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. 

Ken Huang

When I first started thinking seriously about building AllYourDolls, I wasn’t just looking at the sex doll industry itself — I was looking at where technology and human behavior were heading globally. My belief was simple: in the next decade, almost every meaningful business will somehow intersect with AI. Read More>>

Victorial Bean

When the Covid came in 2020 we all had to stay in place when we was on a locked down I was wondering what can I do to keep me occupied. I was scrolling on my phone for you tube and I thought about I can try to make candles to keep my mind off this Covid mess. Read More>>

Alan Berg

I’ve been creating content for decades, including 16 books, hundreds of podcasts, presentations, workshops and more, and I was wondering if I had enough content to create a platform where wedding and event pros could tap that knowledge, right when they need it. Read More>>

Kasey Keppel

I’ve always been passionate about being resourceful and finding beauty in things that other people overlook. Growing up, I was constantly altering, sewing, and creating my own clothes because I wanted to express myself in a way that felt original. Fashion was never just about trends to me, it was about individuality, creativity, and giving new life to existing pieces. Read More>>

Mane Dias

I think the path into tattooing was forming itself long before I consciously realised it. I was always drawing, collecting images, obsessing over visual details, and at the same time I was completely fascinated by tattoos as objects and as a form of self-expression. Since my early teens I knew I would be heavily tattooed myself. Read More>>

Ernest Gundo

The idea for Hailey Jordany didn’t come from wanting to start just another clothing brand. It came from wanting something I could attach myself to—something that reflected my values, my mindset, and the way I see life. I started thinking about identity early on. Not just who I am, but what I stand for. Read More>>

Morgan Barkus

The idea for my business was my own life. I struggled with body confidence for years. Confidence speaking up for myself, confidence in relationships, confidence with money and abundance and believing I could actually build something. It started in my early twenties and it was relentless. I studied psychology in college because I wanted to understand human behavior, my own included. Read More>>

Jess Hughes

For a long time, I was doing what most photographers in the food space do – taking polished photos of dishes for social media. And while I enjoyed it, I started realizing that anyone can take a nice photo of food and post it on Instagram. Read More>>

Nicole Di Masi

I never planned on starting a business in restoration. Honestly, it all began because I ruined my mother’s Chanel bag that I had borrowed and needed to return within a few days. I panicked. I called Chanel directly and they told me the repair process would take months. Read More>>

Megan Franlum

It didn’t start as a “business idea.” It started as a rhythm. Long nights at work, the kind that blur together, where your body runs on caffeine and routine, but your mind starts wandering. On my days off, I needed something that felt real. Something that slowed everything down. That’s where the garden came in. Read More>>

Jake Hull

I came up with the idea for my creative services business because I realized I was just as passionate about building the vision behind a shoot as I was about taking the actual photos and videos. I love the process of turning an idea into a fully coordinated creative project. Read More>> 

Bruce Boone

I’ve always known that I wanted to be an inventor. After working in the nuclear industry for a few years and getting financially ahead, I bought myself a CNC milling machine for the basement. That’s a large computer-controlled machine like a router for metal. It allowed me to make some oversized chainrings and cogs for bicycles, another interest of mine. Read More>>

Paula Sturm

The idea for my business really came from my own lived experience. For most of my life, I struggled with allergies, gut issues, food sensitivities, and the feeling that my body was more reactive than it “should” be. Read More>>

Lloyd Lindley

The idea for Living A Meaningful Purpose (LAMP) wasn’t born from a business plan it was born from experience. Growing up in Houston, I saw firsthand how a person’s ZIP code could influence their access to opportunities, resources, and support systems. Read More>>

Jon Bonnell

As a passionate culinary student, eager to learn every technique, sauce, and new ingredient in the world from our Chef Instructors, we were tasked in our second year of study with creating an imaginary restaurant. The exercise was meant to show us how to create a concept, write a menu, price out ingredients, and write a monthly statement of expenses, labor, and expected revenues. Read More>>

Janelle George

When my dad unexpectedly died in 2018, I was really looking for things that brought me joy over the next year. I had a friend who had just started making candles, so I asked her to teach me the basics. I wanted to do something creative that I could do at home – I’m a big homebody. Read More>>

Martasia Person

Posterity was born from both lived experience and a defining moment that completely shifted how I thought about legacy, wealth, and what I wanted my daughter to inherit. Many of my earliest experiences around money were tied more to survival than strategy. I understood bills, debt, and financial stress long before I understood ownership, assets, investing, or what it truly meant to build wealth. Read More>>

Deonté Griffin-Quick

What started as a transition in my career ultimately became a moment of clarity and calling. After leaving a previous role, I found myself reflecting deeply on what I was truly passionate about and what kind of impact I wanted my next chapter to have. Read More>>

Nicole Sugaski

My business has truly been a passion project from the start, and it actually began by accident. My sister asked me to create a custom sweatshirt for my brother-in-law after his soul dog, Laila, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. Creating that initial piece required me to learn skills I had never considered before, including machine embroidery and digitizing files. Read More>>

Alex O

Before starting Quick Digitals, I had some of my own tapes that I wanted converted. I checked with places like Walgreens, Walmart, and Costco, but they told me the tapes would be shipped out of state to a third-party company. That didn’t sit right with me. Read More>>

Patrice Goings

My journey into soapmaking began as a hobby, a creative outlet and a form of self-care during a time when I needed something for myself. What started as curiosity quickly became a passion once I realized how therapeutic the process was for me. I fell in love with blending oils, fragrances, colors, and skin-loving ingredients to create products that felt both beautiful and meaningful. Read More>>

Bryce Love

My introduction to styling didn’t begin as a business idea it began as a pattern I started noticing in real time. Over time, I became the person people consistently turned to for wardrobe decisions. It didn’t matter the setting events, photoshoots, performances, anniversaries, or public appearances people needed help translating ideas into complete, intentional looks. Read More>>

Terrance McGee

What led me to create Personal Definition — Owning Distinction wasn’t a single business moment. It was years of observing people quietly abandon themselves in order to fit into systems that rewarded imitation over individuality. I kept seeing talented, intelligent, capable people suppress who they naturally were because they believed acceptance required conformity. That realization stayed with me. Read More>>

Sherri Ann Flanders

The idea of Women of Dynamic Change® was birthed during one of the hardest seasons of my life. What started through grief slowly became purpose. Women of Dynamic Change® is a nonprofit organization created to empower, support, and uplift women through wellness, healing, leadership, personal development, and community support. Read More>>

Ashley Gonor

In 2020, during the middle of the world shutting down from COVID, I had this deep intuitive feeling that I couldn’t ignore. It honestly felt like the universe was nudging me saying, “Start the podcast.” At the time, I had no big business plan, no strategy behind it, and no idea where it would lead. I just knew I was supposed to do it. Read More>>

Johannah Labissiere

The idea for Holy Fit was born out of one of the hardest seasons of my life, a season where I was forced to confront the consequences of not taking care of my health. I was struggling physically, mentally, and spiritually. I dealt with chronic yeast infections, pre-diabetic symptoms, extreme fatigue, and eventually severe anemia. Read More>>

Danielle Fewings

I am obsessed with aesthetic treatments, and I don’t think anyone should feel shame about wanting to look or feel their best. Read More>>

Nicole Rourke

Sex on the Beach was born from a deeply personal place in my life. About five years ago, I experienced a miscarriage at 20 weeks pregnant — one of the most painful and emotionally transformative experiences I had ever gone through. Read More>>

Veronica Dietz

Tyche came first. The agency was supposed to be a branding and marketing shop, and it is, but something kept happening on my discovery calls that I couldn’t unsee. People would book me to fix a thing. New website, new messaging, a rebrand, more leads. They’d show up with a loud symptom and a budget already attached to it. Read More>>

Jennifer Johnson

The honest answer is that C3 didn’t begin as a business plan. It began as a moment of clarity — though the conditions for it had been forming for nearly two decades. For more than twenty years I worked as a federal Contracting Officer, including time leading source selection boards. It was demanding, high-stakes, deeply structured work. Read More>>

Khadijah Warfield

Growing up I always struggled with acne and just keeping my skin clear and healthy. I’ve used many major brands and they never seem to work. A girls confidence or anyone for that matter, could be tarnished because of their skin. So I knew first hand that I can’t be the only one that feels like this. Read More>>

Betsy Murdoch

The idea for The Rectory was born directly out of The Congregation. As The Congregation grew, it became clear that what people were responding to wasn’t just coffee or food—it was the feeling of belonging. During COVID, when so many gathering spaces disappeared, The Congregation unexpectedly became a lifeline. Read More>>

