"Scissors, but that is the family scissors..." She said wide eyed, visibly concerned, shocked to learn that scissors was part of the sunk cost. I felt a little bad but I explained scissors is a tool she used often in her "business".
It started at the beginning of the year when we wrote our goals down and my third grader wrote down that she will sell her "products" to at least 10 non family members in 2023. Before you roll your eyes and judge me, I am that kind of person/parents who asks my family to write down their goals and we have a dance party each time someone achieves one.
Anyway, she has been asking me about taking her to fairs or festivals where she could sell her product. I honestly did not think she was ready for this, so I asked her to write a letter to the organizer of a local festival to introduce herself, her product and why she should be given a table at the festival. She wrote a cute letter and the organizer was so nice and gave her a table!
I was still not convinced that she could pull it off...so we talked about her product. The bracelets were cute, but I didn't see a market for it. We talked about it for a long time and she convinced me that I have no clue what little kids really like/want. Finally I had to give in when she said sincerely, "Amma, kids in bus line love my bracelets and keep asking me to make some for them, you will see that there is a demand and market for it" Well, now that she was using the words such as demand, market and supply...I suddenly became more interested in this little project as I saw this as an opportunity to train my third grader into a business savvy kid! Also, a little math on how to calculate profit and profit margin is always good.
Ok, so I asked her, what is your inventory - how many bracelets are you planning to sell, you need atleast 100 if you want to sell 2 for 1$. Here eyes became so wide, a little panic - 100, that is a lot of bracelets! But guess what, kudos to her...a week later her brother and she counted 110 bracelets!!
Now, I felt that she was actually serious about this and so I brought up the concept of investment, sunk cost. That is when she exclaimed - ""Scissors, but that is the family scissors..."
As all these discussions were going on, my 6 year old who has been listening and part of these conversations comes to me all sad and unhappy. He tells me - " I cannot do business like gaaje because I don't know how to do anything!" I explain to him that to do a business you need skill and/or resources. What skill does he have? He said - " I can draw and color". Ok, we have a new product - hand made cards!
We had so much fun making these cards as it is now a family affair...I love that the kids understand quality of paper, cost of blank cards and if they mess up a card, it could cost 20-55 cents per card to their business. They are being more respectful to markers and crayons as they are now tools to their business!
The fair is tomorrow and I am eager to see how the market turns out to be and how much we sell!
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