Podcast Summary: The Side Hustle Show – Episode 722

Title: The Million Dollar Business in Your Backyard
Host: Nick Loper
Guest: William Milliken (Swoop Scoop / Poop Scoop Millionaire Community)
Date: February 9, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the fast-growing, unexpectedly lucrative world of pet waste removal. Host Nick Loper interviews William Milliken, founder of Swoop Scoop and the Poop Scoop Millionaire Community, who went from zero to 350 recurring customers in three months and built a multi-million-dollar business—all by professionally scooping dog poop. William shares the story of his start, details his playbook for local service business success, the economics behind “unsexy” businesses, and how he’s now teaching others to replicate his results nationwide.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origin Story: Seeing an Overlooked Opportunity

• Background: William’s initial career was digital marketing for home service providers.
• Market Gap: Realized he could profit more running these businesses himself than working for them.
• Entry to Pet Waste: Began when his pregnant wife hired a pooper scooper who did a poor job; saw room to improve professionalism and reliability ([01:16]).

  “At the time my wife was pregnant and...she had hired a pooper scooper. They just weren’t doing a very good job, not very professional.” — William ([01:49])

• No Skill Barrier: Chose pet waste removal because it required “almost no skill and almost no money” to start ([02:57]).

2. Validating the Business & Gaining First Customers

• Little Traditional Demand: Virtually no Google searches for service—people didn’t know what to search for ([01:49]).
• Grassroots Marketing: Relied on door knocking, networking with vet offices, and posting in local Facebook groups ([05:31]).

  “Between [door knocking and Facebook posts]...that’s how we got our first, I guess about $1,000 a month in revenue.” — William ([05:31])

• Early Customer Acquisition: Ran viral Facebook ads featuring pictures of bags of poop—generated leads for $6–$7 ([06:42]).
• Low Friction Onboarding: Initially handled leads via Facebook Messenger for simplicity and speed ([07:09]).

3. Pricing, Economics, & Service Model

• Experimentation: Started by analyzing competitors, timing how long yard cleanups took, and adjusting from there ([07:30]).

  “[A]t first it was, see the competitors are charging, charge a little bit more, be more professional, try to time yourself to get some guard rails.” — William ([08:09])

• Labor Efficiency: One tech can handle 125–150 recurring residential customers; optimal route density is key ([07:30]).
• Hourly Target: Aimed for $70–$80/hour at first, now $100+/hour ([08:15]).
• Profit Margins: Targeted 70% gross margins, including labor and basic materials ([18:36]).
• Billing Innovation: Switched to offering quarterly and annual billing, reducing churn by 72% for those plans ([10:26]).

  “People on quarterly billing are about 72% less likely to churn than people on month.” — William ([11:01])

4. Marketing & Brand Building

• Professional Branding: Uniformed staff, wrapped vehicles, and high visibility foster a premium image ([20:02]).

  “When you have brand new vehicles, not only is it good for marketing, allows you to charge higher prices, it makes you seem more professional...” — William ([20:02])

• Result: Increased branded Google searches from near zero to up to 1,000/month.

5. Business Operations & Scaling

• Operational Efficiency: Split service by day/region, use apps to manage gate codes and routes, standardized process for each job ([16:11]).
• Hiring: Highly selective—filter 100+ applicants per job, look for work ethic and reliability, prefer those with steady employment ([17:18]).
• Compensation: $20–$25/hour, with plans to move toward pay-for-performance based on revenue serviced ([19:13], [19:32]).
• Seasonality: Counterintuitive peak demand in Q1—biggest surge when snow melts (“peak poop pain season”) ([09:34]). Uses a weekend team during peak demand to avoid layoffs in the slow season ([39:02]).

6. Customer Lifetime Value & Financials

• LTV: Over $3,000 per customer in Seattle, $2,500–$2,600 in smaller markets ([15:05]).

  “In our Seattle market, it’s a little over $3,000 LTV on gross revenue.” — William ([15:05])

• Cashflow Management: Strategic billing and prepayment to fund rapid scaling, especially in heavy acquisition months ([11:50]).

7. Expanding and Teaching the Model Nationwide

• Growth Plan: Built management layers, standardized the business so new locations can be “copy-pasted” ([22:09]).
• Commercial vs. Residential: Focuses mainly on residential for simplicity, but does service some HOAs and apartments ([23:00]).
• Tools: Minimal—use Sweep and Go CRM, garden tools, and simple routing software ([23:53]).
• Waste Disposal: Some locations remove pet waste, others leave it in customer bins; business model adapts by market ([25:00]).

