I have crunched the numbers and decided to let go of my shop. It does not make sense to keep it running any more. I do not foresee a situation where I will successfully juggle my numerous work demands and running a shop.
I discussed my decision with Shiro, mainly because I did not want fights later regarding my making “unilateral decisions about money.”
She seemed to think it was a solid decision. “To be honest, I have been wondering when you will make a decision to exit that shop business, you are not a shopkeeper by nature,” she said.
“However, make sure the person who buys the shop gives you a good deal, in fact if you want I can join you for the meeting.”
I called the landlord and told him of my decision. “I would also like to meet the guy who plans to rent the premises,” I said. As expected the landlord was not pleased.
“Why would you want to meet him, that is my shop!” he retorted. To deal with his hostility I said, “relax, I just want to see if he can also take some of the stuff I have put in.” The landlord tried to dismiss my request, saying that he could negotiate terms on my behalf.
I turned on my persuasion skills and finally got him to agree to share the number of Nixon, the potential tenant. I called Nixon and was taken aback by how young he sounded. He appeared really pleased and agreed to meet me at 9am last Saturday. That is how Shiro and I met Nixon. I still cannot get over how young and energetic he looked.
Nixon strode into the meeting and proceeded to give me a “man hug” as if we were long lost mates. He was also very complementary of Shiro, saying something about her “stunning beauty.”
I must say Nixon ran the meeting, telling me about his investments. From the sound of it, Nixon did everything and anything under the skies: he owned a car hire business, a Shylocking venture, a day care centre... you name it.
He said he wanted to turn the shop into a wines and spirits venture. I wondered how come I had not thought of the idea. He produced his iPad and sketched his business idea.
From the look of it, it seemed like the shop would break even in about a year. Shiro was intrigued by the idea. She also pulled out her iPad and began making some computations. Nixon then capped it all by saying: “So, what do you want to sell to me? And for how much?” I produced my Excel worksheet and did my computations, which came to Sh2 million. I expected some hesitation over the price but Nixon said: “Let’s go for it, I can do the real-time gross settlement on Monday.”
I was beginning to think about what I would do with the money when Shiro chimed in: “Will you allow us to become co-investors with you?” I was taken aback, this was not what I expected of her.
Shiro was taking the lead on such a serious conversation and turning the deal on its head.
Nixon paused and said: “I had not seen this coming, I will have to think about it and maybe we can revisit the issue next week.”
We then agreed on when we would meet to re-look at the co-investment options.
Nixon then ended the meeting after demanding that he pays the bill. As soon as he left, I turned to Shiro and snarled: “Never make such suggestions without consulting me!”
She looked at me as if I were from Mars. “You surely did not recognise Nixon, he is that guy who featured in the papers for having become a multi-millionaire at 25. I was not going to miss the chance to work with him.”
She proceeded to Google his name and image — we were in the presence of a legend.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
