Observations on Life and the Laundry Business – The Sequel
Just over a year ago, I wrote a column in this space, which was entitled, “Thoughts Off the Top of My Head.”And it was so well-received that I felt a sequel was in order.
As I noted in the original article, I’m continually fascinated by what thoughtful, introspective and accomplished individuals (from all walks of life) have to say about their personal rules of living, and how they live their lives and conduct their business endeavors. In this regard, I’ve made a habit of collecting these diverse thoughts because I find them extremely useful, creative, refreshing and applicable to the many things I do – both in and out of the laundry business – and I’m hoping you will, too.
As in the first article, these were not originated by me (OK, one of them actually was); however, I’ve added them to my backlog of other people’s thoughts with the idea that I can apply them to the self-service laundry business. I’m hoping you will do the same.
“It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”(Baseball legend Yogi Berra)
In other words, never quit because, if you do, then it’s definitely over. Whether operating your laundry business or simply living your day-to-day life, there will be times when life gets difficult.
With regard to your laundromat, perhaps your marketing is not as effective as you had hoped, or maybe you’re having more equipment issues than normal. Maybe you can’t seem to find and hire the right attendant for your store.
The idea is to simply work through these issues and not let them become a stop sign for you or to significantly impact your attitude. Be like Yogi, and stay in the game.
“Don’t assume constraint.”(Anonymous)
When someone tells you that one of your original, outside-the-box ideas can’t possibly work, recall these three historical examples before you allow yourself to be discouraged:
- “Airplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value,” said Ferdinand Foch, professor of military strategy at Ecole Superieure De Guerre in France and later commander of Allied Armies during World War I.
- “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers,” said Thomas Watson Sr., president of IBM in 1943.
- “Stocks have reached what looks like a permanent high plateau,” said Irving Fisher, professor of economics at Yale University in 1929.
“Happiness is an inside job.”(Sylvia Boorstein, renowned psychotherapist)
How you view your laundry business and life events is a matter of your personal choice. In fact, physician and psychologist William James likely said it best when he wrote that “the greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his or her life by altering his or her attitude.”
When operating a business (or living your life), the one thing that is certain is change will be a constant occurrence and challenges will be numerous. How you react to these events will determine your attitude and whether or not you have a joyful life.
“I never lost a game; I just ran out of time.”(Former NFL quarterback Bobby Layne)
One of the things that made Layne a great quarterback was his attitude. He was the eternal optimist, and it showed each and every time he took the field. In fact, it was contagious among his teammates, which is why the Detroit Lions were so successful during his era.
The takeaway lesson here is that you, as the “quarterback”of your business, must attempt to override negative events with an optimistic stance. Doing so will be obvious to your employees and customers. It also will make you feel better when things don’t go as planned. Try it – you’ll likely score more business touchdowns.
“When designing your laundry marketing programs, be sure to relate the theoretical probability of success to the actual probability.”(Yours Truly)
Designing and enacting effective marketing programs in terms of economic sanity can be difficult and expensive. Some work and some do not. The general idea is that for every dollar spent marketing you should receive more in return business. If you receive less or the same amount, that program simply was unsuccessful.
We, as laundry owners, often get impressed with our self-created advertising programs and inadvertently focus on the theoretical probability of events occurring as we expect them. However, the reality is that we must focus on the actual probability of events unfolding as we wish and concentrate on the cost of being wrong, which is a reasonable definition of the actual probability under the worst set of conditions.
Here’s an example: As I walked through my laundry one day, I got the idea that, while customers are in the store doing their normal washing and drying, their cars are parked just outside in our lot adjacent to the building. So, why not advertise the fact that, while those customers are here, they also can easily wash their cars’ floor mats with no inconvenience whatsoever? Cool idea, right? Feel free to steal it from me if you like.
I designed large signs advertising this promotion, which included all the reasons why it was a grand idea – and I placed the signs in the laundromat, as well as in the windows facing the street. And my floor mat business has been a huge success.
When I analyzed the cost of being wrong, I easily determined that it was merely the relatively insignificant price of the signage. Hence, the gap between the theoretical and actual probability was small in terms of dollar outlay.
“Culture trumps strategy every time.”(Ernest Drucker, management professor)
People – customers, for example – are more loyal to their culture than to your management or marketing strategies. Therefore, when establishing marketing programs, including hours of operation and loyalty programs, you must do so with the idea that these strategies will appeal specifically to the cultural values of your target audience for them to be effective.
The same applies to the management of your attendants. If they are generationally different than you, you must adapt your management strategy to motivate them to accomplish their goals within the framework of their generational values. For example, I recently heard of a large, well-established real estate company that had modified its dress code for employees to adapt to the dress preferences of the new group of Millennials being hired.
“There’s been a load of compromisin’ on the road to my horizon.”(Lyric from the 1970s country hit “Rhinestone Cowboy,” by Glen Campbell)
Life isn’t easy. Accomplishments don’t happen by chance, and success is elusive. To get there, you likely will find that many compromises are necessary along the way. Life and business are not zero-sum games. There doesn’t have to always be a winner and a loser. Learn to put yourself second emotionally so that, when dealing with others, you have the mental reserve to compromise. Doing so will prove fruitful in the long run.
I truly hope the aforementioned “thoughts”will stimulate your thinking and make you more comfortable, relaxed and successful in your day-to-day business and personal lives.
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