Shanique Grant
They were late.
We have been sitting in this boardroom for 10 minutes now awaiting the arrival of the potential investors.
I take a peek over at Anderson who seemed pretty relaxed, which caused me to relax a bit too. I'm not sure where he knows these guys from but I have looked at their online profiles and they seem ligit on the money end.
I've heard the term serial entrepreneur used before but I have never had the pleasure of meeting any in real life. The list of companies that they have shares in, plus sitting on the boards of numerous corporations for only being Anderson's age of 29 is crazy to me.
The fact that they even agreed to meet with us was a miracle in my eyes.
We waited for another five minutes before the door to the boardroom opened. In walked a short light skin man, wearing a navy Armani suit. I recognize him instantly from the images online. That's Julian Suarez, the man holding the money we came here to get.
Behind him was a taller version of him, his brother and business partner Julez. He was not as imposing as his brother but gave off dopey finance guy vibes. He crunched the numbers.
"You're late Julian." Anderson spoke up for the first time since we were led to this room.
I side eyed him.
"Ah Grant, ever the stickler for time. I'm here within the hour. That should say something." Was Julian's response.
Wait, am I missing something here?
"You need to put that Hublot to use, is what I think." Anderson responds flippantly.
No man, dem man yah know each other.
"It's just for show." Julian smirks as he and his brother takes the seats across from us.
"And you must be Shanique. Pleasure to meet you my dear." He says, his face transforming into a shit eating grin. The British accent more pronounced than before.
"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you." I say, extending my hand for a handshake.
He takes my hand but instead of shaking it, he flips it over kissing the back of it.
"Hey! Nuh bother with that!" Anderson exclaims forcing me to pull back my hand in fright.
Julian isn't bothered by his outburst though and only chuckle while he raises both palms in the air, backing off.
I was looking around like that one sponge bob meme.
"Anyways, let's get started. Did your team look over the contracts that I sent?" Anderson asks.
Julez laughs, his first reaction outside of the bored look that he has been sporting.
"We did. You are a mad man!" He says, shaking his head at Anderson.
I decided to keep quiet because obviously my husband has some previous dealings with these men. I know he's affluent and from The Who is who in Jamaica. However, these men aren't Jamaican and the pound sign sits in front their millions.
This is the big league.
"What's the issue you're finding with the contract Julez?" Anderson asks sternly. All playfulness gone.
"The deal is bullshit." He spats.
"The deal is fair. You give me five million, I give you that back in full plus 10% just because you're pretty. I source the clients, manage the business and you get to sip margaritas on a boat with your boyfriends." Anderson counters.
Oh, I didn't see that in my internet search.
I perked up at Anderson's statement because the tea was piping. Looking at Julez I was trying to see the "gayness" but my radar seems to be broken.
"Well, boyfriend... Zach dumped him for being a whore." Julian chimed in, obviously amused.
"Julian knows my stance on this already. I say we get 30%. We all know how your sector works, every other day another agency springs up and dies out like fireworks. It's a major risk." Julez says as he throws up his hand and leans back in the chair.
Nobody spoke for awhile.
"Wah you seh Julian?" Anderson asks the man who has the final say.
Julian doesn't respond immediately. He stared across the table boring into my eyes. He twists his lips to the side as if he is in deep concentration before tapping his index finger on his nose.
I was holding my breath in anticipation of what's to come. Anderson is adamant about starting the London office and has put many hours into planning how he intends to do so.
A big part of that his this investment. He wants to start the process of purchasing a building before we leave next week. We can't leave here today without that cheque.
"Tell me about Cryptic Jamaica Shanique, I hear that you spearhead that branch." He spoke, jolting me out of my revere.
I took a deep breath and felt Anderson gently squeeze my thigh in support.
I took a calming breath before I delved into what the past two years have been for Anderson's brainchild and my baby. I told him about our clients, the projects we worked on and the amazing team of people who join skill and creativity each day to make magic.
I spoke for a good half an hour as the men sat quietly, listening to my every word.
"Cryptic Jamaica is a pioneering initiative that has transcend all expectations and quieted all doubt. It's not just a business, it's a movement that we want to catapult into the European market. There is a need for Cryptic London and with your help we will be able to take the first steps on this journey." I concluded.
Looking around I spot Julez nodding his head and jotting down something on a paper.
Julian had a shit eating grin and Anderson looked like a proud peacock. I felt good.
"Grant, I like her. I see why you've entrusted her with your baby, knowing that this has been something you've wanted to do for awhile." Julian spoke up.
No man, dem man here know each other from somewhere. I can't ignore the signs anymore.
"I told you, she's the captain of the ship." Was my husband's reply.
"Shanique, I must say if my decision hadn't already been made, you would have done a brilliant job of convincing me to give you a signed blank check." Julian tells me and I beam with pride.
