The Best Tips to Start a Dog Poop Removal Business in 2024

Whether you don’t want to feel chained to a desk anymore or want to have financial freedom as you work for yourself, starting a dog poop removal business is a low cost and rewarding opportunity that you can start on your own!

By the end of this blog you will learn the top five tips i wish i knew when i started my dog poop removal business, so you can learn from my mistakes and minimize the headaches that will come in this line of work.

My first tip for you is to watch your step!

This might be an obvious but you’ll want to keep your eyes on the ground as much as possible. Not only because you don’t want to step on some poo and trust me that’s going to happen eventually.

You also don’t want to trip over any lawn ornaments or step in a hole and sprain your ankle! Especially when it’s the first time going to a client’s house, you should take the extra time to be mindful of your steps so you do a quality scoop and protect yourself in the long run.

I’ve had many different kinds of clients in this line of work. Sometimes you’ll have a client who has completely disregarded their yard and it’s like a jungle. Watch your step because you’ll never know what you can fall into!

Tip number two is to remember to keep track of your miles!

I will admit this is probably one of the biggest blunders i made with my dog poop removal business this year. Unfortunately i was not mindful enough to keep track of any miles accumulated during my scooping appointments throughout the year.

Since you are using your vehicle to transport you to your appointments, You can track your miles to claim them on your taxes for business expenses.

This includes keeping track of your gas receipts as this would also be considered business expenses.

Don’t leave any unnecessary money on the table and lower your tax liability by accurately tracking your miles and business expenses.

I plan on implementing a new system for my business to help me take care of these issues but more on that later in the blog.

The third tip i have for you when starting a dog poop removal business is to always have extra supplies. That includes rakes and plastic bags!

You never know when something will happen with your equipment during your appointments.

In the middle of filming for this video, the rake that i owned since the very beginning snapped mid-appointment.

Old faithful did her last scoop.

I went back in my car and saw the scooper claws and flat scooper wasn’t going to be enough for the snow and ice i’m currently dealing with so i had to complete that appointment with half a rake.

Then i had to go to a local pet store to get myself a new one.

Save yourself headaches and have more than one rake at all times.

I invested in several GT-3070 Cultivator Rakes that have been great in all grass snow and ice.

It also has an adjustable neck that can be as long as you need it to be so save yourself from unneeded back pain! The cultivator is not ideal for gravel so you will need a metal rake for those kinds of scooping jobs.

You can get yourself a cultivator rake on amazon for around $21.

While we’re on the subject of rakes tip number four is to be mindful with how you are scooping the waste with your rake. You’ll want to flick the poo into the bucket or dustpan using the corner of the rake.

This technique is especially important during the winter months or when it’s raining as if you try to scrape the waste into your dustpan it will most likely fall apart and make your job significantly messier.

Just use the momentum of the rake and your arm to fling any poo on your rake into your dustpan and then tap the rake into the dustpan a few times to allow any excess waste to fall into the plastic bag.

Mindfully send this article to a friend so you can share these tips with as many people as possible, because you really can scoop your way to financial freedom.

Now, pay attention as this next tip is probably the most important!

Do research in the cities you plan to service and see what your competitors are offering!

You should not worry if there are other companies offering dog poop removal services in your area as that would be a sign of how healthy the market is. 

What you should focus on is identifying how much of your competitors are offering their services for, how often they offer scooping appointments and how they funnel and engage potential customers to acquire their services.

Do they have a dedicated website with a sign up form or a facebook business page?

What is their presence on social media?

This research is important because it allows you to understand the quality of service of your competitors, so you can differentiate the customer experience your clients have when working with you!

When you’re brand new the best way to compete in your area is to just provide the best kind of customer service you’re capable of. Whether that’s being proactive with your communication or signing up for your services is a painless process.

A better customer experience and quality service will lead to happier clients, which justifies having higher prices than other companies in your area.

Value your time accordingly! This is your business and if a customer thinks your prices are too high then move on to the next one. Do your research correctly and justify your prices with having an exceptional customer experience.

Since you got this far into the blog, I”m going to leave you with a bonus power tip.

Automate your payments and try to get your customers credit cards on file as soon as possible!

I got to a point with my pet waste removal business where i manually handled venmo payments and scheduling for 20 plus clients per week.

This was a very time consuming process for me as i’d only charged my clients after service was completed and oftentimes i’d have to chase a client down a few days later to remind them to make their venmo payment.

This led to a lot of unnecessary stress and worry about not getting paid and having to remember which client i needed to chase down.

The longer you wait to automate your payment process, the more of a headache it will be when you transition over your customers to a new system because you will grow to a point where doing anything manually will not allow you to scale and grow your business efficiently.

Remember the new system i mentioned earlier in the blog?

I implemented Jobber as my CRM or customer relationship management tool to help take my pet waste removal business to the next level.

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.

Utilizing Jobber i now have a signup form i can route potential customers to so they can fill out all the necessary information i need to give them an accurate quote for their scoops.

This data is then saved on the Jobber platform as a request and then i can send that customer a customized quote for that service.

If the customer accepts the quote, Jobber automatically turns it into a job that’s scheduled for whatever date that was decided.

Once the job is complete, I can automatically send a professional looking invoice to my customer so they can pay via an online portal.

Jobber has a GPS tracking tool i plan to use so i can measure how far i’m driving during my appointments. It has features to log all of my business expenses like my gas receipts and plastic bags.

I can also set up my invoice system to require all customers to pre-pay their invoice before i service them! This is going to be the most impactful change to my dog poop removal business as i will not need to chase down any customers for their payment!

And if i utilize their auto payment feature, any customer who signs up will automatically be charged at the first of the month! This will save me time so i can grow my business even more and focus on what really matters:

Being the best pet waste removal business i can be.

I highly suggest trying out Jobber and if you’re ready to take your business to the next level, click the Jobber link here and try it for FREE!

I plan on making additional content about my experience with jobber, so let me know what you’d like to see next!

Now i know it might be intimidating taking a chance and starting your own business.

I made a complete step-by-step guide to starting a dog poop removal business so you can best be prepared!

If you want to learn more, click the next blog to read on!

And i’ll see you on the next scoop!

And as always, Acknowledge the Now. Bye!