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.

Fidel gutiérrez

A few years ago, I started an advertising agency and everything was going well. However, starting a business and being an entrepreneur comes with many risks. At that time, I was overwhelmed by expenses and the workload. It was during this period that I began to explore the world of artificial intelligence. I became obsessed with the idea because of the possibilities it presented. Thanks to this, I started to see how I could do more specialized work with higher quality, both at the project structure level and at the visual-conceptual level. That’s when I said, ‘I need to take my business in a new direction, this will definitely change the way to run a business. Read more>>

Jeff Sekinger

I’ve been investing for over ten years. I went through traditional finance, got my degree and worked for the biggest asset manager in the United States for a couple years before I left there and started my first hedge fund shortly after. I’ve been active in the investment world for quite some time and I’ve been actively trading for five years and running a hedge fund for over four years. The word Nurp originates from a unique chapter in my life, centered around an unusual purple house in San Diego that I lived in with other entrepreneurs after I moved out of my hometown of Columbus, Ohio. This house, with its distinctive purple stucco, LED lighting, and unconventional architecture, became a symbol of rapid personal and financial growth for me. It was the first place where I experienced significant leaps in income, happiness, and a profound sense of freedom. After moving from Ohio, and working in the banking and asset management sectors, I saved enough money to join a community of entrepreneurs in San Diego. When it came time to name my brand, I wanted something that encapsulated the essence of my journey and the values that had driven my success. Nurp was chosen to reflect the brand’s core principles by thinking differently and embracing a contrarian mindset. Just as the house stood out with its unique features, the brand encourages its community to stand out by adopting innovative and unconventional strategies. Nurp represents more than just a nostalgic reference; it embodies the belief that to achieve extraordinary results, we must break away from average thinking and behaviors. It serves as a reminder that success in trading, and in life, often requires embracing uniqueness and being comfortable with being different. By fostering this mindset, Nurp aims to inspire others to experience their own quantum growth and transformative success. Read more>>

R. Lynn Barnett

I’ve written 2 books on healthcare: “What Patients Want: Anecdotes and Advice” and “My Mother Has Alzheimer’s and My Dog Has Tapeworms: A Caregiver’s Tale.” I wrote the “Patient” book because I had been adrift in a draft, (if you get my drift) in enough doctors’ offices, that I felt I could share the perspective of the patient in the white paper sack, with healthcare professionals in white lab coats. I wrote the “Alzheimer’s” book when my husband and I took care of my mom for 5 years, during her Alzheimer’s journey. (Well, I guess I should say “our” journey, because it affects family members as much as the patient.) I thought of the title when I was driving home from work one day, and I realized that my once broad life was reduced to the pressing health concerns of my mom and dog. I tried to write both books with humor and heart, since you need both in life, and particularly when dealing with health issues. Read more>>

jerid gooding

I moved from Boone, North Carolina to New York City in 2011. I was incredibly excited about the city — making a name for myself and exploring the multi-faceted arts scene — but I found elements of doing so discouraging. There was no easy, singular destination to find out what was going on, or to discover what was happening around you. Time Out and other major publications like The New York Times and The New Yorker had the obvious acts performing around the city: shows at the Guggenheim, performances at Lincoln Center. But if I could walk down the street and see and feel the real pulse of the city, why couldn’t I search it on an app? What if I wanted to get out and have a night on the city, with just a little bit of direction? Read more>>

