About a month ago I was reading an article how a lady made it big by starting a yard clean up service for removing pet waste. I was intrigued by what I read because you never think about being able to make money at doing that. But then again you think about how people pay 50 to 80 a month to have there house sprayed and the guy comes out when you’re at work and spends about 5 minutes on your house then leaves. Basically giving them free money. The reason why I say this is because the other day I was home and they showed up so I decided not to answer the door to see what they did. Well they did pretty much nothing. In fact he just sprayed in front of my garage and then around the tree in my front yard. I couldn’t believe it so of course they heard from me at the main office. Anyway back to my point is that if people are willing to pay to have there house sprayed each month which usually doesn’t even help with the bug problem. Then they are probably going to pay to have someone come clean up there yard for a little cash each month.
After seeing this article I really didn’t think much more about it until yesterday when I was in my backyard. You see after being in the military for 6 years I was never able to own a dog. Until a few months ago I was finally able to buy my own dog who’s name is Bailey. And like everything that you buy you never really think about how much work it’s going to be. So here I was in my backyard when I noticed how much my dog has been making that his own bathroom. Of course he has to use it there but it’s like a mine field.
So I started to think about that article I read about the lady who made it big with a backyard clean up service. Well I started to look around in the papers and phone books to see if there was anything like that around here. I couldn’t believe the fact that I could only find one thing for the whole Dallas/ Fort Worth area. So just curious if they even covered my area I called them. I first found out that they didn’t and second I couldn’t believe how much they cost each month. For one they only come twice a month and they charged like 75 bucks! Now they do some grass treatment and stuff like that but that costs even more. I was like man this would be a great home business that you could easily start up. I asked the man on the phone what the average time spent at a customer’s location was and he told around 15 minutes. So just think of what you could do in a weekend. The neighborhood alone that I live in has over 2000 homes and is going to grow to 9000 in the next 8 years. And when the said 75 bucks for 2 visits a month I could believe it because I was think more like 30.
Now I know what your think why would I want to go pick up dog leftovers. Well look at it this way. For one there isn’t anyone really out there doing it. Yes there are some franchises and stuff but not many. Just think if you could get 40 customers out of your neighborhood and charged them 30 a month. That would be 20 hours a month or so making you around 1200 dollars extra a month. That’s just for a few hours each day on the weekend. And to start off would be so easy. Just think of how many guys in your neighborhood come around each summer offering to cut your grass. All you would have to do is print up some flyers and pay the neighborhood teens to put them into everyone’s mail boxes for you. And there you go out of 1000 flyers you should get at least 30 or so customers.
Now I know your thinking about how many people actually own pets. So knowing you would ask this question I did my homework. I have found that the pet industry is growing like at 900 percent each year. Also that about 1 out of 3 homes has a dog or cat in there home. Pretty much everyone that I know has a dog or cat. Actually I can’t think of anyone right now that doesn’t have one.
So as you can see you could make a small fortune off of cleaning up after pets. Just think if you made it a full time business and hired a couple of employees. Who knows what you could do then. I know after having to clean up my backyard I would much rather just pay someone to do it for me. The reason is because like most people out there the husband and wife both work and really don’t feel like cleaning up on the weekend. They much rather pay 30 bucks a month having someone else do it for them to enjoy there weekend. So if you don’t mind the rubber gloves and having to watch where you step you could easily make a nice income out of your home. And now would be the best time to get into this business due to the fact people are seeing the potential and growth of yard clean up.
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3 comments:
Hi Bud! Since I've been a professional scooper for
five years now, I'd thought I'd reply to your post
and clear up a few misconceptions:
>I couldn’t believe the fact that I could only find
>one thing for the whole Dallas/ Fort Worth area.
You didn't look hard enough. There are more than
that, I guarantee it.
>For one there isn’t anyone really out there doing it.
There are an estimated 800-1200 scoopers in the US.
>I asked the man on the phone what the average time
>spent at a customer’s location was and he told around
>15 minutes.
He's kinda slow. Most of mine take 6-8 min.
Then again, some take 20. Don't forget drive time.
I've got clients a tenth of a mile apart, but I've
also got some that take 12-14 miles to get to...
>making you around 1200 dollars extra a month.
And don't forget you're paying your own health
insurance, business taxes, income taxes, payroll taxes,
web hosting, advertising, business insurance, gas,
supplies, billing software, office supplies, etc.
You don't get to keep much of your gross.
>pay the neighborhood teens to put them into everyone’s
>mail boxes for you.
That'll get the USPS to hammer on you real fast!
>out of 1000 flyers you should get at least 30
>or so customers.
Actually, 3 to 5 customers out of a thousand
fliers is about average.
Jump right in. It isn't nearly as easy as it looks,
and keep in mind it takes most businesses two or
three YEARS to build a respectable level of clientele.
That is true but I was looking at this as a weekend job. No business is easy and has costs behind it. Having only 1200 in the US is a great place to start then because there is a lot of Territory out there. Currently in my area there isnt anyone offering that service. There are parts of Dallas/ Fort Worth that serviced by a franchise. They charge a great deal though just to spend 8 mins in the backyard cleaning up. I stated that if it was in you own area drive time would be under 5-10mins.
You are right though and I should have made it more clear that once you have a lot more to deal with. But unless your doing this full time you wont have to worry about it.
You are right also about the health insurance. If you dont have a full time job or a wife or someone that is covering you, its going to cost out of pocket. I worked as a contractor for a little bit and didnt health insurance and it can be hard. I then got a job that offered it and now I work from home but I get it through my wife.
In all this is just a easy start up business that has little costs and could grow over time. Nothing is easy or free but the demand here is great. We ran a survey about a month ago and a couple question about if they would be interested in that service were in it. About 82% came back saying they would be interested.
Thanks for the comments I know im not the expert in this field and I love to have any input or advice. The point to to help people find a way to make an extra income and lead them in that direction. I would love to send people with questions your way if that is ok with you? Let me know. again thanks for the post. -Jason
>the demand here is great. We ran a survey about
>a month ago and a couple question about if they
>would be interested in that service were in it.
>About 82% came back saying they would be interested.
Was the survey sent to people looking to start
a small business, or dog owners that might hire
a scooping service? There are scoopers that have
been in business for over 20 years, and customer
awareness of the service is *still* very low.
That's the main obstacle. Check out this blog
entry from a relatively new scooper:
"...I have been in existence for about 18 months.
I sky-rocketed to 4 customers in the first year.
Then the newspaper did a story on me...Now I have
11 customers..."
People starting this business should know that
it WILL take a long time to develop an income
that makes the work worth it. As I said before,
it's not unusual to spend 2 or 3 years struggling
before you have a sizeable clientele. Most new
scoopers go out of business within a year or two.
Unfortunately, the don't sell their clients to
established scoopers, they just bail out on
their customers, giving the entire industry a
bad reputation.
>I would love to send people with questions your way
>if that is ok with you? Let me know. again thanks
>for the post. -Jason
You're welcome. Those wanting to explore the
industry can start with the discussion boards at
www.apaws.org/forum and www.pooper-scooper.com/discus
There are also books available at pooper-scooper.com
and scoopmasters.com
I'd rather not field any questions myself. I've
been taking questions for several years now, and
there are already 26 scooping companies in my
market.
Cheers.
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