Entrepreneur: Want to Make $1 Million as a Franchisee? Clean up Some Dog Poop

Making $1 million in a single year often requires a person to take a less-than-traditional approach, but even within ambitious, open-minded circles, scooping poop may not seem like the obvious answer. However, it was making the switch from the restaurant industry to the pet waste removal industry that drove Ryan McCoy , a Scoop Soldiers franchisee, to achieve just that.

Last year, McCoy made nearly $1 million with his “pooper scooper” franchise, and he is on track to do even better this year.

“People can laugh, but if they want to make a million dollars they should scoop some poop,” said McCoy.

In 2019, when Scoop Soldiers was launching its franchise offerings, McCoy was working with the corporate team to manage the Dallas, Texas market. As he watched the brand grow and learned more about the pet waste removal industry in the area, he chose to become a franchisee, purchasing an enhanced territory .

“The biggest thing [was] just buying the established territory that already had clientele,” said McCoy. “Some franchise opportunities, you can buy the area that the corporate side hasn’t gone into yet, where you’re starting with zero clients, essentially. So being in Dallas, where they started already, there was already a decent client count when I took over the territory. And we have naturally added more as we went on.”

Scoop Soldiers’ business model allows franchisees to take advantage of a high-demand market while providing a reliable, high-quality service. Though Scoop Soldiers prides itself on taking care of the messiest parts of pet ownership, allowing families to spend more quality time with their furry friends, there are also clear health benefits to having a pet waste removal service.

Pet waste can harbor parasites and bacteria that are harmful to children and pets if left in the yard and can contaminate local water supply through runoff. McCoy addresses these concerns for clients on a consistent basis, whether they receive daily, twice-weekly or biweekly service.

Within a single year of purchasing the territory, McCoy earned over $900,000 in revenue by servicing over 1,100 clients. As he looks toward the future, he plans to continue growing with both residential and commercial clients like hotels and pet care centers.

“There’s a lot of commercial opportunity which we haven’t fully tapped into yet,” said McCoy. “So that’s a big goal here in the near future.”