DryAway

For an avid runner with a passion for tidiness, disorganized laundry room is a large problem. Jim Lutz has been hang drying his clothes since college, never finding a product to meet all his needs. When Jim and his family moved to a new home in 2000, he designed his first DryAway in his laundry room.

With his engineering background and immense passion, DryAway was developed. There was plenty of trial and error, but he was determined to get to the finish line. It wasn’t easy though. It wasn’t until 2009 that he was able to design a product that could fit to any ceiling or custom cabinet. After 5 years of redeveloping, Jim patented his product and it was off for its’ first production run.

One of Jim’s many successes have been the use of bamboo for flexibility of then frames. The DryAway consists of 6 frames. These frames attach to a mounted bracket that allows the user to slide them in and out of the home’s chosen nook. The frames come in five different colors: Espresso, Gray, White, Off-white and Natural Bamboo. The hassle of air-drying three loads of laundry disappears, literally, with use of DryAway. An out of sight out of mind concept.

After being introduced to Waukesha County Center for Growth, Jim’s start-up became a lot easier. Finding a bank that wants to loan to a small business without a large tacked-on interest is difficult. Lucy Waldhuetter, Business Consultant for the Center for Growth, helped Jim reach his goals. Lucy also provided thorough business planning, sound advice and an undeniable belief in his potential. Jim is confident that starting up his business wouldn’t have been as smooth without the help of resources like Center for Growth.

After the final design was in place, finding his market was the next challenge. Not only is he the developer, designer and business owner, but Jim is his marketing team, salesman and more. Wearing many hats of different nature can be labor intensive.

Jim leads his everyday work with a passion to make an impact. He strongly believes that he won’t be remembered for who he was, but the lasting impact that DryAway has in every home. Find his business on Pinterest as well as at www.DryAway.net.