Running a pet waste removal business is far from a glamorous profession, but as Shannon and Conrad Useman know — the married co-owners of the Whidbey-based Poop Team 6 — there is no job too big to scoop up.

Open since December 2018, the Usemans are fast approaching their seven-year anniversary in an occupation they previously never knew existed.

The light-bulb moment struck when Conrad fell victim — and not for the first time — to forgotten feces, accidentally dropping his tools into a pile of poop while installing gutters on the island. Shannon, then a stay-at-home mom earning her associate’s degree, took to Google and discovered the nearest pet waste company was an hour-and-a-half away, located on the mainland.

Over the span of a couple weeks, the Usemans obtained a business license, set up shop and began marketing their services on social media. Within Poop Team 6’s first two weeks of operation, the Usemans had enough demand to come up with a “mini schedule.”

Today, the Usemans scoop poop for over 100 regular customers each week, largely older pet owners with limited mobility. Poop Team 6 serves clients on Whidbey Island and in La Conner and Anacortes.

Some of Poop Team 6’s current customers have used the service since the business’ beginning, a testament to the Usemans’ lasting impact on the community.

Once, during their first year in business, a Freeland resident told the Usemans she fought with her husband often about picking up after their pooch and claimed Poop Team 6 saved her marriage.

“Nobody wants to deal with it,” Shannon said. “So we literally saved that marriage. That’s just a lot of weight lifted off their shoulders just by us doing their job — and that’s crazy.”

A self-described early bird, Shannon said she and her husband get to scooping around 8 a.m. and, on a good day, wrap up anywhere from 5-7 p.m.

“We always hoped to have a significant amount of customers by year five, and I think we’re pretty good with that,” Shannon said. “But we want to keep building and hopefully one day have another team like us, with us, out there scooping.”

Demand is consistent season-to-season, but the Usemans noticed people tend to think about their yards more in the fall and spring — leaves cannot be raked and lawns cannot be maintained with dog poop lying around.

“We eat, sleep, breathe this, because I think if we didn’t, we would have already fallen short,” Shannon said.

For as driven as the Usemans are, they should not be mistaken for stodgy people — it is hard to take poop too seriously, after all. The back of the Poop Team 6 work truck, which transports trash bins and bags, tools and a sanitizing chemical spray for their equipment, reads “we sell fresh fudge on the side.”

“We’re husband and wife, we’ve been married for 20 years next July,” Shannon said. “If we don’t have fun when we’re doing this together, what are we doing? Life is so short.”

Not everyone has a good sense of humor, though. Shannon recalled being made to feel small for her line of work by an employee at a property management company when she stopped in to collect a bill, and the time a client brought Poop Team 6 in to scoop poop they suspected may not have been an animal’s.

Rude interactions are rare. More often than not, Poop Team 6 is making appreciative clients’ lives much easier — and in some cases, even saving them.

About two years ago, rain forced Poop Team 6 to reschedule a job for an older Oak Harbor woman, Dolores, multiple times. When the Usemans finally got a chance to work, one of their daughters heard the woman calling Shannon’s name from inside the house.

Turns out, Dolores had collapsed the night before and was rendered immobile. The Usemans called emergency services, who broke the locked front door down and rescued the woman.

“It’s one of those things that makes me feel like I have a million dollars, even though I don’t have a million dollars,” Shannon said. “You were put in the right place at the right time because someone needed you.”

Despite making a living in disposal, the Usemans find the effects of their work sticks with them.

“We just feel good about being able to help people in a unique way,” Shannon said.

(Photo by Allyson Ballard) Shannon and Conrad Useman, as Poop Team 6, are in high demand scooping poop on Whidbey Island.

(Photo by Allyson Ballard) Having a good sense of humor is essential to running a pet waste business, Shannon Useman said.

(Photo by Allyson Ballard) The Usemans, married nearly 20 years, run Poop Team 6 together.