I'm lying in bed thinking about how I can teach Tyler and Maija to make their own money, because they want bikes, and I come up with a brilliant idea.
I'll teach them to start their own business!
Sunday morning, it's my day for a date with Tyler.
Chris and Maija are already out on their date, so I sit down with Ty, the internet, an 8 1/2 by 14 piece of white paper and a black marker, ready to share with him the big plans I have for our date....
"Ty, you know how you've been talking about wanting to get your very first bike AND how you've been asking me to teach you how to make money like Daddy does?... Well, mom and dad COULD just buy you a bike, but we'd rather teach you how to MAKE money, so that you can buy one for yourself. It'll be really fun!"
"Wait," he says hesitantly, "where are you going to take me though?"
He's used to going to a park or the dollar store or some place fun for our date and is concerned that this money making adventure won't be a good use of his date with mom.
"I'm going to take you to the grocery store and we're going to buy cookies." I say.
"Why?" he asks skeptically.
"So that we have something that somebody wants. BECAUSE... ONE way that you make money is to sell people things that they want. AND you sell things to them for MORE than it cost you to make it." I speak slowly, hoping what I'm saying makes sense to him, but I DID record our conversation, so he can listen to it as he gets older too. I'm sure he'll glean more lessons from it when his brain can connect the dots more.
"And then where are you going to take me after the grocery store?" he asks with a mini pout in his tone of voice.
I sense his disappointment and try to sweeten the pot and have it occur like an opportunity to him rather than a bad date, "We'll come back home. We'll make some YUMMY, DELICIOUS chocolate chip cookies," his face starts to light up and the corners of his mouth curl up in a grin. "I think you could PROBABLY eat one as we're making them..."
"You mean a piece of COOKIE DOUGH?!" he asks, now thrilled....doesn't take much.
"Yeah!" I match his voice.
"I LOVE cookie dough," he starts to do a happy, wiggly squirm and claps his hands three times.
"I know," I smile, "it's gonna be a fun morning...and then we'll put the cookies in some plastic bags and we'll start our business! It could be called...'Tyler's Cookie Business'...or whatever YOU want to name it, okay?"
"I'm gonna name it...Tyler's Fun Helping Cookie Business!" he smiles and his eyes glisten.
"That's a GREAT name!" I smile, "So THEN, after we have our cookies ready we'll put them in a basket that you can carry, and we'll walk all around the neighborhood, kind of like you did when you brought treats to our neighbors at Christmas. You'll ring the doorbells and instead of just giving them the treats like at Christmas, you'll use what's called a 'script'. Daddy teaches realtors scripts all the time. A script is something you say when you want to make sure your message is clear. So when they open the door, you'll say, 'Hi!' Then you'll smile and say, 'My name is Tyler, and I'm saving up money to buy my very first bike. Would you like to buy a cookie for a dollar?'..."
"Yeahhhh," he says smiling.
"And then they'll say 'yes'..." I add.
"Mom, maybe, but, guess what.." he's so excited now he's stumbling over his words. "I want, for my birthday, I always wanted the FASTEST bike in the WORLD, THE FASTEST ONE!"
"I know! You've been wanting a bike for a long time," I say, "That's why I want to show you these options..."
I've got the internet on and a couple windows already pulled up to the bike sections: walmart, toys r us, target, kmart...we're keeping our options open.
I start browsing through different bikes, and the excitement is intoxicating! If it were up to me, I'd usually shop for sales and deals first, but for right now, I'm letting him choose. Sky's the limit! After all, it's all part of the lesson.
"How bout we put some Spider Man stickers on my bike, naybe." he suggests.
By the way, no, it's not a typo. My son says "Naybe" instead of "maybe"....usually I correct grammar, but this one is untouchable...too cute. I think because he's been saying it since he was teeny tiny, and it's one small way that I've held onto my baby boy that's now trapped in a big kid body. Other people don't even notice it, but I do, and I'm keepin' it, so there.
"That's a gooood idea!" I say as I browse through our options.
"HUHHHHHHH!!" he takes a sharp breath in. Then, in an exasperated whisper he says, "THAT ONE!"
"You like that one?" I smile and raise my eyebrows.
"Yeah, but guess what one I like better?" he says.
"What?" I ask, thinking he sees another he loves.
"Show me some more." he says.
He's crackin' me up!
"There's blue..." I point. "There's red..." I keep scrolling.
(By the way...shopping online first... good idea! It's really fun and easy. Saves gas, saves time, get to read the reviews online...seriously! I'm just sayin'.)
"I like the blue the best really! It matches the rocket ship shirt that I'm wearing!" He says.
"It does!" I say. "Here, let's click on it and see what it says....It's a blue, very cool bike...."
