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Budding Entrepreneur

 

What is it to be an entrepreneur?

Here's the recipe:

  • Look for things that people don't want to do, or offer a way to do things more efficiently.
  • Let people know that you're willing to do it at a price that attracts them to what you offer.
It's not rocket science. Just takes a bit of initiative and persistence.

I brought my youngest sons out into the back yard and walked them through the exercise of thinking this through.

"Are we going to pick up poop?" Austin asked.
"No. I'm going to teach you a bit about business."

He looked at me skeptically.

We discussed why people pay money for things and how businesses make money. We talked about services. I then asked...

"Are you excited to pick up poop?"
"No. Are you kidding?" Austin said.

And then Jacob lit up. "But nobody else is either. They would pay to have someone pick it up."

Connection!

And off he ran. "So how much would you charge for picking up poop?"

I explained that it depends on what seems right to the person doing the service and the person buying the service. If it feels right to both, then it's a deal. I then suggested that $5 for picking up poop would be a decent price. If they work methodically and with focus, it might take them, at most, 10 minutes to clean a yard.

My ten-year-old son, Jacob, is good with math in his head. He immediately blurted out, "That's $30 an hour!"

(I want to sidebar with you adults reading this: translated, that's potentially $60K a year, working full-time.)

My neighbor hired Jacob. And, as predicted, he made $5 in ten minutes. She walked her yard afterward and found no poop. He did it right, and she commented that he's not only cute, but efficient. She would gladly hire him again.

After he was done, I explained that if he found a dozen people who wanted that done on a regular basis, he could make $60 to $100 a month. For a kid in elementary school, that's serious money.

Seed sown.

 


by Brett Rogers, 9/5/2009 6:42:48 PM
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