WEBVTT
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I got laid off like everybody else at the start of COVID, and I needed something to needed something to bring in a little bit of extra money.
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Hey, I got a great idea for business for you.
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You should start a dog food scooping business.
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And I'm like, are sh are you out of your mind?
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Pay me to scoop dog crap, man.
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That's that's nutty crap.
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I don't have anybody to scoop yards.
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What are we gonna do tomorrow?
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That's Wednesday's at that point where my we're still yeah, that's all I'm thinking about.
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I'm thinking, how am I gonna take care of my customers, you know?
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Yeah how am I gonna take care of this?
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What am I gonna do?
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Welcome back to the Built Local Podcast.
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Today we have Derek from Poop Patrol calling in out of Wisconsin.
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Derek, how are you doing today?
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I am fantastic.
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You?
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I'm doing great.
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We're really excited to have you on.
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I always like to open the floor up to to our guests.
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Um, for anybody who doesn't know you or anything about your business, go ahead and give them your elevator pitch.
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Uh well, as uh you guys already see, my name is Derek.
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Uh I'm from uh Evansville, Wisconsin.
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Um, originally from Madison, Wisconsin, the capital.
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Uh, but we've been in Evansville now for about 26 years, 26 years.
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Um, I started this business um in April of 2020 as a side hustle.
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I got laid off like everybody else at the start of COVID, and I needed something to needed something to bring in a little bit of extra money uh during that time.
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And a friend of mine has a junk hauling business that he had started just a little bit before mine, and he gave me a little bit of you know a little bit of work to do for him, and then uh and then one day we were we were taking a drive down to Kentucky to deliver a boat that he sold.
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And uh he says to me, This is like 6 30 in the morning, and the sun is just kind of creeping up over the horizon, you know.
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And he says, Hey, I got a great idea for a business for you.
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You should start a dog poop scooping business.
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And I'm like, Are you are you clearing your mind?
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Who's gonna pay me to scoop dog crap, man?
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That's that's nutty.
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Craziest thing I'd ever heard of.
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And he says, No, it's a business, and and if you don't start it, I'm gonna start it, then I'm gonna hire you to run it.
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And I went, okay, here we go, game on.
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And so as I'm sitting in the passenger seat while he's driving, I go onto my phone, I kind of cruise around and look to see uh about the you know, start a little bit, figure it out about what the business entails, and if there was anybody in the area that did what we, you know, what he was suggesting.
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And in our area, there was nothing.
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Now there was a lot like in you know, Florida and a lot in Arizona and Southern California and warm weather climates and and whatever, you know, but nothing in nothing in our area.
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So like, okay, so maybe we got opportunity here, we'll we'll see.
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Uh it was just at the end of winter thaw, so it was like right towards the tail end of March, you know, and there was it was still cold out, and uh, we got back home and I started doing a little bit of digging, and then I put a post out in our local community page in the Evansville uh community page saying, hey, if somebody were to do a business like this and offer dog waste removal for spring cleanups, would there be anybody interested?
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And pow, uh it was mind-blowing.
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Um I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't know anything about it, you know.
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I mean, yeah, uh, but uh I didn't know anything about operating a business or anything like that, but we just started and um uh we got probably I think we cleaned spring cleanups, I think we did 40 yards right off the bat.
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Wow, um, and then and then all of a sudden people started sharing it from Evansville into other pages, yeah.
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And then I got business in Janesville, and I got some business in Madison, and I got business in Oregon, and I got visit you know in other surrounding communities.
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And I think we did, I think we did a total of about 65 uh spring cleanups our first season.
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Um and then people started asking whether we did it weekly or not.
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Yeah, and I didn't even that didn't even register to me at that point.
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You know, I'm just I'm just taking cash for doing spring cleanups, you know, and and breaking in cash.
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Yeah.
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And there we went, and we started doing it weekly.
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In fact, I was just going through some paperwork and I found my list of my first 18 weekly clients.
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Wow.
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Um, and we started, like I said, so we started basically with 18 weekly clients, and now we are sitting uh just about 180.
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That's incredible.
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That is incredible.
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What a beautiful, like what a beautiful story in a way to start the business.
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I think a lot of a lot of people's stories are like they they put the word out and then it's crickets, you know.
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But there's some times when it's just like you feel like I bet you felt like you you struck oil.
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You're like, oh my gosh, this is amazing.
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Yeah, it was it was nuts, man.
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I didn't even, I mean, I had it was I just didn't even it didn't even register ever that it would be as big as it got as as quickly as it did.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, for sure, for sure.
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Well, and you started at pretty much the perfect time, you know, April, up where you're at.
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Uh, that's spring rush, you know, everybody wants to get their yard cleaned up when that snow snow melts.
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Um, so what a kind of series of uh fortunate events, not unfortunate events.
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Yeah, for sure, for sure.
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That's awesome.
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So you said you had like kind of no experience running a business or anything.
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What was your background in before uh before you got laid off before COVID?
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Um, I did uh 26 years in the automotive service industry.
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I was basically as a I sold cars for a few years, for about three years, uh, but otherwise the majority of it was uh as a service writer, service consultant, I was the guy that you like to hate that got you got to tell you it was gonna cost you a thousand bucks to get your oil changed, put your brakes on, and turn your check engine light off.
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Real quick, if you're a local business owner and you want to start getting customers from Google, you know how important Google reviews are.
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Every week I talk to business owners just like you across hundreds of industries who know reviews matter, but never seem to have the time or the system in place to actually get them.
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That's exactly why I've spent the last two years building Review Harvest.
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We built it with a non-tech savvy business owner in mind so anybody can set it up in minutes and start getting reviews today.
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It automates the process of getting real reviews from your customers, responding to those reviews and repurposing them across your website and across your social media platforms.
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It's a set it and forgive it software.
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You can get it all set up in about 10 minutes and you never have to worry about reviews again.
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We can integrate into the tools you're already using so you don't have to change a thing.
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You don't have to train your team on how to request reviews, you don't have to request them manually.
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You get customers, we get your reviews.
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It's simple as that.
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And the first play in our playbook is what we call a review reactivation.
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You probably have hundreds or thousands of previous customers who love your service but never left a review.
