Page 18 of The Funnel to You

“See, all good,” Kylie pipes in. “Let’s go inside and eat though because I am starving.” She laces her fingers in Carter’s and we follow them into the apartment.

Once we settle inside, we dive into the pizzas and I enjoy my Caesar salad with my slice. This one has grilled chicken and it’s absolutely perfect. I probably eat too many of these, but I don’t really care. It’s a full meal and I feel good afterwards. Matt chats a bit about this weekend and some of the things that he has questions about. We show him pictures of our table set up.

Ashley will be doing our behind the scenes content tomorrow and then we will post it on both of our channels throughout the day. Photo ops and connections are a big part of tomorrow and we don’t want to waste this opportunity in case the farmers market decides not to have influencers at this thing again next week.

Ashley heads out pretty early. She wants to swing by the store to grab a few more pens for tomorrow. I ran out of the pretty pink ones I love so she is going to try to find something comparable. So it’s just me, Carter, Kylie, and Matt hanging out in the living room sipping tea. I’m sipping on something seasonal from Celestial Seasonings and everyone else raided my tea cabinet too. I’m not just a coffee addict, I have a slight tea problem too. And being in Colorado means I have lots of opportunities for both.

“So how did you get into social media growth, Matt?” Kylie asks as she cuddles up a bit more into Carter. If I didn’t love the two of them together so much, it would be moderately gross how cute they were.

“I went to college for communications and marketing. Social media kind of branched off from there. Most of my original clients were established companies with zero social media platform so it was helping them get that established and then linking it all together. I realized I enjoyed it and I was good at it. Finding how everything fits together and then making a plan to get there with the fewest steps possible. I got to work with a few startups from there and now, here we are.” He takes a breath and a sip of his drink before continuing.

“I have a few clients on retainer that I help with a monthly or quarterly meeting and planning session and then I do things like I’m doing with Sasha now with full plans and execution. I’ve never done it in depth before, but I’m hoping this turns into something a little more for future clients. Adding in the email campaigns and brand collaborations is new for me, but I’m enjoying the new piece.” I knew some of that, but not all of it. So getting a little more insight into Matt is not something I am going to complain about.

“Are you wanting to keep doing this in the long run or do you see this changing a bit for you?” I ask.

“I’d love to get to a point where I have a few people working with me. Maybe doing the intakes or execution of certain tasks. I like doing the map outs but there are things I could delegate out. Another reason why I’m doing your account the way I am. I’m using it to outline client expectations, SOPs, and troubleshooting. Since I’m doing a few new things with your account, it gives me a good opportunity to finalize a lot of those things on my end. Not everything will work for every client, but it’s a good blueprint.”

“That makes sense. Do you want to keep working with startups and influencers or go back to established businesses?” Carter asks. He loves this kind of thing even if he is “just a bartender.” I never liked that he referred to himself that way when he introduced himself to someone new. He was good at his job and loved it – and it shows.

He would honestly make an excellent addition to Matt’s team but he loves what he does too. Social media isn’t his thing, but storytelling is. And finding connections to stories is his super power. It’s pretty awesome to see how he can find those little pieces. Like when I was trying to find a new video series, he was the one that suggested I do a coffee series last Christmas. I did a bunch of holiday drink inspired looks and it was so fun for my engagement and just my attitude around what I was doing. It was so perfect! And it was completely his idea. How I never thought of it, I have no idea, but it worked wonderfully.

“I’m open to either, honestly. Again, if I can have a team working with me, I could designate certain ones for each type of business coming to me and it would be a lot easier to ‘plug and play’ with their specific plans and goals. I like the flexibility of choosing clients, but wouldn’t mind growing things a bit. Maybe in the new year once we close out the first bit of Sasha and Ashley’s project.” He makes eye contact with me and I take note of the first bit part of what he said. We had talked about a six-month initial, but it looks like he may want to keep working with me more than that.

“Do you see us working on more things together after this initial stage?” I ask him, a slight smile on my lips.

“If you’re up for it.” He responds without hesitation, never breaking eye contact with me. My smile widens as I sip my tea. And then my mind immediately starts racing. I absolutely can not have a panic attack in front of Matt. I abruptly stand up and make my way to the kitchen.

“Oh, it’s getting late, we should probably call it a night,” I take a look at where a watch would normally be on a wrist to distract myself, “See you all in the morning. Thanks again for stopping by Matt and the food was great as always, Carter.” I drop my mug in the sink and then head to my room. Why did I get so incredibly flustered with that little statement from him? Was it the eye contact as he was talking about future plans? What if we finish this contract up and he decides I’m no longer worth his time? I have no clue, but I desperately need to call it a night and get ready for tomorrow. I cannot screw this up.

