Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Salazar.
Hi Anthony, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Before starting Salazar Scoops, I spent years working in technology, customer support, and leadership. I had built a solid career and was earning a six-figure income, but I kept feeling pulled toward entrepreneurship. I wanted to build something of my own and have more control over my time, income, and future.
I started Salazar Scoops in December 2020 as a side business. At the time, I was still working my full-time job, so I would scoop yards before work, after work, and on weekends. I began with my personal vehicle, basic equipment, and very little understanding of what it would take to build a service company.
During the first year, the business generated around $13,000. I was doing everything myself: answering the phone, sending invoices, marketing, scheduling, and completing every yard. It was exhausting, but it showed me there was real demand for the service.
I also learned that working hard was not enough. I needed better systems for billing, customer communication, scheduling, pricing, and follow-up. Once I started treating the company as a real business instead of something I was doing on the side, things began to change. Revenue grew to around $55,000 in our second year, and we continued adding recurring clients, employees, and commercial accounts.
My wife, Ashley, became a major part of the business and helped me build the company into what it is today. We now serve over 275+ homeowners, apartment communities, property managers, and other commercial properties throughout Northern Utah. Our services include recurring dog waste removal, one-time cleanups, pet waste station installation and servicing, and deodorizing and sanitizing treatments.
A major part of our growth has come from focusing on the customer experience. We communicate before and after every visit, send a photo of the closed gate, disinfect our equipment, and haul the waste away. Those small details helped us earn hundreds of positive reviews and build long-term relationships with our clients.
As Salazar Scoops grew, I started sharing what I was learning on YouTube. That became Poop Scoops For Noobs, an education brand for other pet waste removal business owners. I now create videos, host live interviews, publish a newsletter, run a community, coach other business owners, and have written a book. I have also had the opportunity to speak at business events and share the lessons behind our growth.
Today, I divide my time between growing Salazar Scoops and helping other entrepreneurs build stronger service businesses. The path has included plenty of mistakes, long days, hiring challenges, and difficult decisions, but it has given my family opportunities I once only imagined.
I am proud that we built a real company around a service most people overlook, and that our experience now helps other business owners believe they can do the same.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has definitely not been a smooth road.
I started Salazar Scoops while working a full-time job, so the early years were a constant balance between my career, the business, and my family. I would work my regular job, scoop yards before or after my shift, answer customer messages at night, and spend weekends trying to catch up on everything else.
Underpricing was one of the early struggles. Like many new business owners, I worried that charging more would scare people away. I eventually learned that filling the schedule with customers does not automatically create a healthy business. The routes still have to make financial sense after labor, fuel, supplies, drive time, and overhead.
Hiring created a different set of challenges. Doing the work yourself gives you complete control. Once employees are involved, you have to teach your standards clearly and build processes that another person can follow. We have dealt with turnover, vacations, training mistakes, and periods when my wife, Ashley, and I had to return to the field to keep every route covered.
One of our hardest lessons came after losing a commercial account worth roughly $5,000 per month. We had several properties under the same client, and we did not manage expectations as clearly as we should have. Losing that account hurt financially, but it forced us to improve our communication, documentation, and service procedures.
We also had to make difficult decisions about our service area. Some longtime customers lived too far from the rest of our routes, and servicing them was costing us too much time. Ending those relationships was uncomfortable, especially when some had been with us for years. It was necessary to build tighter routes and create a better workday for our team.
There have also been the quieter struggles that come with ownership: questioning whether growth is happening quickly enough, worrying about payroll, carrying business problems home, and feeling guilty when work takes time away from family.
Each difficult season has shown us where the company needed stronger systems or clearer leadership. Those lessons have helped us improve our pricing, training, customer communication, hiring, and route planning.
The challenges have been frustrating at times, but they have also made Salazar Scoops a more stable and professional company. Most of what I teach through Poop Scoops For Noobs comes from mistakes we experienced firsthand and had to learn how to correct.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Salazar Scoops is a professional pet waste removal company serving homeowners and commercial properties across Northern Utah.