Not bad for a little country girl.
"Who is going to be running Cryptic London?" He asks and I look towards Anderson.
"I'll be manning London until I've found staff that I truly trust, similar to the model we applied in Jamaica. So I'll be here for majority of the pre launch fluff, getting the building situated, handling the transition of our international clientele as well handling the hiring process along with Shanique and Timothy, my link from here." Anderson tells him.
I smile small as he speaks because even though I'm excited for this new journey, I know I won't have access to my husband fully as I have for the past two years. His time will be split between Jamaica and London.
"Interesting. How many retainers do you have that are transferable and how are they looking profit wise?" Julian presses.
I know the questions are standard and necessary, but I am really nervous about his decision.
"We have two London based clients, one is a Juice Company that require 360 marketing support. They are currently on a 3 hundred thousand pound retainer. They have been with us for a year and are due for a contract renegotiation. I wanted to wait until we've established our London base to do so.
Secondly is a short production house that require Digital marketing campaigns around their premiers and other projects. They have a 100 Thousand pound consultation retainer that include campaign planning and ideation but we bill per execution.
Off the top of my head I know the German beer company that we do strategy for, plus I have a few others that are in the contract negotiation stages of the process.
We have the clients, we just need the funding to set up shop." Anderson explain.
My man has been on a mission to find us the most profitable clients. He was adamant about keeping our local retainers to a minimum as they are always the ones demanding the world but don't like to pay.
Dan was not going back and forth with anyone about his money.
Our profits this year has been through the roof and I know it's due to the top paying clients that my husband has managed to snag.
We are the dream team, the perfect pair if you so wish.
He does the negotiations, and I service the clients, earning top marks for customer satisfaction and low client attrition.
"You know how I roll Grant, my team looked over everything you've sent and they had to give it to you. But we know how you do things already, ever the man who covers the details, down to the last full stop." He addresses Anderson.
Stretching his hand out to his brother, he waits a beat until Julez hands over a thick booklet. I recognized it as the contract that was shipped via DHL over two months ago.
"My signature as well as Julez's is already there, you guys can go ahead and sign at all the appropriate areas so we can seal the deal." Julian tells us and I had to really stop myself from screaming out in joy.
This is really happening.
We have an investor.
He pushes the pamphlet towards us and I grabbed it flipping it to the sections that require signatures.
They were there. We have a signed contract.
After we signed each section, we closed the booklet. I felt relieved. Julez stood to his feet and excused himself from the room.
"Let me go inform my team that we can go ahead with the process to transfer the funds." He said before leaving through the door.
"Ah good stuff my guy." Julian says sounding excited.
"What's the plans for tonight guys? We should go out for drinks." He says and I looked over at Anderson.
"No." Anderson responded curtly.
"Why not?" Julian rebutted
"I'm not trying to get fucked up tonight." Anderson's says leaning back in his chair.
Julian rolled his eyes at the statement and then looked at me.
"How about you beautiful, do you wanna come celebrate us getting even fucking richer together?" He asks with a smirk.
This man a try get Anderson riled up.
Before I could open my mouth to respond Anderson cuts in.
"Don't make me have to fuck you up again Julian." He states with a bored expression.
Wait, again?
"I'm sorry, I can't help but ask babe, where do you know Julian from?" I say turning to Dan.
He looks at me and smirk.
"Who tell yuh seh mi know him from anywhere?" He asks being funny and I gave him a blank stare.
Him cya trick me.
"Tell mi nuh." I insisted.
He chuckled.
"Ask him." He responded while jutting his chin towards a grinning Julian.
I looked over at him with an hopeful expression.
Julian sighed.
"Just know that I was a bratty exchange student at an Atlanta High School who got my ass handed to me for not leaving the quiet Jamaican kid alone." Julian says with a wince.
I was puzzled.
"What?" I asked looking back to Anderson who was full on laughing at this point.
Wah really a gwaan.
"He was the kid I got expelled for beating up when I was fifteen babe. He found himself trying to be a bully to the wrong person and got fucked up. I got expelled and shipped back home faster than he could say "tea and crumpets" Dan explains and I looked over at Julian who was nodding along to Dan's recollection.
"And now he's investing in Cryptic?" I ask trying to figure out how we have arrived here.
"Now he's investing in Cryptic." Dan confirms.
"But how did y'all move from fighting to being business associates?" I ask trying to get a clearer picture.
"Oh, the ass whopping gave him a nice reality check. We have been friends since then. He has been one of the main advocates of me doing my own thing outside of dad." He says and I'm floored.
Wow, my husband is friends with a British multi-millionaire. Casually.
"Oh. Okay." Was all I could muster in a response.
"So, how about those drinks?" Julian chimed in