I applied to be a Big Sister in the Big Brother Big Sister Program!
I’ve always loved mentoring but been making excuses about not having enough time- when in reality, I definitely do. So here we go!
Author: mckenzieleighc
Serial Entrepreneur and Everyday Visionary. You'll always catch me betting on the underdog.
Day #2 Of Getting Outside Of My Comfort Zone
I don’t post much about my personal life online. The primary reason is that (for the sake of transparency) I am a business owner, and I’m not fully comfortable with the people I work with and that work for me knowing the ins and outs of my personal life. However, this month I’m challenging myself to really get out of my comfort zone, so for tonight I will make an exception.If anyone had run into me around this time last year, they probably would have been left with the impression that I had my life together. I was running my own business. I had a fancy loft downtown. I wore the suits and went to the conferences and travelled to all the pretty cities. On the outside, there’s always a lot glitz and glamour around entrepreneurship. What someone probably would not have recognized, however, was that I was going days in a row without eating. Without sleeping. That my primary diet consisted of alcohol and protein bars, and I spent hours upon hours upon hours of every week breaking down the numbers of my business, trying to understand what I was doing wrong and how I was suppose to fix it. It was the first year in my business that I took a TON of risk- and it backfired. I lost a lot of money. I burned a lot of bridges. And I wasn’t sure how to come back from it. However, I still had a business to run- and as the CEO, I could never show my fears- I had to be the brave one.
Being an entrepreneur is my favorite thing in the world. I was born for it, and I know this with every fiber in my being, but I’m making this post because I want anyone else who may ever be in the same situation that I found myself in to be able to learn from my mistakes- and know that there is a time to fight, and there is a time to leave.
Last year, I had gotten to a point where I was severely depressed. Like, bad. I had gotten a concussion earlier in the year which likely contributed, but when my business started struggling, it was as if it all caved in at once. When I turned to my superiors to seek advice, I let myself be vulnerable. I told them what I was going through- without holding anything back- and they told me that I had two options.
1. I could quit if things were to stressful
2. I could not quit, but I couldn’t tell anyone about how I felt, because then no one would ever “respect” me.
From a business standpoint, I understand their perspective. And I do not blame them for their advice. But from a human perspective- how in the world can I run a company if all I’m doing everyday is putting up a facade? And why in the world should I have to leave the thing I love the most simply because I’m going through a hard time? Rough patches happen- ESPECIALLY in entrepreneurship- but that doesn’t mean that we’re suppose to quit. So when these were the options I was handed, I got defensive, and I decided I needed to prove myself.
So I dug myself into a deeper hole. If you’ve ever been in a corn maze at night, this was what my life had become. Except I had 20 people following me so I had to pretend like I knew where I was going and not finding a way out was simply not an option. It was so much pressure. So much stress. And so much GUILT for not being wiser, stronger, and more knowledgeable. So what did I do? I came clean. I decided to start back at the beginning.
Starting over in business was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It was such a major hit to my pride and esteem and I spent about a month just feeling sorry for myself and wallowing in the guilt I felt for not being good enough.
And then I picked myself up. I moved cities, leaving behind the loft I loved so much in the city to move to Minneapolis (so cold!) into a house in the suburbs with EIGHT other people, and I spent two months rediscovering myself. I read a ton of books. I wrote A LOT. I went on runs, I meditated, and I stopped taking all forms of medication. And, slowly but surely, I found myself again.
I knew in my heart that running a business was where I needed to be. I love the connection. The challenge. The climb. The process. The wins- big and small. So I decided, despite my bruised ego, that I wasn’t going to let one bad year define me and the legacy I am creating.
So I moved to California with my boyfriend/best friend/now business partner, and I started over. I built up a new business, I found new partners, and I decided that, this time, I would do things better.
Since I’ve moved, there’s definitely still been a fair amount of failures. Campaigns that never fully launched. Employees that left that I wish would have stayed. Months that I wish would have ended with higher margins. But I’m here. And I’m fighting. And every single day I’m growing. I’m building an office founded on principles that I’m proud of- a place where, if my father were to come and visit, I know that he would be proud to.
