One of my favorite Lemonade Stand Posters from the youth entrepreneur camp.
I often get asked why you don’t use a more complicated business in your youth
entrepreneur camps. My response is usually something like: who doesn’t love to
visit a lemonade stand on a hot summer day. They usually shake their head in
agreement and then go on with their day. But if you stop to think about it, the
lemonade stand is an icon for youth entrepreneurship. Many successful
entrepreneurs started out when they were a kid. It might not have been a
lemonade stand (although I bet many did try one at one time), it may have been
a lawn care, pet care, paper route, or babysitting business. The answer I give
really relates to knowing that it’s almost a guarantee that on a hot summer day
there will be thirsty customers ready to buy some lemonade which is the first
step to any successful business (create a product that you know your customers
want)! A lemonade stand is familiar – everyone knows what it is and so the
campers don’t have to learn about what the product is they can then focus on
creating a brand, picking their product (what flavor, etc.), pricing their
product, marketing their product, selling their product, recording their sales
and giving the customer a great experience. These are things that every
business has to do so they are learning the basics of business and they do it
as a team. The fact that they are raising money for the youth entrepreneur camp
scholarship fund teaches them that they can make a difference by helping
someone who can’t afford to attend the entrepreneur camp to have the ability to
attend. The team competition makes it that much more fun for the kids as they
not only compete for the most sales but also for best customer service, best
tasting, best team work and best display. The kids are extremely clever with
their branding, marketing and delivery systems – you would be amazed if you
came to lemonade day at the camp. Since they have been learning about creating
their own business and running a business simulation earlier in the youth
entrepreneur camp – the lemonade stand gives them the real world experience to
bring it all together! It is so much fun for the kids they don’t even realize
how much they have learned until we get back and debrief! No wonder that is the
favorite activity of the campers year after year. Wouldn’t it be fun to have an
adult lemonade stand competition and even an adult entrepreneur camp for that
matter :)!
