He said, “We want to hit it and hit it hard with plenty of sugar. That means we want to make sure that everyone enjoyed themselves first, and then we reiterate all of our strengths and services here at I.D. Promotions. Eddie K. will guide all of our sales staff on the ad and sponsorship rates, as well as our availabilities for the month, the quarter, and for the year. Ava Tate will guide all of our new editorial content. And Jeff and Paul will design up to six new web pages, as well as upgrade our existing pages.”

“Whew, sounds like a whole lot of work this week,” Jeff commented.

Ivan said, “And we may not be able to finish everything this week, but since it is such a heavy load on all of us, I’ve forced myself to allow the idea of giving everyone a thousand-dollar bonus.”

That idea cheered his staff up immediately. They exclaimed it in the room.

“Yeah! All right! I can surely use it!”

Ivan added, “Now, some of us are going to be doing more work than others, but it’s up to all of us to work together as a team to make sure that everyone gives the proper effort that we’ll need to pull this week off.”

After his staff address, Ivan had a few private words with Eddie upstairs in his back office.

Eddie smiled and said, “That was quite another speech from you, Ivan. You’re impressing me more and more every day.”

Ivan didn’t thank him for the compliment. Instead, he told him, “I’ve been thinking all day about the possibilities of this company, Eddie. And it’s time to jump on this fast horse and ride it all the way now. So, for the people who can’t take the pace, I need to know who they are as soon as possible.”

Eddie K. nodded and understood him. He said, “I guess this’ll be the last paycheck for a lot of them, hunh?”

Ivan just stared at him. His motives were obvious to a sales veteran like Eddie.

Ivan said, “I’m just being fair with them, more than fair. And I’m also being realistic. This is a serious company now. So I need people who are really ready to work.”

Eddie grinned and said, “I know.”

“You also know that I can’t continue to serve two masters,” Ivan confided in him. “I need to get out there and make these bigger deals happen all day long now. I can’t do it just over lunch hours.

So I’m trying to figure out how I can create a consultant position with Hutch and Mitchell, like you did with the newspaper.”