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Chapters (37)
  1. Cover
  2. Colophon
  3. ALSO BY OMAR TYREE
  4. Title Page
  5. Copyright
  6. Contents
  7. Introduction
  8. Part I
  9. One
  10. Two
  11. Three
  12. Part II
  13. Four
  14. Five
  15. Six
  16. Part III
  17. Seven
  18. Eight
  19. Nine
  20. Part IV
  21. Ten
  22. Eleven
  23. Twelve
  24. Part V
  25. Thirteen
  26. Fourteen
  27. Fifteen
  28. Part VI
  29. Sixteen
  30. Seventeen
  31. Eighteen
  32. Part VII
  33. Nineteen
  34. Twenty
  35. Twenty-one
  36. Closing Interview:
  37. About the Author

He drove up the street toward McCain Boulevard and their destination for a business lunch date in Coronado.

Lucina admired the car on their way. She said, “Look how far you’ve come already, Ivan.” She sounded proud of him.

“Look how far you’ve come,” he bounced back.

“No, I’ve already been where you’re going,” she teased him.

Ivan doubted that. Lucina may have traveled more, attended more big events, and seen more luxury, but Ivan considered himself nowhere near a finished product yet.

“Are you sure?” he asked her.

She stared into his colorful eyes with hers and challenged him. “I don’t know. You tell me.”

Ivan looked away and laughed. He said, “You just hang on in there with me. You’ll see how far I plan to go in a minute.”

Part VII

The Bottom Line

Nineteen

It’s Lonely at the Top

IN THE LATE SPRING of 2004, business transitions happened rapidly for Ivan and Lucina. Ivan hired his team of business plan and proposal writers to focus exclusively on deal-making as his new strength. He added Mike Adams to his team as his personal accountant to double-check all figures and validate Ivan’s position with the respected firm of Hutch & Mitchell. And Ivan offered to cut Chip and Perry Downing in as silent investors in Gaslamp parties, where he continued to market events with smaller promoters on his website.

“It’s the easiest money you could ever make,” he told them separately. “The only thing I ask you to do in return is always promote my name and brand in a positive light. Is that a deal?”

Perry Downing was all in. Chip Garrett, on the other hand, would rather have been a paid accountant for Ivan’s company like Mike. Nevertheless, flipping a few extra thousand dollars a month on parties was nothing to complain about. So he agreed to it.

Ivan’s powerful website at IDPromotions.com stepped up its viewer growth and support another notch online by strengthening its search rankings.

“We want to make sure that if anyone even types up the name ‘San Diego,’ they end up going through our site whether they like it or not,” he told his staff.

So each week they would create new traffic-driving web pages, like “San Diego’s Hottest New Talents,” where they spotlighted the best new singers, rappers, producers, actors, dancers, filmmakers, poets, artists, skateboarders, and athletes. They also created “San Diego Wants You!” a voting page for who the people of San Diego would love to see the most in person. Ivan created that idea from Lucina’s wish list of performers and celebrities.