and see how their efforts contribute? There is typically an element of meaningful purpose: Is the organization, in the view of employees, helping to improve the world around it and make life better?

Not every company can save the world. Many areas of work, such as consumer goods and services, can present ethical challenges for people for a variety of reasons. But how employees experience their day-to-day job, in any industry, is something their bosses can and do influence.

How employees experience their day-to-day job, in any industry, is something their bosses can influence.

If you assume, as we do, that providing a good work experience is truly a significant source of competitive advantage (pdf) for business and government because it leads to better performance and better outcomes — maybe the best source of advantage in a world of complex human–machine interaction — then it is clear that most enterprises need to put considerably more effort into it.

Dissatisfied Rank and File

Large numbers of people are not satisfied with the amount they are working — they feel it’s either too little or too much — and the effect their workload has on their life. PwC’s study “Preparing for Tomorrow’s Workforce, Today” shows that two-thirds of companies are failing to make workloads manageable, and 80 percent don’t prioritize programs to help workers’ well-being or mental health, even though they realize these issues are important. The World Health Organization describes stress as the “health epidemic of the 21st century.”

Myriad factors contribute to employee dissatisfaction. The development of AI makes certain changes inevitable. When jobs are broken down into tasks and some of those tasks become automated, companies need to restructure and revalue people’s contributions. In more and more countries, a job is no longer expected to last a lifetime or lead to a livable pension. People starting employment today will likely retire much later than their parents and work on a much less secure basis, changing jobs often over their working life. Benefits packages and pay policies, however, are still mired in the old “work nine to five, retire at 65” world. The gig economy, the threat of robots, and the overload of 24/7 connectivity are all taking a toll.

Our most recent research explores the factors that can make a difference in creating good work. Our global survey of more than 1,200 business and human resources (HR) leaders in 10 industry sectors in 79 countries clearly shows just how important the human side of work is to people. Working with Lynda Gratton, professor of management practice at the London Business School, we identified 45 organizational capabilities — defined as the ability and the capacity to perform specific tasks that benefit organizations — that are important in today’s working world. We then asked survey respondents which of these capabilities were most vital for the future of their organization. The five selected most often were all related to improving the nature of work: building trust, valuing human skills, supporting mental and physical well-being, managing workloads, and having work spaces that encourage collaboration and creativity.

The survey also asked respondents if their business was taking action to develop these capabilities and others they cited as important. By analyzing these two sets of answers, we identified areas that respondents ranked as highly important for the future but in which relatively low levels of implementation had taken place. This result suggested that it’s a struggle for companies to develop capabilities that engender a good work experience. The results also identified one of the reasons: Organizations are not using technology to help them deliver better on-the-job experiences. Five of these 10 underdeveloped capabilities that put companies at risk — that is, important things that companies are not doing — involve the use of data analytics to make jobs better (see “Making ‘Good Work’ Work Better”).

Making “Good Work” Work Better
The top 10 organizational capabilities companies should be developing but aren’t.


1. Using big data and advanced analytics in workforce decision making
2. Using data to monitor the skills gap in the workforce
3. Using data analytics to eliminate bias from hiring and rewards
4. Ensuring HR professionals are trained to use analytics for workforce decision making, predicting and monitoring the skills gap, and eliminating bias from hiring and rewards (capabilities 1–3)
5. Developing policies and practices to encourage flexible working
6. Managing workloads to ensure employees don’t burn out and do take vacations
7. Using predictive analytics for all of the above
8. Developing career path models that mirror how people work today, not simply up-or-out paths
9. Creating work paths that nurture adaptability and agility by promoting rotations and skills development
10. Designing work spaces that promote well-being and accommodate a variety of working styles

It’s as if the threat of what technology can do to the workforce is scaring people from using it, even in positive ways. Risk number four in “Making ‘Good Work’ Work Better” highlights the deficit of analytical skills in HR. Organizations understand that workloads are onerous, but they are not using analytics to plan schedules, create better work environments, or prepare for job skills gaps. Career paths are unclear, but training and development are not mapped against what future jobs might look like. There are concerns that bias is limiting diversity in the working world, but companies are not using technology to help here, either.

The remaining at-risk actions on the list involve the work experience itself. Providing flexibility is not yet a reality, even though research shows (pdf) how much it is valued and also shows how much different segments of the population, including older workers and parents, would value a chance to reenter the workplace on their own terms. And although wellness is a buzzword, companies say they are slow to reimagine workplaces in ways that foster well-being.

The Human Factors

At the heart of all the coming changes in the workplace are the people who will make them happen. People’s working life is their life story: They spend more hours working than doing almost anything else. And working lives are getting longer (pdf): Those who live to 60 years of age have around 93,600 productive hours; those who live to 100 have 218,400. The businesses that succeed will be the ones that create the kinds of narratives that people buy into and then their leaders support with action. These businesses will have to be flexible and adaptable. There is no one-size-fits-all approach; the employee journeys of a 25-year-old recent college graduate, a sales assistant, and a midcareer manager are not the same.

