Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: What if your team could run at full speed without you pushing every wheel? In this episode, you'll learn how one leader turned burnout into sustainable growth and the lessons every business owner needs to hear.
Susan, it's great to have you on the show. Thanks for being on the culture of Leadership.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Thank you for having me. Excited to be here, Susan.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Let's dive in now.
Your journey. The laundry lady started back in 2012. So can you tell our community what daily frustration told you that laundry could become a nationwide service and not just a chore?
[00:00:33] Speaker B: Yeah, well, look, I. It was really my own laundry pile staring at me that gave me the. That clue.
I was. Yes, I was a busy working mom. I was a new mom. I'd been working in a career in international marketing for a long time. I was working for Austrade, and I was traveling a lot, and I was looking at my own pile in my spare room and thinking, I need some help with this. But I also was really grappling with, you know, being a new mom and work and. And trying to work and have a career and.
And I wanted to be able to do something where I could work from home, which I think a lot of. A lot of moms, you know, get to that point where they want to be able to create something where they can, you know, work from home and have flexibility to pick their kids up from school and.
And get to their sports days without having to, you know, write to your manager for permission and all of those sorts of things. And so I was really going through those struggles at the time. And so it. You know, it just kind of came to me that I could get out of all of that and start a business where I could go and work for myself, be at home, and help start solving laundry.
And so, you know, from the beginning, it was really. I always kind of had a vision that it would be a scalable type of business, but in the beginning, it was just me. So I jumped in and I became the original laundry lady, and I went out and picked up all of the washing and ironing in my local area, which at that time, I was living on the Gold Coast.
And that was a really great insight for me into how this business model could work. What customers wanted.
And, you know, going from a career, a corporate career where I sat at a desk and. And, you know, did all of that type of work to going and doing physical laundry was such a different change for me. But it was so awesome because it gave me the flexibility that I was really craving to, you know, be there for My son and, and, and my future son when he came along. And so, you know, that, that, that is really what the essence of our whole business is about, is creating that flexible opportunity for lots of people on one side solving their laundry problems and then on the other side for our contractors giving them this flexible work that they can be part of.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: And tell us, did you love laundry or you just saw the need? Because so many people don't like laundry.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: Who loves laundry? I know all about laundry. Ladies love.
Look, it's different when you're getting paid to do laundry, that's for sure. And you know, and I, look, I was at the time, I was like, there's no way I'm going to do cleaning. I hate cleaning. But, you know, I didn't feel like I hated laundry quite so much. But it wasn't really about that for me. You know, I always kind of had this big picture that I would be, you know, driving this business with a technology platform and, and an international marketing plan and all of these sorts of things that I'd seen a lot of businesses come through Austrade and do. And I think that was, you know, what was in the back of my head about what this business might look like. But it took a really long time get to that place in the journey.
And, you know, I think that's the thing about when you're starting your own business. You sort of think you're going to get to that stage really quickly, but it's not. It's a really long, slow journey. And in the beginning, you know, it did mean going out and doing, doing the work, which at the time I felt very.
A little bit stuck in that. A little bit stuck in terms of, you know, doing the laundry. How am I going to get out of this? How am I going to start to get to the phase where I can start scaling it? But in hindsight, those years gave me an incredible amount of value because now that has become our systems and processes. Because I had that, that knowledge. And I had that knowledge so well that it means, you know, now when contractors tell us they can't do something or that that won't work, I know, you know, really deeply whether it will or not. So, yeah, and, you know, and when you're building a tech platform and you have that knowledge behind you, it really helps as well.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: So, yeah, you know, you've got two growing boys, so having an army of laundry ladies and lads around the place could be pretty handy for you, I suppose.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: Yes. My son is his own little laundry lad, which is Very unsuccessful.
But you know, and, and also likes to comment on my laundry skills all of the time, which is really fun, but. Yes, exactly. They definitely keep me busy, keep me on my toes.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: I'm sure. Have you sort of taken time to reflect on, I guess, your own mindset? There's a lot of people that laundry's a day to day chore and it's not a sexy thing, but it's one of the realities of life and having responsibilities and families and all that sort of stuff. But there's got to be something around your mindset where you're looking at this problem and identifying, hey, how can I make this a solution, make this a business and then even think about scaling it.
[00:05:32] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. I mean, laundry takes up so much time and it is always there, you know, it's never ending. And you know, like the average family will spend at least four hours of their way doing laundry. You know, that's a lot of time. That's a half a day. And I think it's really about putting value on your time.
And you know, I try to do this not just like in my life, not just with laundry, but with everything. What's the value of my time versus if I outsource this to someone else? Because, you know, it's, it's the, it's the everything in your head that you're trying to juggle as well as the actual physical of doing it, you know, can really just take up so much of, of your time. And I have to say, when I get my ironing back and it's all ready and in its garment bag, ready to just hand hang straight in my, in my closet. It is, you know, life changing because it, it's all ready to go. It takes so much stress off my week and that's, that's what I do in my life is get my, my ironing done. Now that I'm, I'm not an actual original laundry lady anymore, I'm running instead, which is such a lovely change.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: Yeah, I know what you mean. Look, I'm not being a fan. I have had to do some ironing in my time and washing as well. But yeah, we do have someone who does the ironing and somebody comes in once a month just for a bit of a clean around the place and stuff. So certainly understand the value of time. Particularly when you are running a small business and you're looking at scaling and growing stuff.
