5 June, LY Studio, City K

Hearing Lexi's statement Maria nodded.?Her concern was obvious, and she said, "There is no need to be concerned."

Lexi shook her head and said "If we are just considering design, I would absolutely agree with you.?I trust the whole team to do everything right, but I worry about being able to deliver the personal service to the extent we will need with this project.?And before you say it, I know we deliver that with the couture designs, but as women we know one of the most important days in any women's life is the day, they get married."

"Boss.."

"I know that is typecasting women because not every woman gets married.?Some do not find the love of their life to marry, others who do decide not to get married, and even things can change before they can marry the love of their life.?So do not have a go at me, because I get that.?But the women that are coming to us for a wedding dress, this day will be one of the most important days in their life and we need to ensure that we get this right.?We make a little mistake, and it can ruin the whole day for them.?That is what worries me about this."

"Boss, stop worrying.."

From the door Karen responded "She is right Lexi; you are stressing out worrying about too many things.?You think I would not have said anything if I thought this was a wrong business decision.?It is the right decision for where the business is.?You just must learn to do with the bridezillas that will be your clients.?They are rich enough to afford what you will be charging them for their dress, the bridal party dresses and the mothers of the bride and groom dresses.?Being that rich, or from families that are rich enough to afford the cost, means these women will be demanding.?But you will not need to be the one constantly dealing with them.."

Lexi tensed and said "Karen, this is my business, and no matter what I will be the one they want."

"Most likely, but despite how much of a bridezilla they are they also will be realistic enough to know that as the business owner, you will not always be available to them.?You let me appoint a team that deal with the couture line, as we call it.?The customers getting a couture design, unless they are people like your family and friends, have a member of that team assigned to be their contact throughout the process.?It works, because they understand we know how important they are and get that the designers are not always free.?And it will work for the weddings, because having a person that the brides can contact will aid in keeping them calm.?All it means, is instead of the one staff member you had authorised to have appointed all we had to do was appoint two members, so the load can be properly shared."

"Boss," chimed in Maria, "That is logical.?It protects a layer of protection to the design team.?We know the limits of our skill set, and as I was about to tell you before Miss business manager here.."

"Miss business manager, Maria, you have that wrong it is Mrs business manager.?My husband and darling children would kill you if they heard you, because they would view it as me being disrespected."?Karen ended with a chuckle, having observed the looks on others faces.

After she stopped laughing, Maria said "As I previously said dealing with your friend and her fiancé is horrid.?The team has been able to handle themselves to stop an overreaction, by knowing she is your friend, but a stranger, I do not think that we will be able to stop ourselves from snapping.?Having someone better at customer management dealing with them will ensure the best outcome."

"Let me.."

"Think about it," Maria and Karen said together, both laughing as they looked at each other.

Karen, quickly pulling herself together added "Boss, we are not trying to be funny.?We know that you say that time and time again.?But seriously you need to make a decision quickly because we have put out the idea that we are doing couture wedding dresses, and the couture team have already had fifteen calls from potential brides wanting to be one of the first to have a LY wedding dress."

Lexi closed her eyes.?The one thing she hated was having to make potentially business altering decisions on quick notice.?Opening her eyes, Lexi said "Maria, the design team's position?"

"Boss, as I said we want to do this, hence why we pressured you about this.?But dealing with your friend tells us Karen is right.?They need someone to be their main contact, as it will drive us insane if we are that person.?The key designer on the dress can work with that person, but.."

Lexi smiled.?She remembered when she started LY.?She did everything.?Design, manufacture, customer service, and sales.?It drove her insane, until she had the lucky break with one dress that catapulted her business towards what it is now.?Most fashion designers who have their own businesses to not expand like she had without lucky breaks.?Taking a breath, she said "Karen, go for it.?In the end doing couture wedding dresses needs to be a success, because if it fails it will damage the business."

As Lexi nodded, Karen getting her meaning quickly turned before leaving the room.

Maria said "Boss, we got side-tracked.?The designs?"

"Only a couple are problematic.?As best I can I have made a few notes and the alterations, but someone may have to fix them up."

"Got it, but before you deal with your friend, and likely head home what we want to ask about is another little project we have in mind.?With Karen's help, we have started to market the charitable collection that we discussed.?Orders are flowing in, and rather than completely new designs we are working with existing ideas.?What we want to do, if you OK it, is to take that concept slightly further."

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