Chapter 8.23: Business plan

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From Rowan's diary

Dear diary, at this point I should have learnt already how every day inevitably provides new challenges. Some of them, however, are really quite unpredictable to me. 

Today, for instance, it was Gaia's first day of elementary school. It didn't go well. 

Gaia: (disobedient) But I don't want to go to school, it's boring! And then that uniform it's so ugly!

After much reflection we decided to enroll her in a private school, it seemed by far the best one in this neighborhood, and both I and Juno agreed that investing our money in her instruction was fundamental. But Gaia isn't impressed at all by the news, and ever since she saw her uniform for the first time she's been throwing a tantrum to avoid wearing it. The more time passes, the more it becomes clear to us that our daughter is really stubborn.

Juno: C'mon, it's just clothing, all your classmates will wear the same one.

Gaia: But it looks so old! And then with that skirt I can't climb on things!

Rowan: You go to school to study anyway, not to climb on stuff.

Gaia: What? But...

Everyone was exhausted by the argument by the time we managed to convince her to wear that damn uniform, if it had taken any longer we would have been late for school on her first day already.

Gaia: But it's unfair, I...

Juno: In any case it's very late now, we have to hurry.

I shook my head, it was just early morning and I was tired already. Have I already written that our daughter is really stubborn?

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In the meantime, as always, we also had other thoughts crowding our minds. After all, Juno's former employer had just been arrested and the company she used to work for just shut down, and now it's time for us to deal with the consequences. She has to find a new job, possibly quickly, we both knew it.

Juno: I saw some job ads, but they are all positions aimed at new graduates who are just starting out... Honestly, I'm not sure I'd like to start it all over again.

Rowan: …

The situation certainly wasn't easy. But Juno always has a lot of ideas, I was pretty sure she had something else in mind too. 

Rowan: Are you sure there's nothing else?

Juno: ... Nothing realistic, let's say.

Over time, she too must have become better at deciphering my expressions, because she was quick to add:

Juno: Well, if you want I can tell you, but I really think is too reckless as an idea... You see, I talked about it a bit with some of my old colleagues, and we all said that it would be a real pity to waste all that we did and learnt over these years. So...

Rowan: So...?

Juno: And so, we have come up with the idea that, if a new company that really dealt with the environment was opened, maybe we could put to use what we can do and really help the green transition of Sim City. Also, we know quite well that our team would actually have the ability to open and run such a company. But... but it seems like such a gamble to me, there are so many things that may go wrong...

I thought about it for a moment. Certainly taking on the management of a new company was a much riskier move than taking a mediocre job as an accountant at one of the many offices in this city. However, being able to contribute to the protection of the environment and the climate has always been one of Juno's core values, I don't think she shouldn't preclude that possibility before even considering it.

Rowan: We now own a house, and then there's still my salary. I mean, now we have to consider Gaia's school tuition, but even if your project didn't work out I don't think we'd end up sleeping under a bridge, right?

Juno: Well, probably not. But we would have to make a rather substantial investment to create the initial capital of the hypothetical company, and if we failed that investment would be completely lost... Let's say that, if doing all the math it turned out that the founders of the company should use all our savings on the table, or even mortgage our houses, I would certainly back out.

Rowan: (nods) That seems reasonable to me.

Juno: I guess I should write to my old colleagues again then, to discuss it a bit more seriously... Anyway, Gaia is about to return from school. Maybe we should go downstairs and help her with her homework. Ready for the tantrum?

Rowan: I guess that, after this morning, it's going to be inevitable... 

Rowan: Hi Gaia! So, how was your school day?

Gaia: It was sooooo boring! At least it's over!

Juno: You'll have to return there every day, you know?

Gaia: What? Don't kid me! 

Rowan: Well, that's why you were given homework, isn't it?

Gaia: But I'm fed up, I want to go out!

Rowan: I'm afraid now it's raining outside, but after you finish your homework we can play as much as you want. Don't worry, we'll help you, you'll see that in no time we'll be done.

Gaia: (sullen) Uhm...

Gaia: How boring...

Gaia's behaviour has given both Juno and me a lot to think about, so much so that we even talked about it with her teachers in the following weeks. All they said, though, is that she actually seems to be doing quite well with both the school subjects and getting along with the other kids. She just get bored very easily, particularly indoors, that's it. 

It's always a battle, but every day Juno and I do our best to convince her to wear her uniform and her uniform and go to school, do her homework, and in general ensure that she takes school seriously. But then, to compensate, whenever she finishes her homework early and it isn't rainy, we bike to the closest park and let her play until she gets tired.

Gaia: Give me the ball, I can do it!

Rowan: Actually, about the stance...

Gaia: Trust me, I've already scored plenty of times this way!

Another afternoon we also played with water balloons. The little girl always seems to take these games very seriously, and we are seriously disappointed when she fails to hit the target (in this case, our faces).

Gaia: I was sure to hit you this time!

