Other good news. I can get all my legal papers and qualifications for less than £5,000. That’s the good news.
The bad news comes in the shape of an AI summary assessment.
Catering is one of the most popular business start-ups. Over half of business loan applications are for restaurants, cafes or bars. But 60% of businesses go under in the first year. It's common knowledge that catering is an especially tough industry to succeed in that it has been called the graveyard of entrepreneurs.
Common reasons for business failure: poor location resulting in too few customers. Wrong menu choicesfor the local customer base, external factors such as crime, noise or disruption…
Noise or disruption. Like building work going on throughout Kendric House every time someone new joined us and decided to renovate a different part. Like major garden clearance with tractors and whatever.
I look up from my phone and stare into space thinking. Trying to find solutions, to turn the negative to positive.
Okay…I can do as my father advised, start small to reduce my risk. The way Haneen did.
But Haneen did her research. She started a takeaway business on a main road, aimed at the hundreds of people driving home through the village after work.
How many customers will drive three miles, over the hill to Kendric Park for coffee and a sandwich?
There are people who already live here, five, maybe six? Even if everyone in the house ate all their meals there, it’s not enough to sustain a business.
Having £30,000 would not change these facts.
Even £100,000 would eventually drain away.
I put my phone back in my pocket. It’s not a plan. just a dream.
I’m not going to cry, no, never. I’m going to square up to the facts. It’s not as if I have no other career. No other skill.
I’m an actress with ten years’ experience and an agent.
Maybe I’m not cut out to be the next Melissa McCarthy, but I can do better than minimum wage pantomime tours.
Mum was right, even Horrible Howard. I should go where movies are made, and push very hard, make something of myself. Even as the blonde girl, there are lots of actors making a decent living from supporting roles.
I look at my phone, then dial.
My agent answers on the second ring. No surprise he’s working on Christmas Eve. He’d work Christmas Day if any casting directors were around. Another person who works hard.
“I was just thinking of you.” He always starts without preamble, no wasted words on small talk, straight to business. That’s how I should be.
“Have you got something for me?”
He shuffles papers and I can hear his keyboard clicking. “You won’t like it.” He warns. “English prostitute in the new James Bond. It’s a speaking part, three lines with the villain before she gets killed, lots of skin, lots of screaming.”
My revulsion starts to rise inside me like bile. It’s what I told him last year that I will never, ever do. Naked girl roles.
“I’ll do it.”
My gorge rises higher and I stamp on it really hard.Stop being a spoilt little girl. If I don’t want to be a victim, then there’s no room for whining about this kind of offer. It’s a speaking part, at least, not a face in the crowd. And if I had to get semi-naked at least it’s a big movie, it’ll open better doors.
“Get yourself to Ealing Studios for auditions on New Year’s Eve? I can get you the last slot at 4pm.”
“And Jarvis?” I catch him before he hangs up. “I want more movie parts, whatever else is doing the rounds at the moment.”
“If something comes up, I’ll tell you.”
That’s no good, I’m not going to sit and wait for him to remember me out of how many other actors he represents.
“I have some free time, why don’t I volunteer for you, make coffee in your office for you and your clients?”
