Firefighter. Entrepreneur. “Shark Tank” contestant. Life has certainly been a whirlwind for 37-year old Salvatore DePaola these past couple of years. DePaola has been a firefighter with Engine 160 on Staten Island for almost a decade. He also owned a painting business on the side. In between saving lives and painting homes, he came up with a simple idea that has him on track to earn over a million dollars in sales next year.

DePaola invented The Paintbrush Cover in 2011- a kind of Tupperware for a paintbrush. He says brushes dry out very quickly, making it difficult for painters to go to lunch, take a break or even answer a phone call in the middle of a job. The Paintbrush Cover keeps the paint-filled brush moist for weeks, helping workers pick up where they left off immediately. DePaola says inventing was always a passion. “I always had product ideas. I read a lot. And I started doing a lot of research on developing products. I have a couple of partners with me. And we just decided to just give it a go,” he says.

DePaola and his partners started selling The Paintbrush Cover in July 2012, literally by going door to door to every paint store in their area. They also sent out emails to every DIY and painting blog they saw. The word of mouth certainly helped sales; but it was the product that helped them earn about $35,000 in 2013. The paintbrush cover actually worked.

[Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App]

That’s when DePaola and his partners decided the apply to go on the hit ABC show “Shark Tank.” The episode featuring their sales-pitch to the “sharks” aired in April of this year. They went in looking for $50,000 in exchange for a 10 percent stake in their company. They walked out with a deal from shark investor Laurie Greiner- $200,000 for 20 percent and a tie-up with QVC.

The Paintbrush Cover costs 60 cents to make plus their costs for shipping and packaging the product. It retails for $4.99, $6.99 for The Roller Cover. Since the show aired, sales have skyrocketed to $250,000 so far this year. “We have a deal with Home Depot (HD). We are working on a deal with Sherwin-Williams (SHW). We just got into Ace Hardware and True Value,” says DePaola. A Home Depot spokeswoman confirmed the cover would be on store shelves this February. The Paintbrush Cover and its inventors are a hot commodity nowadays.

So hot in fact, that DePaola was featured in the 2015 Official FDNY Calendar of Heroes. Sales of the calendar benefit the non-profit FDNY Foundation, which provides support to New York City’s Fire Department. The calendar is available at FDNYFoundation.org.