How to start a Laundry business?

When I was in Mysore Infy, I found the coin operated washing machines so useful. Back then I was too lazy to wash clothes myself. But as the family expanded, it became more economical to wash clothes at home. Even now, I hate the laundry work for it requires utmost care.  For a countless times, I have turned Veeran's white classic formal shirts to pinks!

Often, at home we buy clothes of different fabric, yet unable to find the best way to maintain the newness of the clothes. How much ever mild detergent or fabric conditioner or whitener or whatever I put, clothes become life less after a few washes. It is definitely a tedious task to sort out different fabric and follow different laundry instructions by ourselves.

I'm sure 100% of Indian household feels the same. And this feeling paves the way for a successful laundry business.

So, How to start a laundry business?

A laundry business involves collecting clothes from customers, washing, drying, ironing  and folding them, and return it back to collect money for the service. Yes it is that easy to say. But the actual business involves more steps. Let me explain it with a proper business planning.

Make arrangements for Capital:

Setting up laundry business is a capital intensive task. You have to first analyse how much capital will be required. Depending on the amount you can think of a partnership model to raise the funds.

Decide on the operation model:

Before the work of setting up proceeds, you have to finalise on the operation model of your laundry.
(a) Coin operated - Ideal for locations populated by people who are ready to visit your laundry and do it by themselves.
(b) Classic - Ideal for locations where people prefer to outsource the entire laundry work. Here, you will have to look for facilities for pick up and drop of clothes.

Work on infrastructure requirement:

Once you have decided the operation model, you can zero in on the number of machines required. Washing machines, Dryers, Rollers and what all. Electronic companies like Electrolux provide provide commercial laundry set up solutions. (You can check out here: http://professional.electrolux.co.uk/Solutions/Investors1/Commercial/ )

Look out for laundry set up space:

Laundry business requires huge space. So when finalising on the space, keep in mind about the volumes clothes and machines will cover. Think of having a front office space that can be the welcome and payment counter.

Pick up and Delivery options:

Most of the households, offices, hotels and restaurants would prefer pick up and drop facility. You have to arrange for a separate staff  and commuting options for the same.

Manpower Requirement:

Laundry cannot be done by one person alone if you are thinking of a big business. You need to invest huge on hiring good talent and training them. Apart from the know how of operating the machines and fabric knowledge, they should be customer friendly. Even one mistake from your employee, can affect your reputation badly. So hire with care.

Decide on the service portfolio:

A laundry business in India, involves washing of soiled clothes, drying them thoroughly, ironing with perfection and folding nicely. Apart from these dyeing, darning, dry washing etc can also be added to the service portfolio. Before you commence the operations you have to decide on the services you can offer.  For example you can offer two services like washing plus folding or washing plus ironing at two different rates per piece of cloth. Choose the offers after analysing customer needs and your monitory benefit.

Pricing:

Once all the overhead costs are known you can decide on your profit share and fix the pricing accordingly. The pricing can be per piece or per kilogram or per load. Also it can vary depending on the care required for the fabric.

Advertising and Marketing:

Laundry business is very competitive. Market your laundry business in such a way that it is different from the rest. You can think of options are: bulk pricing, 10+2 free,  offer for initial 100 customers, pay back guarantee etc.

For every enterprise you have to invest huge on marketing to get regular business. In case of laundry business you can work on creating a good customer base who could be your loyal customers for lifelong. You can really contact big or small housing societies in your shop's neighborhood for regular laundry work. Similarly, restaurants and hotels also have regular laundry jobs. You can talk to them and come up with an agreement. Similar is the case with corporate offices, the best thing about offices is that for neat work you can get paid higher while availing regular work.

Decide on Store details:

Once you have decided everything else about your laundry business, you should now decide on the store details. Things like working hours per day, how many days a week, leave policies and other HR related matters. You should also have a  dedicated phone line to answer the customers. Have visiting cards also printed so that people can visit your store directly.

Does it look too much of effort? There is a Plan B for you then!

Setting up any business is a Herculean task. And all the more, the worry of if it will be successful keeps haunting every aspiring entrepreneur. You can get rid of these worries by going for a Franchise model. The franchise businesses are already established business units who will help you to set up your store and teach you how to run it well to make profit. The bad side of franchise is that initial set up cost is much higher then doing it all by yourselves. So it is up to you to choose from benefits over cost. But one thing is sure, the number of franchise offerings are also too many these days which shows the potential of laundry business. (The franchise model itself is too vast and will come as another post. Please wait for a while till I am ready with the study of that. Will share the link here once I am done.)