Analyzing the gaps between what business leaders know is important and where they are actually taking action, we have identified five specific areas in which organizations can do something now to lessen the stress and anxiety their employees are experiencing. They need to tackle burnout and boost vitality, build social resilience, encourage agility and adaptability, support “intrapreneurship,” and provide autonomy. We’ll take each in turn and describe practical steps to address these issues, with examples of what some companies are already doing. Our message here is to leadership: Unless senior managers actively embrace this agenda and empower HR to take these actions (see “A Crucial Role for Human Resources”), it will not happen. And unless this agenda’s implementation is measured and linked to management rewards, employees won’t believe it really matters to their boss.

1. Tackle burnout. If people are to thrive and maintain their well-being over longer working lives, then organizations must ensure that their working practices and processes don’t wear employees out. Careers today are marathons, not sprints. But long working hours and being available 24/7 are still seen as proxies for success. Further, it could be that people enjoy their work but simply don’t know how to slow down or are not encouraged to do so. Research has found that 20 percent of employees with the highest engagement levels also report burnout. These “engaged–exhausted” employees have mixed feelings about work: They report high levels of passion and stress concurrently. Companies that don’t recognize the symptoms may lose some of their most driven and hardworking people when they burn out.

Proactively managing workloads and encouraging recovery time — even short breaks — during the day is a good start to boost vitality, but this is easier said than done. The engaged–exhausted are hard to shut down. In 2014, crowdfunding platform Kickstarter started offering unlimited vacation time, but retracted the policy the following year because people simply weren’t using it. The social media management platform Buffer took a different route in 2015: It introduced financial incentives to encourage employees to take more leave. When that didn’t work, it implemented a mandatory vacation policy in 2016. Current data estimates that 56 percent of Buffer employees will have taken 15 days of vacation (or more) by the end of 2018, up from 43 percent. It’s too early to know whether the Buffer employees who took the time off will be more productive, but research indicates that the company could expect an uptick. Rested employees perform better.

Having role models also helps. In 2015, Barclays began to offer a range of flexible initiatives to support people at various stages of their lives, such as those pursuing further studies, parenting, or caring for other family members. The possibilities for workers include working from home, changing or condensing working hours, taking career breaks, and sharing jobs. By telling the stories of people who took up these options, Barclays encouraged more than 3,000 middle and senior managers to become “dynamic worker” champions. In 2017, 57 percent of employees identified themselves as dynamic workers, and their engagement scores, as measured by Barclays, outpaced those of others, with 5 percent higher scores in what the company termed “sustainable engagement.”

People naturally function in what are known as ultradian cycles, periods of high-frequency brain activity (about 90 minutes) followed by lower-frequency brain activity (about 20 minutes). Taking a recharging break every 90 minutes is especially important for workers using computer screens, as they make the brain overly active. There is some initial research that shows that trying to push through the rest phase of the ultradian rhythm triggers the body’s fight-or-flight response. That’s bad news, because it can cause the parts of the brain that handle logic to become less active.

Technology can help here: Some apps and software programs remind and encourage people to take physical and mental breaks regularly throughout the day. PwC Netherlands has made one such tool available to its staff for years. And work spaces can also be designed to reflect the natural rhythm of collaboration. Rows of cubicles are being replaced by communal tables  and comfy corners so people can come together as a group and then break apart. Those table tennis and foosball tables, even if they’re not used regularly, at least signal that employers believe downtime is important. The key is to accommodate your employees with a working environment they want, while also recognizing that forcing spaces on people may not always work. A bad workday in an open-plan office isn’t for everyone.

2. Build social resilience. People may think of loneliness and its effect on their productivity as something that happens outside work, within their own personal networks, but that’s not the case. Despite this being the age of social platforms, rates of loneliness in the U.S. have doubled since the 1980s, and businesses are suffering from absenteeism due to depression. A long-running Harvard University study has found that close social relationships are more important than money in promoting happiness. It’s these close ties that protect people from life’s setbacks and help delay mental and physical decline. Social ties are better predictors of long and happy lives than are social class, IQ, or even genes. But the 24/7 work culture means that fewer people are finding friendships outside the workplace, loosening these important bonds. The number of people who report having a close confidant in their lives has been declining over the past few decades.

Organizations can help prevent this isolation by ensuring that their employees can not only disconnect from work more easily but also have the opportunity to create connections on the job. Managers play an integral part as role models by showing their commitment to avoiding excessive workloads and minimizing unpredictable hours. They can also promote more nurturing work networks. The tools they can use to help build networks are already present in common company software, such as Yammer and Slack. Of course, employees may need encouragement and a reason to use these systems. Tata Consultancy Services has developed its own social network called Knome — a slang term related to the interpretation of DNA — that connects 380,000 workers around the world in one online forum similar to Facebook, and is employed by close to 80 percent of the staff. They use it to exchange both private and work-related information, upload blog posts, and create communities with colleagues who share interests. Employees have created more than 9,500 of these online communities where they exchange ideas and collaborate.

3. Encourage adaptability and agility. In the future, when people regularly live to 100, retraining will become the norm as jobs and skills change. The traditional, just-in-case learning models companies use now will not be enough to keep up with rapid technological change. And the stages when training is needed will be different for a recent graduate, for example, than for a machine tool operator whose job is outsourced to a robot. Companies will need to plan for this type of up-skilling. In Singapore, the government is leading the way by giving grants to workers to help them retrain throughout their working lives, not simply to help them gain new skills but also to help them adjust their expectations of what a working life means.

