I feel frustrated that we spent so much time and got such little results. B is happy we got two orders and had fun playing while we got them.
A teacher in our neighborhood suggests we go to another school district where their students do fundraising differently. So on Sunday, we go to another area.
Since B has done this fundraiser for several days, he’s become quite the sales person without realizing it. When someone orders something, he’ll say, “Oh I like cookies” or “That’s a good one, a lot of people have been getting that.”
It’s a great day today. It’s sprinkling some, but the longer we are out, the rain completely stops.
At the first house, B gets a donation. The second house, the people are outside. They ask, “What money do you take?”
B responds, “Cash or check.”
He replies, “I don’t have cash.”
B says, “We take check too.”
He says, “I don’t have checks.”
B says,” Feel free to order and we’ll come back and get the money.” Then he asks, “When will you have the money?”
The gentleman says, “I’ll run to the ATM and get some cash.”
The guy orders something, and we agree to come by his house before we leave the neighborhood to collect the money.
Before we head to the next house, B says, “Whoever makes it to the next house first wins. And the winner gets to decide what’s for dinner. On your mark. Get set.”
He starts running a second before he says, “Go!”
He arrives just before I do and says, “I won! I get to pick what’s for dinner tonight.”
I reply, “Well, actually you started running before you said, ‘Go.’”
“Mama, I still won.”
“Yeah, but you don’t need to cheat to win. You can pick what’s for dinner though.”
At the next house, a man answers. B hears barking, and asks, “Do you have dogs?”
The man says, “Yes.”
“How many?”
“3.”
“Can I see them? I love dogs.”
One puppy comes outside. B gets caught up in playing with the puppy and is having a great time. He doesn’t want to leave after he gets his order.
Every house that has dogs, B says, “I love dogs” and then asks the owner about the dogs. How many do you have? What are their names? How old are they? What kind of dogs are they? Big or small? Can I see them?
We go to a few more houses and get orders. YAY!
On the way to the next house, B picks up an acorn. As we wait for someone to answer the door, B throws the acorn to me to catch it. It goes over my head. I get it and throw it back to him. I say, “Great catch.”
We toss it back and forth, counting how many times we can throw it and the other person catches it before it hits the ground. The highest we get is to five.
No one answers, so we go to the next door, where there are young kids. B says to the little girl, “My name is Blaise. What’s your name?”
“Georgia.”
“Nice to meet you, Georgia.”
Then he asks how old she is, what she likes to do, where she goes to school, and what grade she is in. Georgia kindly answers all of the questions, and her mom orders cookies from B.
We go to several more houses, before I look at the time. We’ve been gone for about four hours knocking on doors. I decide it’s time to go home and eat lunch. After all, it’s 3 pm, and we’re hungry. I didn’t realize we’d been gone that long. Time flies when you’re having fun.
We stop by the second house and collect their money before getting in the car. Once we are in the car, I count the orders, and realize B got 16 orders today! WOO HOO!
We were gone four hours, and he never once complained. In fact, we had a lot of fun playing games, meeting people, and B playing with dogs at different houses. He loved that.
The next day is the last day of the door-to-door fundraiser, and B is five short of his goal. So I get on Facebook and share about his fundraising goal, door to door journey, and adventures in the rain. Overnight, he gets 25 orders.
He exceeded his goal.
Then I discover that was the deadline for the door to door sales, but online sales go on for another week. When I share this with B, he says, “That means I can go for the top fundraising goal.”
I reply, “That means you need 30 more items.”
He says, “Yep, mama, I still believe in me.”
“Okay, let’s do it.”
He was able to get 25 orders in one night. Certainly 30 is doable in a week.
I post about the fundraiser and B’s goals on social media. I get a couple orders. Each day, I post about it and only get a couple orders. Every single order adds up, but we aren’t getting much traction.
B shoots his own video, and I post it on Facebook. He says, “Will you please support my fundraiser. I set a goal for myself to reach the top prize, and I need your help.”
In this video, he asked, he pleaded, he begged. He stopped at nothing to reach his goal.