You've got to put some dollar figures against your time and then start to make some serious decisions. If you're serious about your business, don't you?
[00:07:04] Speaker B: That's right. And our business, you know, I probably didn't realize this right at the beginning until I'd sort of started and got in and really understood who our customers were. But you know, it's not just busy families, like that's a big part of our customer base, but it's also businesses like salons and hairdressers and medical clinics and lots of places that are in that sort of low to mid volume space and there wasn't really anyone servicing that space. So we fit into that really well as well as people who are living with a disability, people who physically, mentally can't do their own laundry, elderly people who are injured, all of those sorts of things. So you know, like laundry is a basic service that we all need and for some people that is a bit harder. So you know, for some people it's about saving time and for others it's just a necessity that they need in their lives. So, you know, we're really proud to be able to help them with that.
[00:07:56] Speaker A: Yeah, well done. Look, I said before we hit record, I've got a series of questions that I want to ask you and I haven't actually done an episode like this before where I've sort of been tried to be disciplined in myself and the questions I want to ask because I just feel again this journey you've had and it's been fantastic and there's probably so much more to come, there's so much gold for our community to extract from your mind. So if you don't mind, I'm going to. We'll go through some of these questions, I'll ask a few sub questions here and there but we'll really get stuck into this so you can share some of this stuff. I know that you've already said scaling from yourself to. I think you've got about 300 contractors or something at the moment. So we talk leadership. So what sort of leadership habitat sort of kept quality consistent with that sort of old thing in small business about the micromanage. You know, we don't want to micromanage and we don't want to do this and that. But how is that, how does that happen? What's that leadership habit kept quality consistent without micromanaging in your business?
[00:08:47] Speaker B: Yeah. So look, I think, sorry that my dog is just hanging out in my background here.
[00:08:53] Speaker A: Absolutely fine. Sometimes we have a cat that pops up randomly as well. So it's all good.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: Sometimes my cat walks across as well. She just really wants to be in the Podcast today, working from home.
So.
And I've now I've lost my train of thought leadership habits. So look, I think, you know, for me, it was really a necessity of I was a working mom trying to build this business, and I didn't have a lot of time. You know, I had very young children at home, so I couldn't, you know, be on all day taking calls and things like that from customers. So I had to really systemize the business right from the beginning as much as possible. And I always really just looked at some big companies and how they did it. You know, things like Uber, where you can't make a phone call, you can't call them, you have to do everything online, you've got to chat online, you've got to, you know, put support tickets in, all of those sorts of things.
And, and tried to really right from the very beginning, when it was just me and just a handful of customers and a handful of contractors tried to make sure that we always had those types of systems in place. Because I think that, you know, it's easy when it's small to think, oh, I don't need to do that yet. I'll wait until we're bigger to get to that stage. But the sooner you do that, the more time it will save you and the easier it'll be to start to scale.
So, you know, I always really had that mindset from the beginning about making sure that we could be as systemized as possible. And, you know, our systems get better and better as we grow and we bring on more team and we have more resources and things like that. But, you know, even just doing it in a basic way, even if that's just in an Excel spreadsheet in the beginning, you know, rather than having a whole platform, you know, down the track, then, then there's the sorts of things that, you know, I think can be really helpful.
And also I think, you know, in terms of the way that the business has grown and what has made us really successful is, is. Is really understanding our values and what our values are to both our customers, to our contractors, what, what the business is about. And you know, as I said before, it was really about creating something that was going to create flexibility in people's lives. So flexibility for our customers, saving time in their laundry, and flexibility for our contractors to have this really flexible work from home business that they can be part of.
And staying true to those values in everything we do just brings us back to, are we still on the right track here? Are we doing the right things? You know, are we growing and scaling in the right ways?
Is these systems are these processes that we're working on going to continue to deliver those values? And so, you know, we come back to that all of the time and just try to really stay true to that.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: So systemising values again, speaking my language 100% to give people a perspective because you alluded to it there from the get go you were thinking about systems and how it works. But can you give us an example there? Because I really love what you say is that when people hear the word systemized they're thinking what system do I need to invest in what I'm going to? But Excel is a system, you know, Word or Google Sheet. Like it's a system that's a great starting point and most of the time it's free. You've already got that stuff. So can you give an example of maybe what a system looked like in the early days of Laundry Lady?
[00:12:13] Speaker B: Of the Laundry lady, yeah. So we now have this amazing technology platform that we've developed called Time Boss which you know, does a whole lot of things, you know, from really systemized like scheduling and rostering and very complex payment systems, particularly around ndis. It manages all of the bookings from start to finish. You know, it's a really robust and strong system. But we did not start there, we started with nothing. And you know, and I basically in the very beginning had this idea that I wanted to create this uber style platform which is, which is what we're, you know, well on the way to now.
