The Mobile Dry Cleaner Quarterly
Newsletter
December
20, 2005
In This Issue:
Do You Have
What It Takes?
Starting Your Own Mobile Dry Cleaning
Business
Define Your M.O.
Do You Have What It Takes?
Starting any business can be a daunting
experience and statistics show that 98% of business start-ups fail within
the first two years. So, the question is " With all these obstacles,
why do I want to start my own business?"
The answer is as varied as there are
personalities. Perhaps you've recently lost your job, maybe you were
recently overlooked for an expected promotion, or could it be you just
don't like having to rely on outside influences to determine your future.
Whatever your reason, ask yourself - Where, when, why, and do I have what
it takes.
Where will you start your business? Is there a
ready market for you? Are you prepared to deal with competition and can
you offer a better service or fulfill a particular need.
When are you prepared to start? When will you
be free to operate? Is this a part-time venture or are you going to start
full-time and devote all your energies?
Why do you want to start your own business?
Are you motives sincere? Are you prepared to sacrifice your time, money
and emotions to attain what you desire?
Do you have what it takes? Are you aware of
the difficulties and the setbacks you may have to face to achieve your
goal?
Will you use persistence, dedication and a
strong mental determination to see your goals through? Can you face
adversities and look obstacles in the eye and see them as
hurdles of experience to be vaulted taking you to the finish line
Be honest with yourself, ask
yourself these questions and if you sincerely feel you want to
pursue the life of an entrepreneurial
arm yourself with all the knowledge you can
about the business you want to start. If you are still comfortable
with your decision give it all the gusto you've got and pursue your dream.
Success turns all dreams into reality and the rewards are very exciting.
Starting Your Own Mobile Dry Cleaning
Business
Low start-up costs, is one of the features
that makes the Mobile Dry Cleaning Business very attractive. You
need only two ingredients to start:
1. A drycleaner to do your work
2. A customer.
It costs you nothing to make arrangements with
a drycleaner. There is nothing to purchase, there are no deposits
required, or investment to be made for materials or supplies. The
only money you may have to spend is to pay the drycleaner his charges for
the completed order before you deliver it to the customer. After the
drycleaning order has been delivered and you collect payment from the
customer, you have made a profit.
Most people will call this oversimplification,
but the fact remains, you need nothing more. But, like any
other business, it costs money to find customers. To increase your
customer base, you will need a vehicle, customer receipts, business cards,
advertising literature, and other supplies that can make servicing your
customer easier. If you can start with friends and family, and start
regular weekly service and not use the profits you are earning, your
business can maintain itself and create its own financing.
An attractive truck, bags with logos,
personalized sales materials, all contribute to creating a business like
image and appeal to the prospective customers. But for those of you who
are financially strapped yet desiring the American dream the Mobile Dry
Cleaning Business can be the vehicle that launches you to things
you have always desired.
Try it! find a local drycleaner to work
with you. It is not really that difficult. First learn
the drycleaners retail prices, then, armed with that information, visit
the drycleaning establishment, ask for the owner or manager, explain you
want to start a home delivery service and you need a drycleaner to
do the drycleaning. If the drycleaner is interested, he will discuss
terms and conditions, when discussing prices, use 40 to 60 % of retail
prices as a wholesale pricing guide. Seek complete service - marking in,
cleaning, pressing, sorting and bagging. You will pay more, up to
60% of retail, because you are receiving more services, but this way you
can devote more time to learning your trade and prospecting for new
business.
As your business grows and you become more
familiar with the drycleaning business, you will be in a position to
negotiate for better pricing or seek fewer services and lower your costs,
but that is another discussion for another time.
Once you have your first customer, work to get
your second customer and so on. Gain one customer at a time and
before long, your business will begin to grow and more cash will become
available to purchase those items and services to help you grow even
larger. The 3P's -patience, persistence, perseverance - will
help to make your Mobile Dry Cleaning Business the pipe line to
your dreams
Every
business has competition and dry cleaners are no exception. The many
number one comment I receive from MDCSP
members is their concern
about the competition. Quotes like, "There are already two
mobile dry cleaners in the area and some of the retail stores also offer
pick-up and delivery, so how can I succeed?" or "So and So
cleaners charges $1.00 to launder a shirt and $1.25 to dry clean a
pair of slacks. How can I compete with those prices?"
But, for some reason, I never hear about the competitor who is doing a fabulous
business with moderate to high prices and quality work. I
know every town and city has more than one of these successful
operations and the business owner is operating at high profits with much
less aggravation than the high volume cleaners.
Dry
Cleaning is not always about price! Most every household
uses dry cleaning services. Just like those families that
patronize Wendy's will also make use of the Olive Gardens, the
Ruth Chris Steak house and a variety of other restaurants so will
households and individuals seek a particular level of quality
and service when choosing a dry cleaner.
Work to
create your image. Offer your customers stability and an image
that portrays quality. People are concerned about the care of
their clothes and will remain loyal to those they feel they can trust.
Decide what road it is you want your business to follow.
Are you
interested in lower volume but higher profits, lower profits but
high volume? Are you willing to work a little harder to find that
customer who wants your kind of service but who will display a loyalty
that will last for many years, or a you interested in getting as many
orders as possible quickly and easily and earning less profit per sale,
but creating larger sales volume thereby increasing your bottom line.
Set the
stage, build the props and let the play go on. Whatever your
choice, focus on your plans and
the show can run for many years.
If you have a strong desire to start your own business, but
lack specialized skills and don't know what business works best for you,
consider Mobile Dry Cleaning. If you have questions and need
answers, send an email to info@mobiledrycleaner.com
and I will be happy to help
