Both of my boys have the entrepreneurial spirit… I guess they come by it honestly. They’re both driven by the accomplishment of getting the sale and of course… the cash. {grin} Which is why they insist on trying the lemonade stand year after year…
This is the story of how my oldest took the lemonade stand to the next level this past weekend. On his second day he sold out with his Popsicle Cart before making it all the way through the block! If you think your kiddos might like to give it a try, read on!
Our neighborhood is swamped with people the weekend of Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day for garage sales. I don’t typically participate (we donate most things or we have a younger family member willing to take it off our hands), but the boys always want to sell lemonade. Always.
It’s an America tradition. And it’s also adorable.
What’s not adorable is how disappointed they are when they don’t get any sales. My heart bleeds for them.
So this year with absolutely no planning the first day, they set up the typical lemonade stand with the neighbor kids and after a bit the long faces came out and the “Mooooommmmm, will you buy something.” As you can imagine I quickly started for my purse. And as I was walking I mentioned that it would be great if they could go mobile. That was the beginning.
My oldest quickly started brainstorming ideas. In the end we have what you see above. A scooter, with a cooler full of popsicles, and balloons to help him get noticed.
He scooted around with such confidence. I was amazed because he’s a pretty quite kid. He sold three or four popsicles. All in all, pretty good for a first try.
On his second day out he brought his “A” game and he sold out before we even made the block. Not only did he offer popsicles, but he also offered sparklers. And no more just scooting around talking to kids… he started chanting “Popsicles for sale .25… Sparklers for sale .15…” He was so loud! And I was so very proud.
As a mom, I love that he’s learning about cost basis, upcharges, sales tax (of which he’s not collecting… but he’s paying when he buys product… and yes… I make him buy his own product), marketing strategy and on and on… at age 9. He’s a very smart little cookie.
Now that we were successful going mobile he has big plans to ditch the scooter and make a nice wagon for his bike. He might very well compete with our neighborhood ice cream truck all summer. He’s already talking about how we can offer only popular flavors and undercut their prices by almost half. I’ll keep you posted!
And if your kiddo gives this idea a whirl I’d love to hear about it! {smile}
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