How Cruces Scoopers Went From Zero to 130+ Pet Waste Customers in 10 Months, Solo

How did Cruces Scoopers start?

The idea came from Ty Frames’ 15-year-old son. In October or November of 2024, Ty told him to go scoop the yard. He came back in and said, “Dad, I hate scooping poop. I bet a lot of people do, too.” Then he added, “I think we could do this as a business.”

Ty had not known it was a business at all. He and his wife wanted out of another business they had been in for years and could not work out what to do next. He found William and Levi on YouTube, spent a couple of months researching, and came home from a frustrating day to ask his wife one question: would she pay someone $80 a month to scoop the yard if he and the boys were not around? She said, “Yeah, probably.”

Cruces Scoopers officially launched in Las Cruces, New Mexico on February 8, 2025. Ten months and four days later, Ty had more than 130 customers and was still doing every yard himself.

What made the business take off?

Putting a real person on it. At first Ty advertised on Facebook with images he made in ChatGPT and never showed himself or his family. He picked up a few customers and it was slow.

He admits he was embarrassed. He did not want friends seeing the posts and asking, “Ty, you scoop poop now?” Then he posted a picture of himself and his oldest son out scooping. “Once people saw a real person associated with our business, I started getting sign-ups left and right,” he said. By Memorial Day he had about 75 customers.

The family also set up a table at the farmers market, where they met the mayor. It did not produce customers, he said, but it got the name noticed in a town that likes to support local.

His advice to new scoopers is not to overthink the creative: “It’s probably your worst photo that’s going to get noticed the most.”

How does Ty get customers from Facebook?

Free groups first, then lead form ads.

• Facebook groups. He joined every free local group from both his business page and his personal page and posts twice a day. That was most of his marketing for the first three or four months.
• Ads. He ran a few along the way at $25 or $30 a day, and about 10 days before the interview raised that to $50 or $60 a day.
• Lead forms. He tried engagement ads and other types, and lead forms worked best. People leave a name, email and phone number. His current ad brought 15 or 16 leads in seven days.
• Speed. He is notified in under a minute and stops in the middle of a route to answer. “You got to close those leads quick,” he said.
• Offer. No free cleanups. The first clean is the biggest and he is “not going to be out there for two hours for free.” New recurring customers get a free yard deodorizer treatment instead.
• Follow-up. He replies in the channel the lead used. Many people prefer text, but he finds it easier to close a sale over the phone.

When did he go full time?

After five or six months, once the scooping income passed his salary at the other business. He and his wife had agreed on a customer number that would let them leave, and they got out around July or August.

It has not been easy hours. Ty works from 7 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m. every day, including Saturdays and Sundays, and said he had taken only two days off since launch: Labor Day and Thanksgiving. His goal for the one-year anniversary was 175 to 200 customers, and he was wrapping his vehicle and getting ready to hire part-timers.

How does he keep customers?

By doing more than the scoop. Ty sends a text when he is on the way and a photo of the secured gate when he leaves. When customers need to reschedule, he squeezes them into a full day.

One Saturday he had to be set up at the farmers market by 8 a.m., and a good customer asked if he could come before her birthday party. He scooped her yard at 6:30 that morning and hurried back. “You got to make your customers happy,” he said.

Reviews followed. He said he had 25 or 26 five-star reviews when he started with Review Harvest and more than 30 came in the first month.

What would he tell someone starting a home service business?

Do the simple things. “The number one complaint is not answering your phone,” Ty said. His customers tell him about other home service companies that never show up and never pick up.

For anyone looking at pet waste removal, he recommends researching first, including Poop Scoop Millionaire with William and Levi, and then keeping it simple.