Everything you need to know in life you learned in kindergarten, and everything you need to know in business you learned from the lemonade stand. Here are just a few of the most important lessons to take into the rest of your life.
Appeal to Your Locale First
When you were a kid selling lemonade, you did not have a great deal of mobility. You had to sell to the people who were around you. Unbeknownst to you, this lack of mobility actually kept you focused. You had a definitive target market, which means that you could create a brand without trying to sell to the world.
What you found out by selling to your block was that if you sold well to your neighborhood, word of your great product would eventually spread to the next block, then the next, and the next!
Having a Quality Product
You likely had competition in the neighborhood. The only way that you can really take them out was to have a better product, even if you were the bully in the neighborhood! It would have been bad politics to just go over and kick over the stand! Having a quality product that was different from the rest of your competition stretched a long way back then, and it does the same thing today as an adult.
Stay Outside If You Want to Sell
As an entrepreneur, you should not look to trade your time for money. However, the more time that you spend outside, the more chances you have to sell lemonade. Those who put in the most work usually come out with the most results! There is no way around it, so take it in as deeply as you can.
Reduce Costs in Your Supply Chain
You may have sold to everyone in your neighborhood, but you still do not have enough money to buy the sneakers that you want. What is the solution? You must reduce the cost in your supply chain! You need to negotiate with your mom for a lower price on sugar, or you need to pick the lemons instead of buying them from the store, or something along those lines. This lesson also carries through – you make money on the buy, not on the sell!