Lessons In Business

Sheridan and Ethan shared a good lesson in entrepreneurship this weekend.  On Sunday they decided to have a 'sale'.  Now, we live at the end of a half-way developed cul-de-sac; traffic doesn't come our way often.  So I wanted to ease their disappointment ahead of time by telling them they may not sell much, and not to be discouraged.

Well, I felt bad for them so I took out some money and bought fossil rocks they had found.  Then Phil came home and did the same.  They were starting to get excited so they went inside and confiscated items like new pencil erasers, bows, a plastic tiara, silly putty, magic markers, etc.

And bless the sweet hearts of our Portuguese neighbors - Maria bought the tiara and bows for her little female dogs and Frank bought some stuff too from Ethan.  Then came Tessa, Keegan, and Emma and Karol (all neighbors).  They bought a few things from each child and they ended up with about $4 and $6 a piece.

Ethan learned that he had his items marked too high at first.  He discovered that a baseball-sized rock was not going to sell for $15, and told me, "I'll sell it to you for your garden, Mom.  You can just give me $5.  Actually $2 is fine."  We need to discuss bargaining apparently, I didn't even get a chance to talk him down.  Ha.
Sheridan did well and presented her items with interest and ideas on how to use them.  She ended up with more money.  That's good business sense there.  By the way, they spent over 4 hours sitting at their stations that they nailed together out of scrap wood from Jon and Taylor's house.

Anyway, my kids proved me wrong and I was happy about that.  It's fun to watch them grow up and discover these things on their own.  But watch that Ethan, he'll try to swindle you into buying a rock you can probably find in your own backyard.  :)