Thin Mints, Do-Si-Dos, and Samoas, Oh My!

Girl Scout Cookie Sales Give #cookiebosses a Taste of Entrepreneurship

It’s Girl Scout cookie time! As a Girl Scout leader, let me personally thank those of you who have already placed an order or succumbed to the sweet faces of a Brownie peddling Thin Mints outside Kroger.

Girl Scouts will sell more than 200 million boxes of cookies this year raising nearly one billion dollars! Whether you’re talking cookies or cash, that’s a lot of dough. But Girl Scout cookie sales are SO MUCH MORE than a fundraiser.

Girl Scout cookie sales are the largest girl-run business in the world! Scouts, just like mine, are learning everything they need to know about becoming the next generation of girl entrepreneurs. Cookie sales give the girls an important taste of what it takes to be successful in business.

This year, the girls in my third-grade troop earned their “Money Manager” and “Meet My Customer” badges ahead of the cookie season. In order to do that, they had to set a budget for our troop and create a business plan for cookie sales. They also had to learn how to make change for customers and practice good customer service skills.

Plus, with the addition of the new Digital Cookie platform, many young women are getting hands-on experience with online marketing, website customization, and e-commerce. That real-world, practical experience simply can’t be beat!

Take my daughter for instance. She LOVES selling cookies! She creates her own promotional video each year, sells cookies via Facetime, and isn’t afraid to hustle strangers at a store-front booth. And get this. My #cookieboss has even asked that I stay in the car when she’s making the door-to-door pitch. She says I talk too much and slow down sales! I’m impressed by her work ethic and believe cookies sales will translate into marketable skills - whether that be in a college interview, on the debate team, or in the C-suite.

​So the next time you run into the store to pick up the essentials and get stopped by a Daisy selling Do-Si-Dos, pay it forward – quite literally. You might even stop the scout and ask her how her troop plans to use the proceeds. She should be more than happy to share her scouting successes. At the end of the day, your purchase helps the next generation of female entrepreneurs get their start in the business world. And who doesn’t want to buy into that?

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