Juno: Be careful now, it's dad's time to try!

Gaia: Ouch!

Rowan: Sorry! (worried) Gaia, are you all right?

Gaia: Of course I am, this is nothing!

I really have to pay attention to those water balloons, and remember I'm not in Sulani anymore... Luckily, she was back running around in no time.

Gaia: Can we come back tomorrow too? Please!

Juno: ... I'm sorry, but tomorrow afternoon we have to work until late. You'll have to stay in after school a little longer.

Gaia: What? But they make us do homework for hours and hours, it's so boring!

Neither Juno nor I said anything, we felt a little guilty. Gaia evidently doesn't like staying at school, even more so when she has to stay there for the whole afternoon. But how should we do it? Work is also important, we can't go home before 3 PM every day just because Gaia would prefer it that way.

Asking children to make some sacrifices is not easy, but we really don't see any alternatives. Also because what we had planned for the next day was really important, we certainly couldn't postpone it.

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The next day, uptown Sim City

Juno seemed more and more committed to the plan to found a new company, one that was truly involved in environmental protection in this region. In recent weeks she's been doing calculations over calculations to predict how much money she and her old colleagues would need to invest to get such a business up and running, as well as having some profit margin.

From what she tried to explain to me, it was soon clear that the finances of the partners in this new company would not be sufficient to start the project, if they really wanted to start they would need to find some external financiers. And this is where their knowledge about fundraising (or rather, in this case, crowdfunding) comes in handy.

As the online live broadcast approached, Juno went towards the podium to prepare for her speech. She seemed more nervous than she was during the trial, she knew that a lot depended on how convincing she would have been during that single speech.

Rowan: Good luck.

Juno: Thank you.

All the help I could give her was to show my support, and so I did. Then I hurried to take a seat in one of the chairs in front of the podium, the speech was about to begin.

Juno: Good afternoon everyone, and thanks for being here! As you certainly already know, I am here today to present to you our new project aimed at initiating the green transition in this great metropolis. First of all...

Juno had repeated that speech to me so many times that she probably could have said it by heart, without any need to read it, yet she kept those slips of paper with her. Her first fear was to be associated her with her old company, whose name was in the headlines for weeks during the trial. But she couldn't do more than avoid mentioning her old company, and hope the public didn't recognize her.

And the second, and perhaps more serious, thing that she feared was the possible rejection that the Sim City audience might have towards sixamians like us, especially since their project is based on...

Juno: ... objectively, using Sim City technology the costs of an ecological transition are still very high. But the story is very different by adding to the equation the possibilities given by the technology that has already been developed in New Sixam. With matter recomposers, recycling any material would become a piece of cake, while teleportation permits the optimisation of both transportation and energy production, thanks to its application in stellar core power plants. The purpose of this company would therefore be to create a bridge between the respective technologies, to...

Her speech delivery was spotless, as usual, I don't think she could have done any better. The question, however, remains: will Sim City listen to this message?

Logan: I didn't think I'd see you again so soon, you know?

Juno: Oh, hi, I didn't think you'd come.

Logan: After all those emails to the old colleagues' mailing list, I was really curious to hear what your "genial idea" was about... Well, bringing up that weird New Sixam technology could move the progress of this region a bit, I guess... But do you at least have some commercial partner in mind over there? Those "matter recomposers", or whatever they're called, and those stuff to teleport people around too, you'll have to buy them somewhere, right?

Juno: Well... Yes, actually I have a reseller in mind... Even if I'm not really sure he'll be happy to see me again, to be honest.

Of course, I knew who she was talking about. And, yes, that was probably one of the riskiest points of that whole business plan.

A few days later, Tech Sixam

And this brought us to the next stage of that project, in the Tech Sixam commercial district. While Juno's video bounced around the internet and people started to send in their donations, she also had to urgently find contacts in New Sixam who were willing to become members of that big and very ambitious project.

Indeed, she does know one shop there, and it also seemed to have had some success compared to the last time she had been there. But Juno also seemed visibly worried about meeting its owner again, just as I am. Is this project really so precarious to require such risky moves?

Salesman: Good morning, how can I help you?

Juno: (tense) Good morning. Thank you, but we actually asked for a meeting with the owner, I think he should be here soon.

???: (from the door) Uhm, I didn't think you actually had the guts to shop up in such a humble store on the outskirts of New Sixam. Didn't your majesty leave saying you were looking for something better, Juno?

Juno: I told you already, this is just about business, Francis.

Francis: (a bit annoyed) Fine. Enough wasting our time, then, what's your improbable plan about, this time?

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§HermioneSims§ corner

Drama, drama is never enough!

Jokes aside, the more I return back to this generation, the more I notice how little calm time I gave to this generation, and how harsh I was on them also...

Anyway, this chapter is also when I took one of the most exaggerated expressions-pictures in the whole legacy. Sims in general are famous for their extreme facial expressions, but Juno is just another level...