CHAPTER 1

Business as Usual

I haven’t decided which business to start first, or what would make the most money. I want enough to fill a vault so that I could keep my money safe and also swim in it. I have no idea how much a vault costs, and when I tried to ask my mom, she told me to make memories, not money. She’s an artist and hasn’t sold a painting in at least a year. When I asked her for business advice, she said all she can teach me about is perseverance, which is a fancy word for “not giving up.”

My mum, on the other hand, knows a ton about business. She gets up before sunrise to get the pizza ready for her food truck, the Teresaria. She only uses vegetables from the community garden, and her truck is the most popular in the city. At least I think it is.

Mum's food truck, parked with the side window open, ready to serve food.

Because Mum doesn’t have any employees, she’s usually not here in the morning — which means I mostly just eat my breakfast and try not to let Mister get on my nerves. If he and I argue too much, I don’t get an allowance.

Mister and I each receive an allowance that’s the exact same amount as our ages. I get three dollars more than him because I’m three years older. Mister mostly spends his allowance on art supplies. He wants to be an artist one day, like Mom. We stopped getting a regular allowance after my mom read an article about how kids shouldn’t get paid to help around the house, they should just do it. Clearly the person who wrote the article was never a kid.

In order to get an allowance, I have to do helpful acts for other people, like:

If you didn’t already notice, I like to make lists. Successful people make lists to organize all of their amazing thoughts, so obviously I make tons of them.

Good Things about My Allowance: 1. I've been getting really good at saving. Charlie rigged my piggy bank so the coins fall into a secret compartment in the pig's butt where even I forget to look. 2. When I help Mr. Wright with his groceries, he gives me the kind of sugary cookies my moms won't buy. Bad Things about My Allowance: 1. It doesn't go up by fifty cents on my half-birthday, because my mum said that's not even a thing. 2. I think Molly's cat is out to get me.

So far I’ve saved $31.50 in my piggy bank’s butt. I don’t know about you, but where I live, that is NOT enough to buy anything on my list. But it’s a start, right? On the way to school today, Charlie is going to help me figure out which of my business ideas could make REAL money.

Sketch of a piggy bank tih a secret compartmet, so that money will not come out the hole in the bottom. Text: Secret Savings. Money Goes Here. Smash to Empty.