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My Little Entrepreneur

We bought Aliyah this label-maker as a present for being the top in class. As I wrote before, she's not in the right class - her average results still take her to the top. But still, she deserves a nice present for her efforts. She's been wanting the label-maker for months. My daughter is crazy over stationery stuff. 

Back to her results... know what, I don't really care whether she tops her class or not, or whether she gets all As or not. I personally don't believe in our school grading system. Anybody can excel if one knows how. At the moment, the surest way is to send your kid to some good tuition centre that promises 5As. If you ask me - the only worry I have for Aliyah is that she feels pressured or even ashamed if she doesn't get good grades in her UPSR next year as compared to her other cousins. There surely be comparisons. I know it's still a long way to go but we need to stop this unhealthy practice. Each child is a genius in his or her own way.

That brings me to my discovery of this little entrepreneur in the house. Aliyah made us both so proud with her "business thinking". The label-maker was a gift to her. So she spent hours making name labels for her stuff. She came back from school and told us that her friend in class asked her to make her a label. The next day, she showed me a list of names that her friends asked her to make. Apparently, she made one free label (she said "promotion") for new orders, and for 2nd label onward, she charged 50 sen! She made RM2 on her 2nd day. Yesterday, she showed me a list of more orders she got from her friends. She made RM6. I asked her whether she still gives free labels to new "customers" and she answered - not anymore, promotion period is over! 

I don't know how she got the idea of turning her label-maker into money-maker. And I don't know how she came up with that promotion idea. She has this list of customer names and orders and history of orders in her notebook (very organised!). She was out of tapes, so we went to buy new supplies. She picked tapes of the same brand even though there are others of cheaper price. She said - those are cheap but might not stick as good. She made sure she provide her customers with quality product! 

I took the cue to teach her about return of investment - how much she spent on buying the supplies vs how much she gets from her sale. She made her calculations and found she made a profit of RM3.50. I am so proud that she showed her creativity and ingenuity. Perhaps she picked them up spending so much time with us in the office. Or perhaps she has that entrepreneurship spirit in her. This life skill is much much better than any As!
  Her very first label. Masa ni tak expert buat lagi...

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