But I very at the beginning had no money, had no insight into how to create a technology platform.
And I applied for a digital grant through Queensland government which I received, which was for $5,000. And I went off to my designer and I said I want to create this uber style platform. And I basically showed him a map of what I wanted that to look like. And, and my budget is $5,000. And so he laughed at me and said, you know, for $5,000 even on right on mates rates, you are not going to get anywhere near what you want to do. And he, his advice was go and find an off the shelf system. And so, so that's exactly what I did. I went out and I researched every off the shelf scheduling payment platform that was available then and this is back in 2016. So there was a lot less available in that space than there is now.
And, and I just literally sat there for a few weeks just testing all of these different platforms and thinking about how it could work if we had multiple locations and things like that. And I found a system called Timely, which is, is built for salons and is a big platform still today, and found a way that we could integrate that with our website. And we were off and running. And so that was really where the platform, where our first mvp, if you want to call it that, sort of started. Because we use this Timely platform integrated in our website and that really helped us grow the business to an 8 million plus business. So even though it was an off the shelf system, it only did a small part of what we really needed it to do. It helped to get us a long way.
But even before we had that, you know, it was, it was literally email and Excel and things like that and zero that I would use to kind of systemize things.
But yeah, so with Timely, we had that in place and then it was really integrating with. And I did all of this myself. I just integrated with all different programs. Like I used ActiveCampaign to do, you know, some of the marketing and funneling, particularly around our recruitment. And before that it had been in Excel and then, and then we sort of systemized it in that.
And so, so by the time we got to sort of around 6 million in revenue, that system, we were really outgrowing that system.
We knew we really needed to be able to create our own platform and develop that. But you know, it's really expensive to do that and it's really, you know, resource heavy. And we, and you know, I built this business as a single mom. I've never had any money to invest in the business. It's always just growing from its own profits. And so getting the kind of money that you need to create that sort of tech platform is really difficult.
And eventually I found a developer who would work on a retainer with us and help us to start that process and get that built, which was probably about two years too late. We were starting to really feel a lot of pain internally in terms of not having that system.
But that got us to the next stage and again we didn't focus on trying to build the entire platform and the entire app and everything in one go because again, we didn't have the money or the time to do that. And so we just really focused on replacing what we had, replacing the things that we absolutely needed to be able to function as a business.
And so we're still at a stage where, you know, we're now focusing much more on the customer side and building out an app for our customers and, you know, having a better customer experience and all of those kinds of things, which we, you know, we weren't able to do because we needed to focus more on building the contractor side of our system. So, you know, we're still only probably halfway along from where we would like to be at this stage, and then we've still got more plans to go with that. But, you know, I think it's really about just starting with what you can and you can build up from that as you go because, you know, you don't really know what your business is exactly going to look like in the beginning. And I think for me, having those first few years doing the laundry, you know, I had a pretty clear picture of what I needed the tech to be able to do. But, you know, until you're actually in there and seeing what customers want and how contractors work and things like that, you can't really, you know, like, we could have got money in the beginning and built this great tech platform. We probably would have had to restart and rebuild it all over again if, you know, but the way that we built it coming along later, it meant we could actually build it quite leanly because we knew exactly what we wanted it to do by the time we started to build it.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: And I imagine you'd be seeing TimeBoss as a real strategic play.
You know, you guys want to own the market, and maybe you already do in Australia and New Zealand, but. But take over the world, so to speak, as far as laundry goes. So tell me if I'm wrong, but to me it feels like a real strategic play. It's that point of difference for the laundry lady. You guys have got your own system.
You know how that works. You can basically deliver not only the best laundry service, but the best customer service and all those touch points along the way, and you fully own that, even though it can be a black hole as far as systems go and money sinking into it consistently.
[00:18:10] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we're really excited about, you know, we're just sort of getting to the stage of where we can really, you know, start to do a lot of things with our customer base and our retention and all of those types of things within our platform. And so we're really excited for the next phase of that and how that's going to help us to really manage scale, you know, at large. So we've grown into most of Australia, so we're in all of the city areas and quite a lot of regional areas. We're adding new regions all of the time.
We launched into New Zealand about a year ago, so we've got services, we've got 25 contractors there, so delivering services in those locations and we're coming soon to Canada later this year. And so to be able to scale and grow in those markets and manage all of that from our head office on the Sunshine coast, really you've got to have those systems and resources in place to be able to manage that. And so yeah, TimeBoss is really what our main focus is. It's about the business was very much a service business in the beginning and now we're very much a technology focused business. And so making that transition along the way and now pushing it into the next phase.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: And of course I have to ask, talking technology. So as far as Time Boss goes, how is AI linking into this and I guess how has this journey helped you?
Maybe you already understood, but you're seeing AI as a bit of a teammate and not necessarily a threat for small business owners.
