- Laurie Fulford is a stay-at-home mom who makes makes extra cash washing people’s clothes on SudShare.
- Fulford signed up for the on-demand laundry service app in 2021 and now makes $30,000 a year.
- Giving great customer service helped her rise up the ranks and stand out among the competition.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lori Fulford, a 39-year-old stay-at-home mom and SudShare user in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
After I quit my corporate job to become a stay-at-home mom in 2017, I wanted to find a way to make extra income from home without being tied to a phone all day or having to worry about my kids making noise in the background — but my options were limited.
One day, I saw someone on Facebook post about making side income with SudShare and decided to look into it. I signed up in September 2021. Now, I make $30,000 a year washing other peoples’ laundry and have fun doing it.
Here’s how I got started and how I grew my customer base.
Build your rank early on
When I first got started, it was a little intimidating. I’d never done DoorDash or Instacart or anything like this before, so there was a bit of a learning curve. But the signup process was very simple, and I saw my first order a few days later. You just need to have a valid driver’s license and a smoke-free home.
When you first get started with SudShare, it’s crucial to build your rank — the higher your rank is, the more orders are offered to you. The higher ranking Sudsers receive order requests first; if they don’t want the order, it moves down to the lower ranks.
For every order you get a certain amount of points based on how quickly you picked up the order, how fast you returned it, if your customer gave you a nice tip, and if you communicated well with the customer.
In the beginning, I was focused on taking pretty much any order I could get my hands on. You can adjust your radius in the app to however many miles you’re willing to travel, and I had mine set to 25 miles at first. I was driving all over town, but I tried to trust the process — I knew that I’d eventually get to be picky once I’d built up a good clientele. Now, I have my set to 15 miles max, but I rarely take jobs that are farther than 10 miles away.
Six months in, I was at a place where I could ease up and not take every order that popped up. I wasn’t up all night anymore finishing orders, and I had a reliable roster of repeat customers.
Most of my customers are regulars
The customer is charged $1 per pound of laundry, and on that dollar, Sudsers make 75 cents. Overall, I have mostly repeat customers. Every once in a while I’ll snag a new customer, but I have so many regulars that I pretty much know I’m gonna be servicing once a month at least.
Most of my regular customers are busy people with families and full-time jobs who use this service so they can breathe a little bit and concentrate on other things.
I’ve been doing laundry for a woman whose dryer is broken, so I’ll probably lose her once it gets repaired. But I’m hoping that every once in a while she’ll request me because she had a great experience with me — that’s why I try to make each order as special as possible.
I stand out by giving great, detailed service to my customers
I really try to take pride in my work. I use one of those T-shirt folding boards that makes folding much faster and neater. I match all socks, make sure all of the clothes are organized, and tie colorful ribbons around the laundry bags when I send them back. I also include a thank-you card to new customers saying, “I hope I’ve made your life a little bit easier today. I’d love for you to request me for your next order.” I’ve found that small touches can make a big difference.
I also recommend advertising. I gained a lot of new business this way. Soon after I started on SudShare, I joined as many local Facebook groups as would let me in (mom groups, neighborhood groups, Myrtle Beach groups, etc.), and post an ad every now and then.
Laurie Fulford
You have to be organized and mindful of your schedule, and you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew because people are counting on you. I tend to do my pickups and drop-offs in the mornings. When my kids go to bed, I finish up the rest of my orders.
With SudShare, you do have to pay for your supplies out of pocket: the bags to return the laundry in, detergent, gas money, the miles on your car, your washer and dryer, etc — your ducks have to be in a row. I budget about $100 a month for all expenses in case I run out of something or my washer needs to be repaired.
I will stress that business ebbs and flows. There are months where I’m consistently busy and then there are weeks where I think, “Where is everybody?” I wouldn’t recommend relying on SudShare for a main source of income; I think it’s better as a side hustle or supplementary earnings.
I like that I can accept or decline any order that I want. I’m not tied down to anything. If an order comes to me and I’m on vacation, if my kids have a birthday party, if I’m too tired that day, I don’t have to take it.
