As Troy Benson watches the snow falling outside his window in the charming ski town of Brian Head, Utah, he sees potential. The former Las Vegas police officer has a different life now than when he moved to the mountains, and with it has come a new venture–Slope Side Services.

Clearing a Path to Enjoyment

At an elevation of 9,800 feet, Brian Head is the highest town in Utah. Nestled in the hills near Brian Head Mountain near the Dixie National Forest, the town is a haven for skiers and snow lovers alike. And with a mean annual snowfall of 29 feet, there’s plenty of snow to love–and deal with. Troy has emerged as one of the most adept snow removal specialists in the Brian Head area, separating himself from the competition.

Slope Side Services​​ offers residential-only snow removal services. After retiring from the police force and moving to Utah, Troy’s neighbors noticed his skill at snow removal on his property and started asking for help. They were unhappy with the way their snow removal was handled, and he was happy to oblige.

“My neighbors came over to talk to me and said their snow removal company was doing a terrible job for them,” Troy says. “I like running heavy equipment. I like seeing people happy when they come up here to recreate, and they have a safe place to do it. I like that.”

Troy’s snow removal approach differs from that of the larger companies in the area because it is more personalized to each property. Instead of using the largest piece of equipment possible and moving snow as fast as possible, he uses smaller equipment to move snow precisely.

“Bigger companies don’t clean the yard up. They don’t make the yard 100% usable,” Troy says. “Some of the biggest complaints we’ve had is that other companies push the snow into a pile and leave it.”

Troy explains that in areas with heavy snowfall, large piles pushing against trees can damage them, resulting in dead trees in three to four years. Larger equipment can also damage gravel driveways, and it often doesn’t get close enough to walkways or stairs to be useful out of fear of damaging property.

Instead of taking the fast route, Troy and his team focus on surgically removing snow drifts using snow blowers and smaller equipment. Since Brian Head requires residents to keep snow on their property, this allows them to blow snow back onto the residents' property without piling it into mountains that melt more slowly and become roadblocks over time.

The difference is clear, and Troy says he expects to gain a large percentage of market share despite the good old boys’ club of established snow removal companies. And when the weather clears? Troy can handle earth moving and dirt work as well.

An Easy Path to Formation

Of course, playing in the snow is only one part of running a business. Troy owns a real estate firm in Nevada and has experience filing for an LLC in the state. Once he decided to turn his hobby into a business, he researched the most beneficial way to form his new venture.

“Nevada is a pretty good state to file in since it’s tax-free with no income tax, but they seem to have caught on to that and have pumped the fees up,” Troy says. He says that Nevada and Utah also made filing more complex than needed through endless questions and paperwork.

He decided to explore other options. After some research and a well-timed TikTok from a lawyer discussing where to file, he found that filing in Wyoming offered the ease and speed he was looking for.

“Utah and Nevada make it so hard to file–they ask you questions you don’t know the answer to, and spend hours on the computer trying to figure it out,” Troy says. “When I discovered how easy it was to file in Wyoming, I thought it must be a gimmick. But it was really that easy.”

Troy found LLC Attorney through his first online search and decided to give it a try. Thirty minutes later, he had formed his LLC and wondered why he hadn’t filed in Wyoming with LLC Attorney in the first place.

Having written his own articles of incorporation in the past, Troy was pleasantly surprised by the process. Even when he encountered problems customizing some aspects of his business, he found help was just a phone call away.

“I called them, and customer service was just Johnny on the spot. It was just so easy to do,” Troy says. “As far as functionality goes, 30 minutes and you’ve filed your LLC, you can get your bank account, all that stuff. It’s just crazy easy.”

Now, Troy is busy–after all, the winter season happily coats the mountains in white. And for the lucky residents of Brian Head, Slope Side Services is there to make living the alpine experience the dream that it can be–cozy and quiet, one snowstorm at a time.