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A Day on the Job
By ELLEN MOSES How did you come up with your business name? I was trying to come up with a name, and then one day I was listening to the radio and the AC/DC song "Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap" comes on the radio, and I just started singing, "Doggie Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap" and thought that's it, that's my name! What hours do you work? Well, I work the whole weekend. Like on Saturday, I usually start around 9 a.m. and get back around 6. Then on Sunday I work about four to five hours, then over in Tampa for about two hours. If I don't get to them on the weekend, I usually hit them during the week when I get off work at my other job in Tampa. So this is no longer your full-time job? No. I had a lot more customers, but I lost about 50 percent of my customers after 9/11. My business is a luxury service, so people just started tightening up with their money and deciding, well, we don't need this service. Where do you work during the week? In my other job I'm a bankruptcy specialist for auto loans. Where is your customer base? Pinellas and Hillsborough. I have a couple customers in Tampa, but the majority are here in Pinellas. My farthest customer is up in Ozona. It's a lot of driving. What do you charge to clean up dog waste from a residential yard? One dog is $15 a week, so that comes out to $60 a month, and they pay monthly. There's an initial cleanup fee, too. Do you see a lot of disgusting pile-ups? Oh, yes. One house I had took me 2 1/2 hours to clean up the first time I went out there. At least the guy was honest with me on the phone; he said, "My yard is a mess. I haven't touched it in over a year." It filled six huge bags full of it! His yard was disgusting. Is that unusual? Uh huh. Most of it's not that bad. When people think of it, they're like "Ugh, how can you do that?" But it's really not that bad. Because you're out there once a week, you keep up with it. How long does a weekly yard clean up take? About 10 minutes. I have one big house that takes me about 20 minutes. Do you have a set strategy for cleaning yards? A lot of dogs will go in certain areas, but you still have to check the entire yard. You have to walk it just like if you were cutting the grass, to make sure you get it all. I walk up and back so I'm getting every bit of the grass covered. How do you deal with the smell? It's really not that bad. The only time it's bad is when it's rained and it's wet. Other than that it really doesn't really smell. Do you worry about getting diseases? Not anymore, but it seemed like when I first started, I was always sick and wondered if it had anything to do with it. It was probably just all in my mind, anyway. I always wear gloves, and I always have baby wipes in the truck. What kind of tools do you use? I have a lobby dustpan and a little rake. That works the best. I tried a big trash can on wheels, I tried a shovel, but that little lobby dustpan I got at the dollar store, it works great. I also have a little bucket that I dump it in. What do you do with the waste? Just put it in the trash. How much waste do you collect in a week? I'd say I average about six (trash) bags a week. What's your favorite thing about the job? Being my own boss. I know it's a job and I've got to do it, but I can do it whenever I want to do it. Like I don't have to be there at 8 a.m. What's your least favorite thing? I'd say the wear and tear on my truck, because it's a lot of driving. Do you have any pets? I used to. I've had dogs and cats and birds and fish and snakes and rabbits. But we can't have them where I rent. But even though I don't have pets, it's like I do because I get to play with some of the customer's dogs when I'm at their house. How much money do you make? My best year was probably about $10,000. My goal is to get it up to 50 grand a year. I have a long way to go. If I could get contracts with a couple pet-friendly apartment complexes it wouldn't take very long to make my goal. What other jobs have you worked? I worked for a magician who had a big illusion show. It was about 15 people all together, and I was the manager for that. But the traveling got old, and the money started dropping. I've sold cars, I've sold jewelry, I've bartended, I've waitressed, I've sold clothes: I've done a lot. What's your dream job? Well, probably fashion design. I also have this great idea for an invention that I'm working on, and I think that if it hit, it would start a whole new craze. Any hidden hazards of the job? Not really. You just have to watch where you step. I've got pretty good eyes though, and I'm used to looking for it. Most of my yards are nice yards with grass so (waste) just sits on top of the grass and is easy to see. Now when you're dealing with leaves, you have to scoop through all the leaves so you don't miss any.
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