Lisa Lane never had big plans to be an inventor, or even an entrepreneur. That was until an “aha” moment hit her in the shower.
She was cleaning her shower the slow way, by filling a cup over and over to rinse it. It was messy and time-consuming, and she thought, there has got to be a better way. She had no clue where to start—she knew nothing about how to create a product or how to bring one to market, but she knew that her idea was one for the masses. Potentially anyone with a shower could find a use for this product, and that was a huge number.
She decided to work on her idea part-time in the evenings after getting home from her sales job in pharmaceuticals. After two years of research, her gut told her she’d rather try and fail than not bring the product to life. So, she quit her job, invested some of her hard-earned money, and the Rinseroo, an innovative tool that turns any shower into a hose, was born.
Today, nearly five years later, Lisa has turned her shower idea into a $5-million invention empire, with two other household products added to her line and hundreds of thousands of units sold.
Here, she shares the investments and lessons that have helped her successfully grow a product business, even without experience.
Years in business: 4 years, 7 months
Number of employees: 1 full-time, 3 contractors
Location: Central New Jersey, with remote teammates in NYC, Florida, and Pennsylvania
Initial capital invested: $45,000
Financial support for business: None
Revenue streams: Sales of the Rinseroo, LeakLocks, and the Dust Daisy online, including via Rinseroo.com, Amazon.com, Lowes.com, Chewy.com, and Walmart.com
Growth Journey
What’s been your proudest financial achievement as a business owner?
My proudest financial achievement was when I was busy enough to need an additional full-time employee and was able to hire my son to work by my side. He had just graduated college and it was during the pandemic when new grads were having a tough time getting jobs. It was all just perfect timing.
We make a great team. I used to be a pharmaceutical sales rep so I was decent at sales and marketing, and he was great with all the business stuff such as spreadsheets, shipping, and unloading trucks (something he loves doing—me, not so much!). I love seeing his face every day and knowing that, no matter what comes of the business, he has gained a wealth of experience that he can take with him wherever he goes.
What have you found is worth paying for to help you grow, and what have you been able to achieve more scrappily?
When selling online, if you have a successful product, others will try to copy your idea. Within months of launching our first product, fake and inferior versions popped up all over the place. They were even using images of me in their ads—it was infuriating. Thankfully, I had invested in getting a utility patent, trademarks, and copyrights to protect my brand. I also pay monthly to protect my brand using RedPoints. They scour the internet in search of imposters and have them
Did you miss our previous article…
https://onlinemarketingagencies.net/100-social-media-acronyms-every-marketer-needs-to-know/
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