The Art of the Hustle (Complete)

Chapter Fifty-Four

When I returned to my office, I began to respond to some phone calls and emails. I placed my routine call to the manager of Ace Restaurant. I allowed him the freedom to run the business, but I still liked to check in every few days. When we spoke, he apologized to me because the restaurant was so busy and he had to go. I informed him there was no need to apologize; it was exactly what I wanted to hear. Business at Ace was doing so well that it allowed me to focus most of my attention on Unity Inc.

I continued to get through as many emails and phone calls as possible before my meeting with the city's largest marketing firm. We were finalizing some details on Unity's new marketing campaign. It was a massive effort to push the product name into as many homes in North America as possible, and it was not cheap.  

"Trevor, there's a 'McAfee' on line one, shall I put him through?" Tami asked. 

"Yes, please, you can put him through." 

"Trevor Morrison speaking, how may I help you?" 

"Hello, Mr. Morrison, my name is Arthur McAfee, President of the National Group Bank of Canada. How are you today?" 

"I'm really busy, what can I do for you, Mr. McAfee?" 

"Mr. Morrison, I don't want to take up too much of your time, so let me be brief. The National Group Bank has a great interest in acquiring Unity Inc. We are prepared to offer you a substantial figure for your business. In addition to that, we are willing to allow you and your team to remain in your current positions. How does that sound?" 

"I appreciate the call, but unfortunately we are not for sale." 

"Mr. Morrison, we are willing to go as high as ten." 

I chuckled a little bit. "Ten million? That's funny. Listen, thank you so much for calling, but I have a lot of work to do, have a good day," I said, as I hung up the phone. 

"What did Mr. McAfee want, Trevor?" 

"He offered to buy us out for ten million dollars." 

"I think we should consider the offer, we are struggling to stay afloat here and that's a lot of money." 

"Honestly, I don't really care about the money, that's not what drives me. All I care about is running a business the way I see fit and not having to take orders from people. For the longest time, I have been jerked around and held back by people who were in a higher position than I was. Now that I have my own company, that problem no longer exists for me." 

"Yeah, but perhaps you could work out a deal where you still have full autonomy." 

"Nope, it doesn't exist. There's no such thing. He actually did say that we could keep our entire staff, but if you think National Group is just going to give us ten million dollars and leave us alone, then you're very naïve. You see, the problem with many corporations is that they are run by old egomaniacal white men who have been living in the upper echelon for so long that they are out of touch with reality. They look down on people like me and you and treat them as second-class citizens. They think they know what is best and want things done their way. They also want to protect their position in life so they have no problems lying, cheating, and stealing to maintain it. That's where I'm different. I come from the bottom and I vow that if I ever make it to the top, I will treat people fairly." 

"I can see this is a very sensitive issue for you." 

"I don't dwell on it, it is what it is, but if he calls back, tell him I'm in a meeting."