I heard about this little girl in Austin, Tx that fascinates me. Her name is Mikaela and at the age of four she was encouraged by her family to get involved in Lemonade Day.
Lemonade Day is an annual event held in many cities that empowers youth to become tomorrow's entrepreneurs by teaching them how to start, own and operate their own businesses using a lemonade stand. They learn the fundamentals of operating a business as well as lessons in success.
As the web site says, two major things happened to Mikaela during this process: She was stung by a bee, twice, and her Great Granny Helen in South Carolina sent the family a 1940's-era cookbook with a special recipe for flaxseed lemonade, sweetened with honey instead of sugar or artificial sweeteners.
She became fascinated with bees and learned how important they are to our ecosystem. BeeSweet Lemonade was born when she realized a great lemonade recipe could help the bees she has come to love. It's sweetened with local honey and her mantra is "Buy a Bottle, Save a Bee".
www.beesweetlemonade.com
Every year Mikaela's honey-sweetened lemonade sells out during youth entrepreneurial events where a portion of sales is donated to organizations fighting to save honeybees. Mikaela is 10 years old now, and besides selling her lemonade she leads workshops on the plight of honeybees and educates others, especially children, of their importance.
Even the business experts on the TV show Shark Tank recognized Mikaela's potential with SweetBee Lemonade. Daymond John invested $60,000 to help her take the business to the next level.
The original flavor BeeSweet Lemonade with Mint is sold at Whole Foods Market, an Austin-based natural and organic foods vendor, as well as at a number of other retail businesses and restaurants, food trailers and other healthy food locations all over Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Her product line also includes other varieties: Lemonade with Ginger, Lemonade with Iced Tea, and Lemonade with Prickly Pear.
The BeeSweet site states that this young business person is "Mikaela Ulmer: A social entrepreneur, bee ambassador, educator and student." There's a video where Mikaela talks about the importance of being passionate about what you believe in. We could all learn this lesson from 10-year-olds, I think.
God has given each of us a gift that can be used to serve. The gifts he gives aren't necessarily a passion to go to the food bank and work; it may be the passion and skills to start a business that repairs tires, provides legal advice, design couture clothing, or save honey bees. He gives talents for a bigger purpose that all fit into his plan.
He just asks us to follow him.
And be passionate.
