Three Sources of Inspiration for Budding Entrepreneurs

Are you thinking about starting your own business but are lacking inspiration? Read our first-hand business success stories from entrepreneurs who have successfully and effectively turned their inspiration into an accomplishment.

When it comes to launching your own business starting out can be tricky, so it’s important to have the inspiration to drive and guide your business strategy and hard work.

Twill interviewed numerous entrepreneurs who have launched successful small businesses to find out what inspired them to go solo in starting their own businesses.

Finding something you’re passionate about 

When it comes to finding inspiration for launching your own business, perhaps one of the simplest answers is to think about things you are passionate about. Many of our entrepreneurs noted the importance of working on something you are passionate about, as it keeps you inspired and committed, but also assumes a degree of knowledge or expertise in the industry.

Alessandro Savelli’s inspiration to build the artisan pasta delivery company Pasta Evangelists was his passion for food and memories from his childhood. Growing up in Italy, Alessandro admits that the idea of Pasta Evangelists was born from a feeling of nostalgia, spurred by a pasta-making class that reminded him of ‘growing up in Liguria, in the Italian Riviera, where my nonna, Maddalena, would make fresh gnocchi by hand as a treat at the weekend’.

Providing a ‘better’, healthier alternative

Within increasingly saturated and ultra-competitive markets, finding a gap can be difficult. Therefore, rather than identifying a ‘gap’, many entrepreneurs find inspiration in providing a product that offers a better, healthier or more sustainable alternative to existing products. 

Nadia Simpson, the owner of Nu Elefa Naturals haircare brand, grew tired of the abundance of hair products on the market that ‘contain harsh chemicals and with long term use have adverse effects on the body’. As a result, Nadia was inspired to launch a haircare brand that uses ‘ancient plant remedies that have been developed across the globe for healthy hair’.

Lucie Halley followed a similar inspiration when starting her brand EYO Active. Despite the size of the activewear market, Lucie found that most of it was produced from fast fashion and so she wanted to create a sustainable activewear brand that ‘matched (her) personal morals and wasn’t hurting the planet’.

As people become increasingly aware of and interested in the ethics and long-term impacts of products and services, starting a business that provides a ‘better’ option to existing products is a great source of inspiration.

Personal experience

Many entrepreneurs take inspiration from their personal life or even that of close friends or relatives. Experiencing a struggle or ordeal first-hand can often reveal a need or want that is currently unfulfilled by products or services on the market.

This was the case for Sonny Drinkwater, co-owner of the grocery delivery business Welleasy. Sonny explains that the idea for Welleasy was born from personal experience, as he as co-owner Josh suffered from a period of significantly poor health’ at university.

As a result, they began to learn about good nutrition, finding that the ‘UK makes it incredibly difficult, inconvenient and expensive to make healthy choices’.

This inspired them to create a business that made it easier for people to eat healthily affordably and conveniently. Well, easy exemplifies a business inspired by first-hand experience.