Next week will mark the one year anniversary of a turning point in the Clapp household. It was an accidental discovery, born out of a wrong turn. It was a year ago that I drove past Schropp’s Splash & Dash, the local laundromat and car wash and saw the for sale sign.
Here’s the story. Between Christmas and New Year’s last year some of my brothers-in-law came to visit for the holidays. The one from Alaska bought a trailer in order to haul the remainder of his things from the lower 48 back home to Alaska. He needed to add some wood rails along the sides in order to hold straps. I was in Williamsburg and thought I’d swing by the lumberyard to check on their lumber prices for him.
I had only been to the lumber store a few times. I had a general idea where it was, but not exactly which street to take. Fortuitously for me, I took a wrong turn. I had never been down Walnut St before. At the end of the short street was a laundromat and car wash. I don’t know why, but my eyes lingered and discovered the for sale sign up against the front of the building.
I thought to myself: “Huh, my wife has said before that she’d like to own a laundromat. I should tell her about this”.
I found the lumberyard and did my research.
When I arrived home, I told my wife about the laundromat. We looked it up online to learn more about it. Our biggest question: what does a laundromat sell for? Fast-forward 3 months and we’re signing papers to be the proud owners of Stella’s Laundry and Car Wash.
The most important part of this story, and what I want to focus on today, is that when opportunity knocked, we were ready.
I wrote here about how we bought our first property more than two years ago. Our business plan had us buying another property in the second year. It was the second year and I had started the internet part of my real estate deal evaluation for properties in our area. So, when the laundromat came our way, I was already thinking of purchasing some new property, and evaluating deals.
Because we had been evaluating real estate properties, it was not a stretch to evaluate the value and profitability of the laundromat. There were some new things to learn, but many of the principles behind evaluating a good real estate deal transferred to evaluating this business.
The timing worked out financially as well. We had an unusual amount of cash sitting around waiting for a purpose. We wanted to use it specifically for something productive rather than something fun like a vacation, or practical, like a car, furniture, or debt reduction.
Finally, we were ready because of the communication that my wife and I have. Years ago, she told me that it would be cool to own a laundromat. I don’t remember when or where she said it. I don’t recall how many times over the years she said it, but when it mattered, I remembered. How often do you see the only laundromat in town for sale? If she hadn’t told me her thoughts, I would have never thought twice about a laundromat for sale.
So here we are, one year later. We’ve owned Stella’s Laundry and Car Wash for 9 months. It has turned out to be at least as profitable as we projected, so we’re satisfied.
There have been additional benefits to owning the business. A vending machine on site has become the kids’ side hustle. They’ve made some good coin and learned a thing or two about money from that venture. We made some contacts with our local chamber of commerce. A few months later that turned into a nice part-time job for my wife. Owning the business in town was also one of the drivers for us to move into town, which we did in October.
So, one wrong turn and paying attention led us to buy a successful business, which in turn led to an additional part-time job and a new home, all of which have been positive experiences in 2018.
What more can I say? Opportunity is all around us. We just have to keep our eyes open for them and not be afraid to act.
Do you have a similar type of story? If so, tell me about it in the comments section. I’d love to hear it.
Cover photo courtesy of Pixabay