I trail off as I read the reviews and make sure I'm looking at the right size.
"Then after we've gone around the neighborhood and you've had a chance to sell some cookies and make some money, we'll put your money in savings until you have enough to buy your bike." I say, preparing him for the fact that we may not make all the money we need in one outing.
"Can you make THAT one bigger?" he points.
"Yeah..."
"Cause I wanted to see if it has Spider Man on it."
"That one has...something else on it..." I trail off waiting for the image to enlarge.
"I want THAT one!" he perks up as soon as it gets bigger. "Now we're talkin'!"
"Now we're talkin'," I giggle, "we've got the right size, we've got training wheels, it's blue, we've got brakes, we can take the training wheels off after you get the hang of it, and it's $110. Okay!"
"Yeahhh!" He whispers.
"That's good! Now we need to..." I start.
"Now can we look at roller skates and a skateboard? Cause I also want those two things." Ty interupts. I don't blame him. Shopping on line is fun!
"That's good to know, Ty, I'll keep it in mind that you want those things too, but right now we're going to FOCUS on the bike. Do you know why we focus on the bike?" I ask.
"Why?" he asks, perfectly on que, so much so that it makes me giggle because I know what's coming next.
"Exactly!" I say, "Because our bike is our BIG WHY. It's our REASON to start our business... because we want to save money up to buy a bike!"
"Yeah!" he says.
I grab the big white paper and a black marker and say, "The first thing we want to write down for our business is called our 'Big..."
"Blue Bike!" Ty interupts.
"Close," I giggle,"It's called our Big WHY."
I'm writing "BIG WHY" in large black letters as I'm talking.
"Why is it called our BIG WHY?" he asks.
"'Cause 'Why' is describing the REASON why we start a business. Okay? So our 'Big Why', our big reason, for starting a business is so we can buy our blue bike. Do you want me to write down the name of that specific one?" I ask.
"Yeah! And then I want you to draw it for me." he adds. "So when I show the picture to you someday, then you'll know what kind of bike I want."
"It's called a mongoose..." I say as I write.
"MonGOOSE!" he giggles.
"Decoy...." I keep writing.
"Decoy!" he giggles.
"Boys BMX Bike...and we saw it on the toys r us site." I finish.
"Okay," I say. "We've got our big why. Now let's set a specific and measurable goal."
"Wait,what's our goal?" he asks.
"Our goal is to raise enough money to buy this blue bike by the time we move into our new house. So to make it specific, let's right down how much money we need to make..." I trail off as I write.
I start up again, as I point to what I've written, "Okay. So. THAT says Goal: $110.
Next, you always want to give yourself a specific time line to work within. Since we're buying a short sale and I don't know exactly when we're moving, let's say by July 1, 2010. That gives us a little over three months to reach our goal. Sound good?"
"Yes!" he says with a Tiger Woods fist pump.
As my focus shifts to drawing this bike onto the new business plan that we are creating, Ty starts jabbering.
"What do you think Maija and Dad are doing on their date? he asks.
"I think Daddy was going to take Maija to the book store and read to her." I say.
"Why?" he says.
"Well, the neat part about our dates is that they give us special one on one time with you guys, and we can do something different every week, just for fun. It doesn't really matter to daddy and I what we do, we just enjoy our special time with you and we like to think of things that will be fun for you to do, or things we can teach you."
"Mom guess what we should get Maija for her birthday?" he switches gears.
"What?!"
He leans in and whispers to me, "We should get her a bike!" Then he sits up with his eyebrows high and a big grin on his face as he nods his head up and down,"don't you think?"
"I think that's a great idea!"
He continues, "She's never riden one before. Maybe in our big why we could buy Maija a bike too! Wait, only one with training wheels that is only size four, naybe. I don't want her to fall off. Naybe, some day if she gets too big for her bike, we can give it to someone else and buy her a new bike!" he's talking really fast 'cause his wheels are churnin' now!
"Wow, great idea! It's really kind, when you're done with something, to share it with somebody else. That's why I gave our Mr. Potato Head to Zae yesterday, because you and Maija are done with it, right?"
"Yeah, I bet he never had one before, did he?" he asks.
"I don't think so."
As I continue to draw the bike, the exhuberance is setting in and Ty says, "Oh man!
You and me are gonna have a really, really, REALLY fun date!" he's catchin' the
vision now, "we're gonna have the AWESOMEST date ever in the whole wide world that no one else in the world has ever had!"
I'm flattered and I giggle, "I think it's gonna be pretty awesome!"
I finish drawing the bike and I hold it up to show him, "What do you think?"
"YOU are the BEST bike drawer EVER! I love you ALL the way to Mount Everest." he exclaims.
