Scarcity Creates Innovation | November 2025

Recently Rob & I met with an Executive of one of the most impactful nonprofits in the country, Convoy of Hope. I learned so much that day … one thing stood out more than anything: the organization's incredible efficiency. The depth of their intention to be great stewards of every resource, every donation entrusted to them was beyond inspiring. Convoy’s impact has come from consistently putting 91-92% of their donations back into programming. What I was told that day was this: "Scarcity creates innovation." Even though Convoy has achieved tremendous success and is now in a place to invest money in marketing to gain more visibility, their response to spending money on 'advertising' was an emphatic "no!" citing that "scarcity creates innovation." When we lack the things we think we need to accomplish something, that very 'lack' forces us to think outside the box and create solutions - create innovation.

Scarcity is a word that usually makes us feel anxious, it suggests limits, lack, or shortage. But what if we flipped that script? What if we acknowledged that our greatest acts of creation often don't come from abundance, but from the simple, profound necessity of lack?

In the early days of my real estate career, I felt the sharp scarcity of time and consistency every day. I was running a daily fire-drill. Every client file was started from scratch, every closing document was pulled from a different source, and every marketing email was written anew. I had the heart and the drive, but the lack of a reliable process meant my focus was always on putting out fires instead of serving my clients strategically and it was causing a negative impact on the quality of my life and on my most important relationships.

The innovation wasn't inventing a new app; it was inventing my own standards and processes. I knew if I wanted to stay in this business and keep my family intact, I had to make a change. I chose from this lack of consistent, repeatable systems to create detailed workflows, templates and standards that are now the backbone of my real estate business. I took that scarcity of time and turned it into an abundance of efficiency, creating documents like the 'Seller Roadmap' and the structured 'Escrow Timeline.' That internal necessity forced me to stop relying on hope (hope that everything will work out) and start relying on a system.

That is why the message of scarcity creating innovation resonates so deeply with me. It’s not about hoping for more; it’s about becoming better with what you already have.

The perfect example of this limitation sparking a legendary pivot is the origin of Nutella . After World War II, cocoa was heavily rationed and incredibly expensive in Italy, creating a severe scarcity. Determined to create a chocolate spread, pastry maker Pietro Ferrero stretched the tiny amount of cocoa he had by blending it with plentiful local hazelnuts. What began as a mandatory substitute became a new, billion-dollar product that would never have existed without the post-war shortage.

And, in regards to movie blockbusters, the original Star Wars film is a masterpiece of resourcefulness. Director George Lucas faced massive scarcity, including a tight budget and special effects technology that was too slow and primitive for his galactic vision. This lack forced him to create his own innovative company, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), where they had to invent cheaper, faster techniques like kit-bashing and the computerized Dykstraflex camera. Lucas turned a scarcity of time and money into the modern standard for all movie special effects.

These stories remind me that innovation isn’t about having endless resources; it’s about resourcefulness. The greatest breakthroughs often happen when we stop asking, "What must I acquire?" and start asking, "What do I have, and how can I use it in a completely new and innovative way?" Scarcity, whether of time, resources, or inventory, is the mother of all invention.

I hope that any limitations you see in your life, whether it's a tight schedule, a specific budget, quality of life or a professional challenge, not as a barrier, but as the friction needed to spark your next brilliant idea! And, when you create it, I’d love to hear about it!

With deep gratitude,

Rica

P.S. I don’t own stock in any of the companies mentioned above. ;-)