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So a lot of times our users can double or even triple the reviews just in the first couple months of working with us when we do that review reactivation.
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Yeah.
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Gotcha.
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Okay, gotcha.
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Makes sense.
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And it's uh it's such an interesting thing.
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There's so many people getting into Pet Waste Renewal, obviously, and we can talk about the growth of the industry without kind of without having previous business experience, right?
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Like just getting in as a side hustle, and boom, next thing you know, you you've got a legit business and you've got to figure out how to, you know, do payroll and and taxes and hire people and all that sort of stuff.
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And so what was that process like, you know, making taking this business from, hey, this is a side hustle that I'm just gonna do in April and March to oh, people want me to pay me monthly for this?
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What was that transition like to turning it into like a legit business that it is today?
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Well, you know, I mean, the so the first for so 2020, um, we did, like I said, all the spring cleanups that we did, and then uh the 18 weekly clients.
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I still needed a side another, you know, more income to help supplement.
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So uh we're working doing some stuff for my buddy DJ for uh his his business.
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He had some a couple of things for me to do, so I kind of helped out with those things, and then um in the fall of 2020, um, we still had like again still 15, 18 clients.
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Um and uh I started cleaning beer lines just to kind of help fill in the blanks.
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Yeah um and actually in December of the first year of 20, um, we decided we were gonna stop, we're gonna postpone or suspend service for the winter.
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And uh and every you know, they were all everybody was okay with that, you know.
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And then there was only, like I said, 15, 18 clients at that point.
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They're like, yeah, whatever, just come back in the spring and do it then, you know.
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Uh and then as I sat there and I started getting into some of the other uh poop scooping groups, there was only a couple of them at that point in time.
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Yeah, uh, and the one is pretty much non-existent anymore.
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Um uh and I I can't say the name because I've been sworn to secrecy, but uh there was only probably about 200 of us total in that group at that point in time.
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And um Jim Jim King Jim, uh King of Pooh, um he had said, you know, it's it's poop, dogs poop all winter long, you gotta clean in the winter time too.
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Yeah.
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Kind of light bulb moment for me, and I went, yeah, you know, that's true.
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So uh we started going back again just a month later in January, uh, and just did our weekly clients.
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And then all of a sudden it's like as I'm reading about this and whatever um and studying and delving more into it, realizing that we can make a business out of it.
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Then we decided to put the hammer down and and do some more advertising for spring cleanups because spring was gonna be around the corner again.
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I think I did, I think we did a hundred spring cleanups our second year, our second season, and I needed help.
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And so I had my wife and kids come on and they helped out.
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My buddy DJ helped out, and uh then we went from 18 to I think 36.
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Uh and then 20, so that was 21, 22, we jumped, and it was still me, obviously.
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I didn't need any uh employees or anything.
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Uh fast forward to um beginning of 2025, January of 25, we were sitting with about 90 clients.
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So no, I think about 75.
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Okay.
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And um like we were busy enough in a cer on certain days where I'm like, you know, I could really use some help.
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I was thinking about hiring, but I don't know if I'm really ready to hire yet.
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And I wasn't certainly ready to you know have anybody full time, maybe five to ten hours a week, you know, just something to help take the edge off.
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Yeah, and that was in January, and um and I knew that we were gonna get busy for the spring again.
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February of 2020, um, I was out for my night walk, and uh it was about 8:30 at night.
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I had just parked my truck and I went I would go for a walk every night, and I had hit the crosswalk button at the intersection down the road from us.
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The light turned walk, I started crossing the street, and the next thing you know, I got hit by a car.
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Oh, I'm okay, I'm fully recovered.
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Um, I didn't break anything, I didn't hit my head, I didn't no la you know, no serious like life-altering changes or anything like that.
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Um tore my MCL, um, bunch of significant bruises and and deep thigh bruises and bone bruises and and things that took a while to recover from.
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And um, I was on the way, I went, I went on the way, we were on the way up, I was in the back of the ambulance, and on the way, she didn't stop.
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She the kid didn't stop.
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She went home and called 911 from there, or had mom call 911 from there.
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Um, but as I kind of barricrawled myself off to the side of the road, first I called my wife, then I called 911.
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They said, Yeah, we know we're there's help on the way, just hang with us.
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On my way up in the ambulance, I all of a sudden I went, crap, I don't have anybody to scoop yards.
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What are we gonna do tomorrow?
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That's Wednesdays at that point.
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We're my we're still yeah, that's all I'm thinking about.
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I'm thinking, how am I gonna take care of my customers?
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You know, yeah, because they've already paid for the month, and it's just me.
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I'm like, how am I gonna take care of this?
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What am I gonna do?
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And uh so that was a Tuesday night.
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Uh we got home early Wednesday morning.
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I didn't have to spend the night in the hospital or anything like that.
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Thankfully, nothing major, just uh again, uh I we didn't even know that I tore anything at that point.
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We just knew that I didn't have a con, you know, didn't have any head injuries or anything like that.
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And um everything turned out on Wednesday morning.
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I sent out a message to everybody and said, hey, I'm not gonna be out today.
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Um give me a couple days to figure things out and we'll we'll get things situated.
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And uh I'll we'll we'll have somebody take care of it.
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I think if I remember right, we didn't scoop Wednesday or Thursday, but by Friday I was having my first interview with potential helper.
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Um, one of my friends who owns a power washing business.
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He says, Hey, you can have Aaron uh until until April when uh when we start power washing again.
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I said, Okay.
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So I got talked to Aaron, talking to him.
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He he worked, he was okay.
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Uh, but I had my first people helping out, all 1099 employees.
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Um had some family help out.
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Uh my son-in-law, he helped out.
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Um, my buddy DJ did a few yards, a couple other friends helped out.
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Uh, and then by the following week, I think I had two actual hires, as it were, to get going.
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And they were with me for about a year.
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And uh, and then we we just kept growing and kept doing what we had to do.
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We grew from, like I said, about 75 or so to maybe 110 uh in that year.
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Um, I was recovered enough by July to start working again.
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So we didn't have enough work for three people.
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So one one guy left for the summer.
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Yeah.
