Wednesday, July 19, 2006

QOTW answer July 10

A few days back, I asked the QOTW (thanks for playing!).

We had gone to Sams for our weekly shopping trip and found ourselves there at lunchtime with several other errands to run. So I treated us to a couple slices of pizza. While we were sitting there eating, Matthew suddenly asks me what a business is. I asked him to use it in a sentence (a great idea especially when they're using perhaps a word you never thought you'd hear come out of their mouth. lol). He said, "We're in business for small business." Ahhh The Sams slogan on a poster that was on the wall near us. I explained business much like you did... 'a business is a person or group of people who sell things. Sometimes it's a big store like Target selling lots of items. Sometimes it's one kid selling lemonade. Sometimes the business is selling a service, such as our internet connection or our satellite TV." He lets that sink in a minute. I asked him if that made sense. He said yes. He kept thinking. I thought maybe he was confused and didn't want to admit it. I asked him if he could name some businesses for me. He named Walmart, Sams, Great Clips, grocery store. He got the concept. He was still quiet. I munched my pizza and stayed quiet, hoping he'd give me a glimpse into the wheels that were spinning. I wasn't disappointed.
M: "What's a small business?" Aha! He was still trying to figure out the poster.
Me: "Small business. Hmm...well, that would be a business that maybe only has one store or maybe someone making things out of their home and selling them online."
M: "Is there a big business?"
Me: "That would be a business, or company, that has lots of stores like Walmart and Sams and Target."
Matthew was still deep in thought. After a few more bites, he asked, "Why are they [Sams] in business for small business?"
Me: "Well, people who own small businesses come here to get their supplies. Say me and Aunt D decided to buy a small store and sell scrapbook stuff. Aside from the scrapbook things we were selling, there would be other things we would have to buy. Like maybe toilet paper for the bathroom. And pens for the front desk. And a cash register and paper so we could print receipts and orders. We might buy one of the electric signs so we could advertise our sales. So Sams is here selling things to mostly small businesses. But you can be just a homeowner like me and Daddy to shop here too."
"Oh." He was quite satisfied and quickly followed it up with, "It would be neat if you and Aunt D had a scrapbook store." I think so too...but let's not go there.

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