My 5 year Old Daughter's Entrepreneurs Day
Teaching my daughter about money is always fun and exciting. This latest venture has proved to be very educational for her.
At her playschool today was Entrepreneurs Day and each child in her grade had to have a stall and sell something to make money.
At the end of the day there are prizes awarded for various categories including best table and best entrepreneur.
Now while I have been taking note each year of how the judging works I just can't agree with how the prizes have been awarded.
In my mind being an entrepreneur is all about making money and being clever about the way you do things. Yes a pretty table is nice and all but that does not equal making money.
I wanted to keep our expenses down and make sure that our earning capability was not limited in any way.
I spent some time dwelling on how to go about this. Then I had it.... the local estate agent lets people use their jumping castle at no cost since it has their branding, and they do ask that you take a photo and post it to your Facebook profile.
Our table was not pretty, all it had was a poster on it and it had our money box. The jumping castle was next to our table. We charged kids R5 for 5 minutes and business was pumping the entire morning.
I have to admit that the other parents did a great job, their tables were nothing short of stunning and stocked with supplies. Cupcakes, lucky packets, sweets... you name it.
However at the end of the day these moms were packing up most of their stock to take home. We all then went into the hall for the prize giving.
Of course we came nowhere, no surprises there. While we were sitting in the hall moms were talking about how hard they worked and how much money they spent preparing for this event. Most moms didn't even cover their costs, never mind have their kids make a profit.
In the car on the way home my daughter asked why she didn't win anything. I explained to her that we didn't have a pretty table... however having a pretty table does not make you an entrepreneur. Having a good business plan and making money makes you an entrepreneur.
In my mind the best money making plan involves the least amount of effort for the most money. It involves the lowest start up cost and the guarantee of making money - having a product or service that your audience will love.
However part of the entrepreneur day spirit is that the children get to keep the money they make... and I am sure none of the other children are coming home with any money today. Not pure profit anyway, maybe their moms are letting them keep the sales money but that is not the profit.
I deducted the R50 that I had to pay for her to take part in the Entrepreneurs Day, as well as the R106 I paid for the laminated poster I had made up and this left her with R295 profit which is hers to keep. Yes I deducted the expenses making this a real life lesson.
There were additional costs during the morning since we all bought a sandwich and some cooldrinks from some stalls. Plus my kids kept putting their little paws in the money box and making off with it to return with candy floss, sweets and various other goodies. I have no idea how much money was leaked out this way, but it was a good fair amount!
My daughter decided to split her earnings with her 3 year old brother that worked hard all morning heading off into crowds of kids only to return a few minutes later with a gang of kids all armed with a R5 coin!
All in all it was a fun morning that was very productive. I would say that making R295 clear profit at the age of 5 years old in the space of 2 hours is a great success.
T
Have a great weekend peeps!
Recent Comments
18
Entrepreneur Day sounds like a fantastic way for kids to learn about making money. Too bad the judges placed so much emphasis on the pretty tables.
It's who has the prettiest table combined with who is on the PTA and who is friends with who actually, so it is far from fair. I did warn my daughter about this though so she knew she would not win anything from the school. So all in all I do think it was a real life lesson because life is not fair and you need to make your own path for your own happiness.
Lynne ~ thanks for the detailed analysis of a fun day. Your kids learned valuable lessons. They will end up as two bike kids (one to ride;one to rent). You train them well.
Larry
What a fabulous fun way for her to learn a real life lesson! You would think there would have at least been a prize for the most sales. Entrepreneurs day?????? Seriously? I bet she couldn't care less about a pretty table right now!
Start them young to save ...I had a jam jar in my kids room and told them to put loose pennies into the jar. It soon accumulated
Later on they opened bank accounts saved their monthly earnings when they worked during the school holidays
I think they have learnt to repspect money
Excellent post and thanks for sharing
Richard
Oh wow! What valuable life lessons. I was so hoping your daughter would win a prize for ingenuity and profit. Ho hum. So they call it an entrepreneurs day but really they mean baking day or fête? What I found particularly awesome was that your daughter had the only stand giving the kids good healthy exercise and fun while all the other stands were serving unhealthy eats.
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My takeaway fro this story...
Forget the frills if your ROI kills!
Well, done. Lynne!
Hahah YES exactly :) So many people are focused on a pretty website, focus on the money and ROI