7 Recession Proof Strategies for your Pet Waste Removal Business in 2024

I’m going to break down how this may affect your business and give you several tips I’m implementing to best prepare for the future.

 

What do Airbnb, Square and Uber all have in common? They all started during the height of the Great Recession more than a decade ago. Through times of economic hardships, the entrepreneurs who took risks and saw opportunity during those times positioned their businesses to take full advantage once the economy was in a better state.

 

However, right now we are seeing rampant inflation in all sectors of the economy, like the price of groceries, rent and especially gas. All of these price hikes are lowering consumer spending power – With the cost of living rising for everyone, customers may have less disposable income available to pay for your services. I lost several clients in the last few months because they needed to cut back on spending and save money.

 

You will find leads who may haggle you on the price for service. Even though it’s important to stay mindful that most people will be strapped for cash during a recession, People who consider a service based on lowest price as their first criteria are the most difficult clients to please.

 

As the old saying goes, you get what you paid for. I am in the pooper scooper industry to make money and provide a service that’s valuable to the people who can afford it. Even if the economy tanks, there are still people who will want this service because they rather get their time back and focus on things that matter to them.

 

The American Pet Products Association has reported that consumers as a whole are spending more money on the Pet industry. Even though this continues to grow year over year, it’s important to acknowledge that a large portion of these expenses came from Pet Food, Supplies and Vet Care, while only $9.5 billion out of the $123.6 billion spent in 2021 was for other services. I think it’s possible to see the top three categories getting more expensive, and dog owners will have less income to spend on Other Services.

 

I consider my Pet waste removal business as a luxury service, even though there’s nothing glamorous about scooping dog waste. My service is something that is “nice to have” and not a necessity for most dog owners. Keeping this frame in mind helps me not take for granted the opportunities I’ve created with my business and doesn’t let my successes get to my head.

 

During a recession, you may find other pooper scoopers that will go out of business because they didn’t pay attention to their cash flow, or became too lazy due to their successes and not adapting to the current market. Less competition means more opportunities for you to grow your client base.

 

A study released by Bain & Company found that the Gains or Losses made during recessions tend to have a lasting impact. More than 70% of businesses who made money during the last recession kept those gains when the economy recovered while the opposite is true, 30% of businesses who lost market share were unable to regain their positions. Why? Good times can cushion the hard truths of company performance, and tough times reveal true strengths and weaknesses. Many companies either hunker down or stray outside their core business in a desperate bid for growth, creating openings for companies willing to pursue thoughtful and balanced recession strategies.

 

It can be journey going through a recession and periods of inflation as a business owner, similar to the journey you have hiking a new trail for the first time. It’s going to get really bumpy, you’re not sure which direction to go and you might get lost. But if you continue to focus on the core areas your business is really good at, just like you focus on the path ahead of you, eventually you’ll find yourself on the other side and rewarded for your efforts.

 

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Here are my best tips you can implement to recession proof your Pooper Scooper Business:

 

 

Identify the areas in your business that drive the most value right now. As a professional pooper scooper, You provide a service that people do not enjoy doing, and as long as the prices are fair and you do what you say, your customers will stay and be happy. Maybe you have additional services you’ve been implementing like dog walking, but you need to really concentrate on what you do best and how that satisfies the needs of your clients.

 

Even though focusing on your strengths is important, try to also be adaptable – change is inevitable so the ability to be flexible and pivot when necessary is the key to surviving the recession as a small business owner. One way I adapted my pet waste removal business was when I made the transition to charging by the bag instead of having a flat rate. I would always under charge my services or under estimate how long the job would take so pivoting to charging by the bag helped me increase my baseline income and protect my cash flow.

 

 

This includes Cutting down costs, any unnecessary spending to save money and pay down your debts.

 

Inflation is causing everything to be more expensive, so the best way to manage this is by increasing the rates of your services. It’s like giving yourself a mini promotion. Price hikes impact everyone in business, it’s the by product of an economy growing and everyone getting a bigger piece of the ever expanding pie. It’s a normal business practice to raise your prices, and as the cost of doing business increases, so should your prices. I’ve raised my weekly prices for some customers without much push back or complaints. Be reasonable with your adjustments, and as long as do a quality job, most customer’s wont think twice about paying an extra dollar or 2 every single week.

