Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hey, welcome to another episode of financial six Snickens. Hey, welcome to another episode of financial Snickens. I'm your host, Alisa McCabe. And today we're going to talk about my first journey into entrepreneurship. So way back when, when I was in the fourth grade, I, uh, had a That laid the foundation for a future filled with innovation and problem solving.
So you're wondering what the heck could that be in fourth grade? So let me tell you it was the 70s. So it was a bit freewheeling in the teacher sector. Teachers were experimenting with new ideas. Thankfully, uh, they had open classrooms and they were exploring all these new ways to teach kids. So my fourth grade teacher was young.
He was a new teacher. He'd only been teaching a couple of years and I saw an opportunity to [00:01:00] have, um, a help desk, you know, from Lucy from Peanuts, where she had an advice booth, and you charged five cents for advice. So I went to my teacher, told him about it, told him what I wanted to do. I wanted to set up a help desk in the classroom, charge 25 cents, and anyone in the class could come to me for help.
You know, it was an interesting, um, proposition that I gave to him. And I have to tell you, God bless him, he took it and said, sure. Let's do it. And he did help guide me on this. And so, so throughout the year, tons of classmates, like everybody in the classroom. And remember, we had an open classroom. So, I had, I had kids from both classes coming in.
We talked about homework, we talked about friendship, you know, dilemmas. You gotta remember, fourth grade is drama filled. So, this was super fun for me, super fun for the class. Um, But what it [00:02:00] got me inspired about was it was a thrill to own my own business and be in charge and helping people and getting paid for it.
And it really hit all those buttons for me. So as the school year came to an end, we realized that the help desk was a success and it managed to generate some earnings. And I know as an entrepreneur, you know, what that is like to be able to actually make a profit. So, uh, with my teacher's help, we decided to take that, uh, money and treat the entire class to popsicles.
And it was really fun and it, it really stuck with me. And years later, I reconnected with my fourth grade teacher, Mr. K. And we... Um, and he talked and laughed about all the things that happened that year, but one of those things was that project and how it held valuable lessons that would absolutely [00:03:00] shape my path in the future.
And it was really through his support of this idea that was crazy. As I look back now, I think, wow, how did he do that? But he allowed me space. To be me. He gave me the permission to think outside the box. And this fostered such a creative sense for me that it really allowed me to think of things that weren't So, That weren't being done.
And really I started an accounting, a remote accounting firm before it was cool to be remote. And it allowed me to think of the accounting process the way it had always been done and make changes because it hadn't been changed in a long time. And I was coming up with these new ideas of how to do it differently, how to be innovative and make the accounting process available and streamlined to all small business owners.
So that [00:04:00] really inspired me and it empowered me to know that thinking differently was okay. What else the help desk. helped me with was it provided a platform for problem solving and discussions. This experience taught me the significance of creating a safe space for individuals, especially people who are seeking guidance and find solutions.
So it may not surprise you that I had thought at one point in my life that I wanted to be a counselor and I really wanted to help people solve their problems. Now, I'm glad I took the route that I did because I love working in accounting and working with entrepreneurs and we never judge our clients if someone comes to us and they apologize profusely about I'm sorry, you know, my accounting isn't done well and I always tell them.
Don't worry. We do not judge here. The entrepreneurial journey is not [00:05:00] easy. It's filled with so many trials and tribulations that we don't expect you to know how to do accounting as an expert. That's why you have us. So solving these classmates problems really brought me a sense of fulfillment. Solving classmates problems really brought me a sense of fulfillment, and it's here I found like this profound satisfaction of helping others navigate, navigate challenges.
And it's a sentiment that would inspire me to work with entrepreneurs. And from this And when I saw this help desk, it brought me this lifelong entrepreneurial spirit, and it's a testament to the power of childhood experiences and the power of great teachers. It also reminds us that the seeds of entrepreneurship can be sown at the most unexpected times and places, and whether it's offering advice to classmates or starting a found up, the lessons [00:06:00] learned from my fourth grade adventure continue to resonate in every entrepreneurial endeavor that I've taken.
Thanks, Mr. K. If you want to talk about your entrepreneurial journey, let me know. Head over to FirstStepsFinancial. com or shoot me an email at Alisa at FirstStepsFinancial. com and we can continue the conversation.
