Make more money with the watermelon plan …

20130522-123549.jpgIf you want to make money, you need a plan …

… a simple plan.

And, nothing could be simpler – or make more sense – than The Watermelon Plan.

Simple?

It has to be; you see, this ‘plan’ was created by an 8 year old!

Here’s the plan, as told by the boy’s uncle, Jack:

I will never forget my little 9 year old cousin who lives in the UK, who shared a pretty simple money making plan with me. He told me he is planning on:

1. Buying a watermelon for $5
2. Cutting it up into 10 pieces and selling each piece for a dollar.
3. Go back to the store and buy 2 watermelons.
4. Etc.

I love this simple and basic business-building thought process.

There’s nothing difficult about making money if 8 year olds can do it.

And, they can. Here’s proof … a little closer to home … It’s my son’s story, as told on Quora:

At 10, my son wanted to start a cake shop outside his grandmother’s house (naturally, she would bake, he would sell).

But, at 12 y.o. he came to me and asked for $50 to start his new business on eBay. He offered me 49%. I accepted, just to see what would happen.

And, something did happen: a week later a package from China arrived at our front door, and over the next week a few smaller packages left the same way.

Two weeks later, my son came to me and said “here’s your $50 back” … he bought me back out!

[I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it doesn’t work like that. That’s probably the only non-commercial assistance that I’ve given his business in the last 6 years].

Since then, after growing his eBay store for 3 or 4 years, my son ‘graduated’ to an online service-based business that nets him in excess of $60k p.a. (turning over $100k++ p.a.) and has bought him a car whilst still in high school.

He contracts programmers in India and has 2 full-time customer service contractors in Manila. One of them just sent him a Christmas present and a card thanking him, saying that – because of my son – he can now fulfil his life ambition of opening up his own coffee shop.

Not only is my son setting up his own life, he’s changing other people’s lives already … and, he’s just finished high school.

With luck, you – or your children – may be able to embark on a similar journey.

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5 thoughts on “Make more money with the watermelon plan …

  1. I think a large part of it is that you are showing as a good example for entrepreneurship. I’m sure he absorbed a lot through just chatting with you. My daughter is nowhere near that right now at 10 but my son (age 7) is inclined towards things monetary (“bean-counting” at this stage).

    We are a different culture here in Thailand but they do go to an international school that is less rigid, but in the end it is up to the kid him/herself and his interest and drive.

  2. Wow, I really hope I can instill that sort of thinking into my young son. He’s got a clean slate and every opportunity to set himself up to truly experience the world unencumbered. I guess the best way is to lead by example, right?

    Thanks for sharing the great stories.

  3. Your son’s story is really impressive. It’s really important to have confidence in our children, support them and encourage them. Imagine you didn’t trust his internet business plan and didn’t give him the 50$, as a lot of parents would do , he wouldn’t have reached all this success, and he wouldn’t have accomplished all these great things. I think this story is really wonderfull, it teaches us a lot of things.

  4. @ Jon – I think he would have found some other way to get the $50 😉

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