and the hustlers that are making a difference
in our industry. Today's guest is a special guest,
Erica Crouppen from Crouppen's Poopin' Scoopin'.
And this is the second show that we've had the
opportunity to record with her. So Erica. Welcome
back to the Lawn Hustle. Thank you for having
me back. It's been too long. Yes, ma 'am. Well,
two weeks ago, you and I were at a event with
Naylor Taliaferro and the LCR media. We attended
the LCR summit. I want to ask you, what was your
biggest takeaway? from the LCR Summit Oh Man
I'll tell you what this was my second time attending
Unfortunately, I missed the first one and I'm
very sad that I missed that But coming back this
second time and seeing a lot of familiar faces
and to see how folks have grown their business
and to be able to see how Naylor and the team,
they were able to bring new information to when
they spoke. There was a lot. I mean, I have a
notebook full, literally full of things. One
of my biggest takeaways was from Paul Jameson
with the content creation. It was getting really
clear with my messaging to who I was speaking
to, who my ideal client was. And for me, I've
been kind of confused on my social media, for
my personal and then also for my business because
I have my pooper scooper business, which is local.
Then I also have the podcast and I have the social
media and I have brands that I work with and
it got very muddy and I felt like I was very
confused. I came back and I said, OK, we're going
to clean up this business page. Who is that ideal
client? that ICP ideal customer profile. Who
am I trying to speak to? And all of the content
that I'm going to be creating on Crouppen's poop
and scooping page is going to speak specifically
to that customer. That's what I came back and
did. I started cleaning it up. Well, let me make
a book recommendation since you mentioned Paul
Jamieson's greenhouse and It's called Dotcom
by Brunson Russell. It's a great book and he
brings out some of the things that Paul brought
out in his presentation in his book and I started
reading it and I Got excited about my business.
I've been in almost 17 years now in the green
industry and I am on the tail end of my business.
I actually have a company that wants to buy me
out. So my wife is a school teacher. She has
one more year until she could retire. And so
I'm starting to think about the dead exit game,
but I'm excited about knowing who I want to work
for, finding out where they are. and where I
should target those prospective clients. So Paul's
presentation was great, and I also really enjoyed
Eric Triplett's presentation. Just amazing stuff
on knowing your customer, knowing their personality,
knowing how they're going to relate to you and
to your business. One of my biggest takeaways
though was Nadler when he taught about the four
seasons. That just really hit home how that we,
in the spring, we plant. In the spring, we are
preparing for the summer rush. In the summer,
you know, we're going through our business and
right up into the fall of the year when you transition
into the winter, and you go to rest just like
the soil does. And then you get it ready for
the next spring. So I thought that was my first
time to ever be able to attend the LCR Summit.
And I look forward to next year's already. I
plan on going. That's how much of an impact it
made on me that I'm already planning on going
again. So our guest today, She turns poop into
profit, and she is building a seven -figure business.
Sometimes the best business model is the simplest
idea. I would have never thought to start a poop
and scooping business, but it's someone that
looked beyond the norm and saw an opportunity.
So can you explain to us how you started thinking
about this business and what inspired you to
just jump in? You know, I really wish I had some
type of deep, really some deep thought out plan.
It was, it was I. I guess I hated my job where
I was working. It's not that it was a bad job.
It was security. I worked at U of M Hospital
as a pharmacy technician. I basically got the
job handed to me because my aunts worked there
and I didn't deserve that job. I didn't deserve
to actually still be there because my attendance
was so terrible. But I had people that saw things
in me that I didn't quite see in myself. And
this is a common theme throughout my life. A
lot of people, when they talk about me, Erika's
very confident. I walk with confidence. I talk
with confidence. Erika's a confident person.
I am actually not a confident person. I'm just
really good at showing up confidently when I
need to. But behind closed doors, it's something
that I have an inner critic that's always telling
me, you're not good enough. You're not doing
good enough. You have to keep pushing forward.
And that's good, right? Because you want to achieve
goals, I want to achieve things, but sometimes
it's very painful because I can't just relax.
So back then, even though I knew it was a nice
cozy job, I just knew that there was something
else out there for me and I just knew there was
something better. I decided I wanted to go to
school because I wanted to get out of the pharmacy.
and I was telling one of the pharmacists I was
working with that I was gonna go to school. I'm
like, I'm gonna go to school for pharmacy. And
I remember him looking back at me and he's like,
Erika, you're just like fun and cute. Like you
should just do something like that. Like pharmacy
is really hard, like really hard. You have to
study a lot and that's just really not for you.
And I remember thinking, yeah, maybe I just,
I'm not smart enough to do something like this.
And that kind of got my head turning, and it
kind of got me into a bad head space. And I went
to school, though. I said, OK, I'm not going
to do pharmacy. I'm going to become a physical
therapist assistant. And I can tell you what,
I had to take every class twice. Every single
class. I struggled. I had to have my husband
edit my papers for me, because I had to take
classes to even get me up to college level, because
that's how illiterate I was. I couldn't even
put together a full paragraph. I did so poorly
in high school, I shouldn't have even graduated.
