Site Map | Search This Site | Contact Site Owner

Scoopers & Friends Discussion Board Archives

Messages archived from the Scoopers & Friends Discussion Board, going back to May of 1998. The discussion board board is an online forum about the business of pet-waste removal. Browse the messages, CLICK HERE TO SEARCH by keyword, or click here to participate in current discussions.

Page Seventeen

Message Date/Time:
Sunday, 01-Nov-98 11:38:17

Misc.,parks, databases, info sharing.... ... Hi All.
David, I was wondering how your Parks thing is going. There was an article in the paper here last week, about the same thing. Dog owners who need to sneak around in our Parks,(because of the no dogs allowed signs) and while most of them pick up, some don't. I am very interested in approaching the city on this. Is there any way we could share this info, as in get a copy of your proposal. I live in Canada, so no threat:).
As far as databases, I did one on Microsoft works 4.0, and it is fabulous. I can send whoever wants a copy of my database from by email. Just let me know. You can print off form letters, contracts, labels, etc. from the word program, and it all comes from the database program.
Another thing, we put up lawn signs at all the offleash parks here, and within 2 days they were gone. Oh well.

Cheers,
Pet
Message Date/Time:
Tuesday, 03-Nov-98 19:48:13

Re: Misc.,parks, databases, info sharing.... ... Yes I am interested in receiving your program I am new to the business and want to start out on the right track thanks for any help you can give
Message Date/Time:
Sunday, 01-Nov-98 15:36:37

New scooper on tyhe block ... I'm new to this scooping lark .... Could someone tell me some basic tips and equipment to get me started. Thanks Gavin
Message Date/Time:
Saturday, 07-Nov-98 12:17:18

Re: New scooper on tyhe block ... Gavin, be sure to check out all the messages here on the board and in the archived files at http://www.pooper-scooper.com. While you're at the web site, see the Frequently Asked Questions page.
That should be plenty of information to get you started, and if you have more specific questions, ask 'em right here. :)
The folks who participate on this message board are great!

Matthew Osborn
Author "The Professional Pooper-Scooper:
How to start your own low-cost, high-profit
dog waste removal service."
Message Date/Time:
Tuesday, 03-Nov-98 03:34:08

Hello everyone ... I am acollege student and am thinking of fullfilling a career in the field of dog waste desposal as my dad works for the local pound and this is already how i am supporting my self. and I love animals. So I really enjoy it. So if anyone has any info no matter what it is please e-mail me
Sincerely,
B-Vanilla
Message Date/Time:
Tuesday, 03-Nov-98 19:57:59

New business in town ... I just got my phone line and am ready to start advertising my questions are how do I approach commercial accounts and things such as parks and rec. I know Doody Calls has had success with this so any info would be great. I am in the Sacramento area and would also like to know how to get listed in the directory. Please I know this sounds very general but any and I mean any helpful advice for someone who has done all the homework and is ready to roll would be very appreciated. Thank you.
Message Date/Time:
Wednesday, 04-Nov-98 23:30:51

Re: New business in town ... Hi Dallas,

The best way to approach this is to got to all the parks in your area, and specifically the athletic areas of those parks where the city plays it softball abd soccer games. Walk them off...mark down a time estimate to complete the job at each park, then figure your cost estimates. Once this has been done, present the information in a business-like manner on a page, and then make some visits and phone calls to set up an appointmnet with whomever it is that makes decision on such matters in your area.

Good luck!
Message Date/Time:
Saturday, 07-Nov-98 12:13:56

Re: New business in town ... To be listed in the International Directory of Dog Waste Removal Services at www.pooper-scooper.com, just e-mail me with the name, address, and phone number of your business. You can also include your e-mail address, the URL of your web page (by the way, you can put web pages online at pooper-scooper.com now), a slogan and the geographic area you serve.
The listing is FREE, too! :)
Message Date/Time:
Wednesday, 04-Nov-98 12:35:40

Poop in the Pen ... Okay, surfing the net at work and came across this site. I have a challenge and maybe one of you could help out. My Dog, a Malamute, is an outside dog...She has a pen with a "rough" concrete floor. The problem that we have is now that it is becoming cold up here, clean up is a challenge...particully the poop..Any Ideas on how to clean this up??? Please let me know

