A former nurse from Arizona is now the proud owner of a laundromat – and a seriously improved work-life balance.
“This is my first time where I can be home for all the holidays, I have every weekend off,” she told CNBC (1). “I never have to go to a boss or a manager to be able to go on a random trip home or anything like that. So the freedom of my time has completely changed.”
Cami, 38, employs six people at her laundromat and brought in $475,000 in revenue in 2024, which — when taking expenses into account — translates into nearly $120,000 in profit. This year, she is on track to earn $451,000 in revenue.
She also gets nearly $30,000 from subletting the space next door to a hair salon, and leverages business opportunities next door as well to help cover her building rental costs.
And as she noted, it’s not just about the financial opportunities. It is also about a change in lifestyle. She estimates she spends about five to six hours a week running the business, plus about 10 hours a week creating social media content about her business, which generates additional income through views and brand deals. She anticipates that she will earn about $200,000 by the end of this year through this income stream alone.
Cami gives herself a salary of $66,000, sharing that money should be used to pursue your passions outside of work, instead of trying to build a career on what you love. She now focuses her free hours on spending time with her loved ones.
Do you think you are an entrepreneur? Here’s what you need to know about starting a small business and the financial risks involved in doing so, along with some tips on how to protect your finances when you make the leap into self-employment.
While Cami is now considering either retiring in a few years, or possibly taking on a second laundromat business, her success was hardly overnight – and she warns that many hours have gone into building the business to where it is now, expanding the business model and reinvesting in renovations and improvements.
“Now, I’m only working maybe five or six hours a week. But I’m also hesitant to tell people that, because that’s not how it was five years ago – four or three years ago. I was working a lot more hours trying to grow this business.”
For example, she was working close to full-time hours as a nurse and managing the laundromat at the same time from October 2020 to April 2023, when she was able to profit enough from the laundromat to not only gradually reduce her nursing hours, but to leave her nursing career altogether.
She also sold her home in April 2020 and went into rent to finance the down payment on her business, which cost her $300,000, using a significant portion of her personal savings and taking out loans for things like washing machines and other new equipment.
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This is a considerable risk for an entrepreneur, as many small businesses are doomed to fail within five years. In fact, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics between 20 and 24% of new businesses fail in the first year. After 10 years, only 34.7% of businesses are still operating (2).
The average cost of running a business is also steep. According to the Small Business Network of America, small business owners can expect to spend an average of $40,000 in their first year of operation on a retail business (3). These costs can rise significantly if you need a brick and mortar location and if you need to hire employees. The US Small Business Administration offers a calculator to help you estimate your start-up costs (4).
Despite these challenges, a large number of Americans have caught the entrepreneurial bug and it is estimated that 27% have secondary passions (5).
Cami was fortunate to take over an established business with a 20 year reputation. For other entrepreneurs, building a business from the ground up may not be so easy (or profitable). For example, some of the top financial challenges include inconsistent cash flow, inability to find funding or foreign investment and over-leveraging the business by trying to grow too fast (6).
“No parent wants to hear that their child is not beautiful and no entrepreneur wants to hear that the opportunity is not perfect,” said Danna Greenberg, professor of organizational behavior at Babson College, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal (6).
However, becoming a successful entrepreneur means testing and understanding the market, including doing a lot of research to understand if your business is really viable.
Cami talked to a friend’s uncle who owned two laundromats himself and he agreed to go over the numbers with her. Something he said also stayed with her: “He said, ‘You know, if I could go back in time, I would never have gone to college, I would never have done my masters.’ It’s like, ‘All I do is buy laundromats because laundromats scream money.'”
Some of the questions to consider include:
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Can you scale and diversify your business steadily to support growth without overextending yourself?
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Do you have multiple sources of cash flow to support the business in the event that one source of cash fails?
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Have you achieved legal compliance, including federal, state and local government regulations?
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Do you have a plan to find balance in your life? While passion can sustain you through 16-hour days in the first year, burnout is rampant among entrepreneurs. Find a way to prioritize your health and well-being first.
Also consider that you need to protect your finances before striking out on your own, particularly if you have financial commitments such as dependents.
For entrepreneurs, in addition to understanding the legal and tax implications of your business, be sure to look into incorporating your business to separate business assets from your own personal assets as a way to limit your liability and create an insurance plan as another means of protecting your assets in the event of a lawsuit, accident or unexpected loss (7).
Entrepreneurs should also focus their time on maintaining their business for the future. In Cami’s case, she says she listens to business podcasts, reads books and attends “at least one or two laundromat conferences a year.” And she could buy herself a new house in April 2023.
We rely only on verified sources and credible reporting from third parties. For details, see our ethics and editorial guidelines.
@CNBCMakeIt (1); Bureau of Labor Statistics (2); America’s Small Business Network (3); US Small Business Administration (4); Bankrate (5); Wall Street Journal (6); RBC (7)
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