But once again, I don't know what it was. The
teacher liked me. She saw something in me that
I didn't see in myself and she ended up passing
me. That's the only reason why I even graduated
high school is because of that teacher. So when
I didn't, you know, fast forward when I didn't
get into the physical assistant program because
there was only a certain amount of spaces, I
was like, oh no, my husband put so much time
and energy into me. Like I'm a failure. I can't
even get into the school. He's going to be so
upset with me. And I remember just calling him.
I said, hey, I just, I got to tell you, I didn't
get into the program and I just went silent.
And he went silent too. And I hate that. I can't
stand silence. And I was like, well, what do
you think? And he's like, well, what do you think?
I was like, can I be super transparent with you?
I'm relieved. I struggled. I struggled. But that's
the one thing about me is it doesn't matter how
hard it is. I'm still going to try to figure
it out. Like, yes, I didn't complete. I didn't
pass the class that I needed to. I got to see.
That's failing, technically. So I drove from
U of M hospital after working a midnight shift.
We worked tens. And I would drive all the way
to Flint, Michigan, to take a class that I needed
to take to apply for this program. And then from
there, I would drive home, rinse and repeat.
And I did that for a full semester. And this
was during the Flint water crisis time. I didn't
get into the program. He says, good, because
I need you home. It's chaos here. We had little
kids at home at the time. And at that time, a
friend of mine was like, hey, you want to go
to a premiere designs jewelry show? I said, I
don't even have money to do that. I had to borrow
50 bucks to go to this show just to have something.
And I bought this necklace that was way overpriced.
But I met this woman, Melissa. She's like you're
super bubbly. I think you would do really good
with this. I said a girl I got a lot going on
right now. I can't Well, I didn't get in the
program. I had some time that freed up. I learned
how to do sales It was direct marketing sales
Which led me to doing camera stuff because I
did a lot of online sales and jewelry shows and
I got in front of people I learned how to structure
scripts. I learned how to read people Which all
led me to standing in my kitchen when I was looking
at my husband. I was watching my dog go to the
bathroom outside and My husband's last name is
Crouppen So that's where Crouppen's pooping scooping
comes from because it was something him and his
brothers joked around about ever since they were
kids and I always liked my husband I had a crush
on him since I was like five years old and I
was just I'm committed You know I'm saying like
I told you I commit So we had to go through some
stuff and we ended up coming back together. I
asked him that day, I said, hey, can I start
that poop scooping business that you talked about?
And he was like, yeah, sure. I'm like, can I
use the name? He says, yeah, sure. And the next
day I filed for the DBA. I didn't have a business
plan. I didn't know what I was going to do. I
just knew that I was capable enough to scoop
dog poop and I could put all the rest of the
pieces together. So that's what I've spent the
last seven years is just building this puzzle
of what, what the business is going to look like
and what Erica's life moving forward is going
to be. So when you started, did you start full
time or did you start as a side hustle? Oh, it
was a side hustle. Yeah. Cause I was still working
at U of M. I was, I might, I don't know if I
was working there full time or part time. I,
because I disliked it so much I bounced between
like full -time and part -time and full -time
and midnights and days and I would like convince
my husband of why I didn't why we could afford
to not have me work there full -time which really
wasn't a good idea but my sanity just wasn't
just I needed to not be there um But there was
a point where I was working full -time at the
hospital and then I was doing my business part
-time and then a switch happened to where I went
part -time and then the business started to grow
and grow and grow and finally it got to a point
where I could not do both of them anymore and
I told my husband I said we're I'm very very
close to having to quit at the hospital and I
was like I need to make sure that I replace my
hospital income Which was $30 ,000 I needed to
put money away for retirement Which that is like
it was 500 and some change per month and I needed
to be able to provide health care once that happened
It was my first full year in business. So it
ended up being like maybe 16 18 months. I hit
six figures I Waltz into that office and I said
I gotta talk to you Trish And she's like, are
you quitting today? And I said, no, I'm going
to give you my two months. So I gave them a two
month notice that I was out of there. And that
was right before the pandemic. So walk us through
your business model. Is it subscription based,
weekly route? Is it a per visit pricing? What
is your business model as far as client services?
I will say it has changed over the years, but
this is what I find is working the best now.
It's a subscription model. That means a customer
signs up with us for reoccurring service. It
could either be once a week, twice a week, or
every other week. They pay their fee, which is
on the first of the month. We charge them at
9 p .m. with their credit card on file through
Jobber. And that prepays for the entire month.
And then we show up based upon the frequency
that they want us. That is the bread and butter
of our company. We do offer one -off services.
