Douglas Ingram

Musings on Entrepreneurship, Family & Life

Archive for category Ethics

Lessons in Entrepreneurship via the Lemonade Stand

May 6

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This past weekend I got the awesome pleasure of working for less than minimum wage in the hot Georgia sun!  What you say?  I got to be a  barista of a different order, instead of being a fine purveyor of wonderfully roasted coffee beans and scrumptious delights, I was pushing a fine yellow powder kissed with just the right amount of water and with a tinge of sweetness.  Really confused? I hope not. Simply put, I had the awesome pleasure to help my daughter in her very own lemonade stand.

The “big event” had been some weeks in the making and finally our big break occurred.  The neighborhood was hosting a garage sale.  What goes better with other people’s dusty junk and the Georgia heat and humidity?  If you answered Ice Cold Lemonade from a pretty, blond-headed five year old you would be right on the money.  Although my daughter probably was more focused on drinking some of the fruits of her entrepreneurial efforts I had a slightly more educational approach in mind.  I had the pleasure of reading a post some months ago on Sebastian Marshall’s blog regarding entrepreneurship and what it really means to be an entrepreneur.  Its a great article linked here:  “What Skills Do You Need to be an Entrepreneur, Only Two”.   In the article Sebastian mentioned showing his future kids the path of an entrepreneur at an early age, showing them specifically how to (1) add value to the things they touch & (2) get some share of the value they create.  This is a wonderfully simple idea and kudos to Sebastian for boiling down an idea that graduate business school professors (no offense to my special professor buddy at a great school) spend months trying to teach.

My goal in this endeavour was simple, help Mackenzie understand the concept of entrepreneurship and particularly the concept of investing and most importantly “PROFIT”.   All in all it was a tremendous success and something that I will continue to repeat in different forms and fashions with both Mackenzie and my other daughter Carrigan.  The formula for us that worked so well was pretty simple:

  1. I let Mackenzie use her “investment” envelope to buy the supplies.  She counted out the money, she knew how much she was investing & I let her decide what she wanted to purchase (with a bit of guidance).  Her total investment was $6.50 – including bottled water, ice, lemonade mix, fresh lemons, etc. (NOTE: We use the Dave Ramsey school of thought with our daughter.  Each week she gets a small allowance that she allocates (her choice) to four different envelopes (a) spend (b) save (c) invest (d) donate.)
  2. I let her carry her money, pay the cashier, etc.  (seems small but the concept of money, profit, revenue, etc. is an elusive one when your 5)
  3. We discussed our marketing, how would we get people to purchase her lemonade.  The concept of competition, marketing, sales tactics … you get the idea – some great concepts here.   This was particularly funny part of our endeavour in that Mackenzie decided one of the best tactics for drawing in customers was dancing around, smiling big and waving while shouting “Ice Cold Lemonade”.
  4. During our selling I encouraged her with some ways she could interact with her customers (selling) and attracting the crowds (marketing). This also resulted in a funny outcome.  One particular patron who was perusing earlier said “dusty junk” was not in the mood for lemonade.  However, after four very convincing sales pitches from the 5 year old she folded like proverbial cheap suit.
  5. I encouraged her to manage her money and the transactions. Giving people change, managing the supplies, making more product… it was her business and I helped her keep track of the moving pieces.
  6. As we wrapped up the day’s activities we had a lengthy sit-down where she counted her sales for that day.  We talked a bit about the concept of sales, etc and what that means.
  7. We then payed her investment envelope back (the whopping $6.50) and were left with her profit.   We talked a bit about profit and the idea that in those 4 hours she made $15 in profit.  Normally her allowance is $5 per week.  The point she got very quickly was in a few hours of work she made “ALOT” (her words) more than what she normally does.  …This was the best realization – she labored, she applied her ingenuity and her talents (ADDED VALUE) and then got to pocket the profit (GETTING A SHARE OF THE VALUE SHE CREATED).
All in all – the lemonade stand was a total success and a really exciting time for me too.  To see entrepreneurship and these sometimes difficult concepts come into clarity for my five year old daughter was truly awesome!  For me to get back to my love of entrepreneurship and see it through the early lens of my daughter was equally awesome!
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The Lost Art of Taking Responsibility…

Jan 24

Posted by douglasingram in Ethics, General, Leadership, Life Lessons | Comments off

OK, this will be a very quick post. What can I say, if you haven’t seen this video, please take 2 minutes and check it out. This is not earth shattering stuff. The lady in the movie is in her local mall and texting vigorously. She is so consumed with texting on her phone that she fails to see the mall indoor fountain that is right in front of her. You guessed it. KERPLOP!!! So the fact that this happened is kind of amusing, however, the next part is a bit disturbing. She may be suing the mall? Come on really folks?
The reality is that she wasn’t paying attention and fell in. It was embarrassing, maybe even funny if she really thinks about it, and life goes on. Well life should go on, but instead of moving on she is going to sue. Ouch.
I think a disturbing trend in our overall society is the idea that when something bad, embarrassing or generally unpleasant happens we, as individuals, immediately start looking for someone or something to pass the blame on. “It wasn’t my fault that I fell in the mall fountain, the mall should have known I would be consumed with texting on my cell and never built the darn thing.” I truly believe if we all took more responsibility for our actions we might individually, and collectively, be very pleased with the result. One excellent lesson I learned at my alma mater on my first day of indoctrination was there are only three replies (1) Sir, Yes Sir; (2) Sir, No Sir; and (3) Sir, No Excuse Sir. Today, as a parent and in my various current life roles, I get to come front and center with what happens when lessons of responsibility are not properly instilled. Frankly, when these lessons are not properly learned it does everyone a disservice. I would advocate that the act of taking responsibility is an art. It can be liberating, scary, humbling and transformational, but most of all taking responsibility has an excellent side benefit. The side benefit is that when you take responsibility for initiatives, actions and outcomes on a consistent basis – you empower yourself. So to the lady who is falling in the fountain and suing I would say this. Towel off, have a good laugh about it, own what happened (i.e. take responsibility) and move on.