And do you know what else? I eat all three days a meal now- and I’ve even learned to cook (sort of). I sleep 6 hours a night without medication, I have a partner who supports me and pushes me, and two puppies that I love to come home to.
I love coming into work each day. I love the people that I work with. And if you had asked me if I had ever pictured myself being in this position a year ago, I would not have even entertained the question.
I am learning that, while this year has not been the prettiest that I’ve lived, it is my story nonetheless, and I’m proud to have lived it. In business and in life, shit happens- and there’s times to fix it, there’s times to move on, but there’s never time to waste looking back and regretting. There is only moving forward. There is only progress.
The “Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable Challenge”
It’s 11:26 PM on a Wednesday night and I’ve been putting off this blog post for the past two weeks. What I’m about to get myself into, I know, will change my life. That’s what challenges and adversity do to you. But that doesn’t take away that knot in the pit on my stomach when I think about the challenge I’m about to take on. 30 days of pushing myself out of my comfort zone. No exceptions. No excuses.
Two years ago, I took on this challenge, and that month was the first time I ever karaoke-d. I swam in the ocean in Los Angelo’s in all my clothes in the middle of the night in January. I went on adventures with strangers, hiked alone in woods that I did not know, and I learned more about myself than I ever imagined.
So the natural question to ask would be- why stop? Why not do it every month? I’ll tell you why. Because as good as it feels to learn and to grow, it also feels good to stay nice and cozy and safe. To live a life of consistency, of predictability- and while those things are great, there comes a time when the routine needs to be broken.
For me, that time has come. So, for each day the next month, I’ll post a blog about what I did that day that, to be honest, I probably didn’t want to do. Maybe it’ll just be a picture. Maybe it’ll be some inspirational lesson I learned. Maybe it’ll be an embarrassing story that I don’t actually want to talk about. All I know is, it’s time for me to figure out what I’m made of. So follow along on my journey- and maybe you’ll get inspired to start your own.
Swimming In the Deep End
I ask people every single day what their definition of success is. There is no right answer to this question- what I’m looking for is to determine whether or not this person knows what they want. So often, I am met with mediocre answers. I want “security”. “Stability”. We have some dreamers who will tell me about their five-year-plan for their personal island and their Lambo. My favorite answer I’ve ever received was a girl who looked me dead in the eyes and said “You know what? I want to be a dog walker. That’d make me really happy. To make enough money where I can just retire and walk dogs all day”. At least she knew what she wanted.
I have always considered my leadership style to be as a “visionary” leader. I have big plans. I want big things. I want to help 10 people become millionaires before I’m 30. I want to open Catalyst Headquarters as a resource and mentorship center for underprivileged teens. I want to help as many people as possible become the very best version of themselves- or at least a better version from before they met me. I want to make my father proud. I want to help other parents make their children proud and vice versa. I want to inspire. I want to create. And, most of all, I want to catalyze change. I want to be the spark; I want to make the difference.
However, up until recently, I had a different idea for how I’d accomplish these plans. I thought “I’ll make a lot of money and then buy my dreams”. “I’ll network hard and have all the connections and when the time is right, things will just happen”. NOPE. It occurred to me recently, when I was asked what I actually need, right now, to get to where I want to be in the future, that there is not a dollar amount that can get me there. There’s not a mentor I can find or a book I can read or mark I can hit with my company where I will suddenly be “qualified” to help more people. I am starting to realize that, to accomplish my goals, I have to become the right person. And that person cannot just “get lucky”. I think this is why I am so attracted to chaos. Man, do I love it when everything goes wrong. Screw the lifevest, I want to learn how to swim with the undertow. Throw me in the fire, watch the way that I spit back. I find peace in the knowledge that, when the storm subsides, I’ll be better off because it hit. I’ll be stronger, smart, and I’ll be more prepared.