One good thing I would like to add here before concluding. I read a post about a stay at home mom on how she started her laundry business at home. She became successful and she started helping others as well. Now she has set up a proper business model all by herself that operates at homes of people. You can read it here: http://www.laundrycare.biz/6-steps-starting-laundry-business-home/ . This proves that if there is a will there is a BIG way! Now what is your excuse for not getting started?

Food, Clothing and Shelter are the three basic requirements for human existence. So whatever business you start in any of the three vertical, there is a high chance of success. Coming down specifically to clothing, buying clothes is easy compared to maintaining them. In most of the households, laundry is the key area that needs some helping hand! So how about you being that Helping Hand?

How to start a Virgin Coconut Oil Business?

For the past couple of years, coconut oil has been in the headlines for all good reasons. The good cholesterol that it contain and the benefits of consuming it daily has classified it as a power food by the western world.

Being a 'Malayalee', coconut oil is everything in our household. Be it cooking, applying on hair, body, wounds, oiling the creaky window or the cycle chain and what not all.

But since the advent of 'Mallu' trend, coconut oil has been replaced by sunflower oil and olive oil.

The talk of the town on the goodness of coconut oil is really making a great way for royal comeback. To see if the hype is true, I did a research about coconut oil on the web. Here goes my finding:

Health benefits of virgin coconut oil that I never knew existed!

In my home my mom used to make virgin coconut oil exclusively for my sons (when they were infants) to give them a nice body massage. And touch wood, they don't have any skin ailments so far. Thank you Amme!

Coconut oil is good for hair and is used by almost everybody in Indian subcontinent through out. Apart from that, many of the Ayurvedic oils use coconut oil as a base. For small wounds, bruises and minor allergies, coconut oil is the first aid.

Apart from these generic uses, specifically virgin coconut oil is all packed with tonnes of health benefits. Here are some of them:

1. On Heart: Oil is never a good friend of heart. Surprisingly, Virgin coconut oil contains good fat which is not absorbed in the blood stream, but converted directly into energy by liver. Hence unlike other oils, coconut oil consumption is good for your heart. It reduces the total cholesterol and increases good cholesterol in the body.
2. On Brain: Many prolonged experiments with coconut oil has shown to improve the brain performance on epileptic and Alzheimer patients. Medium Chain Triglyceride Fatty Acid contained in coconut oil gets converted to ketones in the blood stream. Ketones boost brain cells functions. Because of which epileptic people have had less seizures when followed diet rich in coconut oil. Similarly, better brain cell functioning positively impacts alzheimers patients.
3. On Digestive system: Virgin Coconut oil has medium chain fatty acids that improves metabolism, imparting more energy for daily chores.
4. On Immunity: Coconut oil contains Lauric acid, which kills certain bacteria, fungi and viruses. You know what, Lauric acid is also present in mother's milk and is the key nutrient building immunity for babies. Just like mother's milk, coconut oil also helps in preventing infections.
5. On Weight Loss: This is my favorite! The fat in coconut oil doesn't get stored as fat in the body instead is converted as energy. More energy means more activities and more calorie burn - easy to lose weight :-).
6. On Diabetes: I hope you know that in diabetes, less insulin production results in lower conversion of glucose to energy for body cells. Instead of glucose energy, body cells can function perfectly with fatty acids. Virgin coconut oil has a surplus supply of fatty acids that can fuel body cells and hence restoring perfect metabolism in the body without insulin. That is how coconut oil is better than medicine for diabetic people.

If there is so much benefit in coconut oil, why can't we become a global player in exporting it? A business that is so eco-friendly and so much helpful for the mankind!


I believe that 'be organic' and ‘be healthy’ is the thing of this decade. And a virgin coconut oil business is perfect to make huge money along with creating a positive impact on the society.

Right now the packed oils available in market are all adulterated and ‘direct from the manufacturer’ concept can guarantee the quality of the oil. It looked so simple yet impactful, that since then I have added this to my - ‘to be done business list’. Definitely, this is a low-medium capital business and can be started with one or two helps.