PERSEVERANCE

Aug 26

Posted by admin in Business, Ethics, General, Life Lessons, Startup | Comments off

So each day when I wake up and get the day started I walk out of my bedroom and am greeted by this picture of President Abraham Lincoln.  My wife got it for me several years ago for Christmas after I commented how much I liked the theme of the print and the saying.  I generally am a bit cynical when it comes to these success oriented blurbs with catchy themes like “vision”, “inspiration”, and so on.  In fact, its enough sometimes to make you think you are locked in an old episode of “The Office”, walking into another great day at Dunder Mifflin. 

“Office” comments aside, I really enjoyed this particular piece and its a great saying to wake up to each day.  This past year has been a real meat grinder on several fronts.  Business, life, etc.   Some has been exciting and inspirational, other moments have been stressed and lonely.  I was one of the unfortunate many that got caught flat footed in the real estate bubble.  What started off as a fun hobby with a few rental houses ballooned into quite a business with lots of houses and other side ventures (on top of my regular day gig by the way).  That was all great on the upswing but the new market reality has created quite a “shit” storm to be perfectly blunt. 

That being said, life is there to be lived, experienced, chances taken, rewards and penalties received.  I’m not happy about some of the current economic realities but the alternative to all of this is never trying, never putting yourself out there, never dreaming, achieving or pushing yourself.  I know that I’ll get through this and be stronger, better and more experienced for it… but some days the struggle is taxing to say the least. 

So each day when I wake up I am greeted by this view of Honest Abe and the wonderful saying below.  For all of those out there enduring your own challenges in life, love and business – here is something to brighten your day.   To me, the quote is priceless and so true.  

“Perseverance”

He FAILED in business in ’31.
He was DEFEATED for state legislature in ’32.
He tried another business in ’33. It FAILED.
His fiancee died in ’35.
He had a nervous BREAKDOWN in ’36.
In ’43 he ran for Congress and was DEFEATED.
He tried again in ’48 and was DEFEATED again.
He tried running for the Senate in ’55. He LOST.
The next year he ran for Vice President and LOST.
In ’59 he ran for the Senate again and was DEFEATED.
In 1860, the man who signed his name A. Lincoln,
was elected the 16th President of the United States.

“The difference between history’s boldest accomplishments, 
and its most staggering failures is often, simply, 
the diligent will to persevere.”

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Barbara Boxer – Fighting Opposition with Race Card

Jul 23

Posted by douglasingram in Ethics, Politics | Comments off

Okay, I’ve seen my fair share of strange things.  I once actually interned for a summer in Washington, DC and got to sit through hearing, testimonies, etc.  Generally, these affairs are more prose and posturing than rubber-meets-the-road execution.  However, recently, I came across the following video that was the testimony of Harry Alford, the President of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.  His testimony was before the Environmental Committee and his position on a piece of legislation opposed that of Senator Boxer.   Mr. Alford had came to the committee to assert facts, figures and research so that a true discussion could take place regarding the legislation that was in front of the committee.  

Seemingly this should have be just another committee hearing on just another day in Washington.  However, on this particular day, instead of having a discussion regarding the actual data and research, Senator Boxer reverted to adding documents to the committee record from other black associations that countered the position of Mr. Alford.  Let’s say this didn’t sit well at all with Mr. Alford and he actually let Senator Boxer know that this was a “racial” approach and the wrong “path” to be going down. 

I posted this video because I think in this day and age to have this type of political posturing going on indicates a true lack of intelligence on the part of Senator Boxer.   Honestly, the basic argument she was forming went something like this…”Mr. Alford, all of these other black associations like my position – so you must be wrong because you represent a black association.”  I would hope in her time in Senate, Senator Boxer has learned the proper and improper way to form counter points. However, based on this display in her own committee I was both frightened and reminded how we truly need good old fashion reform in Washington.  The problem with the status quo that we have today is that no matter what the so-called impetus is for a senator, congressman, etc. to pursue their political offices,  many times the real underlying impetus is hubris, power, money, etc.  Senator Boxer is just another in a long line of professional politicians that just don’t get it.   She is clearly out of touch with the majority of Americans and also living in a long past era where persons of color are expected to follow the same exact believe system. To lump the African American community into one large “group” as she did during this committee does an incredible disservice to African Americans, freedom of choice and my basic intellect.  In closing, Senator Boxer, we are now in the 21st century – don’t use the NAACP and 100 Black Men to advance your causes – instead try using data, facts, figures and a common sense approach.

Video: Courtesy of Youtube.com and www.ChuckDevore.com (running against Sen.Boxer in 2010 election)  

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