They were now considered IDPromotions.com’s creative executives, a fancier business title Eddie K. had given them to substitute for webmasters.

But when Eddie saw his ad office set up in the back bedroom, he was less thrilled about it.

“Oh, so I get the oldest kid’s room in the back. The eccentric problem child on drugs?”

Ivan grinned and argued, “They need more room than you, Eddie. It’s two of them and they have to deal with all of that computer shit.”

Eddie laughed it off. “I’m just messing with you, Ivan. I understand. Those guys are the kings of the castle around here. And this place definitely creates a great atmosphere for what we’re doing. It makes me feel like the leader of a college think tank.”

“A think tank that makes money,” Ivan told him.

Eddie had made fifteen thousand dollars in his start-up ad efforts online, but he looked to make more than a hundred and twenty thousand by the end of the year with the company, which was right in line with his salary in the newspaper industry before he left. However, if the website ad rates were able to increase at IDPromotions.com the way he projected they should, he looked forward to pulling in nearly two hundred thousand in his second year.

Ava Tate, the editorial manager, was set up in the small middle room, right next to the second-floor bathroom. She was a black single mom, originally from Fort Worth, Texas, who had settled into San Diego as a freelance magazine writer. She was in her midthirties, divorced from a Navy officer, and looking for a more consistent position that allowed her to continue her passion as a freelance writer. Since she mainly used her laptop, she could write her blogs, edit copy, give assignments and suggestions, and email Jeff and Paul from any location to post her completed work on the site.

Although her position at IDPromotions.com only paid her five hundred dollars a week, Ava was able to create her own entertainment news page for the site, solicit freelance work, reprint her magazine and newspaper articles, and sell ads on commission. Along with the money she received from child-support payments for her two sons and daughter, Ava was perfectly fine with the economics of her new position.

She saw the placement of her editorial office and joked, “Perfect, I’m right next to the bathroom. Was that by design?”

Ivan chuckled. He said, “Not really, but if it works it works.”