For business studies, the teacher gave the class a weekend assignment to sell something for profit and on Monday they would give a talk on their profit maximisation and sales techniques.

On Monday, the kids were so excited. The teacher asked Mary about her sales and profits.

"I made $32 profit!" she said proudly, "I bought some Girl Guide cookies for $5 a packet, and sold them for $6 a packet. I sold 32 packets by appealing to the customer's giving nature to help the Girl Guides with their funding".

"Excellent," said the teacher. “Now, Jane, please tell us about your sales and profits”.

"I made $50 by selling newspapers," she said, "I negotiated a deal with the newsagent to buy a bulk order of 100 papers at a discount rate, and sold them all for 50c profit. I explained to potential customers that newspapers would keep them informed about current events".

"Very good, Jane," said the teacher who then went around the class, leaving Little Johnny until last.

Finally, it was Little Johnny's turn. The moment the teacher was dreading…

Little Johnny strutted up to the teacher’s desk and dumped a box full of cash on it.

"There’s $8,900 in that box," he said with a grin, “and that’s my profit”.

“$8,900!" cried the teacher, "What on earth were you selling?"

"Toothbrushes," Little Johnny replied.

"Toothbrushes!" echoed the teacher, "How could you possibly sell enough toothbrushes to make that much profit?"

"I bought 500 toothbrushes and 50 bags of Doritos for $2 each," said Little Johnny, "then I went to the arcade in the main street and I set up a chip and dip stand at the front entrance and offered everybody who walked in a free sample."

“Their reactions were all the same,” Little Johnny added, "Hey, this dip tastes like dog $hit! Then I’d tell ‘em that it actually IS dog $hit, and ask if they’d like to buy a toothbrush for $20”.