Data analytics can help predict what skills companies will need, but getting employees to take up training will be a challenge. The Australian retail bank Westpac recently created a social learning platform called Learning Bank for its 40,000 employees that tags content to employees’ profiles; workers select what they want to learn. It’s an informal approach that empowers employees to learn what they choose, when and where they want to learn it. In 2017, Westpac added TechU to encourage people to acquire skills in future technology, according to Dave Curran, bank CIO at the time of the launch. “In my mind, nirvana is where people are self-educating to where their interest is, somewhat guided by the organization and people like me, towards where the demand will be,” he said.

Personalization of experiences helps improve adaptability. At Heineken, which employs more than 80,000 people worldwide, the company’s career track tool helps people move laterally within the organization by listing what kinds of opportunities are available that fit with their personal aspirations. Employees can choose to receive information about the experience and capabilities required for the job they want and how to prepare: In effect, it lets them tailor their development plan to the work they want to do. Fastweb, an Italian telecommunications company, recently launched a rotational development program to increase internal mobility as part of its talent attraction and retention strategy.

4. Support “intrapreneurship.” More young people today want to run their own company than ever before, and older people are also switching to entrepreneurialism. Organizations that fail to create opportunities for “intrapreneurship,” that is, encouraging employees to develop new enterprises and commercially viable ideas within the company, risk losing their own workers’ innovative ideas. The key is to create the kind of environment within a company where innovation is encouraged and people can take risks safely. These psychologically safe settings produce fewer errors in day-to-day work even as they create space for experimentation. For intrapreneurship to work in practice, people need time; creativity is often a function of the quantity of ideas produced. A 2015 study found that the first 20 ideas people generate are often significantly less original than their next 15.

There are different ways to build a supportive, intrapreneurial environment. Rite-Solutions, a software developer, created the Mutual Fun platform five years ago, which works as a virtual stock market for ideas by combining social networking and gamification strategies. An employee interacts with the market by first creating a personalized profile, which allows him or her to find others with similar interests or complementary strengths to work with on innovative projects. They can then invest their intellectual capital (in the form of virtual US$10,000) into the “idea stocks” of the colleagues they would support. A decision algorithm derives each idea’s stock values based on the activity and investments in it, while also calculating a leaderboard of players. Successful Mutual Fun initiatives lead to the formation of volunteer teams that could receive real investment.

Not all entrepreneurial ideas work out, so rewarding failures plays a role in encouraging risk taking. In 2006, Tata Group started its Innovista Awards to recognize innovation, even if the attempts failed, with the goal of fostering what it called “appropriate risk taking.” The uptake wasn’t great at first, but participation grew. In 2018, the company recognized 23 innovators. Normalizing, even celebrating failure can help individuals and organizations learn more about the products they are creating and the markets they serve.

Some organizations hold periodic hackathons in which employees present ideas and compete to tackle specific challenges aligned with the company’s broader strategy. Participants can earn prizes and recognition. Unilever has a startup hub to keep bright ideas generated by its employees in-house. It’s an insurance policy, aimed at validating intrapreneurship. Companies want to replicate the success of lightbulb moments such as 3M’s Post-it Note, but they should not forget that it took a decade for Post-its to become commercially successful. (The project failed three times before finally taking off.)

5. Provide autonomy. Faced with a transforming working environment, employees value choices. People regularly tell survey takers that they would give up income for greater control over how they work and for a more meaningful job. Research on powerlessness by neuroscientists shows how it can result in a lack of well-being, thwart motivation, and even damage cognition. A move toward a more autonomous and empowered work culture can help employees feel more satisfied and lead to stronger job performance and greater commitment to the organization. To paraphrase Dan Cable’s thesis in Alive at Work, employers have to proactively find ways to help people release their inner explorer.

Spotify, for example, groups its more than 2,000 employees into agile teams, called squads, that are self-organizing, cross-functional, and colocated. There is no single appointed leader of a squad. The mantra is that “alignment enables autonomy — the greater the alignment, the more autonomy you can grant.” A leader’s job is to figure out the right problem and communicate it, so squads can collaborate to find the best solution.

Gaming software company Valve, famous for its flat organizational structure in which no one has a boss, gives employees desks on wheels and encourages them to push the desks around the building to join projects that seem interesting. Valve holds them accountable for the results. Employees are given clear expectations when they join a new project team, and they must complete 360-degree evaluations when projects end to measure individual contributions. In an industry in which innovation is the lifeblood, Valve is thriving, with 360 employees and a 22-year record.

What Should Business Leaders Do?

Headlines that focus on the war for talent are elevating to the boardroom concerns that have traditionally been the domain of HR, such as skills and productivity. In PwC’s 21st CEO Survey, a 2018 look at chief executives around the world, the lack of availability of key skills was number five on the list of top threats to economic success. In 2019’s survey, it has risen to number three. HR professionals will be the guardians of good work experiences on a day-to-day basis, but it will be top leadership that must guide the overall strategy.