So if a person's like, hey, we just want you
to come and do a one -off clean, because for
whatever reason, we do those as well. But our
main goal is to always try to convert those one
-offs into reoccurring. And this was a... a word
switch or maybe a word track that I learned at
LCR Summit, instead of thinking of your customers,
right? Customers are one -off. Our clients are
long -term because that's where we're building
relationships with these folks. And so that's
my mindset is my clients are one -offs, but we
want them. No, customers are one -off. I want
to build a relationship. I want to continue for
the seven years that they're going to keep us.
So from a logistic standpoint, what does a normal
day look like for Erica Crippen? How many yards
do you service? How many customers do you serve?
Okay. So I'm not in the field anymore because
I have two full -time staff members. So my day
looks a little different. Do you want me to say
like what a day would look like if I was in the
field? Sure. Okay, so if I was in the field at
like 730 a .m. I would look at my route make
sure that it was in the correct order Make sure
I set myself up for success. Make sure my lunch
is packed. I have all my hydrating stuff I have
all my snacky snacks and all my tools my truck
is stacked the way that it needs to and then
by 8 a .m. I'm on the road. I want to be to my
first house no later than 8 10 or 8 15. So if
I'm starting out far away, I'm going to leave
my house earlier to make sure I'm at that first
property. Send the client an on -the -way text
message. Hey, this is Erica on the way to scoop.
I scoop the yard. I sanitize my supplies. I send
them a text message. Hey, this is Erica. You've
been scooped. Your gate is closed and secured.
Have a wonderful day. I rinse and repeat that
between 23 and 28 times a day and we end the
day by like 435. That's if I was in the field.
Now because I'm in the office, very similar,
I wake up in the morning, I talk to my staff,
send them a message, check my schedule to see
what I have on the schedule, and then my virtual
assistant Nina, she says what are your top three
priorities for today? And one of them needs to
be Bible reading because I have to put the Lord
first because the Lord is the only reason why
I survived last year with this business. I feel
like if I wouldn't have leaned into Him, you
and I wouldn't be having this conversation right
now because I wouldn't be in business. So the
Lord is one of my top threes, and then I want
to have one that's family, and then as for the
business, one thing. What am I working on that
one thing that day that's going to push me forward?
Because if not, I'll have like 15 or 20 things
that I'm trying to work on. And by the end of
the day, I'm like, you did nothing. You did nothing
today. Well, how do you get customers? What marketing
channels work best for you? OK, Google. OK, if
you got money, like if you have money to put
into ads, which I put in about this year, I put
in about. Probably $18 ,000 so far this year
in the ads bring rush was like 13 ,000 and some
change Your Google Google is gonna be your most
verified customers. These are the ones that are
intentionally looking for you They went in there
and typed in pooper scooper. So they're gonna
be easier to convert They are more expensive
because they're more qualified. I was told max
out your Google Like that's your that's the main
one max that out as much as you possibly can
Then Facebook is my second. I do paid and I do
organic content. So I do paid ads. Those are
hyper targeted in the background. I have an actual
company that takes care of that for me now. And
then I create organic content, which is my videos
and the pictures and stuff that I post. If you
pay attention to my stuff now, it's getting super
focused. Like I'm calling out, hey, Westland
dog owners. Hey, Canton dog owners. Cause I'm
trying to talk to those people right away in
that hook. Is that because you've decided that
they are your ideal customer? Well, I already
knew who my ideal customer was. My thing is,
is I get bored, right? So I'm like looking at
my page. I'm like, I'm super bored. So I want
to start sharing different stuff. It's just what's
unfortunate about it is, is I like variety, but
variety is confusing. Okay. If I need for my
ideal customer to see my page and know that I'm
speaking to them, it has to be so consistent
and I have to show up the same. And I know this
with my branding because I do this time and time
again, but I let my social media almost become
a reflection of how I was feeling, what was going
on in my brain. And it was like, what's going
on over here? So when has been your best performing?
Best performing marketing strategy. Well this
year I doubled my business. So it was putting
money into paid ads and hiring a company to do
it. I am not a Google SEO person. I'm not a Facebook
SEO person. So taking the time and trusting a
company, finding a company that I want to use.
and just letting them do their thing so then
I could on my end shine where I shine. A lot
of our listeners run lawn care companies. Do
you get referrals from your local lawn care companies?
Yes, but there has been an issue with this only
because You guys have your routes, right? You
service your houses on Mondays or Tuesdays. We
do as well. So I was finding conflicting schedules.
Like the one guy was like, hey, I want you to
come scoop before we get there to mow. I'm like,
I don't service that person until Friday. But
as we're starting to grow, we're going to start
getting more flexibility because I live in Westland
and I, like a couple of my other staff members
live in specific cities that are close. We're
going to start being able to offer any day scooping
like Monday through Friday in the specific city.
