Have you ever wanted to get away from the hustle of your daily life but not have the time to plan it? Well you are in luck! Pack Up and Go is a surprise travel agency that will do all of your planning for you. This company was started by a Lillian Rafson along with the help of a few world travelers that believe in the healing properties of experiencing new places and adventures.  Having traveled to many different corners of the world themselves, this team is able to help you relax, clear your mind, and be rejuvenated after one of their surprise adventures.

You are probably wondering how this works exactly.  First, by visiting the website and signing up, you will be prompted to a questionnaire so the team can get to know you better.  This includes your price range, recent places you’ve visited, along with things you would enjoy doing and experiencing.  You can then pick whichever three day weekend you would like and your surprise vacation has been booked.  It sounds a little crazy, but with the help of your questionnaire, the team creates a perfect destination just for you.  All destinations are based within the United States to allow for quick and easy travel.

One week before your big surprise, you will receive information on the weather of your vacation along with ideas on what to pack and when to be at your traveling location.  Many of the destinations can be accessed by plane but for those who want to travel by car or bus, the option is open as well. A few days before the trip, you will receive an envelope sealed and waiting for the big day.  At your traveling destination you will open your envelope and reveal your surprise three day vacation.  Inside the packet is your travel itinerary, including ideas on restaurants and sights to see.  Now that you have everything you need, you are off to explore with all of your accommodations in place. Are you ready to pack up and go?

Growing up, it seemed like every kid wanted to start a lemonade stand.  Maybe this was your idea to raise a little money in your neighborhood or your family’s idea to get you out of the house.  For Mikaila Ulmer, it was so much more than a neighborhood lemonade stand.  She started a lemonade company, Me & the Bees Lemonade, with her grandmother’s secret recipe that used flaxseed, and other ingredients not normally found in lemonade.  Ulmer uses honey from local bees in her products.  However, the relationship between Ulmer and these bees were not always a loving one.  Ulmer disliked bees, due to be stung multiple times.  She then researched the insects and became fascinated with all the benefits bees have for the ecosystem and ourselves.  She wanted to help out the local population of bees while also creating a product that was beneficial for her clients.

Ulmer took her idea onto Shark Tank and came out with an incredible offer of $60,000 to help spread her business.  From there, it took off.  She now has a contract with 62 Whole Foods stores across the country. Along with the traditional lemonade, Me & the Bees Lemonade now has a variety of flavors including teas.

This past March, Ulmer was able to seal a distribution deal with United Natural Foods for $11 million dollars.  This allows her product to reach a larger audience.  Arian Foster, and a few other NFL players saw the promise of Ulmer’s business, and wanted to be a part of a great cause. They have invested over $800,000 because they felt that Me & the Bees Lemonade had a great product and the people involved were doing it for the right reasons. Just another example of someone turning a simple idea into a multi-million dollar business.

Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia moved in San Francisco in 2007.  Starting a life in a new place, they didn’t have jobs and had a hard time paying their bills.  They got a brainy idea to start letting people stay with them.  At first this may seem like a crazy idea, but after buying a few “airbeds” they quickly created Air Bed and Breakfast. Although this was a great idea, they needed more help.  Soon after Nathan Blecharczyk joined as a co-founder, they changed their website and relaunched the company in August 2008.  This was right around the time of the Democratic Convention, where they marketed to those coming into town.  Over 600 people stayed at Airbnbs during this time with the slogan “Obama supports, staying with Obama supporters.”  They knew that their business would slowly crash after the convention so they came up with the idea to sell cereal, Obama O’s and Cap’n McCains, to raise money to get out of debt raising over $30,000.  After pitching their idea of Airbnb to many investors, the founders decided to head to New York, their biggest market, to meet their users.  During this time, they realized many different things about their business, Airbnb.  They started with poor pictures, going door to door taking better pictures of their listings for potential clients.  This allowed for more traction within their business.  By March 2009, Airbnb had 2500 listings and 10,000 registered users.  From then on, Airbnb took off.  Today, it has over 2 million listings in over 190 countries.  From two young, broke men to an estimated $25.5 billion business, Airbnb has changed the way the world looks at travel.  Although the founders of Airbnb were not always successful at first, their perseverance prevailed and created one of the most successful businesses of our time.

https://www.airbnb.com/

BioBots

Starting a business on the rooftop of a college bar is not your typical business adventure. Danny Cabrera and Ricky Solarzano came up with the idea in 2014 to start a company that would solve some of the most challenging medical issues in life.  Their idea was BioBots, a 3-D printer that prints live human tissues and bones for research purposes.  These two entrepreneurs met in college at University of Pennsylvania and combined their knowledge for biology to create a company that, as their slogan says, “Build with Life.”