8. The Poop Scoop Millionaire Community & Industry Leadership

• Genesis: Demand for consulting skyrocketed when William shared his story; now runs a Skool-based community with 700+ members, offering training and peer support ([27:37]).

  “I think I ended up making close to 20 grand in a few weeks.” — William ([28:05])

• Purpose: Low-cost ($69/month) alternative to high-ticket consulting or franchising, with community events, frequent live Q&As, and a comprehensive classroom ([30:53], [36:59]).
• Industry Impact: By empowering competitors, increases public awareness and demand for the service ([32:50]).

  “What we’re really doing is creating more industry awareness...it’s double, triple, like year over year.” — William ([32:50])

• Annual Event: Hosts “ScoopCon,” drawing 100+ industry operators, solidifying William’s place as a leader in the niche ([34:43]).

9. Mindset, Surprises, and Advice

• Biggest Surprise: The sheer demand and seasonality curve, the rapid snowball of both businesses, and growing industry legitimacy ([38:10]).
• Advice for Listeners:

  “Just go out there and start actually taking action...getting sales and getting revenue in the door. So I’d say just go out there and get started.” — William ([40:33])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On why this “unsexy” business works:

  “Nobody likes picking up dog poop, so at least I don’t.” — William ([02:37])

• On launching despite low Google search volume:

  “That was not a red flag.” — Nick ([02:08])

• On scaling quickly:

  “Once we started running Facebook ads, kind of went semi-viral. People were just signing up left and right and it got pretty crazy…we had to start buying trucks and hiring people within the first couple months.” — William ([04:25])

• On LTV revelation:

  “That dog in the yard is worth quite a bit.” — Nick ([15:16])

• On the “poop pain” season:

  “When the snow melts off, I call it peak poop pain season…and things just go crazy.” — William ([09:34])

• On shifting to teaching the business:

  “I didn’t really want to do it so I threw out like a crazy number. So okay, I’ll talk to you for 1500 bucks. I think I ended up making close to 20 grand in a few weeks.” — William ([28:05])

• On lowering churn through billing frequency:

  “People on quarterly billing are about 72% less likely to churn than people on month.” — William ([11:01])

• On building infrastructure for expansion:

  “We really went out and built out that infrastructure…so now we can just go out and copy paste new locations.” — William ([22:09])

• On community:

  “There’s a ton of six, seven figure pooper scoopers in there that are very active.” — William ([30:53])

Important Timestamps

• Origin & Niche Discovery: [01:16] – [02:57]
• Marketing & First Customers: [04:25] – [06:42]
• Pricing & Operations: [07:30] – [09:34]
• Billing & LTV Insights: [10:26] – [11:35]
• Labor, Fulfillment, & Hiring: [16:11] – [19:32]
• Branding & Growth: [20:02] – [22:09]
• Tools & Technology: [23:53] – [25:00]
• Poop Scoop Millionaire Community Formation: [27:37] – [32:50]
• Industry Events (ScoopCon): [34:43]
• Biggest Surprises: [38:10]
• Advice for Listeners: [40:33]

Takeaways & Action Steps

• Don’t get hung up on website, logo, or “perfection.” Get clients and deliver results—then refine.
• **Unsexy, fragmented service businesses remain wide open for rapid growth and branding plays.
• **Recurring billing (quarterly/annual) drastically lowers churn and increases cashflow.
• **Brand consistently, operate professionally, and you can outcompete informal local operators.
• **Teaching/training others in a niche business can itself become a highly profitable second act.

Resources Mentioned

• Swoop Scoop: swoopscoop.com
• Poop Scoop Millionaire Community: Hosted on Skool
• YouTube Channel: [Poop Scoop Millionaire]
• Jobber, Sweep and Go: Service business CRMs

Closing Note

William’s story is a testament to finding riches in niches, executing with professionalism, and not being afraid to teach what you know. His actionable model—validate locally, brand for premium positioning, optimize for recurring revenue—applies to scores of under-the-radar businesses. If you’re looking for the next service business idea, sometimes the million dollar opportunity really is sitting in your own backyard.

Number one tip:

“Just go out there and start actually taking action...getting sales and getting revenue in the door.” — William Milliken ([40:33])