Chapter 6 - Carter Site Systems began at my kitchen table
Ethan built his company six years before meeting Vanessa.
He did not build it alone.
His business partner, Malik Freeman, owned forty-eight percent.
Ethan owned forty percent.
I owned twelve.
That last fact embarrassed Ethan for years.
Not because he was ashamed of me.
Because he believed a grown man should not need his mother’s money.
When Carter Site Systems began, Ethan was twenty-eight.
He had industry experience.
Malik had safety certification and strong client relationships.
They needed capital for:
Insurance.
Software.
Office deposit.
Equipment.
Payroll buffer.
Bank financing was expensive.
Michael had been dead two years.
I had $41,000 in a money-market account from life-insurance proceeds I had not touched.
I invested $38,000.
Not loaned.
Invested.
An attorney drafted the operating agreement.
Twelve-percent nonvoting membership interest.
Limited information rights.
Distribution rights.
No management power.
I understood the risk.
I told Ethan:
“If it fails, it fails.”
It nearly did.
Year one was ugly.
Year two better.
By year five, the company employed twenty-three people and generated respectable profit.
Not Silicon Valley wealth.
Ethan’s annual income was around $220,000 including distributions.
My twelve-percent interest produced varying annual distributions.
Around $28,000 the year before the engagement.
That was more than enough to supplement my retirement.
I did not advertise it.
Vanessa knew I owned twelve percent.
George Mitchell knew.
May you like
And that was why he looked at my grocery tote and said:
“Search her bag first.”
