How Young Entrepreneurs See Value and Make Sales

Today was one of those days.  Where you just scratch your head and wonder how this ever came to pass.

My 11 year old son love finding hidden gems.  He has no fear of asking anyone for anything.  And he gets excited about selling and making money.  And my daughter enjoys helping him do the same.

So I’m not that surprised when they bring things back from outside the dumpsters.  One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Bike and Riprider

Today started no different.  The treasure hunt began with well built BMX bike in good condition other than a missing seat and a couple flat tires ($50 value).  Definitely fixable and a nice frame that would hold up for years.  Good find for my son since he doesn’t have a bike at my place.

Next he comes up with a Razor Riprider ($50 value)

Ok.  The little collectors are on a roll.

Then they take a break.  And what do they do on their break?

Selling Bead Necklaces

Well they were at a St. Patrick’s Day parade this year and picked up a bunch of beaded necklaces that were tossed from the floats.

And then they came up with a plan to sell the beads to people in the apartment complex.  And later at a couple parks we went to.

They even had sales letters and pricing sheets.

Now I didn’t see them sell any of these beaded necklaces.

But they kept coming back with more money…and fewer necklaces.

They didn’t sell any for more than $2.  Nearly all were $1.

But for kids their age they were excited.

They had no fear or doubt.  They’d talk to anyone and everyone.

And by the end of the day they had $8 in their pockets.

Baseball Cards…and the Unique Find

So what else did they do?  Well my son also located three 4″ thick three ring binders filled with 1981 and 1982 baseball cards in the plastic sleeves.  They’d been left overnight so some of the cards were wet from the night’s rain.  But nearly all were in excellent condition.

And I’m guessing some guy’s girlfriend gave him an ultimatum.  Either the baseball cards go or she goes.  And he dumped the baseball cards.

So we brought home the cards and took a run out to the baseball card shop that was nearby to see if anything was worthwhile.

Now the owner didn’t want to buy any today.  He said these were the years when a lot of cards were manufactured so the values were pretty low.

But he did offer to look through them and give us an idea of which, if any, might have some value.

Well after a half hour review of the cards, he came up with a very nice one.  Not life changing.  But definitely an nice find.

It was a Cal Ripken, Jr rookie card.  Worth about $20.  And in better condition than the one he had in his store.

So as I look back on today I see my kids generated the following.

• $50 Bike
• $50 Riprider
• $8 Bead Sales
• $20 Cal Ripken Jr baseball card
  • $128 Total Value

Total Value…Priceless

Now I know that wasn’t all converted to cash.  But it was definitely a valuable exercise for my kids to practice all phases of entrepreneurship including:

• Locating hidden treasures
• Acquiring them for nothing
• Identifying the market to sell through
• Crafting the marketing message
• Selling the product
• And learning the life and business lessons that go along with them

Are you working each of these phases in your business?

Are your eyes open to the opportunities?  Go forth and sell.