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“Ghosts,” I suggest.
“We are not doing something as mundane as white sheets over our heads.” Ali shakes her head.
“Not that kind of ghost. The ones from the TV show about the lady who can see the spirit of everyone that’s died in the house she inherited.”
“I’ve seen that show. It’s cute,” Cora pipes up.
Ali leans forward, eyes trained on me. “I’m listening.”
“Well, there’s the two humans who live there, then a singer, a Viking, an heiress or noblewoman—I’m not sure which.” I tick off characters on my fingers as I go, and by the time I’m done all digits are extended.
“This does sound familiar,” she mumbles when I’m done, then looks around the table for support. “You guys think there will be enough recognition for this to work?”
“Don’t look at me,” Lennon shakes her head, “I work nights so I don’t know anything about it.”
“It is on network TV,” Cora says. “There’s a good chance people will find it familiar.”
“Alright, we’ll table this for now so I can check this show out. But keep the ideas coming in case we need a backup,” Ali commands.
We all nod in agreement and move on to the subject of boyfriends, where I have to stay silent. Hopefully not for long, though.
Chapter 23
Deacon
“Thegoodnewsisyou won’t have a lot of overhead to start,” I recap the points I just made to Tiff about applying for a small business loan to cover the startup costs. “The bad news is a monthly fee to be included in the directory won’t allow you to cover much more than the operating expenses.”
We’ve been working on Tiff’s plan for a little under two weeks at this point, and while we’ve made a lot of progress, we’re now getting to the most difficult section, proving it can be profitable.
“Are you saying it’s not enough to pay myself?”
“I’m saying it won’t cover your salary and repayment on the loan.”
No matter how we crunch the numbers, a reasonable monthly fee doesn’t put her in the black for years. Neither did referral fees paid for each participant she generates, especially considering that’s likely to be a one-time only fee per activity. She’d need a substantially larger customer base to make that work.
A crease separates her brows as she turns her gaze from the computer screen to me. “Does that mean this is a bad idea?” She blinks back what I suspect are tears, though none actually fall.
Thank God we’re in her house instead of the coffee shop so no one can witness this.
“Not necessarily. It just means we need to get more creative with how you generate revenue. Maybe you allow businesses to advertise products on the site, like the equipment required for different activities. If you offer users a coupon to buy through your site instead of the store’s website, that's income for you. Maybe you also allow people to sell used gear on the site and you take a percentage of each sale for making the connection. There are lots of possibilities.”
“I don’t know anything about how to set up or run something like that.” She drops her head to her hands. “What am I even doing?”
“You’re building a business, Tiff. Most people who attempt this don’t have all the answers themselves, they hire people with different areas of expertise to help them build the final plan.”
“You know all this stuff, though.” Her words are muffled.
“Because I’ve already done it once. The first time I needed help.”
“I don’t even know what I don’t know.”
Pulling her hands away from her head I force her to look at me. “That’s why I’m here, right?”
“Yes, but…when this is an actual business then what? It’s not like I’ll have any better idea what to do then than I do now. Maybe I should just take that dance instructor job in Jefferson. I won’t have to be in charge and I won’t have to tell everyone I failed.”
My arms suddenly feel heavy even though they’re braced on the kitchen table. “What dance job?”
She starts—that must have come out sounding harsh—but I thought she was past the whole moving thing. “The uh, teaching job at the dance studio in Jefferson. They offered it to me.”
