Supporting Local Business

On Saturday, Nimuae and Soliel set out to Stone Mountain Farm Road to try to make some money. They set up a booth that took care of two necessities; lemonade and origami. Their prices were decent, despite increasing fuel costs and the general state of the economy. A quarter could get any neighbor traveling along the rural gravel road their choice of a glass of lemonade or a small piece of art. They served every customer with a smile and a genuine southern thank you. And all of our neighbors, bless their hearts, found themselves either thirsty or in need of some origami.

Take notice of the overflowing money jar sitting on the table. Yes, that is a five dollar bill. Our local fireman forked over $5 for some lemonade and a smile! In the end, the girls walked away with $14! Remember, we live down a rural gravel road! Unlike kool-aid stands in my day when every family traveling to or from the little league games held at the park down the road stopped by for a warm glass of kool-aid (we could not figure our how to keep ice from melting in the dry SLC heat).
After sending the boys up with a couple of quarters to buy a drink, they quickly realized that the girls were capitalizing on an open market. So they sat up in the upstairs bedroom for an hour or so with their guitars, practicing. Soon the lemonade and origami stand was joined (with no complaint from the girls) by a guitar stand. For a small donation, the boys would play any interested neighbor a little ditty. At first, the girls felt sorry for the boys, feeling that they may not make any money, so they started spending their money at the guitar booth! By the end of the day (they were out there ALL DAY), the boys had made a whooping $6 each!


As we sat down for blueberry pancakes this morning, we had a little business talk. We covered the basics; finding ways to make a profit while keeping your costs low, the importance of customer satisfaction, the need to not over-saturate your market, etc. They were all receptive and quickly launched into new ideas for next weekend; including song and dance performances, coffee or iced tea, kindling for wood stoves in the winter, clay figures, cookies.
Looks like we have a couple of young business women and men in our hands.
Maybe they can start pitching in to help cover our overhead!