In a recent article about how a bad economy can actually be a good time to start a business, Jerry Osteryoung, director of outreach of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship in the College of Business at Florida State University, noted: “So many people say that entrepreneurs are born, but I am here to tell you that entrepreneurship is a learned discipline.”

Well, my girl just had the great opportunity to start that lifetime of learning by opening her first business. It was part of Austin’s first Lemonade Day - an event begun in Houston to introduce kids to entrepreneurship. The event encourages kids to start a lemonade stand and sell their lemonade to the entire community on May 3rd.

When I first heard of it, I thought “oh, that will be something fun for us to do” and envisioned nothing more involved than setting up a card table in the driveway. After picking up our backpack of how-to workbooks to teach students participating in Lemonade Day about budgets, securing investors, choosing locations and making signs, however, I quickly realized that Prepared 4 Life was taking their job seriously and I was thinking too small.

So, we talked to a friend who was also planning to participate and stuck a partnership. A new location was chosen at our neighborhood park where we thought there would be more traffic. We discussed my role as an investor, and made choices on what kind of lemonade to make and how much to charge per glass.

Despite threats of rain, it turned out to be a beautiful day to pass three hours watching cars, walkers and bike riders pass. Sales were not booming (we blame the fact that the park’s playscape was fenced off due to a factory recall) and there were times of boredom where our young enterpreneurs talked of calling it quits; but, then a burst of business would renew their enthusiasum.

After splitting the proceeds and paying her investor, my girl only grossed net $3.75 - a far cry from the revenue she hoped to use to buy that Nintendo DS mean-old-Mom won’t purchase. But, she had fun and did learn about counting money, making change and providing good customer service. And, we weren’t the only ones who had to learn not to drink all the product it sounds like. She’s also got ideas for how to improve business next time - like finding a location with higher traffic, and maybe adding “a pretty table cloth” to the stand.

Lemonade Day 2009 had local organizations in Austin, Houston, Bryan/College Station, Minneapolis and Wayne County, Indiana, this year, but anyone can participate and they have a goal to reach one million kids in the next five years. Contact them now about hosting the event in your city next year!

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• Lemonade Day Teaches Kids Entrepreneurship (myventurepad.com)
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