Every business has a story. And mine starts back in the mists of time when photo quality was rubbish and I was introduced to two things that have continued to shape my life ever since.
The first was entrepreneurship, or at least entrepreneurship lite. Several years as a Girl Scout meant I got used to selling things, no small feat for someone under the age of 10. Although Girl Scout cookies were a popular purchase in the US, it was by no means guaranteed that someone would buy. I had to get used to rejection and moving on. What better way to teach a child resilience?
This encouraged me to try selling other things:
- I ran a craft stall with a friend in front of the supermarket her mother worked at, a lesson in the importance of networks.
- My father did stained glass as a hobby, and I turned his small offcuts into jewellery that I sold for $1.00 each on the school bus. Lesson: business ideas—and potential customers—are all around you.
- I set up a citronella stand one summer during a visit to my grandmother’s house. The citronella plant is a natural insect repellent and easy to propagate, so selling it in Florida sort of made sense. My business plan fell down, however, considering there wasn’t much traffic on my grandmother’s street, and she had a very long driveway, so it was unlikely many drivers saw me (and wanted to impulse buy citronella plants). This was a big lesson in the importance of location and knowing your audience.
While all of this was going on, I was introduced to the joys of science thanks to a lovely teacher who took the time to nurture my interests (shoutout to Mr. Martin!). In turn, this brought me into world of science fairs and, more importantly, the scientific method. The logical progression from problem to hypothesis, materials and methods to results and conclusion, has stayed with me ever since.
The takeaway from this experience? Not only was science fun, but that you couldn’t do it alone.
Beyond teachers encouraging me at school, my parents were willing to let me store flatworms in the refrigerator and my father built me a display stand (actually, two; the photo shows version 1.0).
A love of science and an interest in selling things aren’t bad as a foundation to a business. Check out PART 2 for what happened next.