One warm day, a stockbroker was on his way to a meeting when he saw a young girl selling lemonade by the side of the road. He pulled over and got out of his brand new BMW in a nice tailored suit.

"Hey mister, you want some lemonade?” she called to him.

He was about to walk past her when he stopped and did a double take at the sign that said “Lemonade $50”.

“Your sign is wrong miss. I think you mean fifty cents,” he informed her.

The little girl shook her head, “Nope, fifty bucks mister. I need the money for Space Camp!”

The stockbroker paused for a minute, because, in his line of work, he appreciated a good hustle but he truly believed this young entrepreneur was going about it the wrong way.

“Look sweetie, I know you’re trying to make money but you have to charge what people are willing to pay. No one is going to pay that much for a tiny cup of lemonade. Now what do you think is a fair price?”

The girl beamed and said, “Fifty bucks mister!”

The stockbroker sighed and shook his head.

“Okay I’ll pass. You can’t make a profit when no one is willing to pay your asking price. Now do you have anything else for sale?”

“Homemade brownies, 50 cents!” she replied.

The stockbroker winced in frustration.

“I studied economics at Harvard and I got my MBA from Wharton so I’m going to teach you a little about business, okay? Now each of your little cups of lemonade probably costs you about fifty cents including the margin cost of your stand.”

He opened his wallet and took out a dollar.

“I’ll pay you ten times that much because I want to help you understand about mark-up.”

The little girl shook her head and smiled, “No thanks, mister. Fifty bucks please!”

“You know what? I give up. Take this dollar and I’m going to buy two of your brownies, I know you’re losing money on them, and I’m not going to buy a single cup of your overpriced lemonade. I’m trying to be nice and teach you about business but I guess this is the only way for you to learn a lesson.”

“OK,” she said, taking the dollar and putting two brownies on a plate. Just to make the point, the stockbroker decided to eat one of the brownies right in front of her. Suddenly he began coughing and gagging uncontrollably.

“Oh my God… what did you put in these?”

Grinning happily she told him, “It’s my special recipe! Eggs, flour, butter, cocoa, sawdust and goat pellets!”

“This is horrible! I have to get this taste out of my mouth!” said the stockbroker in disgust.

The girl produced a jar full of $50 bills, cocked her head to the side and said through a beaming grin, “You want some lemonade?”