Admittedly, much of my childhood wasn’t devoted to achieving anything remarkable. Rather, I spent each summer with friends, wandering along Park City’s vast mountains and trails. I thought relatively little of my lemonade stand or window washing businesses, which did surprisingly good jobs of thickening my duct tape wallet.
That is, until I became old enough to realize the effect that entrepreneurship had on my development.
Growing up, I was fortunate enough to witness the technical aspects of running a business — both of my parents work for themselves. Everything from paying bills to hiring employees, it all unfolded before me, ingraining a sense of hard work and dedication into my perception of the world. When I reached seven years old, my parents offered to help me establish a lemonade stand. I happily agreed.
Although I’d prefer weaving a tale about that lemonade shop and how it “remarkably” altered my life, it was merely a way for me to finance my Pokémon addiction. But what it taught me was that whenever money came into the shop, I had to place a little aside for the next purchase of lemons. The compressor used to squeeze the juice also cost money, so a small fraction needed to be saved to pay back the company’s “loan.” This process gave me a taste of entrepreneurship, and what it takes to start a company.
Now, don’t get me wrong here — I’m not offering premature parenting advice. Rather, it’s important to understand where the principles of entrepreneurship first manifest and develop. A few years after running that lemonade stand, I opened my own window washing service in Park City. After my parents expressed how much it cost to have someone clean their windows, I decided to buy a bucket and a few squeegees, undercutting my competition’s prices.
At the peak of this operation, I was servicing nine businesses in the local area. This number would naturally fluctuate, but it remained relatively constant and provided me with an additional source of income. Similar to other part-time workers, I had another job involving janitorial work at a grocery store. Needless to say, whenever I could wash windows instead of mopping floors, I thoroughly took advantage of that time.
Becoming an entrepreneur is a difficult, hard-earning path that exposes one to the rigorous challenges posed by the free market. Adjusting for inflation, competition and unexpected disaster are skills that all successful owners quickly learn. Eventually, when I retired from the labor of squeezing lemons and washing windows, I was ready to approach other projects with confidence. In theory, starting a club or non-profit at the University of Utah is quite similar to this entrepreneurial process.
While it would be naive to say that all business ventures as a young adult instill a sense of hard work and morality, the challenges that one faces are often beneficial for personal development. The United States is a nation based upon the idea of unfettered freedom, where all citizens are allowed to pursue happiness. Whether it be through starting a business or initiating a club, entrepreneurship plays a pivotal role in advancing society. What began as a simple lemonade stand quickly transformed into another company, thus teaching me the importance of understanding entrepreneurship.