Thanks for reading, hope you are all enjoying the story
All reviews are appreciated
A big thank you to my beta INWHATUNIVERSE for her advice and help and also to MISOPHONIA for offering encouragement, I recommend you visit both their pages, they have excellent stories
Continuing on from Thursday
On Thursday when the meeting at HSN came to an end, the producer Anne Martin-Vachon had issued Penny with an identity card so she could come straight to the studio area and Penny had been allocated her own dressing room, she had also told Penny to dress smart casual for her broadcast and asked her to arrive at 4pm on Monday for a quick run through, Raj had also been issued with an Identity Card as he would be coming with Penny for support
Penny's production line had been running smoothly for the past few weeks churning out all the blossoms in various guises and colours, she had employed 6 people to do the work and she had also hired her friend Kelly who had worked at the Cheesecake Factory to be her assistant and to manage things when she was unable to be at the unit they had bought for the production
Monday afternoon
Penny arrived with Raj shortly before 4pm and went to her dressing room to wait for Anne's assistant Cecily to collect her, the room had been decorated tastefully with a small two seater sofa and armchair with a mini fridge in the corner and a water drinks dispenser and a television on the wall
She had dressed appropriately as well wearing black trousers and a turquoise shirt accessorized with a watch on one arm and a bracelet on her other
'I'm feeling nervous Raj, what if it all goes wrong' said Penny as she gulped down some water
'Penny you are the least nervous out of any of our social group, I wouldn't worry too much
Penny was about to answer when Cecily appeared at the door
'Penny if you are ready we can go to the studio now'
'Sure' said Penny finishing her water and following Cecily out the door with Raj
When they got to the studio floor the producer Anne was talking with the cameraman and stopped when she saw Penny approaching
'Hi Penny, I have decided that you can use the speech you gave at your audition as that was pretty much perfect and it will roll on the autocue when you are speaking to the camera, at the end of the introduction there will be a telephone number for people to call which will include your website details and all you will have to say is that these will be available on the screen at the end of the introduction and presentation of the products you are selling'
'Ok that sounds straight forward' said Penny
'Good now we will have a little run though now just so you that can see the auto cue clearly and we can iron out any problems before the broadcast'
Anne took Penny over to the area she would be in for her broadcast and a table had been set up with the samples that Penny had previously brought in ready for demonstration
'Now Penny if you are ready, just go for it' said Anne
15 minutes later Penny finished the 1st demonstration and Anne was delighted
'Penny I think we have found a star in you, at your first audition you performed excellently and you have just proved that again, I don't think we will need another demonstration unless you feel you need to?
'No I feel very confident now' said Penny
'Ok good, we have another person making a broadcast at 5pm so if you want to stay and watch you are welcome to' said Anne
'Sure' said Penny
At 555pm Penny was ready and in position to start, she would be given the countdown signal ready to start and the cameraman would signal for her to start
'Hi I'm Penny and I am here to show you Penny Blossoms. Have you ever just felt like you needed a ray of sunshine to make your day feel better? Trust me, I have had plenty of bad hair days to find reasons to need some sunshine come my way. One day when I was having a particularly bad hair day, as well as having trouble finding the right accessory to go with an outfit I had selected for an audition, I got fed up and found a few things lying around that I put together and that was how Penny Blossoms was born'
You know when you go to bed sometimes with your hair wet and how it gets little matted spots that even after combing them out they still have that nasty little kink that just won't go away? Well that happened to me that day and so I created this'
Picking up a cute blossom hair accessory Penny put it in her hair
'And voila! I was able to cover it up with my newly created Penny Blossom. I worked at a restaurant and one of the girls there saw it and wanted to know where I got it. Then a second girl asked and one of the patrons of the restaurant asked. It got me to thinking that if that many in such a short time wanted one, maybe I should start making them for others. I began to give them as gifts and then would begin to sell them to friends and colleagues. Soon the demand got more and more'
Picking up a belt that had one of her creations on it, Penny put the belt around her waist and continued "The more I made, the more ideas I came up with and so I branched out and began making belts, purse and shoe accessories and even jewelry." She started to show each of the items.
