But on this occasion (Memorial Day morning) when Samantha and her friend H decided to sell lemonade by the gallon (for $12 a gallon!!) in order to earn more money, it seemed an excellent opportunity to discuss some small business basics and encourage them to think creatively. We discussed two topics:
1) know your customer
Who will buy your product? How much can your target market afford to pay for your product?
The girls determined mostly neighborhood kids and a few adult neighbors might buy what they are selling, if the price and product were something they would want. They thought most people could afford a dollar, some three dollars and even some five dollars.
They decided on hand-decorated, one-of-a-kind key chains (that also double as book marks). They would offer three options to fit different budgets: small for $1, medium for $3 and large for $5.
2) marketing matters
They hand-made invitations and went door-to-door to personally invite their friends to their "sale" and in the process, received their first order. In addition, they made signs, set-up a stand and added harmonica music to draw in potential customers.
Sitting along the road passively, even with a cleverly decorated lemonade stand, may only sell a few cups of lemonade at 50 cents a pop if you live in a neighborhood street with low traffic and only one way to enter.
Implement the first ever Keychain Stand with some custom marketing and different prices, and you will probably get noticed and sell products.
The girls sold $11 worth of keychains during their two-hour sale (Not sure combined profits from five years of lemonade stands ever netted that kind of income in two hours!)
Congratulations to a couple of budding entrepreneurs!
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