Necessity is the Mother of Invention
People are wildly creative. Give us a problem, something that inconveniences us, frustrates us, keeps us up at night, and we will find a way through it, around it, or past it. We always do.
My mom used to say it all the time: necessity is the mother of invention.
At the time, it felt like one of those phrases you nod along to. Now, I realize it’s actually a blueprint.
Because here’s what I see happening all the time: we live in an era where you can make money doing almost anything, and yet so many people feel completely stuck. “What would I even do to make money?” becomes the question that keeps them frozen.
To me, the answer is surprisingly simple:
Sell one of your inventions.
Not inventions in the Shark Tank sense. Not patents or billion-dollar ideas. I mean the small, scrappy, deeply personal solutions you’ve already created just to make your own life work.
For me, it looked like this:
I wrote a children’s book to help my daughter through school drop-off separation anxiety. It worked for us. Now it’s something other moms can use too.
After losing my wedding video, and realizing the company who made it was out of business, I built a private family archival website so we’d never lose a core memory again. Now, I help other families preserve theirs.
I got tired of texting my mom every time I wanted to make one of our family recipes, so I made my own cookbook. Now, that lives beyond just me.
None of these started as businesses. They started as friction. As problems I wanted solved. As moments where I thought, there has to be a better way.
And here’s the thing: if you’ve solved a problem for yourself, there’s a very high chance you’ve solved it for someone else too.
We underestimate how universal our “very specific” problems actually are.
Someone else has a toddler who won’t let go at drop-off.
Someone else has lost something they can’t get back.
Someone else is tired of piecing together family recipes from memory and text threads.
Your solution is not small. It’s just close to you.
So if you’re feeling stuck, if you’re waiting for clarity or a big idea, don’t look outward. Look inward. Ask yourself:
Where have you already gotten resourceful?
What have you already figured out the hard way?
What have you quietly built just to make your own life easier?
That’s your starting point.
Because necessity is the mother of invention. And your inventions? They already exist.
The only question is whether you’re willing to see them not just as survival tactics, but as something valuable enough to share. Something someone else would gladly pay for.
Something that could become the foundation of a life and career you actually love.
