CHARLOTTE — Sam Bliss, all of 11, is already a successful entrepreneur.
The home-schooler's side business is, well, how do we put it?
Here's the straight poop: One of the hazards of his side gig, aside from fitting it in around homework and other obligations, is that it stinks.
Sam's in his third year of running a successful business, as The Super Pooper Scooper, based out of his parents' home in Charlotte.
The winters are when a dog's backyard business tends to pile up, and spring and summer are when Sam goes to work resolving his customers' dog doo-doo.
Sam's first professional pickup was around this time in spring 2021.
He laughs now, but it was messy.
“The first job was, well, you could not step into the yard without getting a squishy surprise under your shoe,” Sam said.
His mom Cheryl Bliss piped in.
“That's the truth,” she said. “The yard was just, it was real bad.”
‘It is really, really gross when wet'
Sam's busy schedule is finally opening up, just in time for the packed backyards of late winter. His work season typically spans the warm months and wraps before snow arrives.
His technique? He uses rakes, a big one to start, and covers the yards in a grid pattern, so everything gets picked up.