043- Kroopin's Poopin Scoopin
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Summary:
Erica Krupin, owner of Kroopin’s Poopin Scoopin, discusses what it’s like running and operating a poop scooping business. What started off as a conversation ostensibly about scooping poop, turned into a wonderful discussion about customer service and managing employees. From keeping it all organized, to finally being able to lead the life she’s always wanted, Erica shares what she loves about the life of a pet waste removal technician!
Topics in the episode:
How she got started
What’s a typical day look like
How she has grown and marketed
Dealing with hazardous roads and conditions
What she recommends people know before offering poop scooping
Where DOES the poop go?
Her favorite tools of the trade
Main takeaways? Remember, you don’t know everything!
About our guest:
The reason why Erica started this company is a two fold answer. She knows the number one reason people don’t want to own dogs is because they dislike cleaning up after them. Her mission is to provide an outstanding Pet Waste Removal service that takes care of their #2 so people can spend more time with their #1. Creating a solid foundation is the key to any success in life, business, friendship, marriage, and she believes it all starts with treating people with a little RESPECT.
Her interview on Side Hustle Nation
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, scooping, business, customers, pet, service, important, poop, rake, worms, long, employees, good, dog, overcomplicate, yard, waste removal, erica, situation, hiring
SPEAKERS
Collin, Erica
Collin 00:17
I'm calling
00:18
and I'm Megan. And this is pet sitter confessional. An open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter brought to you by
Collin 00:25
time to pet. Hello, everybody and welcome back to another episode. This week we have Erica crewman, owner of koopmans poop and scooping to talk all about poop scooping. Erica has quite an interesting journey through and into poop scooping, and she opens up about why she runs her business debt free. While it's so important to her how she plans to scale and what it was like managing her employees remotely. She also share some of her favorite tools of the trade in case You're interested in getting started. One of the things that we've talked about is during this time where pet sitting or pet walking is not really applicable, because of the shutdowns and shelters in place orders is to reach out and probably try and offer poop scooping. So this is a little window into that world, what it looks like what it takes and how to stay organized amongst the chaos. In case you didn't know we have a voicemail set up. Megan and I are working on putting together an episode all about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected pet sitters. And we want to hear from you. So call us at 636-364-8260 tell us about how you've been impacted what you've been doing during this time and your hope for the future. We want to share your stories so that other people can hear them and be inspired. Now let's get on with the interview.
Erica 01:51
Well, my name is Erica Krupa. And I am a wife, a stepmother and a professional pooper scooper
01:59
is the How you like to refer to yourself is just pooper scooper.
02:03
Um,
Erica 02:05
I don't know, I sometimes will say I'm an entrepreneur, pet waster mobile technician, or businesswoman,
Collin 02:13
pet waste removal technician that that sounds like it quite a mouthful.
Erica 02:17
Yeah, it's a little bit more professional, I guess.
Collin 02:20
Yeah. So how did you start poop scooping business.
Erica 02:28
I mean, it was it was relatively simple. My husband had the idea of scope and scope. And he wanted to open up this business when he was a child, and never did anything with it. And as we grew up, Kim and I got married, he still talked about it. And I just decided that I wanted to do something different other than my hospital job. So I just decided, alright, I'm going to open up open scoping.
02:56
So it was this idea that was kind of always sitting out there. Waiting For something to be done with it
Erica 03:02
it was waiting for me to come scoop it up
Collin 03:09
so you also you refer to yourself as an as an entrepreneur. So what's it like running a poop scooping business?
Erica 03:18
It's you know, it's fast pace. It's it's very interesting because when I tell somebody that I own a pet waste removal company the look on their face is so it's so pleasing and so satisfying because they're so confused. And so I you know, I go and I explain it, I truly I enjoy it. I have done many many jobs over the years. And this is by far my favorite. Hmm.
Collin 03:47
So what's a typical day look like for for you and your business?
Erica 03:53
Um, typically I wake up around while the alarm goes off around 6am I don't actually roll out of bed till seven I get up, I get dressed, I always dress for the weather. So I look at the weather or I asked my husband, hey, what's the weather gonna be like? And then I dress accordingly. I get my truck prepped as for like my, my bleaching station, make sure I have all my supplies. And then I usually have my route prepped the night before. And then I just head on out and start scooping. I go house to house if I need to fuel up I do that. And I typically like to be done scooping by 4pm I don't want to work after that though. Is that done?
Collin 04:36
Actually in people's yards or is that everything washed put away and done?
Erica 04:43
Well I want to be home so I want to be home by four. So as for like the physical part of it a lot my truck parked my van and then as for like the cleaning at the end that all can be done at the house and then as for paperwork business side of it. I usually do that in the evening. Probably after, like 8pm or so.
Collin 05:07
So pretty pretty long days.
Erica 05:09
Yeah, I'm still, I'm still trying to get things figured out because sometimes I will only scoop until maybe 230. Because I have to go get the kids from school. Sure. So it's just it's it's circumstantial. It just depends on the day depends on the weather depends on traffic.
Collin 05:26
Yeah, a lot of those factors, but it's it's nice that you have that flexibility to where you can take that time and go deal with family things and pick up kids. That's Yes.
