Full Cycle

Cathy Neilley spent years working her way through corporate America, from clinical laboratory work at major New York hospitals to pharmaceutical sales, biotech management, and eventually e-commerce and product management at Johnson & Johnson. The training was excellent and the travel was broad, but the path upward grew uncertain, and she began looking for a way out on her own terms.

The idea for a laundromat came from a moment of genuine frustration. Returning from a work trip with a suitcase of dirty clothes, she found the building laundry room occupied and uninviting, then discovered a small neighborhood shop offering wash, dry, and fold service. The result changed her thinking: professional women needed a better laundry option, and she was going to build it. That was the beginning of Spin Doctor, which has now been operating for 13 years.

The franchise came later, and somewhat unexpectedly. A family relocation dried up the capital she had set aside for expanding her own store count, and her husband suggested they franchise the concept instead. They worked with a packaging company to build out the legal framework, prepared for a slow road, and then watched COVID pause and paradoxically accelerate everything. People reconsidering their careers after the pandemic were looking for small business opportunities, and Spin Doctor now has 12 franchisees in active build-out phases across New Jersey, New York, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Minnesota.

Neilley speaks candidly about what it has meant to build this in an industry that has historically been male-dominated, much like the corporate world she left. Women make up less than five percent of laundromat owners, and she has a stated goal of reaching 30 percent female or female-majority ownership across Spin Doctor franchises. Visibility, she argues, is what moves that number. People need to see that it is possible before they will believe it is possible for them.

Her closing advice: admit what you do not know, and stay curious. Learning from industries and situations that have nothing obvious to do with your own work has a way of paying off when you least expect it.

Thanks for giving us a turn.

Cathy Neilley spent years working her way through corporate America, from clinical laboratory work at major New York hospitals to pharmaceutical sales, biotech management, and eventually e-commerce and product management at Johnson & Johnson. The training was excellent and the travel was broad, but the path upward grew uncertain, and she began looking for a way out on her own terms.

The idea for a laundromat came from a moment of genuine frustration. Returning from a work trip with a suitcase of dirty clothes, she found the building laundry room occupied and uninviting, then discovered a small neighborhood shop offering wash, dry, and fold service. The result changed her thinking: professional women needed a better laundry option, and she was going to build it. That was the beginning of Spin Doctor, which has now been operating for 13 years.

The franchise came later, and somewhat unexpectedly. A family relocation dried up the capital she had set aside for expanding her own store count, and her husband suggested they franchise the concept instead. They worked with a packaging company to build out the legal framework, prepared for a slow road, and then watched COVID pause and paradoxically accelerate everything. People reconsidering their careers after the pandemic were looking for small business opportunities, and Spin Doctor now has 12 franchisees in active build-out phases across New Jersey, New York, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Minnesota.

Neilley speaks candidly about what it has meant to build this in an industry that has historically been male-dominated, much like the corporate world she left. Women make up less than five percent of laundromat owners, and she has a stated goal of reaching 30 percent female or female-majority ownership across Spin Doctor franchises. Visibility, she argues, is what moves that number. People need to see that it is possible before they will believe it is possible for them.

Her closing advice: admit what you do not know, and stay curious. Learning from industries and situations that have nothing obvious to do with your own work has a way of paying off when you least expect it.

Thanks for giving us a turn.

In this episode of Full Cycle, Matt DeWolf sits down with two women who have built long careers on the service and maintenance side of the laundry industry: Jennifer Gonzalez, Senior Manager of Service at Maytag Commercial Laundry, and Jackie McFeely, National Service Manager for Dependable Laundry Solution in Australia.

Both guests trace their comfort with tools and troubleshooting back to childhood. Jennifer recalls disassembling her father's lawn tractor at age six, and Jackie grew up helping in her father's mechanic shop. Neither set out specifically for laundry, but both found their way there through a combination of curiosity, good mentors, and an appreciation for working closely with customers. 

The conversation covers what it has been like to work in a field where women remain underrepresented, how both guests have navigated bias with patience and by simply demonstrating their expertise, and why they believe representation matters as much on the customer side as it does within their own organizations. Jennifer and Jackie also talk about their ongoing working relationship across two continents, and what makes the partnership between a manufacturer and a distributor function well over time.

On the question of encouraging more people into the trades, both guests point to the same thing: let people try. Jackie's advice is to have a go. Jennifer's is to remember that there is a video for almost everything, and that most mistakes can be undone.

Thanks for giving us a turn.

In this episode of Full Cycle, Matt DeWolf sits down with two women who have built long careers on the service and maintenance side of the laundry industry: Jennifer Gonzalez, Senior Manager of Service at Maytag Commercial Laundry, and Jackie McFeely, National Service Manager for Dependable Laundry Solution in Australia.

Both guests trace their comfort with tools and troubleshooting back to childhood. Jennifer recalls disassembling her father's lawn tractor at age six, and Jackie grew up helping in her father's mechanic shop. Neither set out specifically for laundry, but both found their way there through a combination of curiosity, good mentors, and an appreciation for working closely with customers. 

