BLUEFIELD, VA (LOOTPRESS) – U.S. Army National Guardsman Aaron Baker has officially opened his first business in Bluefield.
26-year-old Aaron Baker, from Grundy, VA, says he is excited to see where this chapter of life takes him. Baker, currently a member of the U.S. Army National Guard, holds a master’s in business and says this was not the avenue he first planned to go down.
“My plan was to get a desk job, in HR somewhere, and get a little experience because business is a very non-traditional subject,” Baker said. He says he then wanted to teach higher education business classes, but entrepreneurship was calling his name.
Baker began storming business ideas and tried to figure out something that would help people and allow him to enjoy it at the same time.
“If you like what you do, then it’s not work, you can actually enjoy it for the rest of your life,” Baker explained. “If you invest in passive income you’re pretty much investing in your retirement, that was something that sort of led me to the whole idea behind a laundromat.”
Graduating college with no debt to his name allowed Baker to save more for a potential business. “It took a lot of money, a whole lot of time, and just a whole lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into this place.”
That work turned into the ‘Dirty Hat Laundromat’ which is located at the Westgate Shopping Center in Bluefield. Baker officially opened the doors on May 8th.
Baker said the experience allowed him to do all the behind-the-scenes work by himself. “I pretty much had to do this place by myself from start to finish, that’s building walls on the inside that’s doing water, electric, sewage, gas, and ventilation,” Baker said. “It’s a very utility-dependent business.”
The Grundy native says that he is excited to own a business in the town of Bluefield. “I find it really homey, everybody has been so nice to me.”
The Dirty Hat Laundromat is located at 2048 Leatherwood Lane, Bluefield, Virginia 24605. It is open seven days a week from 7 AM-11 PM.