My Plan to Increase Sales
Things are moving so fast that I wanted to take a moment to write down some thoughts at the top of my mind about my business. When I set out, I had a list of milestones that I wanted to hit within the first 2 years and they’ve all been met, including opening a store and hiring the first employee. And this month (March 2018) will be my first profitable month since opening the store in November. So I’m on the right path, and I can clearly see the next steps that need to be taken. More on that in a moment.
But first I want to mention that the success I’ve had so far has not been without a high price. I’m overworked. I haven’t kept up my good habits: writing, exercising, meditating, and eating healthy. I’ve gained 20 lbs. in as many months. I’ve accumulated $30k in debt. Also, I have no social life whatsoever. Sacrifices had to be made and these are the ones I chose.
One thing that I did not sacrifice, however, is sleep. I learned quickly that lack of sleep was the biggest detriment to my productivity and basic functionality. I do my best to get 8 hours of sleep as often as possible.
I’ve also become much more self aware. There was a time I was worried that I would not be able to handle $10k in sales a month doing all the deliveries by myself. This month we’ll hit $12k (yay!) and I can still see pockets of time that could be filled doing deliveries. But I have to be careful because the ultimate goal is to get off the road and focus on growing the business.
What does that mean going forward? As I said I can clearly see the next few milestones.
First, I have to spend a couple of months just building the cash flow. Just last month I had to ask my brother for money to cover the rent. I need to build a few bad months worth of cash flow in the bank. That’s going to take a few months.
Then I need to hire a driver so that I can focus on sales. I need to be relentless on sales to the point where the store is near capacity. My conservative estimate for what the store could handle is $30k a month. I suspect it is much higher, maybe as high as $50k a month.
Regarding sales I’ve been testing and learning with paid ads. The best thing I can do for paid ads is open remote locations via virtual offices and advertise those locations on Google Maps.
Next, I should regularly check the new business listings in the Dallas City Hall database, looking specifically for businesses that need regular laundry service and reaching out to them. My best customers are doctors, dentists, and small clinics. These compose of roughly half of my dozen or so business clients.
Finally, I need a door to door campaign into high rise residential buildings, luxury apartment complexes, and retirement homes.
All the while hiring more and more staff to handle the increased business.
I believe doing all of these things will get the store to near capacity, at which point I will need to buy an existing laundromat to serve as the main headquarters where most of the laundry is done thereby dramatically increasing the capacity. After that, opening new branches to serve as drop off stations and advertising hubs.
But none of this shit can happen until there is enough cash flow to hire a driver. I should be able to do that by June or July if I keep my current momentum.
This story is part of a series documenting the journey of a Dallas startup called Feather Laundry. For your reference here is the Table of Contents for the series.
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