A high-quality workplace experience for employees is critical to developing a learning culture — and thus critical to the continuous improvement of the organization’s skills and capabilities. People don’t unleash their productivity if they’re having a bad time at work. Effective business leaders must demonstrate that they recognize the value of the people experience in their company and must work to improve it. They need to craft a narrative about what the future of work means for their organization and what actions they are taking now to deliver on that future. Leaders who understand this will have a competitive advantage. As the examples here show, some companies are already taking the initiative, rather than simply reacting.

Leaders can be the catalyst for change if they make it a priority. They can bring together communities of innovators within their enterprises; they can empower people to deliver in the ways that best suit them by making wellness and flexible working a differentiating source of energy, engagement, and loyalty. And they can find ways to help employees see into the future of their longer working lives. Data analytics are tools that can offer insight into what work will look like, not ends in themselves. They can help judge what skills people will need and determine how to develop the capabilities that sustain employability.

Good work should not be hard to find or hard to describe. To keep their workers’ attention and harness their potential, companies will have to encourage and develop the attributes and skills that make them innately human. If they fail to do that, their greatest resource, people, will simply walk away.

Author Profiles:

  • Bhushan Sethi is the joint global leader of PwC’s people and organization practice. Based in New York, he is a principal with PwC US.
  • Carol Stubbings is the joint global leader of PwC’s people and organization practice. Based in London, she is a partner with PwC UK.

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How to Start a Coin-Operated Laundry

February 15, 2019 by Asif Nazeer Leave a Comment

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Like things neat and clean? Starting a coin-operated laundry might be your ticket to entrepreneurial success.


February
15, 2019

15+ min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


Editor’s note: This article was originally published on February 1, 2008, and has been updated. It was excerpted from our Coin-Operated Laundry start-up guide, available from Entrepreneur Bookstore.

The coin-operated laundry industry has undergone a revolution. No longer dingy, unsafe, boring places that customers must endure on a weekly basis, laundromats are becoming fun and attractive multiservice centers that customers may even enjoy visiting. “The industry is now getting a facelift,” said Brian Wallace, president and CEO of the Coin Laundry Association, a national association for self-service laundry owners. “There’s a trend toward coin laundries being more comfortable for the customer.”

Newer laundries have snack bars, a place to leave off and pick up dry cleaning and video games. Some of them don’t even use coins. Instead, customers use swipe cards that subtract the cost of the wash or dry, much like a phone card or debit card. Many laundry owners also employ attendants to keep an eye on the store and help customers use the equipment.

Laundromat Renaissance
The coin-operated laundry industry has changed in response to several trends. The first is that, for most of us, meeting the demands of work and our personal lives leads to a time crunch — there just aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything we would like to. Laundry owners are capitalizing on this reality by offering their customers time-saving convenience in the form of wash-and-fold (drop-off service) and dry-cleaning service. Some are even picking up laundry from customers’ homes and delivering it back to them clean and folded.

In addition, owners have realized that they can maximize their profits by providing customers with access to multiple services. Since they’re paying a set amount of rent on their commercial space, they might as well use that space to its fullest potential. Many owners around the country are serving food, renting mailboxes and offering free internet access. Because newer laundries are bigger than in the past — often 3,000 or 4,000 square feet — overhead is higher, and owners are looking for ways to cover the cost. These additional services demand little increase in overhead because the rent is already paid for. Customers benefit by being able to use several services all in one convenient location.

Cindy Patel, owner of Mountain Wash Laundry in Shelby, North Carolina, at time of interviewing, said that she planned opening a snack bar and a minimart in her laundry. “I have a big space, 6,000 square feet,” she said, “and this will help pay for it.”

Paul Partyka, who edited American Coin-Op, a magazine devoted to self-service laundries, said Patel’s approach is the norm. “Trying to generate additional revenue per square foot has always been an issue,” he said. “But it’s even more so now with tighter competition and utility bills growing. Everybody wants to squeeze as much money as possible out of their space. Looking for an extra service that will work is always on their mind.”

Another trend laundry owners have recognized is that customers prefer to visit laundromats with a more pleasant atmosphere. Many laundry owners are building kids’ centers, holding music concerts, giving away coffee and hiring attendants who are friendly and helpful. “I don’t think we’ll ever cross that threshold into making laundry fun,” Wallace said, “but we’re making it more comfortable.”

Tom Leavitt, owner of Darcies Laundry in the Seattle area at time of interviewing, opened three new stores, all of them near older, smaller laundries, most of which have since closed. Darcies offers customers a better deal: bigger stores with play areas for children and attendants on duty at all times. “Our stores are very convenient,” Leavitt said. “They’re clean, they have a friendly environment, and they have a lot of machines, so you can get in and out of there as fast as possible.”

The Good News
As the population of the United States grows, the number of renters — your main market — is likely to grow, too. Other social phenomena, like the prevalence of two-income families, suggest that convenient services such as wash-and-fold will continue to grow in popularity as working parents have less time to attend to household chores like laundry.