Currently, BioBots has two models.  The BioBot 1 that was first created as a desktop printer, and the new and improved BioBot 2, that now takes desktop printing to a whole new level.  This jumps the medical industry ahead in time with the ability to print live tissue in a lab. The BioBot can print any type of tissue as long as it can be extruded through a syringe. It could change the dynamics of medical procedures by  allowing doctors to “print” out new skin with proper antibiotics for burn wounds and could even replace bone and blood vessels.  Within 3 years, these co-founders have taken a simple idea and created a million-dollar company that is changing lives.  These BioBots are allowing researchers to make groundbreaking discoveries and hopefully save lives.

The medical field is always changing.  With big entrepreneurs like Cabrera and Solarzano, who knows what the future holds and what ideas may surface.  Maybe one-day printers, like the BioBot, will be replacing transplants and make perfect organ matches without the wait.

https://www.biobots.io

Everyone likes to get something fun in the mail, whether it’s a letter from a dear friend, a monthly subscription for fun products, or an order you recently purchased online.  Have you ever wondered what man’s best friend thinks about when you sit there opening your box or envelope with a look a sheer joy?  Maybe that was the question that sparked the minds of the founders of BarkBox. BarkBox is a monthly subscription for your favorite four-legged companion.  Each box comes with a theme and includes a variety of toys, treats, and chews that are all unique.

In 2012, Bark, a group of three crazy dog people, created this monthly subscription box to allow for dog enthusiasts to branch out from just purchasing specific items on their website.  At Bark, they feel that dogs are more than just pets, they are family and they should be treated as so.

These individuals have dove into a niche market of monthly subscriptions and have taken the term “crazy dog people” to a whole new level.  It truly is innovative, that these entrepreneurs could see a need from their customers and jumped in with some great ideas.  The founders of Bark thought that their dogs needed toys and treats that were groundbreaking and had yet to be placed on the market.

Individuals, such as those at Bark, have taken a market that is thriving throughout the country and created an idea that allows dog owners to spoil their pets a little more.  It is not easy to dive into a market that is already commanded by big companies and create and idea that may shift the money of their potential buyers to a “newbie” in the business.  For some, the idea may be off the wall and would never subscribe to a monthly box for their dog.  For others, it is a fascinating idea and want their pet to have the same luxuries they receive in the mail monthly.  Whether you are for or against this innovating idea, you have to admit that there are a large variety of people who would jump on the idea after one quick commercial and love the concept of spoiling their dog.

https://barkbox.com/

Have you ever been scrolling through your social media feed and see a sponsored ad for something beach related pop up? Or maybe it was just something that caught your eye? For me, this happens often and recently it was for a company called Sand Cloud.  Sand Cloud is an organization that sells beach related items and donates 10% of their sales to saving marine life.  The founders behind Sand Cloud are a couple of young men who felt that there was a need for increased funding to be provided to already operating organizations in their area.  This need revolved around marine life, from physically saving them to legislative acts to protect and care for them.  These entrepreneurs had a passion which in itself is a unique quality.  Another unique quality is their drive to help the community that they currently live in. Sand Cloud not only donates to an organization that is literally in their back yard, the San Diego Coastkeeper, but also four other organizations that are committed to saving marine life.  By combining their drive, passion, and knowledge of the members of their community; they were able to come up with a company that would be able to sell beach related items with their logo.  They also were able to make a name for the company as a dedicated supporter of a great cause.  When individuals can shop at a store that not only has great, fashionable products but also joining a great cause, they are more likely to increase their goods in their shopping cart and continue to come back and shop.

The founders at Sand Cloud show two of the most important traits I feel an entrepreneur needs to have, creativity and a love for the cause they are striving to benefit.  They are taking a simple way to sell products and transforming it into a brand that goes further than just paying their wages.  The founders of Sand Cloud inspire me to make future business adventures more than just an income and benefit more than just myself.  I have learned from these young entrepreneurs that you do not have to travel across the world to make a difference.  There are always people and things that could benefit from a little passion, hard work, and innovation.  So next time you see that ad while scrolling through your news feed, take a second to think about all the details involved in creating it.

https://www.sandcloudtowels.com/