Time for Getting Down to Business
Having arrived back to their little unit, the first few days went by catching up with all events since they went on their honeymoon. All their friends wanted to meet to have drinks, dinner, tell them how gorgeous the resort was, the lifestyle, the shopping and the surf, sand and sex. The food, the marihuana and those huge black guys and what about those string bikinis and nudist beaches. The questions went on, as if some people had no life of their own and they were seemingly living it through Carol and Sam.
A week went by like a blur and the weekend came around at last. Carol and Sam could spend time just to themselves and having those conversations about their future, his work and its expected travel and money. Always money gets into these conversations and Carol knew she needed to work if they were going to get past this tiny little unit where they had just enough room to move around when they were both home.
Carol had spent time with the three major modelling groups working the south and things were not looking up, mainly because the agencies were tired and lacked the drive to get the new work rather than the typical bread and butter stuff they had survived on for years. It was blatantly obvious she had to take things into her own hands and reach out for new businesses that could use her skills, beauty and background.
Sex was Not on the Agenda
On the private front Sam and Carol had not been able to enjoy their sexual comforts because they were so engrossed in what needed to be done. The fact that they needed to get tests done and results in for STD's did play heavily on Carol's mind. Fortunately there were no issues for Carol and Carol's stretching by Phillipe would have been able to melt into the past, if not the memories.
Sam did not tell Carol of any issues so should she assume he was checked and fine? No?
Would this come back to bite them or just Carol?
Carol decided to take some precautions?
Carol: Honey, when I went to get my STD check my doctor looked at my prescription for the pill. He wants me to get off that particular prescription. It has been problemsome in his Health Magazines with increased risks for me like lumps etc. So he has provided me with a new listed one. Unfortunately that means me being off the pill for a week before I go onto the new one. Meaning the new one needs about two weeks or so after I start taking it to start working properly so we need to use condoms for about a month to six weeks. OK?
There was nothing that Sam could add, other than put that in his stored memory bank between his legs. He hated condoms, so sex with Carol was not going to be frequent for a while and maybe more encouragement to travel up north.
The Meeting With Brother Jeff
Jeff: So how was your trip? Wasn't that beach and surf just spectacular. Sam sent me some awesome pics of the surfers, some of the breaks and the beaches; they are in my folder for promos.
The questions stayed on the light-hearted brotherly loving conversation line, until Carol timed it well to move to business.
Carol: Look brother we both know you pushed us into that swinger group down there, so please don't deny it. To some degree I think I need to thank you for that. It really got me thinking about what we discussed before my honeymoon and what I am going to do to make decent money now that modelling is dropping off for me. I can and will try to get some high paying jobs interstate, but that event management business you are wanting to promote for our family is real.
Jeff: Sis, that event management business is going to require on my budgets around US$100,000 to set up and equity capitalise it just to get the assignments rolling. It will mean little income for us for maybe 12 to 18 months. Do you and Sam have $50,000 you can inject as equity, with me the balance at 50:50?
Carol: Short answer, we are borrowed up to the hilt for the unit and we need cash flow to ensure we meet the bank payments. Sam's job will make sure we can pay those and our normal bills, but saving $50,000 in the short term is not a possibility. That's why I said I am going to have to get my act together and earn some decent money.
Jeff: I have done a full business plan and budget. I have approached the family banker and they said NO until we have the hurt money of $100,000. Here is my file on this flashcard. Take it home and let me know your questions. You will see that we need around $200,000 just to open our doors and we need people to work for us on commission so we don't have to pay them until cash comes in to us. None of that is going to be easy. My rather situation is we start with $300,000 and we can dictate our terms and contracts without being screwed, because we don't have to win deals at too fine a margin.
Carol: Sam is going to start his travel program with his new firm. I promise to get into this and we can come together again later in the week. Just one thing brother don't push me into stuff like you did in Nassau again without giving me the full facts. OK?
Jeff: Yes.
But did Carol believe him? She did note a male style of grumble under his breath. Typical egotistical Jeff.
Carol spent three days working over the numbers and the assumptions, talking them through with Jeff and in a macro sense basically agreeing the plan and the budgets, while not agreeing with everything such as facilitation payments and "commissions" for leads. Conclusion being, she and Sam will not be participating until they get $100,000 to $150,000.
Sam Begins his Travel Program
Sam's new firm was paying a base salary and commissions on actual cash received from completed contracts. It was not possible for his job to be done by email, text or conference calls. They would help, but face to face with detailed business proposals, costings, marketing materials all took time away from his office desk. The preliminary estimates were around 21 days per month out of town and they would include some weekends either at site or travelling. While Carol could help with leads and constructive criticism of the plans etc, it was always going to be face to face when the core projects could be promoted and to some degree followed up by Sam to ensure the client was going to get what they contracted.
Saturday morning.
One week after their return and Sam did his first tripping to the northern States Carol heard a message ting on Sam's mobile. Sam was in the shower and Carol had recently taken to check his messages to make sure Sam did not miss any of his client contacts and leads, like any good administrative assistant would do. She went to his briefcase and opened it, to find two mobiles. Carol thought this second one must be supplied by his new firm. The two were both Apple I phones, but his own one was blue and the second was red. It was this second phone that had the message. Intrigued she opened it and scrolled down to see what the message was and determine what she needed to tell Sam. There were six messages on the phone with the last one un-opened.
The opened messages were: