Coming up with an idea for a business or creative project can feel exhilarating. Inspiration for a new idea can come from so many places and we’ve asked some great folks from the community to share their stories of how they came up with their ideas.

Patrick Steele

I would say this business started many years ago when I was small. Ever since I was a kid I was always fascinated with technology. I still remember to this day taking apart Playstation’s just to see how they worked. Fast forward all these year and we’ve entered one of the largest technological revolutions in the history of tech, AI. Read more>>

Kristin Vittorini

Blushing Gypsy Events really grew out of years of experience in the wedding industry and a desire to create something that truly reflected my personality and passions. Early in my career, I worked for an all-inclusive wedding company where I had the opportunity to learn every aspect of the industry. Read more>>

Brittney Wall

Shucktowne started with my time working at an oyster bar in downtown Charleston. That’s where I first really learned the craft of shucking oysters and the stories behind them. I became fascinated with all the different varieties coming from waters up and down the coast and from all over the country. Read more>>

Lauren Murray

A friend of my dad actually owned the business before me under a different name. She did custom drapery for decades before starting her linen rental company. Under her care, she only specialized in black or white linens only. Read more>>

Robin Crockett

The idea came directly from my experience running my cleaning company, Heaven Scent Home Cleaning, for more than 30 years. One of the biggest challenges in service businesses is the quoting process. We often spend hours driving to homes just to look at a job and give an estimate. It takes time away from actually serving customers and growing the business. Read more>>

Ross Weber

In-home catering started for me in January 2019 — not as a business plan, but as a favor. My mom had a coworker whose husband was turning 40. She wanted to surprise him with a special dinner at home and asked if I would be interested in cooking it. At the time, I was working as a Sous Chef at Target Center in Minneapolis. Read more>>

Calli Ramler

After 14 years in the funeral home profession, approaching 40, raising three children, running a business, and trying to be present in my marriage and friendships I noticed a decline in my mental health and physical health. I was blessed with incredible, supportive parents who taught me the importance of healthy living and hard work. Read more>>

Michelle Kaisersatt

Life flows. As I come into this chapter of my life, I am witness to serendipity, the power of collaboration and the art of healing. In the summer months of 2019, Jan, an active participant in a group we both are a part of called Sacred Circle, shared her personal vision of placing a ‘Wind Phone’ in the Arboretum of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Read more>>

Kaleb Hayden

Honestly, it’s for multiple reasons behind my business idea. I’ve always wanted my own business after watching my grandmother run her own for nearly 30 years. I was into a different style of dressing, and we didn’t really have much of that here in Mississippi, so I figured I’d make them myself. Read more>>

Annastasia Root

The funny thing about me coming up with the idea to have a business was it is not something I had originally planned to do. I have always been fascinated by gemstones, crystals & other organic materials to be worn as jewelry. In time I had collected random strands of materials over the years, but never really had done anything with them. Read more>>

Leo & Nelly Jamoralin

Our family has always loved going on vacations. One of Leo’s favorite things to do whenever we travel is to enjoy breakfast together, it’s his absolute favorite meal of the day. Back in 2022, Leo told me that he wanted to start a business of his own. As his wife, I knew my role was to support him in every way I could. Read more>>

Alexis Haselberger

Absolutely. Here’s a revised version based on your actual story, in your voice: I never imagined I would be a business owner. For a long time, I worked in startups, and honestly, entrepreneurship felt too risky to me. I liked building things, I liked fast-paced environments, and I liked doing meaningful work, but I assumed starting my own business was for other people. Not me. Read more>>

Abbie Winistoerfer

My photography business has been my creative outlet and it was a long time coming. It all just came down to when I was actually going to decide to go for it! I have loved photography since I was a child. I can clearly remember receiving a compact Fujifilm camera when I was around eight years old. I took the camera anywhere you can imagine. Read more>>

Tracey-Ann Rose

The idea for my business came to me in a very unexpected way. When I first heard about coaching, I wasn’t trying to become a coach. I had no interest in it at all. I simply wanted to learn how to market myself as an actor and writer. This was in 2020, and I was in my third trimester of pregnancy. Read more>>

Cyrena Ybarra

I came up with the idea to become a florist after spending about a year searching for something I truly felt passionate about. I knew I wanted to invest my time and energy into something meaningful, but I didn’t want to rush into just any idea. I kept telling myself that the right opportunity would come to me if I stayed patient. Read more>>

Dante Lee

Fashion has always been my passion, a true reflection of who I am. As a fashion enthusiast and sneaker connoisseur, I express myself through every outfit I wear. From 2010-2013, I chased my dreams on the basketball court in college, knowing it was my ultimate goal, but life had a different plan in store. Read more>>

Thomas Wing

I’ve always been an avid reader. I remember living the stereotype: using a flashlight under the covers because my folks could see the light on in my room reflecting off the trees near the house. My parents had perhaps 5000 volumes in the house, and there were no restrictions on what we could read. Read more>>