So now there's gonna be more flexibility. So
I will be able to work with landscapers. The
other issue that I'm running into is I know a
lot of people are leveling up their business
and I know a lot of lawn guys and landscapers
are wanting to become more professional but I'm
really running into a lot of them not having
a CRM. Not having things organized and I can't
handle that because of how I run my business
in order for me to partner up with somebody I
need for them to be in aligned with not necessarily
using Jabber but they have to they have to have
some type of organization because I can't have
the miscommunication happen because if I refer
one of my customers to them and then they're
just not showing up because it rained and you
didn't say anything to the customer They're used
to me saying, hey, it's raining today. This is
what to expect. We're going to scoop you tomorrow
or we're going to scoop you on Thursday. I have
found a couple of companies that are in a line
and I'm super excited to work with them next
year. We're going to take a short break and listen
to a word from our show sponsor, Eartha Brew.
Tired of chasing payments and losing track of
jobs? Eartha Pro back office software makes it
simple for solo guys and small lawn care and
landscaping crews. Schedule, invoice, and organize
all in the same place. We also have a mobile
app and integrate into QuickBooks. Sign up at
EarthaPro .com with promo code TheLawnHustle11
for a $50 Amazon gift card, 10 % off, and personalized
onboarding. Eartha Pro, you run the outside work,
we run the office. So let's talk money That's
what we're all trying to make Absolutely, what's
the revenue or the profit potential for a business
like yours? There's a lot of profit potential
I guess if we're gonna start with a solo scooper
a solo scooper can make like a hundred and twenty
hundred and thirty thousand dollars a year Maybe
a little bit more depending on you know your
prices and where you're working If you're a solo
scooper, you're working a lot. You're working
a lot all the time, but your profits are gonna
be so much higher because you're not having to
pay for all that overhead. I mean, we're talking,
it's probably over 50%, maybe even over 70 %
with profit margins. It's been a long time since
I've been a solo scooper. Go ahead. I would think
that the profit margin has to be pretty high
because your expenses are relatively lower than
a lawn care business because I dropped almost
70 grand on three new mowers. So we don't have
that. It's mainly your vehicle, depending on
how you're going to buy it. If you're going to
lease it or get a payment on it, that's overhead.
You do have to have some type of insurance, which
is typically pretty low. So you have to have
vehicle insurance, and then some type of general
liability insurance. If you have a CRM that's
going to help manage all of your customers to
track all that data, that's a little bit pricey.
Your gas is going to be one of your higher expenses
because of travel, and then your payroll, whatever
you're paying, you know, whatever you're paying
yourself. Your supplies are super low because
you have a bucket, a rake, and trash bag, and
a sanitizer. company, you know, your uniform,
which can be relatively low. If you can't afford
branded stuff right away, you can just go buy
like a shirt that's in your brand color from
Walmart or Amazon these days. So yeah, it's pretty,
it's very low. I, on the other hand, like I'm
not cheap. I knew that I wanted to grow this
business. So the moment that I could, I hired
somebody, I invested in the jobber. I started
working on my branding. I got a better accountant
because the one prior I knew wasn't saving me
enough money and wasn't educating me enough.
And so every single year I just keep leveling
up. And last year and towards the end of the
year prior, I did a complete rebrand, right?
So I reinvested probably. Ten to twelve thousand
dollars into the rebrand and what group and scoop
and scoop and looks like today So when I talk
about profit margins, it's kind of I've reinvested
every dollar that I possibly can back into the
business but I'm able to do that because I One
I have my social media company that generates
income and then also I have my husband He has
a full -time job. So it's not like I'm running
a household To where everybody is relying on
me So when it comes to like the profit margins
and like how much money I have left over I will
reinvest every dollar I don't care because I
want to see this business grow to where it needs
to be and invest in yourself Yeah, by going to
the LCR Summit or equip expo or an another event
that someone's putting on Buying books reading
investing in education for yourself all of those
things matter And since I met you the first time,
I was driving down the road and I look up and
there's a poop and scooping truck right in front
of me at the red light. I've seen two different
companies in my city, which is 17 ,000 people.
But what about in your area? Is your field, is
it growing? Are you gaining more competitors?
You know, anyone can buy a mower and a trailer
and call themselves a lawn care company, but
there's a lot more to it than just buying a mower
and a trailer. So what about your competitors?
Are you seeing more companies come up in your
area? And does your line of work, do they have
the check in the truck or the Dan in the van?
Yeah, we call it a bucket Bob or scoop it Steve
Yeah, yeah, we see it a lot a lot of times We'll
get the bucket Bob and the scoop it Steve will
pop up around spring rush Because that's when
the snow melts and people are going crazy that's
when people are actively looking for pooper scoopers
or posting in all of the groups and That's why
I spend because that's only six weeks. That's
six weeks of like go time And I spend the rest
of the year planting seeds with either advertisement
or the organic content that I'm putting on social
media, building the relationships. Yes, there's
a lot more companies because success leaves clues,
right? I've been very vocal about the success
that I've had. We also had the poop scoop millionaire
over on the school platform. He's teaching. him
and like a whole group of people are teaching
other people how to start pooper scooper businesses.
