“A policeman had a perfect hiding place to screen speeding drivers. But one day, everyone was under the speed limit, the officer investigated: a 9 year old boy was standing on the side of the road with a huge hand-painted sign which said “SPEED CAMERA AHEAD.”
A little more investigative work led the officer to the boy’s partner in crime, another boy about 200 meters beyond the speed camera with a sign reading “TIPS” and a bucket full of coins.”
Moral of the story: find a speed camera, warn people and get money for it. Actually,
don’t do that, I’m just kidding. The point is there are some services or products people are willing to pay for and if you find what they are you can make a profit out of it. A clever person will find solutions to common problems and act on it. Have you ever seen an invention and thought, “why didn’t I come up with that?” You didn’t come up with it either because you didn’t think about it hard enough or if you did, you didn’t have the motivation to do something about it.
Sandy Stein hated losing her keys at the bottom of her purse. She dreaded having to dump everything out of her bag to find them. Not finding her keys made her late to meetings, doctor’s appointments, and other important events. One day she dreamed of a solution (literally it came to her in a dream). The next morning, she invented a key hook that would keep her keys handy by hooking on to her purse: the Finders Key Purse® key finder. Many people told her it wouldn’t sell but she didn’t listen to them and instead spent her life savings building her company. Six years later, she is still in business selling her popular Finders Key Purse® key finder accessories. Sandy’s invention has created a stylish and
practical solution to an everyday problem!
Ann Skydell Harmon was a special education art teacher. Creating jewelry from soda can tabs started out for her as a school project. Soon after, people started raving about the eco-friendly bracelets and Ann decided to start a jewelry business that would help the environment. She was happy to show the world how beautiful jewelry can be created out of recycled materials. You know what they say, “one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure.” Ann buys the soda tabs from non-profit charity groups, polishes them, and hires talented assistants to help her make the jewelry. Today her jewelry company is
very popular and has received numerous awards for its environmentally friendly mission.
Sandy and Ann are truly clever women! Here are some characteristics of a CLEVER person (you may find you’re cleverer than you thought):
C= Creative and inventive
L= Likely to be skillful/dexterous
E= Expert at seizing opportunities
V= Vivacious, original, and bright
E= Extremely quick to understand, learn, devise, and apply ideas
R= Resourceful 
~Clever Pal
