Page 1 of A Home for Harmony

PROLOGUE

“Harmony, you’re the best. You always brighten my day.”

She smiled, her shoulders wiggled, and her ponytail moved around on her head.

“Thank you, Rob,” she said. “You’re a pleasure to work with.”

She hit the keys on her keyboard to adjust her background and put a sun up to make Rob laugh.

“I have to say you’re much easier to work with since you went on your own,” Rob said.

A year ago she and her sister had moved from New Rochelle where they’d lived, but they’d both worked in and around New York City.

Her sister had a health scare and needed to lower her stress level and Harmony was right there pushing for this change.

The move to her father’s house on the water in Mystic, Connecticut, was just what they needed.

Though no one understood how muchHarmonyneeded it, nor would she have ever told them.

“I don’t have as many restrictions as I did at my last employer,” she said. “But I love that you found me and reached out.”

She’d been touching base with some of her previous clients, though it made her feel bad to steal them.

She hadn’t stolen Rob. She’d only worked with him once and it was a one-and-done thing in her mind.

The fact he contacted her through her YouTube channel was icing on the cake. It meant he was following her instructional videos.

Passive income, baby. She was smarter than people wanted to give her credit for.

“I wouldn’t go anywhere else,” Rob said. “You’re the only one that has made me understand this.”

Harmony smirked, her feet swinging under her desk. From the waist up she was looking professionally chic in a white fitted cotton T-shirt with an unbuttoned floral blazer, its hem resting on her hips. Rob couldn’t see the baggy gray sweats or her tan UGG slippers.

“I love hearing those things,” she said. “Let’s get started. What is it you need me to help you with?”

“You were so good at helping me set up my website, Facebook and Pinterest pages, but it’s time for me to tackle Instagram and maybe TikTok.”

She grinned. Rob was in his late fifties and was a photographer. His work was stunning, but he was losing clients by not putting himself out there on social media.

“Why don’t we start with Instagram,” she said. “Give that a try to get the hang of it, and then we’ll go to TikTok. Build your followers organically with some of your clients. Get permission to post their wedding or baby pictures and tag them. Find the ones with the most followers.”

They talked for about an hour. She shared her screen and walked Rob through everything, then made another appointment for next week.

“Thanks again, Harmony,” Rob said.

“Email me with any questions you might have,” she said.

“Will do,” Rob said. “Have a good day.”

She shut the video off, stood up and stretched some, then jogged down the stairs to the kitchen to get a snack. She had no other calls scheduled today, but it would give her time to edit a video for her channel and get that uploaded.

Harmony wasn’t doing nearly the posts on YouTube that she had done prior. Just enough to keep her followers engaged, but she’d rather drop quicker posts on TikTok or Instagram.

Balancing it all with her business wasn’t easy, but she had a routine down. One fed the other, but she was smart enough to know that she couldn’t bank on the influencer income forever. Nor was it her plan.

After going through the cabinets and snagging a bowl of chips, she headed back to her office next to her bedroom on the second floor.

She pulled up her accounts, saw the revenue coming in on the sales of her videos. Best decision ever to do that and she’d thought of it herself!