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“Sterling. Pleasure to meet you.” He nodded toward the papers. “You don’t have a filing system?”
“A shoebox doesn’t count?”
“I don’t believe so.”
Logan straightened. “Then no.” He sighed. “This is a mess.”
“Yes, it does seem to be,” Sterling agreed.
Staring at him, Logan barked a laugh. “You don’t pull any punches, do you?”
With a large swallow, Sterling finished his whiskey and set the glass down. He’d never understood when to beat around the bush and when to be direct, usually opting for the latter. “I suppose not.”
Logan raked a hand through his wet, blond hair. “In addition to being blunt, you don’t happen to know anything about finances and business paperwork, do you?”
The ground beneath Sterling’s feet solidified. He was back on familiar ground. “As it happens, I do.” It was only what he did all day, every day.
Logan laughed again. “Are you having me on?”
He frowned. “No, of course not. I’m the second in charge at my company, and I have a business degree.”
“Well, hallelujah.” Logan raised his palms to the ceiling and grinned. “Congratulations, you’re my new best friend. Do you mind coming around here and helping me out?”
With trepidation, Sterling rounded the bar and looked over Logan’s shoulder. “Tell me more about what’s going on here.”
Logan met his eyes. “Last summer, I started a second business, renting out gear for water sports and running a few surfing lessons. It was meant to be a hobby, but it’s really taken off.”
Sterling didn’t see the problem. “That seems like a good thing.”
“You’d think so. Except that I haven’t been keeping a track of anything very well. Half my equipment needs maintenance, but I haven’t got proper records of what’s been done when, and I’m pretty sure I’m not turning a profit with the prices I’m charging.”
“You’re not certain?”
He shrugged helplessly. “What do you think? Everything I have is in this box—and that includes the paperwork for the bar. I don’t even have a separate business account. Both companies go through my personal one.”
Sterling winced. Separating costs and income at the end of the year would be a nightmare.
“I didn’t start the watersports company to make a profit, but I can’t afford to lose money on it, either. Especially not with how much of my time it’s taking up.”
At least most of the documents in the box were dated. Sorting out the finances would be tedious, but not difficult for someone with experience. As for everything else… Sterling was seeing a lot of room for improvement.
“Do you have an inventory?” he asked.
“Yes, thank God. I keep it up to date so I can make sure everything is being returned when it should be.”
“Good.” Sterling paused to look at a sheet outlining charges for different pieces of equipment. He didn’t know much about recreational businesses, but he’d say Logan was undercharging. Significantly. If he were running this business, he’d research online to see what the norm was for comparative businesses and then adopt the median prices. Or perhaps more, depending on the state of Logan’s equipment and his credentials.
Before he’d even given his brain permission, Sterling was firing through the dozens of ways he could improve Logan’s business—the least of which was tidying his books. His veins thrummed with excitement. Business was in his blood, and the prospect of taking this chaos and making it into something profitable had his heart rate picking up and his palms sweating with anticipation.
But that wasn’t his place. And besides, Logan hadn’t asked. He just wanted help tidying things up. “You’re absolutely correct that this isn’t in great shape, but I think I can help, and it just so happens I have a free afternoon.”
“Really?” Logan beamed. “You’re a lifesaver. If you can help me with this…” He shook his head. “I’ll keep you in free beers for a month.”
“A month?” He wasn’t planning to stay that long. “Make it whiskey, for a couple weeks, and you’ve got a deal.”
They shook on it. For the next few hours, Sterling helped his new acquaintance wade through the mountain of papers and transform the information into something useful. By the time he realized he was starving, a fire had ignited in his belly. It had been a long time since he’d seen an opportunity like this, to take something okay and make it great. Before he left, he couldn’t help but make an offer he never had before.
“Logan,” he said as he prepared to leave. “I think you could make this business much stronger than it is. What you need is a plan, and I’d be happy to help you write one while I’m here. What do you say?”