"Thanks!" I soak in the uninhibited praises that only a five year old can give, "let me give you a hug!"
As I squeeze him I say, "I'm having fun creating a business plan with you! Are you having fun?"
"YEAH!!!!" he squeezes my neck.
"This is a great date!" I say, "Okay, now, YOU write your business name at the top and color the picture of the bike blue while I have some breakfast."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shortly after that, we're in the car, headed to Costco. I did a little groundwork for him by calling a couple grocery stores and finding out what their cookie dough prices were.
Of course, Costco had the best deal.
72 Otis Spunkmeyer cookies for $11.69!
That's 16 cents per cookie and we're gonna sell them for a dollar each.
Sweet! Nice profit margin.
Good thing Tyler's stinkin' cute! Don't try that if your kids are ugly.
Just kidding! LAUGH.
"So, Ty, I want to talk to you about another thing that's important in starting a business." I start in on lesson number two.
"Okay." He says, all ears.
"It's okay to borrow money from people called 'investors' in order to start your business." I say.
"Why?" he asks.
"Well, do you have any money?" I ask.
"No." he says.
"Well, investors do have money, and they like to help people start businesses, but they usually like to see a business plan, and they want to know a specific timeline by which they'll get their money back, after you borrow it. Often times they'd like to get a little more money back from you than they gave you, too. It's called their return on investment."
"Why?"
"Well, if you had money and you lent it to me to use, would you like me to pay it back?" I ask.
"Yes."
"And if I paid you back a little more than you lent to me, just to show you my gratitude for letting me borrow your money, would you like that?" I ask.
"Yes."
"Okay, since you don't have any money to start your business, but your cookie dough is going to cost $11.69, mom and dad are going to be your investors. We'll loan you the money to start your business, and then as soon as you make some money, you can set aside the first $11.69 to pay us back, okay?"
"Wait..." he says, but I know what's on his mind.
"Then you get to KEEP ALL the rest of the money that you make, and you can save it to buy your bike." I head him off before the upset can arise from his confusion.
I keep going, "So you know why I'm proud of you and willing to lend you the money to start your business?" I ask.
"Why?"
"Because you spent time this morning making a great business plan, a big why, and some very specific and measurable goals! Most of the realtors in Daddy's office haven't even done that." I didn't mean to criticize realtors. Moreover I just wanted Ty to know that he's being very WISE in his business planning....far beyond his years...
"Wait, why don't THEY make goals and business plans like I do?" he asks, and I love how much he's owning this process.
"Well, some do, but some either don't know how, or they just forget to plan their work and work their plan. Daddy teaches them to be purposeful about their business, but some people just aren't coachable, and they like to fly by the seat of their pants. They end up reacting to what life throws at them a lot, instead of creating a life they really want." I realize I'm talking over his head, so I bring it back to him,"You are very coachable, though, Ty. You listen well. You follow models. You trust mom, your business coach, to teach you what works. I'm proud of you!"
"Thanks." he says.
I took a couple pictures of him at Costco with my Iphone.
One was of him holding the huge red box of Otis Spunkmeyer Cookies over his head with both hands, like a trophy.
The next was of him paying the cashier with a $20 bill, his first business loan, from mom and dad, his savy investors. He has a cheesy grin on as he reaches way above his head to lift the money high enough to get it to the cashier. He's on his tiptoes. It's AWESOME!
On the way home in the car, we talk about the importance of putting that cookie receipt in a safe place, so he can track his expenses and be sure to repay the initial investment. We decide that on the fridge with a magnet would be great for now.
At home, the lessons switch gears slightly, from business plans and goal setting to hand washing practices and sanitary baking rules.
72 cookies later, we were ready to go door to door.
"Ty, before we go, I want you to head upstairs and put on your suite with the tie and vest." I say.
"Okay!" he says enthusiastically. He loves that outfit, "but why?" he asks.
"Well, it's important when you're starting a business to make a VERY good first impression. You want to look clean, professional, and you want to smile and speak clearly...It's all part of having people LIKE you. If people like you, they'll often want to contribute to you, or buy something from you." I can tell my answer was a little lengthy for him because as soon as I stopped talking, he said, "Okay!" and bolted up the stairs to change clothes.
"I want to change my clothes too!" says my 3 1/2 year old, Maija, who at this point has returned from her date with dad and has been thoroughly caught up to speed on everything that Ty's learned today, by Ty's excited jabbering.
"Okay, Babe, why don't you go put your princess dress on." I suggest.
I definitely didn't have to tell her twice. She, like all little girls, looks for ANY reason to wear her prettiest princess dress. Of course, the pink plastic heels and silver crown with pink jewels completed the ensemble.