We provide recurring dog waste removal, one-time cleanups, commercial property service, pet waste station installation and maintenance, waste haul-away, and deodorizing and sanitizing treatments. Our clients include busy families, older adults, people recovering from injuries, apartment communities, property managers, and dog-friendly businesses.
A lot of our residential clients call us because the yard has become one more task they cannot keep up with. Some have several dogs. Some work long hours. Others are dealing with pregnancy, health issues, limited mobility, or a winter buildup that has become overwhelming. We give them a clean yard they can use again without adding another chore to their schedule.
What we are best known for is communication and consistency.
Clients receive a reminder before service, an on-the-way message, and confirmation when the visit is complete. We send a photo of the closed gate after every service so they know their dogs are secure. Our technicians disinfect their equipment, walk the yard carefully, and haul the waste away instead of leaving it in the client’s trash can.
We also have a 24-hour Service Excellence Guarantee. If a client believes we missed an area, we return and correct it. I want people to know that someone is accountable for the quality of the service.
Those details have helped us build long-term relationships and earn hundreds of positive reviews. Many customers come to us after having problems with another company, such as missed visits, poor communication, rushed work, or gates being left open. They stay because they know what to expect from us each week.
I am most proud that we have taken a service many people overlook and built a professional local company around it. My wife, Ashley, and I built Salazar Scoops together, and the company now supports our family, creates jobs, and gives our clients more time to enjoy their homes and pets.
I am also proud of the culture we are working to build. We teach our technicians that the job involves more than cleaning a yard. We are entering someone’s home, working around their pets, and being trusted with their property. That requires care, communication, and respect.
The main thing I want readers to know is that Salazar Scoops takes this work seriously. Dog waste removal may sound simple, but reliability, safety, and attention to detail matter. Our goal is to make the service easy for the client and consistent enough that they never have to worry about whether it was done correctly.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
A few resources have had a major influence on how I think about business, leadership, and life.
The Bible is the resource I return to most for my personal life. It affects how I try to lead, treat employees, serve customers, handle stress, and make decisions. Business ownership can bring out pride, fear, impatience, and the desire to control everything. Scripture regularly reminds me to slow down, examine my motives, and keep my priorities in the right order.
I also listen to Father Mike Schmitz, especially The Bible in a Year podcast. His explanations make Scripture easier to understand and apply to everyday life. I appreciate his ability to speak honestly about discipline, responsibility, faith, relationships, and personal growth.
Dan Kennedy has probably shaped my business thinking more than anyone else. His books and teachings on direct response marketing changed the way I look at customers, offers, follow-up, positioning, and communication. The No B.S. book series and Magnetic Marketing helped me understand that good marketing should be measurable and should give people a clear reason to take action. I use many of those principles in Salazar Scoops, Poop Scoops For Noobs, and the coaching I provide to other business owners.
Alex Hormozi has also been a useful resource, especially his books $100M Offers,$100M Leads and $100M Money Models. I appreciate how clearly he explains value, pricing, lead generation, and the importance of making an offer easy to understand. His content has helped me look more closely at how we present our services and how we communicate the outcome clients are paying for.
For apps, I rely heavily on Jobber to manage our customer communication, scheduling, invoicing, and day-to-day operations. I also use YouTube and podcasts as learning tools because I can listen while driving between appointments or working on routine tasks.
The best resources for me are the ones that change how I act. I want something I can apply to a marketing campaign, a leadership decision, a conversation with an employee, or the way I show up for my family.
Pricing:
- Weekly Scooping starting at $19
- One Time Cleanup starting at $55
- Premium Odor Control Spray starting at $27
Contact Info:
- Website: https://salazarscoops.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/salazarscoops/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SalazarScoops/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PoopScoopsForNoobs
- Other: https://poopscoopsfornoobs.com/
