Off Topic: Did You Sell Candy When You Were in School?

Romania has been under the gray shadow of communism for many years. I was five years old when the regime collapsed so there's not much to remember for me. I can't say I had experienced communism to the full extent but I do recall the long waiting lines for buying milk and butter early in the morning.

That was the thing back then - equality. We were all equally entitled to be supervised by Big Brother in everything we did. We couldn't buy much, coz there was very little available, free speech was taboo and entrepreneurship was out of the question.

Years passed and I found myself in high school, being a member of Scout Organization, selling Tecnica trekking boots and Mammut Gore Tex Jackets. I was basically earning my own money without having a job. The sense of freedom and self empowerment were more rewarding than the money itself and that was the point when I got the taste of entrepreneurship. Since I was an outdoor enthusiast at that time as well, it was a perfect mix for my everyday life to sell outdoor gear and to practice mountain sports - climbing, trekking, caving, skiing. Clearly, I couldn't have sold tooth paste or detergents as my hobbies only related to extreme sports/mountain activities, thus it became obvious then that I must connect my business ventures with my passions in order to be fully engaged and have results.

But that's not the point I want to make now. What I believe is really important for a young entrepreneur is to start at an early age.

My nine year old cousin - Ioana - had her first business venture at school which can only make me happy. She sold some of her girly stuff (ear rings, dolls, fancy pencils, etc.) to her school mates and got so excited about this that she asked me what would be her next step on this path. So I sat down with her and had a serious discussion about the advantages and challenges of being your own boss and then I realized something of tremendous importance - nobody encouraged me to try to do business!

My parents don't have an entrepreneurial background even though they are not against doing business. My father is a freelancer in constructions and to a certain extent this type of self employment may be associated with entrepreneurship. My mother has always encouraged me in everything that I undertook. With all this, I don't remember any advice from them that I should start my own business. I was constantly being told to get good grades so I can get a good job when I grow up - honestly... not the best advice to give to a kid!

But here I am now with my little cousin who wants to be her own master and, more than that, she is willing to learn how to do it and throws lots of questions at me. It's an interesting process for me as well coz not only I share my experience with her but I also teach her English which I've never done before.

Her most recent success is selling some imprinted climbing T shirts. I gave her a few to sell, just to see what happens and she persuaded two boys from her class that is worth wearing such cool T shirts. Of course her mates are not climbers but the designs were funny enough so they bought the items. I'll add these designs in the following weeks to the Free Stuff section of Highball Blog.

I truly believe it's essential to start early as an entrepreneur and my little girl cousin has just made this step. She will have the time to experiment and to make all the necessary mistakes in order to gain strong knowledge about doing business and I will be there encouraging her. In my opinion, sometimes you have to take your mistakes to the end in order to gain valuable experience. I haven't been told this when I was young but I've learnt it on my own and I want to pass this on to Ioana so she can understand that experiencing and failing is part of the way to success.

Another aspect of guiding her on this route is that she has the faith of a child. I told her she is the only one who can make her dreams come true and she believes that! She now has the courage to think business wise coz I told her anything is possible providing that she works for it. No one told me that when I was little but that's not something I should feel resentment for. It's great to be able to teach someone and to offer support I hadn't received at such an early stage in my life.

She summarized some of her newly acquired business principles:

• I will keep my money as capital for business - I won't buy silly stuff anymore
  
• I must think I can sell whatever people need to buy
  
• I'm selling stuff, I'm not stealing kids money (as some teacher said)
• I make mistakes and I feel embarrassed but it's better than doing nothing like all the other kids
  
• If I don't work for myself, no one else will
• I like to help people and many of them give me money in exchange for my help

I'll keep you updated with my cousin's business adventure and my teaching experience.

Start doing what you like and bee free! Cheers!

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Off Topic: Did You Sell Candy When You Were in School?

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