The conversation covers what it has been like to work in a field where women remain underrepresented, how both guests have navigated bias with patience and by simply demonstrating their expertise, and why they believe representation matters as much on the customer side as it does within their own organizations. Jennifer and Jackie also talk about their ongoing working relationship across two continents, and what makes the partnership between a manufacturer and a distributor function well over time.

On the question of encouraging more people into the trades, both guests point to the same thing: let people try. Jackie's advice is to have a go. Jennifer's is to remember that there is a video for almost everything, and that most mistakes can be undone.

Thanks for giving us a turn.

Catherine Chalpin came to laundry the way a lot of people do these days: she saw something on Instagram, thought it looked manageable, and started doing her homework. What followed was about as fast a path from interest to open doors as you are likely to find. In this episode of Full Cycle, Chalpin shares how she went from watching someone unload quarters into a bucket to running Pop In Laundry in Poughkeepsie, New York, all within roughly a year.

The location she landed on was a zombie mat, stripped of equipment after a dryer fire, but with its infrastructure largely intact. Chalpin, who has a background in project management through years of renovating rental properties, saw the bones of the space and knew what to do. She managed the buildout herself, skipping a general contractor, and opened in January 2026.

Her day job selling indoor athletic flooring for nonprofits and athletic facilities has shaped how she thinks about community relationships, and that shows in how she runs her store. In her first few months, she organized a clothing drive with the Salvation Army, launched a summer reading program in partnership with the local library, secured a deal to flyer cars in her plaza, and began providing laundry cards to clients of Family Services of Poughkeepsie. A pop-up comedy show at the laundromat was also on the list. She credits a background in marketing and promotions for her instinct to keep things fresh and community-facing.

Chalpin and host, Matt DeWolf also get into the practical side of running a new store: the lint trap surprise mid-construction, the value of a good automated floor mopper, the importance of a simple pricing reference sheet for staff, and the challenge of managing time across a full-time job and a new business. Her advice to anyone just getting into the industry is straightforward: read, listen, network, and learn the permit process in your municipality before you need it.

Her final answer on what one thing you can do today to be better tomorrow: get familiar with AI. She's been using it to build frameworks, manage scheduling, and handle operational work since before the store opened, and considers it an essential part of how she runs things now.

Thanks for giving us a turn.

Catherine Chalpin came to laundry the way a lot of people do these days: she saw something on Instagram, thought it looked manageable, and started doing her homework. What followed was about as fast a path from interest to open doors as you are likely to find. In this episode of Full Cycle, Chalpin shares how she went from watching someone unload quarters into a bucket to running Pop In Laundry in Poughkeepsie, New York, all within roughly a year.

The location she landed on was a zombie mat, stripped of equipment after a dryer fire, but with its infrastructure largely intact. Chalpin, who has a background in project management through years of renovating rental properties, saw the bones of the space and knew what to do. She managed the buildout herself, skipping a general contractor, and opened in January 2026.

Her day job selling indoor athletic flooring for nonprofits and athletic facilities has shaped how she thinks about community relationships, and that shows in how she runs her store. In her first few months, she organized a clothing drive with the Salvation Army, launched a summer reading program in partnership with the local library, secured a deal to flyer cars in her plaza, and began providing laundry cards to clients of Family Services of Poughkeepsie. A pop-up comedy show at the laundromat was also on the list. She credits a background in marketing and promotions for her instinct to keep things fresh and community-facing.

Chalpin and host, Matt DeWolf also get into the practical side of running a new store: the lint trap surprise mid-construction, the value of a good automated floor mopper, the importance of a simple pricing reference sheet for staff, and the challenge of managing time across a full-time job and a new business. Her advice to anyone just getting into the industry is straightforward: read, listen, network, and learn the permit process in your municipality before you need it.

Her final answer on what one thing you can do today to be better tomorrow: get familiar with AI. She's been using it to build frameworks, manage scheduling, and handle operational work since before the store opened, and considers it an essential part of how she runs things now.

Thanks for giving us a turn.

We are checking in with Tim Johnson and his progress as he builds Operation Laundry. This is the second conversation and a lot has changed since the first one two months ago. Johnson is building Operation Laundry in Holland, Michigan, and the project is moving closer to the finish line. Johnson joins host Matt DeWolf to talk about the current status.

The construction is ongoing but the theme of this episode is community engagement. The community response to Operation Laundry has been something Johnson could not have predicted. We discuss a Facebook post asking residents about their experience with local laundromats that drew hundreds of comments and likes. The Holland Sentinel even ran a front-page profile. Local television reached out to cover opening day. People stop by the job site to drop things off. Employees have applied without any job posting ever going up. Johnson shares the story of one morning, a stranger pulled his car up alongside Johnson's to block him in, just so he could ask about washer sizes and the kids zone.

