Business lessons from Strawberry Shortcake

As the mother to a very girly-girl, we spend large amounts of time doing girly things. This includes watching girl-focused cartoons like My Little Pony, Tinker Bell, Sofia the First, and, my personal favorite, Strawberry Shortcake (this has nothing to do with the fact that I loved this cartoon when I was a kid). And I promise, I’m not being sarcastic.

Strawberry Shortcake and her friends, while disturbing on some level with their cankles and very large feet, are one of the more positive influence I’ve seen for girls. Not only do they look like little girls rather than little girls pretending they’re adults, they have a number of personality traits that I find positive. First, while they do not always get along, there is no bullying and they are able to work out their problems civilly. Girls need to learn that.  Second, these are very confident girls. They believe, and sing about it quite often, that they can do anything they put their minds to, not matter how difficult the quest may seem. Girls need to learn that, too. And third, they are all very entrepreneurial. Every character not only has a job, but she owns her own store.

This is the part we’re going to focus on.

Listen to your customers.  There was this one particular episode where Lemon Meringue, the town cosmetologist, gave all the girls manicures with singing, sparkly nail polish. While everyone loved it at first, it became quite bothersome to constantly listen to singing nails. Lemon thought everyone was avoiding her but really, they didn’t want to hurt her feelings that they hated her product. She finally talked to them and, through a very honest (and civil) conversation, she received good, positive feedback on how to improve the product. Takeaway: every once and awhile, survey your customers. Assess how you’re doing, see where you can improve, what they’d like to see offered, and actually implement their opinions whenever possible.

Specials are good for business. The general store owner, Orange Blossom, had this great idea for a spring sale. She asked some of her customers (see point above) what they love most about spring. Based on that information, she created special spring bouquets and fruit baskets that she sold at a discounted price to all the residents of Berry Bitty City. Her special was such a great deal that she had a line out the door, but, coupled with that, she also offered a quality product that made her customers happy and allowed for repeat business. Takeaway: Offering discounted and special pricing on your goods and services will get people in the door. However, you have to put out a quality product in order to receive continuing and loyal customers.

Live your passion. All the girls love what they do and it’s obvious by the way they dress, talk, and the ideas they present at group project meetings (these girls work together on a number of projects).  In fact, they live their passion so much that it impacts how they treat each other at times. For instance, when they gave each other secret gifts for the Glimmerberry Gathering, Blueberry Muffin (my personal favorite character. Just saying), the resident bookstore owner and writer, gives a very large book as a gift. However, the book is about organizing books. Blueberry gave the book she wanted to receive. It sounds selfish but really, she just loves what she does so much that she had trouble realizing that not everyone loves it that much. Takeaway: If you want to be successful at what you do, you have to love it. You have to be passionate about it. You have to be willing to learn, practice, and live and breathe it for large parts of the day. But don’t forget that not everyone feels that way. You don’t want to frighten your support system away.  

Help other small business. Strawberry Shortcake and her friends all run their businesses singlehandedly. They have no staff, no bookkeepers, no marketing people; they do it all themselves. However, they occasionally run into situations where they need help (actually, this happens a lot. I think these girls need to get better at time management) so they turn to their friends for help. It works out well for the person in need and the other business owners get a good reputation for being considerate and good hearted. That kind of reputation is good for profits. Takeaway:  If you own a small business, consider partnering with another small business for a charity event or fundraiser. Share a table at a community event day. Sponsor another small business in a golf tournament. Do something, however small, to help that business. It’ll help build your network and your visibility.

Take chances. So Strawberry Shortcake’s favorite pop star is Cherry Jam. She finds out that Cherry is performing near Berry Bitty City and she would just love to have Cherry perform at her café. Strawberry desperately wants to ask her but she’s too nervous. So her friends, wanting to help her out, send an email to Cherry Jam and lo and behold, she not only responds but she agrees to give a concert. It was a risky move but the girls didn’t seek to gain anything by not asking. Taking that chance could have failed but it was worth a shot. Takeaway: When running a business, you have to be willing to take chances and risks. Hey, just by starting a business you’ve taken a great risk! Why not continue by trying to sell a new product or write a book that’s a little out of your comfort zone?  Even if it fails, you’ve learned something.

If you told me a few years ago that I could learn anything valuable from a kid’s cartoon, I’d have laughed in your face. It’s a cartoon! They’re mindless and fun, and kids love them for that reason. But while they’re entertaining, if you pay attention, the lessons (in some of them) are quite sophisticated. Strawberry Shortcake and her friends really are very enterprising little girls and honestly, I’m not too annoyed that my daughter loves to watch their adventures. They’re colorful and good role models.

And one of them owns a bookstore. That’s awesome.

P.S. In the spirit of these lessons, I am offering a 30% discount on all of my consulting packages for the rest of April. Make sure you book yours now!