Armed with a stack of $5 bills in my hand one Friday afternoon, I arrived ready to dish out the cash for the Business Club $5 Challenge.
My passion runs deep for investing in the lives of young people to help them reach their full potential. One way I do that is by leading the Business Club at my children’s school.
As soon as I began handing each of the forty students a $5 bill, I had their attention. “There are moments in life,” I told them, “when your back is against the wall and you simply have to make something happen. What would you do if something you hold most dear were taken away from you if you didn’t find a way to turn $5 into $25? I know what you’d do—you’d find a way.”
I challenged them to turn the $5 into $25 over the weekend. I asked for a show of hands to gauge who would commit to making a five times return on the $5. About fifteen hands went up.
“Here’s the deal,” I told them. “Those of you in the room who do not want to accept the challenge, keep the $5 and do something meaningful with it. Give it away or do something nice for someone with it. For those of you who do take the challenge, you’re going to learn something about yourself that will stay with you forever.
You’re going to feel what it’s like to put pressure on yourself and make something happen. A manufactured sense of urgency can create a powerful lesson. Text me on Sunday night and tell me how you did. Oh, and by the way, you get to keep everything you make, including the $5.”
I was excited to see what the students would do. Twenty-four hours later, text messages began to roll in. Some didn’t quite make it to $25, but they gave good efforts. Others used the $5 to purchase something for someone else, such as an ice cream cone for their younger sister or a coffee for the person in line behind them. But there were a couple of clear winners. A young man named Clay told me that due to the recent storm that had hit our area, tree limbs and debris were still strewn across many of the yards in his neighborhood. He spent $4 on trash bags and went door to door, asking his neighbors if he could clean up their yard. In one day, he turned his $5 into $78.
A few years later, Clay asked me to write a letter of recommendation for business school. The typical reference letter validates why the applicant is a good person and a good student, but I took a different path. I told the dean how Clay had used his own creativity and ingenuity to turn $5 into $78. “If he did that with $5,” I wrote, “think of what he could do with a degree from your fine business school.” Clay called when his acceptance letter arrived in the mail.
Another student, Will, texted me that on Saturday he had bought a case of twenty-four bottled waters for $4.99. He sold each to sweaty parents during his sister’s soccer game and grossed $40 his first day, with a net gain of $35. On Sunday, he bought a case of thirty-two waters and did the same thing, for a net gain of $42. He earned a total net profit of $77.
Sometimes we overcomplicate things. Will saw thirsty people on a hot soccer field and provided a solution that quenched their thirst.
He simply saw a need and met it. By turning $5 into $77, Will won a $25 Amazon gift card and he got to keep all his profits, including the $5. But the real win was the bet he made on himself. That’s an investment that will pay lifelong dividends.
My daughter Lauren also decided to take the challenge. After wrestling with what to do, she bought some cupcake mix, made three dozen cupcakes, and she and her younger sister walked the neighborhood attempting to sell them. She figured if she sold all of them for $2 each, she’d net almost $75.
At the first house she visited, a neighbor bought two cupcakes but gave her $8. She figured she was off to a good start. At the next house, Mr. Lewis asked what she was doing and why. She explained she had accepted a challenge from her school Business Club to turn $5 into $25. He asked her to wait just a moment, and when he returned, he handed Lauren a crisp $100 bill. “Now I’ve paid for all the cupcakes. Please go around the neighborhood and give them out for free.” Lauren was stunned and ran back to our house to share the good news. She then delivered cupcakes to every neighbor on our street.
This story has several lessons baked into it. First, courage is often rewarded. Going door-to-door isn’t easy, but Lauren did it. Second, it taught her a lesson that if you explain your goals, and they’re worthy, people want to help. Lauren was looking to sell one cupcake, but Mr. Lewis saw a bigger and more impactful plan. Perhaps the best lesson was Lauren seeing someone spontaneously and genuinely showing unexpected generosity. He created a story that years later our family still talks about.
So you see, making money can actually be fun. But giving it away? That’s even better. In Part 3, I’m going to show you why.
This excerpt is taken from “Good Money Revolution: How to Make More Money to Do More Good” by Derrick Kinney. To read other articles of this book, click here. To buy this book, click here.
The Epoch Times copyright © 2023. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors. They are meant for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation. The Epoch Times does not provide investment, tax, legal, financial planning, estate planning, or any other personal finance advice. The Epoch Times holds no liability for the accuracy or timeliness of the information provided.
