For those of you living in apartments, you know peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are essential to your survival. But would you ever expect that making a PP&J would actually be a turning point in your life?

This is the case for Erika Welsh and Keeley Tillotson. When they were juniors in college, the two girls were out of peanut butter, so they decided to have a little fun and make their own. After adding some different ingredients, the girls decided that their end product was so good that it was something they could sell to others.

After being on Shark Tank and gaining Barbara as an investor, the girls’ company Wild Friends Peanut Nut (formerly known as Wild Squirrel) is now very successful and selling in many of the big retail stores. The brand is successful because there are so many unique flavors; it’s not just your boring old plain peanut butter. To find out more about the Shark Tank story and the rest of the girls’ backstory, check out this article from the Gazette Review.

What is fascinating about Welsh and Tollotsons entrepreneurial journey is how it all started. How many people use Peanut Butter every day? How many people decide they’re going to make their own uniquely flavored peanut butter, and then try to launch it large scale and sell it all around the country? The college girls’ story is a great example of taking an everyday product and putting a spin on it to make something new. It leads to people to go back to the classic question: “Why didn’t I think of that?” Looking back it seems obvious- everyone always eats the same normal peanut butter, so why not create a new brand and make all kinds of different flavors?

We’re seeing people come up with multi- million dollar innovations in the science and tech industry all the time, and this can sometimes seem like the epitome of success. Welsh and Tillotson, with their entrepreneurial journey, remind as that the little innovations that are right there in front of us can provide just as much joy. Their story is inspiring because it is a reminder that there is always something that can be improved, or there is something fun waiting to be created.