Talk About Ambition: One Girl Scout Sold 18,000 Boxes of Cookies
Katie Francis of Oklahoma City broke the national record, selling more than 18,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in seven weeks. Her secret? Commitment.
By Kate Taylor •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Trying to sell your product? You can learn a thing or two from this 12-year-old Girl Scout.
Katie Francis broke the national Girl Scout cookie-selling record with 18,107 boxes, according to reports. And she's not done – she wants to hit 20,000 boxes by the time the seven-week cookie selling period ends on March 30.
The sixth-grader's secrets to success are ones that every entrepreneur needs to learn. Cookie sales require marketing, money management and customer-service skills. However, Katie says the most important ingredient in her recipe for success was putting in the time—a lot of time.
Related: Government Shuts Down 11-Year-Old's Cupcake Business
Katie reportedly would go door-to-door selling cookies from when she got out of school until 9:30 at night. On the weekends, she would put in 12 to 13 hour days selling cookies.
By committing the time to cookie sales and asking everyone she met to buy boxes of cookies, Katie proved that, with a well-loved product and endless amounts of dedication, you can achieve anything. While most Girl Scouts are happy to sell a couple dozen boxes, Katie has always been an entrepreneurial overachiever, setting the state record for cookie sales for the last two years. This year, she set her sights on the previous national record of 18,000 set in the 1980s.
The Girl Scouts organization is waiting until the selling period closes on March 30 to discuss Katie's record-breaking year. Then, in a few short weeks, she'll be having to deal with perhaps the most difficult part of her success: delivering thousands of boxes of cookies to hungry customers.
Related: Girl Scout Cookie Sales Are Blazing Outside of a California Marijuana Clinic