[00:19:47] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I don't think it's a threat at all. You know, I remember back in my day when I first started working, which I'd like to say wasn't that long ago, you know, we still had dial up in the office and email would work for an hour a day and we would type into Mr. Jeeves because Google hadn't, hadn't started yet, you know. So I was trying to, yes, I was trying to explain this to myself son, the other day. I'm like, you know, we've come a really long way in 20 years, you know, from, from just when Google started to now and now I coming into that like it's, it's, it's really mind blowing as to where we're going to be in another 10, 20 years with that. But I don't think that it's scary at all. It's just embracing it and it's just embracing it, you know, day to day, you know, like, I mean, I feel like Chat GPT in the last year has really, you know, just become part of everyone's daily particular in our team we're using Claude actually more than, more than ChatGPT because it's really great for more on the content type of side. And we're starting to use that more just in terms of our internal systems as well to try and systemize some of those types of things. But then within the platform as well, there's a lot of AI built into the back of the platform and to making sure that it's going to be really efficient and that's something we'll be investing in more and more as we scale as well.
Just really trying to understand our data really well and building AI into that so that we can just at speed be able to deliver and understand what's going on and how we can improve that.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: Yeah, it's absolutely very, very exciting times. I have to agree. Let's move to delegation. Another big sort of challenge in small business owners mindset and I guess their bottleneck in scaling. So what early mistakes in delegations still guide your decisions today, particularly when empowering new laundry lady and lads in your business.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: Yeah, look we as I said, you know, we have a really systemized recruitment and onboarding process that brings our laundry ladies and lads into our team and they have a really strong training and education focus within that. And that's something that we are really strong believers in that people aren't going to join you and be perfect. Like they're not going to be perfect at doing the laundry or doing the timekeeping or the communication or all of those sorts of things. But we can certainly that's the things that you can learn and they're teachable things. And so you know, really trying to structure our onboarding and recruitment processes so that they can learn and learn and understand that as they go.
And again just really remaining true to our values around all of that. You know, like what are we actually trying to do here? We're trying to support people to have a flexible business. So let's make sure that what we're delivering to them, you know, really, really like encompasses, encompasses that.
And then in terms of my head office team, for me I've brought in an operations manager about 18 months ago which was not a minute too soon.
That was life changing for me because I really needed to be able to step back from being involved in the day to day operations so that I could just start to focus on the bigger picture of the business. I've been raising for investment. I've been pitching the business to a lot of different investors, you know, getting ready to scale internationally and getting out you know, like money to be able to really invest in our technology and you know, transform the business into a technology business and try and bring everyone along for that journey. And so, you know, trying to do all of that and be focused in the day to day operations is really difficult.
And you know, it wasn't that long ago that I was in that. At the moment it feels like I've really come a long way from to, you know, and I know some of your listeners will be listening to that going oh, that sounds like a really long way away. I'm still just dealing with the support emails and things like that, but I was still doing that, you know, up to a year and a half ago. And so, you know, it can change really dramatically when you get out of that. And, and I know it takes a long time, but, you know, using like, I, I just find I, I think businesses starting now having AI tools to be able to help them do that is going to be absolutely life changing for them. Like, I think back to when it was just me or just me and you know, two staff and, and could have done for us in those early days when you are trying to do everything and help with that.
So, yeah, I think it's a pretty exciting time for people who are just.
[00:24:32] Speaker A: Starting as well and in that transition. So 18 months ago, what's the founder, you were the man, you were the woman, and then now 300 contractors. But that biggest challenge between yourself and transitioning, you were the CEO, the coo, the everything to an operations manager. What did you find the single biggest challenge in that process? And maybe you still find it a challenge today.
[00:24:57] Speaker B: Yeah, look, I think I was actually quite good at letting go and giving some of the, I know some people put away. I was definitely starting to burn out from some of those things. And you know, I think some people really struggle with that, with letting go. But I think you have to, you have to just really, really, you know, step outside of that. And you know, I found in the beginning like it was, it was really just being in the office was really difficult because people, you know, the team will see you there and it's easier for them to ask you questions rather than working it out on their own. And so sometimes you got to really step back and step away from that so that they, they have the space to be able to work it out on their own.
So that was probably a really big lesson to be able to, you know, to do that.
And I think, you know, for me it's been really focusing on, on what kind of leader am I now? You know, you're moving into a different phase. You're not just trying to scramble to keep up and you know, you're in that real like hustle mode in those first few years and just doing absolutely everything and you know, just trying to breathe and keep on top of it and, and I still feel like that, but in a totally different way now. And I think it now it's just really transitioning into, you know, who am I as a leader? Where is it, where is the most value for my time? Where Should I be spending my time? How do I you make sure that my team really can stay true to the values as we grow and how do I bring them all along the ride to the next phase? So that, that's a lot of what I'm doing at the moment. We're about to have a team retreat so that we can really focus on our values and, and you know, what the future looks like and, and really changing our mindset around, you know, the, you know, the next sort of five years, what that's going to look like? It's going to be very different to the last five years. So. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:26:43] Speaker A: And how has that transition helped you hopefully spend more time in the areas that you enjoy most, which hopefully continue to take your business forward?
Has it given you the space to put more time into these zones of genius where you like to play, which is strategically important for your business?