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Uh, and then it was just myself and another and and Will, my other guy, and then uh and then we bumped up again from 110 to 1 where we are right now this spring.
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And uh Will wasn't getting enough hours, so he left.
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And then I ended up with these uh two guys that I got now that are fantastic.
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And we just put them on payroll for the first time.
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Their first paychecks come, actual paychecks come tomorrow.
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Yeah, that's awesome.
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Which is nice.
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That that that was that was a kind of a surreal experience making sure everything was in order and paychecks and and and all the paperwork involved with that, and that gave me a little anxiety, but we got through it.
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Yeah, yeah, for sure.
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Well, man, first off, I am so glad that you're okay.
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That is an that is a crazy story, but I think that that's such an a such a realistic way to describe being a business owner.
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It's like you just got hit by a car, you're sitting in the back of an ambulance, one of your first thoughts is what's gonna happen to all my customers, you know?
00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:16.799
I mean, that's just that's that's just classic like business owner.
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People think about being a business owner.
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Like when you tell when you just tell your friends at a dinner party, oh yeah, I own a business, they're like, oh wow, that's so amazing, so impressive, all this stuff.
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And you're like, you know, like, oh, drinking my ties on the beach and just enjoying yourself, and you're like, nope, it's sitting in the back of an ambulance thinking about your customers.
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That's that is what it actually entails.
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Yeah, for sure.
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Wow.
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Well, that's an incredible story.
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Um, and you've grown a lot over the last two years.
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So, what's been one of the leading kind of drivers of that growth and getting to 180 recurring customers?
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Well, the the vast majority of it was is just been you know, consistent posting on Facebook and being, you know, fairly consistent with my social media stuff, uh, referrals.
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Uh, but then um this last season, uh beginning spring beginning of spring season, we finally had this thing called revenue.
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And so we uh, you know, because we were actually starting to make make money rather than just enough, just enough to pay bills, we had some leftover.
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Yeah.
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So I'm like, well, we're gonna start investing back into the company again and actual do paid ads, etc.
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So we started doing some paid ads.
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Um and uh that's where we kind of went from there.
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Awesome.
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Awesome, really impressive.
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Yeah, I think that uh once you you once you get to that spot where you have money to start reinvesting in the business, that's kind of where you start to get a little dangerous, you know, because you're like, oh, okay, we got we got some money that we can play with, we got we got kind of our bills paid, and we can we can start to reinvest and grow this business.
00:17:53.200 --> 00:18:03.039
And so um when you're when you're running ads, uh I know you've worked with services to run ads for you and stuff like that, but um, what type of ads are you running and how are you like turning these leads into paying customers?
00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:04.400
What's y'all's process like?
00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:12.079
Yeah, lead comes in um and I try to respond within at least 30 minutes.
00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:22.559
Um I usually wait it if I usually wait for at least 10 minutes just so it doesn't look like I'm some some sort of pop-up kind of uh the the automated responses.
00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:24.480
I hate automated responses.
00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:26.319
I and I hate AI responses.
00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:28.880
I think I think they're just they're cheesy.
00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:37.359
Um and they they even sound the way they come across, they sound artificial, you know.
00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:43.119
Yeah uh so I wait, you know, at least five to five to ten minutes to to respond to people.
00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:46.400
Um but no more than about 30.
00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:53.119
And then uh my response is hey, this is Derek from Pooh Patrol, thank you for reaching out.
00:18:53.359 --> 00:19:16.559
Uh and my my opening question usually is something to the effect of um is uh some verbiage of tell us what's your major not major, I don't use the word major, but what is the most significant uh issue you have with cleaning dog ways with picking it up?
00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:17.839
Uh is it time?
00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:29.039
Is it is it too much going on, you know, work, whatever it is, you know, and that usually elicits a response, and then we can kind of build off of that.
00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:30.240
Gotcha, gotcha.
00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:38.240
So getting getting some context as to what pain they're going through or something, so that you you know have a little ammunition to say, okay, well that we can solve that for you.
00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:40.720
Um that's really cool.
00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:47.519
It's more of an issue, it's more of solving a problem than it is trying to, you know, I don't want to come out trying like I'm selling anything right away.
00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:49.119
I want to we want to solve a problem.
00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:51.039
Gotcha, yeah, for sure.
00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:57.599
And so, you know, you've been able to grow pretty substantially over the last um over the last couple of years, and I've seen your reviews.
00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:01.759
Obviously, we'll talk about that here soon, but you you have great customer feedback.
00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:06.480
So, how are you able to grow but still maintain you know happy customers?
00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:13.599
Doing what you're supposed to do, doing what you promised to do, um, communicate with customers.
00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:13.920
Yeah.
00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:26.240
Make sure that they know that there if there's going to be changes that you're, you know, to the to the route changes to billing changes to whatever, that you're communicating that with them ahead of time if possible.
00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:26.640
Yeah.
00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:37.519
Uh just constant like people love the um uh the the on the way texts uh that they get so they know you're coming.
00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:47.680
Uh people love when you let them know you're gonna be late or if if service dates have to change for whatever reason, we try to avoid that, but invariably it's gonna happen.
00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:48.079
Yeah.
00:20:48.319 --> 00:21:00.000
Um they like the uh the CRM because they don't have to think about it, so they don't, you know, the payment is automatic and it's just taken care of.
00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:04.400
It's that um nobody's honing them for payment or anything like that.
00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:16.319
Um the they like the locked gate pictures, they like the personable, you know, people that are that they engage with myself and my and my techs, you know.
00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:22.880
They the technicians they have to have a personality, they have to be able to uh occasionally engage with the customer.
00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:24.400
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:25.519
For sure.
00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:26.559
I know that's great stuff.
00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:31.359
Communication is so big, it's like not leaving the people in the dark, not leaving your customers in the dark.
00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:35.759
It's so common in the home services industry for just communication to not be there.
00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:42.240
I just had somebody show up in my house yesterday um to give us a quote on like you know fertilizing and turf care and stuff.
00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:49.440
And I think I filled out their form like a week ago, a week and a half ago, hadn't heard anything, hadn't heard it, hadn't gotten a text, hadn't gotten an email, hadn't gotten an email.
00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:50.799
They just they just showed up my door.