Thanks
Rob
Message Date/Time:
Thursday, 05-Nov-98 09:25:12

Re: Poop in the Pen ... Do you mean it's difficult to remove the poop because it's frozen to the concrete? I certainly know that situation.
If you've been using one of those scissors-type pooper-scoopers, I don't think you'll get anywhere with that kind of tool. But with a small shovel with a steel blade, you shouldn't have too much trouble.
Lower the handle of the shovel fairly close to the ground and strike firmly at the base of the pile. This has the effect of "chipping" the poop from the concrete (or other surface, usually breaking the entire pile free from the ground. If there is a lot of waste (for example, two dogs and once-a-week scooping), I have found it quicker and easier to go around and break loose all the piles before I scoop them all up.
If you try to break the piles free by brute force just by hitting them from the side while holding the shovel straight up, you'll have a lot of trouble. Not only will you transmit a great deal of shock to your wrist and arm, but I've actually broken shovel handles trying that.
It's the scraping/chipping approach that I've found to be most productive in this situation.
Message Date/Time:
Thursday, 05-Nov-98 01:29:26

Updated message board? ... Matthew,
I can't seem to find the latest version of the message board. For the last 2 or 3 weeks the most recent message I can find is from August 30.
Am I doing something wrong?
I'm using Yahoo.
Thanks,
Red
Pet Butler Dallas
Message Date/Time:
Thursday, 05-Nov-98 06:43:30

Poop scoop services ... Hi guys; I am a student at Heriot Watt currently studying facilities management and am wanting some advise from anyone with regard to this problem. Ta.
Message Date/Time:
Thursday, 05-Nov-98 15:03:01

Re: Poop scoop services ... What problem?
Message Date/Time:
Saturday, 07-Nov-98 12:09:34

Re: Poop scoop services ... Hi, Scott
You'll find that folks here can be mighty helpful, and I hope we can answer your questions for you. I'm just a little unclear about exactly what you want to know.
So if you could just explain a little more specifically about what kind of information you need, it would help us help you a lot more. :)

Matthew
Message Date/Time:
Thursday, 05-Nov-98 11:35:06

Advertising ... hello!
I have just begun my own k-9 service in regards to poop and scoop, dog walking, and dog sitting. I am having a difficult time promoting these services to the region I am focussing on. Recently, I was telephoned and was told to never deliver flyers to their front door again. Another advertising technique I have chosen was the newspaper classified section...still no response. My question is, what are other ways to to promote my services? I would greatly appreciate any response.

--Ontario, Canada
Message Date/Time:
Friday, 06-Nov-98 13:43:52

Re: Advertising ... Don't be discouraged!
You should never base the feasability of your business on someone elses experiences. Just get creative. You need to eat, sleep, and breathe the promotion of your business.
Make sure you have clear, bold signs on your vehicle. This is a great moving billboard. When you go shopping, visiting, or even out for lunch, park your vehicle in a prominent place in view of the busiest street in the area.
Fill all of your coat pockets with business cards. Give them to every person you come in contact with. If they object because they don't have pets, ask them to give it to a friend that does.
When people react negatively to your business idea, respond in positive manner and point out a few benefits of your service. This not only may change their attitude, but will also leave you in a positive frame of mind.
Strike up relationships with Veterinarian Clinics, Pet Supply retailers, Groomers, and any other business that serves pet owners in your area. If they are not offering the same service as you, they should be happy to inform their clients of your service. You should offer them the benefit of promoting their services to your clients as well. (You may not have many clients now, but that will change in time)
Check to see when the next dog show is in your area. If you can't afford to buy a trade booth, be there in the morning to ask another retailer if they would place a small display on their table.(you may need to offer to pay a small % of the booth fee).
Home and Garden Trade shows are also good. Gardeners have pets too! It would be important to them to have clean yards after they have spent so much time and money on grooming their flower beds and lawns. For these people you may have to combine pet sitting with poop-scooping and lawn watering. What a convenient deal for them!
Referrals are invaluable. Always compliment your existing clients. Tell them YOU ENJOY WORKING FOR THEM and would be happy to make room on your schedule for their friends or family. ("making room on your schedule" gives them the impression that you are a successful and credible business that they can feel confident referring their friend to.)
These of course are just some of MY ideas. There are also more obvious and probably much more productive ways of getting free advertising such as Press Releases in the newspaper. Don't be shy about phoning and asking to speak to a reporter. They just may do a feature on your business. I have a friend who is a reporter for a local newspaper where I live and she is always looking for good public interest stories about LOCAL people or businesses. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!
Just a quick word of advice regarding the person who phoned you to say she didn't want you to deliver fliers to her house:
Make a note of her address and DON'T deliver another flier to her in the future, but don't let this stop you from distributing fliers! There is a rule that I have always followed. DON'T CHANGE 100% OF YOUR BUSINESS TO CATER TO 1% OF YOUR CLIENTS.
Good Luck with future marketing, I hope you can find something here that will help.
Donna :)
Message Date/Time:
Saturday, 07-Nov-98 12:05:29

