The boat promotions allowed Ivan to make legitimate friendships to pitch yacht and cruise ship owners on his plans to promote more cruise events and private yacht rentals, which also led him to conversations about private jets.

He found that the same wealthy individuals who bought and owned expensive cars and private boats also owned or had access to private jets.

“Now we’re right where we need to be,” he told his team of business plan and proposal writers. They worked overtime to win the confidence of new business friends and associates, including the new and long-standing clients of Hutch & Mitchell Accounting. They were all reintroduced to Mr. Ivan David as the marketing guru behind their first annual golf tournament, along with other professional networking events in the works.

Barry Mitchell pulled him aside at the tournament and asked him, “How does it feel now to come face-to-face and speak on equal par with the CEOs, Ivan?”

“I’m not on equal par yet,” Ivan told him. “But I’m okay with it. It just takes some getting used to, to know when to pitch business or when to just relax around them.”

Barry patted him on the back and said, “You’re right. But I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon enough. Generally, you have to wait until they ask you first.”

Ivan said, “Yeah, I figured that. And that’s what makes me a little anxious about it. I’m ready to pitch them every hour now.”

SUCCESSES IN various San Diego business arenas allowed Ivan to engage the San Diego Chamber of Commerce to organize and promote a large business expo event at the downtown convention center in 2005. Ivan figured a business expo at the convention center would open the door to other events and concerts there.

“Once the convention center management knows who we are, we can walk back in with other proposals,” he told Lucina.

It didn’t take long for Randy & Ralph Entertainment to reach back out to them for partnerships on concerts. They started off by offering to team up for Justin Timberlake, Usher, and Carrie Underwood, believing that Ivan and Lucina would be able to help them sell the younger pop and urban crowds.

“I told you how it works,” Ivan reminded his partner. “Now you can get your respect back, if you still wanna deal with these guys. Or we could wait to set up our own concerts for next year.”

He added, “All it takes is our relationships now. We got access to all the money we need, as long as it’s gonna be a big enough gain for everyone.”

On the strength of his website alone, Ivan was set to cross the millionaire mark by late September. He was already thinking about making his second million before the year was out. Lucina was halfway to a million herself through her share of their party and event promotions.