'Shady' teens allegedly steal money jar from 8-year-old's lemonade stand

An 8-year-old entrepreneur-in-the-making had to learn a lesson the hard way after two teens allegedly snatched the money jar from his lemonade stand in New York City last weekend.

Last Sunday afternoon, young Julian Lin, who has already given himself the nickname Julian Business Man, was doing what thousands of small-business owners do every day: grind out hours of hard work in the hopes of coming out a few dollars ahead. He had already been toiling at his lemonade stand at the corner of West 70th Street and Columbus Avenue in the Upper West Side of Manhattan for about four hours when he spotted what he described as two "shady" young men waiting in line to make a purchase.

"I could tell that those guys were shady since one of them was wearing a ski mask," he later claimed via text. Though his gut initially told him not to trust the two, he quickly suppressed his instincts and proceeded to treat them like any other customers.

It was a costly mistake. Just as Julian turned his back to fill their order of two lemonades, the two suspects, believed to be teenagers, grabbed his money jar and took off on their scooters. Julian's mother estimated that the jar contained anywhere from $100 to $150, a fairly hefty haul for an 8-year-old after just four hours.

The money has not been recovered, and the teen suspects remain at large, police said. Still, the greatest loss for Julian appears to be his faith in his fellow man. "I feel disappointed in humanity," he said. "I didn’t realize that someone would want to rob an 8-year-old."

But there were many others who helped Julian make lemonade out of his metaphorical lemons. "When I lost all that cash, a lot of people wanted to help me recover, so they gave me extra big tips," he added. "It made me feel good that so many people wanted to help me recover from this attack. It made me feel happy, joyful and grateful." Between his neighbors' generosity and the payments he received via Venmo, Julian's profits that day weren't completely decimated.

Plus, he has now learned that he must be more cautious when conducting business. "I will not have my money out there for anyone to grab," he stated. "I will be more alert. I will trust my instincts."

The lemonade stand is hardly Julian Business Man's first capital venture. In his short life, he has already performed services at a fruit stand, offered his own version of Door Dash to those who live in his building, and even helped janitors sweep and mop floors. "I know how much janitors work and still get such little salaries, so I decided to help out my janitors at school and help without a paycheck," he said.

In comparison to his other odd jobs, he said that his gross profits soared from selling lemonade but that his net profits from it were still "average." The price per cup at his lemonade stand is unknown, but it must yield a significant profit margin since Julian, who faithfully donates 30% of his earnings, then made a sizeable donation to his favorite charity: Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. "I will keep doing what I’m doing," Julian insisted, "because I love being a businessman.

"And I love dogs."

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