[00:27:02] Speaker B: Yeah, so for me it's really marketing is my background and that's what I'm really passionate about and, and that's where I like to spend a lot more of my time. So, you know, being more of a brand ambassador for the business and all of those sorts of things and that's really important for us in our brand because people connect with our brand. Because of my story of how I started, you know, being a mom who wanted to have a business where I could work from home and have flexibility. And that's why our contractors join us because they're looking for that same opportunity. And so, you know, I'm a big part of our brand story and really making sure that, you know, I'm connected to that.
So it does, it does definitely give me a lot more time to be able to focus on that.
Although I have found, you know, raising for investment has been all consuming and I could not have done that if I was still dealing in the day to day operations because, you know, it just would have been far too difficult to focus on it. So, you know, it really has given me a lot of opportunities around all of those sorts of things.
Sometimes it's now, I think, hard to just think if I move too far away from those things. Sometimes I've got to think back to, you know, how, how involved do I need to be in some of that day to day and you know, you know, how, how much of your time do you need to still be kind of, you know, connected to all of those things? So they're the things that I, I, you know, I'm always working on as well.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: Yeah, makes sense. I guess you can and you can get too far away from the bread and butter of the business and maybe not fully understand what's now happening on the business because what happened five years ago may be a little bit different now, so. Great point.
[00:28:44] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:28:44] Speaker A: Just going into that side of investment and look, I'm not a watcher of Shark Tank, but I watched the 9 or 10 minute clip of you. I'd be silly not to for research for the episode. But what really appealed to me was laundry is such a non sexy thing.
And I guess developed a lot of my skills in the shipping industry, which is, I say to people, I left school just dying to get into one of the sexiest businesses ever going around shipping. Who does that? And I'm sure people say the same thing. Can't wait to get in this sexy industry. Laundry. You probably didn't do that either, but. So in this whole Shark Tank process, how did you pitch?
Impact.
And then obviously the profit. Cause these guys and girls, they're investing in, well, in your case, they invested a serious, I think a record amount of money for that show. But obviously they want some, something back from that. How did you pitch this to them?
[00:29:38] Speaker B: Yeah, look, you know, we're not craft breweries, that's for sure. So we don't have that, that sex appeal.
One of our craft brewers, there's a.
[00:29:46] Speaker A: Lot of them running around.
[00:29:47] Speaker B: Yes. One of our craft brewers on the Sunshine coast, your mates had, had gone and pitched on Shark Tank a couple of years before we did and, and I spent a, you know, we laugh about it and I say, well, you know, you guys, beers are just a little bit laundry, isn't it? But laundry can be sexy for sure.
[00:30:03] Speaker A: Having a beer when doing the laundry is probably not a bad way to go.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. It goes hand in hand somehow.
I know I've talked a lot about values, but it's just so important to our business and I think staying true to those values when you're pitching as well is really important. So obviously you've got to know your numbers and you've got to present your numbers really well and you've got to understand what your unit metrics are and how that can grow.
You know, there are things that I'm still learning through the, you know, through the whole raise. I've been always trying to, you know, make that bit better in terms of how we tell that story and how, how that, that part of it unfolds. And that's what investors are really interested in. They're interested in the numbers.
But you know, if you are true to your values as well. And what it's all about. I think that's, that's also really critical.
And, and for us, you know, it's the, the story of, of the contractors who join our team. Like we get stories from them, all the means to them to be able to be part of. Because they can be earning really good money or they can be just earning a little bit if they want to. They can, you know, and they can get, do it around whether they're looking after their kids or maybe they're looking after elderly parents or they might have, you know, children with special needs or all of those sorts of things. And so they're writing into us all the time with these beautiful stories about what that means to them. And I think making sure that that's part of your story when you're pitching is, is really critical because that's what it's all about. And that's the heart of the business along with all of the numbers.
Knowing that really well.
[00:31:41] Speaker A: Yeah, well, look, people connect with story first and foremost, don't they? So again, I know you mentioned the values and I've not asked what those values are, but what I'd like you to do is put it in the context of what sort of person, what sort of individual contractor is successful in your business? I. What sort of values do they have which align with your business business?
[00:32:02] Speaker B: Yeah, so it's really about flexibility, number one. They're looking for a flex, something that's flexible that they can do around their kids or whatever that is.
90% of them are women.
But we also have laundry lads as well who join us and they can be earning anywhere between 300 and $3,000 per week very consistently. So it's a really different business to Uber, which is very gig economy where you can just work whenever you want and you know, for a bit of extra money here or there or you know, that sort of thing. It is very consistent. You start to have a very regular customer base. It's very recurring. 80% of our customers have a recurring booking, meaning that they're having a weekly or fortnightly pickup. So, you know, it's a very kind of consistent earning for them. And they can be earning, you know, some of them just want to be doing that $300 mark. Like they just want to be doing a little bit of extra work around, around their kids or around their other employment or whatever that is.
And then for some of them it's a really full time business. So it might be husband and wife who want to work together. Who want to be able to, you know, build this to, to that 3,000 or maybe even beyond kind of mark in terms of their income.
