BizTech Superhero

Joshua McNary [00:00:00]:
Welcome to The BizTech Superhero, the podcast that empowers you to unleash the technology superpowers within your business. I'm your host, Joshua McNary. I'm joined by today's superhero, Alex Bohmeater, founder of BO Laundry Company based in Marion, Iowa. Alex didn't set out to create the best smelling laundry balls on the planet. After graduating with a data science degree, he took a full-time job to fund his entrepreneurial experiments knowing early on that 40 years in corporate America wasn't his only plan. While working on his second startup, he found himself standing in the laundry aisle at Target looking at the same old tired scents—fresh linen, tropical breeze—all artificial and forgettable. That moment sparked an idea hiding in plain sight. Today, Alex and I will swap stories about building his product laundry business, lessons from serving his customers online and in person, and where the tech and artificial intelligence is taking consumer product businesses in the future.

Joshua McNary [00:01:00]:
Alex, welcome to the show.

Alex Beaumier [00:01:02]:
Joshua, great seeing you again. Thanks for having me on.

Joshua McNary [00:01:06]:
So for folks just meeting you for the first time, could you share a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Alex Beaumier [00:01:12]:
Sure. As you covered, my name's Alex Bomer. That's where Boma Laundry Co. comes from. But I graduated from UWGB University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, in 2022, the data science degree, primarily using Python. I was doing internships, advanced internships through the same company all throughout college, ended up getting a full-time job. But early on, I was like, I don't know if I can do 40 years. I have all these ideas for businesses and whatnot.

Alex Beaumier [00:01:38]:
So I started my first company, which was to move people's trash cans. And then I realized that my workforce would be only available during the summer. So I asked that real quick. But afterwards, I like smelling like cologne. And I noticed in the laundry aisle at Target that there wasn't hardly anything for guys. On top of that, wool dryer balls were becoming super popular. So I was like, I wonder if I can make like an eco-friendly product that not only smells good and lasts a long time, make something that I would want to buy, other consumers might want. So after about a year of experimenting, with the dryer balls.

Alex Beaumier [00:02:12]:
I started doing vendor shows and farmers markets to gather that product-market fit data. And then from there, I'm just taking it step by step as I figure out how to do business.

Joshua McNary [00:02:24]:
When we first met, we were amongst some friendly entrepreneurial circles, and I was introduced to you from a standpoint of this guy is just trying crazy fun stuff. And I really appreciate that. And your little bio there, I think explains that. For those that are joining us today to understand you just want to try things and experiment. And that's what entrepreneurs should do. That's where I've started and what I do. And I love working with people and being involved with people or being surrounded by people like you. So I'm really happy you could be here on the show today.

Joshua McNary [00:02:53]:
So specifically for the Beau Laundry Company, then can you explain a little bit about what kind of technology you're using in this startup and how that's been going? Maybe some of the things you tried at first and maybe what has been working better as you've been evolving?

Alex Beaumier [00:03:07]:
So when I first started, I was joining every single Facebook group that I could, small business groups. I knew I wanted to do something with the laundry, so I was joining like candle making groups and just like product development groups, trying to gather as much information as possible. So I exploded at the beginning with doing Etsy and Faire and tried like Amazon and even Facebook Marketplace to try and sell my product, which was a brand new product. I learned very quickly that You don't sell brand new products on Facebook Marketplace, but I tried a little bit of everything. And as the years have gone on, I've really just honed in on focusing on wholesale through FAIR and making in-person contacts and especially Shopify. As an e-commerce brand and product-centered business, Shopify has been the biggest game changer for me personally. And then from there, I would say Faire is also something I use regularly to try and connect with businesses that I can't connect with in my own community. I actually just had an order from Canada get placed, so now Bill Laundrie Co.

Alex Beaumier [00:04:13]:
is in Canada among the coasts and down south, and of course in Marion, Iowa, Cedar Rapids area.

Joshua McNary [00:04:19]:
Going international. I like it. That's great. That's awesome. Okay, let's talk a little bit more about Faire and Shopify. I think those are the two things things you identified as current tools that you're using. So explain to our listeners a little bit more about those. I have quite a bit of experience with Shopify, but I'd like to learn more about Faire as well as I'd like to get back and talk about why Shopify is good for you today in this conversation.

Joshua McNary [00:04:42]:
But let's go and start maybe with Faire and then move into Shopify and explain where and how those tools are instrumental to you.

