My fifth grade son started a business. He didn’t ask me about it. He just did it. He’s a Lego kid and loves to customize his little Lego mini-figures with paint and stickers etc.  So one day he announced he was going to sell his customized Lego figures at school. I said very little, deciding to stand back and watch how this would unfold. He asked me to drop him off at school early so he could show them off to his school mates. He said he needed to do this several days in row because he knew the kids wouldn’t have enough money with them and he needed to get them excited about his “product” so they would bring their allowances the next day.

He faced a few obstacles. He had to hide this endeavor from his teacher and do it strictly on his own time or she would confiscate his “toys”. (She’s already holding several of his Legos ransom in her desk as somehow they appeared during math time. He’s been trying to figure out how to get them back from her so he can turn around and sell them!)

I love his fearlessness about this endeavor. He’s a very practical kid. As a girl, I would have felt bad for breaking the rules and getting caught. When my toys got confiscated once during class, my internal good girl syndrome reared its head and I felt awful. I worked hard to be the perfect student for quite a while. He’s just irritated that she’s got his “products” in her desk!

On the second day of this project he brought home five dollars. I was shocked! He actually made his first sale! On the third day he brought home a twenty dollar check from a kid in his class. What?! Upon closer inspection, I could tell the check had been made out to the cafeteria lady for this kid’s hot lunches. The child had scratched out the lunch lady’s information and written my son’s name on top of it. Uh-oh. I had to break the news to my son that he had received a bad check. And joy of joys, I had to call this other parent. I knew I’d want a parent to call me if the situation were reversed, but still, it was awkward.  (“I’m holding a check you wrote that your son gave to my son…!” Not fun.)

My son’s reaction? He was mad at the kid and wanted to make sure he got his money or the Legos back! I think girls would be more worried about the friendship/ relationship impact. (This issue is still pending in court.)

The grand experiment came to an end last week when we had a frank discussion about profit. He needed to buy more Clone Trooper Legos at Toys R Us, to customize. The problem—they are expensive! He wasn’t charging enough money to buy more mini-figures. After more debate, he decided to raise his prices to cover this, but found that the kids just wouldn’t pay the new prices.

I love his perseverance. Just because the first business idea didn’t work out, doesn’t mean the next one won’t. I’ve had some whopping failures. If you never fail, you’re not taking enough risks!

Several lessons came out of this, but the obvious lesson (besides 10-year-olds shouldn’t take checks) is that you can’t run a business, no matter how much you love it, without turning a profit.  Just because you love doing something doesn’t mean it can become a viable business. There are many things my son loves. He is now debating which will yield him more money. (He wants more money to buy himself more Legos. It seems he finds his allowance insufficient.)

I realize that everyone has heard “Do what you love and the money will follow”. Actually, it should say, “Make money doing something you love.” There are many things I love. So far, no one is paying me to scrapbook. Some things should stay as a hobby. I guess I’ll stick to money coaching, which I do love.

But I do take checks, by the way.