This Mother's Laundry Side Business Became a $12M Enterprise - Side Hustle Nation

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      What if the heap of laundry in your spare room was actually a concealed business opportunity?

      That’s essentially how Susan Toft describes her experience. As a new mom juggling a full-time corporate career, she found herself overwhelmed by a mountain of unfolded laundry and thought: someone should provide this as a service.

      So she chose to be that someone.

      Susan is the founder of LaundryLady.com, the leading mobile laundry service in Australia. She began her journey in 2012, making van pickups with her toddler in the backseat.

      Fast forward thirteen years, and she's running a $12 million enterprise with over 450 contractors across Australia, a presence in New Zealand, a new venture in Canada, and plans for expansion into the UK.

      During her journey, she also secured a $1 million investment offer on Shark Tank Australia.

      Tune in to Episode 725 of the Side Hustle Show to discover:

      - how Susan validated her concept through a personal challenge and transformed it into a scalable service

      - the structure of the contractor model and the earnings for laundry ladies and lads

      - the impact Shark Tank had on her business trajectory and how she leveraged the exposure

      The Personal Challenge That Sparked the Idea

      Susan was navigating a demanding corporate role when she became a mother.

      She admitted she wasn’t particularly domestic, yet the laundry piling up in her spare room had turned into a daily source of anxiety. Each morning, she'd sift through stacks of clean, unfolded clothes just to find something to wear.

      The catalyst for her business idea came from a simple thought: if this is a challenge for me, surely it is for other busy families as well?

      Thus, the Laundry Lady was born, a pickup and delivery laundry service tailored for those who value their time and simply want the laundry gone.

      How Susan Attracted Her Initial Laundry Customers

      Susan had a friend create a website for her and soon landed her first customer. In the beginning, she managed everything herself using her home washer and dryer.

      Her process included:

      - pickup

      - wash

      - dry

      - fold

      - delivery

      For customer acquisition, Google Ads were surprisingly effective early on.

      When she launched 13 years ago, clicks for laundry-related searches were about 20 cents, with little competition, making it easy and inexpensive to appear in search results.

      Acquiring customers was never the challenge; the limitation was her own washing machine.

      She operated solo for the first five years until life changed: she went through a divorce and needed to return to full-time work.

      To sustain the business, she had to hire her first contractors.

      Scaling the Laundry Business with Contractors and an Online Booking System

      Transitioning from a solo operator to a contractor model required a dependable online booking system. Susan applied for a government grant in Australia to finance it and then approached a developer with her vision of an “Uber-style booking platform.”

      Her budget? $5,000.

      The developer chuckled and advised her to find something pre-existing. She did, and her developer integrated it into the website with enough customization to accommodate multiple locations and contractors.

      It wasn’t perfect, but it was functional, marking the launch of version 2.0 of the business.

      To recruit contractors, she started within her personal network—initially reaching out to a friend’s sister, then her own—and also posted on Gumtree, which she refers to as Australia’s equivalent of Craigslist.

      She specifically sought out moms or parents seeking flexible work that would align with school pickups and family commitments. Her first group of eight to ten contractors was located in Southeast Queensland.

      Why Demand for Outsourced Laundry Continues to Rise

      Susan tapped into a genuine shift in how households perceive their time. As people's lives become busier and they start valuing their hours more, tasks like laundry are frequently outsourced.

      The customer base reflects this trend. Approximately 60% are residential clients, including:

      - busy families

      - professionals

      - individuals with disabilities

      - elderly clients

      The remaining 40% consists of business clients, such as:

      - beauty salons

      - medical clinics

      - Airbnb hosts with low-to-mid-volume laundry needs that larger commercial services often overlook.

      According to Susan, the issue isn't going away. Clothes continue to get dirty. The total addressable market is vast, and the Laundry Lady offers a service that is simple to use (book online, schedule a pickup) and genuinely beneficial for a diverse range of customers.

      Laundry Lady Contractor Earnings and Business Economics

      On average, customers spend $100 per service and book either weekly or bi-weekly, creating a highly recurring revenue stream.

      Contractors retain 80%