My son wants to buy a gaming computer. He is 12.

He asked me how he could make money. I told him I cut lawns and had a paper route at his age.

He just left the house with a shovel and a pitch for shoveling walkways and sidewalks this morning.

“Idk when I’ll be back.”

#SoProud
First he told me “no one reads the paper anymore, dad” and “it’s not Summer, dad.”

But he kept thinking. As soon as the snow was announced his first thought was $.

Him telling me “idk when I’ll be back” warmed my heart more than this hot tea I’m drinking.

Free range>helicopter
Lol. I just looked out the window and he didn’t do our sidewalk first.

Walked right thru the snow to get to the money.

Wonder if he’s gonna charge me to do it :)
You gotta remember, his mom is the queen helicopter parent. She clears every obstacle from his path. She makes all his decisions. She lays out his clothes at 12.

The fact he’s roaming my city neighborhood looking for work is an incredible thing in that context.

I’m beaming.
This is better then a bar mitzvah
It’s been 45 minutes. He’s either knocked on 100 doors and gotten all “no’s” or he got some business!
Update! He stopped back for a drink of water.

He’s made $25 in just over an hour so far!!

We refined his pitch “I’m working to save money so I can buy a computer,” and then we rushed back out there.
One lady said “no thanks, my husband is going to do it.” And my son said thanks and moved on to the next house.

But before he could knock on the next door she came out and said “boy! You can do it!”

People respect the hustle.
Son reports only two hard “no” responses - mostly no answers.

He’s killing it.

As he left for round two he looks back over his shoulder and says, “I’ll do ours when I get back.”
An underlying theme of this story is that we don’t spoil this kid.

We have four laptops at home.

He can do his homework & whatever else he wants already...besides hardcore gaming.

A gaming computer is a want not a need.

Parents today would be well served to note the diff.
Touching part of the story:

One neighbor said yes you can do ours.

Then they paid him to the house next door too.

“Please do our neighbors also, they are elderly.”
I told him “don’t be discouraged by any ‘no’ answers he gets.

Each no is one step closer to a yes.

He can learn so much from this today

- approaches are good
- rejection isn’t bad
- people respect hustle
- how much $$ is worth
- sweat is good
- Community is good
Oh yeah it’s my birthday brunch today. In the midst of all this, @The_Red_Hen has been cooking for two days.

-Mango theme
-4 different homemade salsas
-Flank steak and shrimp tacos
-Mango mojo marinated
-4 layer vanilla coconut cake w/mango curd filling & cream cheese frosting
Update:

He’s been gone for an hour again. Must be working!

Bummer: it’s started snowing again... might be a hard sell with the snow coming down right now...

He doesn’t have a phone, so who knows what’s up out there.
This story would be so 2019 if he got in trouble for working without a permit.
UPDATE!

The boy is back with $60 in his pocket and a smile on his face.

While he warms up in the show I’ll tell you what happened.

Many lessons were earned beyond the cash money.
He went a few blocks over to the “big” houses. There he ran into a competitor.

An older man was up there doing his regular customers.

He asked my son, “how much ya chargin’?”

Son said - $5-$10

Man told him he could do way better

“I charge $30!”

So they teamed up.
The man said - this is my regular customer, but you can do it and we win split the money.

Son made $15 - which was 50% more than before.

Teamwork got him more money.

Established customers pay more.
After that job my son went on his own again.

Armed with new market data, he asked for $20 on the next one...and got it!

He was able to take new data and double his profits within a couple of hours.
One lady said no “I’m going to do it for exercise later.” I told him he should go back in two hours lol.

—-

All in all the boy made $60 and learned a shit ton about life.

The guy he partnered with has been hustling since six am!
He learned about hard work, the value of his time, strategic partnerships, market data, hustle, pricing mechanisms, and the beginnings of a sense on how to maximize revenue.

Now he’s showering and he is so pleased.

@The_Red_Hen ‘s brunch is almost ready - aroma everywhere.
His effort and the lessons he learned today are the best present I could have gotten on my 43rd birthday.

I respect his hustle.

Maybe I’ll buy the monitor for him :)

——

For more stories like these please join my mailing list - high value!

http://eepurl.com/bz4QhD 
The @The_Red_Hen made four salsas and hot sauce for my brunch.

Steak and shrimp forthcoming

Good reward for the boy too.
Some people have said why would you let him get a gaming computer? Like it’ll ruin him.

Kid has had an Xbox and ps4 for years.

And still made the city wide all star team and came one swing away from winning a Baseball state championship.

Straight A’s.

Kid is just fine tks!
Obligatory dad jokes followed.

That’ll be $20 in Dad taxes.
And $10 in shovel rental.
And 10% for overhead expenses.

Dad, taxes are dumb.
Final presentation for my mango themed birthday brunch. Steak and shrimp tacos with four homemade salsas and a homemade habanero hot sauce.

Yassss @The_Red_Hen
Wow. The response to this has been tremendous. Several people report crying, others said they were cheering at the end. And many people said it brought them back to their childhoods.

It’s times like these Twitter is the best app on earth.

Thanks for the love, I’ll pass it on!!
One reader donated $20! They said they wanted to reward a strong work ethic.

Thank you so much!!
Update: My son and I are overwhelmed by all the support. People have offered money and the CEO of @Razer even offered him brand new gaming headphones.

This thread took on a life of it's own. The Chairman of the FCC even RT'ed it.

I'm sorry if I missed some comments, THANK YOU!
I try to reply and/or "like" every comment but notification rate has been too much to keep up with. THANK YOU to everyone!

The lesson here for my boy isn't that the internet provides free stuff, but that people respect hard work and initiative.

He gets it.

Our best to all!!
UPDATE:

I taught him about google spreadsheets.

He made his first one ever today!

Now we are learning about budgets and planning.

This is fantastic.

I read him some of the best replies on this thread and it’s motivated him even more. Thank you all

Gotta check his work :)
Also @minliangtan please note there is no line item for headphones - we're really hoping you come through on that! I tried to DM you but yours are closed..mine are open!
Update!!

My son shoveled, cleaned, and saved his way to his goal. And of course, he was assisted by so many gracious people on twitter!

All the parts have been ordered and Saturday is build day!

We’ve been watching “how to” videos together so hopefully we won’t screw it up :).
Update! We are building the computer!!! Check this thread for updates: https://twitter.com/jackmurphylive/status/1094304245560606720?s=21
Update! Last summer I randomly ran into one of the people who donated money to my son's cause. She paid for him to shovel our elderly neighbor's sidewalks. We had never met before + yet she'd already helped out + participated in my son's life.

Twitter can be a beautiful thing.
That woman was @hollandcourtney btw, thank you Courtney!
You can follow @jackmurphylive.
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