LaChena Clark:
When I was beginning my business, someone told me a joke and the joke was, how do you know who the owner is? And the punchline was, the one with the broom.
Sam Saperstein:
Welcome to season three of the Women on the Move Podcast. I'm your host, Sam Saperstein. Women on the Move is a global initiative at JPMorgan Chase, designed to help women grow their businesses, improve their financial health and build their careers. In the first two seasons, we spoke with a range of business leaders about gender equality and the leadership lessons they've learned throughout their careers. I highly recommend you go back and listen to those episodes if you haven't already. In season three, we're focused on female business owners. While many business owners are struggling during this pandemic women and people of color have additional challenges. We wanted to tell their stories of resilience and grit and how they're meeting the needs of their customers and communities.
Sam Saperstein:
When LaChena Clark lost her job in the 2008 recession, she knew the moment was right to launch the business she had long planned. So she started her first business, Sudsy Water Laundry & Dry Cleaners in Harlem. She since founded Mia's Bath House for Pets and has become a sought after speaker on entrepreneurship and a leader within her community. LaChena is the President and Senior Business Advisor of Bradhurst Merchant's Association in Harlem and advocates for minority owned businesses. I hope you enjoy our conversation. So LaChena thank you so much for joining us today on this podcast.
LaChena Clark:
Thank you for having me, Sam.
Sam Saperstein:
I wanted to start with understanding where your business began. So what inspired your original business plan for Sudsy Water?
LaChena Clark:
Well, I was a busy professional and I was always busy and I thought, wow, my private time was so limited because of work constraints. And I thought, how can I inspire other busy professionals? And what can we do to help them with the time? So we thought our business should be convenience based so that we can help. So that was my original concept for Sudsy Water, to help people save time on those mundane chores that we have to do such as laundry.
Sam Saperstein:
Thank you for doing that because that is something that I love help with. How did you pivot from being in the corporate world into becoming an entrepreneur? Did you spend a lot of time while you were still working a different job, thinking about your business plan before you launched it, or did you just quit that job and get right to it?
LaChena Clark:
Actually, I had formed my LLC in 2005. So you can tell we didn't open our business until late 2009, early 2010. So that's about five years working on the construct of what it would be, how it would become. And then I wasn't sure if I was ready, but we had an economic downturn in 2008. And so at that point I was laid off and then I knew I would go into business. It felt right at that moment.
Sam Saperstein:
So LaChena, tell me about trying to start a business in a recession and what you had to do to get it off the ground.
LaChena Clark:
Well, it was a converging moment for everyone at that time. The recession, that large recession, was kind of a new thing that we felt in the community and I wanted to start a business. So I didn't have income any longer, I was laid off. So I said, I would have to self fund my business. So the toughest thing then was to find that initial startup capital at that time. So we had to sell fund. And I always say we, because I think of my business as a corporation and a community based business. So I don't include just myself. I think of we, although I am the owner, but we had to just get started. So I think that moment was right.
Sam Saperstein:
Did folks in the community help you either find the location for the business or give you other knowledge to help you? How did you lean on the community at that time?
LaChena Clark:
People that I worked with in the community prior to becoming a business owner were the people that I asked for knowledge and information about business ownership. So people within the community helped me to find my locations, my spaces, so where I operate my business, those people that I know and work with and mentors of mine are now my landlords as well.
Sam Saperstein:
That's great. So LaChena, you have such a community centric business model. You're very passionate about serving the community and your business is in Harlem, New York. So I wanted to know if you could tell us a little bit about Harlem and the people who live there and the businesses that you work with. What do you love about the community?
LaChena Clark:
One of the things that I've always loved about the Harlem community is the friendliness, the ease at which people get to know each other, the good mornings on the sidewalk. It's easy to get to know the other business owners. We recognize each other, we're rooting for each other. We have a lot of history within Harlem, a lot of people are coming for the Hamilton Grange or people are coming for Sylvia's, which is like a business icon to me. People are coming for so much of the history that Harlem has to offer for Black owned business. And so one of the things that you see here is that you see that undeniable strength that small businesses have and have had for many years. That's one of the things that I love about Harlem, that we're recognizable and that we are community. I think small business is a community, we get to say hello to our neighbors. Most of the businesses have residential space above them. So we're kind of amongst each other, the neighbors, the business owners, we live, we work, we love, we play, we're all in the same community here.
