My story: Great ideas often come to people while they’re in the shower. I get mine in the bathtub. I was working toward my MBA at Stanford and trying to soothe the stress of studying with my nightly bubble bath. But the same old soaks I’d been taking since I was a kid just weren’t cutting it anymore. Someone should upgrade the bubble bath, I thought. And my idea for ME! Bath was born. Lush scents, nourishing minerals, fewer bubbles and more spa-like sophistication—that’s what an adult bath should be.

On a weekend trip to Vancouver, BC, my husband, Benjamin, and I discovered a shop that sold fist-sized bath fizzes. The idea was fabulous, but the products were not. We saw opportunity bubbling: a chance to improve on the product and create our own business. So we returned home to Los Angeles and transformed our apartment bathroom into a science lab. Benjamin developed a unique formula that resulted in our signature product, Bath Ice Cream. Each piece looks like a scoop of ice cream and fizzes and melts immediately when submerged in water, releasing aromatic oils that moisturize and nourish the skin. We created scents to recall favorite childhood memories: Birthday Cake, Lavender Lullaby, Magnolia, Cucumber Melon. I came up with the name ME! Bath because I always consider my baths “me time.”

We started selling our product at a local farmers’ market in Palo Alto, CA, in 2002. Then I worked up the courage to walk into the Ritz-Carlton at Half Moon Bay with some samples. They purchased 200 ME! Bath Ice Cream fizzes for the spa right there on the spot. Once on the hotel’s shelves, our product sold out in 48 hours—and soon, ME! Bath was featured at Ritz-Carlton spas and gift shops nationwide. We were on our way!

At first, we produced everything ourselves to make sure we got the formula right (each bath fizz is handmade and takes three days to produce). But once orders came rushing in, our process was no longer feasible. So we shifted to marketing and hired a staff to make our fizzes. With our focus where it needed to be, we’ve successfully placed our line in select apothecaries and high-end hotels and spas. We also do a brisk business (at least $200,000 a year) in our online store. We’re now the number-one-selling bath fizz and one of the fastest-growing bath and beauty companies in the United States. In 2007, the business we started five years earlier with $200 brought in $6 million.

As our company has grown, so has our family. Our three children are still too young to understand everything, but they’re great at reminding me why our products are so important. I can’t count how many times I’ve soaked away the stresses of the day by melting into a warm tub infused with Havana Banana or White Chocolate Heaven. Even the sound of six little feet stomping outside the bathroom can’t disturb that.

Top Lessons
1. Don’t overcommit. We probably shouldn’t have taken our first big order before we found our own warehouse. Have the resources in place to fulfill your business.

2. Be brave. Go after an order no matter how big the client is. Had I not approached the head of the spa at the Ritz-Carlton, I never would have made that first sale, which launched our entire business.

3. Fire weak staff. We’ve fallen victim to being too nice and now know it’s better to act swiftly and professionally.

Lisa Nissanoff, 35, mother to Chloe, 6, and twins Rena and Jonas, 4; cofounder with husband Benjamin of ME! Bath, Los Angeles. Number of employees: 20. Gross revenue in 2008: $7 million