When it came to her sense of style, she had impeccable taste and dressed the part of an executive. If one did not know any better, one would have thought she was the C.E.O. of GMMS.
Besides loving her work, she had eyes for Shaun. Her feelings for him grew stronger each day. He was immensely handsome and a successful businessperson and the fact that he never attended college either was a great achievement.
Each day, she was falling in love with him. She was his right-hand person, made the business a winner and dreamed one day of becoming his partner in business and love.
Going into its third year, GMMS was exploding in sales. Shaun was performing marriages every other week. Wedding receptions were being booked a year in advance.
The web site was getting close to five hundred thousand page views a month, and more men and women were becoming members.
So far, the business had grossed over eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Sales were expected to triple in two years.
The idea of starting or investing in a travel agency was not feasible now. Instead, Lisa arranged for GMMS to be a partner with a popular on-line travel agency whose link she placed on GMMS's site. When a visitor clicked on the link and booked his or her trip and hotel reservations through the travel agency, GMMS would receive a hefty commission and not have to worry about booking trips or reserving hotel rooms for their members.
Lisa's initiative was brilliant, Shaun thought.
Lisa was planning to attend a family reunion and take a well-deserved vacation. Since she would be gone for four weeks, and it was quiet with no immediate planned events, Shaun was able to manage the office and site on his own. If it got too busy, he would hire a temporary worker.
While on the Internet, Shaun received the following e-mail from a singles' bureau, which was located in the United Kingdom:
Dear Shaun:
I am the publisher of a monthly matchmaking magazine. My clients do not have Internet access and place their personal ads in this publication. All of their contacts are through snail mail.
The reason why I am contacting you is that I am looking to sell the publication to a company that can distribute it worldwide.
You are a likely candidate because you run a respectable business, and this would be an added feature to your already popular site. I have read many of the testimonials on your page, and your reputation precedes you. I will be in New York next Friday and plan to stay for one month. Perhaps we could meet and discuss this venture in further details.