Forget cookies, these girls are hungry for biz lessons

Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida (GSGCF) is at it again — cookie-selling season started Jan. 11 and deliveries are taking place now.

But for the girls involved in the fundraising effort, selling cookies is more than just delicious. The Girl Scouts have five business skills they teach the budding saleswomen:

-Goal setting
-Decision making
-Money management
-People skills
-Business ethics

But the exercise is more than a learning experience: those scouts get results. In 2012, GSGCF sold more than 1.12 million packages of cookies, a 7.5% increase compared with 2011 sales. Last year, 135 of the girls sold more than 1,000 packages, and of those, 10 girls sold more than 3,000 packages.

Girl Scouts from Troop 542 Emily Mioduszewski and Bekah Horsley say part of their strategy involves calling family and friends, going door-to-door, getting up early to man booths, taking forms to school and using social media now that they're old enough. The girls have been selling cookies for seven years.

Both agreed that after their experience in the Girl Scouts selling cookies and working in the Girl Scout council shop they think it would be fun to run a business.

Emily and Bekah say the hardest part about selling cookies is getting up early and getting rejected before coming close to a sale. I'm sure we can all feel them there.

The best parts for Bekah and Emily? Eating the cookies (Thin Mints and Tagalongs are Bekah's favorites, Thin Mints and Samoas are Emily's) and handling the money. Again, we feel you, girls.

Watch the video to hear Emily and Bekah's advice to veteran business people.