{"id":14998,"date":"2011-08-23T03:00:44","date_gmt":"2011-08-23T10:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dollarstorecrafts.com\/?p=14998"},"modified":"2011-08-17T15:19:08","modified_gmt":"2011-08-17T22:19:08","slug":"lemonade-stand-stories-local-business-an-ipad-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dollarstorecrafts.com\/2011\/08\/lemonade-stand-stories-local-business-an-ipad-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lemonade Stand Stories, Local Business & an iPad 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A lot of people are on the search for the perfect money-making idea. As a kid, I was always on the lookout for some way to get money, because our allowance wasn’t really that reliable, and our parents didn’t have a lot of money to spare. (Not that you need that much money when you’re a kid . . . you’re probably only going to spend it on candy at the “little store” or else on CPTs\u2014Cheap Plastic Toys.)<\/p>\n

[image<\/a>: by pink.polka, creative commons license]<\/span><\/p>\n

My sister and I were a great money-making team. She was a great salesperson, and I was the one who got the big ideas and convinced us to go for it.<\/p>\n

The Lemonade Stand<\/strong><\/p>\n

I loved the idea of the Lemonade Stand. We had this series of books for kids that were all about different things, and one of them was called A Kid’s Guide to Managing Money (look, you can buy it for one cent on Amazon!), and it had something in it about a lemonade stand. I tried selling liquid refreshment at a stand, without much success. You know if you’re a kid and you think something’s “without much success,” you probably only made about thirty cents. We made our lemonade with RealLemon, water and sugar. What more do you need?<\/p>\n

Sidenote: I always stop at lemonade stands when I see them. My most memorable lemonade stand was the little red-haired boy in Astoria who was raising money to buy fireworks. He was dressed like Uncle Sam complete with beard and had John Phillips Souza marches blasting from a tiny tape deck. I not only bought some lemonade, but I went and bought him some fireworks.<\/p>\n

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[image<\/a>: by adwriter, creative commons license]<\/span><\/p>\n

A Kid’s Guide to Test Marketing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back to our childhood lemonade stand, which was a bust. I tried switching our product to iced tea, but who wants to buy iced tea at a lemonade stand? Ah, my very first experience in marketing and business failure. A week later, I opened a cardboard snack shop in my friend Christina’s driveway. We sold popcorn and cookies. I also tried lemonade again, but this time I made blue lemonade using food coloring. We attracted all the neighborhood kids, and we made about three bucks. Pretty good for a day, even after splitting the profits (and what costs? my parents were paying for all the supplies. I still hadn’t learned about pricing structures yet).<\/p>\n

The Path to Adult Entrepreurship<\/strong><\/p>\n

The story doesn’t end there. I had many more entrepreneurial exploits as a kid, teen, and even college student. I’ll save those stories for another day. And here I am, still making money from things I create, only now my product is writing about dollar store crafts on this website!<\/p>\n

Since you’re crafty, you might have had similar small business experiences. From these early craft-for-cash experiences, I built my confidence that I could make things, and people would pay me for them. For a kid, making things and then selling them is the ultimate in getting rich quick. As an adult, I know that making things to sell is just the beginning of the challenges of owning a small business.<\/p>\n

Intuit’s Love a Local Business<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Intuit loves local businesses, and is awarding over $1 million in grants in their Love a Local Business<\/a>program, which is so awesome! Do you own a local business, or do you know anyone who does? Why not nominate them to receive one of these grants?<\/p>\n

Or, you could vote for Dollar Store Crafts!<\/strong>Visit Intuit<\/a>and search for Dollar Store Crafts to vote for us!<\/p>\n

Intuit is helping small businesses achieve their dreams by awarding $25,000 each month to a local business! Note – votes are like raffle tickets \u2013 the more votes a business has the more chances they have to win.<\/p>\n

Reply to Enter to WIN an iPad 2!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been very exciting starting my own business, so I\u2019m curious to know: What dream business would you love <\/em>to start? By replying you will be entered to win an iPad 2!<\/p>\n

(You can just log in with your Facebook account to quickly and easily reply!)<\/p>\n

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Intuit\u2019s Love A Local Business<\/a>competition. The opinions and text are all mine. Contest runs August 10 to September 1, 2011. A random winner will be announced by September 6, 2011. Official Contest Rules <\/a><\/p>\n