AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can stay in that room he’s reserved for me.”
Her lips twitched. “That’s generous of him.”
“I think he wants me to give in. There’s a fundraiser this weekend. I’m going as his date.”
Her eyes widened. “How did that happen?”
“He said he needed dates for these events. I offered to be his next one. I don’t know what I was thinking, but he promised to schedule time for me at the spa on Saturday.”
“Go. Have a good time. Explore whatever’s going on between you. It might surprise you.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t stay in control with Silas. He wanted me to come undone.
“I think this is a good move. You’ve always wanted to work with Silas, and now you have your chance.”
Was it that simple? Was I overthinking everything? Could I have a casual relationship and keep my emotions out of it?
“How amazing would it be to work with him and not against him? You won’t have to turn away any clients.”
“It would be nice.” It was a source of consternation for me. If a client wanted to hold their wedding at Silas’s resort, I couldn’t be their wedding planner. But this arrangement had the potential to change everything.
The more I thought about Saturday night, the more I was leaning toward going to him. To making that next move. I convinced myself I could stay in control. I always had in the past, and if he was going to let me make that move, then maybe I could this time too. I said it to myself so many times I started to believe it was possible for me to take that next step without losing myself.
“Can we handle it? Or will it be spreading us too thin? This is all hypothetical because he hasn’t agreed to anything more than one wedding.”
“Would you limit the number of weddings you’d handle? Maybe make it an exclusive thing? When you started out, everyone was able to work with you. But now it’s a special thing. You can only handle so many weddings, and to do the best job possible, you need to limit it to just a few a year. If you charge more for that exclusive option, then you’d be okay. Plus, you’d be protecting your time too.”
“I make money by either handling the clients myself or hiring wedding planners who can do the work for me.”
Harper’s brow furrowed. “Right.”
I moved behind the desk. “What if there was a way for me to help more people, but it didn’t take much more of my time?”
“What are you thinking?” Harper asked eagerly.
“What if we offered a wedding planner course? We give our best practices, our tips for starting a business, maintaining it, and how to build it?”
“How would that work?”
“I wouldn’t want to be doing a live course every time. We could pre-record the videos and have a portal for the written material. The planners could go through the content at their own pace.”
“We can do lives in the beginning to entice people to sign up, and we could always add to the course later."
I snapped my fingers. “Yes.”
“Oh my God, Gia. This is genius.”
“You don’t think it’s crazy? I don’t know if others are doing it already.”
“Even if they are, you do things differently than someone else. They’re paying for your unique knowledge. No one else can do it like you can. Your business acumen is what makes you stand out. You’re willing to take risks and pivot when necessary. So many businesses fail because what was working stops, and they can’t try it a different way. But you’ve expanded, and now you want to add more income streams. It’s amazing. I think you should do it.”
“It’ll take time to develop.”
“Gia, I’ve got this. This is what you hired me for. I can research the options for course platforms. You provide the content, and I’ll build it and create the images and marketing materials."
“How soon do you think we can get it up and running?” I asked, excited now that Harper was on board.
She thought for a few seconds. “A few months?”