And you know, and, and the flexibility of our model means that they can start with just, just one washing machine and dryer and then if they want to be, you know, grow to be bigger, they can add more washing machines and dryers down the track. Some of them will have three or four machines set up in their garage and, and be doing, you know, all of that. And, and for some of them they might start and think oh no, I'm, I'm only ever going to do, you know, this small end of it. And then, and then they get in and, and realize actually this is really great. You know, we've got. I had this contractor in, in Adelaide who told me that about how she was, you know, just sort of doing this on the side of her child care.
When she got into this she realized, you know, I could earn more money, I can have more flexibility, I can work from home, I can have all of that, all of that. And so she just moved into this being her full time role. She's got a daughter working with her now as well and you know, and really earning at the higher end and you know, it's great that they can, they can build that way as well. So you know, it's about having you know, like that really strong flexibility in the way that they can work as, you know, what a person appeals.
[00:34:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean you're really giving people, and in this case mainly women, as you said, 90%. But you're really giving people empowerment in their life and the decisions they make and like that must be so satisfying for you as a founder.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: It is and it really grounds me I think, you know, when, because business can get overwhelming all the time. But you know, coming back to that is always what grounds me in terms of this is why we're doing this and this is why it's important because you know, to be able to work it.
They want to work at midnight to do the ironing instead of, you know, and have be with their kids all day. They can, you know, that's really up to them what they want to do and how they want to work. And, and you know, I, I really came from, I'd had a long career before I came into laundry lady. And you, when you're in a career you have toxic bosses along the way and I've certainly experienced that in the workplace and, and no flexibility. You know, situations where you can't, you have to miss all the stuff at school and, you know, those things would kill me. And I was really struggling with that in the very beginning, which is, you know, why the business was created.
And you know, to be able to give that same opportunity to other people for whatever it is that they're going through in their life, to be able to have that flexibility, I think, you know, is such an amazing part of what we're doing.
[00:35:45] Speaker A: And Susan, just give people a flavor of your business model because it is a little bit, bit different.
[00:35:50] Speaker B: Yeah. So our con, so our laundry ladies and lads are independent contractors. So they will work from their own home, go and pick up the laundry and then take it back to the customer normally the next day. And then we pay them commission percentage of that total service. So it really works, I guess, very similar to how Uber would work, but they have a lot more flexibility in terms of how and when they work. So, you know, they might be committed to, they decide the times that they're going to do their pickups and the locations that they're going to do those pickups in and then they can go out and, and they go and do those, and then they can do that laundry at any time that they want in the next, in that 24 hour period. So, you know, for a lot of them, they might work their pickup schedules around school, drop off, for example, so they can drop the kids at school and then pick up the laundry, then take it home and then get that done while the kids are at school or get it done at night when they're in bed and then they can take it back to the customer, you know, the next day. And so, and that's really what gives them that pure flexibility to work out how and when they want to.
[00:37:01] Speaker A: Talked about the flexible income side of things, and you mentioned gig economy, Uber, that sort of thing. But are you looking for the people that are entrepreneurial mindset because they are operating their own business in the greater brand of the laundry lady or, you know, it still works for people who want to treat it as a bit of a gig. Are you looking for a certain type? And if it's so if it's an entrepreneur, how do you make sure you're getting that as opposed to people who are treating it more as a, more as a gig?
[00:37:29] Speaker B: Look, I think that both, both aspects really work well for us because particularly, you know, as we're getting into more scale, it's like, you know, if you have people who are just doing, you know, a little bit of pickups here and there, then that can really Support the people who are more consistent in what they're doing as well, you know, because if they're on holidays, the other person can it up those sorts of things. But the consistency of.
And recurring nature of our business means that it is much more regular than say, gig economy, where you feel like working on Wednesday and next week you will work every day, all those sorts of things.
In this business, you do tend to work a bit more consistently because your customer wants to have a pickup every Monday, for example. So you have that more consistent nature, which again, I think really appeals to a lot of our contractors. Contractors particularly, because they might be mums. And so, you know, having a bit of consistency in their routine is actually a better thing for, for them because they, you know, it fits better with. With. With family life and all of those sorts of things. So.
Yeah, but, you know, we're. We are really, you know, looking for people who just want flexibility.
So. And we have a lot of different types of, you know, contractors who live in.
They're all from all different places. So they're from cities, they're from regional areas. We have, you know, people who've recently immigrated to Australia who might not speak English particularly well, but they, you know, this is a really great business for them as well because they can use our systems and processes to be able to do that and still. And still manage, you know, and have a whole business.
So, you know, that. That's a really great thing that we can be able to provide to them as well.
[00:39:19] Speaker A: What does the laundry lady on the Central coast of New South Wales look like currently, just out of interest?
[00:39:24] Speaker B: Yeah, so I think we have about five or six contract laundry ladies allowed in Central Coast. We're definitely growing there. It's more opportunity to grow there.