Gourav Gola

I started the Unbelievable Facts Facebook page in 2012, at a time when facebook pages and websites like this were still quite rare. I had just finished engineering, and it began as a simple hobby. Read more>>

Rashid Cooper

I always loved doing music and I always wanted to turn music into a business that will take care of my family and other families. At first the idea of creating a record company was to produce and create music with my friends and family and become popular in the culture. Read more>>

Chonsten Jennings

The journey began when I founded The Luminary Panel, a platform created to connect the aspiring entrepreneur with the inspiring entrepreneur. The vision was simple but meaningful: to become an immediate resource for individuals seeking wisdom, guidance, and real-world insight from people who had already walked the path ahead of them. Read more>>

Dianne McKim

The Story Behind My Coaching Business 2016 started with uncertainty I hadn’t expected. After 10 years with a Christian-owned company, I was transitioned from full-time W-2 to part-time 1099. The owner was gracious – he truly had no choice as contracts fell through – but I found myself in unfamiliar territory. Read more>>

Ges Briggs

My business is a medley of passions, and each one of my products or offerings honestly didn’t seem to amount to much as individual interests at the time of their emergence in my life. It was an idea decades in the making, and unintentionally I might add. Read more>>

Claudia Bloom

My professional background is in media and entertainment. I worked in Los Angeles as a TV and commercial actress; then a casting director on feature films, theater and commercials; an acting coach; and a magazine editor at a few national women’s magazines. Read more>>

Ariel Barrionuevo

La Coralina Island House is the result of a mixture of curiosity, observation, and solid interest in the uncharted Caribbean. I grew up in a small town in Córdoba, Argentina, where I spent most of my childhood outside. I explored fields and worked along the river while imagining all the possibilities that life held for me outside of that little town. Read more>>

Nate Axline

The idea for RZN (reason) Wines started way before even getting into wine. When I was in the action sports industry (skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, etc.), cool brands were always around and I felt like there was always something I could do. Always had fun ideas for shirts, stickers and even catch fraises, but never physically came to fruition. Read more>>

Cheri Joseph

The idea for Sociél Muet Atelier Payroll is rooted in a very personal beginning. More than thirty years ago, I was one semester away from finishing college, studying computer programming with a focus on graphics and a minor in video production. My dream at the time was to build a Pixar-style production company owned by a person of color. Read more>>

Robert and Ericka Bungert

Alien Cow Flavored Sno was born during a really difficult time for our family. My husband had been diagnosed with cancer and couldn’t return to his regular job, so we had to find a new path forward. While visiting our daughter at college in Tennessee, we discovered a dessert shop serving a Korean-style treat called sno cream. Read more>>

Angela Fach

Universal Architect actually started long before the media agency did. Back in 2014, I created the Universal Architect brand as a creative project centered around apparel. The idea behind it was rooted in a mindset I’ve always believed in: that we are the architects of our own reality. The brand messaging reflected that philosophy. Read more>>

Brandon Denson

FLYKONIC really came from my mindset and my upbringing. I grew up poor in South Dallas and Oak Cliff, and growing up in those environments teaches you a lot about resilience and creativity. Even though we didn’t always have much, I always had a passion for fashion and clothing. I loved the way clothes could express personality, confidence, and identity. Read more>>

Angela Gallegos

For most of my career I worked inside a high-volume retail corporation. I started in a call center making six dollars an hour and eventually moved into Marketing Operations, managing over $150 million in budgets, forecasts, accruals, and internal and external audits. Read more>>

Alyssa Prouty

In 2023 we decided we wanted to make Raven Oaks Farm an organic and local one-stop-shop for the Washington Twp. community and beyond! Our goal was to create an environment where people could shop without the worry of hidden ingredients in their food, we seek to have a better alternative to everyone’s favorite grocery store items. Read more>>

Laura Laird

I’ve always loved to cook. Growing up in communist Romania, food and ingredients were few and we had almost no variety. There were months, especially during late fall and winter, when all we had were beef bones, chicken wings, old potatoes and the loaf of bread we would stand in line for daily, sometimes for hours. Read more>>

Weam Namou

I came up with the idea for Unique Voices in Films after repeatedly hearing some version of the same message from the industry: “These stories are difficult to cast.” Years earlier, when I pitched Iraqi and Iraqi-American stories to established producers, I was told audiences wouldn’t relate. Read more>>

Hector Arencibia

The idea for The Universe Unveiled came from a frustration I kept running into while studying manifestation, the subconscious mind, and the teachers behind these ideas. I noticed that the information was everywhere—but it was scattered. One website might talk about Neville Goddard, another about Joseph Murphy, another about ancient spiritual philosophy, and another about modern psychology. Read more>>

Vu Lam

One of the questions I often get asked about is how did I come up with MacroMealz? From a early age I loved to cook. I remember purchasing my very first cook book in the 6th grade and it took off from there. A few years later I fell in love with the fitness world. I loved being in shape and working out. Read more>>