Last weekend, winter storm Nemo dumped more than 2 feet of snow on most of New England. In some places, high winds led to drifts piling 5 feet or higher.
We all saw the fresh white landscape. We all dealt with the snow. Some of us are still dealing with it. What does any of it have to do with Youth CITIES?
On Saturday morning, while I was shoveling out my car (see pic;-), I was telling my wife about the snow storms I experienced growing up in the ‘90s. (My wife is from Jamaica; and, although, she’s lived in the US for 8 years, this was her first official blizzard.) I recounted stories of my two younger brothers and I traversing the neighborhood like it was a frozen tundra and cleaning people’s sidewalks, driveways, and cars for $5 or $10 bucks.
I hadn’t thought about those days in a long, long time. But, it’s true…that was our lemonade stand…our first attempts at being entrepreneurs. So, I decided to check out how things in 2013, the time of Nemo, had changed since my days in the snow-shoveling business.
Of course, it took a whole 10 seconds to find out that even in 2013 the snow storm entrepreneurs are still able to find market opportunities. They don’t have to go knocking door-to-door anymore; some simply post ads on Craigslist and let the customers find them.
This business won’t be enough to sustain you very long because, yes, the snow will melt and stop falling altogether until next year. Yet, one can still learn a lot about a sales pitch, (possibly) advertising, pricing, equipment quality, operational efficiency, and customer service in just one weekend. My favorite part about the whole idea is that a college degree isn’t going to help you succeed here. A strong back and appetite for hard work are your key ingredients to success.
I wonder if any of our Youth CITIES entrepreneurs thought about selling some good old-fashioned manual labor this weekend.