I got lucky in my first few business ventures. I designed a clothing line and it ended up on MTV. I created a Twitter account at just the right time to hit 80k followers in 4 months. I worked harder than any 17-year-old I’ve ever met, but I got lucky too. And what happened was, when I turned 20 and had a business that was exploding underneath me, I had no idea what to do with it because I wasn’t the right person to take it to the next level- and I took that personally. Because it was personal. I wasn’t good enough yet. I didn’t know enough. I had spent the last three years trying to hide that, and now it was becoming more and more clear. I was underqualified and for that reason, my success was limited.
I suppose that, now, this is what I fear. I hate the quote about how “our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure” because I’m definitely not scared to win- but am I scared to win too soon? Yeah, I suppose I am. For that reason, I have continued to hold myself back. I swim laps in the shallow end. I build up my muscles and my endurance but I never test them out. I still play safe. How will I know when I’m ready for the deep end? I suppose when I decide to try it.
So this is my proclamation: deep end, Here. I. Come. If I sink, I will not drown and if I swim, it will not be on the back of someone else. I used to be so scared to swim too close to the edge because I thought that that is where the sharks hide, so instead, I will become the shark.
My Top 4 Core Values
When it comes to protecting company culture, I think the biggest mistake a CEO can make is letting employees stick around that have values or a vision that doesn’t align with the company’s. It’s so crucial that a company be consistent from the roots to the surface, and for that to happen, a company has to know what it stands for- and why. For that reason, I think one of the most important questions any entrepreneur or individual can ask himself or herself is “What are my core values?” AKA- “What am I absolutely unwilling to compromise for? At the end of the day, regardless of how much money is in the bank, what do I care about? What do I stand for? What is the very most important to me?” I promise, our answers are probably completely different, and that’s totally fine. The most important part is that you know what yours are- and that you don’t compromise on them.
Value #1: Intimacy
Whenever I tell anyone my top value is intimacy, I am almost always met with a look of confusion (with a quick attempt to then cover it up). However, I’ve evaluated over and over again, and this is the value that always comes out on top. There are two reasons why. 1. I live off of human connection. There’s nothing I love more than having a conversation with someone and finding out we find some random childhood memory or favorite meal or secret belief about the Universe in common. For me, human connection is what makes the world go round. I’m a pro at networking events- mostly because I go in so insanely open-minded that I don’t ever run into the issue of “pre-judging” someone. Do I occasionally spend too long talking to someone who has absolutely nothing to offer me or my company because I liked his or her ice breaker? Maybe. Do I always remember the icebreakers so I can steal them? Absolutely- and I don’t feel a tad guilty about it because I paid my dues. Interacting with people gives me energy, connecting with them gives me life. 2. For as long as I remember, I have felt like I have an obligation in this life to become the very best version of myself and to help as many people as possible become the best version of themselves possible. In order to do this, there has to be a level of intimacy established first. I can’t help someone become better if I don’t truly understand where we are starting and what we starting with. There’s a needed sense of vulnerability and openness, and the word “intimacy” is how I describe this interaction. I’d prefer someone coming to me and say “Hi, I’m 24, 2 kids, broke and 2 credit cards overdue- and I missed the car payment last week- I want to start over. I’m willing to work as hard as I need to. Can you help me get started? Than “Hi, I’m 24, majored in strategic communications, I am an entrepreneur at heart and love sports because I love to win. I’m interested in applying for a job” ANY day. The first person told me what I needed to know to know how to help. The second person strung together a few clichés that let me know absolutely nothing about who they are as a human being. What I’ve found is the trick to making sure my “intimacy” value is being fed on a normal basis is to constantly put myself situations when intimacy can arise. Again, that may sound bad- but it’s the truth. If I want intimacy from others, I know that sometimes I have to ask for it. I may have to ask what’s wrong. I may have to ask why they believe a certain thing. And I always have to willing to be vulnerable myself. I may have to ask for help. I may have to admit I’m scared.
