How Dog Doody Patrol Grew to 81 Recurring Customers After Its Owner Quit His 9-to-5

Why did Adam start a poop scooping business?

Adam started Dog Doody Patrol to keep dogs out of shelters. Before he moved to Michigan, he worked in animal care and control for Maricopa County in Phoenix, Arizona, at both the city and county shelters. People turned in their dogs for all sorts of reasons, and a big one was that they could not clean up after them. A lot of those dogs ended up being euthanized, which he calls the sad part of the job.

He thought that if owners had a service to lean on, more animals would stay in their homes. “A large reason why I started this business is to save the dogs’ lives,” he said.

Why did he quit the first time, and what brought him back?

The first attempt lasted one job. Adam came up with the name about 10 years ago, registered a DBA and did a single one-time cleanup. Then a huge winter hit, in 2014 as he remembers it. He had come from Arizona, had never dealt with snow, and did not think a seasonal business would hold up. There were no success stories online to follow. He took a job as a welder instead, and regretted it.

What changed his mind was a video from Erica Krupin, another pet waste removal owner in Michigan. He binge-watched her videos, which he says lay out the blueprint, and figured that if she could make it work there, he should try again. That was about three years ago.

How did Dog Doody Patrol reach 81 recurring customers?

By going slowly and being dependable. Adam kept his 9-to-5 and did not have savings to pour into the business, so he concentrated on branding and reputation.

While he had few customers, he gave them extra time. He brought in trash cans that had been left out, picked up sticks in the yard, and blew leaves. His reasoning is that someone who has no time to pick up after the dog probably has no time for those jobs either. He still does them, and keeps looking for tools that let him do it quickly.

His sources of customers, in order:

1. Facebook. Posting in groups, posting regularly, and paid ads.
2. Google.
3. The truck and trailer. The truck has decals, and the trailer carries a large vinyl sign on the back. “That’s just basically like a rolling billboard. I get a lot of calls just from that.”

The hardest part has been getting the name out, because many people do not know the service exists. He sees other pooper scooper companies advertising as a help: the more people hear about it, the less stigma there is. Negative comments on his ads are common.

When did he quit his job?

In the spring, about a year before the interview, when requests started to pile up. He had somewhere in the 20s for customers, by his recollection, and had to choose between filling his schedule and making it work or staying at his job and risking that the business would not grow.

He left without a two-week notice. “I have a schedule to keep and unfortunately it’s not going to be here,” he told his employer. The business doubled that year. Growth since has been slow and steady, and he plans to double it again by doing more of the same and putting more money into ads.

How does a pooper scooper company get remembered?

By being a little off the wall. Adam rides a Onewheel, and it has turned into part of the brand by accident. For a parade, he and his group dressed in huge poop costumes, rode Onewheels and handed out candy to kids, with a big Dog Doody Patrol flag flying.

What would he tell someone starting a home service business?

Go slow and build a good foundation. The time you spend on customers before you are busy is what they remember later. When the schedule does fill up, he said, they are more understanding of your time and more forgiving of small mistakes.