Each summer my children have a summer business. Entrepreneurship has changed my life, and I hope to help my children fall in love with it from an early age. This year is Finley’s first opportunity, and she was amazing the entire time.
On Saturday, we spent most of the day baking cookies and packaging them, and in the evening, (after the temperature went under 90 degrees), we went door to door selling her products. Finley baked two kinds of cookies – chocolate chip and rainbow sprinkle sugar cookies.
Finley learned a few lessons from this year’s business. She learned how you can make a product, how to package and sell it, and that you make money doing so. She learned she can boldly knock on doors and sell like a pro. She made change for customers (some 5’s and a 20), answering the age-old question, “How is math going to help me in the real world?” And tying ribbons around cookie baggies will most certainly help her in learning to tie her shoes. 🙂
To make the product she, mom, and dad enlisted the help of premade mixes from Pillsbury and Nestle. After baking, we wrapped them in Seran wrap and decorated with ribbons. Finley was involved every step of the way, even asking to wash the pans to clean them for new batches.
On the marketing side, we set the price to a convenient $1 per 2 big cookies. She even made a big sign, so people could see it from the street. Finley went door to door, because you got to go where the people are. She sold 31 packs of cookies to about 15-20 customers. She got a handful of unanswered doors and 3 rejections. She handled the rejections very well, thanking the customers every time, and moving on to the next house.
She learned her spiel: “Hi, I’m Finley. I’m selling cookies 2 for $1. Would you like some?” Later we added “This is my first summer business.” Learning the spiel is always super hard for little ones, but Fin memorized hers pretty early. Finley eventually told us to stay on the sidewalk as she wanted to brave the front doors by herself. Her big brother was inspired to buy her cookies too.
Near the end, the high energy started to wane, and she took her boots off. Lesson learned: Boots are not really made for walkin’. The last few houses she took on barefoot. Below, the boots are tucked into her backup basket for the cookies.
By the time we circled the block, she was tuckered out and sold the last set to our neighbors across the street. A perfect ending to an exciting adventure.
We saved counting her earnings until the next day; she made a whopping $49 her first (and only) day on the job. She went the next day and spent most of her earnings on some fun rewarding toys and crafts, but the real reward is the power of what she learned and the seeds she planted for the future. Way to go big girl, way to go.
