Coffee is supposed to keep you awake, and that’s why Counting Sheep Coffee is different. The new Canadian decaffeinated brand includes powdered valerian root,  a natural sedative that people have used to nod off since the time of ancient Rome and Greece. We’ve previously talked about ‘energy drinks’ which taste the same as their regular counterparts, but have a relaxing effect. Maybe the Counting Sheep people saw that idea and decided to apply it to a hot drink.

I’m not suggesting you should copy the coffee or the energy drink, but rather take inspiration from the idea. When a product is supposed to do one thing, give some thought to whether there might be a market for a version which does exactly the opposite.

As a bloke I struggle to understand women’s obsession with shoes, and I struggle to understand their obsession with shoes they can’t actually walk in, even more. When Mike Horan was forced to carry his girlfriend because her stiletto’s were too uncomfortable for the walk home after a night out, he had a brain wave – rollup shoes which could be stored in a handbag and pulled out when function became more important than form.

Five years later Rollasole shoes are available in the likes of Debenhams, House of Fraser and Selfridges, and Horan has a successful business. It hasn’t all been plain sailing, but the rewards are now coming through…and all because he identified a personal problem and decided to do something about it.

The next time something annoys you, rather than complain, try to figure out if there’s a product which could solve the problem. For every unsolved problem there is a lucrative business opportunity waiting to be discovered.