What were some of your first experiences with business? One of the first business opportunities that I can remember was selling chocolate candy bars for the school.
At some point during each school year kids are used as salespeople for fundraising. You learn about he program and finally the day arrives. You get to school and see that they have boxes and boxes of chocolate candy bars that they are ready to hand out.
They explain the rules and after a few minutes you are headed home with a few boxes of chocolate. They usually had a prize for selling the most candy.
Do you remember them really training you on selling the candy? I don't. They just wanted to get those boxes of chocolate in your hands. They probably knew that the candy was not going to make it out of the house and that your parents were going to end up paying for the whole box.
I think a lot of kids ended up using the old school business strategy of outsourcing. Just give the box to your parents and let them take it to work and make your sales. They would provide you with a yellow envelope to secure the money.
Trying to make sales is a tough business. The fear of rejection is something that is hard to get over. Kids selling candy is still a going on today. I guess that they don't provide too much training because it might come off wrong. Maybe they wanted some people to feel sorry for you and you could make those sympathy sales. Most of that candy didn't make it out of the house.
So what was there to learn about business from selling candy? Business can be tough. Have the right product and it will sell. Outsource some of the work if you can.
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