So yes, a lot more competition is coming into
the game. But what people are failing to understand
is this is not a get rich quick. It doesn't matter
how much content I put out there and I show the
good the bad and the ugly people only want to
focus on the fact that I was able to make six
figures and it's like yeah, but like there's
so much more that goes into it So then they leverage
themselves they get all this overhead and then
they go into the summer months Which that's the
slowest time and they're freaking out because
they have all these business bills, but they're
not getting customers It's like you got to understand
the seasonality and you have to be in it like
you have to be so focused and understand that
you're playing the long game here and I Hear
other I hear other business owners get a little
nervous because they're like now we're getting
more competitors It's it's is it market becoming
too saturated. It's like come on man. We have
what five scoopers in the area That's saturated.
How many landscapers do we have? How many snow
guys do we have? Window washers, garage guys.
If we really look at all the other businesses,
their industries compared to ours, it's not nearly
as saturated. Yeah, we have to learn how to sell
a little bit more. We have to learn how to close.
We have to actually put in more effort because
there's another company. But that's fun. That's
the part of business that I think a lot of owner
operators get caught up in because it's easy
once you get the customers and you're in the
field and you have your head down. But when you
have to get out of the field and you have to
learn KPIs, you have to learn how to market,
you have to understand what your cack is and
your churn. That's when people start to like
glitch out and they're like, wait, what? It's
more than just scooping dog poop. We in lawn
care, we make most of our money. in the spring.
And then we make quite a bit of money in the
fall of the year. It's that summer, the hot days
of summer, when it's 105 degrees and the humidity
is 70 percent. And I have found a lot of guys
when they get into lawn care, when they're slinging
mulch, when they're busy, but when it gets hot,
I'll get phone calls. My phone blows up in the
summer because of people just quit showing up
and don't even call or contact the homeowner.
They just quit showing up. And then I like to
call them, you know, like we've said before,
the chuck in the truck or the, it's the guys
that get laid off from the factory. And then
when it gets hot and they realize, There's more
to running a lawn care business than just making
all that quick cash in the spring. You got to
get through those dog days of summer and get
back into the fall of the year where you're making
more money. But I just find it interesting that
your field and my field, though they're different,
there's a lot of similarities. to our industries
and your clients, gaining new customers, working
hard to make that customer into a client that
gives you recurring revenue, knowing your numbers,
knowing what you need to bring in to turn that
profit and to have a lot of guys that can have
great... top dollar revenue and have terrible
bottom dollar revenue because they blow the money
as soon as it comes in. I would guess there's
probably a high percentage of lawn care companies
in my area that never save a winter fund. And
then if we don't get snow, they're selling their
mowers every year during the winter. And then
they got to come up with enough money to buy
a mower for the spring rush. It's because that
top dollar revenue might be great that bottom
dollar revenue is horrible because they just
blow their money and spend and don't budget and
Have no clue how to run and operate a business
You know, it's and I I feel this because my husband
he's seasonal too. So my husband does tree work
he works for a company and every winter we It's
always do we got enough money saved up how much
money we have saved up because even though my
business stays consistent through the winter
We always had so much debt. There was always
something there was always so much payment or
something over us and you have to accommodate
for that and kind of like what nailer was talking
about not kind of actually what nailer was talking
about is If when you go into the winter, it's
the time for rest we hit Josh and I could never
rest peacefully in the winter because we were
always so worried about money. Like, are we going
to be able to make it to spring and have enough
money? And last year was really, really it was
really tight for us. We we we barely made it.
We barely made it last year. Luckily, we were
able to figure it out and pull all of our resources
together to be able to get through to spring.
I had my spring rush, my business we brought
in. It was like 30 something thousand dollars,
maybe 38. I'd have to fact check that. In March,
right? So the business, boom, spring rush blew
up. My husband gets back to work and we just
kind of looked at each other. We're like, we're
not going to go through another winter like this.
So what are we going to do? Him and I went crazy.
We're sharing a car right now a personal vehicle.
I still have my company fleet. That's on the
fleet That's working. But as for a personal we
eliminated a hundred and thirteen thousand dollars
worth of debt this year We made sure that we
have we have eighteen thousand dollars put away
for winter because that's gonna cover our winter
bills This will be the first winter that we will
be able to rest Congratulations. That is awesome
We are on the debt -free journey ourselves. We've
paid off about $17 ,000 in stupid credit card
debt. And we paid off the fan two years early.
Our house is on track to be paid off in two years.
That'd be about eight years sooner than it's
supposed to be paid off. And so we're on that
journey and I have gotten to the point now where
I don't want to buy anything unless I can pay
cash for it. And I don't want to buy anything
unless it is an absolute necessity that I buy
it for my business. I'm using trimmers and blowers
longer than I used to. I used to, about every
other year, I'd run out and buy a whole new fleet
of blowers and new trimmers. I thought, well,
that's crazy because they still work. They're
not as shiny. But that shine doesn't make me
money. It's that trimmer that's working. And
I know... That equipment, I know when it's been
serviced, I know all about it. So it just works
for us. So we tightened up the screws. And I
can tell you this, last year, my business had
almost a 30 % profit margin. That was a lot of
hard work. It was a lot of sacrifice. It was
a lot of dedication. But the 30 % of what come
in, stayed in the business and A lot of guys
are lucky if they get a 10 % profit margin It's
true. I mean I've been there last year I was
in that we were in the red last year with the
accidents that we had because I had two company
vehicle accidents that happened and Both those
vehicles were fully wrapped that was during the
whole process of the rebranding and then my husband
He started his tree service and he financed some
stuff And so we're like looking at like the end
of the year and it's like we made no money last
year. Like I don't I don't I don't even know
how we're living right now, but we're living.
