Potterville 9-year-old founds poop-scooping business

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - He’s not your typical CEO, but then again, how many nine years old’s are entrepreneurs?

Brayden Jorae, 9, of Potterville, has always been a self-starter. So when he wanted to start his own business his parents weren’t surprised.

It all started when Jorae wanted to start earning his own money. At the same time, he noticed that the elderly people in his life were struggling to pick up dog waste in their yards. Jorae, who helps with his family’s dogs, knew just what to do.

The nine-year-old founded Scoop-A-Poo, a dog waste management service, with a clear mission and slogan. “If your dog is poopin, Brayden is Scoopin’.”

“I wanted to start my business because you know how old people don’t get out much because they’re elderly,” said Jorae. “So I wanted to help some people and help them with stuff because I know that they love their furry friends.”

Jorae is very official, with his own business cards, flyers, and equipment. His pricing is also very straightforward.

“A small yard is $5, for a medium yard it’s $10, and for a big yard it’s $20.”

There are some challenges when running a business at nine years old. For starters, Jorae can’t drive himself to his scheduled appointments. He’s also not old enough to run his company’s Facebook page for business inquiries. However, Jorae and his mom, Laura Jorae, have their little system. Laura takes business inquiries, and schedules, and drives Brayden to his appointments.... and Brayden scoops the poo.

The job has taught Jorae how to earn and save money at a younger age than most. He’s already saving up for big purchases, like a car for when he’s 16.

But his main goal is helping people, even if the job is hard sometimes.

“I think my tips are just to stay focused on the job and don’t like mess around with stuff because sometimes when you’re doing it, you might get a little antsy and stuff like that,” said Jorae. “I like the help people because I just like to see them smile that I’ve done the job and stuff that they need help with.”

The Scoop-A-Poo business is run through a private Facebook group potential clients must join to schedule appointments.

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