Alex Beaumier [00:04:50]:
Yeah, absolutely. So Faire, tackles the wholesale part of it. It is essentially a marketplace for small businesses or businesses to meet other businesses rather than having to go to trade shows or meet one-on-one or send out cold emails, which honestly, if you get a cold email, chances are it's going in the delete folder anyways. Faire lets you connect with businesses. You can talk about your product, you can showcase your products, you can work and create terms with other small businesses, but essentially it's a B2B platform. From there though, I would say that Faire would be secondary to the wholesale aspect of it, but Shopify is really where all the magic happens. I tried starting a product business, but I didn't have a website to point people to. So in 2026, you need a website, even if you don't drive traffic to it.

Alex Beaumier [00:05:42]:
I don't drive any traffic. I don't pay for ads. I don't post hardly any content. I connect with most of my customers, if not all of them, in person at farmers markets, vendor shows. But from there, having a website has been instrumental as well as Shopify itself just being instrumental because they've really built out their ecosystem to not only just be a website or an online marketplace where people can buy your product, but they support physical POS systems. So I'll go to trade shows or vendor shows or craft fairs every weekend, talk with customers, actually make sales. And that's like quick cash. I think of that as that just immediately gets reinvested.

Alex Beaumier [00:06:19]:
But not only do you get to push the brand from the founder point of view, but you also get to make a little side scratch to keep growing the business.

Joshua McNary [00:06:28]:
That's great. The wholesale side is a whole business really in and of itself. And to have a platform, a web-based platform to help you make those connections is interesting and certainly an area that you continue to grow as in those areas. But with regards to Shopify, I've personally worked on that platform for clients over the last decade plus as it's been around, and they have definitely upped their game over the years. And I've had heard so many small business owners like you say, oh, Shopify is awesome because it's, yeah, it is a website and it has the e-commerce components, but then it does have that inventory side as well as the POS side, like you said, and integrating that all together. Now you do pay for that. And there's an element, I want to call it hard lock in any platform you can move from, but you're building within their environment and then you're beholden to that environment. Do you feel any of that pressure within that system, or is that just— you just don't care? That hasn't come up.

Alex Beaumier [00:07:21]:
I will say Shopify is massive, and when you start building in it, you do get locked in. But I think they've done a great job with connecting with small businesses like myself and of course larger businesses that use the platform to make sure that all sizes can fit into it, whether you're small and starting out like I was 2, 3 years ago, not even aware of like how to use all the functionality of the platform, or you're doing $1 million plus, $2 million a year and you offer a service like it's not just for e-commerce, but it's really good at— for really good for e-commerce product-based businesses.

Joshua McNary [00:07:57]:
And it bridges that gap between, again, those two worlds, which the older ways of doing things or other ways of doing things, often you have to figure out a way to integrate those things on your own., and then you have inventory and you have just accounting-related issues and all kinds of problems. So there's definitely value there. I was curious if you ever felt that tension there as a platform that is, you know, built to basically keep you around forever. Although if it's helping you make money, who cares if you're paying them? And the fact that they've created a huge system over the last decade that can really grow with you, like you just said.

Alex Beaumier [00:08:30]:
To add to that, Shopify has And I want to let you know, I'm not sponsored by them. They're not paying me.

Joshua McNary [00:08:36]:
No, me either.

Alex Beaumier [00:08:38]:
But they're— the ecosystem allows you to grow with them. So it's not just the platform where you're locked into and they have to figure out and tool around for alternative options or alternative components to try and fit into it. So for example, I just started with a website and a link to buy best smelling balls. I call them best smelling balls, dryer balls. Or laundry soap, but what they do is they offer apps so you can become a Shopify developer and create a subscription app for businesses to use. Now, it costs money per month. Usually they'll give you a free trial, so you get to try it and integrate it, see what it's like first. But you can really customize a store, and that's what I like about Shopify over something like Squarespace.

Alex Beaumier [00:09:23]:
Squarespace is excellent if you're not super website savvy and Maybe you don't have an artistic eye for creating like a good-looking website and you just want to get a product down or a service down and make money. Whereas Shopify, I want to make a subscription-based protein shake brand. They offer all the tools just sitting there. All you have to do is integrate them and then make the website look good. And then after that, it's just how do you get customers?

Joshua McNary [00:09:50]:
I think there's a lesson in this little discussion we've had about Shopify in that when you're looking at tools, you need to consider all the things we're discussing, which is, okay, what is your actual why? What are you trying to do? Which in your case was build this laundry brand and do it in both online and in-person environments. And then you wanted to know that you had opportunities to either grow with the system or evolve with the system, or maybe it, depending on what system we're talking about, options to out of it or whatnot if you need to, if it can't grow with you, for instance. So it's not so much even about Shopify as it is the idea of when we're thinking about our tools, making sure that we have an on-ramp and then a growth ramp with the tools, which it sounds like you feel comfortable with your situation on Shopify, which is awesome. So I think that's an important lesson that anybody that's listening to this, whether they're wanting to use Shopify or not, could take away from this conversation.

