“Oh, yeah,” Ivan mumbled. Look, just go ahead and get it over with, he repeated to himself. He said, “But you know what, to be honest with you guys, over the past six months or so I’ve been thinking more like a businessman than just an accountant. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about following up on a lot of the business conversations I started on Saturday. But while I’m at the office all day, there’s just no time for me to do it. So what I came up with is a way to continue to represent myself as well as Hutch and Mitchell Accounting on a marketing and consultant basis.”

John looked straight at him. “Which is?”

“I’ll spend the majority of my time out in the field closing deals, while using the Hutch and Mitchell brand name just like I do now,” he explained. “But since I’m trying to close a lot more deals now for IDPromotions.com than I am as an accountant, I would like to borrow a strong tax and accounting advisor to take with me from the office.”

John winced and looked at Barry. Barry then looked back at Ivan.

He said, “So…you want us to allow you to do business deals for your own company, while one of our accountants advises your clients on the best tax benefits?”

“That way we introduce new clients to the excellent practices of Hutch and Mitchell, while I make them money in business,” he told them. He said, “That’s how I’ve been getting new clients. They know who I work for. And when they see me making money and protecting it, they naturally want to make money with me and protect theirs as well. And we don’t want them just thinking about April before they decide to use a good accountant.”

John and Barry looked at each other and began to laugh. Ivan was being honest and vicious, and there was nothing they could do about it. His methods had obviously worked.

“A killer whale,” John insisted. “And just out of curiosity, what guy at the office would you want as your personal tax advisor?”

“Mike Adams,” Ivan answered. “He’s the sharpest. And Mike being out in the field will eventually make him more valuable to the company. He’ll learn how to close deals for himself soon.”

John shook his head and said, “He’s our best auditor, and April’s right around the corner.”

“We’ll do it after April, then,” Ivan told them.

Barry asked him, “Why not take Chip on as your personal advisor? You two seem to get along well at the office.”

Ivan stopped and shook his head. He said, “Chip is…well, I could use Chip in other ways, but I’d rather have Mike for what I need. He’ll do more listening and analyzing.”