April 17 disappointing people

I've put off writing about this part. Cross-cultural communication is fraught with landmines. Sophia is not your average Chinese person, either. She is divorced, raising her teenaged son on her own. She makes her living as a middle or high school teacher (not clear which), and on the side she wheels and deals trying to act as a broker between supplier and customer. She has an eager, abrupt manner about her.

Tim thinks her English comprehension is not as good as you might think, though she seems to speak with fluency (and a difficult accent).

I answered her email. I told her I was surprised that she was asking me the same questions again, wanting me to tell her what Mike's and her roles were, and when we write the contract what portion of the business would belong to each of them. We had discussed all this together.

I repeated what I had said during our meeting, about how things were meant to progress, what unanswered questions we had which made it difficult to talk about each person's investment. I said I feared losing control of the concept, because they had told me I'd have to do it the Chinese way. I resist that. The concept is my intellectual property, therefore I should maintain a 50% control of the business.

I said I felt they were pressuring me, when I already had my hands full.

Finally I said to her, just to illustrate how she has not been forthcoming, that Mike's cut would be 10% and all rights to franchising. I added, I knew she'd probably think that was insulting. But again, I said I needed her to tell me what she and Mike thought was fair.

And what about Blake?

I also told her that we should not be negotiating these things by mail. We needed to meet face to face, and mostly I needed to talk with Mike. He and I have a lot to talk about, but it doesn't get done when Sophia is translating.

Her reply was long, and negative. She was disappointed. She called Mike and told him I only wanted to give him a 10% share, and the upshot was that they decided not to pursue the business further with me. Mike would still act as my flour supplier, however. She included his phone number.

I wrote back. I will copy that letter here, rather than trying to paraphrase it.

I wrote a letter directly to Mike. I had another friend translate it. I said I was sorry that Sophia had encouraged him to drop out of the business. I said I thought we still had a lot of talking to do. I explained, once again, my idea of how things would work. I'd train myself during the summer, then in the Fall expand the business. Depending on how things went during the summer, I would either expand the business still working out of my home, or rent a space in September. And without Blake, the coffee side would have to wait.

I explained that the business would not make profit in the first year, and that if he were interested in continuing his involvement he must understand that he would have to have his own income, apart from this business.

Now I wait to see if he will respond. I kind of hope he does, because I like him. But I don't know if he 'gets' my concept.

10:45 a.m. The first rise was done. Fingers pressed into it remained. I turned it out on the bread board, gently pressed it to degas, covered it with a towel and let it rest for five minutes. Then I flattened it further, gently, squaring it, and folded each side into the center. I put it back in the bowl. I don't yet have a thermometer, so I don't know the internal temperature. But it felt so cold to the touch, that I decided to sit it out on the balcony in the sun. I covered it with a light cloth to avoid direct rays.