According to a survey from the Coin Laundry Association, more than half of coin laundries offer wash-and-fold. “It’s by far the number-one extra service for laundries,” said Partyka. “It’s doing well.” Partyka also notes that even people with washers and dryers at home are using self-service laundries for the sake of convenience. With the regular capacity machines used in homes, it can take quite a lot of time to do load after load — and that’s where laundromats come in. “They just run over to the coin laundry, use a couple of the large machines and knock it off,” he said. In other words, although the majority of laundromat customers are low- to middle-income renters, some laundries are tapping into higher-income markets by offering convenience: wash-and-fold service and large machines.

In addition, office dress codes are growing increasingly less formal. And as more people wear casual clothing (which doesn’t require dry cleaning) to work and leave the nicer duds for special occasions, you may find that consumers will be making more trips to the laundromat.

The Bad News
While the trends we’ve mentioned are favorable for entrepreneurs entering the laundry business, they don’t suggest that business is booming. The industry is what experts describe as a “mature market.” Save for areas that are seeing high population growth, pretty much every neighborhood that needs a laundry has one — or two or three — that are competing vigorously. In some areas of the country, there are too many laundromats already.

However, there is room for new laundry owners. Many get into the business by purchasing an existing laundry and renovating it. Some also find that they can build a new laundry in an area with competing laundries and thrive by offering a bigger store, more services and better customer relations. Another way to get into the business is to locate your store where there is the best potential need for a new laundry: in an area that’s experiencing population growth.

As you consider getting into the laundry business, keep the words “mature market” in mind. Don’t buy a store just because it’s for sale or build a store just because you have a great idea for a new gimmick. You’ll need to be very careful to make sure there’s enough of a customer base to make your business thrive. You may be able to draw a little extra business from people who like using your store better because of its cleanliness or from people who use your wash-and-fold service, but the core of your business will be people who just want to get their laundry done quickly and conveniently. If there are already enough laundromats in the neighborhood to serve their needs, they’re not as likely to patronize your store.

Finally, you also need to consider that getting into the laundry business requires a large initial investment. The average-size laundromat could cost you in the neighborhood of $200,000 to $500,000 — whether you choose to purchase an existing laundry or build one in a retail space.

How to Start a Coin-Operated Laundry

The Laundromat Life

If you’re planning on operating just one or two stores, you’ll be in good company. Three-quarters of laundry owners own only one store, and very few have more than two. While there are no national laundry chains, a few local chains are starting to grow in various parts of the country. These chains are still quite localized, though, and only a few consist of more than a few dozen.

For a little more than half of laundry owners, operating the store(s) is their full-time job. Others take the moonlighting approach-they manage other businesses or work a day job. But more laundry owners are starting to own larger stores and more than one store. These people are able to survive on the income larger stores or multiple stores generate.

The amount of money you can make from a laundry varies tremendously. According to the Coin Laundry Association’s Brian Wallace, the annual gross income from one store can range from $30,000 to $1 million. The expenses incurred while running a store range between 65 and 115 percent of the gross income. That means that for a store grossing $30,000 per year, at best it nets $10,500 and at worst it loses $4,500. For a store grossing $1 million per year, the profit could be as high as $350,000, or there could be a loss of up to $150,000, depending on expenses.

Wallace says these profit margins have less to do with the size of the store than with its owner. An owner who runs his or her store well-who keeps it clean, repairs its equipment quickly, uses energy-efficient systems and offers good customer service-will see profit margins of about 35 percent.

The steady income that a laundry generates is a plus for many people. If you’re looking for a business that will keep the cash flowing no matter what the rest of the economy is doing, you’ve found it in laundries. Clean clothes are a necessity, not a luxury, so people are going to use laundromats no matter how the stock market is performing. The business is also fairly steady month in, month out. So unless you draw on vacationers’ dollars in a place with seasonal tourism, you’ll find that you can count on a fairly steady income throughout the year.

No Experience Necessary
None of the entrepreneurs interviewed for the Coin-Operated Laundry start-up guide had experience in the laundry business when they first started out. One had a resume that included milking cows, another was a contractor, yet another ran a rental equipment business. Most just decided that starting a laundry was a good business opportunity. However, they all recommend that new entrepreneurs research the business by talking to laundry owners, joining associations and reading the trade literature.

Tom Leavitt put some time into planning the three laundries he opened in Seattle. “We traveled around the country, looked at a lot of other operations, and designed our prototype,” he says. “We took care to figure out what would work the best.” He and his partner also attended a Coin Laundry Association convention in Chicago and took a tour of laundries in the area.

Collette Clarkson knew nothing about the business before she started a laundromat in Evans, Colorado, with Kim Clarkson, her business partner. But the two got to work when Collette’s uncle, who was building a strip mall, asked if she’d be interested in operating a laundromat. “We did a lot of research,” Collette says. They spoke to a number of laundry owners about the business and read as many issues of trade magazines as they could find.

While no particular experience is necessary, a business background is always important. In addition, a background in machine repair or a knack for fixing machines helps. Owners who have experience with laundry equipment are able to cut down on the cost of repairs. But others have found that they can learn about the machines and make some repairs themselves, or hire a repairperson and avoid the headache altogether. The self-service laundry business is an open club. With enough enthusiasm, interest and business-savvy, you can join the club and succeed in the industry.