Sam Saperstein:
And as you expand into different locations, how do you maintain that same local feel? That very local community feel if you're in different boroughs?
LaChena Clark:
One of the things that my dad had told me when I was starting the business was that we had to give back to the community. So we sort local elected officials, we went to community policing agencies, we went to the local precincts. We always made ourselves known within the community and we always offered our support of the community as a business. And that's something that I still continue to do util today. That was very important for my father. He thought we would give our business a face as well as a name.
Sam Saperstein:
I love that. That is a really wonderful concept. So tell me about the expansion into your other business and Mia's Bath House for Pets, where did the name Mia come from? I'm curious.
LaChena Clark:
Yes. Mia is a family pet and she passed away. And see, we loved Mia so much, Mia, we actually had Mia cremated, but we took her to the Vatican to spread her ashes. So, I know, she's such a spoiled little dog.
Sam Saperstein:
What kind of dog was Mia?
LaChena Clark:
She was a Bichon Frise and she was rescued. The shelter had found her, they said wandering on a racetrack or something, but she had so much personality and she fit into our lives so easily. As you can tell, we took her to Italy she controlled everything. She had us wrapped around her little finger, but she was a doll. And so that's where we got the name Mia from. So if you see our little logo, that's the picture of Mia.
Sam Saperstein:
You really have just commemorated her in such a wonderful way.
LaChena Clark:
Yes. We have a big picture of her in the store as well.
Sam Saperstein:
Was there any similarity between these businesses that you were able to use your knowhow, for example, from Sudsy Water and put that into Mia's?
LaChena Clark:
Absolutely. When we started thinking about expansion and talking to others, everyone was thinking housekeeping or whatever. And then I came upon this self serve pet wash concept, and I was like, that's it. It just felt right Mia's Bathhouse, it has the self-serve option, just like laundry would. It creates a convenience for customers, which all of my brands, if I expand to more brands will all be for convenience based. So when you go into Mia's you self wash, you leave, you don't have to clean up the bathroom after you wash your dog, we're saving you time. You get to walk the dog as well if you walk to Mia's. There's so many things about it that felt that it was the perfect expansion from Sudsy. And we get to become a family as well and a community based business with pet owners.
Sam Saperstein:
I would think so. I mean, pet owners probably love to talk about their pets. So you get to know people in a very personal way. Do you find that, does that deepen the relationships that you have with your customers?
LaChena Clark:
Always, we love dogs. And I think that you know that pet owners also have this tremendous amount of emotional attachment to their pets. So you always want to go someplace where you feel that people share that feeling with you when you want to leave your animal with them, or even engage in business that has your animal, it's personal.
Sam Saperstein:
Do you find a lot of overlaps between the clients in the two businesses?
LaChena Clark:
All the time, yes. We cross markets sometimes. One of the things we also do at Mia's is, we try to have an annual pet adoption fair. We call on all of the clients from Sudsy, from Mia's, we ask friends, we ask community based pet organizations to help us, to come and find people who can adopt pets.
Sam Saperstein:
So you recently did an interview where you spoke about the fear of failure when it came to starting your business. And I think many entrepreneurs have that same sense. So being able to forego a steady paycheck when you're getting into your own business, how did you overcome that fear and really go forward with the plan that you had been carefully working on?
LaChena Clark:
Yeah. I think that fear is something that cripples you and there is going to be that time in business where you have to ramp up. Me personally, I just said, I have to do it now, the timing was right. And so I had to make some simple lifestyle adjustments, like not eating out as much and those kinds of things, but I had to psych myself into saying, you have to do this and you have to make whatever sacrifices are necessary in order for this to be successful. And that was one of the sacrifices in which all people think that's a huge sacrifice and some people raise their brow. But to own the business as long as I've had, has said that I made the right choice and that there is a spirit within an entrepreneur that I think overcomes those obstacles.
Sam Saperstein:
So what would you tell other people in the same situation who have a great idea, but just are reluctant to get started?
LaChena Clark:
When I was beginning my business, someone told me a joke and the joke was, how do you know who the owner is? And the punchline was, the one with the broom. So we would sell that story to all people who were beginning their businesses to say, you in that upstart part of your business, you may have to do duties that don't say owner. So there's all the duties that the one with the broom has to do.
Sam Saperstein:
On the funding side. So you've received funding for your business from Washington Heights and Inwood Development Corporation and the New York Professional Advisors for Community Entrepreneurs. Are there benefits to receiving loans from local organizations or are there disadvantages to that? And how do you feel about being tied into the community that way?
