I was talking with a budding entrepreneur last month about a car accident she was in. She experienced whiplash and injured her neck. Ever since the accident she has had difficulty sleeping because her old trusty pillow is not nearly as comfortable for her anymore. So she invented her own pillow design.

Now she can sleep like a log, but doesn’t. Something new is keeping her awake.

She realized that if the classic style pillow bothered her so much, it probably bothered others. And if her new designed helped her so much, it would probably help other whiplash sufferers too. Cue the business idea.

The moment she had this realization, she bought a sewing machine, fabric and started testing dozens of different stuffing materials. I can’t reveal her name or her concept just yet – she is still a few months from launching the pillow and finalizing the patent. But what I can say is this… if you are bothered by something, so are others. Find the fix, and others will find (and pay) you.