Dirty Jobs 

Expect to get your hands dirty: landscaping, septic pumping … and politics?

Columbia is home to many forms of “dirty jobs,” from septic tank pumping, landscaping, welding, construction. You name it and Columbia probably has it. Recently, pet waste removal has joined the “dirty” list. Often, those jobs can be hard work, filthy, boring, and in all various weather conditions. But without the individuals who tackle those dirty jobs, things would quickly get messy for Columbia.  

It’s probably not surprising to learn that many never dream of having a “dirty job.” However, those careers can be fulfilling, but they don’t make headlines. They are away from the public eye.  

They are the jobs that keep the lights on, the cows fed, and the toilets clean.     

From 2003 to 2012, Mike Rowe was the host of the Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs.” The reality show aired for ten seasons and highlighted many trades during that time. From his blog, Rowe explained that one of his goals was “to introduce the country to a collection of people who worked in dirty and difficult environments but loved what they did.”   

Danny Carroll is the owner of Danny’s Landscaping. He grew up playing in the dirt and has always had a knack for being outside. In first grade, his teacher asked what he had done over summer break. He answered, “I moved 100 pounds of peat moss.”     

“I remember as a child when the landscapers would come around my family house, to trim the bushes or something, I would always go out and work with them,” Caroll said. “I loved the physical nature of the landscape shears, and I would try to trim our bushes and get them lopsided.”   

During high school, Carroll continued to do landscaping.   

“Well, my world sort of expanded as a teenager,” Carroll said. “I mowed lawn, and trimmed bushes … cleaned out landscapes for side money to buy drum stuff because I was also a drummer.”     

In 1998, Carroll left Chicago to attend the University of Missouri to study percussion performance.  However, he soon changed his major to horticulture plant science, with an emphasis in landscape design.  To establish residency, Carroll worked for MU doing landscaping. He said he was able to get hands-on experience with commercial machines and learn commercial maintenance, fertilizer regimens, and planting trees and other plants.  

“It just kept reinforcing this love for the outdoors and machines and physicality, and being dirty,” Carroll said. “Just a hairier version of the little boy back then, in the sandbox. You know, ‘Ogling over the digger.”    

After college, Carroll decided to follow his dream to become a drummer.   

“I thought at one time I was gonna be a world-class drummer,” he said. “I thought I was gonna be famous for playing drums and for a large part of my early 20s, I toured, and traveled the country, playing and was featured in magazines and I was in a drum magazine. Which is huge for me.”   

However, Carroll soon realized that his lifestyle was unsustainable.    

“It turned out that trying to make a living doing your passion is very difficult,” Carroll explained.  “I was touring with the band and poor and sitting on that filthy kitchen floor with my dog and not enough food to feed him, and that’s really what was the birthplace of D’s Landscaping.”   

With a small business loan of $10,000, he decided to start Danny’s Landscaping. Since opening twenty years ago, Carroll now has four trucks and trailers, seven Bobcats, and six employees, some of whom have been at his company for eighteen years.     

“The landscape industry is probably one of the easiest to get into, but the hardest to maintain,” Carroll said. “This world is hard, man. It is heavy, dirty, and intense. Our season is ten months long …  we’re like king crab fishermen. We got to get it while the gettin’s good. And we’ve got to make all of the money for the year during that time.”   

Representative Martin   

While being a church planter in 2008, Rep. John Martin (R-Columbia), needed a second job to care for his family.  From an ad in the paper, he found a company looking for help and joined the team at Pro Pumping & Hydrojetting, and was soon promoted to manager. In 2017, he decided to buy the company that was started by the Morgan family in 1978.     

“I’m blessed to be a business owner. I would say God’s blessed me, my family; we try to make our business a family type business,” Martin said. “[We] look after each other and we know days can be long, and so we try to take good care of our employees and run a good business.”    

With his background in ministry and business, Martin decided to run for office. In November 2024, he won election as the House District 44 representative for Boone County. As a state legislator, Martin works on creating laws, passing the state budget, and representing the people of Boone County.   

However, politics can be a dirty job as well.   

“On a broad scale, there can be a mess to clean up from time to time. If we’ve made a mess of excessive taxes, [we should] trim government and get [it] back in peoples’ hands,” he explained. “Some parts are known to be [dirty]. And It’s a dirty job to have political parties back and forth. Just like pumping a septic tank.”   

Does College Matter?   

In an age where everything is digital, some might argue that a college degree is vital. However, that’s not always the case.  

“It depends,” Carroll said. “I think there are a lot of great things to be learned in college that are separate from the scholastics level. I think it’s a great and safer way for a guy to grow up and cut his teeth. Now, it depends on what they want to go into, really. If they want to be a landscape architect, they’ve got to go to drafting school and they’ve got to go to architecture school.”  

Carrol is a landscape architect, which means a college degree mattered for him and for others who want to “put your name on something.”  

“You have to be certified that way,” he added. “But there are other aspects that you don’t need a college degree.”  

Martin added: “I would say [a college degree matters] because it just gives you that educational background … it shows that you have a desire to learn.” He also suggested that a degree from a technical college may be valuable. Martin said business and marketing courses were important for his career.  

Advice to younger generations   

As many individuals are choosing their career paths, there can be valuable information to learn from those in business. Although it may seem like a college degree is the most important path, some would argue that trades schools can provide a great career. Martin added a few suggestions:  

• Establish a pattern of being a hard worker.  

• For high school students, use the options afforded by vocational/technical classes.  

• And get a summer job working in a chosen field. Having that base can help channel students into a career.   

Carroll also has advice for those looking to get into his line of work or starting a business of their own.  

“My best advice is to show up when you say you’re going to, do the best work that you can, clean up after yourself, and do the right thing,” he said. “If you do those things, the rest will fall into place.”