So, how to start virgin coconut oil business?

Quite some time back I had read an article on paper about a group of ladies running an extremely pure edible coconut oil mill in Calicut in Kerala. They pick up the finest coconuts, process them and extract coconut oil. The customers queue up in their shop there to buy it in desired quantities.

To start off, you have to do some ground work:

Find a Coconut Supplier:

You will need tonnes of coconut for this venture. So have good number of coconut suppliers ready to work with you before you commence the operations.

Rent a Mechanical Grinding mill or setup a factory:

In a small scale setup, you can look for a grinding mill and rent it out. If you are planning for big scale that has exporting capacity, you will need to look for the machineries and set up a factory.

Hire Employees:

This business requires labour force. Even a small scale mill setup will require atleast 2 employees.

Unless you are planning for an automated factory, you will need fairly good number of employees at every stage of operation. Right from the start- handling coconuts, processing them, extracting oil, packing and distributing.

Good Packing:

Think of a good brandable name and go for leak proof packing. It could be double sealed plastic pouches, plastic bottles or plastic containers. It could be of variable volumes like 200 ml, 250 ml, 500 ml, 1 L or 2L. Ensure that the aroma and flavour of coconut oil is locked to make it retain freshness.

Decide on Pricing

Once you are aware of the set up cost and running cost, decide on your profit margin and fix the price of the oil. Also look at the market rate to be the competitive player in the virgin coconut oil segment.

Marketing your branded virgin coconut oil:

Yes, now you have it all ready, but how to get it to customers? If you are planning to supply it locally, put up local advertisements and talk to shop keepers. You can also use social media and viral marketing to increase the popularity of your brand. If you are planning to export the oil, you need to follow the exporting guidelines.


Isn’t this a fantastic business opportunity? To make things extra clear, let me share the process of making coconut oil.

How to make virgin coconut oil?

It is evident that mature coconut is the basic raw material to make coconut oil. Normal coconut oil is made from dried coconut or copra. On the other hand, virgin coconut oil is made from mature coconut kernels, which are fresh (non-copra) and procedure is a bit different.

As mentioned earlier, in my home my mom usually makes it in 4 steps:

1. Break open the coconut. Discard coconut water
2. Grate the coconut
3. Squeeze the milk out of grated coconut
4. Boil it in a kadai till oil seperates (this is similar to making ghee from milk cream/butter)

The oil can be directly consumed or used for topical applications. This is the purest form of coconut oil. When I checked on the internet, I found that this is the wet milling method of making virgin coconut oil. This is ideal for low volume virgin coconut oil manufacturing business.

Apart from the wet method, quick dry pressing method is also used for making virgin coconut oil. This method has 4 steps:

1. Break open the coconut. Discard coconut water
2. Grate or cut coconut flesh to remove it from shell
3. Quick dry this coconut
4. Use mechanical pressing to extract oil 

Please note that Virgin coconut oil production uses fresh coconut and does not use any chemicals or high heating. Once it is made, it is directly vacuum packed to retain freshness.

Along with the oil, there comes a lot of waste. Be it the coconut shell or the extract waste.

Coconut shells forms a good fuel. You may sell it off to factories. The coconut waste is a good manure as well as an important component in cattle feed. So the waste from coconut oil business will also fetch you some additional income. Isn’t it the best environment friendly business? All set to venture into virgin coconut oil manufacturing business?

Before you jump from your seat, be aware of the legal formalities to start this virgin coconut oil business!

What are the formalities required for Virgin coconut oil (VCO) Manufacturing business?

India government is supporting coconut based industries. You can check out Official Site for Coconut Board by Indian Government to get answers for your queries on formalities related to virgin coconut oil manufacturing.

If you are really keen on setting up a commercial unit of Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO), you can check out the government link for all data on VCO Business Legalities.

Coconut tree is called Kalpavruksha because every part of it is useful. Similarly a coconut oil business is an ideal business because it can give you lots of opportunities to do side business as well. Be it coconut water, cattle feed, collectibles using coconut shell and what all.

Indian company called Marico started with coconut oil business, under the brand name Parachute. It is one of the most successful entrepreneurial venture and employs talent pool from top business schools. A home grown company is the best that will boost Indian economy.

