How I Got My Start As an Entrepreneur.... At Age 10
I am not unique in how I got my first taste of entrepreneurship.
Actually this year (yes, I just looked this up), more than 1 million young girls across the country had the same introduction to the joys and frustrations of facing the public with a product they dearly hope somebody (many bodies!) will want to buy. Most (and this was my experience) literally going door-to-door, ringing a doorbell, banging a knocker, equal parts hoping someone is home AND not home (agh! talking to strangers!).
Have you guessed what I'm referring to yet? ... If you guessed Girl Scouts (and Girl Scout cookies), you're right!
I still have distinct memories of walking around my neighborhood once a year, getting an unusually intimate glance into the homes that I biked past every day, noticing the smells of whatever they had just cooked for dinner, maybe getting an up-close view of the dog that had only been a barking, bobbing head beforehand. Watching the handwriting unfold on my sales sheet, marking a number for the amount of boxes they'd like of whatever types of cookies they'd be stocking their cupboards and freezers with. Grateful for a 1, excited about a 2... feeling like I had hit the jackpot with a 3+!
Now, this "business" wasn't paying my health insurance, but it WAS directly tied to certain outcomes that I was highly motivated by. Namely, the budget for my troop's annual activities and trips, as well as "prizes" that I earned in direct correlation to the volume of cookies I sold.
Beyond seeing the direct "fruits of my labors" (one of the great rewards of entrepreneurship), the most important lesson I learned was overcoming my discomfort of talking to strangers, understanding that people are people, and generally, if you enter into a conversation (selling or not) with the authentic desire to connect, they will respond with an open heart and mind.
The OTHER most important lesson I learned, but didn't realize until I came back to building my own coaching business, was that selling doesn't have to feel "icky". Rather, "selling" can actually bring great joy to people! If I have something they want that will bring value to their lives, me showing up on their doorstep is a total bright spot in their day. This lesson in particular holds true in my current work of marketing myself as a coach. When I meet a client who is desperately searching for a framework, guide and program to support them in making a career pivot, developing their personal brand, or creating structure and accountability around achieving their biggest professional goals - they are PSYCHED to learn I can do just that.
I wanted to share this story with you because…
a) you might realize that you yourself have had some valuable entrepreneurial experience under your belt without even knowing it (shout out to my fellow girl scouts, boy scouts, and anyone who has sold a cookie, candy bar or tin of popcorn door-to-door) and
b) I wanted to get your wheels turning on whether or not you CURRENTLY have a product, service or skill that you could be monetizing, whether in a side hustle or full time business!
I'm going to follow up with a second post on validating an idea next week, but for now I'll leave you with a few prompts below.
Make sure to sign up for my newsletter to get notified when I publish the follow-up to this post! Especially if you're interested in learning more from my entrepreneurial journey (& my general musings on life and career).
If you have any curiosity about entrepreneurship, I encourage you to reflect on the below three questions:
1) What problem am I passionate about solving in the world?
2) How can I uniquely help people solve this problem?
3) WHY do I PERSONALLY care about solving this problem?
I'll be back next week with some of the best ways to both test your idea, as well as offer it to the market - based on my own experience in entrepreneurship over the last four years!
Remember to sign up for my newsletter (above) to get notified when I publish the second installment.
And feel free to comment below or email me with the responses you come up with for the three questions above. I absolutely LOVE to riff on business ideas with clients and friends alike.
Your coach,
Julia
P.S. If you’re totally jazzed by all this talk of entrepreneurship, you MUST check out one of my business mentors, Amy Porterfield’s, podcast: Online Marketing Made Easy. Here’s one of my favorite episodes on how to build a thriving online business!
