With the birth of a baby girl, Deborah Miller got to thinking she’d like to spend more time at home with her family’s newest addition. However, after 12 years in the business, she certainly knew her hair salon did not allow for that freedom to be at home.

"With the salon there’s so much hands-on time required that I didn’t have time to be at home," Deborah said, adding that that’s when she began considering a business her father had been in for years — a vended laundry.

She calls the business a "perfect opportunity" to turn a profit, while not requiring an excessive amount of on-site management.

More Time at Home

And since opening The Laundromat of Highland Park in Los Angeles, Deborah feels the same way. "It’s exactly what it was built up to be," she said of being able to spend time at home with her daughter, while only having to devote an hour to emptying coin boxes twice a week and 3 hours filling vending machines. She’s even had enough extra time to devote one day a week at the salon.

Simple Start-up

The venture was made easier, she said, by the service she received from IPSO and its distributor Automated Laundry Systems. They were instrumental in identifying a site with the proper demographics as well as assisting with revenue projections, equipment selection and financing. Deborah jokes that her IPSO team provided her with so much support she needed to only sign the paperwork, “really, it was that easy,” she said.

Her advice to newcomers to the laundry business is to have patience as your store ramps up to its potential and be willing to get your hands dirty to keep things running well.