Some of you may think I’ve stopped showing for work (after all, I haven’t blogged since the 12th of this month, and before that I took what amounted to an eight-day ‘blogging hiatus’). To satisfy anyone’s curiosity, I haven’t [stopped coming to work, that is], but if I ever did, it would probably be because I found a dark spot on the map and I’m staying put!

Click here or above for a birds-eye view.

For now, after having recently spent five hours on a plane flying back to Utah from Boston, I’d choose a dark spot close to home, like further west here in the Beehive State or somewhere up in Montana. How about you… where is your dark spot on the map?

Why are the Dutch always beating everyone else to the punch, especially Americans? Springwise reports that Dutch Postbank recently started a campaign aimed at budding entrepreneurs.

Kids who open one of Postbank’s “Easy Blue” accounts qualify to receive a briefcase containing materials for printing their own t-shirts (aka bizznizz attire), stickers, letterhead, flyers, and business cards. To get started, the young businessperson logs on to bizznizz.postbank.nl and decides what type of business he or she would like to run. Postbank suggests washing cars, walking dogs, household chores and mowing lawns, as well as an intriguing ‘entertainment’ category.

Then it’s time to pick a name, create a logo using an online design wizard, print promotional material and start advertising: throwing flyers through as many neighborhood mailboxes as possible. Once a client has been secured and the first job completed, the kidpreneur can log back on to the website to print an invoice, and have the client transfer the car-washing fee to their bank account.

Brilliant! And as cool as the idea itself is, Postbank’s ‘bizznizz.postbank.nl‘ web site is even cooler.

Seriously, though, why haven’t U.S. banks figured this one out for themselves? It seems like such a no-brainer, doesn’t it… develop a fun, educational, and supportive relationship with a kid today, and you win her personal and corporate banking business tomorrow.

I don’t know what it is about me and kids and their lemonade stands, but I stopped by another one yesterday afternoon; this time while on my way out of town to speak at Utah Business Week.

“How long have you guys been out here?” I asked. “Since this morning,” one of the older kids replied, ” adding, rather dejectedly, “and you’re our first customer“.

It didn’t occur to me until I drove off that I could do something to help their business (aside from paying a quarter for my own cup of their delicious lemonade). The traditional lemonade stand business model is this… set up shop and wait for people to come to you. Simple enough, and depending on weather, location, and cuteness factor, you may or may not experience success. I thought to myself as I drove away, if it were me, and I’d been standing out there for most of the morning and early afternoon without generating any business whatsoever, I’d hope I’d have the wherewithal to conceive a new business model.

Realizing that these were 10-year-olds, and that most 10-year-olds have the wherewithal of, well, 10-year-olds, I sprung into action. I called our Chief Marketing Officer’s assistant, Lindsay, from my car, and told her that there were a group of kids on the corner of 1200 North & 500 East selling lemonade, and that I bet if she drove over there and asked to speak to their parents, that they’d agree to let their kids come to the Doba office to bring everyone at company a nice refreshing glass of lemonade.

The rest, as they say, is history:

A special note of thanks to Lindsay, Cindy, and Meagen (they’re the big kids in the back row of the picture on the right) for helping to pull this off. I think we showed some neighborhood kids what sorts of possibilities exist when you rethink your distribution model. That, and you can make a whole lot of money by pouring lemonade at Doba.

Back in the middle of July, I was honored to be included among four Utah entrepreneurs profiled by connect Magazine, a Salt Lake City-based publication that provides an inside look at Utah and Idaho’s regional economic landscape and the people driving its development.

From the intro to the article:

It’s that time of year again for connect to profile four of the more promising young entrepreneurs in Utah. People have great ideas all the time about new products or businesses, but few actually turn those ideas into something tangible. These four young entrepreneurs, nominated by you our readers, not only had great ideas to fill a need, but also had the tenacity and courage to turn those ideas into innovative products or services.

Click on the image above to read the whole story, and hats off to Brain Beutler of Alianza, Justin Marty of Quad Zipper, and Michael Proper of DirectPointe for making a difference, too!