I recently attended the Coin Laundry Association\u2019s ELEVATE conference in southern California. And, on the way back from that event, I began reflecting on the value and impact such events have had on my personal journey.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been in the industry for several years now and have developed a rather large network, so I probably could\u2019ve easily avoided this conference. In fact, I almost talked myself out of going \u2013 but, as I got seated on the plane to head back home to Cincinnati, I just smiled to myself.<\/p>\n
I learned a number of new things at ELEVATE, so I was now a wiser business owner. Plus, I reinforced some existing relationships, met some new people there, and hopefully helped a few entrepreneurs in their own laundromat journeys.<\/p>\n
In 2009, I bought my first rundown laundromat in Cincinnati, and it was losing money. I\u2019d been researching business and entrepreneurship my entire life, but I\u2019d been studying it in theory. I\u2019d learned quite a bit about general business, but certainly knew nothing about the laundromat industry.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, I found an early friend and mentor in my equipment distributor \u2013 Steve Millman at HM Company in Cincinnati. I also was fortunate to find out about the CLA early on.<\/p>\n
Fast-forwarding 12 years to that four-hour plane ride back to Cincinnati, I realized a few things I\u2019d like to share, because I believe they\u2019ll help you in your journey.<\/p>\n
Although I was fortunate to discover HM Company and the CLA, many others also found them (or similar organizations), but likely not had the same experience. So, as I sat in Seat 3A on that Delta flight back home, I asked myself why. What did I do differently than some others, and how can that information help people find success?<\/p>\n
As I thought about this, I\u2019ve realized that in most cases the difference wasn\u2019t about them \u2013 it was me. After all, both organizations have been around for more than 50 years and have interacted with thousands of individuals.<\/p>\n
Personally, I was passionate about learning from them, and they were happy to oblige. In both cases, I dove into their knowledge, experience, network and resources in typical, obsessive Dave Menz fashion. And, also in both cases, I think the people at the CLA and HM probably thought I was a little \u201cover the top,\u201d and maybe I am.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never apologized for my passion, but truth is that both organizations have had people come and go. Some were very happy with the mentorship, relationships and education that was available to them, and I\u2019m sure some weren\u2019t as impressed.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a popular quote in the business world: \u201cYour network is your net worth.\u201d In fact, I\u2019d credit intentionally building and investing in my network as easily the task I\u2019ve spent the most time working on when it comes to my education in business and specifically this industry. And it\u2019s puzzling to me to see how many small-business owners don\u2019t seem to value this or even understand it.<\/p>\n
Getting to know and building relationships with thousands of business owners like you has helped me to accelerate my knowledge and education faster than anything else I could have done. And the super cool thing is that I\u2019ve met some amazing people along the way.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s my point? It\u2019s quite simple. If you believe that your network is your net worth, maybe it\u2019s time that you and those within the laundromat industry start taking it a bit more seriously. I\u2019m here to challenge you to do so. But don\u2019t do it for me \u2013 do it for yourself and your community.<\/p>\n
Of course, I realize that many people don\u2019t believe in networking, find it to be intimidating, or simply don\u2019t know how to do it. Also, there\u2019s the all-too-common myth the networking is really just \u201cpeople hanging out, eating, drinking and bragging about themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
I suppose that\u2019s the case in some networking circles. However, in 12 years in this industry, nearly every networking situation I\u2019ve been a part of has featured people learning about each other so that they could help one another achieve greater success. In some scenarios, some people may have ulterior motives, but in most cases I\u2019ve found that the majority of people are genuine and not looking for anything in return.<\/p>\n
Next time, we will discuss how to most effectively build your professional network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Don\u2019t Neglect This Key Investment in the Future of Your Business I recently attended the Coin Laundry Association\u2019s ELEVATE conference in southern California. And, on the way back from that event, I began reflecting on the value and impact such events have had on my personal journey. I\u2019ve been in the industry for several years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1261,"featured_media":10876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[98,243,244,245,9351],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-articles","category-feature-1","category-feature-2","category-feature-3","category-highlights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetlaundry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetlaundry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetlaundry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetlaundry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetlaundry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/planetlaundry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10877,"href":"https:\/\/planetlaundry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10874\/revisions\/10877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetlaundry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetlaundry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetlaundry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetlaundry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}