Granted it was the early seventies, but I shoveled snow for $1-$2 per walk and cut lawns for about the same. Babysitting garnered me about $2-$5 for an entire evening. At the age of 13 I got my first real job; I was a pearl diver (my dad’s vernacular for washing dishes) at a local creamery with a starting wage of $1.65 per hour. By the time I graduated high school I had held a variety of jobs including delivery driver, waiter, convenience store clerk and parade vendor. None of them paid a lot, but I got something way more valuable than money, I learned what it was like to work. The lesson has benefited me throughout my life and I’m extremely grateful for my parent’s insistence on me working.
Pictured above is my son Grant. He worked part time in the warehouse at Custom Logos last summer at the tender age of 12. Now at 13 he is spending 3 days a week, 60% of his summer vacation, humping boxes in the warehouse and doing whatever other menial tasks his Uncle Tostie (family friend and our VP of Manufacturing) can find for him to do. Its hard work and he goes home sweaty and exhausted. Most work days he complains about having to go to work, but he certainly doesn’t complain about having his own money to do whatever he wants with. He’s saving half his earnings so he can buy a truck when he turns 16, since the rule in our house is we match whatever our kids come up with when its time to buy a car. Most important, he’s developing a good work ethic.
I’ve been working now for 38 years and have owned Custom Logos for the past 22 years. We have probably employed a couple hundred people over the years and currently have a staff of 45 wonderful people who have been with our company for an average tenure of over 10 years. A good work ethic is a central theme of our culture and is the reason our staff is here. Quite frankly, and sadly, a good work ethic is hard to come by these days. In my experience it appears work ethic has not been taught well, if at all, to recent generations. You can help turn the tide. Teach your kids to work. Let them learn the value of a dollar firsthand. It is a lesson that will serve them for a lifetime. I’m living proof that it works, and my kids will be too.
