Lemonade Stand Monopolies Made Easy
Author: Nick
Category: Money
Topics: business, family
Teaching your children proper money management skills at an early age is very important. Without being exposed to good financial habits at a young age, children can grow up to be reckless, greedy, or possibly even Federal Reserve Chairman. One of the best ways to give your children some experience with money is by helping them operate a small business. Unlike your typical kid-sized jobs like delivering newspapers or working for H&R Block, helping them run their own small business is a much better way to introduce your children to a wide variety of adult financial topics—everything from supply and demand to price gouging. It’s also a terrific method for bringing in a few extra bucks for yourself—I mean, your kids and their college funds.
One great small business that any set of kids can run almost entirely by themselves is a lemonade stand. Yes, the most cliché of all child-run money-makers is still one of the best. That’s because it’s a microcosm of the entire U.S. economy in one 2′-by-4′ wooden stand. For a startup investment of just a couple hundred dollars, your kids can experience all of the trials and tribulations of real grown-up finances—paying the bills, making ends meet, and mercilessly crushing the competition.
Of course, as with any business, it’s a lot easier to make more money if you’re the only lemonade stand on the block. So when the Joneses across the street read this post and decide to help their kids start their own stand to compete with yours, you’re going to have to take them down fast. Here are some tips that I stole from those brats three doors down for cornering the market in lemonade stands.
- Advertising is key. If you live in the dreaded cul-de-sac or some other area without a lot of vehicular or pedestrian traffic, you’re going to have to find other ways to get the word out about your fine lemonade establishment. Flyers posted on telephone poles may work, but don’t stop there! Target any place that may see lots of hot, sweaty people such as home improvement stores, gyms, and the romance section of your local bookstore.
- Cut down your expenses. Have you seen the price of lemons lately? Not to mention sugar, water, cups… You’ll have to be creative to earn a good profit in the lemonade business, and the best way to do that is to minimize your expenses. For example, go for paper cups over plastic. And instead of fresh lemons, use lemon cough drops.
- Hire attractive workers. I hate to break it to you, but your children could stand some improvement in the looks area. So while you’re stuffing away that hard-earned lemonade money to pay for their plastic surgeries, consider borrowing better-looking kids from family or friends. Adorable little girls in cute dresses covered in bows are sure to melt the hearts of anyone passing by your stand enough to score a slew of sales.
- Price competitively. If little Bobby and Jane next door are selling their lemonade for 20 cents a cup, your kids can sell it for 15 cents—even if it means taking a loss in the beginning. When Bobby and Jane don’t sell a single cup and run home crying to Mommy, your kids will be free to jack up their price 700 percent.
- Offer a rewards program. Encourage repeat customers by setting up a rewards structure for frequent buyers. Punch cards that give clients a free drink for every five or six purchases will keep them coming back every day. Just be careful of that creepy guy down the street coming back twelve times a day to your kids’ lemonade stand; he’s not there for the rewards program, that’s for sure.
- Don’t be afraid to play dirty. If your kids’ lemonade stand just can’t compete with the others in the area, then it’s time to pull out the big guns. After all, big guns are useful for scaring away other people’s children from their lemonade stands so your kids can sell their inferior product for twice the market price.
- Find a way to stand out. Anyone can run a lemonade stand, but you can help yours “stand” out by offering additional services you won’t find at your typical beverage vendor. How about a lemonade and leg-waxing stand? Or a lemonade and iPod repair stand. The possibilities are endless, and soon so will be your profits!
Following these simple tips will help your children learn just how the adult world of money really works. Just be sure to share the responsibility of managing the lemonade stand with your children so they can find out for themselves just how stressful and aggravating it can be to have to manage their own finances. They’ll either become the most financially responsible kids on the block… or they’ll be too scared to ever move out of your house.
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52 Responses »
1.
Kyle
April 14th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Should your child’s lemonade stand grow large enough, you should encourage your child to hire other children to run addition stands all over the neighborhood. Not only will this give your child management experience, but it will also teach them how to bust up unions when the other children get uppity and ungrateful and try to organize against them. Knowing how to hire knee-cap-busting goons is an essential life skill.
2.
AndyS
April 14th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Great post and a great analogy with the lemon stand examples. I’ll be subscribing and adding your blog to my blogroll!
Andy.
3.
