Lila Taylor

I attribute my success to my husband and God.

The best career advice I ever received was from my grandmother when I was starting this business. I was talking to her about money, and she told me that if I was going to do this for money, then get a job. If you need money, get a job. But if you're going to start a business, make sure you're doing it for the greater good. That advice has really stuck with me and shaped how I approach my business.

I would say be humble enough to always be learning, because this industry is ever so changing, and not to get stuck in a copy-paste method. It's the little things that'll set a laundry service aside, and if you're just willing to learn a little more, always be willing to learn a little more. Know what new products are coming out, what new folding methods people are wanting to do. So many laundry services put signs outside their door saying we don't do the Marie Kondo method - why not? It's not a big deal, it's really nice, and it's what the customers want. Just go with the trend, it's okay. It's 5 minutes of a little more folding, it's not a big deal.

I would say probably water conservation. In the world as a whole, in the laundry industry as a whole, we need to come up with more developmental products and machinery that are a little more water-conscious and energy efficient. The laundry industry needs to match - the cleaning products need to catch up with the energy efficiency machines, and the energy efficiency machines need to catch up with the water conservation machines.

Definitely transparency - as a company as a whole, we always try to be transparent. If there's changes coming up, for us there's no such thing as over-communication. We want everybody to know everything, and we don't ever want anybody to be surprised, whether it's an employee, or our customer base, or anybody thinking about being a customer. We believe in full transparency, and we're a totally open book. Communication goes along with that, and honesty. I always err on the side of do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If I'm in a situation with a customer and something has gone awry and this customer is not happy, I would always put myself in their position - what would I want a business owner to do in this position for me? Our vision statement for the company is that we want to be the change in kindness. The key word there is change, because what kindness looks like is always changing in this ever-evolving world, but we want to be the positive impact and the light in the world. We want to be that change in kindness.