00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:54.960
I'm like, and then the guy the guy shows up and like we walk around, he's like, Yep, fifty five dollars.
00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:56.160
Like, okay, how do I pay you?
00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:58.720
He's like, Oh, I think the office will like email you or something.
00:21:58.880 --> 00:21:59.599
And I was like, What?
00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:01.680
What is this?
00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:02.880
I think.
00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:03.680
Yeah.
00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:10.000
But you just drove all the way out here to not even close me, not even get a payment on file or anything.
00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:11.680
You're just going to say, Oh, yeah, you'll get an email.
00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:14.319
I'm like, wow, this is such a missed opportunity for y'all.
00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:21.359
But um, but it's funny because he could have closed me yesterday, I would have given him my card, and then today I was telling somebody about it, and they're like, Oh, my company does that.
00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:25.519
And so now I'm gonna go with them instead of him because he didn't he didn't go ahead and capture it.
00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:29.440
Um but it is it really is just the simple and the basic stuff.
00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:34.880
But um before we close out here, what has your experience been like with review harvest so far?
00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:43.039
Oh man, I I mean, you know, I mean, I only had like 35 or so reviews when we when we first started talking.
00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:58.480
And I was talking, you know, I I would always to the newest customers, I'd say, hey, do us a favor and send us uh, you know, if you can, uh send us a Google review on go to what did I say?
00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:05.759
I'd say go to Google, you know, Pooh Patrol WI.com and on Facebook and leave us a five-star review.
00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:08.400
I'd really appreciate it, it helps us grow, etc., etc.
00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:15.839
And a lot of people say, yeah, and then they forget about it, or you know, yeah, I'll do that tonight or whatever, and then they forget.
00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:33.119
And like I said, I mean only like 35 or so did, and even if I had my text even say, send this message to your you know, to your customers when you're done with the route today, they'd send it and you wouldn't hear anything.
00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:47.359
And so, like when we signed up with uh with Hunter, and then obviously with you, uh Hunter from Rise Marketing, um who's been excellent, by the way.
00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:49.599
Um really happy with with with him.
00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:58.079
Uh, and then uh then we got on board with you guys, and I think we're at somewhere like 115 reviews now, I think.
00:23:58.319 --> 00:23:58.799
Yeah, yeah.
00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:00.400
114, 115.
00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:02.559
Do you remember how many you had when you got started with us?
00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:05.680
Like 34, 30, like 34, 35, something like that.
00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:07.519
Yeah, in the low in the mid-30s.
00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:13.920
Yeah, it's been just over a month, and you went from about 35 to 114 reviews.
00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:16.000
Yeah, it's nutty.
00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:22.240
And you know, and and yeah, there, I mean, they're all all but two of them are are five stars.
00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:29.279
There, there's two, I think there's two four-star ones in there, and those are just I imagine those are just people that just never give a five star for anything.
00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:36.000
You'd have to give them even if you even if the service was free, they wouldn't give you a five-star because they just don't do that, you know?
00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:37.839
Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.
00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:40.079
No, but you've been you've been absolutely killing it.
00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:43.920
Um, the reviews have been blowing up, and I know we also got you set up on a website so far.
00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:45.680
What do you think about the website?
00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:46.799
Um, good.
00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:47.920
Yeah, I like it.
00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:54.559
Um, I don't think we've gotten any traction with it at this point that I know of, but um I like it.
00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:56.400
I like how it looks, it's laid out well.
00:24:56.480 --> 00:25:06.000
We we I know we made a few revisions and and I was probably more of a pain in the butt on the revisions than the but uh you know it's good.
00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:07.359
I love I like how it looks.
00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:08.559
It it turned out well.
00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:10.720
Awesome, awesome, cool, cool.
00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:18.480
Well, Derek, where's the best place for people to get in touch with you um if they're in the area and they're looking for service or if they want to connect with you?
00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:29.680
Uh well on the on the main social, so we're on poop, uh we're on uh uh good lord, uh Facebook and uh and Instagram.
00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:35.039
It's poop patrol wi at Facebook or at Instagram.
00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:46.240
Um otherwise uh you can get a hold of me via email at Poop Patrol WI um at Yahoo as a business email for me.
00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:48.160
Perfect, perfect, perfect.
00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:51.039
We'll have the website and stuff linked down below in the description.
00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:54.640
So if you're in the area, definitely connect with Derek and reach out.
00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:58.319
But Derek, I appreciate you taking the time to hop on and uh have a great rest of your day.
00:25:58.880 --> 00:25:59.519
All right, you too.
00:25:59.680 --> 00:25:59.839
Thanks.
00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:07.759
I got laid off like everybody else at the start of COVID, and I needed something to needed something to bring in a little bit of extra money.
00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:09.759
Hey, I got a great idea for business for you.
00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:12.320
You should start a dog food scooping business.
00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:15.839
And I'm like, are sh are you out of your mind?
00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:18.079
Pay me to scoop dog crap, man.
00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:20.160
That's that's nutty crap.
00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:22.480
I don't have anybody to scoop yards.
00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:24.399
What are we gonna do tomorrow?
00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:28.800
That's Wednesday's at that point where my we're still yeah, that's all I'm thinking about.
00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:31.359
I'm thinking, how am I gonna take care of my customers, you know?
00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:33.039
Yeah how am I gonna take care of this?
00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:34.399
What am I gonna do?
00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:40.079
Welcome back to the Built Local Podcast.
00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:43.679
Today we have Derek from Poop Patrol calling in out of Wisconsin.
00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:45.280
Derek, how are you doing today?
00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:46.719
I am fantastic.
00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:47.280
You?
00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:48.399
I'm doing great.
00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:50.320
We're really excited to have you on.
00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:53.280
I always like to open the floor up to to our guests.
00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:58.240
Um, for anybody who doesn't know you or anything about your business, go ahead and give them your elevator pitch.
00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:03.039
Uh well, as uh you guys already see, my name is Derek.
00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:07.200
Uh I'm from uh Evansville, Wisconsin.
00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:10.000
Um, originally from Madison, Wisconsin, the capital.
00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:15.120
Uh, but we've been in Evansville now for about 26 years, 26 years.