Sairah
April 14th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Y’know, I never did one of these things and I think I always wanted to. T_T
Sounds like a great idea, though, I’ll probably bully my sibs into doing it…although they’re too old for it. Too bad.
4.
Chadwyck
April 15th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Lemonade stands, eh? My buddy went to Aldi (not recommended for anyone, ever) and bought $5 worth of their crappy soda and resold it for $20. Pretty good for an elementary school kid.
As a child, my allowance taught me that you can whine to the boss all you want, but you’re still only going to net $1.30 per week after payroll deductions
5.
AJC @ 7million7years
April 15th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Great post and a great idea.
However, my son decided a year or so ago that this 2008 so he opened his own eBay store … gives him all the lessons of the lemonade Stand (sans the staff), with the added benefit of being able to run all year ’round, and nets him a cool $30/week!
He’ll out-do his Dear Old Dad, for sure
6.
Kelli Myers
April 16th, 2008 at 1:41 am
I liked the Lemonade stand example. Thanks for sharing the idea.
7.
Lisa
April 16th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Lemonade and leg-waxing…Hmm…
8.
Obbop
April 16th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Oh gosh, what was it, 25 years ago when I was reading one of those “Life’s little lesson” books that offer general advice on how to conduct one’s self?
One of the many tid bits said to stop as often as possible and buy the wares that young kids offered from in front of their home… such as the lemonade stand in the essay.
And, that I did. I made a lot of kids happy over the years.
Sadly, our society has changed.
As a male I believe it is too dangerous for me to approach children for any reason.
I am not the only male today holding that fear.
Even though I am NO threat to anybody (well, maybe to a thug attacking an elderly or young person) today’s society has placed an onus upon all males.
There are numerous message boards within Webdom where males post telling of why they are fearful of even the most harmless interaction with children (and grown females also, to a lesser extent).
Thus, out of a sense of self-preservation, out of fear I would have to prove I approached a child for any reason with no nefarious purpose(s), I drive by the lemonade stands and even avoid looking in the kid’s direction.
Thus is life and something to consider when concocting a business plan for kids intended to teach them a bit about business.
9.
cosplay
July 26th, 2010 at 3:50 am
There are numerous message boards within Webdom where males post telling of why they are fearful of even the most harmless interaction with children (and grown females also, to a lesser extent)
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November 23rd, 2010 at 12:26 pm
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November 27th, 2010 at 2:37 am
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November 28th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Merci pour l’article et merveilleux vous souhaitez obtenir plus
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November 28th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
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December 14th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Love the cartoon on this one, great marketing plan!
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April 1st, 2011 at 1:24 pm
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feliz aniversario
June 3rd, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Just be careful that weirdo down the street back twelve times a day for their children’s lemonade stand, he is not there for the rewards program, that’s for sure.
26.
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June 20th, 2011 at 10:31 am
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June 21st, 2011 at 4:41 am
The picture and the idea behind this comics is interesting. However, I think the economy will change very soon in better.
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June 22nd, 2011 at 6:01 am
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July 19th, 2011 at 4:41 am
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31.
Tim "The Picture Framer Hanger Guy"
July 28th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
My kid has asked about this a few times, but I have to say, I’ve never yet seen a lemonade stand that did well! I want my daughter to learn to be in a business that is, first of all, profitable. Yes, it should be fulfilling, at least part of the time, but I think it’s critically important that children learn early on that the purpose of business is not “something to do with their time, and probably eat up a bunch of the parent’s time and resources along with it”…The purpose of a business is profit.
I haven’t said no, but I have told her to do her research first, to talk to people who have had lemonade stands, ask them what worked and what didn’t, sample some lemonade from those lemonade stands, pay for her sample out of her own money, etc.
As I said, the purpose is to make money. American children a hundred years ago knew this very well. Children in most of the rest of the world today would never consider doing work that wasn’t profitable. So many may feel I’m too rigid about this, but I think in the long run it will pay off for our kids to bring back this recognition of business-for-profit.
Now I’m going to ride scooters with my kid!
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August 28th, 2011 at 11:42 pm
Should your child’s lemonade stand grow large enough, you should encourage your child to hire other children to run addition stands all over the neighborhood. Not only will this give your child management experience, but it will also teach them how to bust up unions when the other children get uppity and ungrateful and try to organize against them. Knowing how to hire knee-cap-busting goons is an essential life skill.
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