CHAPTER 118
Time flew by. All parties involved in the Karate war were hard at work at whatever respective task they had to do. Marcos was trying to train and get back to L.A. Kreese was trying to get Marcos back to the Valley, whilst also trying to either turn Shawn into his champion or recruit a replacement in the meantime. Miyagi-Do were all hard at work training for the Taikai, a lot more productively during this crunch-time than most of Cobra Kai were, however Johnny and Carmen also had their hands pretty full with taking care of their newborn daughter. Meanwhile, Silver was in jail, continuing to meticulously plan his extravagant revenge on everyone.
Around a month later, towards the end of March, Miguel found himself walking into Larusso Auto that afternoon. The dealership was mostly empty as it was towards the end of the working day so all customers and most employees had already gone. He headed towards the office at the back of the dealership and knocked on the door, hoping for a response. Sure enough, he heard a faint "come in", so Miguel walked into the room and found who he was hoping to see.
"Miguel!" Amanda exclaimed, shocked to see him there. "Come in. How's it going? How's the baby doing?"
"She's great." Miguel replied. "Loud."
Amanda laughed.
"Oh yeah. I remember those days!" She chuckled. "4 am crying?"
"Yup." Miguel groaned. "Robby and I pretty much moved into Johnny's place permanently while the adults and the baby live across the hall at this point. We've given up."
"Can't blame you!" Amanda remarked. "Those days were definitely hard. Sorry, if you're here looking for Sam, she's not here."
Miguel shook his head, slightly nervously.
"No, I was looking for you actually. I was wondering if I could get advice. On something personal."
Amanda's face flashed with nerves for a moment.
"Oh God! You didn't get Sam pregnant, did you?! Because I'm still way too young to be a grandma, and you too are certainly too young to be parents!" She exclaimed. Miguel blushed furiously and shook his head.
"No, no, no, no, no. Oh no. She's not pregnant. It's nothing like that." Miguel stammered, his face flushed scarlet in embarrassment. "I wanted to ask you for advice, as you're like the most successful business owner I know. You run this entire place."
"Well my husband and I do it together." Amanda responded. Miguel nodded.
"I know. And I was going to go to him, but I know that he'll automatically be really nice and supportive of my idea, even if it's terrible, because he thinks that it'll get me in the best mindset possible for the Taikai. He won't necessarily be completely honest. And I want 100%, honest-to-God feedback. If the idea is terrible, it's terrible. Simple as that. I'd like to hear it."
"Oh, so you have a business idea that you want my opinion on?" She understood. Miguel nodded.
"Yeah, um… I think I've decided what I want to start working on from next year onwards." Miguel told her. Amanda smiled widely.
"That's great! I'm so happy for you!" She told him. "Well I've just finished up everything I have to do for the dealership for today. Everyone else is gone so why don't we go into the conference room and you can present to me your idea? I promise… total honesty."
Miguel nodded and followed the lady into the dealership's conference room. There, he took out his computer and plugged it into the HDMI cable to display the powerpoint that he had made throughout the past few weeks as he had developed the idea.
"Alright… talk to me, Miguel. What's the idea?" Amanda prompted him. Miguel took a deep breath and started talking.
"So basically, the idea came to me a few weeks ago. My mom and I were going through some old stuff from the past few years and clearing out to make space for all the things we needed for the baby. We came across some of the things I needed back when I was injured, and it got me thinking back to that time. It was arguably the most… significant thing to ever happen to me."
"Of course. I mean, it's not normal for a teenage kid to have to go through what you did." Amanda agreed. Miguel nodded.
"Right. And as I was thinking back to the time, after I was out of the hospital and out of surgery but still unable to walk or anything, I remembered just how horrible that time was. Knowing that I couldn't do anything that I used to. I couldn't have fun. I couldn't even do the most basic things without help. It made me feel useless. Like I was some lame, limp toddler, needing mommy to do everything for him, and would be for the rest of my life. It was by the grace of God that I actually managed to make a full recovery, as I really don't know how long I would've lasted in that wheelchair."
"That sounds awful." Amanda sympathised. "So what's the idea?"
"Well, getting to think back to all of this, it made me do some research and find out just how many people there are like this, not only in the country, but in the state, in the city alone too. In the city of L.A alone, there are around 200,000 people with reported physical disabilities. I know first-hand just how horrible that is, so I want to do something to help them. I want to create somewhere where they go and actually feel like they can do everything normally, at least for a while. So the idea is to create somewhere like that."
