My eighth-grade son sells soda out of his backpack.
It’s a hallway business between classes. Cold cans shoved next to textbooks, and small bills coming home in his pocket. I just hope he checks his pockets before his pants end up in the laundry.
My son’s warehouse lives under our kitchen island.
Last week, he found a deal on Dr. Pepper and bought four cases.
Day two, when I asked how sales were going, he said, “I only sold one can.”
My brain went straight to those cases. I blinked. He usually moves a case in a day or two.
“What happened?” I asked. “Someone else is selling 16.9 oz bottles for a dollar.”
Same dollar. More soda. Overnight, his dollar didn’t look as good.
My instinct was- drop the price. All I could see was 48 cans. How do you unload that when someone undercut you overnight? I bit my tongue and asked what he planned to do. He looked at me and said, “I’m going to wait it out.”
Then he shrugged and said, “He’ll run out. You can’t keep getting bottles that cheap. Then I’ll start selling again.”
I looked at him for a second. He was surprisingly calm. Like it didn’t rattle him at all. Most of us see someone new show up and we tense without meaning to. We start changing things fast, just to show we’re doing something. He didn’t. He trusted his plan.
Before you react, think- is this a real change, or just loud pressure?
Don’t let pressure make the call.
Pressure is information, not a boss.
What would a better decision look like if you refused to let pressure rush you?
