Lemonade Day Celebrates Young Business Owners During National Small Business Week

BY STEVEN GORDON, LEMONADE DAY NATIONAL PRESIDENT

National Lemonade Day

 

The week of May 5 through 11 has been designated as National Small Business Week by the U.S. Small Business Administration,  signaling an opportunity for consumers and businesses to “shop local.” 

What better way to support small businesses than to spotlight young Lemonade Day participants who hosted lemonade stands this past weekend?

Some youngsters were especially creative, producing lemonade with lavender and blueberries, selling yellow bow toes or hosting a raffle. Others operated in multi-person teams with promoters, money collectors and servers. Watching all the ways that kids and teens chose to make their Lemonade Day experience unique and productive is truly enjoyable.

 

Lemonade Day Kids

 

Check out these videos and social media posts from sponsors, media outlets, parents, mentors, City Directors and other supporters of youth entrepreneurship.

https://www.wfaa.com/video/news/local/lemonade-day-teaching-kids-business-skills/287-b6bbf5b4-cae1-4999-ada7-77c3cd0ac759?fbclid=IwAR1HCHTAnwP9Trf90aHrSsF5XFUNM4pU7lrWacwUz6Q0kKWIEgUsm6P4Ui8 - WFAA TV in Dallas News Coverage on “The Lemonade Boys” who featured their special Strawberry Watermelon Lemonade for their college fund and also wrote,  sang their own lemonade rap song and did a “shout out” to their mentors and supporters.

https://www.facebook.com/LemonadeDayLouisiana/videos/855793594762420/ - Todd Graves, Founder and CEO of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers

https://www.facebook.com/lemonadedaygalveston/ - Lemonade Day Galveston County Salutes Galveston Police Department and Galveston Municipal Police Academy

https://www.coveleaderpress.com/news/kids-learn-entrepreneur-skills-lemonade-day - Matthias Ulch, 12, and Elijah Haverkost, 11, sold “Mighty Incredible Lemonade” from their helicopter stand, complete with a spinning rotor, that they made themselves. The two boys were inspired by the military, with Ulch’s dad being an active duty Army soldier and Haverkost’s dad being a retired Army veteran.

https://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Waco-lemonade-day-rapoport-academy--509485201.html - Waco, TX interview with 2018 Lemonade Day National Youth Entepreprenuer of the Year, 10 year old Briana Liles

 

Lemonade Day Social Media

 

Focusing on Business Results

Creating a business plan and hosting lemonade stands on Lemonade Day are just a few steps for our young business owners to complete. Vital next steps are to repay their investors (typically parents and other relatives), to report their business results, and to decide how much they will spend, save and share. 

Lemonade Day measures it’s impact by collecting end-of-year program business results and a mentor survey.  Information gathered provided insight into depth of participation, application of lessons and even profit margins. Year over-year we have seen a 100% increase in the number of results reported, this year we are anticipating a far greater number due to the efforts of sponsor Raising Cane’s.   

Visit here to turn in your Business Results!

Business Results Form

 

More to Come

Lemonade Day events will continue through late summer in 80 licensed markets in 33 states, 4 countries and on six U.S. military bases – and we are continuing to grow!  Lemonade Day leaders and supporters are playing a critical role in inspiring young kids of today to be business owners of the future. 

Early childhood entrepreneurial experiences such as hosting a lemonade stand inspire young people to start real businesses in the future.  Since Lemonade Day was founded as  a non-profit organization 12 years ago, our program has engaged more than 1 million kids in the process of starting their own lemonade business.  In fact, many Lemonade Day alumni from Texas and other states are operating viable businesses now that they are teenagers.

In 2017, Lemonade Day published a Youth Impact Report in cooperation with Gallup that compared entrepreneurial aspiration of kids involved with Lemonade Day program to the Gallup Hope Index and Gallup Student Poll. The results are eye-opening and powerful: 

31% of Lemonade Day kids are running their own business today, compared to only 4% of kids who have not done Lemonade Day by the time they complete high school.  Lemonade Day kids are nearly 8 times as likely to say that they are running their own business compared to American youth who do not have the same opportunity. 64% of Lemonade Day kids said they will invent something that will change the world as compared to only 29% of those who have not completed the Lemonade Day program.

In the words of Gallup Chairman Jim Clifton, “Lemonade Day works. There is no need to test it.”

The development of entrepreneurial talent is critical to sustaining a competitive advantage in a global economy that is being driven by innovation. Small businesses in America are responsible for job creation and economic growth. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses represent 99.9 percent of all U.S. businesses.  Small businesses created 1.9 million jobs in 2015 with some of the smallest firms - those with 20 employees or less - adding over half of the positions with a 1.1 million increase.

Please join me in celebrating all  of our Lemonade Day Future Business Owners of America!  For those young people who have already hosted lemonade stands this year, congratulations. For those who are still in the planning stages, we are here to help! Please email me any time at Steven@lemonadeday.org.

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