The Laundromat Personality
You may think that the laundry business is about clothes, but what it’s really about is people. It’s a service business, and like any service business, you need to treat your customers well if you want them to return to your store.

If you’re friendly, your customers will want to use your store. By taking the time to talk to them, you will also be able to learn about their laundry needs and their preferences for services. Ultimately, this kind of information will help you improve the quality of your business so that you can attract even more customers.

Even if you decide to hire employees and leave the customer relations to them, you still need good people skills to hire and supervise employees. The more closely you work with them and the better they know and like you, the better job they’ll do.

If you have an unattended laundry that you visit twice a day to clean and collect quarters, you still need to greet your customers with a smile on your face and an attitude that’s ready to help. So if small talk with strangers leaves you cold, and you can’t stand the thought of answering customers’ questions (often the same ones over and over), the laundry business may not be the one for you.

However, if you think you’ll like meeting new people, helping them work the machines, and listening to them talk while they wait for the dryers to finish, you’ll find this business rewarding. “Interacting with customers-that’s the best part,” says Collette Clarkson. “I can’t even imagine how many regulars we have who we know by name.”

How to Start a Coin-Operated Laundry

The Daily Routine

So what’s it really like to own a laundry business? Whether you do all the work yourself or hire an attendant or a janitor, there are tasks you will need to take care of on a daily basis. You will need to open and close your store promptly each day, clean it, collect money, and fill vending and change machines. You will also need to keep track of which machines are being used and how often.

Those laundry owners who have employees will have other duties, too. They’ll be hiring and supervising those employees and overseeing additional services such as wash-and-fold.

The Hours You Shall Keep
Laundries are generally open between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. seven days per week. Because weekends are usually the busiest days for laundries, you should definitely keep your doors open on Saturdays and Sundays. In some instances, you may want to adopt alternate hours, especially if the market you serve or the location of your store lends itself to having open doors at other times of the day.

Brian De Coster, who owns several unattended laundries in and around Iowa City, Iowa, keeps his stores open 24 hours per day. Three of his four laundromats are in a college town, and students are notorious for keeping odd hours. “You’ve got the machines; you’ve already paid the money for the machines and the rent and everything else,” he reasons. Because his laundry is unattended, he doesn’t have to pay employees to stay up all night with his store.

Tim O’Connell, who owns 24 Colonial Laundromat stores in the Syracuse, New York, area, keeps most of his stores open 24 hours as well. “The biggest problem we had was turning customers away,” he says. “Customers would come in late and employees would want to be leaving, so it was easier just to stay open.”

Other laundry owners we interviewed base their hours on surrounding businesses. Dave and Kris Anderson, who own an unattended laundry in New Glarus, Wisconsin, keep their store open daily from 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. They chose those hours because they’re the same hours the nearby gas station is open. “We feel it’s working out perfectly,” Dave says. “If we had kept it open later, we might have had more vandalism.”

Your first duty of the day is to open your store, and you must be on time because your customers may plan their day around getting their laundry done at a certain time. You can avoid having to be at your store early in the morning and late at night by installing an automatic lock system on a timer. A typical system like this will cost you between $1,000 and $1,500.

At night, of course, you must close down and lock up. If you want all the customers to be gone by 10 p.m., you should consider locking the door at 8:30 p.m., leaving enough time for the last loads of laundry to be finished. You can either let customers out yourself or install a lock system that allows them to leave but prevents others from coming inside.

Scrub-a-Dub-Dub
The first order of business for you or an employee you hire is to clean your store thoroughly, at least once a day. This will take about two to three hours. You or your employee will need to do the following:

  • Mop the floors
  • Wipe down the machines
  • Clean the soap dispensers in your front-load washers
  • Wash off the folding tables
  • Clean the bathroom
  • Empty the trash
  • Wash the windows
  • Clean the vending machines, change machines and video game screens

The best time to clean is after customers have gone-that way you or your employees can clean more efficiently. You’ll also avoid the risk of customers slipping on wet floors or tripping over cleaning equipment. If you have a large or busy store, however, you may find that it requires cleaning twice a day. You can wipe down the machines and folding tables easily while customers are in the store, but save the floor for after they’ve left or for a slow period of the day.

Collecting Coins
One chore you’re not likely to delegate to an employee is collecting money from the machines. If you have a card system, your job is much easier. All you’ll have to do is empty the card machine of the bills, count them and deposit them in the bank.

But if you have a coin laundry, you’ll need to empty each machine, preferably daily. You’ll want to pull (take out the coins) from one type of machine at a time so you can determine how often your customers are using each type of machine. Put a bag in one of your laundry baskets and roll it from machine to machine, starting with the top-loaders. Count these coins and record how much money you made on this type of machine, then follow the same procedure with the front-loaders and the dryers.

For recording purposes, you should draw up a chart with seven rows, one for each day of the week, and columns for each type and size of equipment: top-loaders, front-loaders, dryers and vending machines. Then record in your chart how much money you withdraw every day.

