Page 25 of Nash Falls

“Okay, you have $201,670 in your college fund and you need thatplusanother three hundred thousand toinitiallyfund your business? Jesus, Maggie.”

Her pleasant look faded. “Well, I want to hit the ground running. If I build up enough momentum I figure I can hit positive cash flow in eighteen months.”

“Almost all of these expenses are for first-class air and train travel, hotels, restaurants, concerts, clothes, shoes, and third-party vendors. Not a single appreciating asset or an asset of any kind at all. Just outflows to other vendors, leaving you with zip. You even have trips to the Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals in there.”

“Right. But my whole influencer market segment is lifestyle, Dad. Fashion, film, food, music, going places, experiencing cool, transformational moments in time.”

“In addition to France and Utah, you also have Milan, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Stockholm, Santiago, and some place in Vietnam I’ve never heard of.”

“Hoi An. It’s like the coolest clothing mecca. Have you ever been to Vietnam?”

“No, but my father went there. Only it wasn’t for cool clothing. And then there’re tickets to see Rhianna in Rio, Taylor Swift in Singapore, and Billie Eilish in London.”

“Those are some of the events I’ll be reporting on. Local flavor, food, music, the vibe on the ground. It’s an experience guide for mygeneration. Even if they don’t get to ever go to those places or attend those concerts, they can see them through my unique prism.”

You mean your bubbled, pampered, entitled, paid-for-by-somebody-else prism?mused her father.And whose fault is that?he also thought.

Nash said, “It sounds to me like a yearlong vacation that adds up to half a million bucks.”

Her look transformed from pouty to angry. “You obviously did not get my point. The numbers are all there. You like numbers, right? So there they are.”

“Iappreciatenumbers that make sense. These do not. And I can’t let you waste your college money on something like this. You will come out of this with no funds for your education, leave me in the hole for three hundred grand, but you will have had a really great twelve months of first-class fun and no responsibility.”

“You don’t know the influencer world at all.”

He glanced at some notes he’d made on a legal pad. “I actually did some digging into that today. The competition is fierce and the platforms have gotten a lot savvier about how much they pay and how they hold creators accountable. Every industry has that Wild West phase initially, where absurd amounts of money are thrown at anyone with a heartbeat and a half-assed concept, but then the easy times are over. That’s where your space is currently. It’s matured to the point where fundamental metrics now rule the day.”

“Fresh content is always going to be needed,” she retorted. “And I have a runway to making substantial profits. It just takes time. And I’m not counting on one revenue stream. You always taught me to not put all my eggs in one basket.”

“That’s all good, Maggie, it really is. But even if you have over 500,000 followers and you postdailycontent that routinely achieves over 100,000 views, you’ll be compensated less than $60,000 annually. Now keep in mind that’sgrossrevenue, not profit. And you have no guarantees you’ll consistently hit those numbers. And many of your competitors are posting multiple videos everyday. That is one hell of a workload, especially when you’re traveling all over the world. And to keep your product fresh and professional looking you’re probably going to have to hire contractors to help you. That’s another expense that will come out of your revenue. You might actually end up in the negative when all is said and done.”

“But there are multiple revenue streams, Dad, like I said,” protested Maggie. “And I know other people who have started these lifestyle-focused platforms and they’re doing really well. It’s all about building up initial subscription bases, and eyeballs to get ad revenue, providing cool and exclusive content that will lead to premium paying viewers, and cultivating sponsorship relations. And I picked my subject matter because people are huge fans of entertainment, travel, food, and high culture.”

“Granted, you can earn direct revenue, tips, and the like from the paying subscriber base of your platform, as well as monies from sponsored content, brand partnerships, and also commission sharing from both digital product and merchandise sales, as well as affiliate links. But fully half the creators online now make less than $15,000 annually. There was one creator I looked at who has nearly two million followers and posts content that routinely gets hundreds of thousands of views. She was paid a little over ten grand last year. And on top of that you get no paid time off and have no health care or retirement benefits. It’s a recipe for disaster, and I can’t support it.”

He looked up from his notes. “Well, Maggie, you asked for brutal. There it is.”

“So your answer is no?” she said quietly.

“I want the absolute best for you, honey. I would support you if I thought this had any chance of having a positive outcome. But the odds are just not with you. You might as well go play roulette in Vegas with your college fund.”

“So, in other words, you have no confidence in me? You just lump me in with all the other losers out there, is that it? You don’t think I can beat the odds?”

“I do not consider you in any way to be a loser. I just think that your talents can be pointed in other directions. If not this or college, perhaps another business idea?”

“What, a dog-grooming business? Or how about carpet cleaning?”

“People do need their dogs groomed, and their carpets done. And both are respectable ways to make a living. And you can get into both for less than a half million in cash—and you’ll be buying assets with that cash, not paying other people so you can run around the world and have fun.”

She got up, snatched her proposal off his desk, and slammed the door behind her.

Nash sat there with his eyes closed.

Was I too harsh? Would I have come down that hard if it hadn’t been my flesh and blood? No, I actually let her down easy, only it sure doesn’t feel like that right now.

He opened his eyes and stared at the door through which his angry and bitter daughter, no doubt hating the thought of him right now, had disappeared.

What if Maggie and I fall into the sort of relationship I had with my father?