I've had many entrepreneurship-focused experiences in my life so far, but one that sticks out to me is when I was in the Boy Scouts of America, where I had to sell popcorn in order to raise funds for our troop. I engaged in door-to-door sales, as well as setting up stands in order to advertise and attract customers outside of places like grocery stores and local churches after services ended. It taught me a lot, considering I was relatively young at the time and didn't know all that much about how people deal with door-to-door salesmen and being approached and asked for money. I ended up being quite successful at selling popcorn, in part due to my belief that my age was a factor in people being willing to buy what I was offering (mainly in the sense that I was a young kid and they were willing to help my cause because they liked me). I also believe that my father, who has worked in sales consulting for a good part of career, helped me earn more business because he was able to provide a lot of good advice and tips on how to be a better salesman.
For the second half of the assignment, and as an answer to the questions of why I enrolled in in the class and what I hope to get out of it, there are several reasons. I am currently writing this blog from my flat in London, United Kingdom because I'm doing the UF in London study abroad program, and I wanted to be able to take a course online through UF while I was here. Entrepreneurship has always been an important part of my life, because many of my family members were/are entrepreneurs, and I believe it is something I would like to learn more about and possibly be a field I can become more successful in, in the future. I hope that I will learn more about entrepreneurship's human aspect and what makes a successful entrepreneur, as well as possible skills and concepts that I can apply in other parts of my life and career after my time at UF has ended.
I believe that in both Boy Scout and Girls Scouts, the selling process (either popcorn or cookies) is such an important role that I feel society, working parents, and technology are taking away from our kids today. The skills they learn through selling: selling in itself, social skills, entrepreneurial mind sets, creativity, etc, are what help form these young minds for a successful future. Most of the time nowadays, parents will sell their children's products at work for them, forgetting that the most important part isn't selling the most, but that they learn the valuable lessons in doing so. I was a Girl Scout when I was younger, and remember dreading the sales at first, but then you get better, more comfortable, and desensitized to the nerves that come with it. Thank you for sharing! I bet it has helped to shape your idea of running a business. And its adorable that your father was able to give you advice!
ReplyDeleteI am with you I can not see how anyone does door to door sales, unless you a kid so I see how girls scouts and boys scouts do it. While this is a hard thing to do, this develops sales skills and gets people out of their comfort zone. The problem is that most kids do not sell their stuff they call relative and family member to take it to work for them and sell.
ReplyDeleteI think that your experience with entrepreneurship at such a young age is a great thing. Getting exposure to having to put in the hard work and selling a product really teaches early on all that it takes to be a successful salesman. Even though many times people may have bought from you since you were younger and they liked you-- that is part of business, isn't it? People don't always buy something because they like the product itself but because they like what it stands for, they like to help a cause, or maybe they don't know what they want. Good luck in study abroad in London!
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