Last weekend my son Asher, who is 6 and a half years old, performed his second summer business – a lemonade stand with a “twist”. Just like in his first business, we knew running a lemonade stand is all about through-traffic. In our old neighborhood, and even worse-so in our new neighborhood, the prospect of setting up a lemonade stand only to have my son sit there for a little while, with one or two cars passing by, would have been a exercise in disappointment. So instead, Asher went back out on the road with his wagon and took the product to the customer. His “Lemonade on Wheels” approach landed him door after door of fast sales by charmed customers.
Just like last year, he participated with mom and dad in all parts of the business. He washed the wagon,
measured and painted the signs,
squeezed lemons (…omg this was hard),
blended strawberries,
mixed the lemonade,
practiced his door to door spiel, and went out knocking on doors.
Since we talked about the need to get to ask many customers as quickly as possible being why we used the wagon over traditional means, I was thrilled to hear two neighbors reinforce this with Asher. People reminisced about their own childhood businesses, like our Postal Woman who pulled over and bought a glass from him. That was good, crowd-sourced learning.
Asher is quite charming and has a salesman’s confidence. Before we had even squeezed lemons he told our next door neighbors his plan, and they invited him to start with them. Two sales before a product is made – now THAT’s good salesmanship! :]
As we canvased our neighborhood, Asher began to recognize the signs when no one was likely to be home, and so he’d skip a house that was dark with no cars outside. He remembered and practiced his friendly body language, and when the neighbors answered he’d say, “Hi, I’m Asher, would you like to buy some fresh lemonade?” When they asked him how much, he’d reply, “$1 per cup”, and when they would say what do you have, he’s reply, “Strawberry or Regular”. He’d scoop ice, pour, collect the cash, and even had the opportunity to use his basic subtraction skills to make change. What do you know, that math we learn in school really does pay off! :]
Now I’m already proud and lucky to have both my kiddos (Fin is 2), and I’m excited that Asher wants to do these summer businesses (the lemonade stand what his idea back in February). But here’s where he blew me away. It began to rain, as it is quite likely to do here in Florida afternoons. And lately, these are torrential downpours. This day was no exception.
As it began to rain, which was about halfway through our journey, I ask Asher whether he was done and would like to go in. He said, “No”. He wanted to keep going, and we did.
We were lucky in that all the stuff was rain proof, so we were able to make rain-free sales on the door stops and just get soaked in between houses. House after house I asked if he was comfortable and wanted to stop. After about an hour, he was done. his last sale was a 3 cup house where he made change from a 5.
Asher ended up earning $33.50. He sold 33 cups worth, got 2 No’s, and a 50 cent tip. Not bad for a 6 year old and a few hours of hard work. The big value of course is for him to understand how businesses work, how money works, and hopefully give him a familiar pathway to entrepreneurship in his future career.
What fun Kidpreneurship stories can you share below? I look forward to sharing them with my children.