Notes from Chris

Episode 1758

Lisa Lane is cleaning obsessed. After a summer trip to the Jersey shore with extended family tested her patience, she came up with a new idea and turned it into a bestselling Amazon product.

It started with those fifteen people and four dogs on the Jersey shore. All of the grimy showers, visitors with sandy feet, and dirty dogs threatened to ruin their vacation. Lisa filled a bucket over and over to bathe the dogs and clean the showers. Then she made a rule that everyone had to use the outdoor shower—but again, we’re talking about fifteen people. There was always a line, and the hot water quickly ran out.

That frustration sparked an “aha!” moment and inspired Rinseroo, a long hose with a flexible attachment that slips onto a shower or faucet, making it easier to rinse people, pets, and objects without constantly refilling a bucket. You can also use it to fill up a watercooler or aquarium and hose down shower walls.

Since the product was relatively simple, she was able to make her own working prototype and then found a manufacturer who could build it at scale. She invested a couple of thousand dollars on molds and also a few hundred dollars to trademark her brand. Once she determined that the product actually worked, she placed an order and had it built. This wasn’t a thirty-day startup: from idea to launch took about two years.

Lisa’s first sale was to the owner of a large fitness chain. That solidified her belief in the product. She felt giddy for a whole week knowing that someone actually thought that it could be useful.

The Grommet, a website and marketplace that curates useful products, featured Rinseroo on their platform and blasted an email to all of their followers. That exposure and a Buzzfeed article helped Rinseroo rank well on Amazon.

Lisa says the beauty of selling on Amazon is that they already have the customers (hundreds of millions), so if you do your homework and come up with something unique, you can tap into that. She started with a product that solved a problem, make a detailed listing and then, once she got some sales, invested in Amazon ads. In addition to Amazon, the product is sold on Chewy.com, Walmart.com, and the Rinseroo website. In its first year, Rinseroo did about a million dollars in sales. This year, they will exceed $2 million.

As the business has grown, Lisa hired her son to help. Her five-year plan is to scale the brand with him so he can make a career out of it. They’re doing that by adding line extensions in the cleaning and bath space. She jokes that eventually maybe he can do all the work and pay her to go away.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Lisa and her product invention at her website, Rinseroo.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Inventor Unclogs Profits With Innovative Drain Solution: A modern-day Edison creates a million-dollar product after constantly cleaning up loose hair in his household drains.
• Three Friends Step Up And Pull In Restroom Revenue: When three co-workers notice their colleagues using paper towels to open restroom doors, they invent a simple solution that’s a step above the rest.
• “SwitchPod” Camera Tool Raises $415,748 on Kickstarter: When two friends spot an opportunity to create a practical camera accessory, the crowdfunding campaign exceeds their wildest expectations.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work! Yours in the revolution,

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