When I was a kid I never really worked in the lemonade stand business as many children do. Instead I opted to work in the Kool-Aid industry. Why? Because it cost 15 cents for packets of Black Cherry and Tropical Punch. And if we were good my mom would splurge and shell out 30 cents for the fancier varieties like Surfin’ Berry Punch and Great Bluedini, which turns from green to blue right before your very eyes and to this day blows my mind.

I will admit though, I was a pretty pitiful entrepreneur. Not once did one of my Kool-Aid stands ever turn a profit. I don’t even think I ever made any money to repay “investors” (which was never a part of the business plan anyway, so not a big deal). As I look back on it now, older and hopefully slightly wiser, I can pinpoint several very distinct reasons why I was a complete and utter failure.

  1. Lack of aesthetic appeal
    Let’s be honest, people will buy useless stuff from cute kids simply because they’re cute kids. I, with stringy matted down hair and dirt all over my face, was not exactly a looker, let alone a presentable business owner. In addition, my signage was created with regular pencils rather than beautiful crayons and markers, and the stand itself always had sticky Kool-Aid spills all over it. The entire enterprise was a hideous mess. Aesthetics may not be at the top of your priority list, but they do matter.
  2. Poor treatment of employees
    Employees are the lifeblood of any business, and they deserve to be treated as such. So when I forced my employees (younger sisters) to work pro bono under my virtual dictatorship, I shouldn’t have been surprised by their shoddy work (e.g. forgetting to add the sugar or going to get the Dixie cups and never coming back).
  3. Bad location
    Customers are a requirement for business success, and I rarely saw them, or rather they rarely saw me. Drink stands thrive off of foot traffic, and my neighborhood wasn’t really a hotbed for walkers, joggers or bikers. Occasionally cars would zoom by, but I don’t think I was overly visible beneath the giant maple tree in my front yard.
  4. No passion
    I was never passionate about Kool-Aid, and I was never passionate about making money. I was just bored and it was something to do during those long summer days. When other options like going to the pool or eating a Popsicle came up, I almost always ditched the Kool-Aid stand as if it never existed. Passion is necessary for sustaining long-term success, and I just didn’t have it.
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