How a 5yr old made $200 selling Christmas cards
A couple of months ago, my daughter, Dahlia, launched her first entrepreneurial venture.
She is 5 years old.
Her goal is to raise money to buy herself a guitar for Christmas.
This article is about the work we put in together to make her dream a reality.
WHY?
First of all, let't ask why - why do something like this with a 5 year old?
There are some very compelling reasons to get kids to learn about entrepreneurship as early as possible!
I haven’t been a business owner for long, but there are a few things I’ve quickly learned along the way: it’s hard, it’s not always fun, and the failure rate is really high!
Unfortunately I am learning these things now, when failure is a really big deal, and can be heartbreaking.
On the other hand, I’ve also learned that success can be extremely motivating and rewarding! There is no feeling that can compare with having someone pay you for the service of product that you’ve worked so hard on!
I've come to believe that entrepreneurial skills are something to be learned and practiced - and, just like learning how to ride a bike, it’s much easier to practice these skills when you’re young, and when failure is not such a big deal.
Finally, I don’t know what my daughter’s world will look like when she is all grown up, but I do know that having an entrepreneurial mindset will serve her well regardless of what she chooses to do.
So, for all of these reasons, I decided to test the waters and see what would happen!
OUR PROJECT
It all started with an ask:
“Mommy, can I have a guitar for Christmas?”
Simple question, much different answer than she expected.
Instead of buying her the guitar, I asked her if she would like to work with me on a project and raise the money to buy the guitar herself!
She was beyond thrilled, which I didn't actually expect! But that made me really excited too, so we got started:
Step 1: Set a goal - we agreed that $200 would be a decent amount to try and raise for this project.
Step 2: Brainstorm ideas of ways in which we could raise money. With Christmas right around the corner, we decided to make Christmas cards!
Step 3: Select Christmas card designs. We found 2 that she liked, and were easy enough for her to do and end up with a decent looking product.
Step 4: Make a list and go shopping for supplies.
Step 5: Make the cards.
Step 6: SELL THE CARDS AND MAKE MONEY!!
SKILLS LEARNED
While this may sound like a fairly simple and straightforward project, Dahlia became acquainted with quite a few aspects of doing business
Patience: I would be lying if I said this was easy! The output of each card making session was roughly 5 cards, and we needed at least 60 to reach her goal (and also pay me back for supplies)!
Discussion on pricing: We decided to sell the cards for $4/each.
Note: I did consider pricing them really cheaply around $1/card, as most kids’ products tend to be quite cheap. However I decided against it, as I wanted her to be paid fairly for her work.
Understanding of cost of goods sold *(aka supplies): $40
Dahlia paid me back the $40 I spent on supplies. She wasn’t too excited about it, but it’s just another lesson to be learned!
Customer experience: We made the experience special for the buyer by having Dahlia herself select the cards for each customer, and by having her deliver the cards in person (when possible). We also made sure that the reason why we were doing this was very clear to the prospective buyer, so they felt like they were contributing to her cause, more so than the product.
Marketing and promotion:
- Facebook posts on my personal Facebook profile
- Facebook post on our neighborhood community group
- Post on Dahlia’s classroom Facebook group
- Poster in building (which she helped me write and put up)
- Promotion at school
- LinkedIn post on my personal LinkedIn profile
Sales: Dahlia delivered the cards herself and collected payment. She had to put herself out there in front of people she had never met before - something even adults still find challenging!
THE BOTTOM LINE
Total number of cards sold: 65
Total revenue generated: $260
Profit: $220
Goal achieved? YES!
Note: We could have sold waaay more cards and made more money, but it came to a point where Dahlia lost the excitement for it, and making the cards started becoming “work”. This is understandable, considering she is only 5 and she did put in a lot of work over the course of 2 whole months. In order to preserve her excitement for this and other future projects, we decided to cap it when she reached her goal.
FINAL REMARKS
The point of this project was to give her a taste of what can happen if she sets a goal and works hard to achieve it.
I'm super excited that I got to work with her on this! We already have some cool ideas of how we can take this project to the next level for next year, and who knows what other fun projects we will come up with in the future!
GALLERY
I would like to leave you with some images of Dahlia in action, working hard on her Christmas cards project:
