A dad can’t find a bakery to make a birthday cake that can accommodate his daughter’s allergy-related needs. Two freelancers realize they need a way to organize all of their client contracts and can’t find software that adequately handles their use case. Necessity is often hailed as the mother of innovation – but not all ideas come from necessity. Unfortunately, in our experience, often media coverage of the ideas that powered amazing businesses and projects often stops at a very superficial level. The founders noticed a need and boom – idea. Often the ideation process has a much longer, more complex story and so we’ve asked some entrepreneurs and creatives we admire to go into detail about their ideation stories.

Shann Watson

After the effects of Covid, losing hours of work and not being able to provide proper childcare for my children, I decided to do what I’ve always dreamed of, starting a skincare business. As a result of a tremendous amount of research, Prissaholic was created. The idea behind these products was to create something that would not only smell and feel great, but would also provide relief for an issue I was experiencing, dry skin. Since I battled with eczema, I was motivated to finding a way to relieve the dryness in my skin and to make it softer. I would go to several stores for products the doctor recommended, but most of them never worked and they all had the same “plain Jane” coloring in their packages. I then decided that if I was going to start my own business, I was going to make my products more effective, noticeable and crafty. In addition to guaranteeing results, I wanted my customers to feel enthusiastic by allowing the vibrant colors to bring joy and happiness to their daily skincare routine. Read more>>

Nikki Ausdemore

While working at my last job, I realized that the corporate world wasn’t for me. After many years of running my own businesses, I wanted the freedom of being my own boss again. I also saw this as a chance to reinvent myself, rather than returning to my previous ventures. During my search for new opportunities, I discovered Kristin Ingram’s Bookkeeper Training School. With my passion for finance and organization, bookkeeping felt like the perfect fit. Read more>>

Mamie Lew

It was the first dream that I put on paper, but it’s turns into so much more. In my Lisa Frank diary, when I was around 10 years old, at the very top of the first page, I scratched out in cursive “I want to grow up to be a country singer.” It all started with an innocent Christmas gift from my Gran Gran. A small red Walkman with a cassette player and a small dial radio built into the side. was moving and something I wanted to share. I wanted to be able to give that gift to other people like it had been handed to me. Read more>>