Chapter Five
The next morning, Adam asked Fontus where he could sell the piece of gold he had inherited from his parents. The old man took him to a nearby merchant who exchanged it for a hundred coppers.
They were heavy to carry and despite their value, Adam knew they would not last for long. He then asked Fontus where he could find accommodation.
‘You have accommodation,’ Fontus said. ‘Our home!’
‘Then I must pay you for board,’ Adam said.
At first Fontus refused. Adam, though, was insistent, and grudgingly the old man agreed to accept two coppers per week. His conscience eased, Adam spent the week readying his business. He bought canvases, paint and brushes from a shop in the city, and started producing paintings. Finally satisfied that he had produced enough, he tracked down the man who ran the market.
Keldar was a burly figure with a bushy black beard and, Adam noted, equally impressive eyebrows. Standing at the doorway of his small house that was situated in an alley behind the market, he slowly eyed Adam up and down.
‘So you want a market stall?’ he said at last. ‘It’s one copper piece per day. How do I know you’ll pay me?’
‘I’ll pay you ahead of time,’ Adam said. ‘A week’s rent in advance.’
‘And you’ll be selling your paintings?’
‘Yes.’
‘Are they good?’
Adam swallowed. He wasn’t sure how good they were, but he had taken care to paint scenery similar to that of the other artist.
‘I think so,’ he said.
‘That’s what I like!’ Keldar bellowed with laughter. ‘Confidence.’
He agreed to rent the space to Adam starting from next Saturday. That would give Adam almost another week to prepare even more paintings.
Paying Keldar the agreed upon amount of seven copper pieces, Adam rushed home to continue working on his paintings. The next few days passed in a frenzy. He knew he needed enough stock to sell at the stall, otherwise he wouldn’t look professional. The learning curve for him was steep as well. He had never painted anything before, and his first few paintings were very poor.
But he persevered. He painted over his first attempts, eventually ensuring that all his works were of a similar standard. He also spent his time visiting the market and familiarising himself better with the city. It seemed that people sold every possible item imaginable. The more he walked the streets of Prosperity, the more he saw foreign faces, different styles of dress and heard strange and exotic languages.
The world is larger than I ever imagined, he thought.
His thoughts also returned to his parents, and the grief would once again return. Sometimes he would be walking down a lane and remember his mother’s quick smile or his father’s laughter. To cover the tears he would turn away from the crowds and peer into a shop window.
At times such as those he would be gripped with thoughts of returning to his home and wreaking revenge upon the Dagarni. He would imagine striding into the camp with a group of men and attacking them just as they had attacked his family. Adam was not proud of these thoughts, but he knew that one day he had to claim retribution.
One day I will return, he thought. And the Dagarni will be sorry!
Both Kara and Fontus were busy during the week with their own business. On the day before Adam was due to sell his goods for the first time, Kara cornered him in the hallway.
‘So you’re ready to sell your paintings?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ Adam said, realising she was looking at him oddly. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Do you think you’re good?’
‘My paintings are all right! They’re better than you could do!’
‘They probably are! But I don’t call myself an artist!’
‘Then what do you suggest I do?’
At that moment, Fontus entered the hallway. ‘Are you harassing our guest?’ he asked Kara.
‘Not at all,’ she said. ‘I’m simply giving voice to questions about his talents as an artist.’
‘Leave him be,’ Fontus said. ‘The marketplace will determine that.’
The next morning, Fontus left early for his shop. Adam assembled his paintings, table and cloth in the living room—then realised he couldn’t carry them all at once.
I should have thought of this before, he thought. He had about twenty canvases. It was too much for one person.
‘Need help?’ Kara said, entering the room.
‘I’m fine.’
‘I have bags. You can use them to carry the canvases while I take the table.’
Grudgingly, Adam agreed. They made their way through the early morning streets to the marketplace. Here, he found Keldar collecting rent from people for the week. It took him a moment to recognise Adam in the early morning light.
‘Ah, yes,’ he said. ‘The painter! What have you brought us today?’
Silently, Adam opened the bag and Keldar glanced inside. He passed no comment on the paintings, merely describing the location of Adam’s stall.
Kara and Adam carried his table and paintings to the spot specified by Keldar. It was in a good position, near the bridge crossing. Many people passed by here each day. As Adam arranged his paintings he felt his stomach churning with worry. He hadn’t been overly concerned when Kara had laughed at him or when Fontus had remained strangely silent, but the expression on Keldar’s face had said volumes.