Connie Maynord

My first modeling gig was with my mom at age 10 at a PTA event in TN. In the next years, I was in school Plays, Dance lessons/recitals & beauty Pageants. After high school graduation, I graduated Modeling School in Michigan which led to fashion modeling in Michigan and California. Life happens and I marry, son born & divorce. All this lead me as a young single mom with a 3-year-old son living in campus/married housing and becoming a full-time college student, working 20 hrs. on campus & I continued to modeling. College graduation leaded my career to a Hospital & School Dietician. I remarried and my second son was born. Yes, I have continued to model in KY, Russia, TX, TN, China following my husband’s profession. My modeling has included- fashion runway, tea-room, print, commercial, artist paintings, & magazine model in 2-issues in NYC. My sons are 12 yrs. apart in age and I didn’t adjust to empty next so I began class in acting, commercial, audition, photography, scene study, and film production. Presently, I am a full time SAG Eligible Actor & Mature Model with Talent Trek-Nashville Tennessee Agency. I have appeared in several TV commercials, Movies/films, Industrial print & Commercials, Music videos, and National Voice Over for Toyota- Saatchi & Saatchi, LA. This past year I created & published a Beautiful 2024 “CALENDAR GIRLS” Charity Cancer Calendar in honor of my young 33-year-old son who lost his battle with glioblastoma. The calendar featured my Beautiful & Sexy TN friends of ages 50-80! All beautiful, all talented with present & past interesting professions. (Retired Lt Col of Air Force, Private Investigator, Ms. Senior America, Book Writer, Artist, Singer/Song Writer, Talent Agent, Real Estate Broker, Actor, Model and my youngest is a Body Builder.) When asked, how did I become a Model & Actor? My answer- “a lot of Hard Work, Training, Classes, Background to Featured Actor & Model, Sweat & Tears and a BIG dash of “Smiles” as my plans are to continue forever as there’s only a few of us “Baby Boomer Model & Actors”. Read more>>

Whitney King

The idea for Wave of Mind was born from my personal journey through therapy. I had always struggled with anxiety and frequent panic attacks, feeling like I needed to constantly achieve something to prove my worth. Therapy transformed me, helping me shift my perception of myself, the world, and my ability to create the life I wanted. Despite this significant progress, I realized four years ago that I needed more structure to continue my healing journey. Read more>>

Brothers Koren

As brothers, we were co-leading our rock band, The Kin and touring the world, opening for artists like Coldplay, P!NK and Rod Stewart. We played to over a million people in our final year of touring, over 60 arena shows and it was exhilarating. We were signed to Interscope records and living in NYC. Read more>>

Lynette Smith

Being a new mom I was so excited to travel with my baby/toddler. My husband and I loved to travel before kids and were eager to bring our daughter with us on our adventures and show her all the beautiful things about traveling. But little did we know just how hard traveling could be with a toddler, especially unprepared. So I was determined to make our next trip more successful, so I packed a special travel backpack for her filled with activities, sensory toys, snacks, anything to keep her busy and excited. And that was the game changer, it turned into her magic backpack. Every time we traveled somewhere she was so excited to look in her new backpack with all the fun activities I picked out for her. The backpack lasted through the whole trip, on the plane, in the hotel, and in restaurants. Pretty sure she was more excited about the backpack than the trips and we were just happy to be traveling together with less meltdowns. I started making little travel kits for friends and family which then turned into Bizzy Boxes! Read more>>

Lukee Forbes

I founded We Are Revolutionary as a response to the deep adversities I faced throughout my life. My challenges began at a young age when my parents had me as teenagers, and I endured an abusive father. From age five, I lived apart from my parents, and when I was 13, I moved in with my mother, who was diagnosed with AIDS and cancer. Struggling with these issues, I began to run away and skip school, which led to my placement under Persons In Need of Supervision (PINS) and later probation when I kept running away and skipping school. Despite these interventions, I continued to do the same, resulting in a warrant for my arrest. Forced into hiding, I ended up associating with negative peers who were involved in a robbery. Although I was not directly involved in the assault, I was convicted and spent seven years in prison. These experiences, coupled with the murder of my father in Panama when I was 19, and my mother’s death later that next year while I incarcerated helped fuel my resolve to address systemic trauma and injustices. Together with Qubilah, who also experienced significant adversity, I established “We Are Revolutionary” to tackle the systemic issues affecting our community and prevent others from suffering similar fates. Read more>>

