The Shower Professor Offers A Simple Solution To Help Shorten Your Shower Time
If you want to conserve water when you shower, then it only makes sense to cut back on how much time you spend in it. So a simple alarm would do, right? Not quite. If you want something to join you in the shower, you’ll need it to be either protected or waterproof.
Randy Sonderhouse never realized how long he was taking in the shower each morning, until his wife said something. He decided to do something about that problem and went in search of a product that would help him time the length of his shower. Unfortunately his search left him empty handed, so he did something about it. What started as a simple idea eventually turned into the Shower Professor, a simple-to-use, waterproof, $9.99 solution to shorter showers and saving water.
What was the inspiration behind the Shower Professor?
Because both my wife and I get up early to start our jobs, we both take showers early. I was always going first and my wife would follow. She had made several comments that I was taking 15-20 minute showers. I had no idea that I was in there that long. Then I learned, that each minute that you are in the shower, you use 2.5 gallons of water. Southern California gets very little rain and I had read several articles about the need to save water. I thought if people really were aware of how long that they were in the shower, they would be able to shorten their showers. Together with the energy you save by not heating shower water it made very good sense. I researched the marketplace and found several options but most were simply to expensive and all were programmable. I wanted to make a simple solution that I could sell for less than $10.
How long did it take for you to build your waterproof alarm from idea to finalized product?
6 months and about 250 e-mails
Did you encounter any problems when you while developing your product or during the launch of your business?
How did you work around them? Because I chose to have the product manufactured in China, the language barrier was difficult at first. But the solution was simple. I just wrote in the most basic of terms. In addition, I am not an Engineer. When I first inquired, I was sent many engineering terms that required me to learn about circuits, displays, and manufacturing methods.
What would you like to see happen for your product over the next year?
My goal is to sell enough timers that we save 1 Million Gallons of water per day. I call it the “Million Gallon Challenge”. In order to accomplish this goal, I would like to see the device picked up by a major retailer. As of now, we have sold over 160 timers and the response has been great. Word of mouth is beginning to pick up.
Is this it or do you think you’ll consider launching another product at some point within the future?
I have had several ideas in the past that I simple did not follow-thru on. If this device catches on, I would definitely think about launching another product. The one drawback is the start-up costs. I have well over $10,000 invested in this device.
Most manufacturers require a minimum order to develop and manufacture your first production run.
Did you have any previous experience that you were able to draw on while building your business?
I have been in the retail business for over 20 years. I did draw on from that experience a lot.
What has your business taught you?
It has taught me to be a better communicator, to be more patient, to closely watch expenses, and understand Marketing
Have you always wanted to be an entrepreneur?
Yes, I have dreaming up ideas for products and processes for a long time. This was the first product that I acted on.
What would you advise other potential inventors to do before they take their idea and market it?
First, you must be sure that there is a market for your item. Then you must do the necessary research to make sure that the costs to manufacture will allow you to price the product at a level that the customer will be willing to pay. Lastly, have a Marketing Plan. Marketing costs can quickly eliminate any profits you make.
Tim the Dad on January 7th, 2009 1:53 pm
Saving time and water is a great idea, and the sub-$10 price is great, too. But consumers shouldn’t overlook existing devices in the house, either. My cell phone has a countdown timer that I set to 10 minutes for each shower. I don’t know if it’s waterproof or not, but I’ve been keeping it on the bathroom counter during showers for 2+ years without a problem.
cassy on January 8th, 2009 7:24 am
for me with or without it i dont care , coz for me saving is more important not only water and time but also money,to lesser our expenses at home, so that we can used the budget to other important things that is needed at our home or business! but its really a cool invention, thats awesome!
Jaclyn on January 18th, 2009 12:05 pm
I still have to say that this invention is just plain silly. out of all the area’s in life and the household that money and energy can be saved, we have to concentrate on the shower? the shower is a place to get clean, revive yourself, relax in a hot bath, make your muscles feel better and is reccommended by just about every doctor out there for sore muscles! besides, with all the merchandise that goes along with showers and bath’s to make them better such as bubble bath, bath salts, bath cleaner for rust spots, epsom salts for the bath for when your sore…well…if we cut out the time that we spend in the shower and cut out bath’s…were also in turn going to be cutting out how much in revenue for other people and business’? that could be a lot of money lost just because one person feel’s that a shower shouldn’t take you longer then 10 minute’s.
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