00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:22.239
Um, I started this business um in April of 2020 as a side hustle.
00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:31.120
I got laid off like everybody else at the start of COVID, and I needed something to needed something to bring in a little bit of extra money uh during that time.
00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:48.159
And a friend of mine has a junk hauling business that he had started just a little bit before mine, and he gave me a little bit of you know a little bit of work to do for him, and then uh and then one day we were we were taking a drive down to Kentucky to deliver a boat that he sold.
00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:55.439
And uh he says to me, This is like 6 30 in the morning, and the sun is just kind of creeping up over the horizon, you know.
00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:57.920
And he says, Hey, I got a great idea for a business for you.
00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:00.239
You should start a dog poop scooping business.
00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:03.840
And I'm like, Are you are you clearing your mind?
00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:06.239
Who's gonna pay me to scoop dog crap, man?
00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:07.680
That's that's nutty.
00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:09.919
Craziest thing I'd ever heard of.
00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:16.319
And he says, No, it's a business, and and if you don't start it, I'm gonna start it, then I'm gonna hire you to run it.
00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:20.159
And I went, okay, here we go, game on.
00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:37.039
And so as I'm sitting in the passenger seat while he's driving, I go onto my phone, I kind of cruise around and look to see uh about the you know, start a little bit, figure it out about what the business entails, and if there was anybody in the area that did what we, you know, what he was suggesting.
00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:39.039
And in our area, there was nothing.
00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:51.599
Now there was a lot like in you know, Florida and a lot in Arizona and Southern California and warm weather climates and and whatever, you know, but nothing in nothing in our area.
00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:56.000
So like, okay, so maybe we got opportunity here, we'll we'll see.
00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:25.199
Uh it was just at the end of winter thaw, so it was like right towards the tail end of March, you know, and there was it was still cold out, and uh, we got back home and I started doing a little bit of digging, and then I put a post out in our local community page in the Evansville uh community page saying, hey, if somebody were to do a business like this and offer dog waste removal for spring cleanups, would there be anybody interested?
00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:31.280
And pow, uh it was mind-blowing.
00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:35.199
Um I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't know anything about it, you know.
00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:52.719
I mean, yeah, uh, but uh I didn't know anything about operating a business or anything like that, but we just started and um uh we got probably I think we cleaned spring cleanups, I think we did 40 yards right off the bat.
00:03:53.039 --> 00:04:02.400
Wow, um, and then and then all of a sudden people started sharing it from Evansville into other pages, yeah.
00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:11.039
And then I got business in Janesville, and I got some business in Madison, and I got business in Oregon, and I got visit you know in other surrounding communities.
00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:18.240
And I think we did, I think we did a total of about 65 uh spring cleanups our first season.
00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:22.800
Um and then people started asking whether we did it weekly or not.
00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:26.319
Yeah, and I didn't even that didn't even register to me at that point.
00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:32.560
You know, I'm just I'm just taking cash for doing spring cleanups, you know, and and breaking in cash.
00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:33.279
Yeah.
00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:37.040
And there we went, and we started doing it weekly.
00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:42.480
In fact, I was just going through some paperwork and I found my list of my first 18 weekly clients.
00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:43.120
Wow.
00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:52.319
Um, and we started, like I said, so we started basically with 18 weekly clients, and now we are sitting uh just about 180.
00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:53.600
That's incredible.
00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:54.879
That is incredible.
00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:58.319
What a beautiful, like what a beautiful story in a way to start the business.
00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:03.120
I think a lot of a lot of people's stories are like they they put the word out and then it's crickets, you know.
00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:07.680
But there's some times when it's just like you feel like I bet you felt like you you struck oil.
00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:09.680
You're like, oh my gosh, this is amazing.
00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:12.480
Yeah, it was it was nuts, man.
00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:22.399
I didn't even, I mean, I had it was I just didn't even it didn't even register ever that it would be as big as it got as as quickly as it did.
00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:23.120
Yeah.
00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:24.800
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:29.199
Well, and you started at pretty much the perfect time, you know, April, up where you're at.
00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:34.399
Uh, that's spring rush, you know, everybody wants to get their yard cleaned up when that snow snow melts.
00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:39.920
Um, so what a kind of series of uh fortunate events, not unfortunate events.
00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:41.360
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:42.879
That's awesome.
00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.560
So you said you had like kind of no experience running a business or anything.
00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:51.279
What was your background in before uh before you got laid off before COVID?
00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:55.439
Um, I did uh 26 years in the automotive service industry.
00:05:55.600 --> 00:06:13.759
I was basically as a I sold cars for a few years, for about three years, uh, but otherwise the majority of it was uh as a service writer, service consultant, I was the guy that you like to hate that got you got to tell you it was gonna cost you a thousand bucks to get your oil changed, put your brakes on, and turn your check engine light off.
00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:19.680
Real quick, if you're a local business owner and you want to start getting customers from Google, you know how important Google reviews are.
00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:27.759
Every week I talk to business owners just like you across hundreds of industries who know reviews matter, but never seem to have the time or the system in place to actually get them.
00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:30.800
That's exactly why I've spent the last two years building Review Harvest.
00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:36.399
We built it with a non-tech savvy business owner in mind so anybody can set it up in minutes and start getting reviews today.
00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:44.160
It automates the process of getting real reviews from your customers, responding to those reviews and repurposing them across your website and across your social media platforms.
00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:45.680
It's a set it and forgive it software.
00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:49.120
You can get it all set up in about 10 minutes and you never have to worry about reviews again.
00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:52.240
We can integrate into the tools you're already using so you don't have to change a thing.
00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:55.759
You don't have to train your team on how to request reviews, you don't have to request them manually.
00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:57.519
You get customers, we get your reviews.
00:06:57.600 --> 00:06:58.240
It's simple as that.
00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:01.279
And the first play in our playbook is what we call a review reactivation.
00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:06.399
You probably have hundreds or thousands of previous customers who love your service but never left a review.
00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:13.040
So a lot of times our users can double or even triple the reviews just in the first couple months of working with us when we do that review reactivation.
00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:13.600
Yeah.
00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:14.480
Gotcha.
00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:15.439
Okay, gotcha.