Parachute has really become a synonym for hair oil. What will be your brand?

How I got the Confidence to start business after reading these 5 powerful books on entrepreneurship

I always wanted to do something big in life. But it looked easy to live the life that I am leading now. To do that 'something big' I had to get out of my comfy couch and work hard till it happen. And being a procrastination expert I kept saying when we move to another city I will start, or something like when my son becomes a bit bigger I will start and silly reasons like winter is not energetic - this summer I will start.

The excuses were many. And you know what, after a point of time, I felt that nothing is going to change. I don't have the potential to do anything big in life. The coward in me started taking over the control of my life and I became fearful about everything. 

I kind of accepted that now this is life. Nothing will change. Just keep going with the flow to be happy. Keep doing the routines. Find joy in shopping, cooking, gossipping. I tried to enter into many gossipping gangs, but never got accomodated there.

Down under I was seeking something else, something far more creative and giving me freedom from everything.  A life full of happiness, spreading happiness to everyone whom I come across. 

How the twist happened!

It was then that Veeran declared, "enough of job, let me do something on my own". I supported him, because I feel a bit of support can push anyone to work on their dreams than working for someone else's dreams.

Life became exciting as we got off the routine and started on something out of the box. That time it looked like jumping off the cliff. 

Then comes the billion dollar question. What to do? 

The intention was clear to start a business and work on it for a long term and live happily ever after. But where to start? Which domain to choose? We had no perfect idea for our venture.

That is the time when we started following already existing entrepreneurs. And read a few books that inspired us to go with our heart.

Veeran served his notice period in the company for 3 months, at the same time started working on building a mindset of entrepreneurs. Yes, by reading the following books and meeting or talking to entrepreneurs in his circle. 

Here is the list of books that we read before we started:

1. Dandha: How Gujaratis do business by Shobha Bondre.

This is the book I loved the most. Because it kind of reinforced in me the fact that big business men

find out opportunities, believe in themselves, work hard as they could and is always wanting more and more. Dhandha focuses on the attitude on business by Gujarati community. This inspired me to look at business as something beyond just making more money or better lifestyle. It is all about the mindset of people who make it big.

All the businesses mentioned are traditional ones. But equally applicable to contemporary ones focusing on internet revolution. 

2. How I braved Anu aunty and co-founded a billion dollar company by Varun Agarwal.

This book is simply awesome with the way things are explained. It just felt like reading a story. The books is very much contemporary and talks about how Alma Mater Store (http://www.almamaterstore.in/) happened. 

Very good read to know how a simple idea can be brought in to action and soon made to a million dollar venture. I could also feel the transformation of Varun as a collge graduate to a full fledged entrepreneur. 

3. Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal

Herself being an IIM graduate, Rashmi talks about 25 IIM graduates who became successful entrepreneurs. The stories are a mix of people who jumped into entrepreneurship right after the course, those who waited for the right opportunity and those who wanted to give it back to the society. The success story of naukri.com, makemytrip.com, subhiksha were very enlightening.

Interesting read, as it shows MBA-doesn't mean you can start a business and make it run without any roadblock. This book boosted my confidence,  knowing that after all MBA is not a must have thing to venture into entrepreneurship. 

4. Poor Little Rich Slum by Rashmi Bansal

Rashmi Bansal in her debut book, Stay Hungry Stay Foolish was all about the b-school people doing business. And Poor Little Rich Slum is all about how people in Dharavi are running their businesses. This book proves that it doesn't require IIM MBA to do a business successfully, but only the right mindset. 

Very good read as it opened up various unexplored domains that have great potential to launch a business. 

5. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

Well, this book I had read earlier as planting seeds of entrepreneurship in me. This book actually changed the way I looked at earning money - from a employee perspective to a businessman perspective. This is indeed a must read book before you jump in to entrepreneurship. It is all about creating assets and getting out of the rat race.

I would say that these books gave the picture of what entrepreneurship is all about. It is all about a strong mindset, winning attitude, dynamism in grabbing opportunities and above all persistence and perseverance. It is not a life full of roses, but to enjoy the fragrance and beauty of roses we have to bear the pain of thorns. 

What is your take on life? Do you want to do something big in life? If this post has helped you in someway please take a moment to comment. It will really motivate me. If you like my posts you can subscribe on email.