Ep. 167 - Summer Series: The Lemonade Lesson in Personal Brand

How often do we downplay what we need or what we're offering? When we’re vague, quiet, or overly humble, we leave people guessing. A recent trip to a lemonade stand highlights the connection between how we all can benefit from a little clarity, a little visibility, and some storytelling to set us apart. 

Transcript

The other day, I was driving around doing some errands and saw a classic summer scene: a young girl behind a lemonade stand on a busy street corner. A scribbled sign, a little folding table, and a couple of pitchers with some bright colored liquid.

When I passed the first time, I gave it just a quick glance and a smile. On the way back though, I realized I was going to pass them again so I took a second look. Now there was another girl, and they were both waving their arms at cars. I decided to stop, even though — like most days — I didn’t have any cash on me.

There also wasn’t an easy place to pull over, but I was committed to this lemonade quest. So I put on my hazard lights and popped out of the car.

As soon as I said hello, they asked what type of lemonade I wanted.

“Well, I’d love to get some of your lemonade, but I don’t carry cash on me,” I said.

One of the girls immediately replied, “That’s okay. Do you have any quarters?”

It was so charming — and honestly, kind of strategic. A hopeful Hail Mary in the currency game maybe.

This spontaneous stop stuck with me all day. It got me thinking about how much of life is like an actual lemonade stand.

The Bottom Line on Top of this episode is that we need to occasionally check if we’re making it easy for others to buy what we’re selling.

In other words: Do we make it hard for people to help us? 

Not just in lemonade stands, but in business, in conversations, and in the ways we share (or don’t share) our stories throughout life.

Back to the early entrepreneurs. 

The young ladies, I found out, were both about 11 years old…and they were doing this for a purpose. They wanted to raise money for a friend and classmate who was going to have a kidney transplant.

It’s a big story and right as they were telling me another customer wandered up carrying some crumpled dollar bills. His name was Elijah, and his mom was in a nearby minivan while he came to collect the drinks.

He’d overheard me say I didn’t have any money and he said: “I can buy the drink for you.” So lovely.

I thanked him and said I was stopping for support, not hydration.

“What made you stop?” I asked him. They were heading home from sports practice, and his mom suggested they swing by.

He looked about the same age as the girls, so I asked if they knew each other.
Nope, he said. 

I nudged one of these budding businesswomen to introduce themselves and tell him why they were selling lemonade. 

They did and then he said “Oh cool. Here’s an extra dollar for that” and he handed it to them and then headed off with a wave. 

I was lingering around a bit longer, offering a few tips on how people like to know who they’re buying from and when people know your name and your “why,” it becomes about people, not just a pitch.

And sure, maybe I mentioned that they should have a QR code on their sign or something (but that’s a different marketing lesson for another day). It was time for me to leave, clearly.

Whether my words stuck with them that day, I won’t know. But they have certainly stuck with me. I’ve thought about their pop-up effort many times and about how much it relates to the lemonade stands that we run in our own lives too. 

We’re like this as adults right? Sometimes we leave our signs half-written. Or we only accept one kind of support. Or we assume people don’t need to know or really care about the reason behind what we’re doing.

In behavioral science, there’s a principle of cognitive ease which shows we’re more likely to engage when the effort feels small but the reward feels meaningful–like buying a glass of lemonade but really supporting somebody through a medical journey. When we don’t share some of that or don’t offer that cognitive ease, we can limit how people want or can say yes — and that can include things like payment methods, lack of context, no parking, etc. — we lose or don’t think about opportunities for connection, support, and collaboration. We may think people are ignoring us, but often they just don’t know to help or they don’t know what all you have to offer. Nobody is going to walk up and hand us promotions and opportunities if they don’t know that we’re actually interested in them. 

This goes beyond business — it’s true in friendships, job searches, even in our recovery from burnout. When we don’t name what we need, or we allow multiple ways for people to show up but we’re kind of vague about it, we’re unintentionally creating a closed loop and leaving people thinking it’s just a one and done.

That day, I didn’t have a dollar to give. But I had some time, and clearly a few free opinions. 

I’d like to think I was making an investment of a different kind. 

So whether you’re actively selling your own version of lemonade or just trying to make it through the week…Think about how you can be more clear about your ask; tell your story before people have to dig; and remember: plenty of people you know (and plenty of those you don’t) are rooting for you, and willing to support. 

But sometimes, you have to wave them down.
Let them hear your story.
Find a way that they can say yes.

Because help is out there, so is business, so is opportunity. Sometimes we just need to make it easier for help to find its way to us.

And on a related note, I now carry a couple of dollar bills with me, just in case.