I was walking back from eating a Bruegger’s lunch with Jeremy having chatted with him about the terrible time he has finding a girl that is tall enough for him and is a good fit for him conversationally. I had just walked Jeremy back to his sister’s condo and hopped back on my bike to ride the ten seconds back home.

As I was unlocking my bicycle a pair of little girls aged six or seven and their mothers were setting up a lemonade stand complete with a small child size umbrella, a table, jug of lemonade, small cups, and a sign in white chalk that said lemonade and ice pops 25 cents. I had just had a large cup of iced hazelnut coffee and then crunched all of the ice at the bottom of the cup as Jeremy and I continued to ogle and comment about the passing women through the window while chatting about the best way to secure data so that people can’t match people’s records with unique personal identification like names, ages, etc. (a problem often occurring in the medical world). So I had plenty to drink from the iced hazelnut and could probably wait the ten seconds back home to pour a glass of juice.

But the kids were just finishing getting ready with their mothers beside them and they were operating on Alton Place, which as lemonade stands in Brookline go, is a valley of death for foot traffic. It likely wouldn’t help their morale given that it is 95 degrees outside where they were waiting to sell their lemonade. Upon thinking the situation through I found myself hungry for the potential glory for being the first customer of this makeshift little lemonade stand and potentially the first ever customer for these girls in their lives. So I rolled the bike across the street and the girls quickly got excited when I asked if they were open for business. They hadn’t worked out the important operations of a lemonade stand including how to pour the drink from the cooler to the cups so they knocked the cups off and they scattered to the ground.

A quarter isn’t a large amount of money in the grand scheme of the universe but since I am in bootstrap start-up mode I think more about every penny. Four quarters is a dollar and with eight months of sales we’ve only accomplished 1000 of those dollars in our own sales. But I had to consider the importance as a human being that I would gain from making this specific purchase. I handed one of the girls a quarter and she quickly tossed it into a bucket under the plastic table behind her. One of the mother’s suggested that it might be best for me to hold the cup as the girl tried valiantly to pour into a cup that kept moving as she was attempting to pour. The general solution finally reached was that one girl would hold the cup while the other one would pour. As girl #1 handed me the little cup of lemonade one of the mothers asked us to pause for a moment and return to the pose for a photograph to capture me as I received the first ever sale by girl #1 and girl #2. The mother then told them that they should post this first quarter on a wall to remember their first sale and for good luck. Apparently this is the tradition for any food service vendor. The girls had likely already budgeted the quarter for a portion of a candy bar or a new Barbie doll and were already getting ready for the next sale to come along given such early success.

That camera shot holding a cup of lemonade along a girl also holding it with her arm outstretched was the highlight of the past week. It is too bad I won't get a copy of it and will be included as the first customer in some other family's photo album.

Lessons learned relating to running any start-up business as a whole:

* When you are new at something customers appreciate enthusiasm and can be entertained by your efforts even if you feel confused or unprepared.

* It helps to get advice from experienced people like your mother.

* When your product isn’t perfect there are always underdog rooting people in the world who want to be included as a part of your success and will buy because they want to see you overcome your challenges.

* It helps to be cute or humble when you aren't skilled enough yet.

* You need to get out onto the street to make the first sale.

* Being in business can be a fun activity and a good way to meet your neighbors.