Susan Toft, the Queensland-based founder of The Laundry Lady, was a corporate professional with a toddler and a spare room buried under laundry when she landed on the idea that would eventually generate AU$12 million — roughly $8.6 million (£6.4 million) — in annual revenue. She would wash other people's clothes.
Thirteen years later, the Australian pickup-and-delivery laundry platform operates across three countries with roughly 490 independent contractors and not a single franchise agreement.
