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For the past 3 years, our (now) 12 year old son, Vidur, has been setting up a game stall at our society’s Diwali mela. 

This year, he earned 12K in profit.
And he can’t believe it!

While his objective was to have fun, I had a selfish motive.
To teach him about money. 

1st year lesson: Sales.

3 years back, I wished for him to learn sales. 

How to drive conversions?
How to select the prizes?
How to price?

He ran a “Break the can pyramid with 3 balls” game.
Made a sale of Rs. 4,000.
Had no idea about costs or something called profit.
But he understood that he could have charged more. 

2nd year lesson: Costs.

Last year, I wished for him to learn costs.
Fixed costs (stall cost, game cost, etc.) and variable costs (prizes).

He had a budget to work with.

He ran the same game.
Made a sale of Rs. 8,500.
Spent Rs. 5,000 in prizes and Rs. 3,000 in fixed costs.

He thought he made Rs. 8,500.
Cute :))

3rd year lesson: Profits.

This year, I wished for him to learn how to make money.
And I saw a different Vidur at work!

He decided on a new game.
Players had to throw table-tennis balls into 10 cups arranged as a cone, each with a score of 1-10.
You total the score and win prizes on that basis.

I asked him how much he wanted to make in profit percentage.
He said, “At least 75%.”

Wow!
I said, “Okay – let’s play Excel Excel.” :))

Sales:

His game pitch was “Earn Rs. 15,000”
Score more than 30 points in 3 or 4 tries and pick any of the prizes – which included a Marshall speaker for Rs. 15,000 (he didn’t buy it – we already had one).

He priced 3 tries for Rs. 20, 4 tries for Rs. 40.

Costs:

He wanted most people to walk away with a prize. 

So he set 5 slabs:

1-5 points: Lollipop (worth Rs. 5)
6-10 points: Frooti (worth Rs. 10)
11-20 points: Frooti + Oreo (worth Rs. 20)
21-30 points: Coke + Oreo + Kitkat (worth Rs. 30)
30+ points: Pick from the grand prizes

He went about buying these on a returnable basis from the local shop, which was smart.

Invested 2,700 to do so.
2,000 for the stall.
500 for misc setup. 

Profits:

I was the cashier handling the money.
He was the one selling and making people play.
Enticing them to go for 4 tries (for Rs. 40).
Celebrating each ball dropping into a cup.

Mid-way, he realised the game was harder than he thought it would be.
So he encouraged people to play again, because it is a skill game eventually. 

End result:

Sales: Rs. 16,600

Costs:
– Rs. 2,500 fixed
– Rs. 2,200 prizes

Profit: Rs. 11,900

He couldn’t believe he did it. 

He kept 1,900 with himself and asked me to invest 10K.

While he gets a fair bit of money on his birthday and other family events, this is the most he has made on his own.
And I don’t think anything else will come close to making this money feel sweeter!

PS:
He has been investing nearly all the money he has got till date, through me.
Has invested 1.05L so far, which has reached 1.23L at an XIRR of 24%.

I am staying at a wonderful place for a week and I am paying more than what I earned in the entire year, in my first job. 

Am I surprised everyday at how far I have come?
Yes! 

Do I believe it’s all my doing?
Not at all. It’s insane luck at play. 

Does that stop me from showing up everyday?
Thankfully not. Grateful for everything.
Entitled to nothing.

When we point a finger at someone else, we are unable to join hands together.
When we think someone else is wrong, we hardly stop to think they could be right in their shoes.
When we confront, it is in accusation mode instead of access mode.

It’s easy to win conversations by gathering all the evidence against someone, it’s difficult to gather all the reasons why they could be perfectly right.

Instead of winning conversations, having one helps.

If given a chance to trade anything of the wealthiest people, what is the right thing to trade?

Their money? Status? Network? Hard work? Life Lessons?

The best thing to trade for is their curiosity.
What do they think about the most? What is the pattern of their thinking? What are their mental models?

Curiosity can make us figure out a way to make a motor car in a world where everyone wants a faster horse cart. 

Lack of it, can make us believe we are meant for slow commutes forever.

Having the wealth of the wealthy is like eating fish.
Having their curiosity is learning how to fish. 

Your biggest enemy is not your competitor.
Or a newbie changing the world.
Or a viral trend you missed.

These are parts of life.

Your biggest enemy is someone who tells you that it is impossible for you to think beyond what lies in front of you. They make you think small because they want you to be one, even if unintentionally. It could even be your closest friends or family.

“You cannot move further.” 

Anyone who tells this to you, is the one who is your responsibility to move further away from your life. 

You’re starting something you’ve never done. It’s making you anxious. You find yourself lacking confidence.

What if I fail? What if I’m laughed at? What if my critics say: “I told you!”

It’s impossible to have 100% confidence when you’re starting something new. 

It’s 100% possible to know that you will figure it out.
That you care about your progress more than what people think of you.
That even if you fail, you will own it and make it better.

Confidence that you don’t have confidence as of now but will figure things out is the only confidence you ought to have.

Someone was kind to you for a long time.
Now, all of a sudden they’ve become rude.

This leaves you questioning.
How could they change? Why did they change? Did I do something wrong?
Somehow it has started affecting your self worth in that relationship. 

Here’s the truth: People don’t change. They just surface. Depending on their life circumstances or even the situations. 

When we accept people for where they are, we don’t do them a favour. We do one to ourselves. 

I’ll be happy when I find my partner.
I’ll be happy when my parents understand me.
I’ll be happy when my efforts are applauded.

I’ll be happy “when”…

When we attach a “when” to happiness, we make it conditional. Someone else has to take the responsibility to do something that will make us happy. That’s a huge onus to place on those who aren’t even aware they are carrying a heavy load.

The safer and more convenient option is to own our happiness. To be able to control our factors and definition of happiness. To be happy alone.

Happiness in relationships is not contingent. Happiness is a relationship with ourselves. When we have that relationship right, we become happier in all other relationships.

If it made you happy yesterday, don’t put the pressure on it to make you happy today as well.

We humans change. External things don’t.

A wiser choice is to pick something different that matches your current state of happiness.

One of the happiest definitions of happiness is to know that happiness isn’t rigid. Nothing could be a happier realisation!

I often talk about suggesting kids in their 20s to go about exploring different career options. 

But what should you do when you have really found what you love, you’re good at it and the world is ready to pay you for it?

Double down on what you’ve found. Think of what all could be possible and what kindles the fire in you. Ask yourself what is the next level in the field you’ve picked.

And then, work super hard on being the best at it.

Exploration never stops. Vertical one just follows horizontal. Rinse and repeat.