He continued, “But my biggest weakness…that would probably be…” Ivan honestly couldn’t think of anything. His two-year run had been nearly flawless. But he knew he had to say something. So he came up with, “My age. While you’re still young, you got such a big learning curve to go through, you know. Fortunately, I haven’t made a lot of mistakes yet.”

Vance listened to him, took a sip of his wine, and nodded again.

He said, “A young age can also be a huge advantage. You get a head start on the competition. It’s like getting up early in the morning for war. You capture your enemy before they’re even awake.”

Ivan took a sip of his own wine. He said, “Let me ask you a question.”

Vance looked at him and said, “Go ahead.”

Ivan asked him, “What nationality are you, you know, your bloodline?”

Vance grimaced as if it were a hard question to answer. “Ah…Scottish, German, Dutch, some Native American. Why do you ask?”

Ivan smiled when he said “some Native American.” Did that make him nonwhite, like the one-drop-of-African-blood rule?

He said, “I’m just curious to know if you believe that it’s harder, easier, or about the same for a black man to become a millionaire in this country as it is for a white man.”

As his two assistants sat deathly still in their chairs up front, overhearing Ivan’s question, Vance answered, “Well…if you look at the percentages of black people who live in this country as compared to whites and others, I would say that there’s a lot of black millionaires in this country, who surely started out with much less. But you can also say that for some Mexicans, Koreans, and Filipinos. But I think the key for any race or gender to become wealthy in any country is to have an undying drive. It’s just a never-say-die mentality, you know. You gotta have that in your makeup. Or you’ll never make it.”

Ivan nodded back to him and said, “Yeah…I know.”

Vance asked him, “Is that it?”

Ivan closed his eyes and reclined in his chair. He answered, “Yup.” There was no more overselling, only basic small talk with Vance on the jet plane ride. Ivan planned to do the majority of his work at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. And he couldn’t wait to see what kind of business opportunities would present themselves there.

Twenty-one

Let’s Do It Again

JUST AS THE PRIVATE JET reached the New York city skyline, Vance woke Ivan from his rest and told him, “You don’t want to miss this if you’ve never been to New York before.”