Scoop Soldiers co-founder E.J. McCoy talks tech, disruption – and changing lives one yard at a time.
E.J. McCoy never planned to work his life away on the path to becoming a successful business owner.
“When I was 16 years old, I did not plan on working 100 hours a week – and I don't work 100 hours a week to this day. But I didn't plan on working 100 hours a week when I was a ‘millionaire.’ I wanted to have fun – and that's also part of entrepreneurship,” McCoy says.
Today, with multiple thriving businesses, a franchise brand, and a growing podcast under his belt along with a new book in the works, McCoy – dubbed the “Pet Waste Millionaire” — has taken that emphasis on work-life balance to the bank. In addition to helping co-found Chorbie, a growing home services company, in 2019, and Scoop Soldiers, a pet waste removal company, in 2010, McCoy also co-founded White Picket Team, a business consulting and accounting organization that manages a portfolio of clients McCoy says is worth over $25 million.
That level of success didn’t come from being born with a silver spoon in hand, though, nor did it come from attending an elite university. Instead, McCoy credits his entrepreneurial victories to something more grounded: adopting a millionaire mindset that’s laser-focused on growth and taking the right risks at the right time.
“I was a ‘C’ student. I'm dyslexic. I'm not a natural or gifted charismatic speaker. … I'm ambitious, that's about it. And I take calculated risks,” McCoy says.
Scooping up strategies (and tools) for success
For McCoy, a key part of growing Scoop Soldiers as a franchise involved identifying the right people, strategies and tools to scale the brand nationally after achieving success in Texas.
“We just found a niche in poop-scooping and realized, man, if we just answer the phone, and if we are aggressive in marketing, that was really the key,” McCoy says.
Since franchising the business in 2019, Scoop Soldiers has grown to include locations in 16 states across the U.S. Still, McCoy says there’s room for more growth, noting the brand’s relative absence in the Northeast and Midwest. To achieve that future growth, McCoy is focused on developing new strategies to support scaling – including replacing the technology the company currently uses to interact with both franchisees and customers.
“In order to go out and get double the franchisees that we currently have, double the territories that we currently have, in the next two or three to five years – in order to do that, we have to solve our technology problem,” McCoy says.
For franchisors like McCoy, who doesn’t consider himself tech-savvy, those changes pose challenges – but they also present opportunities for growth and scalability that could take the brand to new heights over time.
“We can solve the client’s problem, get the phone answered, get automations built that can convert clients for a fairly simple service – and that's where technology comes in, and where we still are constantly working,” McCoy says.
A million-dollar mindset – and a recipe for success
In addition to having the right technology in place to succeed in franchising, McCoy says having the right people in place is also critical – along with a mindset that’s flexible and willing to ask for help when it’s needed. Despite that, McCoy says he sees new franchisors fail to ask for help too often – a mistake that can hinder a brand’s ability to thrive.
“All franchisors are leadership and development organizations. I strongly believe that. I love that, along with home services, I feel like I'm made to be a franchisor in this industry in so many ways – but a lot of people are not,” McCoy says.
Instead of trying to handle everything themselves, McCoy advises new franchisors to seek the help of outside experts, including management firms like White Picket Team Management, as well as other industry professionals whose expertise and experience can help take a franchise brand to the next level.
While McCoy’s million-dollar success as the co-founder of a pet waste removal company might seem like an anomaly, it’s more of a recipe for success – one that has helped transform the lives of other entrepreneurs working under the Scoop Soldiers brand.
@entrepreneurskickass From scooping poop to multi-millionaire success @Scoop Soldiers are providing amazing opportunities for franchisees. #franchise #businesstiktok #franchisedevelopment #entrepreneur #franchisor #franchisee ♬ original sound - Entrepreneurs Kick Ass®
“We have multiple multi-million-dollar poop (removal) businesses within our system,” McCoy says, adding that he’s planning to include interviews with those profitable franchisees on his podcast and YouTube channel, Pet Waste Millionaire.
As part of a documentary series about the same subject, McCoy and his team are also embarking on a two-plus year Turning Poop Into Gold Takeover Tour – a national “boots-on-the-ground” bus tour and marketing initiative to raise awareness about the pet waste removal industry and recruit prospective franchise buyers interested in joining Scoop Soldiers as franchise business owners.
Turning Poop Into Gold Takeover Tour
“This is all gonna get documented, and the purpose of this is to build awareness for future (franchisees), to talk about this, to help our franchisees – but it's also a piece of franchise development,” McCoy says, adding that the tour and docuseries are part of the brand’s plan to build out its franchise presence in multiple key territories around the country in a way that’s fun, accessible and impactful.
Learn more about the Pet Waste Millionaire Takeover Tour
One pet’s waste is another man’s treasure
At Scoop Soldiers, disrupting the pet waste industry while transforming the lives of franchisees is the name of the game – especially when it comes to helping them achieve their goals as business owners.
“This has a huge impact on (franchisees) and getting them into business for themselves – which I think is a good reason why I believe so much in franchising, because you're building entrepreneurs. You're training and developing and raising up leaders,” McCoy says.
Over the next decade, as the brands’ technology and systems evolve, McCoy says he plans to increase the number of franchisees under Scoop Soldiers and Chorbie, which was also recently franchised, to somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000.
Although he says the company isn’t ready for that kind of growth yet, McCoy is keeping his eyes on that goal today through unique marketing efforts like the brand’s bus tour and improving the company’s technology while maintaining the “millionaire mindset” that took Scoop Soldiers and Chorbie from Texas startups to thriving, million-dollar national brands.
“The American dream is still alive. We can make money. We can turn poop into gold,” McCoy says.
Learn more about the TPIG Tour and Pet Waste Millionaire: @petwastemillionaire | Scoop Soldiers: @scoopsoldiers | Chorbie: @ChorbieHome
