24 - Chapter 22

After the serious pronouncements, everyone was tense, so Sa Bina decided to change the subject towards her business ideas. That was the next direction of travel.

“So let’s move on,” said Sa Bina. “There is no point focusing our attention on things we have no control over. Today I want to spend time going over what I need from everyone to make my business ideas a reality. We can do some of it with manual labour, but I really need our artificers to step up. If everyone has finished with lunch, we should join the rest of the team. I plan to give everyone an overview, then spend time speaking to individual teams providing further details.”

Everyone agreed that they were done and moved to the main reception room. At Sa Bina’s request the room had been set up to allow everyone to sit in a circle of chairs, with desks provided if people wanted to take notes.

Sa Bina choose a chair she liked and seated herself, with Be Net taking one side the Lou Sie the other. Han Ji and Gao Ye, who was still reeling from the revelations earlier, took seats to either side of Be Net and Lou Sie. The rest of the new team started coming in.

Lin Ye and Lin Song the blacksmiths sat next to each other facing Sa Bina. He Mai, the winemaker, He Sen and Be Ji, the glassmiths, sat together. Siu Niu, the dairy farmer and Liu Wen, the alchemist, entered together chatting amiably. That left Pan Deming, the master artificer, accompanied by Pan Xue, his wife and artist, and Wan Zin, the journeyman artificer, to take the remaining seats.

Once everyone was seated, Sa Bina stood up to speak. Everyone stopped their side conversations and focused on her. “Thank you for joining us here today.” started Sa Bina. “I am glad that you have all agreed to come and work with me to create something new, and hopefully something fantastical. I truly hope that you will all work together to bring my ideas to fruition. With that said, why don’t we start with a round of introductions so everyone can become familiar with the whole team.”

“If you would stand one by one, introduce yourselves and your profession please.” continued Sa Bina. ”I will start, I am Sa Bina, the appointed Ambassador for the kingdom of The Rising Dao and your new employer..” Sa Bina pointed towards Lou Sie to continue having set an example of the format she expected.

Even as Lou Sie started her own introduction, Sa Bina received some strange looks due to her pronouncement. Everyone was struggling to believe that such a young girl held such a high position! Still they settled down as the introductions proceeded.

It wasn’t long until everyone had introduced themselves. Again there was some confusion at the eclectic group of professions represented in this room. Most people could not understand why Sa Bina would need such a mix of professions to form such a core part of her team.

After the introductions were completed, Sa Bina took the centre stage once again. “I will start with a word of warning, before we get lost in my vision.” stated Sa Bina with uncharacteristic seriousness. “Everything I am going to reveal is to be kept in the strictest of confidence. These ideas are some of the most valuable assets that we have, and will drive the growth of our business side, but we need to keep the details to ourselves until we are ready to launch our products. Since you have all had to sign on as army auxiliaries to join us here today, please understand that any breach of confidentiality will be treason and punished as such.”

Sa Bina’s pronouncement left the room stunned into silence. Most had not understood the full implications of the paperwork they had completed to enter Sa Bina’s service.

“Please understand, this is not a threat.” continued Sa Bina. “I am making the position clear to avoid any misunderstanding later. If you feel you are unable to stick to this stipulation, then you are free to leave this meeting and I will find someone else for your profession. Lou Sie, I would like you to make a note of the warning that I have just given, then have everyone here sign to confirm the fact they have received and understood the warning.”

“What happens to them if they decide to leave?” asked Han Ji, giving voice the question everyone seemed to have, but no one else seemed to want to voice.

“Nothing,” replied Sa Bina. “As I said this is not a threat, if people are not comfortable, then we can find something else for them to do. Their contracts will be honoured. The only difference will be that they will not be involved in the advancements I intend to bring to all the industries you represent.”

This finally calmed down the room. Sa Bina gave them time for hushed conversations while Lou Sie prepared the sign in sheet for everyone to sign. As she started going around the room asking, everyone signed, though a few looked more reluctant than the rest. Still some reticence was to be expected, hopefully as they started to work together and build mutual trust and respect, that should ease.

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“Thank you all for choosing to stay. Now that we have got the boring part out of the way.” said a smiling Sa Bina. “We can start with the fun parts. So our first business venture together will be a cafe and event venue. I plan for one that can cater for up to 200 people seated in tables of 4 to 6. So at least 50 tables. We will be offering breakfast, lunch and evening entertainment service. We will also offer the venue for hire for events, both business and personal. I plan to show off our capabilities at a launch event, where we will invite everyone of note in the city.”

