- Joined
- Jul 17, 2019
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- 1,985
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- Chicago suburbs
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The Little Arrow That Could
Sorry for the memory flashback... But when I was a kid (around like 9ish to 16) I used to operate a little business doing chores to make money. For each of the seasons I had a service that I would do: summer was mowing lawns/weed pulling, fall was raking leaves (the worst), winter was shoveling snow. I'd make simple flyers with comic sans font and microsoft clipart graphics (thanks clippy!) and put them in any mailboxes within a several block radius. That was my only way to make money when I was younger. I have almost entirely fond memories from those days.
Fast forward... Recently, after getting a ridiculously high quote from a landscaping shop for some spring cleanup work, my girlfriend mentioned that I should just hire a neighborhood kid to help with chores. The reasoning is that if I paid them even 1/3 of what the landscaping shop wants they'd be able to live like a king for the summer and would be motivated to do a good job.
That made me realize something: since moving out to the suburbs a few years ago I haven't had a single kid knock on my door or drop off flyers or anything to try and drum up some business. And it's left me wondering, is that not something people encourage their kids to do anymore? I get more professional pamphlets in the mail than I know what to do with, big shops offering all kinds of services, but there's a conspicuous shortage of entrepreneurial businesses from local youth.
So anyways that's just made me curious... Do kids still do that these days? Or did that whole thing die off in the last 20 years? Or do I just live in a weird suburban area that's an outlier?
Fast forward... Recently, after getting a ridiculously high quote from a landscaping shop for some spring cleanup work, my girlfriend mentioned that I should just hire a neighborhood kid to help with chores. The reasoning is that if I paid them even 1/3 of what the landscaping shop wants they'd be able to live like a king for the summer and would be motivated to do a good job.
That made me realize something: since moving out to the suburbs a few years ago I haven't had a single kid knock on my door or drop off flyers or anything to try and drum up some business. And it's left me wondering, is that not something people encourage their kids to do anymore? I get more professional pamphlets in the mail than I know what to do with, big shops offering all kinds of services, but there's a conspicuous shortage of entrepreneurial businesses from local youth.
So anyways that's just made me curious... Do kids still do that these days? Or did that whole thing die off in the last 20 years? Or do I just live in a weird suburban area that's an outlier?