A guy at a gas station in 2019 gave me the best bumper sticker idea I ever had

I was filling up near Spokane and this older dude pulls up next to me with a faded sticker that said 'My other car is a broom.' I laughed and asked where he got it. He said his wife made it for him after he retired from driving a school bus for 30 years. That conversation stuck with me because it was simple but personal. I ended up making a batch of 'My other ride is a push mower' stickers that sold out at a local hardware store. Has anyone else gotten a random idea from someone they only talked to for two minutes?

2 comments

2 Comments

michael89512d ago

Are you really sure that conversation was the reason or just a good story? Most small business ideas crash because people chase a quick laugh instead of actually checking if anyone wants to buy the thing. That hardware store sale might have been luck, not a sign you found some goldmine.

miles5412d ago

Hold up @michael895, you're kinda writing off a whole way of thinking here. Yeah, luck plays a part in every business, but that hardware store moment wasn't random (the guy literally came in because he couldn't find what he needed anywhere else). If you just look at surface level luck, you miss the bigger lesson: sometimes a real problem is hiding right in front of you, and that conversation was the first clue. Plenty of successful small businesses started because someone complained about something, and the owner listened instead of laughing it off. You can't just call everything luck without digging deeper, or you'll end up ignoring actual demand (which is way worse than chasing a quick laugh in my book).