"But there are so many times you go and find the cutest outfit but it needs a belt and you can't find one that works with it. I solved that with Penny Blossoms. The beauty of these belts is that the accessories clip on and you can change things up' Penny demonstrated by changing the accessories and belts around
'These products are retailing for $7.50 including postage, now if you would like any of these products please call the number shown on the left hand side of the screen or you can go via our website which is also shown for more details'
Penny gave the camera a very wide smile before being given the signal to stop and the broadcast went over to adverts
'Penny that was very good, I hope you are prepared for huge demand' said Anne
'Oh yes we have made 30,000 in preparation and my team are able to produce as many as possible if required'
'Penny I just checked the website and since the broadcast we have had 1500 hits' said Raj
'Well done Penny and to you Raj for agreeing to finance her with this Endeavour' said Anne
Penny and Raj smiled at her
'Your broadcast will run again tonight at 7pm and at the top of the hour until midnight' said Anne
'Do you want me to make any changes? Asked Penny
'No that was perfect Penny, as for tomorrow you will need to be here for 9am ready for the live broadcast at 10am'
'Thank you' said Penny as she and Raj left the studio
'Come on we are going out for a celebration dinner, the others are all joining us' said Raj
'Oh where are we going?
'There is a Chinese restaurant that Sheldon really likes so we are going there'
When they arrived at the restaurant everybody hugged her including Leonard and said how great she was during the broadcast which gave Penny confidence for tomorrow, she refused the champagne being offered and stuck to soft drinks and offered a toast to Raj
'I just want to say that without Raj financing this whole thing I don't think it would of got further than selling less than a couple hundred, so thank you to Raj' said Penny as she hugged him
The others all raised their glasses and Raj looked very embarrassed
Tuesday Morning
Amy was working in her office when she received a reply email from Faisal and needed to speak to Dr Carter and President Siebert about it so she phoned Dr Carter to see if she was free which she was and went to her office and asked her if she could Skype President Siebert
President Siebert appeared on the Skype screen and greeted Dr Carter and Dr Fowler
'Dr Fowler you have some news?
'Yes, for the last few years I have had a private donor and after I sent an email to him explaining our European project for May he has made a donation of $5000 towards the trip and $20,000 each to both our universities, he has also promised an extra $40,000 if we can include the Middle East countries the year after'
'Which countries was he requesting we go to Dr Fowler? Asked Siebert
'Saudi Arabia and Dubai were two of them but he also mentioned Iran and Lebanon'
'Ok thank you Dr Fowler we can have a think about this plan, would you mind forwarding the email to me and I can reply direct to him'
'Yes sure no problem' said Amy
Meanwhile at the HSN
Penny had just made her 2nd live broadcast and had been given a live slot for 6pm Friday evening that week to garner interest for the weekend, they had what Anne called a very successful result from the previous evening with over 10,000 calls requesting either Penny Blossoms or more info and sales
Penny went to rehearsals for her web show that afternoon then made the plans for the girl's weekend away to Carmel and called the girls to come over
'I have booked us into the Vagabonds House and Boutique Inn for Friday to Monday and I have booked our rooms, they are all very similar and because it's a spa hotel we can go for treatments as and when we like, I didn't book any because I wasn't sure which ones you would like' said Penny
'How much do we owe you? Asked Amy
'Lets just call it an even $600, the hotel is very exclusive and I will pay any excess' said Penny smiling at the girls
'Are you sure? Asked Bernadette
'Yes I was the one who suggested the trip away and this week so far has been very successful and I want to share that with my friends' said Penny
'Well at least any money we save we can spend in the shops' laughed Alex as the group agreed
'We will need to leave here probably around 9am as it takes 5 hours to drive' said Penny
Later that evening Penny heard from Raj that they had over 50,000 hits on their website and had sales for 5000
Penny was very happy and that showed in the Friday evening live broadcast, she radiated happiness during the broadcast and the viewers were mesmerized by her confidence
Thanks for reading
Next chapter up at the weekend
