Last weekend, Ellie ran her first business. She had a booth at the South Shore Children’s Business Fair, founded by my friend Nick Romano, where kids come up with a product, build a brand, and spend the day selling it to the public all on their own.
It started with a reward. Ellie had earned a trip to Target for helping out around the house, and what she wanted was “skin care stuff,” so I had the pleasure of bringing her. I read the ingredient list on the back of one jar and told her no. She was heartbroken, and she made her case right there in the aisle with everything she had – you know how kids are when they really want something. Looking back, it was her first sales pitch, and it was aimed at me.
I didn’t fold, but I didn’t want her leaving empty-handed either, so I spent the walk from skin care to the grocery aisles frantically trying to come up with something natural and wholesome we could make ourselves. We walked out with a 12-pack of mason jars, organic sugar, and organic coconut oil, and Ellie was confused and disappointed, but still upbeat and trusting. She was a real trooper that day. Neither of us thought this was the start of a business – I just wanted to have some fun with my daughter.
The plan was a few scented moisturizering scrubs she could tell her friends about, made in our own kitchen, start to finish – five scents in all, using edible extracts. It was a mess, but a fairly contained one. My main job was keeping the head chef from sneaking “taste tests” – a wet fingertip covered in sugar is pretty hard for an 8-year-old to resist.
For a while, that’s all it was. Then Ellie came home from a play date at Sophia’s house having learned all about the business fair. Sophia is Nick’s daughter and one of Ellie’s closest friends, and she was all the inspiration it took. Ellie knew exactly what she wanted to do: the scrubs were her product.
Once we fine-tuned it for a business, we boiled the five scents down to four, made with all-natural, organic ingredients. By fair day, that 12-pack of jars had turned into 48.
The fair ran from 10 to 4, and Ellie’s booth was right next to Sophia’s, where Sophia was selling homemade squishies. The two of them watched for customers together and covered each other’s booths for bathroom breaks – there’s no downtime as a solo practitioner, after all.
Sophia had more luck with the kids walking by, since squishies turn out to be an easier sell than skin care at that age. The moms and grandmothers, on the other hand, loved Ellie’s scrub. Ellie watched her best friend outsell her and took it completely in stride. It means a lot to me that Ellie has found a friend like Sophia, and a family like the Romanos, to learn and grow alongside.
For me, the hardest part was staying out of it. The rules say a parent caught selling or promoting their child’s product gets that business disqualified. I talk to people about money for a living, and for six hours I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone the price of a five-dollar jar and its benefits.
Every time someone stopped at her table, I wanted to jump in and smooth it over. Instead I watched her find the words herself, talking with adult after adult with a smile on her face. I’m sure plenty of those conversations were tough and a little awkward, and that’s probably exactly where she learned the most.
A few of those adults came over afterward to tell me what a great job she was doing. I already knew, but it was nice to hear. Six hours is a long day to run a booth at any age, and she stuck with it to the end. I was so proud of her.
She sold 20 of her 48 jars, and the best seller was Original Coconut – just sugar and coconut oil, the same two things we carried out of Target. Come to think of it, this whole business comes down to two ingredients. The ones in the jar, two to one. A persuasive 8-year-old and a dad who wouldn’t fold. And hard work and love, in equal parts.
The fair is over now, and so is the rule about parents promoting, so I believe I’m finally allowed to say it. Winter in New England is coming, and with it dry hands, cracked knuckles, and elbows nobody wants to talk about. Sweet Ellie’s Sugar Scrub is 100% organic, made with love one jar at a time, and available in four scents while supplies last. Supplies, as of this writing, are 28 jars. I’m sorry – six hours is a long time to hold that in.
