Sand Slicer: Slicing its way to beautiful lake shorelines

ROME – Lakes and weeds go hand in hand, much to the angst of lakeshore property owners. 
 

When existing devices didn’t remove the weeds to his satisfaction, Jeremy Schmidt said he got to the root of the problem and created the Sand Slicer™.
 

Schmidt said the issue arose when he was working in his new business, Rolling Rome – a shoreline cleaning and maintenance business in North Central Wisconsin – this past summer.
 

He said his goal was to help people maintain the shores of Lake Arrowhead, Lake Camelot and Lake Sherwood – otherwise known as the Tri-Lakes – in Rome Township of Adams County.
 

After clearing 70 shores over the course of 14 weeks, Schmidt said he began designing a solution: the Sand Slicer.
 

“The whole summer, I kept thinking, ‘can I do this better and faster, and is there a way to market this to homeowners who want Caribbean-level sand?’” he said. “That’s what they want, and if I can deliver it, then I can succeed with my service business. It was like putting a puzzle together, inventing the Sand Slicer.”
 

Schmidt, inventor and owner of Sand Slicer, said he put together a prototype and knew he was onto something when he shared it with his 78-year-old dad.
 

“My dad likes to tell the story that I ‘Huck Finned’ him into doing the whole shore when trying (the prototype) out,” he said. “He finished the whole shore and said, ‘You’ve really got something here.’”
 

The Sand Slicer – which Schmidt said he believes is aptly named – focuses on removing the underwater weeds at the root.
 

The tool, he said, is about 10 pounds before any extensions are added, and when it’s underwater, it does “exactly what I prayed it would do, and it does it perfectly.”
 

“The blade slices under the sand and yanks out the weeds by the root, and I have yet to meet anybody living in Wisconsin who doesn’t understand the importance of pulling out weeds by the root,” he said. “It does a great job.”

The result is what Schmidt said he terms the “Caribbean firm, plump sand feel” in the ongoing battle against Mother Nature.
 

“(Without the Sand Slicer), Mother Nature is going to win on this one, as you get a week – maybe two weeks tops – before the weeds take over,” he said. “I have watched these weeds grow six to 12 inches in a week, and it works on the invasive weed species found in the Tri-Lakes.”
 

Schmidt said he has witnessed the weed situation become worse and recognizes weeds are not only a North Central Wisconsin problem or even a Wisconsin problem.

 

An initial search, he said, revealed issues with weeds in rivers and lakes in the south and even in the United Kingdom.
 

And all of these geographic areas, Schmidt said, are ripe with opportunity for the Sand Slicer.
 

“It’s a non-chemical treatment for these invasive species, and we are going to make a significant impact on getting these species out of the lake,” he said.
 

The Sand Slicer difference

One of the most common questions Schmidt said he receives is why a homeowner who has a Beachroller® (a hand held lake bottom cleaning tool) should also own a Sand Slicer.

 

His answer, he said, is that everyone with waterfront weed issues should own a Beachroller, but as with many ventures – think of gardening or farming – a person typically owns an arsenal of tools.
 

He said he believes the Sand Slicer should be among those tools because of its unique ability to drive down below the surface to loosen and pull out weeds. 
 

Though both the Beachroller and the Sand Slicer aim to improve shorelines, Schmidt said they serve different purposes.
 

The Beachroller, he said, agitates and dislodges sediment and weeds at the surface.
 

With vigorous action, Schmidt said a user may chop the weeds down but will never remove the roots.
 

That, he said, is such an important aspect of the Sand Slicer that he not only filed a trademark for the product name but also for the term “by the root.”
 

In contrast to the Beachroller, Schmidt said the Sand Slicer is designed for deeper, more precise work.
 

“It slices through the sand and removes weeds at their roots, ensuring longer-lasting results and promoting a healthier shoreline ecosystem,” he said. “Each tool plays a role, but the Sand Slicer excels at weed removal, giving the Beachroller’s muck and silt removal purpose more efficacy. Using the Sand Slicer with the Beachroller will drastically improve the effectiveness of both tools.”
 

Rolling is where the magic happens, Schmidt said, so much so that he incorporated the term into his service business’s name. 
 

“Customers refer to the action of using the Beachroller as ‘rolling your shore,’ so the term rolling is a playful nod to the Beachroller and speaks to the movement and momentum we bring to every shoreline,” he said.
 

Creating a weed-removing arsenal

Because Schmidt’s research revealed that many of the lake property owners already owned a Beachroller, he said he reached out to the inventor of the tool to see if he would be interested in collaborating on it.
 

Though he wasn’t interested in pursuing a joint venture, Schmidt said he decided to make the Sand Slicer’s handle compatible with Beachroller extensions for customer convenience.
 

Then, he said, it was on to finding the right businesses to manufacture his product. 
 