Erica 05:36
That's what I love about it. Because it's, it's set up to where if I need to drop the kids off to school, I'm able to do that and go school, go do what I need to do. And then if I have to take a break, and scooping to go pick them up, I can do so drop them off and go back out.
Collin 05:53
Yeah, not not your typical kind of workday plans that most people have. Right? What would you say? is the most A challenging part of running your business.
Erica 06:05
For me, it's staying organized. I have a hard time with organization. So that's something I'm always striving to stay consistent with and stay focused on.
Collin 06:15
What kind of systems do you have you do you have in place to to save, organize?
Erica 06:20
Well, I have my billing setup or like automatic billing so it gets sent out every month. I keep all of my paperwork pretty much all in the same folder. And then I have a clipboard where I keep all my really important stuff. And I keep all my like notebooks and everything in it's like, no, it's like a metal clipboard and it's hollow in the inside. So I'm able to put like notebooks, pens and stuff like that. So everything is in one like one little spot. So that it's just basic. It's super basic stuff, but it helps me tremendously.
Collin 06:57
Yeah, I think a lot of people can get caught up with thinking they need these overcomplicated systems. But even these very basic systems, it's a system that you can start with and you can start working with and to not overcomplicate it and just start with something and clipboards pens and papers and folders goes a huge way to getting anybody at least somewhat organized as opposed to not.
Erica 07:25
Yeah, absolutely. It's kind of like you have to lay the foundation so you can build upon it. So that is what I'm really working on is just getting a solid foundation with my organization, and then hopefully grow on that as time goes on.
Collin 07:39
And how long have you been in business?
Erica 07:41
I have been in business for about a year and a half. My my actual launch was August of 2018.
Collin 07:50
Okay, wow, that's awesome. How has it been growing and marketing poop scooping business.
07:59
Our special Fun.
Erica 08:01
I have a I got a wild sense of humor anyways. So with with this i'm able just to pretty much do whatever I want to do with my posting. And so it's it's just been fun. It's been very fulfilling. It's been nice to like use that creative side of me to try to get engagement on my Facebook page. So Oh no, I mean, I've been having a great time.
Collin 08:27
Yeah, it's kind of something you can lean in and go, Yeah, I know. We pick up poop. And there's a bunch of jokes people can make about that. And you can just like you said, have fun and kind of just relax and be creative. Again, as opposed to try and get all caught up your head and go oh, what, how am I going to craft this? Or what what can we do here? Just kind of letting your own personality come out in it. Do you find that a lot of people find out about you by word of mouth or what's been kind of the most effective way that you've found getting your name out there.
Erica 08:57
Word of mouth. Facebook is And my my Google presence, those have been left free. But my main heavy hitter is Facebook. That's where I get, I would have to say I get 80% of my work from Facebook.
Collin 09:12
Wow. Is that just dude like targeted ads or is that through people sharing or just finding your posts through searching?
Erica 09:19
It's a mixture. So I post consistently. I kind of like to do like a three, three method post. So I like to post something that's like funny. I like to post something that's educational. And then I also like to post something within the community
09:35
that I service.
Erica 09:36
So for the most part, I make those three posts. And then if I see other things that I like, I just share on the page, and if I see something that I feel like might be a good ad or something that is really shareable, I will boost that post.
Collin 09:51
How much education Do you feel like you have to do to people as far as a need for the kind of service that you offer?
Erica 09:59
I really Don't in the beginning, I'm like, I need to educate. But it's hard. Because I'm not like a poop professional when it comes to like the breakdown of the waist, which I'm working on getting more educated with that. But it's just really creating awareness and just letting, letting our potential customers know that this is a service that's available. And they're either gonna want to use me or they're not going to I don't really have to convince them.
Collin 10:27
Sure. Yeah, I can see how it would be something that someone would immediately go, oh, my goodness, that's, I need someone to do this. Because, you know, either I don't like it. I don't have time for it, or there's just a lot of it and it can get out of hand. So it probably sells itself pretty easily when people start thinking about, oh, somebody will do this for me.
Erica 10:47
Absolutely. It's just a really it's all about creating that awareness.
Collin 10:51
I noticed that you went and sought out to be a part of the Better Business Bureau. Why was that important for you to have And to be a part of that.
11:03
It was just a status thing. Okay, really,
Erica 11:06
I, I always heard my parents, my grandparents talk about the Better Business Bureau, and to have those three B's. So when I became a business, I wanted to get that certification. So if I was at a craft show or a vendor show, I could put that on my table. And just it was more or less just like a status piece.
Collin 11:26
Sure, and probably helps bring, lift the reputation and let people know that like, yes, you are a serious, legitimate business. And that goes a long way to making people feel comfortable because you, I mean, you're at people's houses when they're not there probably a lot of times and you know, in their backyard and around all their belongings and that kind of stuff. So it probably helps ease a lot of their anxieties.
Erica 11:50
Yeah, yes. I mean, I don't know how many people actually check the check the website or go through it, but that was definitely a point. We are the homeowner second set of eyes, there's a lot of times they aren't. So if we notice something, immediately we're texting or we're calling the homeowner and say like, Hey, listen, your garage door was open today typically isn't I just wanted to let you know, just in case something, you know, weird was up.
Collin 12:16
Sure you know that those little things like that really help build trust and respect and, and allow people to know that like you, you have their best interests at heart in you really are taking it seriously.
