Dwayne chuckled and patted her knee. “What can I help you with, darlin’?”
“Uh...” Faith refocused and looked around. “Actually, nothing. I’m done with all the big stuff. Now I’m just wandering around double checking things.”
Dwayne gave her a long sweet hug. “Your daddy’d be proud of his little girl.”
Unfortunately, Faith seriously doubted it. “Thanks, Dwayne.”
Grant had taken pages and pages of notes from his hour-long talk with Taylor. A talk he’d realize
d within the first ten minutes would take weeks, maybe months, to adequately flesh out and understand.
“So, you can see here”—Taylor pointed to one of the several spread sheets she’d brought over—“I have several revenue streams that I monitor at all times. That way I can tell where I need to either concentrate or cut, change, whatever.”
They were sitting at a small desk in the basement that Faith used as an office, and he’d been cooped up there long before Taylor had come by, trying to figure out a better way of running the store so Faith could make a livable wage. And he’d realized a couple of important things.
The first was that if she wasn’t ready to give up something as intangible as judging an ice-carving contest, she sure as hell wouldn’t be ready to do what Grant really thought she ought to do, which was get rid of the store and do something she really loved. The second was, if she couldn’t do the first, she sure wouldn’t be open to the complexity of trying to continue a relationship with Grant.
The only bright spot was Taylor and this niche she’d carved out in what seemed to be a market that wasn’t only thriving, but growing.
Grant shook his head, still staring at the numbers on her spreadsheet. “Don’t take this wrong, Taylor, but, if I’m understanding this right, you make a shit-load of money for talking about really stupid-ass shit.”
To Grant’s relief, Taylor laughed.
“That doesn’t bother me because you’re not my target audience,” she told him. “And my target audience finds pushing a three-inch disc of vulcanized rubber around an ice rink with a stick while brawling with a bunch of other guys some really stupid-ass shit.”
Grant grinned. “Good point.”
“If you use this as a template, you could, in theory, simply change the topics and have Faith film how-to segments the same way.” She leaned back. “For example, instead of a post about how to design your planner for maximum efficiency, Faith would create a post about how to design your garage workbench for maximum efficiency. And instead of posting links to all the pens, papers, stickers, and stamps I used in the process, she would do what you did with her Christmas lights video—ingenious and incredibly sweet, by the way—and link to all the wood, screws, nails, glue, tools, and paint she used to complete the process.”
Grant nodded, his mind spinning with ideas. Visions of how this could grow. “Okay. I see it.”
“Another category she could look into to build revenue streams and gain sponsors would be product reviews. For example, instead of my review on a new version of the Erin Condren Life Planner, Faith would review the newest version of the newly released DeWalt sliding miter saw.”
Grant nodded. “Yep. I get it.”
“Her blog posts with contain photos and videos that feed into all her social media outlets. In kind, all her social media posts will track back to her blog posts. And she’ll use a master link system that feeds all clicks through her affiliate links, so that no matter how a person finds their way to Home Depot or Lowes or wherever from her post, Faith will always be compensated for a sale.”
Taylor lifted her hand, index finger poised. “Now, once she has a following, she can start reaching out to companies to solicit advertising, sponsorships and even partnerships. And if she wants to, she can create an online store where a person could go to buy everything they need to complete a project she’s demonstrated. She could even put together kits at cost and sell them at retail. Really, the sky is the limit here.”
“This is amazing.”
“She doesn’t even have to be an actress or have special equipment to produce these videos. As long as her space, presentation and speaking are professional and easy to understand, she could use her phone to do it. Though, come to think of it, hers probably doesn’t have enough memory.”
“That’s okay. I’m leaving the camera, software and laptop with her.”
“Really? She agreed to that?”
He looked over and found Taylor’s brows snapped together in disbelief.
“No.” He smiled, but it was subdued. “She doesn’t know it. I’m going to stuff them under her bed before I go. You get to be the bearer of that news.”
Taylor smirked. “Gee thanks.”
“What are friends for?”
“But seriously, that’s incredibly sweet of you.”
Grant shook his head. In his world that equipment cost less than his bar tab after buying drinks for the team when he’d been chosen MVP for the night. “I know she’d throw a fit if I tried to give it to her outright.”