I was driving home the other day and it was hot and I was thirsty. As I turned into my subdivision I found my favorite lemonade stand. I’m probably their best customer, I always stop. For one thing, I figure I owe for all the neighbors who have bought lemonade or Girl Scout cookies or whatever from my kids. And the other reason is they make pretty good lemonade.

 

I do all sorts of blog posts about small business taxes and rules and regulations. The beauty of a lemonade stand is kids don’t think like that. They don’t let things like a business license or taxes get in the way. (And shame on any city official who closes down a kid’s lemonade stand: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/08/03/the-inexplicable-war-on-lemonade-stands/) Kids decide they want to open a business and (to borrow the tag line from Nike) they just do it!

 

What’s really cool about a lemonade stand is what it teaches kids about business.

 

1. Location, location, location: you won’t sell any lemonade if your stand isn’t where people can get to it–if the street is too busy the cars won’t stop, too quiet and you have no customers. This lemonade stand is just off the busy street near the sub-division entrance.

2. Quality: no one will buy your lemonade if it tastes nasty. Like I said earlier, they make good lemonade.

3. Price: if it’s too expensive no one will buy it. If it’s too cheap, you won’t cover your costs. (Okay, with most lemonade stands, Mom paid for the lemonade already. My Mom used to charge me for the Kool-aid I used. I did not appreciate the lesson she was trying to teach at the time but now I understand.) My favorite stand charges 50 cents.

4. Advertising: A good sign and word of mouth are pretty much the standard in the lemonade stand industry. No one will buy your product if they don’t know you have something to sell though. I’m not sure the photo does the sign justice, but you know it’s a lemonade stand when you drive by.

 

As adults, we have quite a bit more to focus on to get our businesses off the ground. But without those top four lemonade stand basics: location, quality, price and advertising; our grown-up businesses won’t succeed either.

 

If you’re looking to start a business in Missouri, a really good resource is the Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Centers, it’s a University of Missouri Extension Partner. They have wonderful resources for business start ups; reading materials, templates for business plans and financial worksheets, seminars, counseling, and all sorts of programs. Here’s a link to their booklet about starting a business in Missouri: http://www.missouribusiness.net/sbtdc/docs/starting_new_business_missouri.pdf Even if you’re not in Missouri they have a lot of good information for start ups.

 

One piece of advice that you’ll find in the booklet is to talk with an accountant. I know a small tax company that has a nice location at Westport Plaza, provides quality service, is priced fairly and if you’re reading this, their advertising is working. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to talk to you. Helping small business start ups is the fun part of our day.