Erica 12:31
Yes. And building the rapport that is so important. When I went to school, I was going to school for physical therapy assistant, in a class that I took, we did a whole segment on rapport, and I hated that class. But that was the one thing that stuck with me is like building that rapport. So I took that and I implemented that into our policies are really until like the heartbeat of the company,
12:55
huh?
Collin 12:57
Yeah, cuz having that that integrity and having that open communication, I mean, just really goes such a long way to allowing people to see and know that that you are trustworthy, and that you're going to be doing what you say you're going to be doing. Because once you lose that kind of trust, it's so hard and sometimes impossible to get that back.
Erica 13:16
Yes. And you have I mean, if you say, say, for instance, you say that you're at somebody's house, you better be at their house, because I would have to say, eight out of 10 people have cameras.
13:27
So,
Erica 13:28
you know, if you say, Oh, I just arrived, but really you hadn't, like you're down the street or something like that. They could look on their cameras, and then they'll be like, well, you're not at my house, and then bam, that trust is lost. So it's very important to whatever you say, make sure that you're actually doing it. And that's what I tell my employees, like when you text message them, like if when you leave, say for instance, when you leave the house, you need to send a text message right away. Don't like send a text message when you get down the street say Oh, hey, I've left because then they can say that I'm a camera. They were like, Oh, no, you left five minutes ago, if that makes any sense. Yeah,
Collin 14:04
no, it does. I mean, not just telling them that you're going to be doing something, and then doing it, but then also letting them know that you did it. And, and, and all right when it happens, because when you start allowing that, that time to creep in between those things, you know, people can start asking questions, or as you said, just do on camera and be like, nope, you didn't, you're telling me one thing, but I see something else. So what's going on here?
Erica 14:29
Right. Well, the main reason with that so we we will get, we will get text messages that will say like, hey, do you come scoop my yard today? And they can either a asked me or they could go out in their backyard and look, but most of the time, they're gonna ask me and they're just gonna go based off what I said.
Collin 14:47
Wow. Wow. That's
Erica 14:50
so they put a lot. Yeah, they put a lot of trust in us.
Collin 14:52
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Because, you know, a, why wouldn't they? But B that just goes to show that that's the kind of question Trust that people put in, you know, this this kind of service of if you tell me you did it, I'm gonna believe that you did it until I have you know something otherwise. So you touched on that you have some some employees, when did you bring your on your first employee?
Erica 15:13
So my first employee came on pretty early. I would have to say within the first three months, it was totally by accident. I was posting and buy sell trade groups online. And I accidentally posted in a group that was like on the other side of Michigan. And it was in Muskegon, and people were like, Hey, can you serve as my area? Then I realized what I had done. I'm like, Oh, no, I don't actually service there. Jessica seen that and she reached out to me. She's like, Hey, I see that people are interested. Would you ever want to service out here because if you don't, I'm thinking about doing this myself. So I just kind of pitched the idea to her. I'm like, Well, why don't we start a conversation. Maybe you can Like, work with me work under me. I didn't really know what I was doing. I just know that I could help her get set up, get her customers and get her rolling. Okay, we really just pieced it together little by little
Collin 16:13
Wow. So I mean that's that's great that you had you know, somebody was initiative that was willing to do that but that sounds like I mean, you weren't even planning on hiring somebody so so what was that like all of a sudden becoming a manager of somebody especially at a distance you know, that they weren't nearby.
Erica 16:32
Ah, it was difficult because I wasn't very confident in myself. What I at that point, I'm still fairly new. But she she has a good head on her shoulders and she didn't need a ton of I would say like a ton of direction. She is educated in it. She's a vet technician. So she's already been around dogs and she she knows that type of field. You She's bootstrapped before. So I literally just had to tell her what I expected, kind of what the rules are. And we just kind of just went with it. And adjusted as time went on. But at the end of the day, what I told her was is I, I just want great communication. I want the yards to be thoroughly cleaned, and I want the equipment to be sanitized. Everything else we can figure out
Collin 17:25
just coming out so clear with your expectations, really, you know, and going, these three, these are my top three priorities with this, and everything else will work with that. I mean, that kind of upfront attitude and just kind of bluntness about that, I'm sure really helps set the tone and the way you guys continue to work together.
Erica 17:46
Yeah, yeah, she she knows what I you know what I expect. And then, if she has an issue, or if something goes on, you know, she checks in with me, just to make sure it's cool. Like she'll say, Hey, listen, this happened. This Is what my ideal is? What do you think I'll ever either give her a yay or nay? And usually it's it. Uh uh Yay, cuz she's a rock star.
Collin 18:12
That's all, you know, that's a lot of people may discount to the importance of having quality employees. But I mean quality employees really go a long way to diminishing headaches and improving quality of service. And just all of those things that are wrapped up into that, like if you have somebody that you can rely on and trust, that is so huge to have that.
