Today’s post is a fab story of how children can be taught the art of business at a young age. It’s a guest post brought to you by the LeBrick Family, a family that loves Kid Entrepreneurship, Kid STEM and of course, each other.
Over to the LeBricks.
Last week, I went to help a friend out at her garage sale. My friend Kim had told me that she might need some help with moving things around and I volunteered to help. Kim has a 7-year-old daughter named Anna. I decided to bring Toddler LeBrick.
Before I arrived, I had thoughts only of helping my friend to move, arrange and sell things. I did not intend to buy anything myself. Lord knows how much stuff we already have in our own garage.
However, that was before I came face to face with Anna, a naturally chirpy and cheery girl. She was also a gifted salesperson and negotiator, something I didn’t know about before.
When things were slow at some point during the garage sale, I started looking through some of the kids dresses just because I liked looking at dresses. Anna noticed me looking and immediately bounded up to me.
“Are you looking for a dress for Toddler LeBrick?” she asked cheerily.
“Urm…maybe…” I replied hesitantly.
Anna immediately piped up, “Here! I think this would look gorgeous on Toddler LeBrick,” and thrust a pretty red dress to me.
“She likes purple…” I replied hesitantly, unable to say no to this enthusiastic sunbeam of a girl.
“I have got something like that. Let me look.”
Anna looked through her pile of clothes and handed a purple-colored pirate-themed Halloween costume to me.
“Urm…maybe not that…she doesn’t really like pirates,” I lied.
In actual fact, I had no idea if Toddler LeBrick liked pirates or not. I just knew that I didn’t.
“That’s okay.”
I knew that there were no more purple dresses in that lot.
Anna left me alone and bounded away.
I continued browsing.
A few minutes later, Anna appeared at my side again, this time holding a pile of story books.
“I think Toddler LeBrick will like these,” she said helpfully as she handed me the pile of books to look at.
Before long, she was showing me her collection of dolls, tiara crowns and toy phones.
When she saw me hesitating, she immediately offered, “The soft toys are free. Toddler LeBrick can have anything she wants.”
At the end of the garage sale, Anna had not only sold a box full of stuff to another mom but Toddler LeBrick was also holding onto bracelets, coloring books, cooking toys and a whole kitchen set.
Anna expertly counted up the total and gave me a “friend discount.” Kim told her to give it to us for free but we insisted that Anna take the money for the great work.
When I was leaving, I mentioned to Kim that Anna was really good at it. She replied, “Yeah. I told her that she could look after any kids who came and keep anything she sold to buy something for herself.”
And there it was. The right incentive from a parent.
Anna had not only displayed enthusiasm but also initiative, great listening, enticing me with a “free gift”, upselling and persistence. On top of this, she had managed to add up the total correctly too.
I left the garage sale being impressed with Anna but more importantly, I knew that Kim had trained her well and incentivized her in the right way.
There’s a lot that we can do to create entrepreneurship interest in a child. Simple things like teaching kids about business plans, giving kids a sense of ownership and fun opportunities to practice their skills as well as guidance along the way.
Despite their age, kids are great salespeople because they sell with such simplicity and it’s hard to say no to a kid. Anna sold, and I bought.
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