Ivan looked out at the crowd and spotted his friends from the San Diego Urban League, the Chargers, the Padres, Hutch & Mitchell Accounting, Raymond’s Hot Spot Lounge, his attorneys, the Wine Cavern, and plenty of other business establishments, advertisers, sponsors, clients, new friends, and associates from the past year of party and website promotions. They were all there to continue to see him do well, including Ida and her mother, Carol.

Ivan concluded, “I believe that the purpose of networking is all about positioning ourselves for progress. So please, pull out your pens, business cards, and your best conversations, and let’s all make this a productive night.”

When Ivan finished his address to the audience, Lucina nodded to him and commented, “Well done.”

Ivan said, “Not without you. You made me have to work harder for it.”

She grinned and said, “A woman who knows how to make a man work harder is always a good thing to have.”

Ivan grinned and didn’t comment. They had far too much meeting and greeting to do, while Red Face Lion blended more safe music, spinning the classics of Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, and many others. He even mixed in some Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Stevie Wonder, and Lionel Ritchie.

Ivan and Lucina greeted bankers, Realtors, travel agents, car dealers, doctors, dentists, professors, lawyers, artists, musicians, painters, pet care shop owners, managers of tourist attractions, venture capitalists, computer software makers, chefs, chamber of commerce officials, media professionals, publicists, military officers, contractors, architects, filmmakers, television executives, and the list went on. Many of them had ready suggestions of how Ivan’s business could help theirs.

“I noticed your website has nothing for San Diego pet care.”

“Well, with a pet care sponsor, we can put that right up for you. Just email my sales executive at [email protected] and let him know what you would like to suggest.”

Ivan took a business card and wrote Eddie’s email address and position on the back of the card. He would let his sales staff handle it from there.

“Thank you. I’ll do that.”

“What about a health-care page?” a female doctor asked him.

“Good idea,” Ivan told her. “And we could spotlight the different San Diego doctors in different fields. All we would need is for three to five of you guys to show genuine interest, or just have a lone sponsor for the page.”

“How much is a page sponsorship?”

Ivan wrote Eddie’s email address on the back of another business card. He had brought a box of a thousand that evening, and Lucina’s assistants had them ready in hand for Ivan each time he reached for one.

“Email my sales executive and he’ll work with you on the rates.”