Erica 18:34
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I also think, too, with having the business, I want to give them the freedom to think on themselves and problem solve. Because if essentially, when a situation happens, and they have to come to me, every single time,
18:51
whatever it is to, like,
Erica 18:54
decide for them, it's like, I'm not going to be able to put my time elsewhere. So that's why Even if say for instance, I don't necessarily agree fully with something, I will still let them kind of work it out because it helps. I feel like it helps build their decision making confidence within the company. And they feel that they I mean, they are important, but I really want them to feel and know that they're important. And I value what they have to say,
Collin 19:21
Yeah, no, I like that idea of, you know, knowing letting them know that they do have value, they are there for a reason. You know, it's not just to to help you make extra money, it's to provide better service and into allow for the expansion into quality to be high and that they have input and that they have all this stuff. So was that something that you had to learn over time with her or was that just did that come naturally as far as valuing input and allowing for criticisms or feedback and that kind of stuff?
Erica 19:57
I think it was just like an accumulation of My hospital job that I've had for goodness past 14 years, I learned a lot. from them. I learned a lot from the management, listening to podcasts and reading books, and just kind of like how I would want to be treated. And also like, I don't know, everything. I was fresh into the business. So I, you know, kind of would look to her for guidance, because she's been in the industry for so long. So I really value what Jessica had to say.
Collin 20:32
No, that's so powerful. To remind yourself almost on a daily basis basis, it sometimes is that I don't know everything. I have a team around me I have people that I work with that have other views have other experiences more experienced than I do in some cases. So let them speak up, let them contribute so that this entire thing can be the better for it.
Erica 20:53
Yes. And same thing with with Leann. She also is one of our team members, and she works here locally with me, she's also in the, in the animal field. Okay, so I'm surrounding myself with awesome women right now that know way more about the industry than I do.
Collin 21:12
Hmm. Yeah, I think that's so important. You know, anybody listening should keep that in mind of, you know, you're not just hiring somebody to do a job. You're hiring somebody to come alongside you to help you and be an asset to both you and the customers.
Erica 21:28
Yes, and they are huge assets.
Collin 21:30
That's great. So when you brought on with Leann, what was it like hiring somebody for a second person? And what kind of things did you learn or try and do differently from that first hire?
Erica 21:42
Well, I was very, very scared when I hired Lee and I, I just wanted to make sure I wanted to lead her Well, that was the thing is I wanted to be a good leader and I wanted to just do right by her, but then again, I was also very scared because I was handing over essentially like my babies my properties over to her. And so I was like nervous, I was excited. I'm like, I had all these mixed emotions, but I was leaving on vacation, and I needed her to cover my shifts.
22:20
So I had to just
Erica 22:22
get all of my feelings out of the way and just have faith in her and have faith in myself that I trained her appropriately. And everything was will be okay.
Collin 22:31
And that's a really common sentiment that I hear a lot of is very common of that handing over some of the clients some of those properties, some of those duties to somebody else is like this. Are they going to do as good as I am and what are they going to do and I'm not I did it did I do everything right to get them to this point, but like you said at one at some point, you have to go. I have faith in the system. I have faith in the person because I have to At some level know that I hired the right person for the job. And I need to step back and let them do the work that I hired them to do.
Erica 23:07
Oh, and I did. I stepped all the way to the Dominican her entire week, I handed my whole business over to her. And she did an awesome job. Wow. Yeah, I really did.
Collin 23:20
That's quite a step back for sure. Yeah,
Erica 23:23
well, what I also was thinking to like, Okay, if I went away, and things didn't work out, you know, she was halfway through, she's like, I don't want to do this anymore. I just told myself, it's gonna be okay. If I have to, I'm not going to lose all my customers, if I have to credit them, or, you know, smooth talk things when I get back. It's not a big deal. Our say for instance, you know, a customer had a complaint with Leanne. It would be okay, because when I would come back, we would just go over it. We would see if there was a miscommunication between her and I, and then we would resolve it. So I already had had like a, Plan A, B, and C, in my head of how I was going to handle every situation,
Collin 24:05
it can be a little daunting to sit down and think through all of those possible outcomes or scenarios. But, you know, as you were saying like that, that was that gave you a lot of peace about that because you're like, Okay, the worst thing that's gonna happen is I have to give somebody credit back for the service that wasn't rendered or was rendered improperly or something like that. And we can just, we'll just work it out. And so I think a lot of times people don't travel down those roads of Okay, what would happen if, but it can be so helpful.
Erica 24:34
My issue was as I spoke with like some other scoopers, and they were telling me like all these horror stories, so it got me amped up and I'm like, Oh, goodness, is this gonna happen to me? But Leanne she respects she respects the business so much she respects the homes that she services, and she really puts her all into it. And I feel fully confident when she says out there, she's rocking it out.
Collin 25:03
Are there any special requirements or training to that that you should do or education to get before going into or starting this kind of business,
Erica 25:12
you don't have to be in shape, but you have to be in the type of shape to where you can lift. 25 pounds are heavier, you got to be able to bend squat and be able to be on your feet for long periods of time. So I think like that is very important. As for like training, well, you got to have a driver's license. So you got to have some driver's driver's education. Okay.
25:38
Common Sense. And
Erica 25:41
that's pretty much it. I mean, you just have to have the, if you want to run your own business, you have to have some type of business sense, some type of marketing sense, but you don't have to be an expert in any of it.
Collin 25:52
Yeah, cuz who is just perfectly you know, we're all trying to learn for sure you're in Michigan. So I think something that comes Mind is how do you deal with this kind of business in the wintertime and hazardous road since you're driving all over the place?
