She'll never be out of a job.

I didn't put it together when we signed Cat up to be a Daisy Scout this year that she would have to sell Girl Scout cookies. But each girl in her troop was challenged to sell a certain number of boxes to help the troop raise money, since it's a new troop and they started the year with almost no money in their account. We figured we should support the troop and help Cat do her share. So we made a couple of trips soliciting neighbors and asked Cat to call some family and friends she was comfortable talking to over the phone. We expected to have one or two "don't feel bad that people don't want to order cookies from you" type conversations and perhaps Cat would learn a life lesson from this experience but... we were wrong. We had people thanking us for asking them to buy Girl Scout cookies. These things sell themselves!

Cat was a little hesitant when I first took her door-to-door, but gained confidence after the first couple of houses agreed to buy cookies, then insisted on trying "one more house" until we absolutely had to go home.

Then on the Saturday during pre-sales, she and Ben took their bikes out and tried to sell a few more boxes. Their first stop was to our two-houses-down neighbor, a retired gentleman who used to manage all of the landscaping at the local college. He and his girlfriend now own and run the local ice cream shop and he has no problem talking our ears off when he gets the chance, and always tells it like it is. When Cat and Ben approached his house, he was working on his roses. Cat asked him if he'd like to order some Girl Scout cookies and he said, "No thank you. I'm on a diet." She didn't skip a beat, because why would someone not want to buy the cookies?? She stepped up her game. "Well, you could donate some to the soldiers. Or you could give them as a present." He ordered 3 boxes. When Ben tried to chat with our neighbor as he filled out the order form, Cat cleared her throat loudly. When they continued to talk, she took her bike and rammed into Ben's leg with it. While she and Ben biked to the next house, Cat firmly told him, "No chit chat! You're taking time away from selling!" And those 3 boxes our neighbor ordered? He gave them to our family when we tried to deliver them to him. And he told me that Cat should go into used car sales. At the age of 12.

So, Cat did a great job selling cookies this year. With a little help from Grammy and Daddy, she's sold almost 50% more than her troop-mandated goal, and still going strong.

We saw that same natural saleswoman talent come out a couple of weeks ago when we had a yard sale. It was pretty cold that morning - in the 30s when we got started - but she stayed outside at her table almost the whole time. She had a few random items at her table and we told her that she could keep the money for everything she sold. (My way of keeping her from playing and being completely wild throughout the yard sale. It worked.) She started out by announcing to potential customers in a very loud voice, "I have things for sale over here!" And eventually got bold enough to approach people with items she thought they would or should be interested in. I even heard her tell a woman who was there with her daughter, "I think your 5 year old would like this fairy doll." She made $12 that morning. $5 of which came from a guy who just decided to give her money.

The question is... what is the best use of her talents for us right NOW? She should start making us money somehow, right? :-)