What’s Your Excuse?
In the year 2016, a ten year old boy named started a lemonade stand.
Sounds like the beginning of a fairy tale, doesn’t it?
Well…
What if I told you that same young boy now has a business that generates over a million dollars a year, has numerous franchises, and hundreds of commissioned salespeople working for him across the state?
Meet Jack Bonneau.
Jack, of Colorado, is now 13 years old and in under three years is heading straight for Forbes’ 30 Under 30.
Let me explain…
Jack started a simple lemonade stand when he was ten years old. He was hoping to save up enough money to buy himself the $400 Star Wars lego set that he was dying to own, and which his parents, instead of buying it for him, suggested he work hard to earn the money needed to pay for it himself. (Applause!)
Over the summer holidays, through simple, common-sense marketing, Jack made enough money to buy FOUR of those Lego sets he so deeply desired – over $2000!
But once he had his hands on it, Jack realized just how much potential there was in his tiny, local lemonade stand.
Instead of saving his money or buying himself another set of Lego, he decided to take the remainder of his profit and sink it back into his endeavours! He had a custom, 400 pound stand made to sell his products from, complete with a professional sign that read “Jack’s Stands” – the name of his brand new business.
With his parent’s help, he slogged through sales tax licenses and piles of paperwork until he was free to sell as he chose – and boy, did he.
Now, in under three years, he has built a massively successful business and not only sells his products, but he hires other children to run his various pop-up locations on a commission based pay plan. He later appeared on Shark Tank – long after his business had become a success, I should add – and was offered a $50,000 loan to expand his business.
He has partnered with other businesses in the area to give them the ability to sell their products at his extremely successful locations – for a fee, of course!
My point here is this:
By the 9th grade, Jack has built a more successful business than most people in their 40s have managed to do – and I can tell you EXACTLY why.
Jack thinks like a child.
You’ve heard me say it before, but this is an invaluable skill set in the business world!
Do you think that when young Jack started his first stand, he was obsessing about profit margins and employees? Of course not. He took that leap of faith in the hopes of gaining a few extra bucks to spend over his summer vacation.
But beyond that, when the opportunity arose, he seized it. Despite having no experience, no idea what he was doing, not the faintest idea of where he was going to end up, do you think he looked at the chance life presented him and said “No, I don’t want to make hundreds of thousand of dollars. It’s too risky/scary/too much work”?
OF COURSE NOT!
He leaped into that opportunity in faith and it paid off – big time.
So my point here is this:
If a ten year old child can throw himself into an opportunity without fear…
If an elementary school student can take what he’s built and go for failure…
If someone barely old enough to walk himself to school can do all of this with none of the AMAZING tools you have at your disposal just once click away…
What’s YOUR excuse?
-Alan
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