Michelle Rowton

I originally started my career in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and worked in the hospital system for 14 years. I eventually knew that I needed to make a change so that my work more closely fit my lifestyle and ethics, so I took a job with a holistic pediatrician office. That job was such a great experience and I learned so much! However, when I decided not to return to that job and be a stay at home mom after delivering my second baby, I knew I was going to open my own business. There were specific things I was going to implement in my business to address the common complaints of an insurance based medical office, as well as to create a business that was unique from all of the other offices around. Some of the things I wanted to make sure were present were as simple as wanting windows in every room to make sure that I didn’t feel like I was working in a cave all day! I wanted the families and children to feel like they were in a pleasing environment with plenty of space to relax and move around. I wanted my office to look like a house, or even be in a house. It was important to me that the children coming in felt at home and more felt like they were on a play date. Many of our families institute a no shoe rule at home to keep the floors clean of chemicals and toxins, so I wanted to create this environment as well so everyone was comfortable playing on the floor. I also decided that I would not be performing procedures in the office such as blood draws. Because there are so many children with sensory issues now, it is incredibly scary and stressful for them to come in to a building where there is a lot of crying or screaming. I had to create a process for how those things would happen seamlessly outside of the office. Most importantly, I knew that I was not going to have a “front desk” at my office. The biggest complaint I get about other offices when parents switch is that they could not get hold of the front desk, the staff was not helpful, it was difficult to establish care and make same day appointments, and it was almost impossible to get to their provider when they needed something. Therefore, I made an office without a front desk and where the providers handle all of their communication. As we grow I will need to implement a patient contact liaison, however unlike other offices, their job will be to connect the family to their provider, not provide a barricade to protect the provider from them. We also do not have any other staff that parents have to deal with during their appointments. The providers do all the communicating, history taking, and measurements, etc. Read more>>

Greg Shepard

Thank you for this question as we are celebrating Dallas Maids’ 20th anniversary this year! The idea of starting a home cleaning service was initially meant for my girlfriend at the time and her friend. They were both uncertain about their future paths, so I suggested they start a maid service. Read more>>

Kayla Patsy

The gift of Art and Baking was instilled in me since I even before I was born. I know now that it was definitely a gift from God and it is what I was meant to share with the world. I grew up doing both of them for fun. I remember baking cakes and cinnamon rolls for my family just because I wanted to try a new recipe. And the same goes for my art. Read more>>

April Rojas

I had been working for a multi location Brazilian waxing boutique for about 5 years. On the surface the job was great and I loved connecting with my clients. Waxing can be perceived as being superficial or vain, but getting to share experiences with my client quickly became the best part of the job. I started to intentionally create space for my clients to feel empowered about their choices in removing their body hair. I never thought that a job at a waxing salon would allow me to create trusting and valued relationships with my clients. Unfortunately, the company was using some questionable practices that ended up ended up negatively affecting many of the waxers they employed. The branding of the company also reflected less and less of who I was and what my clients looked like and what I believed in. It became increasing more difficult to sell services in a way that felt damaging to people’s self esteem. Toward the end of my career there the stress of keeping up with the high volume demands of company I had made several visits to the emergency room for what would later find out were severe panic attacks. The pandemic hit just before my 5th anniversary with the company and the time I had away from it gave me more perspective on what I wanted my life to look like moving forward. Read more>>

Corina Avalos

Up In the Mix was conceptualized back in July 2019. I came up with the idea of creating a Music and Radio website to combine my passion and creativity. My Audio Production, Copywriting skills, and experience in Radio have come in handy on the Digital Content creation side, expanding my knowledge. To this day, I continue to push myself to learn a new skill so that I continue to grow as a professional. Recently, I completed an SEO course to help drive traffic to my website. Read more>>