Alex Beaumier [00:10:42]:
In terms of a broader business technology standpoint, there's so many tools out there that fix so many problems and Personally, what I did is I listed out the problems I was having and then bundled them into one.

Joshua McNary [00:10:54]:
All right.

Alex Beaumier [00:10:55]:
All these problems feel like they could go together. Let's see if there's a system out there that could fix all of them all at once instead of having the, oh, I'm not getting online customers, single problem, single solution. Personally, I bundle all the problems, find a solution. It doesn't just have to be Shopify. It could be an accounting software. Small businesses use QuickBooks. That's just the go-to. So.

Alex Beaumier [00:11:18]:
When you have a bunch of accounting problems, find a solution. That solution could be QuickBooks. We have a bunch of social media problems or content problems. So if you find that you're spending a lot of time fitting your content to each platform— Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, ad platforms— you could find a tool that specifically helps you with those collection of problems.

Joshua McNary [00:11:43]:
Absolutely. And especially when you are doing this work In your case, this is a night job for you and you only have so much time. And that's true for anybody, no matter if you're working a project full-time or as a side gig or just as an extra income stream or whatever. Finding what really matters to you, that idea of defining your whys, defining your problems, and then picking the tools that make sense for that basket of problems makes a lot of sense. So I appreciate those comments. It certainly is along the lines of what I talk to my clients about as well. Okay, I want to jump into another kind of line of thought here. It picks up on what we were just talking about, is that you are— in my perception of you is that you are able to make things happen and pull things together, have some technology aptitude, and are a guerrilla marketer as well.

Joshua McNary [00:12:31]:
And you're also a— you actually make the product too. So you're a jack of all trades in that. And from the technology standpoint, as a biz tech superhero, you're able to bring that all together. So can you talk about like that responsibility of having these different hats and then how maybe technology in that mix, how that feels to you? Do you just feel like a technology native based on the fact you came out of kind of a development environment and that just comes easily to you? Or I guess how does that fit into you as a business person?

Alex Beaumier [00:13:01]:
Given my degree and the fact that I've been surrounded by technology for as long as I can remember, I would say, yeah, it is definitely easier for me to understand like where tech could fit and using specific tech to solve the problem. But as for somebody that isn't like tech savvy, I think spending time with the tools is the best thing you could do. It's if you watch 1,000 videos on how to work out, but you don't go to the gym, you're not going to know how to work out. It's going to feel foreign to you. But For specifics, obviously using Shopify for the e-commerce. And for marketing, I would say I use Facebook the most. I just like the platform. I like the audience on there, as well as the various forms of content you can post.

Alex Beaumier [00:13:47]:
You can do long form, you can do short form, you can do text-based, you can do photo, and you can run ads. Whereas something like Instagram, that's going to be more picture-based and like professional marketing, Photoshopped pictures, making it look good, running ads kind of thing. So I like the fact that I can still be a founder and talk as if I am the brand as I still learn how to develop the brand into its own standalone thing. I can connect with customers as I would in person. It's literally just like talking to them.

Joshua McNary [00:14:20]:
You were talking about marketing there, and I want to a little bit more about that because you're scrappy, as we discussed earlier, and how you're going about this. You're going to events, farmers markets, various events, expos and things, and talking to people directly, which you noted in Facebook. You're able to translate that personality you have and the brand personality directly from you to them through those technologies. But I guess with regards to marketing, you have that in-person persona and you've got this online persona. Are you primarily relying on kind of that organic persona in those, both of those environments in person and digital, or are you doing paid advertising? Are you doing any kind of funnels or any kind of other strategies around your marketing that has some connections with.

Alex Beaumier [00:15:04]:
The tech you're using? So I would say I'm using the email campaigns in Shopify. Again, that's another reason why I love it is you can build the campaigns, the funnels for email marketing right in Shopify. I personally use Klaviyo. I think a lot of people use Klaviyo, but I'm mostly talking to people as I am myself with the brand perspective in person. I wouldn't say I do a whole lot of paid ads, and that's mainly because I'm stuck in this crux right now that maybe business technology could help me with, but it's the— I'm the manufacturer, so I have to make all the products, and if I advertise, then I get way more orders than I can potentially hold on to. And the last thing I want to do is give people a bad customer experience. So I've limited myself to in-person shows for right now, but as I'm re-strategizing in 2026 for Beau Laundry Co., that's going to be a, a center I'm going to be touching on is blog posting because Shopify also supports blogs. It's a great way to connect with people that organically search questions related to your product.

