Episode Description Ken Wimberly joins Eric Josovitz to share how his path from Navy service to real estate and entrepreneurship ultimately led to building Laundry Luv—a laundromat concept designed around families, community service, and childhood literacy. They discuss early business failures, the importance of focus, and what it really takes to turn a local operation into a scalable franchise with impact. Show Notes Ken Wimberly is a veteran, real estate operator, and entrepreneur who has built and rebuilt multiple businesses across his career. In this conversation, he explains the lessons from a failed first venture, how he found traction in land brokerage and investing, and why he narrowed his focus to Laundry Luv. Ken also shares how Laundry Luv differentiates through clean, family-friendly stores and monthly community activations, along with a candid Growth Under Pressure moment about shutting down a funded mobile app, navigating depression, and rebuilding with transparency and better health. — 🌟 Highlights How a "perfect location" can still be a bad deal: the real estate lessons that sank Ken's first venture Bankruptcy at 30: humility, hubris, and why "no advisors" is an expensive strategy The rebuild: 11 months to the first deal, then compounding momentum in brokerage and investing The trap of running too many businesses at once—and why focus wins Laundry Luv's differentiation: clean, bright, family-first stores (kids' play areas, books, rocking chairs) Laundry as a "Trojan horse for service": monthly community activations and local partnerships Childhood literacy as an operational KPI: tracking books given away per store Co-parenting after divorce: aligning on rules/values, putting kids first, and using a neutral counselor Growth Under Pressure: shutting down a funded app, investor conversations, and the recovery journey Franchising truth: documenting what was intuitive, restructuring entities, and building "business-in-a-box" Scaling impact: the 100-store goal and plans for international expansion — ⏱️ Timestamps / Chapters 00:00 — Intro: Eric welcomes Ken Wimberly 00:00:31 — Ken's origin story: Navy → degree → early career in finance/real estate modeling 00:01:44 — First business venture: licensing a pizza concept 00:02:03 — The real estate mistakes: oversized space, weak negotiating, no advisors 00:03:15 — Bankruptcy at 30: the hard reset and key lessons 00:03:57 — Entering land brokerage: taking a commission-only bet 00:05:08 — First commissions: the grind, then a breakthrough deal 00:05:35 — Scaling through real estate + learning entrepreneurship through Keller Williams 00:08:21 — "What not to do": too many ventures at once, then pulling back to focus 00:11:55 — Today's split: real estate stays, but laundry becomes the main mission 00:14:03 — Community activations: backpacks, screenings, gift cards, free laundry days 00:16:05 — Becoming a franchise: documenting systems and building repeatability 00:16:45 — Why Laundry Luv is different: designing for families (and comfort) 00:20:14 — Literacy mission: books, kids' spaces, and giving back at scale 00:23:50 — Parenting philosophy: communication, emotional intelligence, and respect for kids' voices 00:29:49 — Co-parenting after divorce: alignment, values, and consistency across households 00:34:23 — Growth Under Pressure: shutting down the app after raising capital 00:39:44 — Depression and recovery: transparency, health, supplements, and support 00:47:31 — The franchise build: legal restructure + investor alignment 00:52:05 — 100-store vision: scaling both business and literacy impact 00:58:01 — Rapid fire: KPI (books given away), book recs, founder under pressure principle 00:59:14 — Close — 🙌 Want more from AdaptCFO? Free CFO consultation → adaptcfo.com Financial fitness scorecard → adaptcfofinancialfitness.scoreapp.com Other episodes → adaptcfo.com/blog AdaptCFO case studies → adaptcfo.com/results If you're scaling and want to avoid the financial and operational pitfalls discussed in this episode, AdaptCFO's bookkeeping → controller → fractional CFO model is built for this stage.