He gets a few orders. We aren’t getting momentum like we originally did.
He even shoots another video, and I post it again. We are coming down to the wire.
It’s the last day of the fundraiser, and he still needs about 10 orders. We have people sharing the post, buying, and commenting.
I look at his numbers, and then put up the last post. We only need five more orders for B to reach the top of the top fundraising goal.
With this post, B surpasses the top of the top goal. He screams with excitement. Although he has no concept of what $400 of Amazon gift cards really mean, he knows he exceeded his first goal and then did it again with his second goal, because as he said, “I believe in me.”
And he did it!
When the fundraiser company called us for B to pick his prizes, they shared that they work with hundreds of schools and thousands of kids. Only B and one other student reached the top award. The other student was in middle school, and the agent couldn’t believe B was only five years old. As she said, “That’s incredibly impressive for a five year old.”
B raised almost $3000 for his school, received the top award, and got $400 in Amazon gift cards all because he believed in himself and knew he could do it no matter what others thought and no matter the weather, obstacles, or people not buying. He believed he could, and as he says, “With my brain, I can do anything.”
And so he did.
And you can too.
If B can set a goal and achieve it at five-years-old, you can too. Don’t limit yourself on what’s possible. Don’t let others limit you either. Push past what you think is possible, and turn your goal and dream into reality.
It doesn’t matter if you have naysayers, doubters, or disbelievers. Do it anyway. All you need is to believe in yourself, do whatever it takes, and never give up.
What goal are you reaching for? What is it you want to do? What do you want to achieve? What are you allowing to hold you back? What are you doing to ensure you reach your dreams?
Top Business Lessons from a Five-Year-Old
1. Try a new approach—if something isn’t working the way you want, try something new. Just because something has always been done a certain way, doesn’t mean it needs to keep being done that way. You don’t know if something better works unless you try it.
2. Be flexible—you may want it done a certain way and maybe that way doesn’t work the best for others. Ask what works for them. Be willing to go out of your way (or come back) to meet them where they are in the process.
3. Validate their responses or buys—“I like chocolate chip cookies” or “A lot of people are getting that one too.” People want to feel included and that they are like others. So if you share you like something too or that others do, they feel validated in what they are doing and are less likely to have buyer’s remorse and more likely to feel confident in their decision.
4. Have a conversation—introduce yourself to others. Don’t wait for them to say something, because then you might be waiting a long time. Start a conversation. Communicate with them. Ask them questions. Be interested in them and what they are interested in…themselves, their kids, their pets, their work. This allows you to connect in a deeper, more meaningful way.
5. Always, always, always believe in yourself. Don’t do it to prove others wrong or yourself right. Do it, because you’re listening to yourself. What you know about yourself to be true. That you can do it. That you got this. That it can be done. That it is possible. And when you reach your goal, which you will if you follow these steps, you’ll prove the naysayers wrong, but more importantly, you’ll increase your confidence to keep believing in yourself.
BONUS LESSON: No matter what you are doing or where you are. No matter if you’re at home or at work. Make sure you’re enjoying yourself, having fun, and laughing. You can turn anything into a game. You can laugh at any given time. You can smile just from a thought. The more fun you have the more you decrease stress, burnout, and depression, and the more you increase focus, retention, and happiness.
What lesson did you learn from B’s experience that can improve your life and business?
Jessica Rector’s mission is simple: transform lives. With a BBA, MBA and BS, Jessica started, hosted, and produced her own TV talk show in Los Angeles with just an idea to help others which launched jessICAREctor International. Through her own experiences, research, and strategies, she helps you turn inner communication into outer success through her proprietary process Tame Your Brain Game. As a thought leader, keynote speaker, and #1 best-selling author, Jessica consults with companies, trains teams, and speaks at conferences, conventions, and organizations helping you disrupt your status quo thinking. Jessica is a Contributor for The Huffington Post and has been seen on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Business Journal, and Market Watch. Get Jessica’s new book, Tame Your Brain Game at jessicarector.com. Follow her on Facebook by CLICKING HERE.