Chapter Eleven

Matt

Shot of Espresso

Sasha has completely consumed every thought. In the morning, my first thought is wondering how she slept. Is she ready for the day? Did she go right to sleep after she went to bed abruptly last night? Did she forget anything before this morning? When should I show up for the event today without being weird? What floral top is she going to wear today? Will her hair be back up in her messy bun or will she have it down a bit? It’s going to be hot today – it probably won’t be down, although she looks so good when she leaves it down.

I check her stories and then Ashley’s and notice there hasn’t been an update yet. I wonder why they haven’t left yet. I check my phone again and quickly realize why: it’s five in the morning. They won’t be up until six. I’m going to go do a quick run to kill some of this time and nervous energy.

I head out to the trail and hit it hard. I want to get my miles in early before it gets busy. With it getting hotter out, runners start earlier and earlier each morning and I don’t want to really talk to anyone this morning. As I find my pace, my thoughts go back to Sasha. It’s been really cool to see everything come together. I have a feeling that Ashley knows I set the farmers market thing up. Influencers at the market? Really? It was a stretch, but it worked. Today will show if it actually worked or if someone on the market planning team was just wanting to see if the stretch worked too.

Making sure that Sasha had some local connections to make her feel more comfortable took a little more work than the initial market invitation. Her social anxiety isn’t something she talks about a lot, but I know it’s there, and I know how to help her feel better about showing up at events. A solid plan, casual setup, and a few familiar faces really help her show up happy and ready to connect with those around her. She may still be nervous, but she won’t be focusing on her anxiety.

The brand deal was a lot harder. That was several emails, well placed ‘boosted’ videos and a bit of finagling on my end. Totally legal? No. Creative? Hell, yes. I have a few more I am working on, but I wanted to spread them out. Doing too much too fast will be a bit suspicious for both Sasha and the brands. Looking ahead at release schedules and promotions helped me map out things through the end of the year. Which brands will start seeing her content when, who will start needing new influencers, and when it’s going to be “just the right fit.” This work isn’t always easy, but it’s a fun game finding the best way to get to the end goal.

My side quest though? Completely and purely selfish. Working together complicates this a little bit. I don’t want to straight up ask her out. We are supposed to be working on her brand and growing her platforms. And I want her focusing on that, not on me. But, if she just happens to be thinking of me as often as I think of her…maybe this can happen “organically and naturally.” Again, I have to be subtle about this or Ashley is going to know what I am doing and she cannot keep her mouth shut about anything – much less my ‘scheming’ as she calls it. It has yet to blow up in my face. This is the largest project I’ve ever tackled though. The most personal too. And I don’t want to come across as creepy. But Sasha is everything I want and know I can’t have…but maybe, I can.

I get back to my house just before six and take a quick shower. Checking stories again, I see that the girls are up and getting ready for the day. I call ahead to the coffee shop to pay for their order. It’s early on a Saturday, so both of them are probably going to go for something simple for their drinks today, but I don’t want them worrying about paying for it. I’ve done it a few times already – calling ahead with their names and my card info. With them going together it’s a little easier since I’m Ashley’s brother. I can use that relationship status rather than my huge crush on her mentor and my client. That might get a few weird looks. I’m not out to make anyone uncomfortable. Well, not Sasha anyways. I don’t really care about anyone else.

I get myself ready and then drive to my parent’s house. I had told them earlier in the week that I would go to the market with them this morning. I let myself in then head to the kitchen to get the coffee pot going for them. I hear them moving around upstairs even though it’s not even seven. We still have a good two hours before they normally head out. But mom may want to work in the garden for a minute and dad is going to want to check his list before we leave. I know he is already thinking ahead for what Ashley may need for school this fall, and they should be almost done with Christmas shopping.

Mom is the first one downstairs and I get a quick kiss before she starts opening the mug cabinet to find her current favorite. Every woman in my life is obsessed with coffee. I snicker to myself a bit, but mom catches me. “And what is so funny this morning?” She eyes me with suspicion and a little bit of amusement.

“Just thinking of how much every woman in my life loves coffee. It’s a bit of a problem.”

“This isn’t anything new to you…” she trails off. She is fishing and I know it.

“My new client, Sasha – I’ve told you about her, she’s as bad as Ashley is.” I laugh a bit. “The coffee shop up the road just has my card on file at this point between the two of them.”

---