Lessons in Entrepreneurship from Peppa Pig

A five-minute cartoon holds life’s great lessons in entrepreneurship

Who would ever have thought the TV cartoon Peppa Pig would offer inspiration for entrepreneurs?

Before you get all uppity and start waving your entrepreneurial snob around, Peppa Pig screens in 180 countries and rakes in more than a cool billion dollars a year through merchandising and other spin-off sales. Now, if that doesn’t make you start to think about ways to anthropomorphise animals  for a buck or two million, I’m not sure what will.

(Confession: I have a great young adult series about anthropomorphised animals in development that I put on the back burner while I finish my other YA novel. Hmmm… did I say a billion dollars?)

Anyway, think of Peppa Pig as kind of like the Simpsons for little people (and I still maintain that Bananas in Pyjamas is preparing them for likes of Dexter and Breaking Bad – how will the Bananas ever escape this situation???)

My three-year-old Monsta loves Peppa Pig. I found the show quite irritating at first. But I have since grown to enjoy the adult humour occasionally thrown in there, and the quirky adult characters.

I love it when Daddy Pig explains that his job is to calculate big numbers and their load bearing tangents or when offers his scientific explanations for why our faces are upside down on a spoon (something about light refracting and inversions?!? Whoosh! Straight over the head of my Monsta, and mine, to be honest, but it still makes me giggle.)

But most of all, I love Miss Rabbit (aka Nanny Plum from Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom – she has the bestest voice in the whole world). And she delivers some wonderful lessons in entrepreneurship.

Miss Rabbit – the holy grail of entrepreneurship

Serial entrepreneur and multi-skilled business women, crossing industries faster than you can say Elon Musk, Miss Rabbit is always there when you need her at the right time with the right product or service to solve any problem.

The diversified interests of Miss Rabbit

From customer service to emergency services, from travel and leisure to driver of all things with wheels (and some without) Miss Rabbit has a diverse portfolio of skills and businesses. Miss Rabbit has even set up a gift shop on the moon – take that, Elon!

When Daddy Pig dropped his keys into a very big drain at the top of a mountain, it’s Miss Rabbit in her kiosk who sells him a fishing rod. Even she doesn’t know why she has a fishing rod for sale on the top of a mountain, but that’s not the point. The point is she has a fishing rod for sale and she capitalises on it as soon as someone needs it. I hope the mark-up was SEVERE. She’s in the right place at the right time.  She anticipates what the market needs and is ready to deliver.

When Pedro Pony was in hospital with a broken leg (yeah, yeah, we all know what happens to ponies with broken legs but who’s going to tell the pre-schoolers?) it’s Miss Rabbit who serves him his meal. But she’s more than an orderly – she’s got a slew of interests in healthcare and emergency services – nurse, dental nurse, emergency helicopter pilot and firefighter. And we all know how that industry is on the up and up. With a growing ageing population, Miss Rabbit is set to reap the dividends of her health-related investments.

You’ll also find that Miss Rabbit has seasonal business ventures she aggressively pursues – Christmas trees at Christmas time, ice skates and skis in winter, canoes and pedal boats and ice-cream in summer. She has also cashed in on trends and set up her own successful juice bar with her signature ‘Dinosaur Juice’ that my Monsta keeps hassling me to make.

Miss Rabbit also has her slice of the local transport industry firmly carved in her favour, monopolising the town’s train and bus services. I’m sure she’s an Uber driver in her spare time when she’s off-screen and not manning a shoe shop or china shop or selling tickets to Potato Bloody Land or whatever the hell that place is called.

With 52 episodes per series and four series created, forgive me for not knowing all the details of every episode. I should ask my Monsta. I’m sure he knows. He’s memorised every episode. I highly recommend NOT watching Peppa Pig with him because he’s one of those irritating people who gives the plot away.

Reward and recognition

Miss Rabbit is so incredible that even the Queen gave her a medal for being such a superstar, hardworking business woman. It’s also the first time a human has appeared on the show.

Miss Rabbit has certainly built her brand around being a reliable and diligent hard worker.

Miss Rabbit has shown that we also need to take time out to celebrate our wins and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done.  Of all the lessons Miss Rabbit has taught me, perhaps the most important lesson is that it never hurts to be a bit silly, put on your wellies and jump in muddy puddles with little people or even royalty and then fall on your back laughing at the smallest things.

I think my Monsta will approve of this post.

Have you learned important life or business lessons from watching cartoons for kids? Let me know in the comments below 🙂