Erica 26:08
Well, if the roads are in a situation where they're hazardous, we I will reschedule the school for like another day. Or if I have to completely skip it, I will. But for the most part, I still go out. I've only actually missed one actual day since I've started my business, and that was the beginning of November. So we got hit with a ton of snow out of nowhere. Like, I want to say, maybe six or seven inches. We little more. Yeah, so I just go with the flow. I mean, if it snows, I still go out and I'll scoop one or two turns, but at least I went out there and then that yards, not going to take that long that week. But you're going to go back next week, and it's going to be a lot longer because you're going to get everything that you weren't able to get the week before.
Collin 27:00
Have you heard about time to pet? Dan from NYC pooch as this to say I'm Tibet has been a total game changer for us. It helped us streamline many aspects of our operation from scheduling and communication to billing and customer management. We actually tested other pet sitting software's in the past, but these other solutions were clunky and riddled with problems. Everything in time to pad has been so well thought out. It's intuitive feature rich and it's always improving. If you are looking for new pet sitting software for your business, give time to pet a try. As a listener of pet sitter confessional, you'll get 50% off your first three months when you sign up at time to pet.com slash confessional. Sometimes pet sitters think about adding this kind of service to what they offer. So if somebody was looking to get into poop scooping as a business, what kind of advice would you give them to be on the lookout for
Erica 27:55
to have a good balance and have a have a focus? I think if You have too much like on your menu. Say for instance, if you're a pet sitter, you're a dog walker, and you offer pet waste removal. It's too much, especially if you're one person, what I would do is if you were going to do the pet waste removal, you would schedule it for the day that you're gonna do the service. So you would do I would do it all in one, huh. That would be my biggest tip, I guess,
Collin 28:24
kind of make a, a package deal of if you just want me to check in on your dog, it's $35. If you also want me to pick up poop while I'm there, it's 35 plus some number at that point.
Erica 28:35
Yeah, you got to figure out what their phrases would be. I mean, I wouldn't do it for any last, but least I would do it for $10. But that's because you're already going there for a purpose. So to add an extra $10 on for, you know, a 510 minute scoop.
Collin 28:52
It's not bad. No, no. So So with that in mind, how do you price your services? Is it a per visit thing or is it a packet Deal per month or week. So it's
Erica 29:02
per week I figure out how many dogs they have and how big their yard is, depending on how big their yard is. I can usually guesstimate how long it's going to take me. So I found a sweet spot where, if I'm coming once a week, it's for one dog. It starts off at 14 hours per week. That's kind of like my, my base price. And then it goes up from there.
Collin 29:24
Do you have a lot of clients with five or more dogs?
Erica 29:27
I have a handful of people that have four plus, actually two of those two of those hours were today. In each of those yards. Take me about 20 to 25 minutes.
Collin 29:39
Wow, that's a long time picking up poop from one place.
Erica 29:42
It is and that's usually a six, like six buckets of waste. Well, yeah, that's a lot. Okay. So
Collin 29:50
with that in mind, actually, we have been asked sometimes to pick up poop and from somebody's yard and they've they've paid extra for that a couple times. But we usually Generally bring it back to our home and throw it in a dumpster out back or put it out to compost. I imagine that's not quite possible for the volumes that you were dealing with. So where does it all go at the end of the day,
Erica 30:13
in the beginning, it was fine, because I didn't have a lot so I could throw it in my own trash. But now I just have to find a local dump. And then at those dumps, you have to apply for like a special hazardous waste.
30:27
Okay,
Erica 30:28
so you just have to go through the process, they want to know about the waste and what you're doing with it. And they got their own set of questions and you just have to get the approval. Once you do that, then you have like a piece of paper that you have to show them every single time you go and dump.
Collin 30:45
Um, have you ever forgotten the piece of paper?
Erica 30:47
No, I keep. I keep extra in my glove box because you have to give it to them each time you go. And so I just have extra copies.
Collin 30:56
Oh, it's not just something you show them. They actually take it from you. When you get in there, okay, I was gonna say that sounds like a piece of paper, I would lose an awful lot. What do you think sets your business apart from others in the pet waste removal?
Erica 31:10
You know, I often think about that. I struggle with it. Like what really sets me apart? I really just, I mean, me personally, I think that my strong communication with my customers really sets me apart. Because I am so big on like communicating and just developing that rapport. I know, this is a little off topic, but that's another reason like, I get scared when I think about growing my business larger as I don't want to lose that that connection I have with my customers.
Collin 31:44
That's totally understandable. I mean, I think that communication is so important to you, and it's such a value to you the idea of all of a sudden increasing or possibly adding separation between you and the customers. All of a sudden you have to start thinking like okay, what kind of systems can I put in place? What kind of protocols or policies do I need to have? So that that communication is still there? And how do I keep that core tenant and distinguishing feature of my business?
Erica 32:12
That is the main thing is like my communication. So it's like, if I get bigger, and that disconnect happens, I no longer be different or set apart from other companies. I'm sure there's other things that set me apart, but I'm like, oblivious to it. Because I'm so like, Oh, I'm just No, I'm just scooping poop and helping people out. But like my husband, he to him, it's like such a it's such a big deal to him and he could talk me up all day, but with me, I'm just like, that's cool. So big deal.
