Two months ago, my husband and I bought a laundromat with no official employees. Despite most people telling us we shouldn’t buy a business 150 miles away from where we live, it felt like the perfect opportunity to jump into a new business, learn the ropes with little upfront money, and take on something with low financial risk.
But now that I’m running this business while also working full-time as a PA, taking extra PRN shifts, and raising three kids, I’ve started asking:
How can I balance it all?
How much time do I actually spend working on or in the laundromat each week, and is it worth my time, or would I be better off just picking up more shifts?
In this post, I will discuss the realities of running a small business while working full-time and why it might still be worth it for you, too.
Time Breakdown
To get a clear picture, I tracked my time over the last four weeks to see exactly how many hours I spent working in and on the laundromat. Here’s the chart:
| Overview of Time Spent at the Laundromat | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Admin Work | On-Site Work | Strategy | Travel Time | Creative Work | ||
| Week 1 (5/25) | 1.5 hours | 20 hours | 1 hour | 8 hours | 1 hour | = 31.5 hours |
| Week 2 (6/1) | 10 hours | 4 hours | 2 hours | 8 hours | 2 hours | = 26 hours |
| Week 3 (6/8) | 3 hours | 2 hours | 3 hours | 4 hours | 0 hours | =12 hours |
| Week 4 (6/15) | 10 hours | 8 hours | 2 hours | 4 hours | 2 hours | = 26 hours |
What does each category entail?
Admin work
- Customer service calls
- Bookkeeping and logging collections
- Contact with contractors
- Ordering supplies
- Researching or solving issues
On-Site Work
- Weekly coin collections
- Repairs
- Restocking vending/soap
- Installing upgrades
Strategy
- Researching vendors and upgrades
- Process improvements
- Financial planning
- Business growth decisions
Travel Time
- Driving to do collections
- Supply runs
Creative Work
- Signage and Decals
- Process Improvement
- Social media and marketing
Week by Week Highlights
Week 1 (5/25)- 31.5 hours
Admin: 5 customer calls (15–20 min each); 30 min bookkeeping
On-Site: 2 visits (1 for collection; 3-night stay doing 6–8 hrs/day of repairs)
Strategy: Researched vending upgrades and adjusted stock
Travel: 2 collection trips + errands
Creative: Designed Coke decals for the vending machine
Week 2 (6/1)- 26 hours
Admin: 3 customer calls; 30 min call with cleaning company; 2 hrs bookkeeping; 30 min ordering supplies; 6 hrs reading The Laundromat by Chuck Post
On-Site: 2 collection-only visits
Strategy: Calls with change machine companies to research solutions
Travel: 2 collection trips + errands for vending stock
Creative: Sign designs and Google Business updates
Week 3 (6/8)- 12 hours
Admin: 2 customer calls; 2 hrs reviewing security footage with cleaners; 1 hr bookkeeping
On-Site: 1 visit (parents did the second collection)
Strategy: Researched machine replacements, new layout, window tinting, and floor quotes
Travel: 2 collection trips + errands
Creative: None
Week 4 (6/15)- 26 hours
Admin: 1 customer call; 2 refund submission forms; ordered lint trap parts and changing table; coordinated installation; several hours with landlord, insurance, and contractors after slab leak
On-Site: 1 visit to install the new change machine
Strategy: Financial planning for upcoming upgrades and repairs
Travel: 2 collection trips + errands
Creative: Designed decals, labels, signage, and an ad
Hourly Rate
Before starting this breakdown, remember: I’m not expecting to take any profit from this business for at least a year. My goal is for the laundromat to sustain its bills and upgrades without me constantly pumping in extra cash (aside from my initial investment).
But for the sake of this article, I’ll use the “net profit” to represent what was left over after expenses. Here’s what May looked like:
| May Revenue and Profit | ||
|---|---|---|
| Collections | Expenses | “Net Profit” |
| $17,809 | $11,056 | $6,753 |
While my time log isn’t from May exactly, my total time investment over the last 4 weeks was 95.5 hours. If I were actually taking the $6,753 as income, that would be about $70/hour. That certainly isn’t bad, but it’s still less than I make clinically.
I can earn:
~$95/hour working an extra ER shift
~$75/hour working an urgent care shift
That means I “lost” $477–$2,387 by working the laundromat instead of picking up extra shifts.
BUT… since I’m not taking any profit yet, the real opportunity cost is more like $7,125–$9,025. Ouch. I don’t love putting that into writing, but that’s the truth.
Is Money the Only Factor?
Not even close.
Yes, looking at the numbers gave me a gut check. I’m putting in 95+ hours a month and haven’t made a dime of profit yet. This result wouldn’t make sense if I were just chasing the highest dollar per hour, as I can earn more working a job I already know how to do.
But this business isn’t just about money.
It’s also about time spent with my husband and kids. Laundromat trips turn into mini-adventures. We’ve stayed in Airbnb’s with pools and movie rooms, enjoyed our road trips, explored a new town, and built memories as a family. We’ve taught the kids what it looks like to run a business, solve problems, and be responsible. They’re seeing what it means to earn money even when you’re not physically at work.
And yeah, they’ve also had to help troubleshoot broken machines in the middle of the day when they’d rather be playing. But that’s part of the lesson, too.
This laundromat has also been a creative outlet for me. I’ve learned new operations, improved systems, and joined an entirely new industry. I’ve grown skills I didn’t have a few months ago. I’ve flexed new muscles in decision-making, delegation, and strategy.
It’s allowed us to build something that’s ours, something we can scale, step away from, or eventually pass on. That kind of long-term freedom is hard to come by in medicine, especially as a PA. And those intangible benefits of freedom, flexibility, family time, and personal growth are what make this feel worth it.
So, what’s the plan?
Now that I’ve seen how much time I’m spending on the laundry mat, I can plan to reduce it.
Admin work and customer support: I’m outsourcing most of this to my husband (he’s honestly better at it).
Bookkeeping: I’m using AI to log my collections and sync with my budget automatically.
Supplies: Our cleaners will now track and reorder supplies every two weeks, communicating directly with my husband.
On-Site Work: We’ve upgraded to a higher-capacity change machine to drop down to just one collection a week for now.
We still have a few long days ahead with upgrades that will require us to be hands-on, but the goal is to decrease our weekly and monthly time, so this business continues to feel more and more worth it.
Conclusion
Any small business is going to cost you time. I think it’s wise to evaluate how much time you’re spending in or on the business and keep looking for ways to reduce that through outsourcing or automation.
Keep a close eye on your business so you don’t accidentally turn it into a job.
My goal is to use this laundromat to grow into a network of other businesses and keep myself mostly out of the day-to-day operations.
Stay tuned to see how I’m doing. And if you’ve got tips or ideas to streamline things, I’d love to hear them!