Alex Beaumier [00:16:11]:
On Google. So when you search a question like, are dryer balls safe, Google will then also post underneath some of the answers they give you alternative questions that other people ask. So it could be, are dryer balls safe as the first one, but then what are dryer balls made of? Do dryer balls contain anything toxic? And they'll give you a list. So you can use the blog in Shopify to write a post about those specific questions and then rank higher. And so long as your SEO is good, Google will show those more niche questions to people in their search engine natively. So that way you can start ranking on Google and these search platforms without having to pay for keywords or pay for search space or anything like that.

Joshua McNary [00:16:57]:
Absolutely. That content aspect is what makes marketing go in our day and age now and only is evolving as we're thinking about the artificial intelligence tools also being part of that. Those questions you mentioned, for instance, is a direct connection to these AI functions. That are available in Google or any of the chatbots that are out there today. And that's how people find information now as well and find products because they're looking for your product through conversation and through research that they're doing. And you have a niche product that serves the right person at the right time and they're going to want to buy it. So you just got to show up in that, which is just is an easy word to say, right? Because it's not just, it's, there's work definitely to get there. With regards to the overarching current marketing process you had leveraging Shopify, as you noted, in various forms.

Joshua McNary [00:17:43]:
So really the main ask right now you're working towards is just get them on the list, right? Just get them in your sphere of influence so that you can continue to market.

Alex Beaumier [00:17:52]:
I've really focused on trying to build a grassroots community in Cedar Rapids, Marion area. I like to take things slow, but for 2026, I'm going to be focusing on making content to tell more people. And the cool thing about content is that like marketing or ads, paying for ads, is you reach your specific buyer or your specific customer or your audience faster. And with that usually comes a reduced time of buying. Whereas I have to set up and prepare for vendor shows, and I can take upwards of 5 to 10 hours per week, and I have to go somewhere every weekend. So I have to be at a physical location doing something, making content, targets the right customer, but then does it 24/7.

Joshua McNary [00:18:34]:
When you're a small business owner and you're trying to do all the things and you have a day job too, you have to find ways to have things happen for you passively. And that's an area that sounds like you're evolving into in your iteration, which we all want that whether big business, small business, whatever. How do we continue to be able to uplevel what we're able to do and help more people ultimately, which is what you want to do to get your product, which I use, I've used And it's great. I know from firsthand experience that it's great. So if we can get that into more people's hands, you're gonna be able to help more people and then build your business and then evolve from there. So that's awesome.

Alex Beaumier [00:19:08]:
I would say you don't have to try and reinvent the wheel. The major platforms are the major platforms and everybody else uses them. And as personally for me, I try to come up with the crazy ideas that don't exist, that customers don't even think about because that's just how my brain works. The last 2, 3 years, I was like, I have to try and do something big. I have to try and reach people that nobody else is doing. I'm gonna try to build a business from the ground up instead of contract manufacturing it out. And what I've learned is just use the systems that are already in place. Don't fight it.

Alex Beaumier [00:19:41]:
Learn how to use Facebook. It's going to be uncomfortable. Learn how to use TikTok. It might be uncomfortable. And I personally, I do IT for a living. I don't like putting my face on a camera, but it's in those doing the uncomfortable things that you learn the most. And in terms of a business technology standpoint, use technology that's already given and already implicit in everybody's life. How many times do you open your phone just to check Facebook? I do it more times than I have fingers and toes.

Alex Beaumier [00:20:07]:
If I could tell you one thing, it's don't reinvent the wheel because it doesn't work. The wheel's circular for a reason, if that makes sense.

Joshua McNary [00:20:14]:
Get a good idea, use the tools, watch the 20 YouTube videos or articles or AI chats that you need to get enough to get going and then take action. Any entrepreneur out there should know that. Any business person, anybody that feels in a rut, period, should consider that, right? Take some action, have a conversation, try the tech out, explore it, and then once you find something that you can land on, take action. So absolutely, I totally agree with you on that. And again, that's why I like talking to you because you're that kind of guy, an action guy. I appreciate that. Yeah, the themes today of technology, marketing, product-market fit are, I think, important to any business, whether you're a small business getting going or, you know, a big honking enterprise here. And I think that is an important aspect to bring out when we're talking about technology, is technology for technology's sake is not anything.

Joshua McNary [00:21:09]:
It comes from a passion for a product, a passion for a marketing plan or a way of implementing that and a product market fit to help customers. That's what's really important. So can you speak a little bit about that element for you and how you've actually been able to do all of this kind of in your side time? Yes, enabled by technology, but really about all these other things.

