The Connection for Kids Between Entrepreneurship and Key Analytical Skills
Why introduce entrepreneurship to your child? The reasons are many, but as Lemonade Day Season 2017 wraps up one of our key takeaways this year is building analytical skills.
Children learn so many lessons on a daily basis. But how often are they challenged to take that information to the next step? Lemonade Day kids aren’t just solving a problem to reach a pre-determined answer. They are being challenged to think creatively, come up with their own assumptions and make decisions around those assumptions. And once these young entrepreneurs learn how to think in an analytical way, it changes the way they approach things… forever.
Running the numbers
How much should I charge for my lemonade product? Lemonade Day entrepreneurs aren’t just guessing a number. They have a thought-out business plan that charts expenses, such as supplies and marketing, and goals including how much profit they want to make. As they run the numbers they learn valuable lessons such as controlling expenses lead to increased profits. And, while going through the planning process is an informative lesson in and of itself, it really hits home on Lemonade Day when they sell their products to customers and see if their financial projections were correct.
Making decisions based on thought-through assumptions
As part of their business plan our young entrepreneurs take a lot into consideration. For example, where should their stand should be located? Thinking outside of the box about location can boost sales tremendously. Our young entrepreneurs learn to think carefully about where to set up shop. Often that means moving away from a neighborhood street corner where most customers will be driving by in cars to a spot with heavy pedestrian foot traffic. That might mean a busy park or outside of a storefront (with the business’ permission). Kids also build an understanding of marketing and how to reach customers to increase business. They are encouraged to think about the best way to connect with potential customers whether it be through social media, point of purchase advertising or hanging fliers around town. Depending on their community, their approach will be varied.
What would I change next time?
Once kids go through a Lemonade Day season, they begin to really process and understand the fundamentals of running a business and having a solid business plan. So, when they set up their stand they aren’t just working their business for this year, they are analyzing and planning what they will do differently the next time. Was my price point to high? Was my sign big enough? What else could I sell to increase each customer’s ticket price? And since there is an actual reward to running their own business—PROFIT!—kids become very motivated to figure out how to do it better. Imagine if they showed that level of enthusiasm about improvement for homework or a test!
There is something magical about an experiential, hands on learning program that gets kids out of their chairs and into a real-world situation. By engaging in an active learning process, they can embrace creative thinking, and own their decisions and the lessons learned from them. We are very excited to see what these young entrepreneurs will do next after Lemonade Day 2017.
Do you want to participate in next year’s Lemonade Day? Contact your local city to find out how your child can learn to be an entrepreneur, or learn how you can volunteer in your community.
About Lemonade Day
Lemonade Day is a non-profit dedicated to teaching every child across North America the business and financial skills that are the key ingredients of entrepreneurship. By learning these skills early in life, children will be better prepared to be successful, financially healthy adults. Through our fun, hands-on program Kids K-5 are empowered to start their very own business—a lemonade stand—and experience the feeling of earning real money, using 100% of their profit to spend, save and share based on their own goals.
Lemonade Day is in 62 cities throughout the United States. Over the past 10 years, we have served more than 1 million kids in our kid entrepreneur programs and in 2016 alone, 101,000 kids participated in Lemonade Day.
Visit LemonadeDay.org to learn how to participate in Lemonade Day in your city.
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Why introduce entrepreneurship to your child? The reasons are many, but as Lemonade Day Season 2017 wraps up one of our key takeaways this year is building analytical skills.
Children learn so many lessons on a daily basis. But how often are they challenged to take that information to the next step? Lemonade Day kids aren’t just solving a problem to reach a pre-determined answer. They are being challenged to think creatively, come up with their own assumptions and make decisions around those assumptions. And once these young entrepreneurs learn how to think in an analytical way, it changes the way they approach things… forever.
Running the numbers
How much should I charge for my lemonade product? Lemonade Day entrepreneurs aren’t just guessing a number. They have a thought-out business plan that charts expenses, such as supplies and marketing, and goals including how much profit they want to make. As they run the numbers they learn valuable lessons such as controlling expenses lead to increased profits. And, while going through the planning process is an informative lesson in and of itself, it really hits home on Lemonade Day when they sell their products to customers and see if their financial projections were correct.
Making decisions based on thought-through assumptions
As part of their business plan our young entrepreneurs take a lot into consideration. For example, where should their stand should be located? Thinking outside of the box about location can boost sales tremendously. Our young entrepreneurs learn to think carefully about where to set up shop. Often that means moving away from a neighborhood street corner where most customers will be driving by in cars to a spot with heavy pedestrian foot traffic. That might mean a busy park or outside of a storefront (with the business’ permission). Kids also build an understanding of marketing and how to reach customers to increase business. They are encouraged to think about the best way to connect with potential customers whether it be through social media, point of purchase advertising or hanging fliers around town. Depending on their community, their approach will be varied.
What would I change next time?
Once kids go through a Lemonade Day season, they begin to really process and understand the fundamentals of running a business and having a solid business plan. So, when they set up their stand they aren’t just working their business for this year, they are analyzing and planning what they will do differently the next time. Was my price point to high? Was my sign big enough? What else could I sell to increase each customer’s ticket price? And since there is an actual reward to running their own business—PROFIT!—kids become very motivated to figure out how to do it better. Imagine if they showed that level of enthusiasm about improvement for homework or a test!
There is something magical about an experiential, hands on learning program that gets kids out of their chairs and into a real-world situation. By engaging in an active learning process, they can embrace creative thinking, and own their decisions and the lessons learned from them. We are very excited to see what these young entrepreneurs will do next after Lemonade Day 2017.
Do you want to participate in next year’s Lemonade Day? Contact your local city to find out how your child can learn to be an entrepreneur, or learn how you can volunteer in your community.
About Lemonade Day
Lemonade Day is a non-profit dedicated to teaching every child across North America the business and financial skills that are the key ingredients of entrepreneurship. By learning these skills early in life, children will be better prepared to be successful, financially healthy adults. Through our fun, hands-on program Kids K-5 are empowered to start their very own business—a lemonade stand—and experience the feeling of earning real money, using 100% of their profit to spend, save and share based on their own goals.
Lemonade Day is in 62 cities throughout the United States. Over the past 10 years, we have served more than 1 million kids in our kid entrepreneur programs and in 2016 alone, 101,000 kids participated in Lemonade Day.
Visit LemonadeDay.org to learn how to participate in Lemonade Day in your city.
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