As part of a Grade 2 math assignment, my son Ethan and his classmates recently held a jumble sale at school. Each of the kids brought in items that they would like to sell. The ‘inventory’ was displayed on their desks and students from the rest of the school came by to browse and purchase. As a business advisor and entrepreneur at heart, I spent a lot of time with Ethan discussing items that the other kids would like, how much they might be prepared to spend, and how he would attract them to his desk (it was a fairly competitive landscape with each desk containing an assortment of items). We went over how he would display his merchandise and practiced making change for various size sales.

I couldn’t wait to pick him up from school that day to find out how it went. As soon as he saw me he had a huge smile on his face and said, “Mum, guess what happened today? I sold all of my things at the beginning of the sale!”

“That’s great Eth!” I replied enthusiastically. He then went on to tell me that since his things had sold early in the sale, he took the money he made and went around and bought items from his friends which he then took back to his desk and sold at a profit! I don’t know whether Ethan is a born entrepreneur or whether he absorbed the concept of profit from our dinnertime conversations, perhaps a little of both. I do know that I was a really proud mother and that when my daughter gets to Grade 2, we will talk more about margins and maximizing profits.

Posted by Michele McClymont at 8:22 PM 0 Comments

Tags entrepreneurship  profit  women entrepreneurs  woman owned business