What's Past is Prologue II

The limousine came to a stop just outside a small mansion. The driver left his seat and walked over to open our door. I turned to the left and saw another limousine that had stopped as well. Coming out of that one was Jordan.

He came out rather awkwardly. His shoulders were slumped over and his hands were fidgeting with each other. He looked around before beginning to approach us. My father rolled his eyes.

"This is the place?" Jordan asked. "It's huge!"

"Actually, it's quite small," My mother said in a condescending tone. "This is worth only two million at most."

"Mother, most people won't see two million in their lifetime," I informed her defending Jordan. He started fidgeting even more, feeling uncomfortable being in the middle of a fight.

"I'm just pointing out that as far as mansions go, it isn't impressive," She responded in a dismissive tone.

I sighed. Her standards are set so high that nothing short of a $10 million will seem small. She'd never seen the housing of the middle and lower class.

"I think it's quite nice," Jordan said in a quiet voice. All eyes darted towards him and he took an unconscious step back from the pressure.

"Come on, we don't want to keep the client waiting," I said drawing the attention away from Jordan. My parents nodded their heads as we began walking on a gravel pathway over to the entrance of the mansion.

As we approached the big entrance door, it swung open. There was a middle-aged man with blond, slick-backed hair. He was wearing a black three-piece suit with a bowler hat. He had a small beard.

"Welcome!" The man said in a British accent. "Come in, come in!"

"Pleasure to meet you Mr. Payne," My father said as we all waked in. I looked through an open door and saw a young boy who was my age sitting on the couch. He was playing on his phone.

Payne turned to face me. "You must be Zack. I'm truly graced to be meeting you." He took a bow.

"You're so antiquated," I said. We shared a chuckle at my comment. "We have a reputation to live up to."

"That you do," My father responded. "Me and my wife have spoken to you before, so allow me to introduce my son Zackary and his friend Jayden."

"Jordan," I corrected.

The two men shared an awkward laugh trying to play off the mistake. "Shall we discuss business?" My father asked.

"Yes yes, right this way," He said as he led us to his office. "Jordan, you may go to the living room to acquaint yourself with the other guests."

Jordan looked at me with eyes that looked for approval. This whole situation was unknown to him. We had to tailor a suit and buy a watch for him just for this occasion. He'd never been to anything as formal as this. He was afraid of looking like the odd one out.

"Go and just eat food. Always cut your food with the knife and use utensils," I instructed him. "And don't open your mouth to talk if there is food in your mouth. Sit up straight and unbutton your jacket when you're sitting."

Jordan followed for a while more before nodding and walking off. He walked rather slowly and loudly, putting his awkwardness on blast.

The three of us continued following him into the office. He closed the door behind us and motioned us to take a seat.

"Should your kid be here for this?" I asked as I took my seat and pulled out several papers.

"You're here, why can't I?" The child asked in a British accent.

"Michael!" Mr. Payne reprimanded.

"It's fine Mr. Payne," I reassured with a small smirk. "I enjoy people with confidence, especially when they're so young."

He breathed a sigh of relief. I gazed at Michael, making several mental notes about his personality. I deduced that he was a person of strong morals, confident yet not entitled. He seemed very headstrong.

I adjusted my glasses and redirected my attention back to the table. I flipped a paper over and slid it to him. "To start, this is a breakdown of your manufacturing cost. There are some redundancies that could be eliminated dropping the cost by 10%."

He looked over at the new manufacturing process. "The silver can't be cut out."

"Yes, it can," I responded. "The electricity loss of switching to copper is negligible in this case. The heat will also dissipate in the air easily, stopping heating issues."

He took out a pen and began to perform some calculations on the piece of paper. When he reached his final answer, he realized that I was right.

Michael got off his phone and walked over to the table. He seemed interested in this conversation now. I found it amusing that he was interested after he realized that I wasn't just there for show, I knew what I was talking about.

"However, that's not the reason why we're here," I announced.

Mr. Payne nodded. "We're here to discuss if we should sign exclusively with two cell carriers or non-exclusively with multiple," He said.

I nodded. "Considering multiple factors, your market penetration rate will be higher with the first option, but profit won't be as high."

"Is that factoring in distribution costs?"

"Yes, you can see them highlighted here," I said, handing him another paper. He analyzed the information on the different papers that had data about the different strategy. Although estimates, it was the best that anyone could come up with.

You see, Mr. Payne's company had developed a revolutionary smartwatch. It was pretty much an all in one, able to track health, fitness, and notify you of potential problems with your heart or lungs.

Yet these watches needed some way to communicate. Cellular data providers had the network systems needed, but they were going to force them to sign an exclusive contract. Combined, they were the two biggest cellular companies with over 70% market share.

However, he could sign a non-exclusive contract with multiple other cellular providers, but this would slow down sales and they would have to spend much more on PR.

"So you think we should go with the non-exclusive contracts?"

"Officially yes," I answered. "But if you'll allow me to give you my opinion that'll never appear on any reports,"

He looked up with a serious face. He slowly put the papers down and slowly nodded his head.

"Don't sell in England," I said.

"What?" He and Michael asked immediately.

My father smiled. "It's a brilliant plan really. I'll allow him to explain."

I smirked at the praise. I cleared my throat before speaking. "Sell in India."

"India?" Michael asked. "Why would we do that?"

"Listen, the market for smartwatches in Europe and the Americas is already highly saturated. It'll take you years to get a small foothold in the market and even more before you start to profit," I began.

"India's economy and population is on the rise. That means cheap labor pools and a growing middle and upper class. They also have a good and trained workforce in computer science. The Industrial Revolution 2.0" I said with a small laugh.

"Best part is that there is virtually no competitors close to your quality in India. With the low manufacturing cost, you can easily target the middle and upper class. Regulations are less strict, allowing for even more market dominance. Cell providers will also jump on the chance to be apart of new technology, so the rates you get are going to be significantly cheaper."

Mr. Payne processed what I was telling him, deep in thought about the suggestions I gave. "Is there even a demand for this in India?" He asked.

I snapped my finger. "You're asking the right questions now. To answer your question, it doesn't matter. You need to make the demand."

"Need?" Michael asked. "How are we going to sell people a product they don't even want?"

"You market it as a luxury item with advanced features. The upper class will buy it as a status of wealth and to show they keep up with technological advancements."

Michael's face brightened up. A look of realization passed in his eyes. He realized what I was getting at.

"The middle class will always want to look like the upper class so they will buy it as well. Play the PR game right and there will be potentially hundreds of millions of pounds for you to make," I said, finishing my speech.

Michael looked at me with admiring eyes. Same with his father. "You certainly live up to your reputation," Mr. Payne said.

"There's a reason my hourly fee is $2 million," I replied cheekily. "In any case, I'll answer any questions you may have."

He shook his head. "No issues come to mind right now, but I'll let you know as soon as they come up."

I nodded and stuck my hand out. He shook my hand as all of us began to stand up.

"I must thank all of you for coming to my residence today," He said. "Please, enjoy the party. The poker room will be opening shortly."

"Poker?" I repeated with a small smile filled with interest.

"I guess I'm not the only one interested in Poker," Michael said with the same grin I had.