You should refill the change machine in your store on a daily basis, too. When it’s empty, your customers can’t do their laundry, and they’ll go elsewhere. If it’s empty more than a few times, they may never return. No one wants to lug several loads of laundry to a laundromat, only to find they can’t get change. De Coster says if his change machine runs out, “that’s like shooting myself in the foot. I check the change machine at least once a day.”

Let Us Vend
The last bit of daily business in your store is restocking the vending machines. If you own your own soda and snack machines, you will need to make sure they’re full every day. If you contract with a vending company, they’ll worry about filling them.

The most important vending machine in your store will likely be the soap vending machine, and since these machines are relatively inexpensive and rarely break, you should buy your own. Make sure it is properly stocked every day. Many customers will bring their own soap, but those who don’t will expect to find soap available. An empty soap machine is almost as bad as an empty change machine-it will cause you to lose business.

Keeping Track
When you’re done with the daily in-store duties, you’ll need to take care of some additional office work. Many laundry owners do this at home, though some may find it easier to work in a rented office or at the laundromat if they have space. Owners with other businesses, such as De Coster who has both laundries and an equipment rental business, can take care of everything in one office.

At your office, you’ll need to take care of your accounting and track equipment usage by customers in your store. It’s important to record how often each type of machine is used so that you can determine if you’ve got the right mix of equipment. For example, if you find that your front-loaders are getting six turns per day (the number of times a machine is used each day) and your top-loaders only two, you may need to add front-loaders and remove some top-loaders. Your customers are likely waiting for the front-loaders and possibly going elsewhere, so you could be losing money.

How to Start a Coin-Operated Laundry

Startup Costs

You can expect to encounter a number of basic startup costs to get into the laundry business. Depending on whether you build a new laundry in a leased space or buy an existing one, your costs may include:

Market research (literature/subscriptions/association fees)
The cost of an existing laundry business

  • Construction or remodeling (if you are building a new laundromat)
  • Washer hook-up fees (sewer connection)
  • Licenses/permits
  • Equipment

Keep in mind that if you buy a laundry, you don’t pay for licenses or sewer connection fees (unless you decide to have additional washers installed). But you will have to pay for renovation and any new equipment you decide to install if you want to update the laundry.

In addition to these basic startup costs, you may also have a number of ongoing expenses. These include:
 

  • Lease/rental costs
  • Utilities (gas, sewer, water and electric)
  • Insurance (fire, theft and liability)
  • Employee payroll/benefits
  • Miscellaneous supplies (cleaning supplies, soap, invoices for wash-and-fold, bathroom supplies, etc.)

Research and Development
Once you’ve completed your initial research on the laundry business, you will need to figure out how much it will cost to build your store-to remodel a space and fill it with laundry equipment-or to buy an existing laundry. Whether you decide to buy or build, you can expect to pay between $200,000 and $500,000 for an average-size laundromat (about 2,000 square feet).

If you’re buying an existing laundry, figuring out your major startup costs is simple-just determine the value of the business. If you plan to renovate the existing store by painting the interior or putting in new flooring, be sure to add these costs to your startup expenses.

Figuring out your startup costs involves a little more work if you decide to build. Since you’ll be leasing a space that was something other than a laundry in a previous life, the cost of the construction is going to depend on how much remodeling you have to do. If the space you’ve chosen was formerly a beauty salon, for example, you’re going to have to add enough water, sewer and gas pipes for the conversion to a laundry. You’ll also have to provide enough electrical outlets, possibly move a few walls, and completely redecorate before it will look like a laundromat. You should hire a contractor to help you do all this remodeling.

In general, you can expect to pay about $200,000 for the construction costs to remodel an average-size space (2,000 square feet). This includes the cost of installing your equipment and putting in folding tables and seating. The remainder of your major startup costs will be buying the equipment itself.

Licenses and Hidden Fees
The licenses and permits you will need depend entirely on your location. Check with your municipality regarding:

  • Business license
  • Health department license (if you are serving food)
  • Fire department permit
  • Air and water pollution control permit
  • Sign permit
  • Public improvement fees
  • Impact fees

You should also be aware of a few lesser-known fees that will affect you as a laundry owner. In many areas around the country, municipal water districts charge sewer connection fees. These can cost you anywhere from $200 to $8,000 per washer. If the fees are $8,000 per washer, the owner of a laundry with 30 washers must pay $240,000 in hook-up fees-almost what he’ll pay for construction! Brian Wallace of the Coin Laundry Association tells us that high hook-up fees are one of the biggest problems facing the coin laundry industry today. “Before you get too far down the road, make sure you understand what if any impact fees, tap-on fees, wastewater fees-they call them lots of things-there are,” says Wallace. These fees are a major challenge to laundry developers. And in areas where operators are forced to pay these fees, the price of laundromats has also risen dramatically. If the fees are high in your chosen area, you may need to reconsider your entire plan.

In addition to sewer connection fees, you may find that you have to pay sewer and waste water fees, too-check with the local municipality. Don’t neglect to check on these charges when you’re researching a laundry business. After all, you will be using these utilities heavily, so you’ll want to know if the monthly charges will be manageable from the get-go.

