Josh James did the same thing. He would go to a client site and read and read on a particular subject. And when they said 'oh that's a stupid idea' - he'd be like 'well, Coke doesn't think so'.

If you have 60 minutes, this talk is inspiring.

http://byuebusiness.blogspot.com/2009/12/josh-james-december...

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1164483