My business management teacher was none other than my uncle. While my grandfather did not have any other kids besides my mother, he did have a younger brother who left behind a kid when he left the family. This uncle of mine is unfortunately not legitimate as per the law, my granduncle did not marry before having him and did not bother formally legitimizing him. Grandfather has raised him since he was practically 4, he and mom were pretty close earlier, and he likes me quite a lot too. Uncle has been managing a lot of our holdings on behalf of grandfather and hence was perfectly suited to govern my lessons on business studies.
Normally in novels that I read, uncle should have some deep-seated ambition to take over from grandfather and would attempt to off me during my childhood. Fortunately for me, I am quite safe from that trope. For one, my uncle literally adores me, like he dotes on me more than even my mom. He also has the kind of obsession with my magic that Arthur Weasley had with Muggle items; he is also the most unambitious person I have ever met. All his desires stop at good food and good books.
Thankfully, despite his general lack of worldly desires, he is quite a capable administrator and businessman. I credit him with us entering into the manufacturing business as well, with the amount of raw materials we generate on our farms, he started a simple jam-making factory at first, after this took off grandfather allowed him more free rein to expand. This has resulted in expansion into making alcohol, pickles, cheese, butter, and even several food stores ranging from bakeries to yoghurt shops to proper cafes.
Well, while I was going on my little monologue, I seem to have reached my uncle's office. He was there looking over some documents when I arrived. "You are late nephew, you were supposed to be here 10 minutes ago. Should I be worried about this becoming a pattern?" He asked as soon as I entered. You see, my uncle while doting, was also quite strict about his time. "Apologies uncle, you see I had a groundbreaking realization about magic which I just had to note down before the inspiration left me." He was also quite a sucker for anything magic related. "Well, don't keep me waiting, what was this new discovery that could not wait for after your lessons?"
Thus, I spent the next 10 minutes just explaining to my uncle my discoveries. He asked a lot of questions, and honestly, it just helped deepen my own understanding of things. It is truly a shame that he lacks the ability to use magic; with his level of theoretical understanding, he could have been truly great. After the briefing he asked me "Well, while it is truly riveting to get new insights into the practical applications of magic, we must get back on track. How is your progress on the project assigned to you?"
"Well, I have the stats ready for our Jam industry, the bakery on Foiler Road, the one on Kent Street and the one on 2nd street. The presentation for suggested improvements in the working model is still in progress, I do have the list of issues identified ready, just getting a solution required a bit more expertise." I answered. "That seems like good progress for now, let us go over the issues you have identified. Maybe our discussions will identify potential solutions to you." Uncle said, he had this habit of not directly providing solutions, he merely asked me questions until I did the solving process myself.
"Okay, so let's start with the main issue I identified, the products that we manufacture in our factories. We do not use the exact products in our bakeries. People will often buy a product like the bread rolls that have jam inside them and if we sell that same jam as well, we could really increase repeat customers. I have had surveys that indicate that people would love to buy those from us. I understand that the current recipe that we use for jam is pretty popular as well, but I see no reason for us to not also release a new flavor so to speak. So, is there something I am missing?" I have been wondering about this issue for a while now, I was pretty sure they were aware of this and for them to not have already done something means there is a part of the equation I am not getting.
Uncle gave me a little smile and answered, "Well nephew, there is a simple answer to your question, one you would have figured out if you talked to one of our chefs at the factory. The recipe used for mass production can be preserved for a long time, the stuff we use at the bakery will have a shelf life of barely one month, the ones we mass produce will average around 6 months to an year depending upon the batch. So, what solution would you recommend for this?"
Well, I feel supremely stupid now. I still have to get into the habit of actually asking questions to the right people. But I did have a solution to this issue, "A simple preservation matrix could solve that issue." Uncle chuckled at that and said, "And how many mages do you see in our employ?"
"I will probably reach the level to do that in a couple years based on my current rate of progression; I could start with that then." I said to which he replied "Until you figure out a way to mass produce that matrix, it will not be of much use. We can't have you wasting time with that for the countless units of our product."
I could not argue with his reasoning, but that did put forward another one of my projects. I did have figuring out mass production of smaller enchantments on my to-do list, the priority just went up.
We spent the rest of the lesson going over the technicalities of how we run our bakery business, and soon it was time for lunch. Since we had the family dinner today, I just had my lunch in my own room, I bade my uncle goodbye and went back to my room.