Mandy Jackson-Beverly

During the early months of the first lockdown of 2020, I hiked with Karla Olson, the publisher at Patagonia Books. We talked about the closures of businesses, particularly independent bookshops, and how publishers had to delay scheduled publishing dates and in-person events for authors. Knowing the amount of work a writer puts into finishing a manuscript, finding an agent, building their platform, and gaining a publishing deal, I started thinking about how I could help writers, publishing companies, and independent bookshops globally. While I’d interviewed authors and specialists in various subjects in person or for articles, this time, I wanted to stretch myself and learn a new skill. Read more>>

Bridgid Zimerbort

Gather is a 20 year dream, I saw the vision in 2004. It was a very evolutionary time on the Lower East Side, the area was heavily gentrifying, galleries and cafes were slowly opening in the area. Throughout my career, I have always been involved to one degree or another in hospitality and always saw myself opening a food business of my own. Back in 2004, what I mostly envisioned was a menu and serving the community. At the time, I was working in the interior design industry, at first primarily focused on residential projects, and later on hospitality projects. I was selling textiles and wall coverings to leading interior design firms who worked on hotels and restaurants globally. I was learning in detail how to create environments for the public. After 15 years of working in that industry, I transitioned to a completely different role and was general manager of a catering company. Through this experience I learned the business of food and beverage, worked along side chefs and catered to mostly A list clientele. My dream of Gather never faded, I always knew that I would open, just didn’t know when. So many years of failed attempts didn’t discourage me, rather pushed me further. The idea was getting clearer and clearer, about 3 years ago, it became as clear as day. I was staring at my mood and inspirations boards, writing down brand pillars, thinking of names that align, playing with colors, and working on the layout. This was all before I knew where Gather will reside. The idea became so real and to some extent I let spirit guide me. The Lower East Side is where I feel my roots are. I am a first generation American. My family immigrated from Ukraine and Romania and have spent close to 50 years running businesses when the neighborhood was still considered the ‘bargain district’. I knew that this would be a worthwhile endeavor because it ran through my blood. Part of the mission is to pay homage to the path that my family has paved through their struggles. I watched them succeed in their stores and feel like I have learned from the best. Gather resides in a location that was originally my grandfather’s store. Gather is a unique establishment, it is a hub of exquisite interior design, high quality casual food, and community. The idea is to be a place for the neighborhood to feel at home, an environment that will expand people however it may and open enough to evolve into what its meant to be. We are currently in the process of expanding to a wine bar. The most exciting thing for me is being able to serve in a positive way and stand apart from the rest. Read more>>

Brian Cole

I have always been into knowing and continuing to learn about history. I love studying about the people and the places that came before us. I think it is important to understand how people lived in previous generations so that we can learn from their knowledge and their mistakes. Columbia has such a rich history that many people don’t know about. For years there have been wonderful ways to tour historic homes and museums in the area but not a way a too experience the history and see where it happened. Read more>>

Dr Divine Arpellet

Story of how I came up with the idea for my business?

My business is about capacity building in frameworks and ecosystems of US free trade agreements (FTA) with Africa. The capacity building is produced in forms of in-house training, workshops, and mentorship programs (B2B facilitation between the US and Africa), Read more>>

Raymond Depew

It was about 9 years ago and I just published my first book Donbridge: The Ring and Lazarus and I was trying to find ways to sell the book and find my audience. It was tough! Self-Published authors and Independent published authors do have a unique position where they can write, edit, format, illustrate and publish their books on their own, but selling and marketing the book they just created… that is another story. So, what was I going to do? I remembered back to my childhood where I would go to festivals and sell potholders. I remembered about how people liked a story and something unique and so I hit the road and started going to festivals with my books and worked hard promoting to the public. The only problem was, I was limited to what festivals were going to be open, where they would be and since I am in Texas, how hot would it be. So again, I was stuck. Then I met a wonderful woman named Deborah Frontiera who was working with Kroger, a large grocery chain, which happened to be in Texas and helping non-distributed authors hold book signings in the grocery store. I said to myself, this is pretty cool! I can be inside, out of the weather, I can meet people, I do not have to handle cash or payments and my book would scan at the register. So, I began selling my books at Kroger holding book signings in the grocery store. It was at that moment I told Deborah, “Hey if you ever want to hand the reigns of this program over to someone, let me know and I would be happy to do it” she smiled and said she would let me know and from there on I kept selling books in Kroger. That went on for about 3 years. Then in 2018 she reached out to me and said, she was retiring and wanted to know if I was still interested in the program, and I said yes and so I began transitioning the program over to me. Again this was only Texas at the time. But I had plans for the program. Big plans. Read more>>

