Remembering My First Business Plan

The ambition of a 8-year old lemonade maker

“Bunny Fountain Refreshments” was named after our location, the Bunny Fountain in my hometown of Trumbull, CT

When I was 8 years old I opened a lemonade stand on my block. I was very passionate about growing a business and impressing my father. Lemonade seemed like an easy, albeit trite, business venture for me.

We did good that summer. Not great. By the end of August, it occurred to me that we simply didn’t get enough traffic in front of my parent’s house… so we relocated to a spot in the middle of town… The Bunny Fountain.

That following summer I experienced my first taste of successful business. I was so excited that my Father helped me type together a business plan. Okay, he did most of the work, but still.

Here are some highlights.

We totally sold alcohol

I would work pretty much nonstop from noon to 6pm every day, and my Dad would join me at night and weekends to offer what we called our “Adult” option. It was my Mom’s fresh lemonade, spiked with Evan Williams. Absolutely illegal, but at the time nobody seemed to mind. (Mayyyybe my Dad’s buddy in the police department had something to do with this)

We were truly so successful that I had my buddy Andrew running a part-time lemonade stand at a park a few miles away. I had dollar signs in my eyes and fantasized about expanding to be a town-wide business by the time I was in High School.

We even called out the fact that I didn’t have a permit

I had enemies

There was this four-year old girl named Annie Flaherty who, and I remember this to this day, made bank in front of a high school and I just could not understand it at the time. She sold swill! Swill, I tell you! But it was her cute looks and her parents’ determination to make them seem “innocent” and all that that gave her a competitive edge.

That was my first taste for the power of content marketing. She had branding down. I’ve never forgotten the takeaway: image is just as important as product.

I had a pretty bitchin’ Growth Strategy

Of course, we never realized our goals. I joined a summer baseball league the following summer and then, you know, had friends and stuff. Plus I think my Dad wasn’t enthusiastic about continuing to sell alcoholic lemonade on the street to his buddies.

But in telling my story I think of this as a key moment. My first experience in business. And you know what? I thought it was pretty sweet.

Tell me about your first business in the comments!