Ever wake up one day after day knowing exactly how the next twelve hours of your life will go, right down to the smell of disinfectant and the beeping monitors?
That was life for a 38-year-old nurse in Arizona until she decided enough was enough. She didn’t hate nursing—she was good at it, even loved parts of it—but the schedule, the emotional weight, the fact that holidays and weekends simply didn’t exist for her anymore… it was slowly draining the color out of everything else.
So she did something most people only daydream about while scrolling on their phones during night shift: she quit, sold her house, bought a laundromat, and built a business that now brings in close to half a million dollars a year while she works maybe five or six hours a week.
Yeah, I had to read that twice too.
From Bone Marrow Transplants to Spin Cycles
After thirteen years working mostly in bone marrow transplant (one of the heaviest units you can imagine), she was ready for a change that didn’t involve going back to school for another degree. Her only non-negotiable? Whatever came next had to eventually let her step away from trading hours for dollars.
She looked at storage units, mobile home parks, even a car wash. Then one evening she stumbled across a 20-plus-year-old laundromat listed on a business-for-sale site. The numbers weren’t sexy on paper, but they were steady. And steady cash flow from people who will always need clean clothes, recession or not.
A friend connected her with his uncle who already owned two laundromats. His advice? “If I could go back, I’d skip college completely and just buy these things. Laundromats scream money.”
“If I could go back in time… I would never go to college. All I would do is buy laundromats, because laundromats scream money.”
— Experienced laundromat owner who mentored her
That conversation lit the fuse.
Selling the House Wasn’t Scary—It Was Exciting
Most of us treat our home like the ultimate safety blanket. She saw it as seed capital.
In April 2020 she sold her house for $310,000, pulled out roughly $150,000 in equity after paying off the mortgage, added $50,000 from savings, and made a $200,000 down payment on the $300,000 laundromat in October of that same year. The seller financed the remaining $100,000 at 6%—and she paid it off in about 18 months.
“It honestly wasn’t scary,” she says. “I was more excited about owning a business than owning a house.”
Think about that mindset shift for a second. Most people would be having panic attacks. She felt liberated.
The First Few Years Were Anything But Passive
Here’s the part a lot of “passive income” gurus conveniently gloss over: the beginning is usually a grind.
From 2020 to early 2023 she worked almost full-time nursing shifts AND ran the laundromat. She’d finish a 12-hour hospital shift, go home, sleep a few hours, then head to the laundromat to fix machines, count quarters, and handle whatever broke that day.
But every month the business threw off more cash, so she slowly reduced nursing hours. By April 2023 the laundromat could completely replace her salary—and she walked away from the hospital for good.
Today the place runs with six employees (one part-time), pickup/delivery drivers, and systems so tight she really does only pop in a handful of hours a week, mostly to check numbers and plan growth.
The Money Breakdown (Because You’re Curious)
Last year:
- Roughly $475,000 in total revenue from coins, cards, and commercial contracts
- Almost $30,000 additional from renting out the attached salon space
- About $119,000 in profit before reinvesting
- She paid herself $66,000 salary + another $22,000 from social media sponsorships in just six months of 2024
- She’s projecting around $200,000 from content alone in 2025
She still has equipment loans and two delivery vans being paid off—roughly $4,900/month—but those will be gone soon and profits go straight to her pocket (or the next location).
Why Laundromats Are Quietly One of the Best Businesses You’ve Never Considered
Everyone needs clean clothes. Rich, poor, boom, bust—doesn’t matter. Demand literally never disappears.
- Cash (and card) business with very little bad debt
- Simple operations once systems are in place
- Machines are the employees—24/7 if you want
- Pickup & delivery + commercial accounts (hotels, Airbnbs, restaurants) add huge margins
- App-based payment systems and remote monitoring mean you know if a machine goes down before the customer does
Industry stats back this up: well-run laundromats typically produce $15,000–$300,000 in annual cash flow and sell for 3–5× that number. Buy right, add value, and you can literally print money while you sleep.
The Real Win? Time Freedom
She says the money is great, but the real payoff is her calendar.
“This is the first time in my adult life I’m home for every holiday, have every weekend off, and can book a random flight without asking permission. My freedom of time has completely changed.”
She bought a new house (with a mortgage she’s paying aggressively from business cash flow), travels whenever she wants, and spends the rest of her family—things that felt impossible just a few years ago.
Perhaps the most interesting part? She now spends about 10 hours a week filming TikToks and Reels about her journey—content that’s on track to out-earn her old nursing salary all by itself next year.
Could You Do Something Similar?
Maybe, maybe not. But her story proves a few things worth tattooing on your brain:
- You don’t need to invent an app or become an influencer to build real wealth
- Cash-flowing “boring” businesses are often the fastest path to freedom
- Willingness to sell assets (like a house) and bootstrap can accelerate everything
- The grind phase is real—but it doesn’t have to last forever if you build systems and hire well
- Time is the ultimate luxury, and certain businesses let you buy it back
She’s already eyeing a second location, or maybe just letting this one run hands-off while she travels the world. Either way, she turned quarters into a life most people only see in movies.
And honestly? That’s the kind of “how I made it” story that actually feels within reach if you’re willing to think a little differently.
So the next time you’re tossing clothes in a washer at 11 p.m. because it’s the only time you could, ask yourself: what if that machine was working for you instead of some distant landlord?
Sometimes the most ordinary businesses hide the most extraordinary freedom.