LaChena Clark:
I think that there's advantages and disadvantages. WHIDC is a great organization, it helps businesses within the community. And one of the things is that I know if they come across anything additional, that doesn't have to be funding, it could just be mentorship, they would call me. And that's the good thing about using community resources. The disadvantage is probably the amount of money that you can borrow, but I feel like knowing who is giving you the money then knowing you, they're really walking past your business gives you a greater edge. So I've always used these locally based CBDOs. It has worked to our advantage.
Sam Saperstein:
So you mentioned a CBDO, a Community Based Development Organization?
LaChena Clark:
Yes.
Sam Saperstein:
I love that thought that there's mentoring support as well. The break even analysis is a great example. Have you gotten other types of help? You mentioned they proactively will reach out to you. What are the kinds of things they would offer to help you with?
LaChena Clark:
Well, community based organizations have helped me with my MWBE certification for New York State and New York City. These are all things at no cost people have asked me to sit on panels or people have recommended me for other business layers, like one company, one organization, community based organization. They have some rental properties, so they asked us to install the laundry rooms. So it helps to expand your business. I'm known in the community as a business owner and people are rooting for the success of my business, and they're also aiding and helping me in the success of my business.
Sam Saperstein:
So speaking of that, you do a lot of work with the Bradhurst Merchant's Association, I believe you're a senior business advisor with them. How do you then give back to other businesses in the community?
LaChena Clark:
All the lessons that I've learned. So don't make others mistakes learn from them. So as I know information and grow as an entrepreneur and have things told to me within the community, someone that works for the department of labor is also one of Sudsy Waters customers, we do this gentleman's laundered shirts. And so when he found out about me and the Bradhurst Merchant's Association, he said, "Hey, New York State has all of these programs to help small business." And so he came to the Bradhurst Merchant's with this team, he talked about what those things are, so we can share those tools. There's a way to have tax credits for your State tax that's owed to the State of New York, if you hire certain people within the community. So we have someone from the labor department to call and that's how I advise businesses. How can we save money? How can we lower your unemployment rate? How can you lower your workers' compensation, insurance rate?
LaChena Clark:
All those things on the back end, I kind of want to be, that Bradhurst Merchant's to be a compliance department for small business, because we aren't large corporations. We don't have that team of people trying to find out all of those things for us.
Sam Saperstein:
I love that concept really trying to be the staff that can be shared more broadly, the folks who can help you think through certain financial or other aspects of the business. I mean, that's so important. And you can really have a broad reach then with that kind of team.
LaChena Clark:
Yes. And then the information gets shared over and over. We expand the Merchants Association, the businesses that are small and I'm quoting and putting my fingers in quotes now, which is stay open, stay strong, stay healthy, because those are the things that really close businesses, violations, sales tax. You may think you're doing the right thing, but you're not.
Sam Saperstein:
Can you talk through the impact that COVID-19 has had on your business and employees and also the community?
LaChena Clark:
Sure. COVID-19 when it came, it was devastating. One of my first images of COVID was I had to go into times square and it was like a movie. There was no one on the street. So those first few weeks of COVID, we didn't have customers, we didn't have phone calls. And so I think that the community, everyone was calling the businesses that I support through the Bradhurst Merchant's Association were in shock and horror. And everyone felt a little bit of fear because we didn't know what was next. As the time has gone by, I think that everyone is starting to reopen now it's the middle of summer. So we're enthusiastic. And that is something that I'm really glad that the attitudes have changed since March, that everyone is moving forward. My business, we've had loss of income, of course, but one of the things I thought was, we're in the community, how can we help others? After my initial shock I thought, well, we're not so bad off, we should lend a hand to others, so we started.
LaChena Clark:
I reached out to community organizations and Doctors Without Borders asked me if we would let homeless people come in to wash their laundry. And we've done that. We've reached out to another organization to say, hey, we'll do some laundry service for the elderly because we know that they were hit the hardest. And so I think most businesses are in crisis mode and they are looking to stay open and to grow. And so we're hoping that the reopening of the city lends to people coming out of crisis mode and coming into a new standard. I was so happy that the city allowed restaurants to put those seating areas in the sidewalk area. I think that that has made a lot of small business owners really excited because now they're seeing that they're serving people and people are getting to socialize with one another. And then it seems like we're moving back to kind of a normal society.
