We have recently started allowing our sons to earn a small allowance for doing extra chores around the house and yard. They have enjoyed being able to save up their money to buy different items, such as Lego’s, that they otherwise wouldn’t receive until their birthday or Christmas. It didn’t take very long for them to realize that it takes a long time to be able to buy anything with their allowance money alone.
Earlier this year, my younger son decided he’d like to create some sort of business in order to earn money faster. My husband and I steered him toward being a student entrepreneur by growing and selling pumpkins. It didn’t take long for our older son to also jump on the band wagon. The boys purchased their seeds with allowance money. They bought $3.25 worth of seeds. We all pitched in clearing more ground next to our family garden so they would have somewhere to grow the pumpkins. My husband spent many hours busting sod and putting up fencing to help the boys with their business. The boys also spent many hours helping to bust sod and using the wheelbarrow to haul the sod from the garden to the woods next to our house. We showed the boys how to plant their pumpkin seeds… which was the easiest part of the job.
All summer long, the boys faithfully carried water out to the garden to water their pumpkins. We had an extremely hot and dry summer, so they had to water just about every day. They were thrilled to watch the vines grow, to see the flowers bloom, and to view the pumpkins as they grew bigger and bigger.
The boys just sold their pumpkins earlier this week and they earned $99. Not bad for a $3.25 investment and some sweat equity! They had more potential customers than they did pumpkins; so, next year they would like to break MORE sod and plant MORE pumpkins.
My boys have learned so many lessons from being student entrepreneurs:
1. Perseverance – For awhile, it didn’t look like they were going to get any pumpkins at all. They had to replant a few seeds and push a few more back into the ground. The first several weeks of their new business was a bit discouraging for them. After a few weeks of continuing to water, however, the first vines appeared and the boys were glad they hadn’t given up.
2. Hard Work Pays Off – My boys didn’t feel like watering every day. They didn’t enjoy having to haul bunches and bunches of sod from the garden to the woods. The task of weeding wasn’t very enjoyable to them. Once the pumpkins were sold and the money was in hand, however, they were so glad that they had spent all of that time in the garden!
3. Don’t Waste Your Money – My boys have always had a habit of spending every penny of birthday, Christmas, and allowance money on toys. No matter how much we tried to persuade them to save it or to buy something of more value, they would resist us. After working so hard to earn their pumpkin money, however, they came up with the idea of saving their money to purchase their own laptop. They are starting to understand the value of money.
4. Computer Skills – My boys took their business seriously. They learned how to use a spreadsheet to track the hours they spent working in the garden. They also recorded the money that was spent on their business.
5. Teamwork – When there is a job to be done, my boys aren’t always the best at doing what needs to be done. They tend to try not to do any more than 50% of the work so that they won’t feel like they are being taken advantage of by their brother. During their pumpkin business, they learned to appreciate the division of labor. One of the boys was better at handling the wheelbarrow – so one handled that responsibility. The other struggled with the wheelbarrow so he ended up being the one to hurl the sod into the wheelbarrow. Instead of fighting about who was working the hardest they ended up appreciating the fact that they were both handling separate tasks. They learned to delegate as well. Especially my oldest son!
6. Responsibility – Every day the boys had the responsibility to water their pumpkins. They were also responsible for keeping their patch weeded. We tried very hard not to remind them and to let them remember these duties on their own. As the summer went on, they got better and better at remembering.
7. Goal Setting – The boys are trying to decide how much money they’d like to try to earn next year. They are using the information they have recorded in their spreadsheets to project how much additional land they will need to clear and how many pumpkins they will need to plant in order to achieve these goals.
8. Selling Skills – The boys sold their own pumpkins. They told everyone they knew that they were growing pumpkins during the summer. Once the pumpkins were ready, they made some phone calls to people who had previously expressed an interest in purchasing some. It definitely pushed them out of their comfort zone to make these phone calls – but people were very receptive and patient with them.
9. Good Customer Service – While delivering pumpkins to customers, they were extremely polite. They offered to help carry the pumpkins to their cars. They thanked everyone.
10. Integrity – While accepting payments, one customer misunderstood the prices and paid them $2 less than what they actually owed. My boys didn’t count the money until after the customer had left – so that was one lesson. The very next customer, however, accidentally gave them an extra dollar. They hurriedly counted the money as she was walking away. As soon as they realized what she had done, one son ran after her to give her dollar back. She smiled and told them they could keep it. But it took great integrity for them to be honest, especially when they had just been shorted by a previous customer.
Being student entrepreneurs has been an amazing learning experience for my sons. They have gained more responsibility and maturity from this experience than I ever dreamed was possible in the span of a few months time. If your son is interested in starting their own business, I would highly recommend it. What type of business they run will depend on their age and ability – but kids can learn so much from running a business whether it is something relatively simple such as a lemonade stand or a lawn mowing businesses, or if it is more complicated such as an internet business or self-publishing their own book. Encourage your children to try being student entrepreneurs. You’ll be amazed at all the new skills they’ll learn!
Question: Has your child ever been a student entrepreneur? What was the most valuable thing that he or she learned from the experience? Please leave a comment below.