Bito Sureiya

Well I’m gonna keep it a bean this was not my idea bum Bum BUUUUUUM this was an event that was created by a Collective called Llamadon in the early 2010’s if you’ve been in the Baltimore scene for a while I’m sure that name ring some bells Just to give you some background on exactly what Beettrip is at the core it’s a producer cypher that features an open mic for anybody to come up and freestyle (and we do mean FREESTYLE NO WRITTENS) Read More>>

Anthony Anderson

Vossen Wheels is a miami based luxury wheel manufacturer established in 2005/2006. It was my first job straight out of school. The brand is known for European luxury designed wheels, and quickly expanded internationally. Japan being one of those locations, where wheels and style is completely different in the industry. I suggested a full-face design one year. Read More>>

Keevy Smith

The seed for Aylion Media was planted in California soil. After completing my final contract in the Navy, I reached a point in life where I wanted to build something for myself; something rooted in passion instead of obligation. I knew I wanted work that felt meaningful, creative, and lasting. When I looked back over my life, the camera had always been there. Read More>>

Jordana Bresett

As a child growing up in the early 80s late 90s, I started to gravitate towards horror themed books, shows, and activities such as going to Universal or Disney to ride Jaws or The Haunted Mansion. As I got older, my love for the genre, grew stronger and stronger by the day. Read More>>

Rachell Dumas, RN, MSN

When people ask where the idea for HEARD came from, I usually tell them it wasn’t born in a boardroom. It was born in hospital rooms. I’ve spent my career as a nurse working across trauma, neuro, critical care, perioperative services, education, and informatics. Every day, I saw patients and families struggling to navigate the healthcare system. Read More>>

Arriel Green

My business, ArrielElyse & Co., was born from a deep passion for the beauty industry and a lifelong desire to build something of my own. I began working behind the chair in 2006, right after beauty school. Even then, I knew I wanted to own my own salon one day. Read More>>

nawoko kato

it was during the time when i still worked for a company, doing totally different thing for living. i worked overtime so much that i did not have much time to enjoy my life outside work. so i stopped and started to think, ‘would like to earn money for living by doing something that i am actually interested’. Read More>>

Anzelika Pusnakova

My name is Anželika (pronounced Angelica :) ), and I’m the co-founder of Miers Social Sauna Club in Riga, Latvia. The journey into this industry is deeply personal, and in many ways it starts with Latvian sauna culture itself. Read More>>

Asya Watkins

Women Of Project Management® was born from a problem I was living every day. Early in my project management career, I often found myself as one of the only Black women in the room. I was navigating complex projects, building my career, and searching for community, but I rarely saw spaces created specifically for women like me. Read More>>

Starr Howard

I have wanted to be a lawyer for as long as I can remember. That desire was a specific, burning sense of purpose. I wanted to advocate for people and I wanted to fight for those who could not fight for themselves. However, life has a way of rerouting you. Circumstances, fear, and maybe a little imposter syndrome, got in the way. Read More>>

Bailey Amato

From as early as I can remember, I’ve always had a camera in my hands. I was around four or five years old when my love for photography started, though at the time I had no idea it would eventually become my career. Initially, I was drawn to abstract, fine art, and black-and-white photography. Read More>> 

Erika Fernandez

Kindred Haus was born from something I had been noticing for a long time: many people are constantly surrounded by others, yet still feel deeply disconnected. Whether it’s friendships, romantic relationships, or family bonds, so many people crave meaningful connection but struggle to find spaces where those relationships can grow naturally. Creating connection has always come naturally to me. Read More>>

Jessica Etting

My co-founder (and sister!) Amanda and I grew up back in analog times when our mom used to keep a huge multi-column day planner on the kitchen desk. If you wanted to know what plans you had that week, from soccer practice to dance rehearsal to sleepovers, you’d check the planner. Read More>>

Mariesa Moore-Gentry

The idea for my business stemmed from my first book, ‘Are You Living YOUR Best Dash?’ I wrote the book over several months, not knowing a business would be birthed out of it. As the book approached finalization, the Lord spoke to my heart about becoming a life coach. Read More>>

Asia Bowman

The origin is both personal and professional for me. Throughout my life, I watched men I loved, men who were close to me, sit in silence with things that were clearly eating them alive. Stress, fear, worry, even joy. They just held it. Read more>>