People were already crossing the bridge. Adam had decided on a price for the paintings. They had cost him two coppers to make, so he would charge five coppers each. That would more than cover the rent as well as provide a good living for him.
‘Would you like me to stay?’ Kara asked.
‘What for?’ Adam snapped. ‘So you can frown at me all day?’ He instantly regretted his anger. She had given him bags as well as carrying his table. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken so harshly.’
‘Good luck,’ she said, ignoring the apology. ‘I hope it goes well.’
She disappeared into the crowd.
For the first time since arriving in Prosperity, Adam felt terribly alone. Now that he was here he wanted to hide, but that was an irrational fear. He knew he had to stand his ground. It wasn’t long before the streets began to fill with people, and more began pouring across the bridge in both directions. Many of them glanced at his paintings, but few stopped to take a closer look.
This will take time, Adam thought. I can’t expect everyone to buy.
He started greeting people as they passed, and many of them stopped to return the greeting. Some of them even stayed for a conversation. Most were friendly. Then one man looked harder at his paintings.
‘Are you selling these for a sibling?’ he asked.
‘What?’ Adam said, surprised.
‘These paintings? Did your little brother or sister make them?’
‘No, I did!’
The man reddened and moved away. The morning passed slowly and it didn’t take long for Adam to realise he had made a terrible mistake. Many of the passersby were friendly yet there was a distinct lack of interest in his paintings. As the hours passed, Adam felt his smile fading and his stomach quaking with embarrassment.
Lunchtime arrived and many more people flooded into the marketplace. It was a hive of activity and he felt faces peering at him.
I’m a fool, Adam thought. Why did I come here? I should have stayed in the forest!
He felt tired and depressed. While other stallholders remained busy serving customers, Adam couldn’t help but feel jealous of their success.
But they’ve been doing this for years, he thought. And this is my first day.
Then he recognised a face in the crowd.
‘Oh,’ Adam said. ‘Hello.’
Kara sidled up to him.
‘How has it been?’ she asked.
‘Wonderful. If it gets any better, I’ll need guards to protect my money.’ Adam noticed a bag in her hands. ‘What’s that?’<
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‘Some food. I made you something to eat.’
Adam silently took the parcel from her. It contained pieces of bread and cheese. Eating slowly, he told Kara about his experiences of the morning. He expected her to laugh at him, but she was sympathetic.
‘My father had tough times when he first started in business,’ she said.
‘But no longer,’ Adam said. ‘Now he is rich and successful.’
‘It took time.’
Adam finished eating the bread and cheese. ‘Time I have,’ he said. ‘Money I don’t.’
Kara left him, and the rest of the afternoon passed slowly. It became a familiar routine: greeting customers and showing them his wares before they wandered off to buy something else. Finally, the sun made its way across the sky and settled over the roofs of Prosperity. As twilight fell, Adam packed up his goods, following suit of the other stallholders.
It was only then that the man at the next stall introduced himself to Adam. His name was Lucius, and he sold jewellery. In contrast to Adam, he had enjoyed a busy day. ‘How did you fare?’ he asked.
‘Not well,’ Adam admitted.
‘There is a man on the west side of the market who paints similar pictures,’ Lucius said. ‘Except his are better.’
Adam agreed.
Kara appeared and helped pack his paintings away. They walked through the crowds back to Fontus’s house where they found him preparing dinner. The older man immediately noticed the look on Adam’s face.
‘I assume from your expression that it did not go as well as you had hoped,’ he said.
Adam gave a harsh laugh. ‘It didn’t go well at all,’ he said. ‘I didn’t sell a single painting.’
Fontus served dinner and they started eating.
‘What do you think happened?’ Fontus asked.
Adam had been asking himself this same question for most of the day. All the stallholders either made their own goods or sold goods that had been imported from somewhere else. The stallholders selling the imported goods had prices that were similar to each other. Those who made their own goods seemed able to charge whatever they wanted.
‘I didn’t think this through,’ Adam said. ‘I thought I could just do the same as the other painter in the market. The fact is, though, that he’s much better than me.’
‘Everyone has their talents,’ Fontus said. ‘Every person has an ability that is completely unique to them. Successful businesses are built by finding a niche in the market.’
Lesson 5: Successful businesses are built by finding a niche in the market.