How to Start Your Own Animal Waste Removal Business

This isn't just a basic article telling you how to start your own animal waste removal business. It will provide you will everything from start to finish that you need to know about the animal waste removal business. Here are eight things that you need in order to have a successful animal waste removal business.

Obtain Service Agreement

You need to have the client sign a service contract that gives you permission to be in the yard cleaning up the animal waste. You need to have them sign another contract at the bottom that states you have done the job complete to their satisfaction every week that you appear on the job. You need to have them sign a contract before you do any work whatsoever. Hand them a made up bill and keep a copy for yourself.

The Equipment You'll Need

You really want to have a truck to put the your equipment in the back. You don't want to smell up your other vehicles. You need to obtain some latex gloves to wear over your hands while in the yard for safety reasons due to the non clean feces that you will be picking up. You need to invest in heavy duty trash bags and make sure to double up when you bag up the waste so it doesn't fall through the bag if it gets too heavy. The next thing that you need to purchase is a shovel and a hoe. You need to invest in a heavy duty commercial pan to put the waste in while you are working before you bag it up. Check the local regulations regarding animal waste removal.

Set Your Price Right

Think about your price for a few minutes. You need to figure out what your time is worth. Keep in mind that animal waste removal is a type of service that clients will need on a regular basis. You can make at least $60.00 per yard each week. Charge a flat fee. The bigger the city that you live in the more money you'll be able to make and you can usually charge more. The smaller the town that you live in you may need to stick to $60.00 per yard. Make sure to charge more to commercial clients than residential.

Give them a rough estimate of what the highest amount it would cost so they aren't surprised. Make sure you tell them that you need to look at the yard first to know how much that you would have to charge them. Never bid a yard over the phone without looking at it first so you aren't taken advantage of.

Get Weekly Clients

Every customer may be open to letting you remove the animal waste from the yard each week. Try to obtain a weekly contract to come remove the animal waste from the yard at a reduced rate that you find is fair. You need to explain the benefits by telling them that the animal will be more clean and how they won't have to worry about stepping in the animal waste. Explain to them that they won't be embarrassed about their yard and that they'll be able to find the joy in it again that they once did before it got so bad.

Future Clients Right In Front Of You

You may wonder about how many clients that you can obtain. You may wonder where to even start on getting successful. Don't worry. I've got it covered for you. The elderly people need animal removal waste on their yards nearly all the time so make sure to advertise a classified ad in the newspaper. The disabled people are another group that needs you. The single family households that just don't have the energy to take care of things like animal waste removal need you so that the little kids can play in the yard without getting dirty from the animal waste. The professionals simply just don't have the time to take care of the poodle dog's dirty business.

Don't forget that vet offices are another place to put out advertisements. Pet stores are another place that you should not ever overlook. Go to surrounding towns to place advertisements up as well. Pet spas are another place to seek out clients by leaving advertisements in there. Place your advertisements in senior centers and other places that elderly people frequently visit.

Pet spa and boarding kennels can also become commercial clients that you can have forever. Make sure that you set your prices just right with a commercial account in order to keep them forever.

Types of Payment

Make sure that the clients have no excuse for not paying you. Make sure to accept credit cards all the time no matter what. Credit cards will increase your profits several times over since most people will charge more things to a credit card than they would if they had to pay cash. Make sure to accept debit cards as well. You can obtain a merchant account to accept credit cards fairly easy online with several different companies. PayPal even lets people pay you through credit cards as well. You can even have credit accounts to commercial accounts in order to earn more profits. Accept checks as well unless a client bounces one. Make sure to have them sign something regarding check bounce fees and extra fees if you get a check that bounces from them.

The Classified Ad Power

Always run a small classified ad with a small border around it in the local newspaper. Branch out to specialty papers as well. One place not to overlook is any publication that has seniors as their target audience. Place an ad in other small newspapers around town since you never know who is going to read it and call you up. Make sure to always have someone available to answer your telephone. If you are doing this solo then make sure to have your telephone forwarded to a cell phone in order to take telephone calls. Your primary goal is to keep the calls rolling in each day in order to obtain more clients as much as possible resulting in more profits.

Obtain a Website

People need to find you on the web so make sure to have a website. Any website is better than nothing at all. Try to get a domain name if you can afford one. Make sure that you list your website on all your advertisements around town. Make sure that you list your telephone number on your website. Make sure that whoever puts together your website adds keywords all through the meta tags and content in order to result in a better place in search engine placement. You can write off the cost of a website since it is technically considered advertisement.

Don't overlook local craigslist. One reminder on the classified ads is to give them a nudge to put in a call to you such as a monthly special discount or first fifty clients get the first service free.

Times are tough right now. There are all kinds of methods to make money so don't pass up this business opportunity. It's a dirty job, but somebody has got to do it.