Today we’d like to introduce you to Luis Mendoza.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve always been someone who believes in working hard and figuring things out as I go. My background has taken me through construction sales, project operations, shipping and receiving, and facilities, but I’ve always had the goal of building something of my own.
That eventually led me to start The Waste Wranglers, a local pet waste removal service. It wasn’t something I started with a huge investment or a perfect business plan. I started small, while continuing to work my full-time job, and focused on providing a simple service that genuinely makes life easier for busy families and pet owners.
What began with just a few customers has grown through word of mouth, local advertising, and a lot of trial and error. Every new customer has taught me something about business, customer service, marketing, and what it takes to earn people’s trust.
Along the way, I also became interested in helping other local businesses get their names in front of the community. That led me to create Spotlight Community Outreach, a shared direct-mail concept where local, non-competing businesses can advertise together and split the cost of reaching thousands of households.
I’m still building. I work full time, run my businesses on the side, and most importantly, I’m a husband and father. A big part of what drives me is showing my kids that you don’t have to have everything figured out before you start. You can begin with what you have, learn from your mistakes, keep improving, and build something one customer at a time.
I’m proud of how far I’ve come, but I feel like I’m still at the beginning of the story.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. One of my biggest challenges has been building a business while working a full-time job and raising a family. There are only so many hours in a day, so a lot of the work happens after work, on weekends, or whenever I can find the time.
Another challenge has been learning how to grow without having a huge amount of money to invest. I’ve had advertising that worked and advertising that didn’t. I’ve spent money expecting results and gotten very little back. I’ve had potential customers disappear, ideas that didn’t work the way I expected, and plenty of moments where I questioned whether I was heading in the right direction.
I’ve also had to get comfortable doing things that initially made me uncomfortable—putting myself on camera, advertising myself publicly, reaching out to strangers, hearing “no,” and continuing anyway.
Probably the biggest lesson has been realizing that building something doesn’t happen all at once. Sometimes progress is one new customer, one successful campaign, or simply learning what not to do next time. I’m still figuring things out, but I’ve learned to keep adjusting instead of giving up when something doesn’t work.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I currently operate two local businesses, The Waste Wranglers and Spotlight Community Outreach, and although they’re very different services, they were both built around the same idea: solving simple problems for people in my community.
The Waste Wranglers is a pet waste removal service serving families and dog owners throughout Santa Cruz County. We provide recurring and one-time yard cleanups for people who simply don’t have the time—or don’t want to spend their free time—cleaning up after their dogs. It’s a simple service, but I’ve learned that simple services can make a meaningful difference in someone’s week.
What I’m most proud of is the personal level of service. I’m not trying to make customers feel like another address on a route. Reliability, communication, cleanliness and trust matter, especially when someone is allowing you onto their property every week. I want customers to know who is taking care of their yard and feel comfortable having us there.
Spotlight Community Outreach came from a problem I experienced firsthand while trying to advertise The Waste Wranglers: marketing a small business can get expensive very quickly. Direct mail can put a business in front of thousands of local homeowners, but paying for an entire campaign by yourself can be difficult for a small business.
Spotlight takes that cost and shares it among several non-competing local businesses on one professionally designed postcard. Instead of one business carrying the entire expense, everyone shares the cost while still getting their business into thousands of homes. I also keep categories exclusive on each postcard, so we’re not putting competing businesses next to each other.
What I’m most proud of with both brands is that they were built from real problems I experienced myself. Waste Wranglers gives people some of their time back, and Spotlight gives local businesses another way to get noticed without having to carry the full cost of a direct-mail campaign.
Both businesses are still growing, and so am I. I want people to know that these aren’t businesses that were created in a boardroom with a huge budget behind them. They’re being built locally, one customer and one relationship at a time.
Any big plans?
My plans for the future are really about turning what I’m building on the side today into something much bigger tomorrow.
With The Waste Wranglers, I want to continue growing the customer base throughout Santa Cruz County to the point where I can build routes, bring someone onto the team, and eventually have the business operate beyond just me doing the work. I started with only a handful of customers, so watching it slowly become a real recurring business has made me want to see how far I can take it.
With Spotlight Community Outreach, my vision is bigger geographically. I want to continue connecting local businesses and helping them reach homeowners through affordable shared direct mail, then eventually expand the concept into additional communities and markets.
Long term, one of my biggest goals is to reach the point where the businesses I’ve built can become my full-time career. I have a good career today, so I’m not trying to force that transition before I’m ready. I want to build it responsibly and create something stable enough to support my family and eventually provide opportunities for other people as well.
More than anything, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens if I simply keep going. Neither business started with a huge investment, outside funding, or some perfect roadmap. They started with an idea and a willingness to try.
A few years from now, I’d like to be able to look back at this stage—the full-time job, the late nights, the small customer base, the mistakes and everything I was trying to figure out—and realize this was the beginning.
Pricing:
- Waste Wranglers – Weekly Service: Starting at $25 per visit
- Waste Wranglers – Bi-Weekly Service: Starting at $37 per visit
- Waste Wranglers – First Visit FREE for recurring customers
- Spotlight Community Outreach – Shared Direct Mail: Starting at $225
- Spotlight – Reach 5,000+ Local Households
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wwranglers.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waste_wranglers?stkn=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572379054174&mibextid=wwXIfr&mibextid=wwXIfr
