Is it just me, or have I read several (seems like more) stories from successful business people who got their start by buying candy wholesale and then selling it one piece at-a-time to their classmates? Is there a "quaint child business story" generator that I'm aware of?
It seems if you're a parent and your young child is buying candy wholesale and selling it, your and their future may be pretty bright.
My father's friend had a wholesaler's license (or whatever it is you need). I got her to buy me snacks/candy/soda from some big wholesaler. I sold it at the local pool/lake out of a cooler for much lower prices than the snack bar.
I had a number of similar "businesses" like this over the years, culminating in a much more successful web design business when I was 14-15.
It does seem quite funny, but it's totally plausible. Although, I highly doubt that it's a definite measure for future success. I myself used to do the same(buy from Sam's Club and resell in school) while in middle school(now a senior in college), but I'm no where near close to a million dollar success...yet :). What would suck though is that if and when I do have some kind of success, this story would be kinda overused, so I do understand where you're coming from. Guess we need to teach our kids something else to make money off of...
I actually did this - not the wholesale thing but selling off extra candy I had with my lunch. I then turned around and bought comic books with the money.
I also did door-to-door sales of custom imprinted holiday cards. I got into that game be sending in a flyer from a comic book. So basically for me, my method of getting into entrepreneurship revolved around comic books.
What always interests me about stories like that is that wholesale candy is usually clearly marked, on each package, "Individual packages cannot be resold." If an adult sold me a piece of candy with that sort of label on it, I'd raise an eyebrow - but when a kid does it, I just chuckle it off and admire his entrepreneurial spirit.
I understand society enforces the law differently on kids than on adults - and I definitely did this when I was a kid myself - but isn't it a little strange that the first lesson kids seem to get in entrepreneurship is how to create markets in the intersection of things kids are allowed to do and parents aren't allowed to do?
I don't remember selling candy (though my old classmates tells me I did).
Lots of other things I did sell though: fruit from the garden, some kind of world wildlife foundation stamps on the train (train passengers are a captive audience!) etc.
Ticket scalper once when I was a teenager (I invested basically all my money in buying 6 tickets).
It all seems like just right place right time stuff. Who wouldn't sell their candy if there are buyers at a good price?!
For what it is worth I have been in variations of (successful) self-employment for practically all my career; but I am not much of a sales person.
I didn't sell candy but I sold other stuff in middle school. (I'd burn custom CDs for a few bucks… those were the days!)
For extra quaintness, when I was 11 and change, I had a yard sale and sold a lot of my stuffed animals and all of my My Little Ponies (for $80) so I could buy a faster computer. :)
What's so hard about a kid selling candy. I sold candy in my Middle School and High School even though it wasn't allowed. I was the candy man and everyone knew it. Most kids aren't trying to build a Candy Empire or even know what they are doing takes guts. Some kids just wanted a better option like myself. Eventually I stopped selling candy to go into programming artificial intelligence for video games, which I eventually stopped doing because I was not a great programmer and decided to run my own business which is doing great.
Was me selling candy the only reason I decided to run my own business eventually or was the fact that I had the mindset to sell the candy just who I was destined to be?
I can't answer that but I will say that when you look back on it at a later time you can say hey, I was business minded even as a child and didn't know it. I think that is where these stories come from.
[+] [-] josefresco|15 years ago|reply
It seems if you're a parent and your young child is buying candy wholesale and selling it, your and their future may be pretty bright.
[+] [-] staunch|15 years ago|reply
My father's friend had a wholesaler's license (or whatever it is you need). I got her to buy me snacks/candy/soda from some big wholesaler. I sold it at the local pool/lake out of a cooler for much lower prices than the snack bar.
I had a number of similar "businesses" like this over the years, culminating in a much more successful web design business when I was 14-15.
[+] [-] romansanchez|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sanjayparekh|15 years ago|reply
I also did door-to-door sales of custom imprinted holiday cards. I got into that game be sending in a flyer from a comic book. So basically for me, my method of getting into entrepreneurship revolved around comic books.
[+] [-] sbisker|15 years ago|reply
I understand society enforces the law differently on kids than on adults - and I definitely did this when I was a kid myself - but isn't it a little strange that the first lesson kids seem to get in entrepreneurship is how to create markets in the intersection of things kids are allowed to do and parents aren't allowed to do?
[+] [-] askbjoernhansen|15 years ago|reply
Lots of other things I did sell though: fruit from the garden, some kind of world wildlife foundation stamps on the train (train passengers are a captive audience!) etc.
Ticket scalper once when I was a teenager (I invested basically all my money in buying 6 tickets).
It all seems like just right place right time stuff. Who wouldn't sell their candy if there are buyers at a good price?!
For what it is worth I have been in variations of (successful) self-employment for practically all my career; but I am not much of a sales person.
[+] [-] ahoyhere|15 years ago|reply
For extra quaintness, when I was 11 and change, I had a yard sale and sold a lot of my stuffed animals and all of my My Little Ponies (for $80) so I could buy a faster computer. :)
[+] [-] kreedskulls|15 years ago|reply
Was me selling candy the only reason I decided to run my own business eventually or was the fact that I had the mindset to sell the candy just who I was destined to be?
I can't answer that but I will say that when you look back on it at a later time you can say hey, I was business minded even as a child and didn't know it. I think that is where these stories come from.
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
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