Confessions Of A Child Tycoon

I started four businesses between the ages of 8 and 13. Not all were good ideas. My longest one lasted about a year. I shut down my shortest venture after 2 minutes. Each one taught me some important lessons about perspective, people and opportunities. Here is a brief and humorous synopsis of my childhood businesses. I trust that you will learn from them just as I did.

Business #1 – Candy Man.

My mom wouldn’t let us eat hard candy when we were kids.

“It’s bad for you.”

“You’ll choke on it.”

“You’ll break your teeth”

The problem was, the hard candy was the cheap candy. Most people buy big bags of cheap candy around Halloween. It seemed to be the go to candy of choice to hand out to trick-or-treaters. We ended up with a lot of left over hard candy.

One day in early November I was lamenting the tyranny of my hard-candy-hating parents to my friend Chris as he sucked on a green apple Jolly Rancher in front of me. He tucked the Rancher into his cheek and said, “I wish I still had a bunch of candy left over like you. I’m almost out.”

It was a Light Bulb Moment.

I waited another week, watching the candy count dwindle in the kids’ lunches at school. Like waiting for the last leaf to fall before you start raking, I wanted to be sure their last piece of candy was gone before I started raking in the cash. When the time was right, I brought my big bag of hard candy to school and dropped it onto my desk with a thump. Heads turned.

By then everyone had been getting candy in their lunches for a few weeks. They were thoroughly addicted to the sugar, but the sugar was gone. Enter the Candy Man. Over the next week, kids quickly parted with their precious nickels and dimes to get a piece of candy from me. I used most of the money I made to buy better candy that was also parent approved. It was awesome.

Lessons Learned:

You can turn a negative situation, like having candy restrictions, into something positive if you’re willing to look at it differently. Don’t wallow in self-pity. Keep your head up and look for ways to move past your predicament. You see and hear more opportunities when your head is up and you’re listening to others.

 

Business #2 – Cash for Klackers

Two years later marbles were huge in 5^th grade. Everyone was playing. The king of all marbles was the klacker. At least that’s what we called them at school. Probably from the old, banned kids toy that was like a giant marble on a string. These were not on strings, though. Just giant marbles. They were hard to get, and went for $2 each on the playground. Big money for a 10-year old.

I was shopping a garage sale with my grandmother when I saw a weird set of giant glass grapes. I didn’t see grapes, however, I saw over 20 klackers. The whole thing was only 50 cents. I bought it, cut the grapes from the wire frame, filed them smooth and I was in business. I sold out within two weeks.

I hunted for more at other garage sales, but never found another bunch of glass grapes from the 70’s. That’s too bad. I would have paid top dollar.

Lesson Learned:

When an opportunity is in front of you, move on it. You may not get a second chance. Had my venture completely failed I would have only been out 50 cents. I’m sure I would have eventually found something else awesome to do with giant glass grapes.

You also have to be willing to see things differently than most others do. Most people saw ugly grape artwork. I saw klackers at $2 a pop. Don’t let popular opinion squash a great idea. That said, not every popular idea is wrong. Common sense is common for a reason.

 

Business #3 – Royal Rupert II

When I was 12 my family was renting a home on a farm. There was a big barn on the property and my dad convinced the landlord to let us use part of it. He bought my younger brother and I a Holstein bull calf for $100.

My dad made it clear that the money was a loan. We had to feed and care for the calf, clean it’s stall, and take care of all the other chores involved. We also had to keep a record of what we spent on grain, hay, any medicine, etc.

The next year Royal Rupert II was a full sized bull and sold at auction for a nice profit. My dad cashed the check into small bills and brought them home in a sack. He told us what a great job we had done and then dumped all the bills out in a big pile on the living room floor. I’ll never forget it. My brother and I whooped and hollered. We threw the money up in the air and rolled in it.. We felt like billionaires.

Lesson Learned:

The best way to turn a profit is time and hard work. Be creative and look for new opportunities. Just be ready to work hard, too. Also, don’t forget to celebrate a job well done

 

Business #4 – Rain Man

This one is shameful. I shouldn’t have done it, but I did. I was 13 years old and always looking for the next opportunity. I thought I found one on a dark and stormy night.

An elderly neighbor was having a dinner party a few houses down from us. I had seen several white-haired couples arriving in really big cars. Later that evening it started to rain, I mean really rain. I had an idea.

I grabbed our biggest umbrella and headed down the street. I waited under a tree near the elderly couple’s house. What was taking so long? I thought older people went to bed early. Finally, they began to leave. As the first couple came down the front step, slowly trying to hurry through the rain, I made my move.

“Hi, may I walk you to your car?” I asked politely. They both broke into a smile at this chivalrous young man with the big umbrella.

“Sure, that would be wonderful.”

“It’s only 25 cents,” I replied.

“What? You’re kidding!”

The wife scowled and the husband told me I should be ashamed of myself. What a rude thing to do. Do my parents know what I’m doing?

After 2 minutes in the umbrella service business I decided not to solicit any more seniors and made my way home. It’s a good thing my parents did not know what I was doing.

I forgot about Grandma. I forgot that I live in a small town. I forgot that grandmothers in a small town know all the other grandmothers in town.

Grandma’s friend said that she and her husband were leaving the Smiths’* house when a horrible boy tried to make them pay to use his umbrella in a downpour. My wise grandmother knew where the Smiths lived. She also knew where I lived, and she knew me. Grandma put two and two together. It did not go well for me.

Lesson Learned:

Meeting a need is still a bad idea if you have to take advantage of someone to benefit from it. Integrity is a more valuable currency than cash. No amount of profit is worth your respect and integrity. I also learned that getting away with something now doesn’t mean justice isn’t coming later. Always do right by others and you can move forward without wasting time and energy looking over your shoulder.

 

Question: What are some lessons your learned during your childhood that have stuck with you today? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

 

*Not their real last name. I still live in the same town. They still don’t know who the horrible boy was.