Sam Saperstein:
Do you see any changes coming out of this pandemic that you will keep in the business? Any way you've set things up or any way that you interact with customers, do you think there's any long lasting changes you've made?
LaChena Clark:
I hope that we make long lasting changes. I think the no contact, pickup and delivery for Sudsy, we're doing the same thing at Mia's. There's a level of convenience there because now we're trusting each other a little more through COVID to do the right thing. So as we put our safety plan out and we have to expose that to our customers, they're seeing the things that we're doing to protect the walk-in business, but we're sharing all of that information. And I'm hoping that some protocols from COVID, social distancing, time, everyone is on time right now because of social distancing. So we're meeting all those standards and I think that's wonderful and great, even though this has been a pivotal change in business, and I don't believe that we're going to open any time soon. So we have to learn how to operate business.
Sam Saperstein:
So this pandemic has had a much greater impact on Black and Hispanic communities and businesses. How have you been handling challenges during this pandemic? Do you have other conversations with other Black business owners about how to survive?
LaChena Clark:
All the time I see a lot of people within my community are encouraged to stay open and to continue to try. We see business failures now, but I think moving forward, we're going to see much more. Because if the economy goes through a recession, small retail businesses are disposable income, right? Our customers have to have additional funds to come to our businesses. And so COVID has brought this disparity and this conversation about systemic racism and things, and how Black businesses aren't receiving contracts from the city or being left out of banking or home ownership. 50 years ago has had, or 60 years ago or 70 years ago, or a hundred years ago has had a rippling effect on the communities of color. And one of the things that I always say is that I'm a business person who happens to be a Black woman, right. I just think that everyone should look for good business, and everyone should do good business. And that's like a secondary note, right?
Sam Saperstein:
Right. Now you've mentioned that before the desire to really move away from categorizing businesses as women owned or Black owned and just talking about them being good business, is that what you're meaning?
LaChena Clark:
Yes. In the sense that if there's support for women on business, sure, I love that. But should we lean on that? Or should it be like a woman on business who's really good. That their support, if we've felt like businesses of color have been left out of certain contracts or opportunities, then we should open the door for opportunities. But we have to make sure that we're operating good businesses as well, so that we can step into opportunities. So if people recognize that there's these monikers that are saying limited, then I don't want to support that. I want to support yes, we recognize that we've left women behind or that we've left Black women behind in opportunities and we are opening the door for opportunities. But I think we have to run good business in order to go through the door for opportunities.
Sam Saperstein:
With all the public support that we've seen for Black owned businesses, have you noticed any real changes on the ground?
LaChena Clark:
Yeah. I noticed like signs and businesses that said Black owned and I'm hoping that is encouraging people to utilize those businesses and to go into those businesses and to offer real feedback to the business owners, good, bad, indifferent so that we can continue and to strive on. Let's hope that the conversation continues and that more help and more people can recognize Black owned businesses. But also, my business, I want it to be good, I want it to be ready for new opportunities.
Sam Saperstein:
Well, so speaking of that, what do you think is next for your business? I'm so curious as to the next space you might go into.
LaChena Clark:
One of my broad goals was that we'd buy some land probably in upstate New York and we'd build out a large laundry facility and that we're doing pickup and delivery service all over New York City and Westchester counties. I'm employing people through those communities as well throughout all of those communities. And for Mia's Bathhouse, I want to franchise Mia's I think that Mia's can be a national brand that can help communities, help dogs, adopt pets and learn about what animals bring to your household, the energy and the change of the dynamic when you are a pet owner.
Sam Saperstein:
I love both of those. I hope you get there on both fronts. Well, LaChena it's so nice to talk to you. Thank you so much for spending the time with us and for all that you're doing for your community, especially right now.
LaChena Clark:
Thank you, Sam. It's been a pleasure talking to you as well,
Sam Saperstein:
Many thanks to LaChena Clark for joining us today. Her story of starting a business during the 2008 recession is a lesson we can all learn from in the current COVID-19 pandemic. I hope the advice she shared on getting through a crisis, leaning on other business owners and helping your community, inspired you to push forward. The mission of Women on the Move is to help women in their professional and personal lives. Our goal is to introduce you to people with great ideas, inspiring stories, and a passion to make a difference. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and subscribe, so you won't miss any others. For JPMorgan Chase's Women on the Move, I'm Sam Saperstein.
