The 3-Question Debrief That Turns a Bad Sales Day Into a Lesson
After every hustle — good or bad — these three questions take four minutes and build the habit that separates founders from hobbyists.
Most parents end a kid's first sales experience with "good job" or "better luck next time." Both responses leave the learning on the table. There's a better way, and it takes four minutes.
The three-question debrief:
1. What worked? Start here, always. Even a terrible sales day has one thing that went right — a person who smiled, a pitch that felt natural, a product that got a compliment. Name it. Anchor it. Build on it.
2. What would you change? Not "what went wrong" — that's backward-looking and shame-adjacent. "What would you change" is forward-looking and empowering. Let your kid answer. Resist the urge to jump in with your own list.
3. What's your next experiment? Founders don't quit or declare victory — they iterate. This question installs the iteration habit early. It doesn't matter if the experiment is 'try a different corner' or 'make a new sign.' What matters is that she's already planning the next move.
Run this debrief after every hustle — a good one and a bad one. The consistency is the point. Over time, your kid will start running it on herself, in her head, before she even comes to you.
That's the goal: internal iteration. The debrief is just training wheels.