About a year ago, we received a flyer that was created by three, then-14-year-old girls who live in our neighborhood. In fact, from my office treadmill, on which I conduct almost all of my business each and every day, I happened to notice two of the three girls delivering the flyer to every household on their bicycles. The flyer was folded in thirds, each section introducing each of them. Its content was to the point and contained a cute animated picture in each of the three sections – no doubt chosen by each of the girls based on their different tastes. They were willing to do any and all yard- and/or house-cleaning jobs.
Since our out-door and in-door cleaning tasks have been handled by either professionals or robots on a regular basis, we had no need for their services at the time. Nevertheless, we kept their brochure. There was something special about it that made us not want to throw it into the waste basket – as we do with most flyers or junk mail that we receive.
As grandparents ourselves, we could not help but be impressed with their entrepreneurial spirit. They are slightly younger than our own precious granddaughters, who live out of state.
As business owners, we always have many tasks that can be delegated to others. When our first helper went off to college last fall, we hired a company to send out our direct-marketing materials. We noticed a lot of waste associated with it, however. (To this company’s defense, “garbage in, garbage out.” In other words, if I am not paying close-enough attention to what type of mailing list is being made available to that company, they are not paying attention to correct wrong pieces of information before sending them out. And, in the end, we are the ones that end up wasting our marketing dollars for the poorly-executed tasks.) So, I decided that I needed to be more careful in how we hand off tasks to others.
Earlier this year, because of the problem we were having with the “professional” company that we had hired, we asked the neighborhood girls if they would be interested in stuffing envelopes. They said, “Yes.” So our journey began, working with them. As simple as it may sound, David timed himself to determine how long it actually takes to get the job done from start to finish – so that we can pay a fair compensation regardless of their age. He also wrote out every step of what was involved. My job is to make sure that all necessary supplies are available BEFORE they come over to get the job done for us on weekends.
Each weekend, they have been coming in pairs instead of all three. This arrangement has been working out great in that, even when one of them has other commitments for a particular weekend, the other two are always making themselves available to get the job done for us. They listen to our instructions very well. They are very bright, responsible, and honest. Best of all, they all seem to genuinely enjoy each other’s company, working together.
After we explain whatever is unique about each batch, we excuse ourselves back into our office – so that we can get other tasks done while they work on theirs. After all, what’s the point of delegating if we were to just watch them, right?
One day, we asked them if they were being encouraged by their parents to go out and find jobs. They said, “No.” Their response was that they were bored and wanted to do something. Wow! Instead of blaming others or acting out, they chose to do something positive to deal with the boredom they felt. At such young age, their emotional intelligence is off the chart. If they represent the majority of American teenagers, then I think this country’s future will be just fine.
All three of the girls were born in America. Two of the three sets of parents came from another country, as I did – a common occurrence in this country. They practice different religions. Together, they represent a microcosm of America where each citizen gets to enjoy freedom; freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise, etc., etc. – all of the freedoms that we cherish as human beings, regardless of race, religion, or anything else.
They are adorable young ladies. Their hearty laughter, when working together, is infectious. David and I cherish the fact that they came into our lives.
Happy investing!
