6/40 - Make Lemonade

There is an elite fraternity with deep loyalties for anyone who ever was a part of it. It is a rite of passage for many business leaders and entrepreneurs. For some, it was their first taste of both the sweetness and the sourness of running a business. But if you pushed through, it is very likely that the experience made you pucker up for more.

Running a lemonade stand is the gateway drug of entrepreneurship.

While I don't have a super clear memory of how it got started, I do remember one thing: I loved making a sale. As early as 5 years old, I had tasted the feeling of the close. Seeing a car pull up or seeing someone cross the street to come to have a cup of lemonade made my heart race and still gets me excited when thinking about it.

Later in my sales career, my boss Kenny Ditcher would tell us all,

"People don't want to be sold to, but they sure do love to buy. "

That was my situation in 1987.  Living on Green Oaks in Plano, TX, our home was in the middle of the street. It wasn't the best location. It wasn't the busiest street. But it was the thrill of the sale that kept me sitting at my Fischer Price picnic table with my thermos of Countrytime lemonade waiting for the next client to come.

Later I would include my siblings in my venture. We eventually moved the price up from $0.10 and tried different prices until we finally settled on $0.65. I still believe that that is the best price for a cup of lemonade. Here's why: it takes two quarters, a dime, and a nickel to make $0.65. That's not hard, but pulling out a dollar bill is easier. And, once the dollar bill is out, no one wants to watch a kid make $0.35 of change for them, so they get to feel very generous and just say, "keep the change!" This gets you the whole dollar bill, but at the same time, makes the customer feel great about their purchase and "helping a young kid out."

These days when I see a lemonade stand, I always stop. You can ask friends and business partners, if I see a lemonade stand, I will turn the car around, I will cross the street, I will be late to where I am going. I want to support the hustle of the young versions of me, even if some of them turn out to be brats, and don't say thank you when I tip them another dollar on top of the two dollars they charged me for a small cup of sugary lemon water.