Entrepreneur

All right, let me start by stating the facts:

1. I HATE video games and what they do to the people who play them too much.
2. We are trying hard to teach our children about money management (alla Dave Ramsey).

We’ve had a plethora of snow (15”) these past two days. Unfortunately for my children, it is loose, fluffy snow. Pretty to look at, easy to shovel, but horrible for snowballs, snowmen, and snow forts. What’s a kid to do with three snow days and over a foot of useless snow?

(Tangent): “Zeke” has been learning the Dave Ramsey plan for earning, saving, giving, and spending money. For part of this plan, if you haven’t seen it (and if you haven’t I urge you to look into it!*), he’s made a savings goal. My son’s goal? A Nintendo Wii. I only agreed to this goal because the thing costs nearly $250 and I thought it would take forever for him to earn enough money at $4.00 a week in commissions (Dave Ramsey’s term for allowance). In fact, it was such a lofty goal, we agreed to only make him save $150 and we’d pay the rest.

Now back to the snow. Zeke wanted so badly to be out in the snow, but was running out of space to make snow angels, so he started helping me shovel the driveway. And to my surprise, he was pretty good at it – not that normal type of kid “help” which you’d actually be better off without. So, it was suggested (What was I thinking?) that he offer to shovel a neighbor’s driveway and possibly make a few bucks.

Two days and three driveways later, he’s earned $70! Talk about your entrepreneurial spirit! I guess I’d better get used to the idea of another video game system entering my home.

But what a great life lesson!
· It took interpersonal skills: advertising, price negotiations, evaluations.
· He had to pay his employees: “Half Pint” got a dollar for each driveway she “helped” with (Dad worked for free – he wants the Wii just as badly as Zeke).
· He learned that a job well-done gets noticed; neighbors who said they’d pay $10 paid $25 when they saw the quality of his work.
· And it was tough work – he wanted to quit several times, but pushed through, never quit!

So, the lesson for me? The next time a kid comes to my door offering labor for pay, I’ll take him/her up on it! I’ll be helping them meet a goal (And a goal is good, even if it’s a video game, right? Yes, I’ll keep telling myself that is true.) and I’ll be teaching them lessons they’ll keep with them into the job force.

* The blogger is not a paid advertiser for this product nor does she receive any benefits from mentioning the name of this product.