What Am I Made For?

(Minneapolis) – If it weren’t for people coming up with ideas, we wouldn’t have cars to bring us places quickly, lightbulbs to make it possible to see what we’re doing at night or the Post-it note, all inventions that have transformed the world.

“I really appreciate those who are innovating. The more ideas the better,” said Nancy Meyer, M.A. Meyer is a former professor of entrepreneurship and small business finance at two prestigious universities in Minnesota. She has been studying innovation for decades.

Meyer is also a mentor, podcaster, business owner, and author, whose latest book has the potential to help guide the way for the next generation of entrepreneurs. What Am I Made For? Cultivate and Grow Big and Little Ideas, set for release in March 2026, is a tool designed to help readers cultivate and bring their ideas to life.

The book begins by exploring where ideas come from, how to determine if they are worthy, where to turn for help developing them, how to test them and how to ultimately bring them into the marketplace.

“Ideas can come from unexpected experiences and concepts that can bring about profound change,” said Meyer, who added that the world needs both conscious entrenovators and intranovators, proprietary terms she has come up with to explain two key kinds of idea generators.

Conscious Entrenovators (a deliberate blend of an entrepreneur and innovator) are vision-driven, creative problem solvers who launch companies, disrupt industries, and push innovation. They tend to have entrepreneurial spirits and are opportunity-focused, risk-tolerant, and execution oriented.

Andy Puddicombe and Richard Pierson of Headspace are great examples of Conscious Entrenovators. On their path to becoming mindful, they were curious about how to help others live mindfully, which led to an app for meditators.

Conscious Intranovators, meanwhile, are people who deliberately drive ideas within an existing organization. They develop new ideas, products and processes, drive change internally, and use company resources to build innovative solutions.

Key traits of Conscious Intranovators are that they think like a founder while working within an established organization. They are proactive and self-driven, strategic thinkers, creative problem solvers, and comfortable challenging the status quo while working with ad hoc teams to advance their ideas.

Google is a good example of a company that is made up of intranovators. Employees are encouraged to spend 20 percent of their time developing new ideas.

“In all the research done on entrepreneurship and innovation, they are always married together. I thought why don’t we have a term that really represents the process? In entrepreneurship, you need to be innovative to have an idea. It must be some new idea that people buy into in some form.”

In addition to exploring the process, Meyer also shares the history of entrepreneurship in the book and tells the stories of several famous innovators, including Art Fry, the intranovator from 3M who invented Post-It notes; Jack Canfield, the 1990s icon behind the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books; and Mahomud Ali, the entrenovator behind Midwest Bakery Inc., a Minneapolis-based company that offers Halal bread for members of the Muslim community.

Halal bread is baked with plant-based ingredients, water, yeast, salt, and halal-certified emulsifiers, ensuring compliance with Islamic dietary laws.

Meyer also included a chapter in the book on the importance of finding a good mentor. “I don’t know where I’d be without mentoring,” said Meyer, who credits Oprah Winfrey as one of hers.

In addition to being very informative, the book is also a treasure trove of resources Meyer has developed over the years, including the WeMentor Entrenovation Compass. The assessment tool can be used to determine if a person has a creator’s mindset, if they have an inner foundation driving them, if they are an adaptive leader, and if they are suited to build an enterprise.

“I just feel very strongly that if people understand a little bit more about how their mind works and how their heart works, and really engage with the work they were meant to do here, they can stay closer to their values and have confidence in how they move forward,” said Meyer.

“Whether the idea develops into something or not it’s really about you.” Meyer said the book was inspired by the many resources she created for colleges while teaching and a phone call from Eric Koester, founder and CEO of Manuscripts, a corporation whose mission is to inspire, teach and support modern authors.

“During our conversation he asked me to share a story that had stuck with me over the years,” said Meyer, who was quick to bring up her father, who along with her mother raised her and her five siblings on a dairy farm.

“I shared that my dad would have ideas all the time. Some would get implemented. Some would not. When I was in high school one time while we were milking cows, he mentioned building a cabin in the woods,” said Meyer, who didn’t know if it would ever happen.

Decades passed and the idea kept coming up but didn’t get implemented. Meyer’s father retired and sold the farm when he was 70 years old. “Around that time, he bought two plats of land in North Central Minnesota. One plat was four acres of woods,” she said.

Ten years later, Meyer’s father finally acted on his idea. “He ordered a do-it-yourself kit with pre-measured wood and started building the cabin. My 82-year-old uncle helped,” said Meyer.

After sharing her story with Koester, the idea to write a book was cemented in her mind. “I wasn’t ready to do it then, but a year or so later, when he called back, I was,” said Meyer. “This has been a dream of mine for decades. I just didn’t know how to put it together.”

Manuscript’s team of publishing professionals helped Meyer make her dream come true. Reviewers say the content has the potential to help a lot of people.

“In What Am I Made For? Nancy Meyer invites readers to explore how ideas—both large and small—emerge and evolve. With an emphasis on self-inquiry and intentional action, the book offers a reflective and empowering perspective on leadership, creativity, and contribution,” said Melanie Joy, Ph.D., psychologist and bestselling author of Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows’ and Getting Relationships Right.

“Nancy draws on her experience growing up with entrepreneurial thinkers, being a teacher and becoming an entrepreneur herself to guide the reader through how to develop and grow a business. She also deals with the mental and emotional challenges that come with it that most ‘how to’ books don’t,” said Deb Pitzrick.

“In this well-written, captivating work, the author shares her lifetime entrepreneurial experiences, both as a teacher and researcher.  The book presents an easy-to-understand guidance to anyone seeking ideas to use in an individual or classroom setting,” said Gordon Beavers.

“Gen Zers need this book. They are looking for some direction and some ways they can pull together what they have been learning. They need help organizing their lives in a way that makes sense to them and has meaning. They are not motivated by other things,” said Meyer.