00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:16.240
Makes sense.
00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:18.639
And it's uh it's such an interesting thing.
00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:27.839
There's so many people getting into Pet Waste Renewal, obviously, and we can talk about the growth of the industry without kind of without having previous business experience, right?
00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:37.759
Like just getting in as a side hustle, and boom, next thing you know, you you've got a legit business and you've got to figure out how to, you know, do payroll and and taxes and hire people and all that sort of stuff.
00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:46.639
And so what was that process like, you know, making taking this business from, hey, this is a side hustle that I'm just gonna do in April and March to oh, people want me to pay me monthly for this?
00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:50.480
What was that transition like to turning it into like a legit business that it is today?
00:07:50.879 --> 00:08:00.319
Well, you know, I mean, the so the first for so 2020, um, we did, like I said, all the spring cleanups that we did, and then uh the 18 weekly clients.
00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:05.120
I still needed a side another, you know, more income to help supplement.
00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:11.439
So uh we're working doing some stuff for my buddy DJ for uh his his business.
00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:25.920
He had some a couple of things for me to do, so I kind of helped out with those things, and then um in the fall of 2020, um, we still had like again still 15, 18 clients.
00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:34.000
Um and uh I started cleaning beer lines just to kind of help fill in the blanks.
00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:46.320
Yeah um and actually in December of the first year of 20, um, we decided we were gonna stop, we're gonna postpone or suspend service for the winter.
00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:52.399
And uh and every you know, they were all everybody was okay with that, you know.
00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:55.200
And then there was only, like I said, 15, 18 clients at that point.
00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:58.799
They're like, yeah, whatever, just come back in the spring and do it then, you know.
00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:08.639
Uh and then as I sat there and I started getting into some of the other uh poop scooping groups, there was only a couple of them at that point in time.
00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:12.720
Yeah, uh, and the one is pretty much non-existent anymore.
00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:23.039
Um uh and I I can't say the name because I've been sworn to secrecy, but uh there was only probably about 200 of us total in that group at that point in time.
00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:36.240
And um Jim Jim King Jim, uh King of Pooh, um he had said, you know, it's it's poop, dogs poop all winter long, you gotta clean in the winter time too.
00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:36.879
Yeah.
00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:41.039
Kind of light bulb moment for me, and I went, yeah, you know, that's true.
00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:49.039
So uh we started going back again just a month later in January, uh, and just did our weekly clients.
00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:59.519
And then all of a sudden it's like as I'm reading about this and whatever um and studying and delving more into it, realizing that we can make a business out of it.
00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:08.240
Then we decided to put the hammer down and and do some more advertising for spring cleanups because spring was gonna be around the corner again.
00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:14.879
I think I did, I think we did a hundred spring cleanups our second year, our second season, and I needed help.
00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:17.919
And so I had my wife and kids come on and they helped out.
00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:25.279
My buddy DJ helped out, and uh then we went from 18 to I think 36.
00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:33.600
Uh and then 20, so that was 21, 22, we jumped, and it was still me, obviously.
00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:36.720
I didn't need any uh employees or anything.
00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:45.759
Uh fast forward to um beginning of 2025, January of 25, we were sitting with about 90 clients.
00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:47.679
So no, I think about 75.
00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:48.240
Okay.
00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:54.480
And um like we were busy enough in a cer on certain days where I'm like, you know, I could really use some help.
00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:58.960
I was thinking about hiring, but I don't know if I'm really ready to hire yet.
00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:08.080
And I wasn't certainly ready to you know have anybody full time, maybe five to ten hours a week, you know, just something to help take the edge off.
00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:13.919
Yeah, and that was in January, and um and I knew that we were gonna get busy for the spring again.
00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:21.759
February of 2020, um, I was out for my night walk, and uh it was about 8:30 at night.
00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:32.080
I had just parked my truck and I went I would go for a walk every night, and I had hit the crosswalk button at the intersection down the road from us.
00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:37.519
The light turned walk, I started crossing the street, and the next thing you know, I got hit by a car.
00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:42.159
Oh, I'm okay, I'm fully recovered.
00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:55.360
Um, I didn't break anything, I didn't hit my head, I didn't no la you know, no serious like life-altering changes or anything like that.
00:11:55.440 --> 00:12:07.679
Um tore my MCL, um, bunch of significant bruises and and deep thigh bruises and bone bruises and and things that took a while to recover from.
00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:16.320
And um, I was on the way, I went, I went on the way, we were on the way up, I was in the back of the ambulance, and on the way, she didn't stop.
00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:18.159
She the kid didn't stop.
00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:23.200
She went home and called 911 from there, or had mom call 911 from there.
00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:30.320
Um, but as I kind of barricrawled myself off to the side of the road, first I called my wife, then I called 911.
00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:35.679
They said, Yeah, we know we're there's help on the way, just hang with us.
00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:44.559
On my way up in the ambulance, I all of a sudden I went, crap, I don't have anybody to scoop yards.
00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:46.320
What are we gonna do tomorrow?
00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:48.159
That's Wednesdays at that point.
00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:50.720
We're my we're still yeah, that's all I'm thinking about.
00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:53.039
I'm thinking, how am I gonna take care of my customers?
00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:59.600
You know, yeah, because they've already paid for the month, and it's just me.
00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:01.679
I'm like, how am I gonna take care of this?
00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:02.799
What am I gonna do?
00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:07.600
And uh so that was a Tuesday night.
00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:12.000
Uh we got home early Wednesday morning.
00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:14.320
I didn't have to spend the night in the hospital or anything like that.
00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:21.120
Thankfully, nothing major, just uh again, uh I we didn't even know that I tore anything at that point.
00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:25.679
We just knew that I didn't have a con, you know, didn't have any head injuries or anything like that.
00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:32.000
And um everything turned out on Wednesday morning.
00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:35.840
I sent out a message to everybody and said, hey, I'm not gonna be out today.
00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:42.799
Um give me a couple days to figure things out and we'll we'll get things situated.
00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:46.159
And uh I'll we'll we'll have somebody take care of it.
00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:55.519
I think if I remember right, we didn't scoop Wednesday or Thursday, but by Friday I was having my first interview with potential helper.
