My Son Started Day Trading — And Here’s What I Learned

My son Lennon has been getting into day trading lately. If you’re thinking to yourself, “wait… I thought he was like, ten years old?” you are correct. He’s not old enough to be handling  stocks and bonds quite yet. But he’s been really into trading snacks and candy at school. 

Here’s what I’ve learned: Jolly Ranchers are a valuable commodity. So are mints (they are very rare, I guess). In fact, he told me that he’s been trading mints for cookies which just seems crazy to me, but what do I know? Nothing, apparently! 😆 
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Last week, he came from school bragging that he traded a mint for one of those packaged chocolate croissants! Those are one of my favorite treats, so I asked (very nicely, of course) if he thought he could get one for me, too. The next day, he traded another mint for a croissant and he brought it home for me to enjoy. What a total sweetheart! 💗

​Kids don’t tend to overthink when they’re asking for what they want. I think we can really learn something from them… and I’m mostly speaking about myself when I say that.

After several years as a business owner, I still struggle so much with putting myself out there and asking for what I want. I avoid asking for the sale because I don’t want to “bother” people or come across as pushy.

But look what happened to Lennon when he asked for what he wanted. He had no hesitation about asking for a croissant in exchange for a tiny little mint. And clearly, that strategy worked!

I know we hear it all the time, but you really never know until you ask. How do we know there aren’t a bunch of mint-lovers on the other side of the screen just hoping that I’ll offer it in exchange for their croissant? How do I know unless I ask?
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Sharing my work is another area where I’m working on building my confidence. I know my clients love what I do, and I always get such amazing feedback from them. But it feels like a whole different thing to put my work on Instagram for everyone to see and respond to. 

Do you have any advice for getting past the FODT (fear of day trading) or any encouraging words to share? I love when I get comments on my blog posts, so please feel free to share your thoughts with me down below!