Page 13 of The Funnel to You

My sister doesn’t even bother to respond this time. She just grabs my keys from the table and heads out the door to start my car.

“So, do you want me to come into the coffee shop and work at the other end or just come get you when you are done?” I ask Ashley as I park in the lot. It’s not terribly busy, but I wanted to grab a spot in case she wants me to stay. There aren't a ton of options right here that I would want to go bum around in if she doesn’t. Even the teacher store is closed across the street. Not that I need anything in there, but it’s there.

“Do you mind? I know I’m a bit early and if she wants to talk to you afterwards, I want you to be here.”

“This is your meeting, not mine. Your mentorship with her is completely separate from my work with Sasha.” I remind her. I am not going to have time to micromanage this part of the agreement and I really hope they both know that.

“I am fully aware, Matt. I just – please – can you come in with me? I’m not nervous to meet with her, but I don’t love being places by myself and I am not sure how long I will be waiting for her.” There’s a note of apprehension in her voice that I haven’t heard before, but it’s such a one-off thing, I don’t focus on it. I can understand her nervousness over meeting Sasha and having this be a professional situation. From what I can tell, this is her first time showing up as a professional for a meeting and not just with friends or advisor meetings at school.

“Fine. Let me grab my bag.” We head inside, order our drinks and then I head to the counter by the window as she heads to a table by the fireplace. It’s not on because the weather is nice, but it’s a nice aesthetic and has a bigger table so the girls can spread out their stuff as they go over everything together.

At 12:50, Sasha walks in the coffee shop and I swear, everything stops. And all I see is her.

Chapter Eight

Sasha

Lavender White Chocolate Iced Latte

Social Post: When meeting someone for a business meeting, it’s important to feel confident in what you choose – for me – that means picking a lipstick that coordinates perfectly with my shirt. And how cute is this combo?? Social anxiety is no match for a killer lip combo – okay, maybe it’s not that powerful, but I feel better about today knowing I look cute. #sashaloveslipstick #coffeemeeting #coloradogirl #butfirstcoffee #dontforgetthelipstick

Image Description: Mirror selfie before I leave for the coffee shop. Full outfit shown and laptop bag resting next to me.

Ilove this coffee shop. It’s light and airy and huge and has so many places to sit. Plus, there’s a meeting room in the back that I have on my vision board to use for a brand deal conversation or collaboration meeting at some point. It’s so pretty and professional! Maybe I need to bump that up on my priority list so we can start doing something there sooner. Mental note to add that to my notebook to brainstorm how we can use it.

My hair is pulled back in a bun today – it’s pretty much my standard in the summer. It’s super thick and I have a ton of it. And it’s the most basic shade of brown. I really need to see about getting some highlights or something put in, maybe in the fall. I’m in my favorite dark denim cutoff shorts, a blue floral top, blue sparkly stud earrings, my favorite rose quartz crystal bracelet, and my brown sandals. Simple, but put together. And of course, a lipstick color that matches the pink pops in my top.

I order a lavender white chocolate iced latte as soon as I walk inside the coffee shop. It’s amazing. Lavender is one of my favorite things and when it is added to coffee, another one of my favorite things, I am just a very happy person. As they make my latte, I take a look around the shop. There are a few baristas working behind the counter and the tables are about half full at this point. Couples meeting over coffee, a few individuals look like they are working, and there are a few girls around my age reading at their respective spaces in the shop.

My coffee doesn’t take long and I see Ashley towards the back of the shop right as they call my name. She’s over by the fireplace and I am so glad it’s not on right now. She chose my favorite table! Okay, maybe I need to tone down the excitement levels – don’t want to come across too strong. First meeting. And it’s not behind a screen to tone down my level of anxiety and expectation this morning.

I walk over and start setting up my stuff as we begin chatting. She is super sweet in person, just like she has been online, and I love getting to know her and what she loves in the makeup space. Her favorite influencers are some of the ones I follow too and she shows me a few new accounts that I haven’t found yet. We spend time talking about her favorite content that she has created in the last year and then create a shared folder for planning purposes and inspiration.

“So, how do you feel about doing a mix of collaborative posts and then working on a few specific series’ for your channel over the summer?” I ask her as we continue working through our ideas together.

“I like that. I know you already have several things in the works from what you’ve shared on your socials, but I would love to be involved in some of the new things that you’ll be working on once you start working with Matt. My schedule will be limited once I go back to school, so I’d like to take advantage of the extra time to have additional videos recorded.”

“I completely agree with that. We have to work with your schedule and make this work for you when you go back to school. Are there any specific things you want to work with me on this summer?”

“I’ll look over your tentative content plan and see if there’s anything that overlaps with things I was thinking for myself as well. And then we can chat later this week?”

“Perfect. I have a rough plan for the summer but I don’t know how much your brother is going to adjust things yet.”

“Very fair,” she laughs a little at that. “He tends to rework a lot of things when he starts with a new client, but it always comes out perfectly in the end.”

“Good to know,” I smile back at her and then we dive back into our notebooks and ideas.

At four, we wrap things up. We have pages and pages of notes and things mapped out. And a handful of videos we are going to collaborate on over the next few weeks. Her fall semester doesn’t start until the middle of August, so we are going to switch to Monday evening meetings after I finish at Home Depot. Then meet on Friday mornings to do content together – locations to be determined based on the content. It sounds like her parents have some good space we can utilize to vary up locations.

“Do you want to meet my brother in person before you head out?” Ashley asks as she puts the last of her things in her bag.

“Oh, I didn’t know he was coming…” I look around a little warily, I was not expecting to meet with him today, but I guess it’s a good time to get this out of the way. I try to tamp down my uncertainty and put back on my business woman face. “Yeah, sure. Is he already here or picking you up?”

“He’s over by the front window. He’s been working here while we were meeting. I don’t love being places by myself and we got here a bit before you did.” We start walking over to the window and I recognize Matt from our video call. He’s in a simple dark blue t-shirt and khaki pants – the thicker ones you can work in, not the dress pants. He looks comfortable. Why does that word keep coming up for me with him? I can see his tattoos on his arms and the contrasting black against his skin draws my attention for probably a bit too long. I mess with my bracelet a bit and take a deep breath.

“Hey, Matt. We are all done. I didn’t know if you wanted to say hey to Sasha before she took off.” Ashley says and then heads to the coffee counter. Probably to get a top off of her iced coffee. That girl may like coffee just as much as I do. I look back to Matt to see him shaking his head incredulously. I’m guessing he is thinking the same thing that I am about the coffee.

“She has a coffee problem.” He mutters quietly.

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