00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:58.799
Um, one of my friends who owns a power washing business.
00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:08.080
He says, Hey, you can have Aaron uh until until April when uh when we start power washing again.
00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:08.960
I said, Okay.
00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:12.080
So I got talked to Aaron, talking to him.
00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:14.080
He he worked, he was okay.
00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:19.039
Uh, but I had my first people helping out, all 1099 employees.
00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:21.360
Um had some family help out.
00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:24.480
Uh my son-in-law, he helped out.
00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:29.679
Um, my buddy DJ did a few yards, a couple other friends helped out.
00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:37.759
Uh, and then by the following week, I think I had two actual hires, as it were, to get going.
00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:40.639
And they were with me for about a year.
00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:45.840
And uh, and then we we just kept growing and kept doing what we had to do.
00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:53.600
We grew from, like I said, about 75 or so to maybe 110 uh in that year.
00:14:54.799 --> 00:15:00.399
Um, I was recovered enough by July to start working again.
00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:03.759
So we didn't have enough work for three people.
00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:06.799
So one one guy left for the summer.
00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:07.279
Yeah.
00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:21.600
Uh, and then it was just myself and another and and Will, my other guy, and then uh and then we bumped up again from 110 to 1 where we are right now this spring.
00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:25.679
And uh Will wasn't getting enough hours, so he left.
00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:31.120
And then I ended up with these uh two guys that I got now that are fantastic.
00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:33.679
And we just put them on payroll for the first time.
00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:36.799
Their first paychecks come, actual paychecks come tomorrow.
00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:37.840
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:38.799
Which is nice.
00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:52.159
That that that was that was a kind of a surreal experience making sure everything was in order and paychecks and and and all the paperwork involved with that, and that gave me a little anxiety, but we got through it.
00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:53.840
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:56.399
Well, man, first off, I am so glad that you're okay.
00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:04.320
That is an that is a crazy story, but I think that that's such an a such a realistic way to describe being a business owner.
00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:11.279
It's like you just got hit by a car, you're sitting in the back of an ambulance, one of your first thoughts is what's gonna happen to all my customers, you know?
00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:16.799
I mean, that's just that's that's just classic like business owner.
00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:18.399
People think about being a business owner.
00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:25.200
Like when you tell when you just tell your friends at a dinner party, oh yeah, I own a business, they're like, oh wow, that's so amazing, so impressive, all this stuff.
00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:32.399
And you're like, you know, like, oh, drinking my ties on the beach and just enjoying yourself, and you're like, nope, it's sitting in the back of an ambulance thinking about your customers.
00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:34.720
That's that is what it actually entails.
00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:35.840
Yeah, for sure.
00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:36.960
Wow.
00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:39.120
Well, that's an incredible story.
00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:41.600
Um, and you've grown a lot over the last two years.
00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:47.279
So, what's been one of the leading kind of drivers of that growth and getting to 180 recurring customers?
00:16:48.240 --> 00:17:01.759
Well, the the vast majority of it was is just been you know, consistent posting on Facebook and being, you know, fairly consistent with my social media stuff, uh, referrals.
00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:11.920
Uh, but then um this last season, uh beginning spring beginning of spring season, we finally had this thing called revenue.
00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:19.440
And so we uh, you know, because we were actually starting to make make money rather than just enough, just enough to pay bills, we had some leftover.
00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:19.759
Yeah.
00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:26.559
So I'm like, well, we're gonna start investing back into the company again and actual do paid ads, etc.
00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:29.119
So we started doing some paid ads.
00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:34.400
Um and uh that's where we kind of went from there.
00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:35.279
Awesome.
00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:36.720
Awesome, really impressive.
00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:53.039
Yeah, I think that uh once you you once you get to that spot where you have money to start reinvesting in the business, that's kind of where you start to get a little dangerous, you know, because you're like, oh, okay, we got we got some money that we can play with, we got we got kind of our bills paid, and we can we can start to reinvest and grow this business.
00:17:53.200 --> 00:18:03.039
And so um when you're when you're running ads, uh I know you've worked with services to run ads for you and stuff like that, but um, what type of ads are you running and how are you like turning these leads into paying customers?
00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:04.400
What's y'all's process like?
00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:12.079
Yeah, lead comes in um and I try to respond within at least 30 minutes.
00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:22.559
Um I usually wait it if I usually wait for at least 10 minutes just so it doesn't look like I'm some some sort of pop-up kind of uh the the automated responses.
00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:24.480
I hate automated responses.
00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:26.319
I and I hate AI responses.
00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:28.880
I think I think they're just they're cheesy.
00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:37.359
Um and they they even sound the way they come across, they sound artificial, you know.
00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:43.119
Yeah uh so I wait, you know, at least five to five to ten minutes to to respond to people.
00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:46.400
Um but no more than about 30.
00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:53.119
And then uh my response is hey, this is Derek from Pooh Patrol, thank you for reaching out.
00:18:53.359 --> 00:19:16.559
Uh and my my opening question usually is something to the effect of um is uh some verbiage of tell us what's your major not major, I don't use the word major, but what is the most significant uh issue you have with cleaning dog ways with picking it up?
00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:17.839
Uh is it time?
00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:29.039
Is it is it too much going on, you know, work, whatever it is, you know, and that usually elicits a response, and then we can kind of build off of that.
00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:30.240
Gotcha, gotcha.
00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:38.240
So getting getting some context as to what pain they're going through or something, so that you you know have a little ammunition to say, okay, well that we can solve that for you.
00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:40.720
Um that's really cool.
00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:47.519
It's more of an issue, it's more of solving a problem than it is trying to, you know, I don't want to come out trying like I'm selling anything right away.
00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:49.119
I want to we want to solve a problem.
00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:51.039
Gotcha, yeah, for sure.
00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:57.599
And so, you know, you've been able to grow pretty substantially over the last um over the last couple of years, and I've seen your reviews.
00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:01.759
Obviously, we'll talk about that here soon, but you you have great customer feedback.
00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:06.480
So, how are you able to grow but still maintain you know happy customers?
00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:13.599
Doing what you're supposed to do, doing what you promised to do, um, communicate with customers.
