Breathe In (Just Breathe, #1)(5)
My business, Naturally Me, is a health and wellness blog that focuses on organic and natural products, recipes and the like. When I started it about six years ago, it was to suffice my interest, fascination and experimentation with female health, beauty and food products and questions about alternative health that I started to use when I changed my daily habits after some rocky moments I had while trying to figure out my life during the first two years in California. Jared was a very loving and patient friend from the start, even after learning about my demons.
I was already a computer wiz thanks to being homeschooled and my mother encouraging my learning to be around whatever topics interested me at the time. I was proficient in computer coding and graphic design by the time I was fifteen among other things. I was technically a high school graduate at the age of fourteen. Mom wanted me to have my high school diploma regardless of her thoughts of the ill-effectiveness of the public school system, so she scheduled the testing. The district actually had me take the test a second time, not because I didn’t pass, but because my scores were close to perfect and they wanted to make sure I wasn’t cheating. Mom was pleased with her teaching ability after the second test results came back practically the same as the first. Not wanting to thrust me into college at my young age, Mom began introducing me to a variety of college based courses until — well, let’s not get back into that.
The blog took a little time to get going, but after the first two years, it started to pick up enough that I was making almost twice as much as I was working with Jared at Jensen’s Florist. By the third year, I was making even more, almost four times as much money. Not long after the start of Naturally Me’s third year, Jared gave me some inspiration for topics to address on the blog from hearing him recount or discuss certain subject matters with me and his other friends. Knowing that I wasn’t quite legal yet to get into bars to see and hear everything first hand, I asked Jared to do some recognizance for me. Not understanding why I was so curious, two weeks later he showed up with a fake ID for me. Not willing to use the ID right away, I explained to Jared how I wanted to expand the blog. He instantly loved the idea.
Shortly after Jared’s insatiable desire to see what he could find, he and I were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of talking points we could add to the blog. From then on, Jared spent all his free time helping me establish the LGBT division of the blog with him as the face until I could pay him the same amount or more as Jensen’s. Proudly, I was able to match his monthly income from Jensen’s in just four months.
Currently, Naturally Me offers its readers health and beauty tips, tricks, product reviews, product referrals, homemade recipes along with a section dedicated to cuisine, home decorating, contests and giveaways, and an exclusive LGBT section. The thought of another division is mind blowing . . . but real.
Naturally Me expanded its reach by the end of its fourth year with the use of internet video sharing that allowed the company to instantly start making additional income which grew faster than I believed possible. Now, not only is Jared the main face of Naturally Me, he manages all communication and task completion between me, Naturally Me, and Naturally Me's independent contractors who handle our research, graphic design, video and editing, general inquiries and social media.
“Holy crap, Jared!” I blurt out in sheer astonishment.
“Yeah?!” he hesitantly replies.
“No. Seriously,” I exclaim. In shock, then awe and joyous appreciation for the man, I squeal in excitement, “You are a genius!”
“Oh, stop it!” he counters, trying to seem bashfully innocent and humble.
I glare at him with a devilish smile to his response, suggesting that I know what he’s doing, but pleased with his brilliance. “We can incorporate the pet section into the third quarter easily. We can hire a few more people to handle it under your direction.”
“Sweet!” he shouts with enthusiasm. “Looks like I should be getting a bonus at the end of the year,” he says teasingly.
“I’ll throw in a night at your favorite strip club if it goes the way I’m envisioning it in my head,” I toy with him with a sense of half truth.
“Mmmm . . . You sure know how to please a man,” he replies, winking at me with a dirty grin. We both snicker like school girls for a moment before turning back to the project at hand.
Happy with our successful meeting and my true love and gratitude for my friend, I tell him, “I love you, Jared.”
He looks at me quizzically for a second. Not sure where I’m going with this suddenly serious tone. He tries to brush it off lightly joking around, “Yeah, yeah. I know. I love you too, Sex Kitten.”
“No. I’m serious.”
He rarely sees the serious and openly emotional side of me, let alone the fact that I don’t say those three words loosely to just anyone or in just any context. Appreciatively and affectionately, I smile and repeat myself, “I love you.”
Respectfully, he pauses to take in this still unaccustomed moment. Jared, genuinely grateful for the moment, smiles and replies back, “I love you too, Emma.” He leans over to embrace me.
We sit, reassuring each other for several minutes and start cracking up when Sadie decides to wedge herself between our arms and onto our laps. Sadie never misses a beat.
We continue hashing out the details for the third quarter’s targets to include the pet division while sipping on tea and coffee. I leave Jared to his now coherent and animated concentration to fix him some breakfast. Surprisingly, I can hear his stomach grumble in protest to his second cup of coffee in demand for more sustenance.