I've spent my entire adult life working for The Man, but always having something going on the side.
Go back to fresh out of high school, I started out as an electrician. Within six months, I had people paying me to do wiring jobs on weekends. They avoided contractor rates, I made great hourly money. Win-win, as Steve Covey would say.
When I got my first computer in 1993, I engaged in a long-suppressed passion: writing. I discovered that a word processor program would do some seriously cool stuff, like catch typos, check your grammar, and allow multiple versions of the same document. When I joined AOL the next year, I was astounded and delighted to discover that there was an actual (modest) paying market for my scribblings!
Nowadays, I lease a dedicated server and host/develop websites. I also spend an hour or two per week blogging. All the while, Little Debbie pays most of the bills. I'm just busy enough, and get some great tax breaks, thanks to my S corporation.
In my case, and, I suspect, in the case of many of you, my willingness to work evenings and weekends on my own ventures was spawned by selling Kool-Aid in my neighborhood from a stand constructed out of cardboard boxes scrounged from behind Moonwink Grocery.
The startup costs were quite reasonable. A packet of Kool-Aid cost a nickel. The sugar was free, as far as I was concerned. So were the boxes. A childishly scrawled sign advertising drinks for a dime, and I was a businessman.
The stand was generally a summer venture. When you heard the cicadas sing, that meant that it was a hot day, perfect for picking up a few dimes in exchange for refreshing the neighborhood.
According to the disconnected voice in Field of Dreams, if you build it, they will come. This was certainly the case with a lemonade stand. I set one up several times during my childhood, and always made money. Sometimes, it would be a stranger passing by in a car who would stop and utilize my services, receiving a Dixie cup full of ice-cold goodness for their trouble. Other times, neighborhood kids would finagle a dime from their parents and pay me for something that they likely had in their own refrigerator.
Oh well. They already knew that there was a special pleasure in paying someone to pamper you. Humbly being served a cold drink by the same kid who threw paper wads at you in school, that was pretty profound.
And the parents always seemed willing to give their kids the funds to help you succeed in your business venture. Perhaps they had their own sweet memories of selling cold drinks on a hot summer day. Or maybe they knew that rewarding drive and initiative would keep a kid from someday holding up a "Will work for food" sign at a highway off-ramp, effectively spitting in the face of those who actually dare to turn in a day's work in exchange for a day's pay.
All of these decades later, I always try to stop and patronize lemonade stands. Sometimes, it's the cute little girls next door who have set up their own. Other times, it will be an enterprising kid at his mom's garage sale.
Regardless, learning that you can make honest money with a little drive and initiative is a sweet lesson that should be learned by all. And if you're a Boomer kid like me, that lesson was first learned selling Kool-Aid in front of your house.
Comments (6)
Ah, the Lemonade Stand. A bit of initiative and voilá, easy pocket money for any kid. Just one problem, the government is trillions of dollars in debt. Wars are being continually financed to protect the freedoms of entrepreneurial ventures. Resource-hungry politicians are overdue to realize that those enterprising tykes need to feel the pain of Uncle Sam taking a sip from every dime that crosses their makeshift counters. Tyke-Tax is just around the corner, folks. Then you will see those kiddie's drink prices soar as the little ones strive to cover the additional overhead of retaining CPAs, corporate lawyers, buying street-vendor permits, bribing local health inspectors and joining watchdog groups to eyeball the Big Boys (Coke & Pepsi), least they try to muscle in on the wee ones turf. Ah, the carefree days of childhood.
Posted by NCeddie | May 30, 2010 1:51 PM
Posted on May 30, 2010 13:51
I like NC's comments on taxes. It was a lot more simple and reasonable in the 60s. Many places did not even had comprehensive planning or much in the way of building or other codes.
I had a stand made out of wood. But in 1970, my new neighborhood was no where near as populated with kids as the old place was. Used to sell things there by buying penny candy of items that were 2 or 3 for a penny and sell them a penny each. Some kids could not go to the store so I had an advantage. And they just liked buying. It was sort of a game as Ron sort of pointed out.
I would only ask that people consider what is behind all this draconian bullying of kids making a few dollars. The miserly spirit of extreme intolerance for free enterprise among young smacks of suspicion and a cruel spirit. It relates to that zero tolerance that suspends 6 year old boys for kissing a girl.
Boomers had such a nice time by comparison. We knew some sound thinking and compassion. But I am surprised that Boomers let it all go away and many of them have embraced the "new" way and left the old behind. That puzzles me but then again, a lot of things do. Senility, maybe? ;-)
Posted by Scott Irv | May 30, 2010 2:05 PM
Posted on May 30, 2010 14:05
What a great story!
One year I sold more Girl Scout cookies than any one...I really pushed the limit.
That is the same reason I can not turn away anyone who sells Girl Scout cookies. Besides, I like the little mint cookies (smile).
Thanks for the memories,
Sharon
~The Baby Boomer Queen~
Posted by Sharon/Baby Boomer Queen | May 30, 2010 4:05 PM
Posted on May 30, 2010 16:05
I've learned to always bring a few dollars with me when I go bicycling in the summer, because chances are I'll pass a lemonade stand that serves as a chance to get off the seat and support the local economy.
Posted by Ken G. | May 31, 2010 2:54 PM
Posted on May 31, 2010 14:54
Baldguy, my dad was an electrician for the government. He too, had jobs on the side wiring for development. I often helped as a young lad! I wired plug and light swith boxes. Now for the lemonade or koolaid stand. I never felt the need to do so. I got my money from returning pop bottles. I know others who did do, but I never did! I did see an old fashion lemonade stand this past weekend run by kids. 50 cent a glass! Koolaid! Well, that is suppose to be bad for you these days with the sugar and dyes? I say, horse hockey on that, but the better half who has preschool says different. Koolaid never hurt me?? Yet!
Posted by Rivers End | June 2, 2010 11:58 AM
Posted on June 2, 2010 11:58
I sold Kool-Aid a couple of times as a kid but never made much money, maybe netting a quarter or so. What I did for money as a single digit aged kid was to hunt for night crawlers and sell them to fishermen for a penny apiece.
At night you could wet down the lawn with a hose and in about a half hour, with a flashlight, and pail collect 30 or 40 before bed (many times you would catch the amorous hermaphrodites mating and holding the flashlight in your mouth allowed you to get 1 in each hand.)
I kept them in a big galvanized tub and fed them compost, corn meal, and coffee grounds. I would rake in 1 to 2 dollars a week which was pretty good in the 50’s. The only problem was being an avid angler i used my garden hackle inventory myself but it was a good way for a kid to make some decent money.
Posted by Burt | June 4, 2010 5:30 PM
Posted on June 4, 2010 17:30