Did you ever sell anything from the end of your driveway when you were a kid? Do your kids sell stuff at the end of your driveway now that you’re an adult? Maybe lemonade or chocolate chip cookies or old toys? I was talking to a parent the other day who told me that they were house-cleaning and had a load of old toys to go to the thrift store…or the garbage can. One of their boys asked if he could try sell the old toys before they were donated. The deal was that if he sold a toy then the rest of the pile would stay in the garage and he could keep selling. Well, this young entrepreneur started selling and that pile of old toys in the garage is getting smaller and smaller with every passing day.
We don’t have any old toys to sell around our place but we do have a garden with dozens of zuchinni, hundreds of cucumbers, and thousands of beans. Four of our younger kids aged 4-9 told me they wanted to set up a stand to try sell some of our produce. We don’t really live in a high-traffic area. We are 20 minutes out of town and five miles down at the end of a dirt road. Not exactly a commuter hub. There is an intersection of two dirt roads about a mile away. It has a yield sign, a stop sign, and a couple cow fields around it. We’re talking major traffic…or something like that.
I thought this would be a good opportunity for some life lessons. (My wife asked me the other day if every event has to be some sort of life lesson. What do you think?) The kids picked some fresh produce, loaded up some folding camp chairs, and grabbed an old table from the shop. We were off down the road for an afternoon of raking in the dough. It was afternoon. 2:00pm in the afternoon to be exact. They were raring to go so out we went. Mid-afternoon is not really rush-hour traffic but we had a few pickup trucks drive by. Every time a cloud of dust appeared in the distance there were kids standing on camp chairs exclaiming, “A car’s coming! A car’s coming!”
A few of those trucks did stop. Some were just friendly neighbours stopping for a chat. But there were others that actually stopped with mitt-fulls of cash. One of those shoppers looked suspiciously like their older brother, Sterling, on the dirt bike he just bought. But he said his name was John so it must have been a case of mistaken identity. I did think the dark sunglasses and drawn-on moustache was suspicious but he was spending money so I wasn’t going to ask any questions.
The kids were excited about making a few dollars. They even started planning the next days’ sales strategy. Memories were made. Money was made. Lessons were learned. Is there a money-making idea your kids are thinking about? Why not let them give it a shot? Time flies. Make every moment count! Especially the profitable ones.
Jason Weening eats a lot of cucumbers with his 10 kids and one wife. Read more of their adventures in his book, “Yes, Dear…I’m Watching Them” on Amazon.