Daily Inspiration: Meet Joshua Roth

Joshua, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I recently retired from Active Duty military service after serving 20 years with the United States Coast Guard while fourteen of those years were spent right here serving the Houston/Galveston area, with four years spent stateside and two years spent serving in the Middle East.

My brother and I grew up as Army brats, always moving around from state to state every two years. After high school, I knew that I wanted to join the United States Coast Guard however I didn’t want to live the Army brat lifestyle with the constant relocation. Deep down I knew there had to be a way to spend most of my military career in one location…think chess, not checkers.

I started my Active Duty military career here in the Houston/Galveston area in January 2001. It may sound silly, but I have always wanted to live in Houston as a small child and now I was given that opportunity by Uncle Sam. What are the odds? Throughout the years, I was forced to temporarily move for new assignments but I always somehow found a way to make it back to Houston. I won the chess game.

Fast forward to year 19 of my military career (during the COVID19 pandemic), when I knew that retirement was coming fast and I needed to make a career change. Searching high and low on various job search engines, government job availability and in the corporate world, there wasn’t really anything appealing. Nothing caught my eye. Nothing that would be as exciting as serving as an Active Duty military member.

I immediately knew that I was not cut out for the corporate world. Also, who wants to sit in a cubicle all day rotting away while making someone else’s Ferrari or beachfront house payments? Certainly not me. I did not want to be part of that rat race.

One day my wife was listening to a small business podcast about this woman in Michigan that started a dog waste removal service, which is a fancy way of saying Pooper Scooper. During one of our journeys through Houston’s wonderful traffic, she played the same podcast for me to listen to. Upon completion of the said podcast, my wife turned to me and asked, “Is that something you could do?”

“Heck no!”, was my initial response. I think it was the pride in myself speaking on my behalf without my brain actually thinking about it. Why would I serve twenty years for this country just to turn around and scoop dog poop? I am better than that. I deserved better than that…or so I thought.

I mean, dog waste is unsightly. Dog waste is smelly. Dog waste also damages lawns and landscaping all while holding harmful bacteria such as Parvovirus and E. coli. Could I help prevent that? Could I make a difference while giving back pet owners who lost time spent picking up after their furry family member?

Later that night while laying in bed, I found myself staring at the ceiling and wondering if I could actually start a dog waste removal company.

Was it really beneath me to scoop poop? Could I be a pooper scooper? Then I started to ACTUALLY think about it. Why couldn’t I be able to provide exceptional service to neighbors? Why couldn’t I continue to provide service after my military career was over? After all, I have already given the City of Houston/Galveston 14 years of my life; why not continue to provide for fellow neighbors all across the City?

My next thought was okay, I’ll do it but ONLY if this certain phone number was available. I knew the phone number had to be catchy, something people would remember. I hopped out of bed and went to the computer for a number search. Low and behold, the catchy and specific number that I had in mind was available; 832-321-POOP.

It was a sign. It was a sign that yes, I could actually start a dog waste removal business and provide exceptional service to anybody and everybody. I could make a difference.

Once the phone number was purchased and ported over, then began the research and development that came along with everything small business-related. Business name, website, logo, business model, legal paperwork, insurance, etc. I began the daunting yet rewarding task of starting a small business.

After all of the hard work, Scoop Troop HTX was born with the catchy phone number of 832-321-POOP (7667), the website ScoopTroopHTX.com and six weeks later, we launched our first advertisement and waited. We waited and waited some more…it didn’t seem like anyone wanted this type of service, which sort of reminded me about the story of Colonel Sanders and his famous KFC.

For those that don’t know, Colonel Sanders went to restaurant after restaurant to see if anyone would buy his fried chicken recipe. He went to hundreds and hundreds of restaurants seeking a buyer for his recipe and they all said no. No after no after no. Except for one. One restaurant finally said yes, and just like that KFC was born.

Finally, after seven weeks of waiting, our business phone rang and we landed our first client. Awesome! We congratulated ourselves and made more adjustments to our advertising and landed our second client just a couple of days later. Keep in mind, I was still on active duty at this time and would be providing recurring waste removal services in my off-time. By the end of 2020, we had a pretty decent-sized client list for a small part-time side hustle.

Leading up to my military retirement in April of 2021, I crash course studied everything small business-related. From small business marketing and advertisement to CAC (customer acquisition cost) and scalability. I literally would eat, drink and sleep this stuff. Podcasts and online material were being digested into the late hours of the night.

Fast forward to the end of 2021, where we have achieved an impressive sizable client list for both residential and commercial properties all across the Houston and Greater Houston Area. We became members of the HAA (Houston Apartment Association), attended our first HAA Expo and also hired our first part-time employee.

Our business model pivot to service apartment communities and HOA’s is just another layer of quality service that we are able to offer. Many apartment communities have foremen and maintenance crews, but let’s face it; they should focus their much needed time and skills on maintenance while we free their time by focusing on dog waste pickup and keeping grounds clean and green.

This is it, I found a way to continue to serve post-military service. This is our way to continue to provide exceptional services to the City of Houston’s residents, Apartment Communities, HOA’s and fellow neighbors just like you.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Entrepreneurship is definitely no easy task. If it were simple and easy, everyone would do it. Right? I think some of the biggest challenges we faced in the beginning of our journey were with advertising.

How do you get your name out there? How do you play catchup to some of the competitors that have been doing this longer than us? How do you convert some of the competitor’s clients into your own? There is definitely a lot of creative and critical thinking that plays a role in all of it. You absolutely have to get your name out there for people to see and recognize at the most affordable way possible. We did exactly that, at the right time in the most creative ways we could think of.