Rocks No One Buys

Yesterday, I was talking to my daughter about my day. It was a busy day, as it usually is. A mix of work, responsibilities, and client meetings. At some point, I used the word client and realized she might not fully understand it, so I followed it up with, “Well customer, I just like to say client.”

She listened intently and then told me that hearing about my business makes her really want customers, but she doesn’t know what to sell.

“When I tried to sell rocks, no one would buy them.”

I could hear in her tone how upsetting that failed business venture was for her, but it also made me realize that I’m doing something right.

My daughter is seven and I talk to her about money. Not in a stressful way, but in a way that makes money, business, and ownership feel normal.

Words matter. When kids hear words like client, business, income, and customer early, they don’t grow up seeing money as something intimidating or overwhelming. It becomes part of how they understand the world.

Financial literacy doesn’t start with budgets and podcasts; it starts with language and exposure. And kids pick up on what we model. If they see creation, ownership, and independence as normal, they’ll move differently.

There’s alot of talk about generational wealth and it has become somewhat of a ceiling everyone is reaching for. But generational wealth isn’t just about money and financial assets. It’s about curiosity, creativity and the confidence to try and try again.

Money can be spent. Knowledge and ownership get passed down. And trust me, my little one knows how to spend money, but she is also learning how to earn it: creatively, independently and confidently. Sometimes, that starts with rocks no one buys…. and ends with ideas they just might.