Collin 32:44
I can feel like that sometimes to have I'm just I'm just taking care somebody pad I'm just going for a walk when otherwise it's not that big of a deal and, but to some to the person whose dog you're walking or to the person's yard that you're picking up poop and it's like, this is a service that I can offer and you're helping me care for my pet and I love my dogs. So it is a really big deal and that gets lost in the the hustle and bustle and everything that's coming in every day is these services are valuable to people, they do see them they do appreciate them. And it's it's hard to see that sometimes. And so I can I know we tend to undersell ourselves or it's that's common to people underprice themselves, because they don't think that Oh, it's really not that big of a deal. I'm just doing this thing. But yeah, it's so needed.
Erica 33:31
Yeah, it's a it's definitely is a struggle. I underpriced myself in the beginning, mainly because, well, I was thinking, I'm like, Oh, well, I'm coming into this business and I'm new. There's no way I could have my prices similar to somebody else that's been in the business for five years. Like who am I to come in here trying to be top dog. And so I quickly realized that the people that were scooping in my area They were under priced too. And talking with them. They're like, man, my prices are so low. I wish they were higher. So I just decided to just raise my prices to something that I felt good about. And I felt good about charging my customers. They're my customers have been cool with it. I haven't got much backlash.
Collin 34:18
And I think that that's such a big hurdle is is it raising prices? Because once you set your price, all of a sudden you get that the, if I raise it, am I going to lose somebody? Am I not going to get new people? When you make that jump, you do find people stay with you because they like you and you've built that trust, you've built that rapport, they value what you bring to them and what you provide people will will continue to stick with you through even higher prices over time.
Erica 34:46
Yeah, because they, like you said they see the value in it. And the main reason of why I want to raise my prices is I'm trying to run a company that is reliable. So with the higher price That's going towards, you know, I want a better marketing material, I want better reliable vehicles maintenance on the vehicles. So it all kind of goes hand in hand with each other. You know, the other prices are a little bit higher, but me and now I can upgrade from a Chevy Cobalt that's 12 years old to a truck that's more reliable.
Collin 35:24
Yeah, absolutely. Because as as a business owner, and as somebody who is in this to provide value, you provide value when you have the tools, the resources and the things on hand to provide more value. And you can only do that by investing back into your company and having prices set so that you can be able to do that. Because if you aren't bringing in enough to to bring in those things that you want to add value and to continue to provide good services. You're not I mean, you're not providing them the quality of service that you would like to
Erica 35:58
and that's totally where my mind is. As it's like, so this is going to sound kind of silly. But this is something my husband always says, if you have to, you have one. And if you have one, you have none. So say for instance, I'm out there scooping, and I only have one bucket on me and my bucket breaks. So then I have to leave, I have to go to the store, and I have to purchase another one. So in each of our vehicles, we have backup buckets. We have backup rakes, we have extra things. So if something does break, it doesn't stop our stop our day. Because we don't want to have to reschedule. We don't want to have to skip a scoop. We want to have consistent service for our customers. And so that all that does go back into the business and I have an extra vehicle. So if something breaks, I'm not down for a day.
Collin 36:48
Yeah, because that's time that you're not out there serving customers and not meeting the needs and doing what they've paid you to do. So that's, you know, money to the wayside and backing up more things for The next day.
Erica 37:01
Yes. And so my I don't, I don't know if this is like, important, but my business is debt free. So I don't have payments. I didn't take any loans out to start anything. So if something does break or something has to be purchased, it is all cash flowed from the business.
Collin 37:19
Talk about why you decided to do that, because I don't think that's very common when people start businesses these days. So why was that? Was that a conscious decision? Or did you find yourself just getting into that?
Erica 37:31
Well, my husband and I started doing the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University, like a year and a half ago, around the same time that I opened this business. And so when I was trying to figure out a new avenue or new career, when I decided to open up the scoop as witness, I said, the only way I was going to open it up is if I could cashflow it, and it was going to be debt free. So they kind of just went hand in hand with each other because I didn't know how this business was going to go I didn't know if I was going to get one customer or if I was going to get 100. But I didn't want to have a payment to like on a vehicle, and then be stressed out like, Oh no, I have to get these customers to make these payments. Because I didn't want the extra stress. That's the last thing I wanted this to be. It was stressful.
Collin 38:17
Yeah, especially since the business itself was so new, adding this extra financial stress of like, Okay, I'm going to take on enough. I'm going to build my business up for 10,000 customers, but I'm only going to start with one and I'm going to stress till I reach that 10,000 so I can pay off this money and then growing little by little and as you need. My wife and I did the same thing. Actually, that's why we started that setting was we went through the Financial Peace University and we wanted to have this extra income to pay off debts and those kind of things and we made the same decision of, we're going to grow this without taking on debt, so that it's not, so that that part's not a stress so that we can Focus on the quality of service in grow this and put money back into it as we need and grow more organically like that.
Erica 39:08
Exactly. I wish you could see me right now this pumping I'm like, Yes, exactly. I love it.
Collin 39:15
That's, that's really cool. And I like I like hearing that story. And you know why you're while you're doing that and how you're molding your business and this that mindset that you're keeping over time. Do you ever find yourself? This is this may be a random question. Are we kind of weird? Did you ever find yourself talking to clients about what their pets poop looks like?
