Chapter 217: Chapter 217: “President Sterling.

“So what are we going to do now?” Shao Wei asked. “It’s almost lunchtime. We have to earn some money before we can eat, right?”

Jessie Sterling hummed. “We can start by displaying these clothes over in that area with the colorful woods. But we can’t all go at once. We need to split up the work.”

“Go ahead, President Sterling. We’re all listening,” Wendy Lawson said with a smile.

If the eight of them had been a bit lost before, now, almost everyone saw Jessie Sterling as their leader. They were willing to listen to whatever she had to say.

Wendy Lawson couldn’t help but think, ’Maybe this is what they call innate leadership?’

Jessie Sterling hadn’t really thought that far ahead; she just wanted to focus on her own tasks. But just like when she had become the president of Apex, it was hard to escape responsibility, no matter the position she was in.

Now, with everyone under the same roof looking at her like this, Jessie Sterling had to give up on the easy life she’d imagined and try to make herself—their “backbone”—seem a little more reliable, and then a little more.

“Just going like this would be a waste of manpower. Besides, other photo studios all have sample pictures with models. It’s impossible for us to create any right now, but we have ready-made models right here!” As Jessie Sterling said this, she looked at Shao Wei. “With a face like Shao Wei’s, and Mr. Warren’s… aren’t you two practically born to wear historical costumes? You both have experience with makeup, so go get ready and change first. Jade Moyer, you stay and get your makeup done too. Couples are an easy market to tap into, and since we have a female model, we need a male one as well.

“In the meantime, the rest of us can’t just sit around. Even if we don’t have a proper storefront, we can set up a simple roadside stall to attract customers. So, everyone else, except for Wendy, go and set up the canopy.

“On the way here, I noticed a spot next to the main road. There’s a forest to the right, with a river next to it. There’s a large open area, perfect for us to ’set up camp.’ For the rest of our time here, I think we can use that spot where we set up the canopy as our main location to attract travel-photography clients. Then, Tanya, after you’ve drawn in customers, you can bring them back to our house. The first-floor living room is huge, so it can be a temporary studio for Shao Wei. That way, she won’t have to haul all that stuff back and forth every day. There are so many clothes, it would be a real pain.”

After Jessie Sterling finished laying out her plan in one go, the living room fell silent for a moment.

It was unclear who started clapping first, but gradually, the entire living room filled with applause.

Jessie Sterling still looked a bit bewildered.

“Wow! That’s President Sterling for you!” Wendy Lawson said, beaming. “You laid everything out so quickly and perfectly! I knew I wasn’t wrong about you!”

“So thorough. I’m sure we’ll definitely make money now.”

“So what are we waiting for? Let’s get moving!”

Soon, the group in the living room sprang into action.

Jessie Sterling had also brought her camera on this trip, originally intending to shoot more of the Serran scenery. She never expected it would have another use. Luckily, she had brought a prime lens specifically for portraits—in fact, she was carrying three lenses in total.

Wendy Lawson started by photographing all the clothes Shao Wei had sorted out for rental, then edited the pictures and posted them online to kick off their promotional campaign.

Her photography had an influencer-like quality that was perfect for social media, making every outfit look absolutely stunning.

Not even a minute after she posted, comments started flooding in.

“Wow, these clothes are so beautiful!”

“Looking at Wendy’s location… you went to Serran?”

“Has filming for the show already started? I’m so excited!”

Wendy Lawson scrolled through the comments and picked out several to reply to.

Since they were trying to run a business, they naturally had to publicize their location and the name of their travel photography service.

For their travel photography business, the beautiful clothes were one selling point, but so were the photographer and makeup artist.

Shortly after Wendy Lawson made her second post, their little travel photo shop was already gaining some fame.

The business went viral almost instantly, especially since Wendy’s model photos featured a huge star like Jade Moyer.

Wendy Lawson included their address in her posts. A lot of people were visiting Serran at the time to see the autumn scenery, and thanks to location-based promotions, Wendy’s DMs were about to explode.

On their end, Jessie Sterling and the others had just finished setting up the canopy and hadn’t even had a chance to go back to the house to bring over the clothes and other things when tourists started showing up to ask questions.

Some of these tourists were drawn by Wendy Lawson’s promotional posts, but others were young people who were already taking pictures nearby. When they saw the camera crew around Jessie Sterling’s group, they realized a show might be filming and came over out of curiosity to see what was going on.

All at once, the area around the canopy became exceptionally lively.

With a larger crowd, attracting business became much easier.

By the time Shao Wei and the others arrived, Jessie Sterling and Tanya had already spoken with several groups of tourists.

Finding a spare moment, Jessie Sterling sent a message to the group chat they had created just before splitting up. “We need to earn some money first before we have enough to run the restaurant. Plus, the show’s filming might go on for a long time, but the autumn scenery will only last for about a month. So, shouldn’t we focus on travel photography for now?”

“Got it.”

“I think that’s a good idea.”

“Right, right. And based on how things are going, I think this travel photography thing has a lot of potential.”

After everyone in the group chat unanimously agreed with her idea, Jessie Sterling and Tanya boldly began booking clients.

Jessie Sterling was worried that if they couldn’t devote the whole team to the photography business, the three people handling it—Shao Wei and the others—wouldn’t be able to keep up with so many customers. But if everyone pitched in, they could confidently start booking appointments.

It was already noon, but under the canopy, not a single person complained about being tired or hungry. Everyone was focused on the task at hand.

Shao Wei and Joanne Warren were already swamped. In the end, there still weren’t enough people for makeup, so Jessie Sterling decided to pitch in.

However, she was well aware of her own limitations. She was fine with doing her own everyday makeup, but she was not at all skilled at creating the historical-style looks required for this kind of photoshoot.

But Jessie was more than capable of handling the prep work, like applying foundation and concealer.

Based on the time it took for makeup, styling, and the photoshoot itself, they decided they could only accommodate six customers that afternoon. Any remaining tourists who wanted a photoshoot would either have to give up or schedule an appointment for the next day.

Although they couldn’t take on many customers each day, business on their very first day was surprisingly good.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep