When Noa was just 12 years old, she found that she had a knack for seeking out the best babysitters and nannies in her surrounding NYC neighborhoods. She also realized how crucial a nanny can be to a person’s childhood, and how important having a well-matched, skilled nanny really is.

Noa decided to create a service to help match nannies and babysitters with families in her surrounding NYC neighborhoods. The business quickly became impressively successful, especially considering Noa’s age. Families could now easily be matched with a babysitter or a nanny that would relate to their children and help to provide a good quality upbringing.

However, as in all businesses, there was a lesson here for Noa to learn. She was putting in 40-hour weeks in addition to being a full-time middle school student. Obviously, this was quite a struggle for Noa and she was finding herself struggling to find the time to keep both commitments afloat. As a result, she decided to bring in an expert entrepreneur with several decades of experience so that Noa could focus on school for the time being. She is still involved in the company, but is now not leading it, instead spending the time necessary on her schoolwork.

This is an excellent lesson: sometimes people bite off more than they can chew given their commitment levels and time. When this happens, it is important to find ways to balance work life with everything else going on. Noa could have continued to run her business, but it clearly would have been at the detriment of her schoolwork. She decided to prioritize her classroom education, and so found a way to be able to do that while still maintaining ties to her business. It would not have made sense for Noa to just decide to stop her business; after all, she had worked very hard on it. Instead, it made more sense for her to innovate and bring in an outsider to run the business and relieve stress from her. This arrangement allowed Noa to focus more on her schooling. In the future, she can go back to running the business if her priorities change, or when she graduates school and finds herself with more time on her hands. Noa’s story offers a fabulous lesson in priorities and decision-making.

Caleb Nelson and the story of Rickshaw Romeo is yet another fabulous example of why it is important to keep your eyes and ears open! Caleb overheard a discussion that his father was involved in – his father, a hotel owner, was looking for ways to attract more people to the downtown. Caleb’s gears started turning and he came up with an idea: a pedicab business. He would pedal a bicycle attached to a carriage where his passengers would ride.

There was one major hang-up: Caleb was 14 at the time. Purchasing the pedicabs would cost nearly $10,000, not exactly money a 14-year-old could find under the couch cushions.

In true entrepreneurial fashion, Caleb decided to make a deal with his father: if Caleb raised half of the money needed to finance his venture, his father would create the other half. His father readily accepted the challenge. In short order, Caleb had raised $5,000 from selling advertisement space on his future pedicab. His father dutifully contributed the other $5,000 and Caleb was off and rolling!

He planned his launch to coincide with a local Shakespeare festival, even providing his peddlars with period correct clothing. The business was a huge success, and Caleb is well on his way to becoming the sole owner of his business (his father currently still owns part of it).

This story is a lesson in several things. For one, it is so crucial to keep your eyes and ears open. You never know how you will stumble on a new business idea. Additionally, sometimes getting creative is required to secure money to start a business. Caleb could have just given up when he realized that at fourteen, he would need to raise $10,000. Instead, he viewed this as a challenge and got creative with ways to conquer that challenge. Caleb’s business is successful because of hard work, as well as creativity and attentiveness.

Pockets. As a guy, I’ve almost never had to deal without pants without pockets. One time, and exactly one time, I got a pair of shorts without pockets. They were returned within a week, and I have checked for pockets in every pair of pants I’ve purchased since.

Apparently, females aren’t as lucky. Unlike men’s pants, pockets are not often standard on women’s pants. What a pain this must be – I could not imagine not having a pocket to put my wallet, phone, and anything else I happen to be carrying around.

Sofi Overton noticed this problem – she witnessed her cousin put her phone in her boot because she didn’t have a pocket in the pants she was wearing. This observation lit a spark in 13-year-old Sofie’s mind: since a good percentage of woman’s pants don’t come with pockets, why not give women the power of pockets in socks instead? Based on this inspiration, Sofi formed a company called “Wise Pocket.” The Wise Pocket would safely hold a phone, giving a lady (or guy) wearing a pair of pocketless pants a place to put their phone. However, Sofi didn’t just stop with the Wise Pocket. She went on to create a line of leggings that also include pockets. Though it appears that they are not yet up for sale, the Wise Pocket website lists them as “coming soon.”

Wise Pocket is a great example of why it is so important to observe the world around us, looking for pain that needs solving. Sofi found a pain point – women’s pants typically do not have pockets – and created a solution: a sock with a pocket. Had Sofi not been observing the world around her and been oblivions to the struggles to her family, friends, and peers, she likely would not have created this product. So… keep your eyes open; you never know great business ideas you might discover!