Page 31 of Drakhana's Secret
Another dragon responds with, “We have a couple of factories in the outskirts of the city that we can use to make the products.”
“What about defending them?” I ask.
“If we keep out operating hours in time with the skirmishes so that fire and ice are both distracted with each other, I believe that we can make it work.”
“Also,” a third dragon adds, “we still have several delivery trucks at our disposal. Get the products made and I will take care of delivering them to all the retail stores.”
“What about ingredients?” My gaze moves from one dragon to the next until the fourth at the table who has remained silent raises his hand. I nod at him. “Any ideas?”
He says, “We can reach out to all the local farmers in the area. I believe we can get everything we need from them. At the same time, we can use that to our advantage?”
“How so?” I question.
“If we say on our label that everything is locally sourced, those products will fly off the shelves,” he answers with a confidence that is infectious.
I love the youth and the way they think. “San Franciscans do love their locally sourced products. Why don’t you coordinate with the medics and ask for a list of all the ingredients you will need?”
“Done,” the fourth dragon says.
Earth dragons love to be given tasks. We love having a sense of accomplishing something. It’s what keeps us all moving forward.
“How long will it take to create the units and bring them to market?” I ask, nervous about the answer because we need quick income streams.
“We actually have several warehouses full of the products that were supposed to go to the fire and ice clans,” says the first dragon who had spoken earlier. “We never fulfilled those orders on account of them attacking us and burning down our building and villages.”
“I can kiss you all right now,” I say, a huge grin on my face.
“Please don’t,” the second dragon says and from the grimaces around the table they all share the same sentiment.
I throw my head back and laugh. At the beginning of this meeting, I have to admit that I was a little nervous. I didn’t think we’d find a way to fund our efforts so quickly.
After I regain my composure, I dismiss the dragons and send them off to do their assigned tasks. They will have reports ready for me the next day. In the meantime, we need a quick injection of cash. I make a call to my assistant for some advice.
“Where do you think is the best place we can get that cash?” I ask when I get him on the line.
“Sir, we can divest some of our stock options and restructure the other existing businesses that we have.”
“But that will leave us vulnerable,” I say, mulling over the prospect.
“Not for long, sir. The market is on an upswing.”
“Okay. What about moving more of our products?”
“I’ve actually been thinking of putting our tonics and salves online. Create an online presence and not just relying on brick and mortar.”
“I’m intrigued. Tell me more about this.”
“It’s easy to set up. We sent PR packages to all the major influencers and have them endorse our products. That way we take things global.”
I like the idea more and more.
“The beauty industry is a multi-billion-dollar cash cow,” he adds. “It’s the quickest way to make everything we’ve lost and more.”
The more we hash out the details the better I feel about our situation. We will use some of the funds from divesting our stock options to fund the website and shipping all the orders. We’ve also allocated money for paid advertisements and commercials that will play in feeds like Instagram and all the other social media platforms.
By the end of the week, cash starts flowing back into the earth dragon accounts. The fire and ice clans are so busy obliterating each other that they barely have any time to pay attention to our growing beauty business empire. Who knew the little tonics and salves that Baba and Sapphire used to make for our clan actually became a hot selling product?
I guess it has to do with the world’s thirst for finding all-natural products that actually work. It also has to do with our prices not breaking the bank, which means we reach more consumers. Victory is within our grasp.
