Buster the Balloon Boy

Once upon a time, my 11 year old son decided to become a capitalist.

Not just any capitalist, mind you, but a balloon capitalist.

The kind of capitalist who turns latex into gold by making balloon animals for toddlers at the local playground.

He branded himself Buster the Balloon Boy, a name that carried the kind of gravitas usually reserved for a superhero alter ego.

And from the get-go, it was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Of course, every hero has doubts before their first adventure.

What do I charge? Do I talk to the kids? What if the moms think I'm a weirdo?

These were valid concerns for an 11 year old on the brink of economic dominance, so we hashed out a plan.

He'd approach one mom and offer to make her a balloon dog for her kid, free of charge.

If she bit, he'd start producing balloon animals like a one-man factory.

The theory was simple.

Kids with balloons would attract other kids, and it worked like magic.

The kids swarmed in, asking, demanding their moms for permission, and soon dollars were flowing like water.

A buck for a dog, two for a sword. He came home with $120 after two hours.

He sold out. A major win.

He learned an important lesson that day, and so did I.

I realized that the entire world's economy floats downstream from moms.

For founders: build a product your customers will beg their mom for.

Execute, iterate, and dominate.

Win the moms, you win life. That's the gospel truth.

Working on a campaign today reminded me of that summer.

My son made a thousand bucks and I was all in.

I researched and found out that balloon artists make about $400 bucks an hour at events. I had a vision for Buster the Balloon Boy.

I had the website ready. I had the logo, the SOPs, the uniform.

The business had legs, but my son had a cryptodyne — the fear of balloons popping. Every time he filled one up, he would wince and recoil.

So he let it go, and it was cool with that.

The final validation of any business is always asking: am I the right person to bring this forward right now?

And if the answer is no, you let it drift, no matter the consequence.

So now he's still in the dog business, but he's on to babysitting dogs.

There are plenty of opportunities there, and guess what? Lots of moms too.