“I was literally Google Mapping manufacturing in Wisconsin and found Yoder Manufacturing, an Amish family company in nearby Waushara County,” he said. “We have a handshake agreement right now, and they made the parts for the first 10 (Sand Slicers), and they have the capacity to take on more work.”
 

Schmidt said he has sold seven of the first 10 Sand Slicers from his soft launch, capitalizing on ways to “tag team” his service business, Rolling Rome, with the Sand Slicer as they are so compatible.
 

To that end, he said he offered an initial shore cleaning next spring, a $450 value, for free if they purchased a Sand Slicer. 
 

“It was a way to draw customers who weren’t my customers this past season,” he said.
 

Offering it in that arrangement, Schmidt said, is a step in growing his Rolling Rome client base from 70 customers this summer season to 200-300. 

 

“By the end of summer, I had 70 customers and a waitlist, and there’s plenty of (opportunity),” he said.

 

There are 1,100 properties just on the Tri-Lakes, which Schmidt said gives Rolling Rome and Sand Slicer alike a pool – or lake – of opportunity.
 

He said he found there were three key types of customers for Rolling Rome: the weekenders – the people who have been doing the cleanup themselves and are sick of it – seniors or the people who simply don’t want to do the physical upkeep themselves anymore.
 

The common denominator among all of them, Schmidt said, is the desire for a well-maintained shore area so they can have an enjoyable lakeside experience with friends and family.
 

Building the business plan

Schmidt said his business plan outlines phases of growth, but it does have a unique twist to it for an investor.
 

Through a revenue-based financing option, he said he will pay the investor back at a 30% APR instead of a stake in the business.
 

Fortunately for Schmidt, he said he has several life experiences, work experiences, education and other bits of know-how in his favor.
 

Many of those are figuring into the here-and-now with his two businesses; his MBA from Western Governors University, continued work as a logistics officer with the United States Marine Corps, work within his logistics-focused consulting firm, experience as a deputy director of Jacksonville Onslow Economic Development and stint in college owning a College Pro franchise for more than five years. 
 

“When the season ended, I turned to AI with a feverish pitch to create the business plan, content on the websites, financial statement for Rolling Rome, product descriptions, legal terms and services and more,” he said.
 

Having so much of this work happen at the conclusion of Rolling Rome’s season has been an advantage, Schmidt said, as it’s allowed him to do a lot of business-creating legwork for Sand Slicer and to remedy a few design issues identified in the Sand Slicer during the soft launch.
 

He said he has been able to create an arrangement with the Tri-Lakes Management District to subsidize the purchase of Sand Slicers if 100 residents express interest. 
 

“I didn’t anticipate that, and if that happens, I’ll be all kinds of excited, especially because it will give me more money on the front end,” he said. 
 

The other benefit the soft launch provided, Schmidt said, was an opportunity to work with another U.S.-based outfit for the nuts and bolts for the Sand Slicer.
 

By a stroke of luck, he said he was able to talk to the company that would make the machine for this purpose for the manufacturer. 
 

Schmidt said they liked the Sand Slicer’s premise so much, that they were willing to offer a special price on the machine.
 

He said he also recently received  a $2,500 Business Plan Grant through the Adams County Economic Development Board.
 

Schmidt said he gives credit to his background, and experiences both good and bad, for leading him to this opportunity.
 

He said that included an effort about a decade ago to create an iPhone app called Landmark ID that was on the Apple app store for a time.
 

The premise, Schmidt said, was that it allowed people to take a photo of a landmark, and in doing so, vast information about the landmark would appear, as well as local eateries and establishments worth checking out nearby.

 

He said the app combined the use of both API and GPS technologies. 
 

“It was on the (Apple) store for a time, but unfortunately didn’t become as successful as I was hoping,” he said.  
 

What’s coming in 2025?

Schmidt said he sees vast opportunity for both Rolling Rome and Sand Slicer in 2025, confident Rolling Rome can maintain 200 shores in the coming summer and accelerate to half the properties across the three lakes by 2026.
 

Whether it’s restoring a sandy beach, removing debris or providing ongoing maintenance, he said he is confident Sand Slicer can get the job done.
 

“I believe this is going to get big and have a genuine unwavering feeling in my heart that this is going to be unbelievably successful if I keep working at it,” he said.
 

Schmidt said he is sponsoring the Shermalot Ski Team that calls Lake Arrowhead Beach its home as a key way to show community support while building further awareness of Rolling Rome (and in turn, the Sand Slicer). 
 

“I want to be a part of this community in more ways than one,” he said.

Schmidt said he also invested in a billboard to promote Rolling Rome on Highway 13.
 

The Sand Slicer is available for sale on its website, using Shopify for the e-commerce platform. 
 

Schmidt said he anticipates the Sand Slicer will continue to sell itself, demonstration after demonstration.
 

“I’ve done free demonstrations and it’s fun because it’s something I love and that works,” he said. “As word continues to get out, I anticipate this blowing up.”