With buckets, sponges and rags in tow, a group of about six young entrepreneurs were going door to door in Montreal’s Saint-Henri borough to offer their services.
For $5, the group of boys would wash the exterior of their neighbours’ cars.
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If you throw in another $5, they’ll even clean the interior.
Neighbour Catherine Rowe was getting ready to leave her house when she heard a knock on her door.
“I asked them if they were doing this to raise money for a charity, they all looked at each other like ‘what is she talking about?'” she told Global News.
“So, then I said, ‘oh, so you’re entrepreneurs?’ They all agreed unanimously with that.”
Rowe said the boys even tried to sell some of their drawings and paintings.
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“They were very entrepreneurial, seeking business ventures,” she said.
Another neighbour, Holly Friesen, recalls seeing one of the boys setting up a lemonade stand in the past with the help of his dad.
Friesen said the kids range from ages seven to 12 and she’s seen the group playing in the park and swimming together.
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“It’s refreshing to see such happy kids in the ‘hood, playing outside, happy and free,” she told Global News.
Rowe, who has been a Saint-Henri resident for 25 years, agreed it was nice to see kids offering to help out in the neighbourhood.
“In the early days, I didn’t see a lot of that, there were more kids getting into trouble rather than looking to start a business,” she said, adding the children already have great customer service skills.
“They were very polite and very professional.”
In the boys’ first day, they washed two cars and pocketed $10.
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Rowe added a little more to their funds and tipped them for a good effort.
She said she had to supply with boys with her own water to rinse off the soap and admitted the end result was a “little streaky.”
But the boys aren’t short for business, Friesen said she hopes to find them again so they can wash her car.