The Budding Entrepreneur

A few months ago our towns public school sent out an email to all the elementary and middle school students about a June marketplace. It was an optional, ungraded project where the students would get an opportunity to create a product or service and sell it at the marketplace. There were no restrictions, you could work alone or with a partner. 

I talked to D about it.. explained to him what it would entail, the concept of profit and expense, the various products or services that could be sold and let him mull over it.. I wanted to make sure he understood all the extra work it would mean.. after a week of going back and forth.. he decided he wanted to participate.

He decided to make upcycled tin can pencil holders. He began with making sketches.. while I started to collect tin cans. 

We did an inventory of all the things we had in the house.. so that we could minimize our expenses.. and then the work began. We worked on one can per weekend.. we didn't use most of the designs in his sketches.. I wanted to teach him that ideas are not concrete.. we have to let inspiration take it course.. be flexible.. something he is not known for. 

Two sides of the same can.

We brainstormed on names.. he took a family vote. Laynaad was the winner. It's his name backwards. Then he created a logo. 

We had a few fails.. a rainbow made of pipe cleaners.. the pipe cleaners refused to stick and stay put.. children's pains wouldn't stay put either.. so we had to scrap the rainbow idea.. we were really trying to limit our purchases. 

A total of $12 were spent.. most of it was spent on buying a sealer.

The day of the event.

It was a two hour outdoor event in the middle school. D sold 5 out of 9 pencil holders for $5 each. He made a profit of $11. His grandmother and aunt have already called dibs on two. Two more left.. his other grandmother wants to buy one as well. 

Lessons learnt: 

Earning money is hard. 

Never give up.. ( it took him 30 minutes to sell his first one.. and the last two sold in the last 30 mins..)

Our observations: 

Instead of taking the opportunity to teach their kids a lesson in business far too many people took the easy way out by reselling. I kid you not there was a kid selling Doritos and Pringles. 

A large number of kids were selling sweet confections.. cupcakes and cookies everywhere you looked. While some looked child made many did not.

Those above type of sellers took away a lot of focus from the kids who really had worked hard. The little girl next to us was selling braided key chains.. she sat and made more while she attempted to sell.. she was so focused. While so many kids left their tables maned by their parents and decided to frolic with their friends instead. 

Nonetheless it was a great effort by the school district.. there were over a 100 kids selling.. hopefully the school district will continue with this annually but maybe regulate a bit more.. 

We were very proud of D. He is normally a shy child so seeing him trying to work the crowd was amazing.. that night I think he was trying to sell a few in his sleep as well.. 

   

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