Erica 39:33
Yeah, if I see something that's, I get off brand, or it looks different, or if I see something in it, I will take a picture. I'll take a video and I'll send it to the customer and say, Hey, listen, you know, Fidos waist was a little runny this week. Just keep an eye on them. Or I will say for instance, I funny story, I didn't know what maggots look like. So I thought one of the dogs had worms. And I was like, I was freaking out. I was stressed. Sorry, I sent a picture. I sent it to her. And then I was talking to my one of my other scooper. I was like, Oh my gosh, his dog has worms. How do I sanitize my equipment? What do I need to do? Do I need to get a new rate? And my friend was like, Erica, that's, that's worms. That's not worms. That's maggots. It's not worms. Oh, I was like, Ah, that's nasty. But now I know the difference between worms and maggots and the appropriate way to sanitize the equipment if there were to be worms.
Collin 40:37
Okay, you got me curious. How do you sanitize your equipment for worms?
Erica 40:40
So you, Dennis, you put me on the spot. So you have to have no you're fine. You have to have the bleach concentration. I want to say that it's for every cat. So for a full gallon, I want to say it's a quarter cup. And then you have to let your appointment soak in there for at least 10 minutes in the bleach concentration, if I were to run into a situation where the dog has worms, I would take my extra rake and I would use that on the rest of the houses and I would come home and I would bleach my equipment for longer, but I believe that it's 10 minutes in the bleach concentration with a ratio of a quarter cup to a gallon of water
Collin 41:25
a and like you said, like you have that conscious decision of Okay, if there are if there are worms here. I'm not going to risk it by trying to sanitize it while I'm out. scooping poop. I'm just going to put that one away and pretend like it doesn't exist for the time being and you have a backup so that I don't I there's zero risk of contaminating or bringing that into other people's yards.
Erica 41:47
Yes, and I also have I wear booties over top of my shoes, but I also have another set of shoes like rain boots or something else I can wear just in case I run into that situation.
Collin 41:57
So no we talked about this a little bit about you Your ideas have growing and kind of thing. So So where do you see your business moving to in five years or 10 years?
42:09
It's so hard to predict that.
Erica 42:12
Because I'm still so new, I'm still just, I'm really just trying to figure everything out. I would like to have a couple more employees, I would like to have at least two full time employees. I would like to, for me only to be scooping two days a week. So however that happens, or whatever it looks like, that's kind of what the goal is. So I'm guessing to have maybe around 500 weeklies on board. And then that would kind of equate to having like two full time employees
Collin 42:44
when you're out there working. What are some of your favorite tools of the trade to have you have particular brands that you like or particular rakes that you find more or less useful?
Erica 42:55
Yes, it's actually very, very sophisticated. I really I like to use a child rake from Lowe's.
Collin 43:03
Oh, nice.
Erica 43:04
It's about $5. And then I also like to use the yellow yellow contractor buckets. Yeah, for like Lowe's or Home Depot. And then I just use a trash bag. And those are my supplies.
Collin 43:18
I like that because it's a reminder that it doesn't you don't have to overcomplicate your business, regardless of what it is there are tools out there that are reliable, that get the job done and and are easily replaceable, if lost, not high value dollar things that you're investing tons of money in, and they still allow you to do provide a service.
Erica 43:39
Yeah, absolutely. It's like when I overcomplicate things, that's when I get myself stressed out and I psych myself out. So I just told myself, I'm gonna run this business as simple as I can. And as with the rake, like I'm short, so I needed a short rate. I've tried probably five or six different types. I finally landed on this basic one from Lowe's, because my husband actually would cut down all the other rakes because they were too long for me. Wow. And those were expensive, too. They were, I think I bought one right? That was like $20 Oh my gosh, I was like, this is going to be the rake. This is going to be something. It was trash. I hated it. But what I will say is, you need to invest in just good outdoor clothing, good boots, something with good arch support. That's that stuff's very important. And that's the expensive stuff.
Collin 44:37
But what you know, you're saying like, there are things in a business that you need to have to invest money in. There are other things that you still need to require the service to provide the service, but you don't need to be dumping in tons and tons of money there because there are other ways to get the job done.
Erica 44:55
Now, so the four things would be obviously you need to trash bags, you need the bucket you need rake in a great pair of shoes,
Collin 45:02
shoes. That's it. So what do you wish more people knew about somebody who's about what you do in the pet waste removal business?
Erica 45:10
Are you talking more for like a consumer side or somebody that wants to get into the business?
Collin 45:14
Let's go with both. So maybe someone on the consumer side who looks at your job and just maybe they don't understand at all, what do you what do you wish that kind of person knew about what you do?
Erica 45:23
Um, I guess for the people that are like, wondering, you know, why would somebody ever want to pick up dog poop? Um, to that person, I would just want to say it's because this is America. We can you know, there's so many different ways to make money and you know, we're providing a service, I have flexibility. I get to listen to podcasts. I get to make people smile, I get to pet get to pet dogs. Like it's, it's like a no brainer. I don't understand why more people don't do this. I wouldn't say that people don't respect it. But I mean, some people do. looked down on it. And I it doesn't bother me. It really doesn't bother me when people are like, I can't believe you pick up dog poop. I just smile and say, I do and I absolutely love it.
