How Pooper Scooper Squad Went From Zero to 100+ Recurring Customers in a Little Over a Year

How did a Marine veteran start a pet waste removal business in South Jersey?

Candido left the Marines about 10 years ago and went into the regular workforce, but he always wanted to open a business. His one requirement was low overhead, so he would not put much money into something that could fail.

His research led him to dog waste removal, and he noticed there were not many companies doing it in New Jersey, especially in South Jersey where he lives. “This is needed here. Let me be the one to start it,” he said.

He started Pooper Scooper Squad around September 2024 and got his first customer the following January. A little over a year later the company has more than 100 recurring customers, has served a couple hundred in total, and has technicians doing the scooping he used to do alone.

How did Pooper Scooper Squad get its first customers?

By going all in before there was any revenue, then posting constantly. Before his first customer, Candido had one of the family’s vehicles wrapped and had a website built professionally. “I knew if I’m going to do this, I need to be all in,” he said.

Then he worked local Facebook groups, in a way anyone can copy:

1. Find the groups. He looked for every community group in the towns within his 45-minute service radius. He prefers groups that make you meet a criteria to join, because they are not overloaded with other businesses’ ads.
2. Learn the rules. He paid attention to which days each group allows business posts and wrote them down.
3. Post every allowed day. Photos of the wrapped vehicle, photos of jobs the company had done, and ad images made with ChatGPT so people saw something different.

“Posting on a regular basis, consistency. That’s key,” he said.

What paid advertising does he use?

Only Facebook ads, which he runs himself. They have been the company’s bread and butter beyond the free group posts. The ads send people to his website so they can see what the company does and offers, and the creative is usually a photo of himself and the work. He switches it up from time to time.

He has not tried Google advertising, and said the reason is his reviews. With about 90 of them, all five stars, he hears the same thing from new customers: he was not first on the list, but he had the most reviews.

It matches how he shops. Whether he is going out to eat or buying something, he checks the Google reviews first.

How does a pet waste removal company handle the slow season?

By expecting it and working to keep customers all year. In New Jersey there is a spring rush, and Candido said summer is when he loses a few more customers because people go on vacation.

His approach when a customer wants to cancel is to offer an alternative: a deal, or a move from weekly to every other week. Mostly, though, he relies on doing the job well. He finds customers fall in love with the service once the scooping starts and do not want to give it up.

His standards are plain:

• If a yard is scheduled for a day, the crew is there that day.
• “If you call the office, we’re going to answer. If you send an email, we’re going to respond.”
• Treat it as a professional company. “Just because it’s a dog waste removal business, if you’re generating money, it’s a business.”

How did the Marines prepare him to run a business?

With discipline and attention to detail. Discipline, he said, is knowing when something has to get done and doing it. The hardest part of starting was pulling the trigger, and that habit got him past it.

Attention to detail shows up in the things customers see first, the website and the vehicle wrap. He said he pays very close attention to both because they matter the most.

What is next for Pooper Scooper Squad?

A trademark first, then possibly franchising. Candido is a few months into trademarking the business and is weighing whether to license or franchise it within a few years. He said “eventually” on purpose: he is still new, still learning, and wants to open other locations himself first.

What would he tell a new service business owner?

Three things: be consistent, be reliable, and set a plan and execute it.

“Customers want the reliability,” he said. They want good work every time, and an owner who follows those three rules will do fine.