Page 9 of The Funnel to You

No, stop. I can’t dwell on this. I’ve already thought through all of this. I want to do this. It brings me joy and I love sharing makeup content. And Matt says he can help me. I have to trust that.

I wonder who his sister is. I pull out my phone and login to Instagram and search his name.

Nothing. Weird.

What about his business name? Okay, found that. How am I going to find his sister if he doesn’t have a personal account? Time to start some social media stalking. I feel like most millennial women are experts at this. I spend the next thirty minutes going over his posts – the comments and likes - to see if I can find someone that looks like him with the same last name. Finally, I think I found her. Ashley Carter. OMG! This girl has been on my page for forever. She is the sweetest thing and is super supportive. I love that I recognize who this is. That’s going to make this a lot easier if this ends up working out.

Would it be weird if I followed her back now after talking to her brother? I don’t know why I hadn’t already followed her. We’ve even chatted in DM’s a few times. Maybe I’ll wait a few days so that way it isn’t weird. If Matt told her about our meeting tonight, I don’t want him to be uncomfortable by my social media stalking. I shake my head and then put my dishes in the dishwasher and go wash my face. I take a quick picture for my stories: “don’t forget to take off your makeup” is the easy caption I put on the picture.

With that done, I hear Kylie and Carter get back to the apartment and I go to fill them in on the call and my stalking. After going through everything with them, I pull out my phone to set my alarm for tomorrow morning before I forget. I don’t have to work tomorrow, but I want to try to go for a walk in the morning before it gets too hot. My routine is slightly thrown off with the call and then the overthinking afterwards.

“Can I see his sister since I can’t see him?” Kylie asks with a smirk. I shake my head but give her my phone anyway. She scrolls for a while until she finds what she is looking for. “Girl, Matt is hot! No offense, babe.” She looks at Carter who just shakes his head and laughs. He’s used to our shenanigans at this point. “And did you see this, they are local.”

“Like, how local?” I ask and take my phone back from her to see what post she is looking at. It’s Ashley and Matt with a few other people at my favorite coffee shop in town. How did I not notice that or the location tag on the photos before? “No freaking way. Do you think he knows? That’s like really close. What if we run into each other? Do I get to ask him business questions out and about or pretend we don’t know each other? Do I introduce myself or will that be weird?” I take a moment to figure out what other questions I should be asking.

“Chill. It’s fine. We knew he was in Colorado, but didn’t know he was in Windsor. It’s a big city. If you see him in person, say hey, and go from there. And you haven’t seen his proposal yet, so this may all be a totally moot conversation,” Carter says – always the voice of reason. He’s been with Kylie long enough that he knows how to talk either of us down from a spiral or a freak out – it was my turn apparently.

“You’re right. It’s all good. Totally fine. Although I really want to work with him. He seems to actually want to help me – not just have me as a client. And him knowing my content already really helps.” I scroll on Ashley’s feed for another moment. “You have got to be kidding me!” I yell a little too loudly and instantly lower my volume as I look at my friends. “She is going to CSU for business and has a few things here about wanting to add her esthetician license after graduation. Okay, I really hope I get to meet her now. This is awesome.”

Carter laughs a bit. “I’m running to Dairy Queen – you need a Blizzard.” He grabs his keys and walks out the door after giving Kylie a quick forehead kiss.

“What just happened?” I ask Kylie.

“Girl, you need to chill. Sit down and take a few breaths. And I’m pretty sure you are set to start your cycle like tomorrow with the way you are acting,” She walks back from the front door where she locked the door after Carter left.

“None of this is weird unless you make it weird. And meeting Ashley would be great, but don’t tell Matt you went full on stalker mode tonight. And go change into your comfy jammies because you are stressing me out.” She smiles at me and goes to start the kettle again so we can have tea while waiting for Carter to get back to the apartment.

By the time he gets back, I’ve changed, had another cup of tea, and you guessed it, started my cycle. I curl under my blanket and enjoy my ice cream. Tomorrow is going to need to be a chill day now so I’m glad I have the day off. I go to bed with my favorite pair of socks on, my heating pad, and Taylor Swift on my playlist.

“Talk to you tomorrow, Matt. Me, please don’t be weird.” I whisper to myself and then cuddle in and drift off to sleep.

Chapter Six

Sasha

Caramel Hazelnut Iced Latte

Social Post: I do not want to do anything today! Anyone else ever have one of those days? I’m seriously debating just grabbing the next book in the series I’m reading and staying in bed today. #sashaloveslipstick #todaysmood #coloradogirl

Image Description: Clock next to my bed showing 7:05, nightstand also has a book that I am currently reading in between all of the craziness of work and content.

The next morning, I wake up at seven with my alarm and immediately roll out of bed looking for coffee. Day one of my cycle is never a fun time and I am achy and cranky and I did not sleep well. Coffee then shower then back to bed. For once, my work schedule lines up with a day I desperately need off. Guess I won’t be going for that walk this morning though.

It’s not until thirty minutes later after my coffee and shower that I remember I need to check my email. Should I wait until eight? He wouldn’t have already sent something would he?

I login to my email from my phone. I don’t want to get out of bed to get my laptop right now. And yep, there it is. He emailed me right at 7 this morning. At least I’m more awake now than I was before my shower to go through the proposal from him.

Inside is a pretty proposal done up with outlines and timelines and goal dates and even a sample content calendar. It’s even in my brand colors – this man did his research. He has several ideas for funnel topics and how to tie them into my current and planned content as well as a full email sequence mapped out. Matt was not joking when he said he had a plan. Oh, and there is a calendar of brands to reach out to as well. This is way more than I wanted. I am seriously scared to see what the quote is going to be here. I keep scrolling until I get to the end with the dollar signs and fees listed.

That cannot be right. I blink and scroll through the whole thing again. Nope, that is right. $500 setup fee and then a special note at the end.

“Hey Sasha,

It was great meeting with you yesterday. I spent some time last night finalizing this proposal and I wanted to offer you something for this. Instead of my normal rates, would you be willing to do a mentorship with my sister? She will be starting her sophomore year in college this fall and wants to do what you are doing. This will give her a chance to get some hands-on experience as well as help me cater a business plan for an established channel (yours) and one just starting (hers).

I know this isn’t what we talked about last night, but I think this will help both of you out and will put her in a great position to launch her career.

Let me know what questions you have and if you are open to this. If not, I totally understand. I can refigure the quote to reflect my standard work rates.

---