Page 14 of The Funnel to You

“Well then we are going to get along just fine.” I reply with a smug look on my face. He looks back at me then stands from his chair and extends his hand – I guess we are going a little more professional here. I shake his hand and have to try not to linger a bit too long. I am drawn in by his eyes up close and his hair is seriously the perfect length – not too long to be messy but not too short to look like he is in the military. My dad has the military buzz cut and it just isn’t my thing. He was in the Navy before I came along and some habits just stuck around, I guess.

My fingers tingle a little when I finally do let my hand drop to my side. I’m not sure if it’s anxiety or something else so I use my other hand to hold onto my bracelet and ground myself a little bit. “Little hippie, little witchy” is how I like to classify myself. I have crystals and enjoy using essential oils and tinctures before trying traditional medicine. I also try to stick with the cleaner makeup and skincare brands. But I still wear polyester and enjoy a bag of sour patch kids on occasion.

“It’s nice to meet you in person.” I say politely. “We had a great meeting and I think this is going to work really well. We have our next in person meeting on Monday night after I get off from work. I’m sure she will tell you all about it.”

“Sounds good. I think it’s going to be great for both of you for sure. Let me know if you need anything from me along the way. I just finished most of what we are going to need to get started next week. Can we set up our next meeting for Tuesday? Let me know what works for your schedule. Zoom is totally fine or we can meet here. But I want to start getting some of this initial stuff going.” He starts putting away his notebooks and I am so thankful that we aren’t going to do any business talk today. I am exhausted and desperately need a nap.

“I work an early-ish shift on Tuesday. I can meet here at five or we can do Zoom any time after four. Let me know what will work best since you have the experience here.” I’ll work from six to three on Tuesday so that will give me time to get home and change before a call or meeting. And hopefully grab something little to eat if we do Zoom.

“How about we plan on five here? It may be a little easier to go over this in person. And then we can see about virtual after that if it works better for you.”

“Perfect.” I grab out my phone and put in the info in my calendar. “Do you need me to bring anything besides my laptop?”

“That should be just fine. I’m hoping to be able to do a lot of this for you, but I need to make sure we are on the same page.” He responds and then Ashley joins us again.

“You ready to go?” She asks her brother then turns to me. “Thank you again so much for today.” The pure joy on her face is visible.

“I loved meeting with you and am so excited for this! I will see you Monday, Ashley. Text me if you need anything.” I give her a little hug then turn to make a quick eye contact with Matt. “And I will see you Tuesday.”

With that, I head out to my car and head home. Once I get inside my apartment, I let myself relax a bit.

“Okay then, here we go. Officially counting down to December.”

Chapter Nine

Sasha

Butter Pecan Cold Brew

Social Post: Anyone else love having a routine? That means I can color code my calendar and plan ahead for things. #sashaloveslipstick #calendar #prettypens #colorcoordination

Image Description: colored pens next to a spiral planner

The first few weeks of our arrangement go by and Matt, Ashley, and myself fall into an easy routine.

Matt: Did you have a chance to review the new product releases from the email I sent you last night?

Me: Yes. I’m not loving anything that I saw on this one. It feels a little too trendy in my opinion. And most of my target audience won’t love packaging that isn’t user friendly.

Matt: That was my concern with that one too. Since it’s a smaller and newer company I wanted to run it by you before I put it in the “pass” folder.

Me: Thank you for checking.

Me: Did you see the number of saves on the video from yesterday?

Matt: That’s all you, Sasha. Great job on the demo. Your audience is really loving the tutorials on how to do the more in depth skincare routines.

Me: Perfect. I’m thinking of doing one this weekend on “hiking proof makeup” – what do you think?

Matt: I think that’s perfect. Let me grab you a few photos from my last hike so you can put in some images throughout, hang on.

Me: Matt, these are beautiful! Where did you take these?

Matt: Up at Horsetooth earlier this week. I went early so it was quiet and I was able to get some good pictures.

Me: These are perfect. Thank you! It’s been so long since I’ve been up there. It’s a really pretty hike this time of year.

Matt: Completely agree. Hopefully you get some time to go soon.

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