Leo Ferreira

I love the adventure of travel and capturing the experiences through photography with my husband and foundation, Justin. He helped inspire my drive to enter international photo contests and galleries while supporting my creative endeavors. While experiencing galleries, I discovered my passion for creating art. Through the guidance of my dad, Tim, I began to explore multiple art forms. He instilled the courage to get messy, make mistakes and try something new. Soon after, through a random friend request, I met Daniel. Read more>>

Jenna Chandler-Ward

As a teacher, I wondered why when we talk about race in education, we were only ever talking about black and brown educators, families and students. However, In the US, almost 84% of teachers are white, but less than 50% of students are white. This racial disparity might be acceptable if student experiences and outcomes based on race were equal. But they are not. For example, students of color, black students, in particular, are suspended or expelled three times more often than white students. Teaching While White is trying to explore all the different ways the whiteness of educators and schools is going unnamed — because there can be no true discussion or progress without acknowledging the impact that race plays on education. We are particularly interested in how teacher expectations affect students — despite best intentions. Read more>>

Jessica Sharples

To be honest, after I successfully wrote, produced and starred in my first short film (“Jen, 28”), I did not expect to make a second one. All that time, money, blood, sweat and tears… I didn’t want to go through it again.

Then my beloved cat Frankie, who I adopted and took care of for 7 years, died. Within one week, he went from head bumps to kidney failure. Grief came over me like a wave that refused to retreat back to the ocean. The pain I felt after his death was more than I could have ever expected – he was “only” a cat after all. But he was my baby, always by my side for the last 7 years, and now he was gone. Forever. Read more>>

Shaela Whitted

It was 2015, months after graduating college with my degree is fashion design & merchandising & I was desperately in search of a job in my field. I have always known my passion was in fashion & beauty just kind of came along later down the line. I filled out applications all day everyday and kept receiving denial after denial. I needed a creative outlet, & since it wasn’t going to be with my job I had to create one. I saw several people on social media, & that’s when I decided to give it a try. It honestly took a little push from being tired of my day to day. So I started with pictures and my brand has expanded over time. Read more>>

Melissa Harper

When the world shut down in 2020, like many others, I turned to TiKTok for fun. When I came across Run Buddy Mobile in Arizona, I knew that I found my dream job. David was exercising dogs in a van on non-motorized slat mills. Working as a Veterinary Technician, Receptionist, and Kennel for 22 years, I know dogs. I researched everything that I could regarding this, new to me idea, and saved. Read more>>

Terry Gant

Generally it started as a project while I was in college. The original idea just involved business continuity in event of natural disaster but quickly morphed into “online comic shop” and then after a few years, that became a “Brick and Mortar” shop. Read more>>

Mary ‘Olivia’ Verhulst

For a very long time, maternal mental health was something that was whispered about in hushed tones, if spoken about at all. People fear they will be seen as “bad moms, inadequate parents or that something terrible will happen if they acknowledge having very normal human experiences and struggles, such as identity grief, mom rage, postpartum anxiety or postpartum depression. As a therapist, I find myself wired to these experiences of shame and motivated to destigmatize these topics and help. Read more>>

Kim Sorrelle

 

 

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Four months later, my husband of 29 years was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed six weeks after that.
After so many conversations about growing old together, I became a widow at 47 years old. I had to figure out this new life. One thing I needed to figure out was the real meaning of love. I wanted to know I was doing this whole business right. Read more>>

