How I Teach My Kids to Be Entrepreneurs

I love the feeling of climbing up a tree or a ladder and popping cherries right into my mouth, savoring the sweet fruit and spitting the pits onto the ground below. It takes me back to my childhood, spent with my grandfather Ferdinand, who had a beautiful cherry tree. He and my grandma would sit together in its shade, jokingly telling me to whistle. 

They said this because when my grandfather was young, he worked picking cherries near a small village in Western Slovakia. The cherries were then shipped all the way to Paris, and to ensure the workers weren’t eating the fruit while picking, they had to whistle 😊.

Two years ago, after the cherry season had ended, I noticed my neighbor selling cherries for 5€ per kilo. Meanwhile, many cherries were still ripe on our tree. Keen to prevent them from going bad, I decided to set up a street sale with my boys, aged 11 and 13. This experience was not just about selling fruit—it was a practical lesson in running a business, emphasizing the critical role of sales, its most important part.

Many people come up with great ideas. They may create an amazing product or a service, but it’s often those with worse products who become more successful, because they know how to sell. That’s why it’s important to build your kid’s inner salesman from an early age. Sadly, they won’t get this kind of education in most schools. 

Unfortunately, I had to wait for two more years before putting this lesson into practice due to last year’s frost, but the result was indeed worth it. I planted an early-ripening cherry tree that bears fruit as one of the first in Slovakia, at a time when cherries are still quite scarce. When they ripened, I asked my boys if they wanted to sell the cherries on the street. When they heard how much they go for at the market, they enthusiastically got to it and picked the first 4 bowls worth of cherries.

Lesson No. 1: Engaging the Customer - The Greatest Challenge for the Kids

We first prepared a board with a welcoming message, set up a stand with bowls full of cherries, and placed it all onto the street, for everyone to see. But when I looked around, my boys were gone. They were shy. Upon finding them, I encouraged them to go behind the stand and to actively offer our neighbors cherries using just one magic sentence: “Hello sir/ma’am, would you like some cherries?”. Even that, however, requires courage.

Instead, they hid behind a fence and observed whether or not somebody would stop by the stand. So I decided to demonstrate. I stopped the first passerby and addressed him with the magic sentence mentioned above. I was lucky. I sold all four bowls. 🤑

You should’ve seen that. The boys sprinted to pick more cherries. Later on, they took my place by the stand whenever they could, impatiently waiting for someone to stroll around so that they could offer them cherries.

Lesson No. 2: How to Remove Barriers for the Customer 

During the first day, the boys lost a few customers who didn’t have cash on them. Neighbors who go to walk their dogs often don’t carry cash. So I asked them what they could do to stop losing these customers.

Mikey immediately figured it out: “Dad, we could print out a QR code, so they could pay us.” Both of my sons already have a bank account and pay by either phone or a card. The bank app has an amazing function allowing you to generate a QR code to make payments to your account easier.

I sent Mike to print the QR code. He both surprised me and made me proud when he came up with the idea to also print a second QR code with a price for two bowls. Smart guy. 

The next day, we had 3 phone payments and €7.5 in extra revenue. They now know that in order to earn more, they need to make the payment process easier for the customer. The total two-day revenue was €40.

Lesson No. 3: How the Boys Made Money Thanks to Clever Marketing

I asked the boys how they plan to let our neighbors know we’re selling cherries. Initially, they proposed  putting posters on the street lampposts around our place. A good but not ideal option. So, using another question, I tried to guide them towards a more efficient solution. Perhaps there’s another way, a simpler and less tiring one. An online solution, which could target the neighbors in our community.  

Son says: “Dad, write a newsletter saying we’re selling cherries” (I run a small citizen’s association within our community thanks to which I have around 190 e-mail addresses). I tell him this was not what I meant, but that we have a Facebook page followed by many of our neighbors. So we made a post that went like this: “Hi everyone, cherries are being sold on Hrušovská St. 2.5€/300g packet. If you wish to order more, just ring the doorbell. What do you think, will the boys make enough for a new PC?”

We asked one of our neighbors who runs the FB page to make a post with the above-written text and a picture. Soon, a lot of likes appeared under it, and one of our customers even left a positive review in the comments!

The next day, a customer stopped by. He paid 50€ for cherries worth 10€ and told the boys: “I hope you will make enough to buy that PC!” Mike sprinted as fast as he could to tell us the news: “Daaaad, I got 50 Eurooooos!!! It must’ve been a neighbor who saw our post because he knew we wanted to buy a PC.”.

The potential customers got the message. A lesson from online marketing was indeed well done. (Thank you, Mr. Neighbor!) 

Boys furthermore learned a pro-tip. Thanks to communicating a greater meaning of their business, the customer willingly paid more.

Lesson No. 4: Distribution and Our First Failure

I urged the boys multiple times to try other sales methods. The first opportunity came right on Friday when one of the colleagues from Finax saw the post and asked if we could do a delivery straight to work. 