Re: Advertising ... Well, Donna really had a lot of excellent advice, and I probably don't need to re-write what she said. :) I agree with it!
I will echo the part about being very sure not to deliver another flyer to that particular person again, but don't let that keep you from getting out the word to everyone else.
Over time, my most consistent source of new business was a classified ad in the neighborhood weekly papers (the ones where other household services have been advertising for years). It may take running it a few times before it starts to bring in clients.
A few things that I found to increase the effeciveness of the ad are: 1) Be sure to include the phrase "Satisfaction Guaranteed," or words to that effect. 2) I found that including the basic price helped the ad pull more response. People might otherwise assume that it's a service only for the rich. I can't count the number of times people have told me how surprised they were that it was so inexpensive.
3) I got a lot more response when I put the ad under "Pets" or "Pet Services" than when I put it under any other classification. 4) Run the ad as often as you can afford to. Every week is best, but every other week is good, too. Spring will be when your ads work best, followed by early Fall. The deep of Winter and the dog days of Summer might not produce a lot of new customers even if you spend a lot of money on ads.
As mentioned in other messages on this board and at www.pooper-scooper.com, use as many marketing methods as you can think of and afford. The total effect is cumulative.

Be sure to keep us posted!

Matthew
Message Date/Time:
Tuesday, 17-Nov-98 20:02:33

Re: Advertising ... Don't just leave an ad, give them something worthwhile. Search the net, find some Holiday safety tips, write those up and include your ad with a safety flyer. (Then send your list to me, so I won't have to make my own list )

I've distributed over 6,000 ads this year with that in mind and have only one complaint. (she asked me not to use bright yellow paper)
Message Date/Time:
Saturday, 28-Nov-98 03:49:36

Re: Re: Advertising ... I've only had 2 people complain about receiving flyers at the door. One was an elderly woman who went BALLISTIC on the telephone (going so far as to say that she had told me before to never leave flyers at her house - first time I'd used flyers... ) and one other who, when the company deliverying the flyers dropped the sheet in the screen door - where it slid between a grill & the screen and couldn't be removed. I paid for a rescreening of the door.

I'll take 2 complaints out of over 25,000 flyers dropped.

john
Message Date/Time:
Friday, 06-Nov-98 10:30:04

considering starting new business ... Well, I've been considering starting up a business for pickup/removal of canine waste for the past six months. Yesterday, I came accross this message board, and sent off for Matthew's manual. I think it's a wonderful concept for a business, but the few people that I have discussed this with laugh, poke fun and tell me how I can't make any money doing this. I am an accountant with a full time job and was thinking I could start with scheduling on the weekends and one or two after work until business picks up enough to quit my job and jump in :) with both feet. One of my relatives called a lady yesterday that has a business in one of the counties close by and the lady said she had been doing this for six months and only has five customers at this time, averaging $50/week. I guess I am just looking for some input from others rather than all the discouragement I've been receiving.

Any comments will be greatly appreciated.
Message Date/Time:
Saturday, 07-Nov-98 11:54:43

Re: considering starting new business ... Hi Kathy, :)
A few laughs about your line of work is probably something that is never going to completely go away. It's just something that you may have to get used to. One thing that helps a lot is the realization of how much money you're making -- frequently more than the people who are laughing at you. LOL
A lot of that is also just because most people have never heard of this kind of service. Anything new is "strange," and therefore laughable to a lot of folks. As more people get used to the idea, a lot of that kind of thing will go away.
It helps, too, when you have the pleasant experience of hearing nice comments from your customers.
As the years go by, I have become even more convinced than when I started that this kind of service is really needed by a lot of dog owners. Your service will help older people keep their companion pets when they might otherwise be unable to care for them.
People with guide dogs or assistance dogs will consider your service to be a godsend. Busy, professional, two-income families will enjoy their precious little free time together more because of you.
And of course, the money helps. :) Consider even the lady you mentioned, with just 5 customers so far. She can almost certainly do her week's work for those customers in less than two hours, maybe even one hour. $50 a week for less than two hours' work isn't so bad, is it? Heck, that's enough to make a car payment.
So don't be discouraged. :) If you don't have much money for marketing, and if you don't have much time to get out and promote the business, it might take a while to reach some of the milestones that are down the road. But that time is going to pass anyway, whether you start your business or not. So you might as well start it, and in a few years you'll have something of real value.

Best Wishes!

Matthew
Message Date/Time:
Tuesday, 17-Nov-98 19:54:04

Re: considering starting new business ... As an overnight success (10 years in the making ) PET BUTLER ALLOWED me to make more money my first year as manager (fifth year the company was in business) than I ever made as a state licensed water treatment plant operator and lab technician.