So, yeah, all through Central Coast, Newcastle, et cetera, where we're through those areas. So we tend to. We are a lot bigger in Southeast Queensland because this is where we started. So Sunshine Coast Bridge, Brisbane, Gold coast are still our biggest, biggest markets.
But Melbourne, Sydney are catching up. So we're definitely growing bigger and bigger all of the time.
[00:39:57] Speaker A: Yeah, well, us Queenslanders, particularly in the southeast, sometimes we just like, if we can get other people to do our dirty work for us, we'll give it a crack, won't we?
[00:40:05] Speaker B: That's right. That's right.
[00:40:06] Speaker A: Why not? The better way to do that. We value our time.
[00:40:10] Speaker B: That's right, exactly. Value your time.
[00:40:13] Speaker A: Absolutely. Susan, let me ask from a customer perspective and how. And look, business, I'm sure there has been the odd complaint here and there that you continue to learn from. But what has, is there a particular customer complaint you've had that's taught you the most about potentially balancing the tech automation side of things? Because there are some struggles in that space with the human touch side.
[00:40:34] Speaker B: Yeah. So look, I think complaints for us tend to be more about communication rather than the laundry.
And communication is definitely something that you, you can make better with technology because some customers want to be able to really communicate online and some want to be able to speak to you. And I think at the end of the day, it comes to whether you're talking to the customer through the tech or on the phone, it just comes down to the customer wants to be listened to.
And so making sure that is part of that system and that process, whether that's through the tech or through a more personalized phone call, is something that we try to make sure is there. And then also making sure that we're giving the support to our contractors around that so that, you know, if they need help trying to deal with a complaint, we will step in and help them to do that. And really just having processes around, you know, what that might look like to make sure that we can, we can certainly help on both sides, you know, to bring people together to make, to find a solution.
So, yeah, definitely bringing the systems into it, but just making sure that people feel, listen and heard.
[00:41:47] Speaker A: And Susan, I really hate this question from a setting strategic directive perspective, but I don't like it from the amount of time I'm going to ask you. So what does success look like for the laundry lady in 10 years for you, what would success look like?
[00:42:03] Speaker B: Look, I think for me, I would like to see a business that is beyond me.
And I think already it's bigger than me.
And so it's, it, it's making sure that it's got a legacy to just live on. That's, that's what I, you know, really feel passionate about because, you know, it does really make a difference to people's lives that they can join and have this flexible business.
And so I think, you know, really building it globally is where I, you know, where we're starting to really push it. And what, that's what I see as a, you know, really big goal for us to be able to bring this opportunity to all different marketplaces so that it, you know, they're, that people can actually have this awesome business that they can just be part of and work from home. And, you know, whether they're coming from, like some of our contractors might have come from, you know, blue collar workers. Some of them are white collar workers. Like, there's a real mix of the type of people who come from it. It's, you know, it's, it's, there's, you know, there's a lot that they can. It's, you know, being able to have that flexible work from home means, you know, it doesn't matter what they did before, they really love that they can be part of this business model. And so I think being able to bring that same opportunity to lots more people everywhere is something that we're really passionate about. So that's where I see us headed for the future and exciting to start to be entering international markets and see what that's going to look like for laundry lady and how our values fit into that. And that's one of the reasons why we've chosen Canada as one of the first countries that we're really pushing into because our values really align there and so we think it will work well in that market.
[00:43:48] Speaker A: So, yeah, exciting times. And another question I have to ask, which is probably the most serious question I have to ask you is do laundry lads have to wear pink?
[00:43:58] Speaker B: That's up to them. Many lads like to wear pink these days.
But we have some navy as well. We definitely have some navy shirts and we also have the laundrylad.com website as well. So, you know, it is a brand that we use and yeah, so, I mean a lot of like, you know, we have so many husband and wife teams who will work together and which is great that, you know, they like to do that and sometimes it is just a lad who wants to join as well. And so, you know, we're really supportive of anyone who wants to join and have, you know, because they're all looking for the same thing of flexibility around their lives. And so, you know, whatever way we can fit into that we're really happy to do so.
[00:44:44] Speaker A: Fair. I actually think real men wear pink, so I'm happy with it. I try and be a real man from time to time.
The other thing I'd really like to get some insight from you is that you're raising two fine boys as a single mum. What do you hope your boys have learned from you so far on this journey and what do you hope they learn from you into the future that takes them through their life and stands them in good stead for their life?
[00:45:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I'll just be happy if they actually get jobs and work when they're older and they moment.
But yeah, I've got low bars Definitely.
You know, I mean they kind of ignore everything I do and pretend like they don't care and will criticize any of the marketing that we do and all of those sorts of things. But you can see in the background here like there's some chairs. This is where they sit and play Fortnite and on their PlayStation and tend to ignore me and hear me do conversations and podcasts like this and completely tune out. But I hope that you know, know some of that they're actually absorbing and, and it will help them in future to be their own little entrepreneurs or whatever it is that they want to do in life.