Collin 46:12
So now somebody was wanting to get into it. What do you wish they knew about this business,
Erica 46:17
about the business, you have to have dedication. And you just have to be consistent with it because it's, it's not going to happen right away. You also have to be prepared for people to beat you up, because they will beat you up and beat your customers up. So you have to have a tough skin. Because there are people that are like, yes, this is an amazing service, you're doing excellent work. But then you're going to have other people that are like your customers are lazy or good for you for capitalizing on the lazy. So you have to figure out how to really just it's really just dealing with people because the job itself is not a difficult job. It's Dealing with the customers and the naysayers. That's what the bad that's what the tough part is.
Collin 47:05
I'm sure that was kind of surprising for you, maybe maybe it wasn't to learn that the hard part of the job would be dealing with the people, and not necessarily all the other stuff that you do day in and day out.
Erica 47:18
Yeah, the poop scooping part is the easiest it's dealing with. I can't even really say that I get a lot of complaints, but it's just a and a few complaints that we have got just how to handle the situation appropriately, and just really troubleshoot. So that's just problem solving. And so that's been the difficult part and like having patients
Collin 47:38
that sometimes may seem ancillary or not important attributes, but all of a sudden, you know, you realize, I'm not just scooping poop, I'm dealing with people I'm interacting with, with people, I'm providing service, I'm talking and communicating to customers and to clients and to people on the street who don't know what I'm doing. All those people skills all of a sudden become really important in the field. If you don't have those, or if you don't value those, you can find yourself in a tough spot sometimes.
Erica 48:05
Yeah. And and another thing, so I heard this somewhere and I, it seems like it's working. But I heard that there's so there's two different scenarios, say you provide excellent service like you are awesome, but you're kind of a jerk. Right? Or then on the flip side of that you are such a kind person, but maybe your service isn't bad, but it's not the best quality ever. A lot of times the person is going to stick with the person that makes them feel good about themselves and deals with them in a good manner. Over the other the jerky person.
Collin 48:42
Yeah, I remember. One of my first jobs was in the clothing department at a Kohl's. And when our training they basically they told us killed him with kindness. Yeah. It goes such a long way smiling, being engaged. It really helps a diffused Some tense situations if you find yourself in that, but be it's just allowing yourself to connect or be connected to other people, allows a lot of things, you know, really grease those wheels and get things moving. Sometimes
Erica 49:11
people really just want to feel good, and people are gonna keep others around that make them feel good. And that's kind of I heard that and it seems to be proving true. I mean, I've gotten a couple complaints but I have like, I haven't been fired from like missing a pile because I rectified it, I you know, do whatever I had to do to make sure at the end of the conversation, they felt good about what what it was going on,
Collin 49:34
remembering that it is customer service, and you are providing that to them. And, like you said, making it right sometimes and eating that or, you know, sometimes apologizing goes a huge way because often people don't expect somebody to apologize when you say yeah, you know, I messed up I'm sorry, sometimes that kind of puts people back like oh, okay, yeah, you got it.
Erica 49:56
As a business owner, you're the middle person. So I you know, they have Customer had a complaint. And then your employee is the one that, you know, caused it. So not only you have to smooth everything over with the customer, but then you have to have the conversation with your employee. And I always try to do it in the most respectful way possible, because I would never want to be talked down to or scolded. So I had to figure out like, when I had to talk to one of my employees about a situation, I practice it a couple times in the mirror before I had the conversation, like, Okay, how am I going to word this, I want them to feel respected. I don't want them to feel like I talked down to them. But I still want the situation and be rectified.
Collin 50:37
Playing that middleman can be hard as you're talking about and it does take practice. And you do have to get used to that as being being the being the boss being the manager of going, Okay, I've got to rectify the situation. I've got to be the peacemaker. And I've got to bring these two parties, you know, to a solution sometimes,
Erica 50:55
yes, and I'm still figuring it out. Every day, there's a new situation, but it's just, it's just how you handle it. And then how you tackle it and then how you execute it.
Collin 51:09
Perfect words. Erica, I really appreciate you coming on. It's been a real joy to have you on and learn about the services of the pet waste removal and in all of you how you run your business and how you treat everybody, and I know we've only touched a little bit on running a business and and all those things involved. And if people have more questions and want to reach out and connect with you, how can they best do that and follow along with your work.
Erica 51:37
You can follow me on Facebook at croupiers, open scooping, or you can go to my website which is www dot Lupin scooping.com. I love that so much. Thank you.
Collin 51:54
Erica, again, thank you so much for coming on and really appreciate you taking time out of your day to come in. Talk to us about this. Yeah,
Erica 52:00
thank you so much for having me. This has been such a pleasure.
Collin 52:04
One of my takeaways from Erica's was when she said, You is when she said, Remember, you don't know everything. And I'll go ahead and expand on that. Nobody knows everything. And that's why it's so important to surround yourself with amazing people with awesome team members, people you can reach out to and trust them to do their work. do your due diligence and bringing them on hiring them, or hiring and bringing them on in hiring them, and then trust them to do the work. Obviously, that sounds a lot easier than it actually is for the majority of us, but it's such an important step for many of our businesses. We have a another episode coming out tomorrow, where we bring Mike from Jetro, tax and Associates, and from the small business tax saving podcast back on to talk all about the grants and loans from the COVID-19 financial relief packages here in the United States. If you have questions about those mic addresses, a lot of the mic breaks down in the weeds through a lot of the confusion out there.