If any of you reading this have inhibitions about letting your child go door to door in this manner, don't. People absolutely LOVE to contribute to a mini-entrepeneur starting his first business.
The first day out, Ty knocked on 12 doors.
8 people answered, and he got 7 enthusiastic 'yeses'.
The other one was a kid answering who's mom said no, and the kid was really bummed about it, but it didn't phase Ty at all. He just thanked him, went to the next door, and before he rung the bell he turned, looked at us standing a few feet behind him, and whispered enthusiastically, "Watch THIS!"
Dad and I were recording him with our video camera and we were cracking up!
Eventually the wind and rain stopped us from going to more doors.
Just so you know, Ty was willing to get an umbrella and press on, which we did, for a while.
But it was March 28th in Spokane, Washington and a big wind storm came too, so when it blew our umbrella inside out and started getting our business plan & picture of the bike wet, THAT's when Ty said it was okay to call it a day.
TALK ABOUT UNSTOPPABLE though! Kids are ALL heart!
When we got inside I said, "Okay Ty, let's have a business meeting."
"Wait, why?" he asks.
"We want to sit at the table, count up the money you've made, and see if you've made enough to pay back your investors, and make a profit in your first business day." I explain.
I'm not sure that all made sense, but counting the money sounded like a blast, so he was all in!
Lesson #3 (or 100 by now, I'm not sure which...big learning day): Identifying and counting money.
We'd never taught him before this day what a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, one dollar, five dollar, ten dollar, twenty dollar bill or a check was, so he and Maija both got a HUGE and VERY FUN crash course in money!
I'm sure you can imagine what that all looked like, so long story shorter....in his first hour of selling cookies door to door, he sold to seven customers and made $25!
You do the math.
Now, just so you know, I haven't done the allowance thing, or in any way given my kids money in the past, so this is Tyler's VERY FIRST experience of money and in his mind, he's RICH!
I took many, many pictures of him in his business suite with his first days profits, a large wad of cash, fanned out in front of him.
I blew them up to 8 1/2 by 11 and framed them and have now created the mental image for my son of him being wealthy and abundant.
He will look at that picture all the time growing up.
He will tell others the story of how he started his first cookie selling business at the age of five, and others will be mesmerized, all the time!
He was ECSTATIC!
He couldn't wait to get back out there and sell more.
The weather report for the next day was crummy, so Dad invited him to come to his real estate office to sell the rest of his cookies. By the way, Dad is the ceo of the company, so it was okay. If your hubby isn't the ceo, you should probably check with somebody before you do this type of thing.
Monday morning, we show up at Chris's real estate office and within an hour were sold out.
He made $50, and had $27 in pre-orders for the next day!
So we used some of those profits, went to Costco and bought more cookies.
Tuesday, day three of Ty's Cookie Business, we got up at 7:30 in the morning and baked cookies for 2 1/2 hours. We took them to Chris's office and Tyler sold all 75 cookies in 45 minutes and made another $85...obviously people we know were generously contributing to our young entrepeneur!
Check it out...
Three Days.
Total profit after repaying investors...$145.41.
Tyler set and massively exceeded his first business goal in 3 days!
He was ecstatic, but GUESS WHY!.....BECAUSE NOW HE COULD BUY A BIKE FOR MAIJA TOO!
Yes, I KNOW, he is HANDS DOWN the best brother to ever walk the face of the earth, I kNOW!
I'm exploding with pride!
Think about this though...
Shad Helmstetter, in his book, "What to say when you talk to yourself", paints a vivid picture of the importance of a parents words in a young child's life. He describes it as if every time a parent speaks, good or bad, to their child, it's as if those words are typed on a computer screen that is located right on the childs chest, and they become the child's programming for life...for how to see the world....for how to see themselves....
Imagine if your VERY FIRST experience of money in life was THAT:
~You are a very smart business person....
~You are capable of starting your own business and making enough money to buy
anything you want....
~Everyone you meet says yes to you.....
~People LOVE giving you money....
~You make people happy, just by showing up on their doorstep....
~You know how to plan your work and work your plan...
~You've experienced the benefit of beginning with the end in mind...
~Goal setting is easy for you...
~You can easily and quickly achieve and exceed any goal you set...
~You're unstoppable and you can create any life you want....
Can you even IMAGINE if THAT was your first experience in life of money and yourself?
Guess what?!
--------------------------THAT IS WHAT MY KID KNOWS ABOUT HIMSELF NOW!!!!!-----------
Guess what else?!
YOU CAN CREATE THAT TOO!!!
Let's raise THAT generation of kids, okay Moms?
Who's with me?
No comments:
Post a Comment