The Lord blessed us to keep on going. But I think
you have to go through years like that. Josh
and I were talking about it. And when he started
his tree service last year, I could have easily
been one of those wives that would say no. Absolutely
not. It's not happening. You're not cut out for
business. I don't want to go through this. But
I looked at my husband. I was like, he needs
to go through this. He needs to go through this.
So I was like, yep, I'm right there with you.
We'll figure this out. Some great decisions weren't
made because money was spent very, very quickly.
Loans were taken out. And then when he realized...
He's a really good climber, right? He does it
really it makes really good bunny as a climber
But when it comes to having to go out the stress
You know the stress of having to go find jobs
to cover that stuff My husband is a nine on the
Enneagram. My husband does not like stress. My
husband likes everything to be Great. He just
wants everything to be chill his homeostasis
and me on the other hand like I'm a three I'm
like, give me all the stress. I got this. Let's
go But seeing him being so sick to his stomach
trying to figure out what he was going to do
I was like just go back to work It's okay. You
can do both You're gonna have to do both because
we have to figure this out But watching him struggle
and do both all through the year I finally looked
at him and I said you're just working to work
at this point. You're getting off at your day
job You're coming home. You're chasing estimates
And then you're just paying your business bills.
There's no money. There's no profit. And so he
sat on that for a couple weeks and we talked.
I said, why don't we just sell everything, Josh?
We'll get rid of all the debt. Like, I mean,
let's get rid of everything. And he sat on that
for a little bit and he was like, all right,
let's make it happen. So we got rid of all the
business stuff. We sold off his beautiful truck.
My husband had a beautiful truck. That's why
we're driving around in a vehicle together. I'm
dropping him off at work right now. But it's
like we leaned into each other and we just decided
on a goal that we wanted to become debt free.
It's not going to be glamorous. It's going to
take a lot of sacrifices, but we have each other
and we're just going to move forward and we're
going to build the life that we want to build
and eventually get to our lake house. Because
like what are we doing this for? What is this
life for? Why are we building our businesses?
And so we had to really sit down and figure out
like what do we want in the grand scheme of things?
My husband wants a boat. He wants a lake house.
He wants his hair flowing in the wind while he's
driving the boat. Okay, cool. That's great. But
it's like you need time. You need time to be
able to do that stuff and you need money to be
able to do that stuff. And we get so in the rat
race of We gotta have these vehicles, we have
to have the new things we have to purchase. For
me, I was like, I would go get Botox like every
three months because I didn't want my face to
move because I'm aging. It's like $500, $600,
the new clothes, the Gucci belt, the new this,
and it's why? If you just really slow down and
look at what's important to you, all of that
stuff is so unnecessary. And I dropped my husband
off at work this morning. And we had the dog
with us. And I thought to myself, I said, I feel
like I've arrived. I have a husband that loves
me. My dog's enjoying this dog ride. The sun's
beautiful. We got to have great conversation
to and from work. Before this, my husband and
I really weren't spending a lot of time together
because I was so busy working and he was so busy
working. Now we get dedicated time to and from
work. No phones because I'm driving. I can't
have my phone in my hand. to be able to talk
and connect and it's been one of the biggest
blessings and so I'm happy that he went through
that last year and we went through that together
because it brought us closer and it was a huge
eye -opening experience and I'm just so excited
to see what the future lies for the both of us.
Well I think sometimes in your industry and in
my industry we can get so busy trying to build
a business that we fail to build a life. And
it brings so much stress, pressure. It affects
our mental state of mind. It brings confusion.
And then when someone really don't know where
they stand, it becomes easy to snap at your spouse.
or snap at your kids, and that creates home life
stress and pressure. So now not only do you have
the business stress, you have the home life stress.
And if we don't learn how to handle it and funnel
that stress in the right direction, it will destroy
us mentally. It will destroy us, our mental state
of mind. And it's so important. I started leaving
my shop when I return after the last job for
the day. And I back the trailer into the shop,
disconnect, and I drive home. I'll sit in the
parking lot of the shop for about 10 or 15 minutes,
just reflecting over the day how things went.
What could I have done different? What could
I have done better? What can I do tomorrow to
make me better than I was today? And I try to,
when I pull out of the parking lot, I leave all
the stress there. I don't want to bring none
of that home. Because my wife and my kids, even
though they're adults now, they don't deserve
me to come home and just unload a bunch of stress
and pressure on them. So it's stressful. running
a business. It's stressful trying to be successful
and one thing I've learned and I can't be a good
business owner and be a lousy husband because
the business is going to affect the home life.