“That still does not explain the need for all of us here.” asked Gao Ye. He was the oldest person in the room and was reeling from repeated bombshells being dropped by his new boss. It seemed to him that every statement she made was designed to shock.

“That is because everything from the food and drinks to the ambiance, service and design will be extraordinary.” replied Sa Bina. “I need all of you to help me realise my vision. With that, let's start with the details of what we need to achieve. I have no deadline in mind yet, but the sooner the better.”

“First, we need to design and build the venue, it will be near the main entrance of this estate.” continued Sa Bina. “To support this venue, we will need to design and build an industrial kitchen with running water and purpose built ovens. We will also need a large walk in cold rooms. One that is just cold, the other that is cold enough to make ice.”

“That will keep our artificers busy. The blacksmiths will support the work, as well as create trays, pots and pans to my design for use with the oven and kitchens. We are going to create a new range of delicacies that will be made using dairy. I plan to introduce a range of cheeses, as well as high quality cream and butter. We are also going to experiment and brew a new range of alcohols.”

“The new alcohols will require high quality glass bottles, as well as specially designed glassware for use in our venue. Our artist will be tasked with creating designs that fit the same aesthetic then delivering on that design so everything from our coat of arms, to our venue design, to our bottles and finally labels are created to reflect a unified theme.” continued Sa Bina. “Not forgetting our alchemist, who will be needed to support all of the above by creating a multitude of products that will all require their expertise.”

“I can see why you called it a vision.” exclaimed Gao Ye. His creative side having been roused by Sa Bina’s description. “It is certainly an ambitious undertaking and will take more than the people in this room to deliver in a reasonable timeframe.”

“So let us work backwards,” said Sa Bina. “What is the next major festival or event of note in this kingdom's calendar, and how far away is it?”

“Well the next event of note would be the harvest festival.” replied Be Net after a little thought. “It is a little more than 5 months away.”

“Excellent,” replied Sa Bina. “That gives us ample time. We should plan for a soft launch 2 weeks before the harvest festival, with the official opening 1 week later to let people see what we offer. Then we have the formal event on the evening before the harvest festival.”

“Why the day before the harvest festival?” asked Lou Sie. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to have the event on the day of the festival itself?” While she could understand the idea behind a soft open and official opening, the date for the formal event made no sense to her.

“Well, let me ask you, what are we trying to achieve with the formal event?” replied Sa Bina.

“Surely it is to introduce our service to the people who would want to spend money with us.” replied Lou Sie.

“You are half right.” replied Sa Bina. “Let me walk you through what I see happening, and why my choice of day is better for us. So we do a soft launch that allows us some time, while we are not busy, to work through any issues we have in everything from producing the food, the service, in short all the details so we can have a polished service. Then we have the official opening, we can get our friends, the ministers, to come and open the venue. That will start people talking about us, and wondering about what we offer. There will already be some buzz created from the soft opening, when we will send out a selection of our items to a few select people.”

“Now I am assuming that the harvest festival is generally a holiday for most people?” continued Sa Bina. “So the evening before, people will be willing to be up late. The formal event, as long as we can deliver and wow our guests, will leave them talking about nothing else the next day. The very day, when they will be meeting with others in the city. It will effectively bring our venue into mass consciousness, at the same time it will create the fear of missing out on those that either did not attend and more importantly those who were not invited.”

Goa Ye was awed by Sa Bina’s ability to predict people’s actions and motivations, then plan to take advantage of it. “That is absolutely brilliant,” said Gao Ye. “I am surprised no one else has thought of it.”

Sa Bina wasn’t about to tell anyone that her ideas were replicated from her knowledge of modern marketing techniques. “So you can see, I have the vision.” replied Sa Bina. “Now I need you to help me deliver. The weakness in the plan is also its strength. If we can deliver an astounding night, then all people will be talking about, is us, the next day. Conversely if we deliver a bad night, the same will still be true. Only if our service is mediacore will that change, and leave us all but forgotten. Everything has to be perfect on the night. That is our aim, and we have to remind ourselves of it everytime.”

“With that, I think everyone has a good understanding of what we are trying to do.” continued Sa Bina. “Now it’s time for us to go into specific details that will be required by each and every one of you.”