Value #2: Tenacity
I love tenacity as much as I hate it’s opposite. It’s why I love underdogs and hate layups. It’s in my DNA. I don’t have any respect for the easy path- it’s probably why I’ve forced myself down the hard one so many times, only to come out bleeding and out of breathe on the other side, but out nonetheless. When I’m considering business partners, one of the first things I look for is someone who I know won’t go running when things get hard. I want someone who loves the rough patches as much as I do. Whose adrenaline pumps at the “storm warning”. Who understands that rocky seas make much better sailors than the smooth seas do. There is nothing I respect more than someone who can take a beating and get back up in the midst of their shame and get back on their grind without saying a single thing. It’s the perfect combination of desire, discipline, and determination.
Value #3: Vision
I’ve always been a “dreamer”. Always. I’ve spent my entire life getting told to “be more realistic”. Do you know where it’s gotten me? Everywhere I’ve gone so far. I knew I had the heart of an entrepreneur, so when I was 18, I opened my own business. I had no idea what I was doing, but I had $500 to start with from a car insurance payout, and I had a vision of what I wanted my life to be like- and it started with me taking things into my own hands. When I watch basketball, the players I enjoy the most aren’t the ones who hit all the three’s or go for the foul- they’re the players that see the plays before they happen. Whose court sense is so on point, they can pass the ball with their eyes closed to an empty spot on the court and tell you who is going to catch it. It’s why I first loved Kobe. It’s why I loved watching him and Nash. When someone has vision, they understand the game on a deeper level- and they know what they need to do without every being told because they understand they’re still writing their legacy with every play they make.
Value #4: Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is still an interesting concept for me. I don’t think I had any idea it existed until I started working with people on an everyday basis and learned that, in order to help someone, I have to be able to communicate with them. And this doesn’t just mean in English- I have to speak their variation. I have to speak their language. In sports, it was easy. Almost everyone is motivated by 1. Being the best (and recognition for it) 2. Beating the competition. In real life, what people are motivated by can totally differ based on how old they are or what stage of their life they’re in or who they are as a human being. Developing emotional intelligence helps a leader not only tap into this, but also know how to respond. For instance- because I have developed some sort of emotional intelligence, I know that if I have a “yellow” on my team- someone who is naturally more emotional and sensitive- they probably won’t be as motivated by incentives- and even less by challenges- but will react great to positive feedback and, if I develop a strong relationship, will put forth their best just to help the team and make me proud. I could have never concluded that four years ago, even though I’ve lived surrounded by yellow’s my whole life. Emotional Intelligence is crazy and quite possibly the biggest key to success other than hard work.
Knowing my values helps me understand my everyday life. If things are going good in my professional life but I don’t feel satisfied, one of my values likely isn’t fully met. Or maybe it’s conflicted. Whatever it is, knowing what I care about helps me making everyday decisions with a little bit more ease. So know that you know mine, what are yours?
Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
Those who are elite in their field of choice share many common traits, regardless of how diverse their personal passions may be, but the characteristics that set the elite apart from the greatest – the idols – is a list that’s much shorter. Among work ethic, passion and hunger, there is another not-as-common trait that all of those who are truly elite share. This trait is unique because it does not have to be something that you are born with. It’s not in your blood. It’s not in your veins. There are very few, if any, who are naturally better at it that others. It is a trait that is manifested only through intention and perfected only through practice: The ability to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
It sounds odd, at first. To many, it may seem unnecessary. Random. Trivial. When in fact, it is fundamental. It is a rudimentary part…
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Proud To Be From The STL
Passion in the Process
Growing up, basketball was my primary passion. I picked up a ball for the first time when I was in kindergarten. By first grade, I was on a team with my dad as a coach, and I had claimed my spot as starting point guard- a position I would hold for the next ten years. It was around that time in my life- transitioning through grade school- that I went through my first major life changes. My family packed up our bags and moved states- from Kansas
to Missouri. We went from a nice house in a pretty neighborhood to a tiny apartment in a neighborhood I wasn’t allowed outside by myself. Starting over in a new school, I didn’t know who I was anymore. Part of me still felt like the smart girl I had always been known as, but I wasn’t the outgoing child that was friends with everyone like I had been before. In fact, I had very few friends at all. So slowly but surely, basketball became my identity. I didn’t realize it then, but I needed the game as much as my team may have needed me. It consumed me. It gave me a purpose. I raced off the bus everyday in the winter to grab my ball and head to the apartment basement, where everyone kept their storage locked away. It was relatively dark but the ground was cement and gave good bounce to my ball, so I would practice my dribbling for hours. In between my legs. Behind my back. In between my legs. Behind my back. Crossover. I’d dribble until my hands shook from the balls vibrations, and eventually felt empty when I stopped. When it got warmer, I’d wait everyday for my dad to get home so we could walk to the court down the street and I could practice my lay ups. He’d criticize my form over and over again, making sure I got it perfect. “Pretend there’s a string attached to your elbow and your knee”. “Count your steps”. “Don’t overthink it”. Until it became a rhythm. Until it became part of who I was. As I grew older and started playing with more competitive teams, I realized how much I truly hated losing. I couldn’t stand the idea that someone on that other team had out worked me- on the court or off- so in practice afterwards, when the coach would inform us we were running suicides for every missed free throw or every point we lost by, internally I’d cheer. “This may hurt now, but it’s going to make us better”. “If I practice harder, next time I won’t have to lose”. And I became passionate about practice the same way I was in the game. If I wasn’t sore, I hadn’t pushed myself hard enough. I craved the aching legs. The burning in my chest. They reminded me that I was making process. It’s ironic now that, when I experience similar pains now as a result of a career I claim to be so passionate about, my first instinct is never to embrace them, it’s always to complain. Perhaps somewhere along the lines I became entitled- I started thinking I didn’t need to work as hard. That I had done my suicides and my overtime. I had paid my dues. Perhaps somewhere along the line I forgot that everyday, the work that I put in isn’t “work”, it’s practice. It’s effort output to master my craft. It’s part of the process. During those times, I’ll try and channel my seven-year-old self who’d lay in bed each night tossing the basketball towards the ceiling, trying to strengthen my wrists and get the form and release just right. Would she complain that the day or game wasn’t going her way? No, she’d work harder to turn the game around. No excuses. Just actions. And at the end of the day, she’d be excited to hear the coaches feedback on what to work on because there’s nothing she wanted more than to learn how to become better- how to become the best- and she embraced not just the feedback but the work she had to put in because she knew every hour spent practicing was an hour spent bringing her closer to her dream.
The Catalyst Mantra
“I see how things are and dream, wide-eyed, of how things could be. I cherish innovation as a noble purpose. While politicians pander, bureaucrats bully, and academics theorize, I relentlessly produce. The status quo is my enemy. I suspect tradition, reject conformity, loathe mediocrity. I am proud to be a pioneer, renegade, idealist, visionary. I do not sell out to safety nets and benefits. Time clocks make me shudder. I refuse to play by rules imposed by others. I believe that that riskiest life is playing it safe. I will always bet my money on guts over brains, tenacity over talent. I do not take counsel from my fears. Life’s only guarantee is my freedom to choose my responses to circumstances. Shoulders squared and head held high, I boldly choose the risk of freedom over the certain bondage of security. I am an entrepreneur and it is my intention to create. I am the master of my fate. I am the architect of my empire. I am the author of my legacy. And everyday I vow to help others find themselves as I create my own masterpiece.”
The Top 4 Lessons I Learned From Sales Before I Was 10
Lesson 1: Don’t Take Short-cuts- Quality Matters
Age: 4
Product/Platform- Hot Chocolate Stand
When I was four years old, my parents helped me set up a hot chocolate stand in our front yard. It was late fall in Lynchberg, Virginia, so I was bundled up in layers and scarves but all the wool and cotton in the world could not contain my excitement every time a car would drive up, read the sign that said “$.25 for a cup of hot chocolate” and ask for one. My mom was very innovative and had made hot chocolate in our coffee machine and then attached about 7 different extension cords together so it reached all the way outside, so all I had to do was press a button and the hot chocolate would pour into the Styrofoam cup and then my mom would screw on the lid and I would walk it over to our customer’s car door and thank them for being a customer. Eventually, supplies at the stand started to run low and my mom was forced to go back inside and make a second batch of hot chocolate so I could collect my quarters. During this time, I was left alone at the hot chocolate stand to fend for myself, so when a customer pulled up and asked for a hot chocolate and I knew that we didn’t have any, I didn’t want to seem like a fraud, so I sneakily walked behind the stand, found a semi-deep puddle of liquidy-mud (it has just stormed), filled the cup up to the top, and marched it over to the customer with a proud smile on my face that I was able to figure out a solution all on my own. The man handed me his quarter and without hesitation took a relatively large drink from the cup and then proceed to spit it all over his car. I have never seen a man look at a four-year-old girl with so much contempt before he threw the cup onto the street and sped off. I learned then that if my sign says I’m giving someone hot chocolate, I better make sure that’s what they get because absolutely no one likes being scammed- even if it’s be an adorable four-year-old who thought she was being helpful.
Lesson 2: Smiling and Having a Positive Energy Can Go a Long Way
Age- 6
Product/Platform- rollie pollies/D2D
Shortly following the hot chocolate fiasco, my parents relocated my sister and I to the state of endless cornfields, sunflowers taller than my parents, and nice people who talked slow and treated everyone like their grandchild. Kansas. We moved into a much nicer neighborhood, with people who were always out in the lawn or at the park and everyone waved when you passed them. I knew my opportunities here were limitless. However, I was interested in trying out a different sales method entirely and, correspondingly, I figured out that a new product would be best as well. At first I considered my coin collection but my dad told me no. Then I was going to sell my sisters toys, but she noticed they were missing and I got grounded for a week which gave me the time I needed to come up with the product I was searching for- something that wouldn’t require me to give up anything, was already available in bulk, and would be easy to transport (I had decided that going door to door selling would be my new approach). It was then, during my week of grounding, when I was out sitting in the lawn that I noticed these tiny little adorable creatures that consumed our sidewalk. Rollie Pollies. I studied them and decided that they’d make an excellent product. I already had a ton of them and they were, in my eyes, very cute. I figured my neighbors could maybe treat them like mini pets or would just be impulsive enough to buy them based solely on how cute they were. So I collected two jars, filled the bottom with grass, and one by one place each rollie pollie inside so that I could go out and find them a new home. It never crossed my mind that every other yard in the neighborhood may already have rollie pollies too. Despite this, when I’d knock on the doors and greet my neighbors with a giant smile on my face and then launch into my pitch with all the excitement and enthusiasm in the world telling them about how great these rollie pollies were, I very rarely got turned down. Maybe it was because people don’t like saying no to a six year olds face. Maybe it was because they were only $.10 (Although I got a surprising amount of tips), but this venture was successful despite all the odds, data, and common sense against it. I learned that smiling a lot and being excited about my product can take me a very, very long way.