The home life is going to affect the business.
I got to be who I am in both places and learn
how to funnel that stress and that pressure.
and be able to recognize when it's coming on,
when I'm feeling that stress. Yeah, and what
I kind of realized is my husband goes to work
and he comes home, right? So he gets home at
what, like five? By that time, the days beat
me up. I've dealt with customers. My husband's
not seeing, he's not, he is not getting the best
version of Erica. he's not getting the version
that other people see online or meetings that
I have at a lunch date or a conversation I have
with somebody in the morning because in the morning
time before I was driving him to and from work
we were just doing our own thing and so he was
getting like only the little pieces of Erica
for so long and when I finally realized that
I was like I need to make some changes like I
need to make a ton of changes because it's not
it's not fair It truly isn't, but luckily I have
a patient husband. He's dedicated, he's committed.
And at LCR Summit, I was chatting with Charles
Nelson, because we went to Zombie Taco and we
had some tacos, and he was showing me some stuff
with the business when it comes to numbers and
tracking your numbers. And I just kind of asked
him some questions about his home life, and he's
got little kids. And he told me that when he
comes home, He takes his phone and his Apple
watch and he leaves it in the garage. So when
he comes into the house, he's hanging out with
his family. And I specifically remember I said,
well, what do you, what do you do? What do you,
no phone? Like, what do you do? He's like, spend
time with my family. I said, and do what? Puzzles.
He says he does puzzles. If I were to come home
and tell my husband and be like, baby, guess
what? We're about to do a puzzle. His heart would
combust with joy. He loves puzzles. And I would
never even thought to do that. But it's something
so simple of budgeting my time, prioritizing.
And that was another takeaway that I brought
away with LCR Summit, is budgeting my time, getting
focused, so then that way I can spend that quality
of time with my husband. Because at the end of
the day, looking around, it's like, What is it
I already I already have the good stuff at home
the good stuff is literally right in front of
my face Money would be cool, but it doesn't matter
how much money I have if I have a broken marriage,
right? That is so true and so good my wife and
I have been married for 36 years And it's not
always been easy, you know, there's been times
that I have failed as a husband. And I'm just
being real with our listeners. Because I think
before you can become better, you have to be
honest. And there's been times that I have failed.
I have made mistakes. I haven't been what I should
be. And there are times when I have strayed away
from my relationship with God. And I found that
in those times, that's when I took things out
on my wife more, because things just weren't
right with me. So when I had to revisit a prayer
chamber and recommit myself to God, to my relationship
with Him, then I found I could recommit my relationship
with my wife and work on things. You see, when
we were dating all those years ago, we talked
about getting married and we said there's one
word that we'll never use in our marriage and
that word's divorce. Too many people walk out
way too soon, way too early. And it's easy to
get out. But we determine we're never going to
use divorce. If we get in an argument, we're
not going to throw up. Won't you just get out?
Because what if I said that to her and she said,
OK? And she walked out. She's gone. So we have
built and worked on our relationship. And I feel
like we have a good marriage. We have great kids
that are productive citizens. Our son has cerebral
palsy. And my wife was only six months pregnant
when she had him. And they said he would never
live. But he weighed a pound and 13 ounces when
he was born. He had no fingers, no toes. We watched
those develop in the incubator. He was eight
weeks in the neonatal intensive care. And so
we've been through our hard times, we've been
through our struggles, but we're still here and
we're still together. And whatever I can do to
make life better for her, I want to do that.
And she's the same way. She would tell you the
exact same thing. Whatever I can do to make life
better for him, that's what I want to do. And
that's something you got to learn. Something
you got to determine that you're going to do
it. It's a servant's heart right there. Because
it's so easy to be like, well, what are you doing
for me? How is this going to benefit me? And
I remember... Quite a few times it was it was
it wasn't really anything to do with Josh It
was just I was unhappy with how the business
was going I was unhappy with something that was
going on with me and he specifically would be
like I'm not the enemy Erica Like I'm not against
you. You're not against me and it took me a while
to really mature that we're doing this together
Yes, he's not a perfect person. I'm not a perfect
person either but we're going through life together
and there's something that's so comforting that
it's like we're doing life together Well, I had
to determine I had to determine to learn how
to shut off business and Turn on family time
Have those date nights. I think someone even
mentioned that at the LCR summit, you know a
date night Nailer, he says a regular date night
and then second date night to Costco. If you
know, you know. You don't have to go out, you
know, something expensive every time. Just spend
some time together. Go to Walmart if you want
to and shop and hold hands. It's perfect day.
We went to the movies on Halloween and I snuck
in snacks because I'm gluten -free and dairy
-free and they don't have anything. So we went
to Meyer and I got potato chips, raspberries,
and some gluten -free, dairy -free chocolate
chips. And I snuck those into my bag. And we
watched a movie on Halloween and we held hands
like we were little teenagers. That's awesome.