 

Companies that are burning money due to unnecessary overheard and expenses will struggle to keep their employees and technology working, which will help cost-efficient businesses take over. Now is the time to break down all of your expenses, and see where you could be saving money, whether that’s buying supplies in bulk, or making your routes more efficient to save on gas.

 

I’m trying trying to pay off my debts as soon as possible, with no plans on taking on new loans. I’ve always believed that you don’t need Debt when starting out your Pet Waste Removal Business, and I understand some may disagree since it’s for a business. The only debt I would feel comfortable with is having a car loan to pay back if I decided to finance a truck to haul the waste in as that would be a business expense and I’m really tired of hauling poop in my car. If the economy goes down, I refuse to have any debt casting a heavy shadow over my life in case I do not have the means to pay it back.

 

The federal reserve will continue to increase interest rates for the foreseeable future, so if you do decide to take out a loan for your business, just understand that it’s going to be more expensive to borrow that money and pay it back in the long run. The more debt you have, the more cash you need to make your principal payment plus the interest.

 

Cutting your budget does not mean you should stop investing in your business, it means spending your money on the areas that will have the most impact.

 

Which is perfect for our third tip since you do not want to stop marketing.

 

The one thing you should NOT do is cut back on marketing. It may sound counter intuitive, but the businesses that continue to market during a recession come back stronger than those that don’t. During stressful times like a recession, it’s easy for your business to be forgotten about when everyone may be looking for an easy way to distract themselves.  The more you keep your business in front of your target audience, the higher the likelihood they will be in a receptive mood to reach out for a quote.

 

When business slowed down for me, I found this as a great opportunity to experiment with different kinds of marketing material, like before and after pictures, or cute dog pictures to see if I could generate any new leads.

 

With gas prices impacting my bottom line, I want to focus my marketing efforts in the areas I currently service so I can increase the density of my routes. Facebook and Google Ads allow me to target a specific address or town, and I’m hoping this will help me land new leads that are close to my current clients. I’m also going to order door hangers to place in the neighborhoods where my client’s are to bring awareness of my services. Some of the client’s I service live right next to each other, and I save a lot of time and gas keeping my routes as tight as possible.

 

My next tip for you is to also invest in your existing customers. It’s more expensive to get new clients compared to growing the clients you already have, and when a recession hits, it’ll be even harder to get new clients when money is tight. Now is the time to really hone in on your customer experience, and build relationships with your customers. Go above and beyond when you service their property, whether that’s remembering their pet’s names or asking your client about the family vacation they went on during the weekend. Treat your customers with respect and show them that you have their back, even during times of financial hardship.

 

When you build relationships with your customers during difficult times in their life, this will help build life long customer loyalty. The more compassion and empathy I’ve shown to my customer’s who’s struggling and not trying to take advantage, the more I’ve seen this benefit my business in the long run. I’ve landed more business through word of mouth and helping my client’s in whatever way I can. When I take care of my customers, they take care of me.

 

Even though you should focus on what you’re good at, stay flexible and create up sell opportunities so you can maximize how much your current clients are spending with your business. Identify needs from dog owners and home owners and come up with services that your business can offer along your scooping services. If you plan on implementing new services, these should maintain the quality you are known for and should not take away or impact the quality of your scoops.

 

When you add multiple streams of income for your business, it’ll increase the ticket price for the customers you do have, which means more money in your pocket. I plan on releasing an updated blog on more services you can implement with your Pet Waste removal business, so hit the subscribe to watch that video as soon as I release it!

 

Making more money always sounds great, but you also need to review your work processes and either Automate or Delegate the parts of your business that’s taking too much of your time. It’s hard enough for you to strategically plan for the future, make business decisions and put out emergency fires if you are busy sending out emails or out on the field scooping. Prioritize delegating the tasks that take up most of your time to a family member or employee that wants more responsibility.

 

When business was slow, I implemented technology and processes to automate more of my tasks so once business was back to normal I was better equipped to service my customers. I created canned responses to copy and paste verbiage that I always use, implemented Jobber to manage my scooping appointments and payments and Nicejob to automate how someone can leave me a review for my business.

 

Disclaimer: Some of these links are affiliate links where I’ll earn a small commission if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

 

Even though these tips will help future proof your business, there are some mistakes you may be doing that’s holding back your business. If you want to learn more about the mistakes new pooper scoopers make, click the next blog because I think you’ll find it very useful.

 

And I’ll see you on the next scoop!

 

And As Always, Acknowledge The Now. Bye!