You know, my, my eldest, who's 16, about to turn 16, he's really asking a lot of questions about AI which, you know, and to be able to have those chats with him of like, you know, 20 years ago this is what it looked like in my office. Like we had dial up Internet that worked for an hour a day and we, we didn't even have Google yet, you know, and, and to try and explain to him that how much things are going to change in the next few years. You know, I think it's really excit, they're in an exciting place of, of where, where things could, could head for them. So you know, it's just hopefully they lead in a good direction along those lines and, and you know, I think when you're this age, like I would never have at school thought I'm going to go and start a business in laundry. Like that was not something that, you know, that didn't come to me until I was in my 30s. And so, you know, I don't, I think they long journey before they've kind of got to get to a point where they know what they want to do, you know, with their lives as well. But yeah, hopefully seeing me do this is, you know, giving them something, help them to be good humans and you know, go into the next direction.
[00:47:06] Speaker A: Well, I think one of the things that I've learned today because this is the first time we've actually met is that it's always amazing how kids just absorb stuff, stuff right from when they're born, I suppose. And it's amazing what they absorb when you don't realise and I think that you getting to where you've got to already and where you'll go to in the future, there's certainly an air of humility around you because that's how we grow and learn and continue to develop our business. There's obviously a work ethic which is a Super thing. And they would have seen that in spades from their mum. And then there's also ability. You're very easy to talk to and so your ability to build relationships and connect with people and stuff is really strong. So I think if they take those three things from someone like yourself, that'll stand them in pretty good stead for life, I'd say.
[00:47:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I hope so at the moment, you know, like, especially my teenager, he's just at that stage where everything Mum does is cringy. So, you know, at school they've been doing some things around Shark Tank and some things around entrepreneur, entrepreneurialism and they had to do, you know, a story on. On. On an entrepreneur and. And, you know, and how, like, what they admire in them and that sort of thing. And I kept saying, are you going to do Mum? Are you going to do Mum? Absolutely no way.
Absolutely no way. And absol. Absolutely no way did he want to tell anyone at school that I was on Shark Tank or any of those things. So, yeah, he's definitely at a stage where Mum's a little cringy, but hopefully it's all sinking in somewhere in the background.
[00:48:31] Speaker A: Look, history repeats, it comes around again. So at some. We just don't know what age we're going to be cool again or what age they are that they think we're.
[00:48:38] Speaker B: Going to be cool again one day, hopefully.
[00:48:41] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
Now, Susan, this is the final question and it's a bit of a different question. I'm sort of trying this out a bit with episodes moving forward. I used to ask, you know, what's the one thing that has, you know, created a culture of leadership in your business? But I'd like you to think if you could whisper one, grow your business lesson to an SME owner, what would that be?
[00:49:05] Speaker B: Yeah, look, I would say try and automate things as much as possible right from the very beginning, you know, even if that's in a really basic way and with AI now you, you, I think you can do that in such a better way than what I would have been able to in the beginning.
And, you know, like, we were talking that before, really value your time, like outsource things, outsource your marketing, if that's what you're not good at, or outsource, you know, your admin, like you can. There's a lot of vas, you know, now that you can use. And even that would have been life changing for me, like, five or ten years ago.
So, you know, outsource all of those things and. Or outsource you know, life things like your laundry, you know, outsource that. If that's taking up a lot of your time, of course causing you headaches, outsource it. I outsource everything I get. Hello, fresh deliveries. I get all of those kinds of things, you know, that can come to me to make my life easier so that I can have more time to focus on, on the things that I need to. So, you know, I think, you know, definitely automate and outsource as much as you can to, to keep your own sanity because you'll, you'll be, you know, you'll put everything of yourself into growing your business as, as you, you should. But also it's just what you're passionate about when you're growing something.
So if you can automate and outsource, then that will help you along the way.
[00:50:27] Speaker A: Seems like pretty sound advice to me. Susan, look, thank you very much for coming on our show.
It's an honour and a privilege given that you are focusing on the marketing side and you're putting yourself out there. So that's how we've got an opportunity to interview you as well. So great for us that you're spending a bit of time in that zone of genius and we were able to get help hold of you and take some of your time. So thanks for sharing really valuable lessons and your journey of the laundry lady. I'm sure much more success to come in the future and good luck with the Canada rollout.
[00:50:56] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
[00:50:58] Speaker A: Absolute pleasure. These are my three key takeaways from my conversation with Susan. My first key takeaway, Confident leaders create a structure that outlives their involvement. If your business slows down when you step away, the issue isn't your team, it's your systems.
Build a framework of accountability and clarity that lets your team succeed whether you're in the room or not.
My second key takeaway, Confident leaders focus on growth and retention.
Hiring well isn't just about finding great people. It's about helping them grow, feel connected to the mission and want to stay. The best teams aren't just built. They're retained through culture and trust.
My third key takeaway, Confident leaders invest in clarity, not control.
Trying to control everything leads to burnout and bottlenecks. Instead, set clear expectations and let your people own their roles. Trust multiplies when direction is clear and support is consistent.
You can let me know your key takeaways on YouTube or at theculturalleadership.com thanks for joining me. And remember, the best outcome is on the other side of a genuine conversation.