Alex Beaumier [00:21:36]:
I would start by giving you two small tidbits. The first one is that in the 21st century, you should be leveraging any technology you come across. If that's the free version of ChatGPT, go right ahead. You should absolutely use that. If you can figure out a way to use ChatGPT to write emails that are consistent with your brand or even your own persona as you try and develop the brand, absolutely go forward with it. But do remember that the overarching idea is that action is the basis of success. And to get a little philosophical, that's the exact fortune teller cookie, like the fortune cookie thing I have the back on my phone is literally a fortune cookie piece of paper that says action is the basis of success. So whenever you get wrapped up in your head about what you could do, what you should do, and then whether you do it or you don't, doing the thing is what's going to get you the results.

Alex Beaumier [00:22:33]:
And using the technology, such as the things that already exist, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, doing the things that other people are doing, like making content, collecting the data that is going to help you grow. Maybe it won't help you grow right now, but it'll help you grow in the future. Getting your product in the hands of customers and hearing them talk about it, that I think is The most important, like overarching thing you can do.

Joshua McNary [00:23:02]:
All right, Alex, that was excellent. I really appreciate that little philosophical rant, I guess you just did there. Again, it's good stuff. I think we all could be reminded of that. Maybe we've heard that before, maybe we haven't, but if I know I've heard that kind of message before and it's great to hear it because it reminds us as we're starting here recording this in early 2026, let's go, let's move forward. Let's be, take some action. Let's. Think about how to better leverage technology that's all around us, the new stuff, the old stuff, whatever, and, and make some things happen.

Joshua McNary [00:23:32]:
So I do appreciate that. All right, we're getting close to the end of our time here today, Alex, so I want to bring us to the final question we ask all people on the show here. What is one actionable tip that you would give businesses looking to better leverage technology? And I'm going to add the preface, you just gave an awesome little rant there that I think could answer this question, but Can you give us a little more?

Alex Beaumier [00:23:56]:
Keep it simple. Find the problems that already plague you and your business. List them out. Get it physical. Don't put it in your phone because when you put it in your phone, you're going to forget it. It's a— if it's a whiteboard, great. Pen and paper, great. Sticky note, put it right up on your monitor so that it's the first thing that you see.

Alex Beaumier [00:24:15]:
But getting out of your head and despite the fact that everyone's vying for your attention and your wallet, Don't buy a solution and then make the problems afterwards. Don't put the chicken before the egg or the cart before the horse. There's going to be a solution for everything that you could think about in terms of growing your business, but where the leverage occurs is when you can use one solution to fix multiple problems. In terms of the scrappiness, kind of jig together a solution for each problem as it comes up. But then when you realize you're like, oh man, I'm— most of my day is spent working on problems, then start bundling those problems together to find a solution. And for an example, for me, it was, I don't have a way to contact people, customers, or give them a place to shop my products without me being there. And I don't have a POS system to collect those transactions when I do talk to them in person. Oh, okay.

Alex Beaumier [00:25:15]:
What's— what tools are out there? Shopify is perfect. I can customize it the way I need to be, etc., etc. So just remember that action is the basis of success and don't find a solution before you have the problem.

Joshua McNary [00:25:30]:
Excellent wisdom, Alex. I appreciate that. And I can use that myself in my day-to-day work just to be reminded, even though I've been doing this for over a decade. And I know that you're employing those tactics and that's why you're being successful in what you're doing. So thank you for sharing that with me and with all of us that are been listening to you here today. Alex, this has been great. Where can people find out more about you online?

Alex Beaumier [00:25:54]:
Yeah, Facebook, Instagram. Right now I'm doing Beau Laundry Co. That's spelled B-E-A-U Laundry Co. You can find me at that domain.com. Otherwise, email is a.beaumier, spelled B-E-A-U-M-I-E-R, at yahoo.com. Feel free to shoot me an email if you have a problem. I'll try my best to fix it or figure it out or give you some wisdom or some advice. Otherwise, you can follow me on the socials.

Joshua McNary [00:26:23]:
Perfect. Thanks for joining me today.

Alex Beaumier [00:26:25]:
Thanks, Josh. Thanks for having me on. Great talking to you.

Joshua McNary [00:26:28]:
All right, folks, that's it for today. Be sure to subscribe to this podcast on any of the popular directories. Tell a friend about what you have learned here on Biz Tech Superhero and subscribe to my e-newsletter at McNaryMarketing.com/subscribe. Thanks for listening. I'm Joshua McNary, and I hope you will join me again next time so you can learn how to become a biz tech superhero.

Alex Beaumier [00:26:51]:
Bye now.