I’m in China picking up adopted kid number two! And I’ve got a whole rumbling herd of Marshalls with me. Four out of five kids (now six!), wife Laura, and even brother Bryan.
You could say I’ve got family on the brain!
When you get away from the everyday routine, you really notice things about people…even the people closest to you…that sometimes slipped past you when you’re at home.
I’m noticing things about my children I’ve never picked up on before.
I’ll write more about that later, but when I got this message from Deb about her grandson, Max, I knew it was the right time to share it.
No big, profound marketing lessons. No hard-hitting business opinions.
Just the joy of watching a child do what seems to come naturally to them. Enjoy.
“…When Max was very little, he began putting on shows. Then, when he learned to write, he began marketing his shows: He made tickets for ‘buy one, get one free’ that he sold to his grandparents so that we could all attend his performances for half price.
One day when Max was in first grade, I took him and his pre-kindergarten brother, Alex, to the park. Observant Alex was always the ‘lucky one’ and that day he found a nickel on the ground and promptly pocketed it.
Shortly thereafter, he found a baby toad.
Max searched the ground for nickels and baby toads but could find neither. Although he was frustrated, he went to the wet sand pile and calmly began building a structure with leaves and sticks. Before too long, Alex walked over to the sand pile, his toad cupped carefully in his little hands.
“Watcha making?” he asked his big brother.
“It’s a hotel for toads.”
Excited, Alex asked, “Can my toad stay in your hotel?”
“Sure,” Max replied as he stepped back for Alex to place his toad in the hotel’s best suite. Then he held out his hand and said, “That’ll be five cents, please.”
When he was in 3rd grade, Max gathered all his drawings and paintings, laid them on the dining room table and invited the family and neighbors to his ‘art exhibit.’ When we arrived, we found that each item had a price tag.
Taking a cue from the Girl Scouts, when he was in fourth grade Max sliced up cheese, put it between crackers and sold it door to door in his [upscale] neighborhood. His mother still receives occasional texts from neighbors: “Do u no Max is selling something 2day?”
Max is now in 6th grade. He was recently elected as student council representative—on a write-in vote. As far as God’s purpose for Max, I’m guessing it’s something in leadership that has to do with Marketing, Business, or Sales.
Blessings,
Deb”
Blessing to you and Max, Deb.
So today’s advice: Invest in whatever company Max sells for when he grows up!
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
One Comment on “Max and the Toad Hotel”
It was when you said that Max spread out all his drawings that made me think of this. Because every schoolday, the children in a Steiner/Waldorf School are asked to make a drawing. They only get five minutes. The point is to do something that reflects the lesson they had the day before. Whilst this is an important guide for the teacher, who gets to see their responses, it is also important for the children.
You see at the end of term the children are allowed to keep one drawing. This is when they spread them out, look at them and of their own accord, choose one out of however many it is that they have drawn over the entire term.
Whilst they don’t actually sell this drawing, no child emerges from a Waldorf school who is unable to draw.
What is worth more?