Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
There were seven of us. I’d hired my two friends from uni, Cara and Michaela, and taken on Janine, Mhairi, Paul, and Mace in the last two years. Cara, Janine, and Mhairi were in charge of content creation, engagement, and networking, so they dealt with graphics, edits, and networking with influencers and the business-specific community. Michaela and Mace were my tech people, so they analyzed data, ran our client social media advertising, worked on websites, created content calendars, and determined target audiences based on the data.
I brought in our clients, worked closely on strategy with them, and delegated our plans to Cara and Michaela. Paul helped me run the business side of things, keeping track of the financials, both ours and our clients’. It was a lot for the seven of us to manage, and I knew at some point I’d have to expand the team. Especially if we landed a client like Aura Beauty.
We’d been in business since leaving uni three years ago. My mum had given us our start by being our first client. I’d been running her social media as a favor since I was a teenager, because she hated everything about it, and it occurred to me while I was earning combined degrees in business and marketing and design and digital media that she should really pay me. Ha!
It surprised even me how quickly her author community approached me. Then other clients outside of publishing reached out. We had clients who ran all kinds of small but lucrative businesses willing to pay nicely for our services. Before I knew it, I had to stop taking on new clients or we wouldn’t be able to handle the workload. As it was, we were seriously stretched with the clients we had now.
But Aura Beauty was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. Last year, we’d grossed two million pounds. Since we had low overhead, and my parents’ amazing accountant was now my accountant, the seven of us were all on a nice salary. It was only late July, and we were already on course to gross more than last year. If we took on Aura Beauty, who knew how much that would increase by. If I won them as a client, it would give me a reason to add to our team and maybe lighten my own workload a bit.
My chest felt tight every time I imagined the business falling apart. Lack of sleep didn’t help. Since leaving uni, I’d barely slept. It was like my brain couldn’t shut down. Sometimes it was like a runaway train. I’d start worrying about a specific scenario and then the worry would snowball until, in my head, all my clients were going to drop me, my team were all planning to quit, and I would be left alone, penniless and hated. A complete failure in every sense.
Opening the medicine cabinet above the sink in my bathroom, I took out the prescription bottle no one knew about. Anti-anxiety medication. Prescribed by my GP. I’d been taking it on and off since I was eighteen years old.
Swallowing the small pill, I then cupped water over my face and slapped my cheeks to shock the fatigue away. As I washed and dressed for the day, I responded to texts from Cara, Paul, and Michaela with voice messages because it helped me multitask. Shoving my feet into my shoes, I dictated the replies to the emails piling up in my inbox. I did this mimicking my mum’s American accent because the bloody dictation technology didn’t understand my Scottish one.
The first email I replied to was Tellie Sutton’s, telling her I would of course be delighted to meet Sheera at the Balmoral Hotel on Friday. I worked through the others immediately after.
“Sarah, I’m sorry you’re not happy with the graphics Cara put together. It might be helpful if you send us a couple of quotes from the book that you particularly like with the feel of the kind of content you want to share. We ultimately want you to be happy.” I shoved my gym gear into my backpack. “We can send over new graphics and you can decide. But I do want to reiterate that what Cara sent over is trending massively with suspense fans. Still, if it feels a little too racy for your brand, I totally understand. Let me know. Send me the quotes, and I’ll get Cara right on it. Beth.” I quickly scanned it to make sure the dictation had translated correctly and then hit Send.
I opened the next email as I stepped out of my flat, when I heard the clatter of high heels on the stairwell above.
When Callan Keen first moved into the apartment building, we’d bumped into each other almost every morning. Until suddenly, I didn’t see him at all, which led me to believe he was deliberately avoiding me.