IT’S THE laundry-busting idea that scored a $1 million investment offer on the latest episode of The Shark Tank.

Former Hervey Bay resident and inaugural Urangan High graduate Susan Toft, is the CEO of Laundry Lady.

Her parents owned the Ten Pin Bowling Centre here in Hervey Bay for a long time, with her mum still living in Urangan today.

Susan pitched her mobile laundry service to the five investors on The Shark Tank, and the seven-figure offer from Canadian businessman and US shark Robert Herjavec will really “catapult” growth.

“Such a significant investment will help get our name into even more international markets like the USA and Canada, where we plan to launch in the next couple of years,” Susan said.

“It will allow us to better streamline our systems, and have the staff in place to manage the growing number of customer enquiries and recruitment of Laundry Ladies and Lads.”

Far from an overnight success, Susan gained a Bachelor of Business and Tourism and first had the idea for Laundry Lady, over a decade ago in 2012.

“I was working for the Australian Trade Commission in 2012 and found myself caught up in a wave of redundancies. I was a new Mum, my eldest was just three years old.”

“I didn’t really want to go back into an office environment, so I decided to start something completely different. I was walking by my spare bedroom and saw the clothes piled high and thought this is something that I could do.”

“Working form home while my son was little was a really important option for me, so I became the very first Laundry Lady.”

A long time before working from home was the cool thing to do, Susan took a leap of faith to chase an idea and a vision.

“I’m sure my friends and family thought I was a bit crazy, starting a domestic services business, when I probably wasn’t known for that, but away I went.”

Susan identified that she could build Laundry Lady into a scalable business, for herself and perhaps for other mums who might also be struggling to come to terms with a work life balance.

“I picked up the washing, brought it home, washed it and took it back to the customer. I did that for four years. It was such a valuable insight into how the business could run, actually doing it myself.”

“I had a front row seat in terms of understanding what the customers wanted, pricing, scheduling, all of it.”

By the time 2016 came along, Susan was successful in attaining a grant to change her website into an integrated booking system, the same one the company is using today.

“The four years I had spent as the solo Laundry Lady educated me to be ready to offer other contractors the opportunity to become involved.”

“I initially started with four mums who wanted to work from home with a high level of flexibility and 2016 looked like the year that Laundry Lady would take off, but it was also the year I had to deal with divorce in my marriage.”

“I had to go back to work full-time as I had debts I just needed to clear, so Laundry Lady sat back on the shelf as a semi side-hussle for a little while.”

At this stage Laundry Lady had around ten contractors engaged, but Susan didn’t have a lot of time to invest in the business.

Susan was working back in the events industry, and for the Caloundra Chamber of Commerce, when Covid came along and everything changed again.

“I suddenly had all the time in the world again and that’s when I decided that Laundry Lady would be my full-time business. It was now or never and there were a lot of government incentives and grants. I just went for it.”

“As a single mum, I didn’t have any money and nothing to invest. I rolled the dice and went all-in on Laundry Lady.”

From a single operator, Susan now has over 200 contractors nationwide, involved in the Laundry Lady business.

This year, Laundry Lady kickstarted its international operations by launching into New Zealand.

“Our first three Laundry Ladies and Lads have officially signed up in New Zealand, and we recently attended the Women’s Lifestyle Expo in Christchurch to further spread the word in that market.”

The growth into New Zealand follows a successful grant from Trade & Investment Queensland.

Susan says the deal with Shark Tank is a great outcome for The Laundry Lady.

“I’m thrilled Robert could see the potential in our business, offering even more money than we asked for in the pitch; showing the real value of what I’ve managed to build from the ground up.”

“Our customers include busy families, businesses, and NDIS customers - who can all book affordable and reliable wash, dry, fold and ironing services at the click of a button.”

Coming full circle, Laundry Lady is available right here in Hervey Bay. Look them up online.