Lucy & Max have nagged at me for weeks to set up a lemonade stand.  Finally with some coordination with our nanny Micki we got one set up.  When I picked Lucy up from school that afternoon and told her that the lemonade stand was waiting to be opened she squealed with delight and took off running.

Now, at 3:00 in the afternoon it is about 95 degrees outside.  When we arrived home Max was sitting at the booth in front of the house with sweat pouring down his head.  He had already decided the lemonade stand was “no fun” and that he was hot and wanted to go inside.

Lucy on the other hand was invigorated with potential.  She envisioned neighborhood kids lining up down the street waiting to partake in the refreshing delight of her lemonade.  Lucy pulled up her little red lawn chair and sat down eagerly with a smile spread wide across her face.

I sort of counted on the idea that the heat would suck the fun out of running a lemonade stand and they would quickly give up.  However, Lucy was not so easily discouraged.  Soon enough a young girl on a bicycle came skirting down the street as she made her way home from school.  Lucy straightened and awaited her stop at the counter.  The girl didn’t stop but without notice glided by Lucy with no recognition that she even existed.  Lucy dropped her shoulders in disappointment but not too far behind came a father with two little girls walking home from school.  Once again Lucy pulled herself up tall and smiled cheerfully fully expecting a lemonade purchase, but once again was summarily ignored.  This scene repeated itself two more times before the pain of disappointment washed over Lucy like the runner-up at a beauty pageant.  Tears exploded out of her eyes as she exclaimed “WHY DOESN’T ANYBODY BUY LEMONADE?”  When I tried to tell her that maybe they didn’t feel like drinking lemonade she grew hostile and screamed out “EVERYBODY LIKES LEMONADE!! HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE LEMONADE ON A HOT DAY?” Now, I must admit that her logic there was infallible.  I tried a different tactic and said to her that perhaps these people didn’t have any money.  This was the final straw.  She flung herself to the ground, big swollen tears pouring down her face and she burst forth with “WE SET ALL THIS UP AND WENT THROUGH ALL THIS TROUBLE AND NOT A SINGLE CUSTOMER!! I WANTED AT LEAST 15 CUSTOMERS.  WHERE ARE THE CUSTOMERS? WE WENT THROUGH SO MUCH TROUBLE!!”

There I stood with sweat pouring down my back and my little girl in tears, absolutely tortured by disappointment.  I sat Lucy down and knowing that my daughter has the logical thinking of a 50 year old explained to her the idea of demographics and market analysis.  As simply as I could I said to Lucy, “you have to realize sweetheart that you can only sell something if there are people around to buy.  We counted on the walking home from school crowd to buy our lemonade, but that market ended up being weak and not as robust as we had hoped.  Now we must consider a secondary market.  May I suggest the coming home from work crowd?  We’ll take the stand down for now and set it back up when people are driving home from work and walking their dogs.”

Lucy instantly understood the logic and promise of this solution.  She perked right up, agreed that this seemed like a sound marketing strategy and quickly delegated (like all good leaders).  “Mommy, you put the supplies on the porch.  We’ll bring the lemonade inside and when we come back out tonight, I think we should bring cookies. “