CHAPTER 136: BRAINSTORMING

Marcus Chen put down the phone and looked around at his exhausted team.

Compared to his business crew at Valdris, Irene and Tyler were inexperienced and drained by the modern world. They were already back on their phones after just half an hour of brainstorming.

"Guys and ladies. We wasted all morning and worked before the phone call for like thirty minutes. Come on let's find other ideas to kickstart our jewelry business. We need to fund other Marcus and Tom. Marcus said he found a lead."

"Can I suggest something?" Irene raised her hand.

Marcus's excitement rose. "Sure sure." He gestured encouragingly. "Also you don't need to raise your hand."

"Can we call you something else? Two Marcus seems confusing."

Marcus bowed his head. Upon all the things, is this the one you come up with? "Marcus is my name. His was like dirt or something. He begged. I begged. Whatever. We begged family to call us the same name so we don't get confused."

"Either way it is confusing," Tyler joined the argument.

"How about Chen then? My last name?" Marcus finally suggested and gave up.

They worked all afternoon coming up with ideas to market their products. But without any budget the only way was shooting funny shorts and adding the advertisements in there.

"This will destroy the rich and unaccessible brand concept," Marcus said to Tyler.

"Why does it have to be a rich brand? We can start with mass orders. That brings cash flow," Tyler countered.

"And with cash flow you can pivot or start a new brand," Irene suggested.

Marcus had thrived in Valdris because he brought relatively simple ideas with low tech to a world where no one had attempted them. So he had a business plan from Earth and an amazing execution team there. Here they were struggling just for concepts.

"Okay okay we can start for a larger audience with limited buying power. Because other than making funny videos I can't think of any zero cost ideas," Marcus conceded.

"I am a content creator Chen but I don't have any experience making viral shorts." Tyler shrugged.

"Just like that I am now Chen huh?" Marcus seemed hurt but continued. "I have ideas. How about a boy struggling in a medieval world and his daily struggles?" He suggested with growing enthusiasm.

Since Marcus had tons of reference from his life at Valdris the content would be endless. And they needed to make skit versions of those tough times.

They started writing a couple of scenarios with back and forth. Marcus started to tell his mishaps from Valdris. What he thought were funny things only got glaring looks from his partners.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Marcus asked.

"Chen these are mostly you bullying Tom or walking into cow shit. These are not funny." Irene said with a stiff face.

"Yeah man dig deeper. Tell me about your first love," Tyler said.

"Wait you are not married over there are you?" Irene stood up suddenly.

"No," Marcus answered quickly.

She relaxed for a second. "But you will right? Then... then... what happens here?"

"Irene I don't.... let's focus on here please." He pointed at the papers spread across the table.

"I need a break. I need to call my shrink. This is an emergency." She left the common room and went to Marcus's bedroom.

"Irene please stop. Come here please." Marcus shouted after her.

"Women am I right?" Tyler said with a knowing tone.

"I don't know Tyler. I was trying to become a doctor or busy trying to save a world. I don't know women." He was visibly angry now.

After half an hour of forcing other scenarios they had nothing. Irene finally came back and started dissecting his life at Valdris to catch Marcus in something.

"I told you I am single there."

"Fine." She seemed calm. She walked into the common room and sat back in her place.

The trio were about to start another session but Tyler excused himself for his time live streaming.

"My audience waits for me. Sorry guys I need to stream."

Even after securing a deal they had no way of showing their products. After Tyler left Irene reluctantly showed her tablet.

"Could you look at these?" Her mood had completely changed.

"What is it Irene?"

"I designed some modular pieces to sell. Buyers can make combinations of them and create thousands of versions. The pieces Mr. Hudson provides seemed outdated."

Marcus looked at the designs on the screen. Some looked intricate. Some looked so simple. Just like Irene herself. He smiled. Once again looked at the pieces and again at Irene.

"What?" she asked, tilting her head.

Marcus got up and hugged her tight. "These are perfect. I will email them to Mr. Hudson's office and get price tags. Thanks Irene."

She hugged him back. For a moment everything felt possible.