00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:13.920
Yeah.
00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:26.240
Make sure that they know that there if there's going to be changes that you're, you know, to the to the route changes to billing changes to whatever, that you're communicating that with them ahead of time if possible.
00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:26.640
Yeah.
00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:37.519
Uh just constant like people love the um uh the the on the way texts uh that they get so they know you're coming.
00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:47.680
Uh people love when you let them know you're gonna be late or if if service dates have to change for whatever reason, we try to avoid that, but invariably it's gonna happen.
00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:48.079
Yeah.
00:20:48.319 --> 00:21:00.000
Um they like the uh the CRM because they don't have to think about it, so they don't, you know, the payment is automatic and it's just taken care of.
00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:04.400
It's that um nobody's honing them for payment or anything like that.
00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:16.319
Um the they like the locked gate pictures, they like the personable, you know, people that are that they engage with myself and my and my techs, you know.
00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:22.880
They the technicians they have to have a personality, they have to be able to uh occasionally engage with the customer.
00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:24.400
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:25.519
For sure.
00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:26.559
I know that's great stuff.
00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:31.359
Communication is so big, it's like not leaving the people in the dark, not leaving your customers in the dark.
00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:35.759
It's so common in the home services industry for just communication to not be there.
00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:42.240
I just had somebody show up in my house yesterday um to give us a quote on like you know fertilizing and turf care and stuff.
00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:49.440
And I think I filled out their form like a week ago, a week and a half ago, hadn't heard anything, hadn't heard it, hadn't gotten a text, hadn't gotten an email, hadn't gotten an email.
00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:50.799
They just they just showed up my door.
00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:54.960
I'm like, and then the guy the guy shows up and like we walk around, he's like, Yep, fifty five dollars.
00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:56.160
Like, okay, how do I pay you?
00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:58.720
He's like, Oh, I think the office will like email you or something.
00:21:58.880 --> 00:21:59.599
And I was like, What?
00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:01.680
What is this?
00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:02.880
I think.
00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:03.680
Yeah.
00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:10.000
But you just drove all the way out here to not even close me, not even get a payment on file or anything.
00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:11.680
You're just going to say, Oh, yeah, you'll get an email.
00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:14.319
I'm like, wow, this is such a missed opportunity for y'all.
00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:21.359
But um, but it's funny because he could have closed me yesterday, I would have given him my card, and then today I was telling somebody about it, and they're like, Oh, my company does that.
00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:25.519
And so now I'm gonna go with them instead of him because he didn't he didn't go ahead and capture it.
00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:29.440
Um but it is it really is just the simple and the basic stuff.
00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:34.880
But um before we close out here, what has your experience been like with review harvest so far?
00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:43.039
Oh man, I I mean, you know, I mean, I only had like 35 or so reviews when we when we first started talking.
00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:58.480
And I was talking, you know, I I would always to the newest customers, I'd say, hey, do us a favor and send us uh, you know, if you can, uh send us a Google review on go to what did I say?
00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:05.759
I'd say go to Google, you know, Pooh Patrol WI.com and on Facebook and leave us a five-star review.
00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:08.400
I'd really appreciate it, it helps us grow, etc., etc.
00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:15.839
And a lot of people say, yeah, and then they forget about it, or you know, yeah, I'll do that tonight or whatever, and then they forget.
00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:33.119
And like I said, I mean only like 35 or so did, and even if I had my text even say, send this message to your you know, to your customers when you're done with the route today, they'd send it and you wouldn't hear anything.
00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:47.359
And so, like when we signed up with uh with Hunter, and then obviously with you, uh Hunter from Rise Marketing, um who's been excellent, by the way.
00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:49.599
Um really happy with with with him.
00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:58.079
Uh, and then uh then we got on board with you guys, and I think we're at somewhere like 115 reviews now, I think.
00:23:58.319 --> 00:23:58.799
Yeah, yeah.
00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:00.400
114, 115.
00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:02.559
Do you remember how many you had when you got started with us?
00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:05.680
Like 34, 30, like 34, 35, something like that.
00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:07.519
Yeah, in the low in the mid-30s.
00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:13.920
Yeah, it's been just over a month, and you went from about 35 to 114 reviews.
00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:16.000
Yeah, it's nutty.
00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:22.240
And you know, and and yeah, there, I mean, they're all all but two of them are are five stars.
00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:29.279
There, there's two, I think there's two four-star ones in there, and those are just I imagine those are just people that just never give a five star for anything.
00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:36.000
You'd have to give them even if you even if the service was free, they wouldn't give you a five-star because they just don't do that, you know?
00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:37.839
Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.
00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:40.079
No, but you've been you've been absolutely killing it.
00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:43.920
Um, the reviews have been blowing up, and I know we also got you set up on a website so far.
00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:45.680
What do you think about the website?
00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:46.799
Um, good.
00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:47.920
Yeah, I like it.
00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:54.559
Um, I don't think we've gotten any traction with it at this point that I know of, but um I like it.
00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:56.400
I like how it looks, it's laid out well.
00:24:56.480 --> 00:25:06.000
We we I know we made a few revisions and and I was probably more of a pain in the butt on the revisions than the but uh you know it's good.
00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:07.359
I love I like how it looks.
00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:08.559
It it turned out well.
00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:10.720
Awesome, awesome, cool, cool.
00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:18.480
Well, Derek, where's the best place for people to get in touch with you um if they're in the area and they're looking for service or if they want to connect with you?
00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:29.680
Uh well on the on the main social, so we're on poop, uh we're on uh uh good lord, uh Facebook and uh and Instagram.
00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:35.039
It's poop patrol wi at Facebook or at Instagram.
00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:46.240
Um otherwise uh you can get a hold of me via email at Poop Patrol WI um at Yahoo as a business email for me.
00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:48.160
Perfect, perfect, perfect.
00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:51.039
We'll have the website and stuff linked down below in the description.
00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:54.640
So if you're in the area, definitely connect with Derek and reach out.
00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:58.319
But Derek, I appreciate you taking the time to hop on and uh have a great rest of your day.
00:25:58.880 --> 00:25:59.519
All right, you too.
00:25:59.680 --> 00:25:59.839
Thanks.
