My first business venture

I'm not sure what exactly is happening to me lately but I took another surprise trip down memory lane yesterday night.

There I was, ready to get into the shower to wash off the day's dirt and grim when suddenly, I recalled my first attempt at entrepreneurship.

I was only 10 or 11 years old, a little girl studying in primary school. I already knew I wanted to be (a) an actress; (b) a dancer; or (c) a writer, because I was actively (a) taking acting lessons; (b) attending dance classes; and (c) enjoy writing.

So one day, I decided to share my writing with schoolmates. I hatched the idea of a newsletter titled Tattler as I wanted to tell my tales. Thinking back, it's such a crap name for eight sheets of A4-size paper filled with photocopied text.

Writing the stories was an easy task undertaken by yours truly. I added illustrations by my brother (amazing, the results that a monthly 30-cent ice cream can produce), as well as some images from a card-design programme on Windows DOS version.

I then made initially 10, then 20 copies, at no cost - I always volunteered to make copies of notes for my class of 40, and thus became acquinted with the aunty in the photocopy room. So I'd regularly help out by topping up tonic water in the photocopier, sorting out papers and manning the room when aunty took her breaks. In return for my labour, help and companionship, aunty let me print 80-160 pages at no cost every month. The cost would have worked out to between $2.40 to $4.20, quite a hefty sum for a student in the late 80s, who was taking pocket money from parents.

Then I sold these copies to schoolmates or church friends at 30-cents. The incentive for people to buy the newsletter was colourful scented envelopes, notepads or stickers that came with each issue. I'd amassed a collection of them through the years as birthday presents from classmates or church friends, and I had to find a way to get rid of them or throw them away...

It went on for a few months and I made a little extra pocket money. Then exams beckoned and I had to abandon my first moneymaking scheme.

How amazing it is that I came up with a seemingly childish idea that worked. How funny that I still remember it, 16 years later.