At an early age I always wanted to learn how to make money. I wanted it now and I wanted it fast. I always thought of creative ideas to try and make an extra buck. One of my first ever ventures came to me when I was about 5-6 years old. It was a blistering, humid, and sticky summer day. The breeze was non-existent and temperatures seemed to be in the upper 90’s. I had an idea to sell some cold refreshments to people walking by my apartment building. I thought by showing them this ice cold pitcher of whatever I was serving, they would instantly buy and be refreshed.
I had to develop a plan. I was a kid after all. I had no money and my parents were no where in sight to ask for a small investment in my venture. I didn’t know how I could make a cold refreshment to serve to my customers. As I continued to look out the window, I could see that these people were in dire need of something cold to drink. As each person passed by, I knew that money was just flying out the window. I had to think fast.
After much thought, I decided to talk to one of my neighbor’s daughter. We shall call her Lisa. Lisa was a year older than I and was a bit taller. She was a tomboy and always played games and ran around with the boys of the neighborhood. I decided to take her on as my partner. She had the product and I had the business savvy to make this work, or so I thought. Our beverage of choice to serve on this blistering hot day was, lemonade.
We went to work right away. We made a huge pitcher of ice cold lemonade and made sure we had enough plastic cups. We both agreed on a price of .25 cents a cup and we would share the profits 50/50. We went downstairs and I started to walk up to complete strangers and asked them if they would like a cold cup of lemonade. After several people denied our ice cold beverage, I started to get discouraged. I thought to myself, maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all. I continued and continued to ask and not a single person wanted to buy. Being impatient and thirsty, I decided to dip into our product. Soon after, my business partner joined me and not too long after, our whole product went straight into our stomachs, netting us a negative profit. Not too long after, there were 6 adults walking around the neighborhood and they looked at our pitcher and asked if we were selling lemonade or something and if we had any more. Lisa and I looked at each other and just shook our heads.
The Lessons:
1. Be patient in business. Even if it may not work out in the beginning, perseverance and patience is essential in any business venture.
2. Never dip into your own supply. Like every drug dealer will tell you, “never dip into your own supply!” Once you start you just won’t stop and you will go bankrupt, or in our case, lose money.
3. Don’t give up. Try not give up when things get tough. Try and re-work your marketing strategy or boost up advertising to bring in new customers. There are always ways to increase business. You just have to look harder at times.
4. Be careful of partnerships. You never know what kind of hidden motivation a partner may have. Make sure you trust them and make sure they bring enough to the table where there will be no argument as to who is contributing more. Be careful of partnerships, but also embrace them. Sometimes partnerships flourish and great companies are formed because of them. Take Google for example.
5. Learn from past mistakes. Try not to make the same mistakes twice. I know it is easier said than done but it is crucial to get ahead and move along. If you keep making the same mistake, ask for help, never be ashamed of someone helping you as long as you can learn from it.
Seize every opportunity and learn from each and every experience. No matter how big or small, you can always find lessons in everyday life.
