Ivan nodded. He said, “That’s a good question. And what I realized was that IDPromotions.com was unique, but not as unique as BET. Bob Johnson had a very specific niche audience, and I had the same with marketing to San Diego. But once my company expands past S.D., I come into a very different world of competition. And where BET is still the only significant black television network on the market, once IDPromotions.com became a national company, there were thousands of other promotional websites to contend with. So I was able to maximize a sale of the company based on the numbers that we were doing locally and the numbers that we projected on the West Coast as a whole. In the meantime, I’m still connected to my brand, I still earn a significant salary, I maintain a very strong voice within the company, I acquired plenty of stock, and I get a chance to study how Dortch Media Group carries out business on the East Coast, with stock in their company.”

Levonia heard all that and nodded back to him. “Wow. It sounds like you know what you’re doing, then.”

Ivan smiled and told her, “Basically, I’m giving myself a chance to study the larger marketplace by freeing my hands. And as long as I stay smart and profitable with what I learn, I can always buy my company back on a good deal. That’s what big business and the stock market is all about. We’re all selling and buying. But sometimes when you get greedy without a plan, you can end up losing everything.”

“And you obviously have a plan?” she asked him rhetorically.

“Definitely,” Ivan answered. “With the fast run that I had here in S.D., I learned a great deal about a lot of things.”

He paused for a minute as the waitress brought his casserole and lemonade to place on the table away from the tape recorder.

“I’m sorry,” she commented to him.

Ivan raised a hand and shook it off. “I’m good, you’re just doing your job. Besides, I’m hungry.”

When the waitress walked away with a smile, Ivan took a bite and continued. “I learned a wealth of important business lessons here,” he stated. “And what I want to do now is study how all of those dynamics work on a larger scale around the nation, and then globally. How can you apply your business model in Chicago? New York? Africa? China? Brazil? I mean, it’s a pretty big world out there.”

As Ivan dug into his plate of food, Levonia jotted down his points. She grinned and said, “Well, I guess, with all of that in mind, you pretty much do need to have your hands free.”