- Brandon Schlichter is a real estate investor who owns a laundromat in Chillicothe, Ohio.
- He only spends one hour per week managing it and brings in $3,500 a month.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Brandon Schlichter, a real estate investor who manages a laundromat in Chillicothe, Ohio. Insider has verified his income with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I got my real estate license in 2006 and have been a full-time real estate investor for 10 years. Back in 2016, a business associate of mine invited me to go look at a laundromat.
We met an old lady in Chillicothe, Ohio, which is about 35 miles south of Columbus. She said that her son, who had recently passed away, was the owner of the laundromat.
She was about 70 years old and was physically unable to manage the laundromat. She could not deal with money — every month she got about one or two five-gallon buckets worth of quarters.
A lot of times when you buy a laundromat, you need to put 10% to 20% down of the purchase price. In this particular location, I was able to get it for $85,000 with $15,000 down.
It's been an exciting, relatively hands-off business
I visit the laundromat on Thursdays. I start by checking on the site and making sure everything is clean and safe. If any issues arise, I take pictures and send them to my office manager or maintenance crew to address the problem.
Sometimes I live stream my visits, sharing what I'm doing on social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube.
I'm netting about $3,500 a month — It's not the highest income you can make from a laundromat, but here's the thing: I only spend about one hour per week to bring home an additional $42,000 a year. That includes the time I spend driving and other related tasks.
When you think about how much money I'm making per hour on this venture, it's quite good.
It's very much like the housing market. If there's an oversupply of housing, you're not going to get a lot of rent money. If an area is underserved in terms of laundry facilities, a new laundromat is likely to do well. On the other hand, if an area is already overserved, it's unlikely to generate substantial revenue.
As a general rule, an area typically requires one laundromat for every 5,000 to 10,000 people. So, if we're in an area with a population of around 20,000 people, they need two or three laundromats.
The laundromat is easier than other ventures, like restaurants
In my opinion, the laundromat business is easier than other ventures because they're not heavily employee-centric.
A lot of people that are interested in starting a restaurant think owning McDonald's or Taco Bell is very lucrative. But they also don't realize they're extremely employee-centric.
If you don't have a good management hierarchy, policies, and procedures to attract the right mix of employees and managers, even if it appears to be liquid on the circuit surface, it's going to fail.
I recently talked to a large bank that actively lends to businesses. I asked them about the easiest and most lucrative businesses they would like to lend to. They responded, "There is no business that we won't lend to," but they also added, "If you were to start a restaurant, you need to present an ironclad business proposal."
I wish I had added more facilities because customers don't want to sit and wait
We upgraded our equipment to higher capacities. The older machines took an hour and a half to wash and dry a load, but now, with the newer ones, it only takes about 45 minutes per customer.
Looking back, I wish that I had invested even more money in adding extra washers and dryers to the laundromat. People don't like waiting for two hours, so faster service keeps them coming back.
For those who want to start a laundromat business, I recommend paying close attention to the numbers — they're crucial. You can't just build a laundromat anywhere and expect to make a lot of money.
Using tools like Excel and Spreadsheets helps me decipher the profit and loss. It's like a beam of light shining down from the heavens to help you make better decisions for your business.
If you've successfully created a secondary or passive income stream and want to share your story, email Aria Yang at ayang@insider.com.