Every once in a while, I see a business that makes me wish I’d thought of it. The Ugly Company was one of those.

When I joined my dad’s business, he had already built something solid.

Rivertown Foods made private label barbecue sauce for meat markets, butcher shops, grocery stores and barbecue restaurants. We made the sauce. They put their names on it.

My daughter Cate recently told me about the Tiny Farmers Market in Austin.

The market is literally held in the front yard of a house.

Over the years, I’ve had plenty of conversations with business owners that include some version of, “You know what we ought to do?”

Growing up, we talked about business at the dinner table.

A lot.

I've been talking to a lot of people about ideas lately.

And I've noticed something.

There are different kinds of idea people.

I drove by a building today with a sign that said:

Foster's Mfg.

That was it.

We use chip clips for almost everything in our kitchen.

Cereal. Pasta. Coffee. Cream of Wheat. Anything that comes in a bag and needs to be closed again.

Here’s an opportunity I keep noticing.

Most bars and restaurants are closed for a big chunk of the day.

My brother Jeff was reading one of my articles and said, “I have ideas like this every day.”

Then he told me about one.

I’ve been looking for a particular kind of gym.

I’m 62 and play pickleball several days a week. Lately, I’ve also been dealing with the assortment of knee and calf problems that seems to come with it.

I’ve heard the phrase a thousand times:

“It’s not personal. It’s business.”

I’ve never completely understood that.

I play a lot of pickleball.

And one of the hardest parts has nothing to do with pickleball.

It’s getting four people on the same court at the same time.

I notice businesses everywhere.

Most of them I have no intention of starting.

More than 25 years ago, my wife and I were flipping houses.

We did most of the work ourselves, which meant I did a lot of painting.

One thing I particularly hated was painting windows.

I have a lot of business ideas I’m probably never going to start.

Here’s one.

An office trailer park.

I had a walking meeting today and found myself wondering: Why don't I do more meetings this way?

Given the choice between meeting someone for lunch, sitting across a conference table, or taking a walk outside, I'll take the walk.

I see smart people start bad businesses all the time.

Usually, it's not because the idea is bad. In fact, that's often the problem.

The market looks good. The margins are attractive. It's scalable. Maybe they've done the research, built an MVP and tested the concept.

Everything says this could work.

It's a question we start asking kids when they're five years old.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

It's also a surprisingly hard question to answer.

When people reach a career crossroads, they often assume they need to reinvent themselves.

A new career. A new skill. Another credential. A completely different direction.

Sometimes that's true.

But I think there's a better place to start:

What if the best work for you simply uses more of who you already are?