Gotta keep a sense of humor. I tell folks this

"This job is gonna make me filthy rich! I've already got the filthy part down pat."
Message Date/Time:
Sunday, 29-Nov-98 02:35:27

Re: considering starting new business ... That's half the fun of running a business like this! I make fun of my business every day and I've been doing this for ten years. I found it's a great way to discourage those pesky phone surveys. When they ask what I do for a living I simply say " I pick up dog poop". Then they hang up. This sure beats the ol' 9 to 5 routine.
Message Date/Time:
Friday, 06-Nov-98 15:47:23

new business in New York ... Having been in the dog business for 18 years I am thinking of starting a pooper scooper service in my area. Is there any liscencing/bonding reauired for this?? Can anyone point me in the right direction on getting started?? Thanks so much for any help. My husband was disabled after being hit by a car driven by an uninsured driver, and I have to expand my income with something I can take my daughter along with me on.
Message Date/Time:
Saturday, 07-Nov-98 11:40:42

Re: new business in New York ... Licensing and bonding requirements for this kind of work are set by local authorities and agencies. Rules vary widely; in many places there may be no regulations covering this kind of work at all. Other locations by require both registration as a waste hauler, inspection of your vehicles by health department officials, and a bond.
If your area does regulate your service, some or all of the regulations may depend on whether you haul the waste material yourself, use the local landfill, or have another waste disposal service take the stuff to the landfill for you.
Another possible area to be aware of is whether your state has a sales tax on this kind of service. If so, then you'll want to get a vendor's license or whatever is needed in order for you to collect, report and pay that tax.
Now, this may sound like potentially a lot of regulations, but don't be put off. :) Just proceed one step at a time. Contact your area's landfill (if you plan on taking the waste there yourself) and find out what, if any, regulations your business would be required to comply with. Check with your state's sales tax division to see if you should charge tax on your service, and if so, they will help you take care of that.
If a bond is required, you may be able to obtain it from your insurance agent for a fraction of the amount of the bond. For instance,a $5,000 bond might actually cost only $50/year.
Hang in there and meet each requirement as it comes up.
Best of luck!
Message Date/Time:
Sunday, 15-Nov-98 18:00:02

Re: new business in New York ... Hi
I wanted to know what are the rates for dog walking email me at ashokabg@yahoo.com
Message Date/Time:
Saturday, 07-Nov-98 22:04:28

a question ... forgive me for my ignorance, but i have no clue how to do a press release? could someone help me out here?
i'd really appreciate any helpful tips about this question, thanks.
Message Date/Time:
Tuesday, 10-Nov-98 01:21:18

Re: a question ... I've included some examples of actual press releases, and discussed them in some detail, in the book "The Professional Pooper-Scooper."
You'll also find books on the subject at your local library. and you can find examples of press releases in general at online sites such at www.prnewswire.com and www.businesswire.com.
The basic idea is to write a news story very briefly and send it to the editors and news directors of your local media. Any business will have newsworthy information from time to time; the mere fact that your new business is open and offering to perform this unusual service is usually enough to generate quite a bit of interest. :)
The release must, of course, be written in a news-type style and not look like just an advertisement. Keep the needs of editors and the interests of the public in mind as you create the release.
The actual mechanics of the news release is something you'll find examples of in the books I've mentioned. And of course, the examples in my book are most closely related to the subject at hand, plus they have proven to produce good results in the past.

Matthew
Message Date/Time:
Monday, 09-Nov-98 20:03:37

taxes ... also, we're having a hard time figuring out if we need to charge/pay taxes on this business.
please let me know ASAP
Message Date/Time:
Tuesday, 10-Nov-98 01:14:51

Re: taxes ... Whether you need to collect sales tax on your service depends on which state you are in. Look in the "government" section of your white pages and call your state's division of sales tax. They will give you the information you need.
As for other types of taxes, such as federal income and state income tax, local taxes, etc, you can get a lot of information from SCORE, a program of the US Small Business Administration. Find them while you're looking in the government section of your phone book.
The IRS has a free New Business Kit that you can obtain by calling 1-800-TAX-1040, too.

Matthew
Message Date/Time:
Monday, 23-Nov-98 13:02:20

Re: taxes ... Give to Ceasar what is Ceasar's, and to God what is God's. (in other words, it is right to pay taxes [and tithe])
Message Date/Time:
Tuesday, 10-Nov-98 23:09:56

Another effective marketing tool ... Howdy all. Here's yet another great way to advertise. Call your local "Welcome Wagon" or other new resident welcoming service in your area. These people make it their business to contact people moving into your area. They make a personal visit to the new family's home, and offer a package that includes coupons and free sample products, that sort of thing. They also have (in my area and probably in most other areas as well) a booklet that they leave with the new family. This booklet has ads in it, as well as savings coupons for the various businesses that pay for exposure there. Now here, in my area, it costs only $93 for a full year in this little booklet. And the businesses *inside* the booklet are promoted in a personal way by the lady who is visiting the new family. In other words, for your small investment you'll have somebody making contact with all the new families and personally recommending your service to them! Not a bad deal.

David