"I'm confused. So this is going to be, what exactly?"
Miguel nodded.
"Well I guess the most accurate way to describe it would be a small mall. It's meant to be for people of all ages, so the plan at the beginning is to have a restaurant and cafe or two; a cinema; a supermarket; a few ships and maybe a game for kids. But the thing is, all of it has to be accessible for people in wheelchairs."
"But Miguel… a lot of the major places are already getting more wheelchair accessible. How are you going to compete with them?" Amanda asked him. Miguel shook his head.
"This place isn't just wheelchair accessible in the way that you can go if your able friend pushes you around, as is the case with almost all of these places. This place is going to be made so that even if you have a disability, you still technically have the ability to go alone if you so choose. Restaurants or bars will all be with tables at the right height for those in wheelchairs. Supermarket shelves will not ever be too high for people in wheelchairs to reach. The cinema and its respective ticketing and concession stand must be short enough for people in wheelchairs to reach, and there must be wheelchair platforms in the screen room where people in wheelchairs can wheel in."
"That sounds great, Miguel." Amanda commented honestly. "It's certainly unique. And it's clearly something you're passionate about. Just a question though… this all sounds very expensive to develop. How are you going to make up for that?"
"Well I've already done a general survey of interest from people in the wheelchair community." Miguel said. "As expected, a lot of them felt and feel the same frustration as I did. Almost all of them said they'd love somewhere like this. And the place is going to have everything needed for an able-bodied person to be able to go about their normal day at the mall. Then I've also spoken to a couple of random restaurant chains in the area, just to kind of see how interested they'd be to rent a spot in the mall. They actually showed a lot of interest, so I could definitely earn back a lot of the money that it'll take to build the place pretty quickly. Then I figure if this thing takes off, it could be expanded to have more shops, more of everything you know?"
"Mm hmm." Amanda murmured, nodding thoughtfully, processing everything.
"So… what do you think?" Miguel asked. "Please be completely honest. If it sucks, let me know."
"It doesn't suck." Amanda replied. "A completely wheelchair oriented mall… it's actually a really good idea. Especially in such a busy, big city in L.A. It could be like a haven for people in wheelchairs, if they're struggling to deal with everything's speed in L.A or simply can't do it in normal places without help, to be able to come to your mall. It honestly has the potential to be a revolutionary idea, IF you truly work at it. Because this idea… it's going to take a lot of work."
"I know." Miguel nodded.
"Yeah. Funny thing about most people in the business world… for people so obsessed with money, they sure hate to spend it." Amanda remarked. "Whether you're asking for a loan, deliberating rent with a shop, or anything else, you're going to have to pry teeth to get the money, especially as someone without even a college degree. It's not going to be easy at all."
"Right." Miguel murmured.
"So… what I recommend you do." Amanda said. "Plan. Plan. Plan. This could even be a few years of planning for something this huge. You need to plan for every cent that's going to be spent, every block that's going to be built, every human being that's going to be involved. You need to know this thing back to front, like a mom knows her child. There's no telling how long the planning process could take. It's the most important part of the job so you can't half-ass it. Daniel half-assed the planning in his first few business ideas, his Bonsai Tree store for example, and look how they turned out. The first one that he actually sat down and planned properly first rather than rushing into starting was this place."
"For sure. Any other advice?" He asked her. Amanda shook her head.
"I mean I couldn't advise you about specifics as I don't know much about the area." She said. "All I'd say is be patient. Know that shit's probably going to hit the fan pretty quickly. Being a successful businessperson is not as much about how you start, as anyone can come up with an idea, but it's about how you deal with those moments where all looks lost. This thing could take a while to work out. While you're doing it, have something else that you're doing as a temporary job in L.A, just to earn a steady source of income. But when it inevitably begins its construction, because knowing you I have no doubt that it eventually will, I'm sure it will be great. PROVIDED YOU'VE PROPERLY PLANNED. Does that make sense?"
Miguel nodded.
"It does. Thank you so much, Mrs. Larusso. For all of your advice." Miguel said. Amanda smiled at him.
"It's not a problem. Honestly, anytime, Miguel. We're all here to help you." She replied. "I personally can't wait to see how all of this turns out."