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Madison is our Lemonade Day 2023 Lomita Youth Entrepreneur of the Year. Here's her story:

I did lemonade day because one day I was in front of my house selling my products.  My neighbors came over with a yellow backpack and asked me if I would like to do Lemonade Day. I said yes because after looking through the workbook I realized that this program would teach me how to become a great entrepreneur. I liked that the book said, “have fun, make money, and learn the steps to success.”

My in person business on Lemonade Day was at Adam Chiropractic. My location was great because there was plenty of parking, restrooms, and I was able to use the inside of the business for my supplies.

I had three types of Lemonade: Strawberry, Original, and Sugar Free. My products were all natural and included: Water, lemon juice, cane sugar, artificial sweetener (for sugar free) and strawberry puree. I topped everyone's lemonade with hand picked lemon slices and fresh strawberries.

My theme was Love N Lemons By Maddy. The slogan of my stand was the 4 Generations of Lomita. At my stand I had two poster boards full of family photos from back in the day. The boards also had pictures of me from Founder’s Day in front of the old Shanks Hardware building, which my family owned in the past. I met some really great people at Founder's Day. The CEO of the chamber, Heidi invited me and my family to be special guests at Happy Hour with History. I had so much fun meeting Lomita chamber members.  

My advertising included: handing out flyers at Founders Day, putting up flyers in business windows, speaking at Kiwanis Club, social media, and word of mouth. I learned how to promote my business on Instagram. One great thing I learned was how to tag people. I had people ask me to tag them so they could repost my posts. I was really grateful for the community leaders that wanted to support me.

Now let me tell you the details of my business. I stayed up every night for ten days straight prepping for the big day. I was making bracelets, paintings, and labeling water bottles and cookie bags. I also had to answer all my social media posts from people who were placing pre orders. Five days before lemonade day I created my check list of everything for Saturday. Four days before Lemonade Day I took almost all my supplies to my stand location. Friday night I dropped everything else off and got organized. On Saturday morning I arrived at my location at 7:45 am to set everything up so I could make it to the 9:00 am kickoff at City Hall.

I think I did really well with Lemonade Day. Learning how to make a budget by using the examples in the workbook helped me. I was able to keep my costs down by using a family heirloom lemonade stand, and getting ice donated. I had a sponsor for all of my lemonade ingredients, bottles of water, half of my cookies, and lemons. I exceeded my donation goal and also received lots of donations for the Animal Shelter that I am supporting. I was able to give $2,123 worth of goods to Harbor Animal Shelter. I also have a special cash donation that I am giving to Community’s Child.

I know that there are some things I will be doing differently next year. I will not be selling popcorn and I need to start making bracelets and paintings sooner. But the biggest thing I learned was that I need to be more careful with the non-profit organization I choose to support. The reason why is because when I showed up with my three carloads full of animal supplies I was greeted by a volunteer that said I purchased the wrong items.  Although I shopped with a list provided by the shelter it turns out it was outdated. I probably should have double checked before I made my purchases.  

I had two obstacles that I had to overcome in doing Lemonade Day: one was I was nervous going to the Microloan appointment. I cried all the way there and had to force myself to go and do my pitch. The other one was that I started the program 6 weeks after everyone else. That caused me to miss two classes and only have 5 weeks to prepare for Lemonade Day. The way I overcame this obstacle was by studying the workbook and asking other lemonade kids for their input.  

Now that I am an entrepreneur, I will continue selling my handmade products throughout the neighborhood. My big dream is to sell my handmade bracelets online and eventually have my own online bracelet shop.

I am thankful because of this program, I have learned how to Save, Spend, and Give Back. On top of giving to the shelter and paying out my costs, I was able to deposit $1041.00 into my South Bay Credit Union savings and I kept $100 cash for me to buy something for myself.