So I finished the calculations for Ecuador yesterday. I now have a variable cost set-up - but it took working backwards from Estee Lauder's financial statements to get there (you know, it's next to impossible to find out how much those little compacts cost - not the makeup, just the compacts. And while I'm on the subject, I thought I'd mention that Estee Lauder has a 75 percent mark-up on its products). I mentioned this to my dad and his comment was, "Wasn't that what they did over at Worldcom?"

Anyway, financials mostly done. I haven't figured out a way to compute the cost of building a manufacturing plant in Ecuador. So I think I'm just going to buy one. With a loan. From a venture capitalist.

What? No one ever said the marketing plan had to be realistic.