Johnson talks through what it takes to build a brand before you've served a single customer, including lighting upgrades to the strip mall, co-marketing relationships with neighboring businesses, and the concept of making the laundromat a third space, somewhere people can gather rather than just a utility stop. He also talks about where the real pressure lives, and it is not in the marketing. It is in the financial decisions that happen every day on a construction site, where every call has consequences and there is no safety net.

The conversation also goes into what it takes to sustain yourself through a process like this. 

His advice: find something bigger than yourself, whether that is faith, community, or just putting energy into helping someone else. What you give, he says, comes back tenfold.

We are checking in with Tim Johnson and his progress as he builds Operation Laundry. This is the second conversation and a lot has changed since the first one two months ago. Johnson is building Operation Laundry in Holland, Michigan, and the project is moving closer to the finish line. Johnson joins host Matt DeWolf to talk about the current status.

The construction is ongoing but the theme of this episode is community engagement. The community response to Operation Laundry has been something Johnson could not have predicted. We discuss a Facebook post asking residents about their experience with local laundromats that drew hundreds of comments and likes. The Holland Sentinel even ran a front-page profile. Local television reached out to cover opening day. People stop by the job site to drop things off. Employees have applied without any job posting ever going up. Johnson shares the story of one morning, a stranger pulled his car up alongside Johnson's to block him in, just so he could ask about washer sizes and the kids zone.

Johnson talks through what it takes to build a brand before you've served a single customer, including lighting upgrades to the strip mall, co-marketing relationships with neighboring businesses, and the concept of making the laundromat a third space, somewhere people can gather rather than just a utility stop. He also talks about where the real pressure lives, and it is not in the marketing. It is in the financial decisions that happen every day on a construction site, where every call has consequences and there is no safety net.

The conversation also goes into what it takes to sustain yourself through a process like this. 

His advice: find something bigger than yourself, whether that is faith, community, or just putting energy into helping someone else. What you give, he says, comes back tenfold.

On this episode of Full Cycle, Matt DeWolf sits down with Tim Johnson, founder of Operation Laundry in Holland, Michigan, for a conversation unlike most on the show. Tim's laundromat is not open yet, and this episode follows his journey in real time, offering a candid look at what it actually takes to build something from scratch in this industry.

Tim's background is anything but traditional for a laundromat owner. A former Air Force officer and cybersecurity entrepreneur, he arrived at the Clean Show knowing no one and knowing nothing about laundry. What followed was a series of high-stakes moves: rolling over his entire 401k through a ROBS structure while unemployed, tracking down and purchasing 43 dryers and 42 washers from a shuttered franchisee near Detroit, hauling the equipment across the state in rented box trucks with his neighbor Rob, and securing a commercial space on a seller-financed land contract. He and Rob then spent 50 days demo-ing 5,000 square feet by hand, removing 22 tons of material, and uncovering a hidden tunnel running beneath the entire strip mall.

Tim speaks openly about the moments of doubt, the constant outflow of money with no income coming in, and the relationships, with his distributor, his builder, his neighbor, local businesses, and community organizations, that have made the project possible. His advice for listeners is simple: walk or exercise every single day. The mental clarity it provides, he says, is worth more than the time it takes.

We’ll be following Tim along his journey as he gets Operation Laundry open for business.

Thanks for giving us a turn.

Host: Matt DeWolf | Guest: Tim Johnson, Founder, Operation Laundry, Holland, Michigan

On this episode of Full Cycle, Matt DeWolf sits down with Tim Johnson, founder of Operation Laundry in Holland, Michigan, for a conversation unlike most on the show. Tim's laundromat is not open yet, and this episode follows his journey in real time, offering a candid look at what it actually takes to build something from scratch in this industry.

Tim's background is anything but traditional for a laundromat owner. A former Air Force officer and cybersecurity entrepreneur, he arrived at the Clean Show knowing no one and knowing nothing about laundry. What followed was a series of high-stakes moves: rolling over his entire 401k through a ROBS structure while unemployed, tracking down and purchasing 43 dryers and 42 washers from a shuttered franchisee near Detroit, hauling the equipment across the state in rented box trucks with his neighbor Rob, and securing a commercial space on a seller-financed land contract. He and Rob then spent 50 days demo-ing 5,000 square feet by hand, removing 22 tons of material, and uncovering a hidden tunnel running beneath the entire strip mall.

Tim speaks openly about the moments of doubt, the constant outflow of money with no income coming in, and the relationships, with his distributor, his builder, his neighbor, local businesses, and community organizations, that have made the project possible. His advice for listeners is simple: walk or exercise every single day. The mental clarity it provides, he says, is worth more than the time it takes.

We’ll be following Tim along his journey as he gets Operation Laundry open for business.

Thanks for giving us a turn.

Host: Matt DeWolf | Guest: Tim Johnson, Founder, Operation Laundry, Holland, Michigan