Over…

Could you have guessed? 

Continued…

Ann said we should all put in another $1000. Yea? No. First of all, although we had money missing, she was still talking about her cut. We agreed that she could take out $1000. She was feeling some kind of way, remember? Fine. But, once I realized there was a shortage and we were trying to “figure” it out, she was like “oh, don’t forget my thousand.” Really?

She was also supposed to watch the video to see if she could tell who took the money. Pam told me they were watching the security footage — herself included. It was a task because they had to watch weeks of video footage. Then Ann goes “I hope I watch the video and I see that I took it.” She was half serious. Nah, she was dead serious. But, it was said “lightly.” Do you NOT know if you took the money? She would rather she took it and forgot, rather than her staff stealing. I COULD understand the point she was making, but it would have been nice if she COULD remember.

She said her staff also told her she paid them out of the money bag. She said she thinks she remembered taking something, but she would have remember $2200. Yea? How do you figure? Did you write it down? Did you mention it to us? She was going to try to figure that out. Honestly, I didn’t really care what happen to that money. Ann doesn’t seem to be on top of her finances like that, so I am pretty sure she could take money a few times and it can add up without her even knowing how much she took. I have seen her take money out of her register to pay something real quick. That is fine, when it is all your money. You can figure it out later. When it is a partnership, you need to account for everything.

I didn’t even care about the money I had already put in. I wanted out. I was done.

I wanted us to still be friends. I wanted to be able to do something else another time. Not something like this —  something else. We are thinkers, so another situation may be good. Retail and anything with inventory or day-to-day money management would not work for us. I am completely on top of my finances and take calculated risks, I can not be in a partnership that was going this way. If she needed me to do something, I could do it and vice versa.

She wants me to help her with a few projects and I am more than happy to do so. I rather do something and straight up get paid or just do a favor. I can’t put out money and wait to get it back together. Pam wasn’t really my friend. I mean…we were cool, but I just met her last year. Ann I have known each other from elementary school and became really good friends at 10 years old. That friendship is important. Pam could never talk to me again and I would forget all about it.

Now that I had decided I was done. I had to figure out what done actually meant. I decided I didn’t want any money back, I would take that loss and move on. They could continue doing it together and I will go do my own thing separately. Ann had all the customers and more knowledge. I really didn’t care though. I know enough and I rather do it my way. I am cool with starting slow and from the bottom.

I figure they got the better part of this deal. They still had each other. They didn’t have to give me any money. They still had product. All I wanted was the name. I thought of it and I didn’t want to think of a new one. No one really knew us, so I didn’t see the problem. ALL of our customers came from Ann’s shop and we hadn’t launched the site. We had the social networks, but I was almost the only one updating them and they weren’t poppin. Mainly because I was busy. Instagram had 700 friends, Facebook 100 something, Twitter like 5, Tumblr like 5 and Pinterest like 3. Instagram was updated the most and they helped with getting those followers. That was pretty much all we had going on in the social media world. So, what’s in a name? With Ann’s customers, they could use any name. We had photos that were paid for and I figured we could share them until either of us had a new shoot.  All we really had were some pictures. The ones from the shoot and the ones on Instagram. It wasn’t that serious.

I asked them to meet. I wanted to get this over with before I had to deal with the store. Ann had already given “Red” the $1300. When I was “going along,” I decided I would have to chip in on something. So, I found the smallest thing to do, which was buy the materials to fix the store. I gave Pam my card and told her she could use it at Home Depot. I told her she could spend $300. “Red” said it would cost $300.  Yes, I know. She spent $160. Good. I got my card back. “Red” was now supposed to meet with the owner to deal with this rent/lease/whatever. We were all supposed to meet AFTER “Red” dealt with the owner. Well, Ann told me he was going to meet him a week later than originally planned. Why? Because the “woman” whose name is on the lease, owed her insurance premium for the stores. The owner wouldn’t do anything until she brought her insurance up to date. She was 3 months behind. The owner apparently would not be liable if anything happened in these stores. So he gave her a week to pay 3 months of insurance premiums. “All we had to do was wait until next week.” Guess who wasn’t waiting until next week? You, got it! It was just getting more and more ridiculous by the day. I was like okay, by next week I won’t even need to know how this turns out. Ann was really telling me this like it was no biggie. Like “as soon as the woman pays her insurance we are good.” So, who is going to pay the insurance going forward? Hmmm…

Mind you, I had already broken down the money we would need to open the doors. We needed at least $7500 or more to get going. I mean, out the gate. She was talking about putting up $1000. That wasn’t going to do shit. When I came with my book and figures, they looked at me like “oh, you already worked it out?!” Yes. We would need at least $5000 worth of inventory to start and that isn’t even a lot. We would have to pay someone to work there; we all have jobs. We would have to buy signage. We would need to pay the electric, pay someone to hand out flyers, buy packaging and what ever else.

That extra $3000 she wanted to put up would do nothing. I told them I did not have that money and this wasn’t something I wanted to do. They were moving very aggressively and I was not in a position to do the same. They said maybe we can just get the space, pay the rent, but not open it yet. Just use the space for shows and shit. Man, please. I am not going to pay rent to entertain people who are not going to PAY! I wasn’t interested. Then the offer was maybe we can start putting money aside for the store. I am not putting shit aside. The store should be paying for itself —  for the most part. Then they suggested I buy in, when I was ready. Whatever they spend, I would have to put in the same amount and I could “get in” on the store. I would have to trust their numbers? Nope. I suggested they fund the store and keep all the profits and I fund the site and keep all the profits. They weren’t feeling that too much lol.

A few days later I called Ann and told her I wanted out. We talked and she figured we just needed a mediator or a business consultant. I wanted to give her a call, just so that she knew what I wanted to talk about when we met. We have known each other a long time and I wanted to run how I felt past her first.

She wasn’t really feeling giving me the name. Once I met with both of them the same day, I told Pam how I felt. She really didn’t want to give me the name either. But, they both agreed. I mean, why not? Pam had already told Ann, if I didn’t want to move on the store, they could do it alone. That did not offend me. They could and they should. I on the other hand, I can’t. I had two shipments coming to my house and I gave them almost all of the product. I took out a few pieces because it was a new supplier and I needed a sample of what they had to offer. I gave them the rest. We had about 47 pieces and I took 9. I thought that was fair. 

It has been about 2 months since we parted ways. I am going to stop by the shop this week to say “hey.”  I haven’t really seen them and I haven’t had much conversation with them either. I do know they thought of a new name and they have a new logo. It looks great! I also know the store is NOT open. I pass it all the time and I haven’t seen any action. I am assuming that fell through. I am not certain. 

I have been working on my site and trying to get ready to launch. I kind of wanted to touch base with them before I launched the site. Just to make sure we were cool. I don’t see why we wouldn’t be cool, but just in case.

There is officially NO MORE partnership.

Side note: Someone asked the other day what happened to “my” 18-year-old, lol. I have seen him a few times. I don’t know if he recognized me outside of my car. He didn’t speak. Or maybe, he just had nothing else to say, lol. Not so sure.