r/PetWastePros

Hey Reddit,

Any advice for my situation?

I’ve been running my poop scoop company for 1.5 years. I got up to around 20 customers, but summer churn hit, added a few back now I’ve been at 15 for months. While I’m motivated, it’s tough to keep going without any growth.

Top-line pulling $1.6k-ish per month and have a few thousand saved up to deploy in marketing. I’m also pretty decent with designing creatives as I have a graphic design background.

In my experience, Google Ads convert the best but there’s been little search volume. Meta ads were working but now it’s been quiet. Facebook groups do nothing. Nextdoor posts nothing. Bandit signs do nothing.

I’m considering doing door hangers but have read the ROI can be terrible.

For everyone in the pet waste removal business, I want to point something out that a lot of you might be overlooking.

RIGHT NOW is one of the best times of the year to go after commercial accounts.

Why? Because apartment complexes, HOAs, hotels, property management companies, and other commercial properties are working on their 2027 budgets RIGHT NOW!

They're figuring out what they're going to spend money on next year, which vendors they're going to use, and what services they need to add.

You want to be in front of these decision-makers BEFORE those budgets are finalized.

Here's what I'd be doing if I were you:

✅ Visit EVERY apartment complex in your service area. Ask for the property manager. Introduce yourself. Find out who's currently handling their pet waste stations and common areas.

✅ Hit every HOA and property management company you can find. A single management company could potentially put you in front of multiple communities.

✅ Visit pet-friendly hotels. They have designated pet relief areas that need regular attention. Somebody needs to keep those areas clean!

✅ Sell more than just scooping. Pet waste station installation, station servicing, bag refills, deodorizing, sanitizing, and common-area maintenance. These are all potential recurring revenue streams.

✅ Follow up! Just because they don't need you today doesn't mean they won't need you in January. Get their contact information, find out when they finalize their budgets, and stay in front of them.

Here's the thing about commercial accounts:

One good apartment complex contract could be worth thousands of dollars annually. Land a handful of those, and you've built yourself a substantial recurring revenue base without having to acquire dozens of individual residential customers.

And once you're established with a property management company, you have an opportunity to earn their business at additional properties.

Stop waiting for commercial customers to find you. GO FIND THEM.

Walk in. Shake hands. Introduce your business. Bring some professional marketing materials. Ask questions. Find out what problems they're having.

Don't just walk in trying to sell something. Walk in trying to solve a problem.

And remember, you're not just selling poop scooping. You're selling cleaner properties, happier residents, fewer complaints, and one less headache for property managers.

We're in October. You've got a window to get your business included in next year's spending plans.

The contracts you pursue today could be paying you every month throughout 2027 and beyond.

Get out there and hustle!

Curious how many of you are actively pursuing commercial accounts right now? And for those who already have them, what's been your most successful approach to landing contracts?

Started a new campaign late Sunday and wanted to share the first few days because the ramp-up has been pretty wild:

• Sunday, Oct 4: $22.55 spent · 0 leads Started late in the day, so I wasn’t worried about this.
• Monday, Oct 5: $35.78 spent · 1 lead $35.78 CPL
• Tuesday, Oct 6: $44.73 spent · 4 leads $11.18 CPL
• Wednesday, Oct 7: $43.72 spent · 6 leads $7.29 CPL

Campaign total so far:
$146.78 spent · 11 leads · $13.34 overall CPL

What I like most isn’t even just the overall CPL — it’s the direction.

0 leads → 1 → 4 → 6.

This is why I try not to panic and start changing campaigns after the first day. Meta needs some data, and sometimes you can literally watch the campaign start figuring out who is most likely to convert.

Obviously it’s still early and CPL can move around, but getting pet-waste-removal leads for around $7–13 each is a hell of a start. Converted 8 of them to new clients...in 2 days (Tuesday and Wednesday! ~$800/mo in new MRR, in 2 days, on $146 in ad spend! That's how you do it right there!

I’ll keep letting it run and update everyone once there’s enough data to see whether it holds.

Hey. My friend is selling me 40 customers for about 2500 extra a month. I have a full time job teaching (yeah...we don't make enough). Trying to provide for my family. If I hire someone to scoop 1-2 days, (considering taxes), is it still worth it? I know paying off the books is prob the way but knowing my ass I'll be taken down pretty quickly lol. Do you guys use any software? I was checking out sweep and go for route purposes and paycheck. Thanks for the help. What tax deductions do you guys get besides gas and car?

So I just found this subreddit today and, wow, I think I found my people.

A little backstory: about 5 years ago, I ran a VERY small scooping business. I only had around 5 customers, but I actually enjoyed doing it. Unfortunately, I ended up having to quit because of my job at the time.

I recently moved to a new area and decided I'd like to give it another shot. I already have the company name picked out and have my services figured out. The basic once or twice-a-week scooping, a yard spray treatment, and some litter box services as well to reach more customers.

I've actually got 2,500 postcards being printed right now. Once they arrive, I'm planning to take them to my regular job (I work for USPS) and use EDDM to have them delivered to specific routes in the area.

Here's where I think things could get interesting.

The area I moved to only seems to have one other person doing this. I hesitate to even call them a competitor because they have a Facebook page, but not much of a presence from what I can tell. There aren't any major companies servicing this area either.

So part of me is thinking... this could actually be my opportunity to become THE local company for this area.

I do wish I had found this subreddit a few days ago, though, because I've already gone pretty far down the rabbit hole. 😂 I've already spent about $500 on equipment and supplies, and the postcards were another $250. The EDDM portion is going to cost me around another $550.

I'm thinking about saving the remaining postcards for another EDDM campaign later, or possibly putting them in the local PO boxes (my boss has already approved that).

I've already got Square set up to take payments, my services and pricing are set up, and I've printed out my service list along with a guide for myself so I don't completely screw up when talking to potential customers. 😂

I also made a Google Form that asks all the important questions so I can get the information I need to give someone an accurate quote.

At this point, I'm too far down the rabbit hole to just give up. But honestly, I'm nervous as hell. I really want to make this work, and I'm worried I'm going to spend all this money and end up failing.

For those of you who have been doing this for a while: what advice would you give someone starting over from scratch? What mistakes should I avoid, and what helped you actually get your first customers and keep them?

Any advice is appreciated. I really don't want to give up before I even get started.