The Goods
If you decide to buy a laundry, you will already have a full complement of equipment-unless you want to replace a few of the older machines or add a few more machines to meet customer demand. However, if you decide to build a laundry, buying equipment will eat up virtually all the rest of your startup costs. You can expect to pay between $150,000 and $300,000 to fill an average-size laundromat with washers and dryers.

Top-load washers cost between $500 and $700 each, and front-load washers cost between $3,500 and $20,000 each, depending on their size. One stacked dryer (which means two dryers arranged one on top of the other in a joined cabinet casing) costs between $5,000 and $6,000.

If you want to add a card system, it will cost you in the neighborhood of $40,000 to $80,000, including readers on the machines, a card dispenser and cards, and the software to compute equipment usage and let you change prices. It’s pricey, but take heart: With a card system, you don’t have to buy a change machine, which runs in the ballpark of $1,000 to $3,000.

A water heating system will run you between $15,000 and $40,000, and a soap vending machine will cost between $500 and $1,500. Those laundry carts that let customers transport their clothes from washer to dryer cost $50 to $75 each. Supplies such as soap, cleaning equipment, signs, clocks, and trash cans should run another $750 to $1,000.

How to Start a Coin-Operated Laundry

Setting Yourself Apart

Consider giving your store a theme or a gimmick. For example, one store in San Francisco plays classic black-and-white movies on their TV, and the walls are covered with photographs of movie stars from the 1920s and 1930s. Another store in Texas displays the owner’s collection of antique laundry equipment. Iowa City, Iowa, laundry owner Brian De Coster chose humor: He plays comedy channels on his TVs and places signs with clever puns, such as “We have a dryer sense of humor” and “We never clothes.” (His store is open 24 hours.)

A theme gives your store more personality; customers will remember it, and they’ll find your laundry a more interesting place to come to. A clever gimmick may also get you some free publicity from the local press. If you want to create a gimmick for your laundromat, think about who your customers are and what sort of theme they will appreciate. One owner in Southern California, with customers from all over Latin America, hung his laundry with flags from several of his customers’ native homelands and started serving traditional Latin American food.

For the Little Kids
Many laundry owners are realizing that they can increase business by providing a play area for children. Often, customers need to bring their children to the laundromat, so giving little ones something to do makes the laundry chore much easier on parents. Having an area set aside for children can also help keep them from running around and possibly getting hurt or damaging equipment.

Collette Clarkson and her partner have a play area for children. They have a TV with a VCR, children’s videos and toys. “We wind up picking up a lot of toys,” she says, “but they love it.”

If you want to put in an area specifically for children, check with your insurance agent and your city or county officials regarding liability issues. These professionals should be able to tell you how to design the area to maximize safety and make sure you won’t be responsible in case a child gets hurt. In fact, you may need to place signs saying you’re not responsible for children’s safety.

For the Big Kids
Even adults will get bored at a laundromat. After all, mostly what they are doing is waiting around for clothes to wash and dry. Many laundries these days have one or more TVs mounted to the wall. Some laundries keep the TVs tuned to one channel, some play videos, and others let customers change the channels themselves.

If your laundry is unattended and you want to let customers change the channel, mount the TV low enough on the wall so they can reach the channel and volume buttons. Customers are likely to walk off with a remote control, even if it’s tacked to a table.

Many laundry owners also have pinball and video games for their customers. Clarkson says a video game vendor approached her about having a videogame console in her store. He put a machine in at no cost to her, and they split the profits 50-50. “We’ve seen as much as $300 a month off the video game,” Clarkson says. They change the game every so often to keep customers from getting bored.

Snack Time
It’s likely that your customers will get hungry and thirsty while they’re waiting for their laundry to finish. Even if your store is near a shopping area, many customers wisely don’t want to leave their clothes. So vending machines with sodas, chips and candy fit the bill. You can buy a vending machine, fill it yourself and take all the profits. Or you can contract with a vendor who will provide the machine and snacks and split the profits with you. Ask your distributor about vending companies in your area.

Clarkson and her partner decided to put in a snack counter rather than vending machines. They offer their customers-and anyone else who comes in-a soda in a glass with ice, along with candy bars and chips. The partners chose to go that route after talking with other laundry owners. “In interviewing other people, we found that [they] didn’t like cans, they liked a fountain drink,” Clarkson says.

They sell the snacks at a low cost because their store is next to a mini-mart. “If we had the same prices or higher, everyone would just go next door,” Clarkson says. Still, their snack business is brisk enough that it brings in $30 to $60 a day. “Our Pepsi distributor says we do more [business] than some of his restaurants.” Having the snack counter also improves customer relations, she says. “Our customers really appreciate the cheap prices.”

Coin-Operated Laundry Resources
Associations
Coin Laundry Association
International Fabricare Institute

Magazines and Newsletters

  • American Coin-Op
  • The Journal
  • Coin Laundry News

Manuals

  • California Coin Laundry Association Owner’s Manual
  • California Coin Laundry Association Reference Manual

Websites

  • Coin Laundry Association bulletin board
  • Coinwash.com (a bulletin board for laundry owners and marketplace of laundries for sale)

How to Start a Coin-Operated Laundry

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