The boys didn’t hesitate. They prepared four bowls, and despite the office being almost empty since it was a Friday, we managed to sell three bowls, i.e. + €7.5.

However, I had a different plan in mind for the weekend: to change the place of the stand. We live close to a cemetery where I would help my grandma sell gladiolas when I was their age. We expected a larger movement of people, potential customers. So we packed our stuff and went. 

I helped them set up the stand in front of the cemetery and went to take care of some other business. 45 minutes later, the boys are calling me: “Dad, please come pick us up, the sales are very small. We made only €14.” 

On our way back, I asked them: “Why do you think the sales were better in front of our house?” These were the points they made:

👉 The cemetery is mostly visited by the elderly who weren’t interested in the cherries, as they do not have that much money.

👉 There weren’t as many people as they expected – who would go to a cemetery on a beautiful sunny Saturday…

👉 At our place, they mostly sold the cherries to people who passed by in cars, and they had money, while there were only pedestrians in front of the cemetery

Truly smart. And then the fact that they went to sell on their own, outside of their home. That’s what I highly appreciate and consider an amazing experience. Revenue from the 🍒 sale was around €187 for the first 4 days 😎. I’m talking about the revenue on purpose, because the next day, the boys are going to learn a lesson on costs and profit.  

Lesson No. 5: What Are Your Real Costs? 

I asked the kids at dinner what the costs for selling the cherries were. The first answer from my son got me interested right away – time. Very well, I say, do you know why? “Because I could’ve played or done something that I like instead.” Of course, I also had this on my list of costs, but not in the wildest dreams would I think this would be the first thing said. So I asked for more ideas.

👉 Electricity - (we used a water pump to water the cherry tree – but I was the one paying for it anyway).

👉 Bowls – We had a few old ones at home and got some more from my mother. Later on, however, we needed to buy new ones, twice 8 pc. for €1.49. Later, we also computed the cost per bowl sold.

We couldn’t think of anything else. However, they were selling the cherries with their friend during the previous day, splitting the earnings evenly, as they did everything together. So I asked them, was it a cost? “It was”. Me: “ And was it a partner or an employee?” Here I explained the difference, and we all agreed he was a partner, as they split the profit evenly. Lastly, I asked them when it was better to employ people and when to have them as partners.

The older son said: “It is better to have employees if I expect higher earnings, since I can pay them less.” The younger son replied: “It is better to have a partner if I can’t determine the earnings beforehand, as I don’t have to pay them a wage if my revenues turn out surprisingly low.” 

Cherry 🍒 „lesson learned“, and I also explained to them how we arranged it at Finax and why I am an owner/partner and an employee at the same time😉.

Lesson No. 6: How I Taught the Kids Different Sales Methods 

After the first day, the boys understood the difference between leaving a sign saying “We sell cherries” on the street and actually standing there. The sales were four to five times higher when they personally offered the cherries to the passersby. The people trusted their story. Come on, wouldn’t you buy cherries from kids when they offer them to you… 

So I asked them whether or not they were keen on learning a few more tips and tricks on how to sell more. I was happy to see them agree enthusiastically and not be afraid of trying new things.

👉 The first thing I told them is that when they offer just one bowl, the customer is going to buy one bowl. So they added larger portions into their offer, double the size, double the price. And it worked, around 30% of the customers bought the larger bowl.

👉 The second thing was to offer more bowls even if the customer asked for just one. Their task was to praise the cherries, exclaim how sweet they were, and that they would surely regret if they bought only one bowl. Alternatively, if it was a couple or there were more people in the car, they tried to offer a bowl to everyone. This also worked. Three to five customers bought more than they originally asked for.

👉 Lastly, I advised them to leave a small plate with cherries as a sample next to the actual cherry bowls for sale. They could use it to convince the customers that they wouldn’t regret buying more than just one bowl.

These are small things, but small things make the difference between a good and a bad salesman. A good salesman will guide the customer right where they want to have them. That’s how boys learned the meaning of the word upsell (selling more to one customer) and the difference between upsell and cross-sell (selling another product to a customer who already bought a different product).

Even Small Things Can Have Great Meaning with Kids 

So, what was the outcome of our little venture? From my perspective, kids learn best through experience. Let’s be honest—who enjoys memorizing definitions? I’ve already forgotten most of the terms I was taught in college. The only things that have stuck with me are what I tried and experienced firsthand.

We indulged in cherries, froze some, shared with family, and of course, sold them. The boys managed to earn almost €200, which sure is good money, and they gained invaluable experience. The tree is now empty, and I won’t have to deal with rotten cherries falling onto my lawn.

Through this cherry venture, I taught them:

👉 how to offer products in a way that encourages sales,

👉 how to make purchasing convenient for customers,

👉 how distribution channels work,

👉 what costs to anticipate when running a business,

👉 how to improve their sales techniques,

If you also want to teach your kids about money, I highly recommend starting with experiences like this.