It was great. That's such a good time. And it
wasn't anything crazy expensive either. I love
that. Well, you are an inspiration to me and
to... people that watch your content, listen
to your podcast. And I encourage everyone to
subscribe to her podcast, listen to her podcast,
watch her videos on Instagram or Facebook, and
follow her journey because she's going places
and she's doing it the right way. So I really
appreciate you coming on the show. And I know
we didn't get into a whole lot of business talk,
well, we did, but we didn't. But I think sometimes
this talk that we've had most recently about
family, about time, about going through the struggles,
I think sometimes that is ignored in our industry,
and it's kind of pushed to the back burner. And
yes, I want to be successful in business, but
more important, I want to be successful in my
family. I've got a brother who has went through
a divorce and he has met someone and they are
married and they have beautiful kids and things
are good for him now, but it wasn't always good
for him. He had to go through some hard things
to get to the point where he needed to be, to
where he focused on himself. and tried to change.
And I could talk about this kind of stuff all
night long. I love this kind of talk. Me too,
mainly because that's the hard work. That's the
inner work to look at and be like, okay, what
am I, what could I be doing better? Putting down
the alcohol, putting down the drugs, putting
down the wandering eye, getting rid of those
friends that are challenging your relationships
or your morals. All of it. I've had to do it
all. I had to completely shake up my entire world
to get where I am today. At first, I was like,
this is crazy. What do you mean I'm not gonna
drink alcohol when I go out on a Saturday night?
What do you do on a Saturday night if you don't
drink alcohol? Where do you go? It was a lot,
so it's like... Can I ask you how long have you
been sober now? March will be three years. Congratulations.
That is incredible. And fun fact, Josh is one
year sober from alcohol as well. When we came
home from LCR Summit last year, we had a great
time. He didn't drink because when he's with
me, he doesn't drink because it's like I'm not
going to drink. So why is he? And then I'm not
really I don't put myself around people that
are drinking. So I will like but I'm not going
to hang out. It's not really my vibe anymore.
We get back from LCR Summit last year. I go out
in the garage and he has a beer in his hand.
I said, what are you doing? He's like, I'm just
unwinding. I was like, from what? He's like,
I don't know, just from the week. And so I just
walked away and I just kind of like shook my
head and I was kind of just, I was a little disappointed.
I was a little disappointed but I'm like this
I can't I'm not gonna yell I'm not gonna go and
throw out the beer hide it like I can't be controlling
even though that's what I wanted to do I wanted
to burn the whole house down I don't know I was
like enraged but he said he felt convicted in
that moment and he finished out that beer that
was it he hasn't picked one up since and had
you went to the extreme it would have created
tension between the two of you and probably created
some more issue. So that's just awesome. I'm
just so happy that things are going well for
you. Things are going well for your husband,
your family. And I'm just grateful that you came
on the show and that we got to talk and kind
of open up our hearts and share who we are with
our listeners and just understand. If you're
listening to this show, I'm a real person, I
have real struggles, I have real problems. But
in order to find success, you got to determine
every time I get knocked down, I'm gonna get
back up and I'm gonna keep fighting. Erica's
a real person, she has real situations, real
problems, real struggles. But she gets through
it because she's determined. She has set a goal.
She knows where she wants to go. She knows what's
best for her. And she's going to get there. I
promise you that because I see it in her, the
determination to be successful. And I think sometimes
we determine success by money and that's not
necessarily the case. It's really not. Success
is, have I been loyal and faithful to my family?
Have I been loyal and faithful to my wife? Have
I been loyal and faithful to my children? Have
I been loyal and faithful to my clients? Because
they're a part of who I am. And I want to build
those relationships. to where I can find success
and enjoy life and have a happy retirement. But
I just want to continue to work on myself so
I can be better tomorrow than I am today. And
I thank you, Erica. I think this has been awesome.
Thanks for showing us that there's money in every
corner of the service industry. even the messy
ones. And where can people follow you, get in
touch with you, if they need your services? Well,
if you're looking for my pooper scooper services,
you can look me up on Facebook at cruppenspoopenscoopin
.com, or you can go to my website, which is www
.poopenscoopin .com. And if you want to follow
up with me on social media, I have the scoop
podcast and then I also have groupings poop and
scooping on YouTube. Well, I encourage you to
follow her journey and watch her succeed because
it's going to happen. I just really, really feel
that deep down in my heart right now that it's
going to happen. She is going to, she's going
to get there. I love watching her content, even
though she said she's not really a person of
confidence, but she's confident in front of people
at the right time. And I'm kind of the same way.
I don't want to be in front of people or the
show. Just let me set up the lights. Let me do
something behind the scenes. It's been great
talking with you. I appreciate you and I wish
you nothing but success and We'll have you on
for a third time Absolutely. Thank you so much.
This is wonderful. Well, I appreciate you listening
to the podcast and Until we talk again. Remember
the grass is greener where you water it