Active gran takes retirement blues to the cleaners
You’re never too old to start a business of your own. That’s the motto of a KZN businesswoman and entrepreneur who has taken the gap and focused on what she does best, writes
IT’S NOT that many grandmothers who make game-changing decisions during their retirement years. Nomusa Zulu decided to take the business plunge, starting her first business in her late sixties.
Her laundry business, The Laundry Basket, has only been going for a few months near Pinetown, but judging by the piles of clothes, sheets and pillowcases waiting for their turn, business is going well.
“You are always scared in the beginning that no one will support you,” she says, “but if you do your job properly, they will come back.”
Zulu is something of a trailblazer, doing what many older people would never think of attempting.
She laughed at this insight:“working hard has never been a problem for me,” she says.
“I have raised many children and helped look after my grandchildren from when they were babies. But then when they were all grown up and didn’t need me around, I started to say to myself: ‘What should I do now? I can’t sit around and do nothing.’ I am a very active person, always thinking about new things to do. I needed to be useful and earn some money for myself.”
Zulu is also a pragmatist. She knew if she was going to start her own business, it had to be something with which she was very familiar.
“I enjoy cooking, but there are a lot of people making and selling food. I could also look after small children, but then I wouldn’t be changing my life, which I really wanted to do.”
What she also knows is how to handle clothes and look after the family washing.
“Believe me, over the years I have had plenty of experience! Children, especially, are very particular when it comes to their clothes and how they look. A crease in the wrong place, that’s a real problem!
“I said to my daughter, who offered to help me get started with my business, ‘Why not run a laundry? I know how to use a washing machine. I know how to iron and fold clothes correctly.’ It was an ideal business for me.”
It wasn’t long before a small laundry business came on the market, near Pinetown.
“We had been looking in the newspapers for laundry businesses, so when this one came up we rang the sellers immediately and were lucky to get it.”
If you think that washing and ironing is a pretty simple household chore, Zulu will tell you that it’s not as easy as it looks.
“If you are messing up your own clothes, you can’t blame anyone but yourself, but if you are messing up other people’s clothing and linen, that is another story. You have to know what you are doing or your business won’t last five minutes.”
Understanding fabrics, she says, is the number one lesson.
“You have to know the difference between pure cottons and polyesters, synthetic fabrics and wools. They all need different treatment, different temperatures and things you need to add to the water.”
Zulu’s colleague and friend, Matseliso Seitlheko, is her “magic ironer” and dry items sorter.
“Ironing is an art. Some people are good at it, others burn everything” says Zulu. “Any laundry good enough to get repeat business, has to have an expert ironer. When she is finished with it, a garment must looks like new.”
Zulu has some homespun advice for entrepreneurs who want to go into the same sort of business.
“You have to remember, if you make your services too expensive, people will do their washing at home, even the big things like sheets and towels. It’s important that customers think they are getting a good deal.
“You also must have the laundry ready for collection at the right time and on the right day. Sometimes that is tough with load shedding and means having to work late. But that’s the way it is.”
Zulu also does laundry for delivery to a nearby B&B.
For most of us the thought of dealing with large weekly piles of washing would be a nightmare, but not for Zulu, who says that Mondays, when the big washes come in, are the days she looks forward to most.
“When my regulars come back week after week, I know I am on the right track.”