Gbale Allen

In 2019, I was an actress working for a local theater company and also working acquisitions at a property investment company. Both jobs were somewhat flexible, as I worked around 20 hours a week for the investment company and acted in the evenings for one to two shows a season. My husband, Julian Allen, had handled all our living expenses since the beginning of our marriage, but by then we had two children, Neema, 10, and Nasir, 7, who were 6 and 3 at the time. As you can imagine, money started getting tight. I knew that the next year, when my 3-year-old would turn 4 and start preschool, I could work full-time, help my husband, and potentially start acquiring a lifestyle we wanted our children to experience. Read more>>

Kate Johnson

In 2005 my husband and I moved with our two young daughters to a small farm in Boulder County which had been a lifelong dream of mine. A couple of years later we decided to get two dairy goats as 4-H projects for the girls. Once our first doe had kids, and once those kids were weaned, I had a lot of milk to deal with. She gave us over a gallon a day! So I started making my own cheese, and eventually entered some of them in the Boulder County Fair’s amateur cheesemaking contest. After winning a Champion ribbon at that fair, the Extension Office (who organizes the fair along with 4-H clubs and leaders) asked me to teach a class. It was a big hit and soon the requests for more classes started coming in. I got a bit more formal training by taking an advanced course from some Vermont cheesemakers as well as one in San Fransico but realized that there weren’t really very many people making cheese in Colorado – let alone teaching it. I continued teaching a few classes here and there as a hobby for several more years until I just couldn’t deny the popularity of the topic and decided to go for it by opening a cheesemaking school in Longmont where I live. Read more>>

Marc Kerachsky and Leslie Morgan N/A

The truth is that we had been sitting on one too many Microsoft Teams calls that felt like the proverbial “Groundhog’s Day”. Part of the same global team, Marc was in the quagmire of a global marketing position that felt like everything but marketing and Leslie was an operations leader navigating corporate procurement realities that prevented meaningful strategic progress. Read more>>

Ty Howard

I started this Crazy adventure in the Fall of 2015 when a family friend suggested I sell desserts for the up coming Thanksgiving holiday.. If I’m honest I was totally against the idea mainly because although I truly loved baking and making treats I didn’t won’t to do it as a business simply because I felt like wouldn’t enjoy it as much anymore. Well I simple decided to give it a try and we was so busy that Thanksgiving my husband was still delivering cake on Thanksgiving morning. On January 08 2016 Cake Me Crazy was founded and we stared selling cake slices to 5 restaurants in the DFW area over the years Cake Me Crazy has been pivoting to custom preferences , trends etc because our mission is to provide great customer and and providing baked goods and pastries that make sweet moments sweeter. I can’t say we are solving a problem because whenever I’m asked this question I joking say to people really need sweets- so I would say I’m solving a need/ want etc but people can get sweets anywhere so what makes us different is our dedication to making sure our products are pleasing to not only your palate but is also brings a smile to your face cause desserts supposed to make you happy. Read more>>

Dinah Karrys

I grew my first flowers in the spring of 2022. I had been growing vegetables and herbs for a couple of years and learned from another grower that ranunculus grew well here. I loved the idea of growing flowers that I could then cut and bring into my home and also share with friends and family. When that first small bed of ranunculus bloomed, I was elated. I couldn’t believe such beautiful flowers could be grown here in our desert climate. I brought them in my home and shared them with friends who were equally blown away. From then on, I devoured any information I could about growing cut flowers. I added other varieties the following year. It didn’t occur to me that it could be a business until I had some people tell me that they would pay to buy my flowers. It seemed like a pipe dream that I could make money doing something I loved so much but I decided to make an instagram where I could share all of the flowers I grew. I started putting small arrangements and bouquets on my IG page for sale and they sold out very quickly. The response was so validating and gave me the confidence to continue building my business. Last spring, I added even more flower varieties and I’m just getting started! Read more>>