How to Buy a Business Instead of Starting One
How do you buy an existing business instead of starting one from scratch?
You find a business that already has customers and cash flow, often one owned by a retiring baby boomer, and you go ask the owner directly, even if it isn't for sale. Alyssa Mouton bought her laundromat after mailing letters to owners in her area, and the owner who wrote back offered seller financing. Go in knowing nothing is truly passive: you'll need trusted people, written procedures, and real grit before you can step back.
By Marina Tolentino | October 1, 2026
Most of us think being an entrepreneur means starting from zero.
The idea, the name, the customers, the systems — all of it, built by you, at the kitchen table, after bedtime.
But what if the business you want already exists, and the owner is just waiting for the right person to ask?
That's exactly what happened to my guest this week, Alyssa Mouton, better known as Laundry Lyss. She spent a decade as a chemist, had her son, and realized the corporate ladder wasn't the life she wanted anymore. So instead of inventing something new, she bought a laundromat.
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Why buying a business can beat starting one
Alyssa got the idea on her hour-long commute, listening to podcasts. One theme kept coming up: baby boomers are retiring, and a lot of them own businesses with no plan for who takes over.
You've probably heard the "buy a boring business" conversation online. Alyssa didn't just nod along. She looked at the mom-and-pop laundromats near her and saw something specific: most were self-service only. Coins in, do it yourself, go home.
To her, that meant money being left on the table. She already had a plan for what she'd add the day she got the keys.
That's the difference between buying a business and buying a building. She wasn't stepping in to let it run. She was stepping in to grow it.
So before she did anything else, she got educated. She took Laundromat University, a course from the Laundromat Resource Podcast, and learned how to tell a good deal from a bad one.
Watch Alyssa share how she learned the ropes at 6:01
The letter that worked
Then she did something most of us would be too nervous to try. She wrote letters to laundromat owners in the area — including the one ten minutes away that was in her top three.
That couple wrote back and said, let's sit down and talk.
They weren't planning to sell. It wasn't even on their radar. But they were about to run for political office and knew they wouldn't have time for the laundromat anymore. Her letter showed up at exactly the right moment.
Then the owner offered something she was totally unprepared for: seller financing. She could have gone the bank route, but financing with the seller cut out so much of the waiting. They started talking around October, and she owned the business on January 1, 2023.
When either of them tells the story now, they say the same thing: it was God.
Think about that from the other side of the table. Her letter was an answered prayer for someone asking, "Who's supposed to take care of this now?"
Sometimes your next move isn't something you build. It's something you go ask for.
Watch how fast the deal closed at 8:42
The truth about "passive" income
Here's where Alyssa gets refreshingly blunt: nothing is truly passive.
Not laundromats. Not rental properties. Not the business that guy online swears he runs in two hours a week.
If you want something to grow, it's going to need you. If you're still working a full-time job, expect calls at work and time at the shop on your days off. You can step back eventually, but only after you've built:
- People you trust
- Written operating procedures
- Training based on those procedures, not on whatever's in your head that day
And if a deal promises you'll never have to show up? Alyssa calls that a red flag. Do not step near it.
For a lot of us starting small with one or two things, you're still in it. If your staff doesn't show, that's you at 10 p.m. figuring it out. And that's okay. That's what it looks like to steward something well. If you've been carrying the weight of "it should feel easier by now," I talked about that in what to do when success feels heavy as a working mom.
How she hired without losing control
Alyssa started with her own network. For her, that meant family. She's honest that it doesn't work for everyone, and that hiring family can get testy.
Her rule: keep the money separate. Either you control it, or someone you trust deeply does. Then train everyone from the same written procedures.
Her pickup and delivery team? Two people. You don't need a huge staff to run a real business.
Watch Alyssa break down hiring and delegating at 11:57
Yes, there's a horror story
Alyssa loves her customers. She says so twice. But she'll also tell you people are the hardest part of the job.
She keeps a very clean facility. And still, one day, somebody pooped in the trash can. Right next to the toilet.
She likes having her hair and nails done. She also cleaned that trash can herself. That's the part the renovation videos don't show you, and it's why she says owning a business like this takes grit, and it'll humble you if you're not humble already.
If this episode has you rethinking what your next business move could look like, follow Work Like A Mother so you don't miss next week's conversation. Every Tuesday we talk faith, motherhood, and building work that fits the life God gave you. Follow the podcast here.
Multiple income streams under one roof
Alyssa owns one laundromat. She calls it "multifaceted, strong and mighty," because she runs several income streams out of it:
- Self-service plus add-ons — soap and snack vending, an ATM, and claw machines for the kids
- Drop-off service — leave your laundry, pick it up done
- Pickup and delivery — this took off after 2020, when everyone got used to having groceries brought to the door
- Commercial accounts — hospitals, restaurants, and spas
- Federal government contracts — her favorite
- Dry cleaning — another way to expand
And for the mom wondering about a side hustle: Alyssa's advice is to look at doing laundry for other people. Everybody needs it. Most of us never think to hand it off.
The contract she never planned on
Before she ever bought the laundromat, Alyssa had taken a government contracting course. Her plan was to be a middleman: register on SAM.gov, find contracts, and bring in local businesses to do the work.
Then the laundromat came. She searched for laundry contracts, found one right there, and bid on it since she was already registered.
Right after the deadline, she got a call. She'd won it, and they needed her to start picking up — right now.
Now she services sheets, linens, uniforms, and comforters for military bases multiple times a week. She went from a van that couldn't fit the industrial bins to running it with a U-Haul to buying a cargo van within a week.
Watch Alyssa explain how government contracting works at 19:55
Her takeaway: be ready before you bid. It probably won't take a year to hear back. It might take a week. And those contracts can run around five years — steady work from a customer who doesn't ghost you.
Waiting on God instead of chasing every opportunity
For all the hustle in this story, the part that stuck with me most was quiet.
Alyssa said her biggest obstacle right now is learning to wait and listen instead of jumping at everything that looks like a good opportunity. God has been leading her, she said, but she hasn't always been listening. So she's learning to pray on it, sit with it, and wait until she sees it in Scripture or hears from Him clearly.
Watch Alyssa talk about listening for God's guidance at 25:44
We don't want to be two steps ahead of Him or two steps behind. We want to walk at His pace. I wrote more about that in what your calling looks like as a Christian working mom.
How did she get from casual Sunday faith to needing His presence every day? "It was wilderness," she said. A season where she couldn't fix anything herself and had to hand over control.
Her picture for it is a tree. Shallow roots, and the storm knocks you over. Roots that have been through some things go deep, and the storm doesn't.
What helped her get there:
- A church where the Spirit really flows, not one that feels like going through the motions
- Sisters in Christ who've been through hard things and can say, "Just hold on"
- Opening her Bible every day — her challenge to you, too
Your next move might already exist
If you've heard the "buy a boring business" talk for years and never moved, Alyssa's advice is simple: don't be afraid. Start writing your plan. Spend time with God. Figure out what your path is supposed to be.
The door you're praying for might already be standing there. Your job is to stay close enough to hear when He says walk through it.
You can find Alyssa at alyssamoutonbrand.com and on Instagram at @laundry_lyss_.
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About Marina Tolentino
Marina Tolentino is a REALTOR®, author, and the host of the Work Like A Mother podcast, where she helps Christian working moms feel confident about their next move — at home, in faith, and in business. Listen and subscribe at marinatolentino.com/podcast.
