Know when to innovate, but know when to keep things the same.
That’s one lesson from The Laundry Lady CEO Susan Toft, whose business is surging through a combination of tried-and-true tactics and technological innovation.
The Laundry Lady provides pick-up and drop-off laundry services, helping families, small businesses, and other busy customers offload their clothes cleaning needs.
It uses a network of contractors — its laundry ladies and lads — to collect, wash, iron, and deliver those clothes.
Its revenue hit $6 million in 2024, and expects revenue to grow even further over the 2025 financial year.
The Laundry Lady’s impressive numbers and business strategy mean the business is a finalist in not one, but four categories at the 2024 Smart50 Awards.
Speaking to SmartCompany, Toft explained how trusting what works, while investigating new opportunities, has propelled its growth.
Founded on the Gold Coast in 2012, The Laundry Lady now operates in every state and territory with a network of 300 contractors.
It has also ventured into New Zealand, counting a growing network of 20 Kiwi contractors.
To reach those contractors, The Laundry Lady is relying on a tried-and-true digital marketing strategy: geo-targeted ads, a consistent presence on social media, and even the occasional influencer tie-in.
Its success has earned The Laundry Lady a spot as finalist in the Smart50 Marketing award category.
“We really just keep expanding, by growing our contractor team and getting them customers,” Toft told SmartCompany.
“We’ve still had quite a lot of growth through this year, despite cost of living pressures.”
The business is in the process of its first-ever external capital raise, which Toft said will turbocharge those marketing efforts.
“It’s just going to put fuel on the fire of our marketing, and help us accelerate our growth a lot faster,” she said.
But The Laundry Lady is not simply doing what it has always done.
In fact, it has done something quite radical: building its own proprietary software system called Timeboss.
“We moved from using off-the-shelf systems to now having our own custom platform, that handles everything for customers, through to contractors,” Toft said.
Upcoming investment will help The Laundry Lady develop Timeboss “bring it up to a really scalable option that’s going to help us go global,” she continued.
“So next year, we’ll be looking at going into the US and Canada and launching there as well.”
Perhaps most notable is The Laundry Lady’s plan to offer Timeboss outside of its own business.
“We will be selling it as a B2B SaaS platform to other service industries, particularly industries where they might have a contractor model and want to be able to scale and disrupt their industry,” Toft said.
“It could work for places like dog grooming, or pool cleaners, or home care, or NDIS [providers].”
The concept has external support: Toft and Timeboss recently secured top marks at a SXSW pitch event.
“That will be an exciting part of our future,” Toft said.
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Smart50 is SmartCompany’s suite of award programs for Australian small to medium size businesses. The Smart50 Awards 2024 recognised the top 50 fastest growing companies in its Smart50 list, and celebrated exceptional achievements in community, innovation and more in the Smart50 category awards.
Senior Business Journalist
Focused on the small business sector, David’s work covers the political, regulatory, and economic issues facing Australian entrepreneurs. Prior to joining SmartCompany, he was a reporter for Business Insider Australia. You can follow him on LinkedIn.