Lesson 3: Location Matters
Age: 10
Product/Platform- Neighborhood Snow Cone Stand
When I was ten, my family up and moved to Missouri in the middle of the summer and I decided to give entrepreneurship another shot. I didn’t know anyone in Missouri, so when I saw a lot of the local kids setting up lemonade stands in their front yards, I immediately started evaluating them as my competition. I saw that some kids had started adding a twist with pink lemonade or offering koolaid instead. Some kids had fancy stands their parents probably spent a good amount of money on. I had a 4/4 table, a cooler, and a safe. Initially, I thought I’d set myself apart by selling snowcones instead of lemonade. I thought this was an absolute stroke of genius. I had an excellent snowcone machine- it was fast, I could load the ice in myself, and I could offer my customers up to five different flavors. I thought for sure that I was about to monopolize the entire neighborhood. That’s not what happened. Instead, I received the same amount of traffic because there’s only a certain amount of people that drive past my front yard everyday, but I was able to make more money because people were willing to pay more for my product since it was significantly better than the competitions. Two of the neighborhood rivals, an eight year old boy and an twelve year old girl, eventually left their own stands and asked if they could work at mine with me. I didn’t like the idea of profit-sharing and they could sense my hesitation, and it was then that Cheryl Sommers, the eight year old, offered me something that I had never even considered before. A prime spot at the gazebo of her neighborhood which, although it was only two streets over, had houses valued at twice the amount of mine and a corresponding amount of stay at home moms and nannies- every single one who would know actually have to drive past our stand and say yes or no to us if they wanted to enter their own neighborhood. Business SKYROCKETED. Once the car lines started backing up, people began parking their cars and coming up to the gazebo to wait in line. My mom brought a boom box (yes, that was relevant then) and would chit chat with our new neighbors as I hustled around, barking out orders for more ice and new cups and for Evan (my new boy business partner) to stop eating all of the snow cone syrup. We put every lemonade stand on that street out of business- mostly because they decided that they’d rather walk over to our nice shaded gazebo and get a snow cone for themselves as well. Cheryl and that Gazebo taught me the incredible importanance of location when selling- and it’s a lesson that I still utilize on a weekly basis.
Lesson 4: People Like To Buy Things That Make Them Feel Good About Themselves
Age- 10
Product/Placement- Neighboor Bake Sale in the Gazebo (for Charity)
When fall approached, the demand for snow cones went down but there was no way I was giving up my prime Gazebo location, so one day we went to Cheryl’s to brainstorm how we could combat the lurking cooler weather. Cheryl’s mother, the elementary school librarian, overheard our conversation and asked her what we were doing with the money we were raising. I told her I had just bought the Sims game but other than that, the money stayed in my safe because I didn’t really know what to do with it- I just liked the challenge of getting it. Cheryl’s mom’s eyes lit up when she heard this (her own daughter hid all of her money and secretly spent it on trips to Walmart and the mall with her dad), and then she casually asked if I wanted to taste the brownies she was making. I was ten so of course I agreed, and they tasted like heaven. I remember saying “Mrs.Sommers, you have to let me sell these! They’ll make us millionaires and you can have every book in the library!” and she smiled and presented my very first negotiation- she would provide a plethora of bake sale items every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Brownies, Cake, every cookie imaginable- she could bake it all- and then, the real curveball, she’d give them to us for FREE to sell! The only catch was the we had to donate half of the proceeds towards getting back the school districts fourth grade camp that they had recently eliminated due to budget cuts. I didn’t care at all about the money, I was excited to sell such an awesome product, so I excitedly agreed and we set up shop two days later. Mrs. Sommers went above and beyond. She posted flyers about our bake sale and the cause behind it. She upgraded me to a six foot table and decorated it with delicacies and pamphlets about the camp behind our “fundraiser”, as she was now insisting on calling it. If I thought business was busy before, this was busy on steroids. Apparently, when it comes to baked goods, there’s a good amount of people who like to buy in bulk. There’s also a lot of parents who had kids who wanted the camp back. And then Mrs. Sommers made her final play- she called the local new station and let them know that a seven and an eight year old were dedicating every second of their weekends to raise money so they can go to a camp one day that every child would have gotten to go to for free a year beforehand. An entire news team showed up at our Gazebo. They didn’t ask any questions about our brownies, but they asked a lot of questions about why I wanted to go to camp (I had literally never thought about it until the microphone was in front of my face) and how much of an inspiration we were. We made the front-page news. A month later, the school districts reinstated that all four graders get to go to camp. We became neighborhood heroes. I have no idea how much we donated- it wasn’t nearly enough to have a financial impact- but people were far more influenced by the heart and the passion they saw behind those two young girls in the Gazebo who they assumed just really wanted to go to camp, but really we just liked selling stuff.
We Came To Catalyze 