If you Poo Pooed the iPhone, What Else did you get Wrong??

Morning Folks!!

To get the future right you MUST calibrate the past. You must go back and see what you got right and what you got wrong. It's not always the easiest thing especially when you focus on what we each did wrong or got wrong. 6 years ago this month and several times thereafter I made some very bold statements. Let's see how I did. I may not be right, but I am always "Certain". ;-)

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But yesterday I read Eric Borgos's post about his iPhone and how it changed his life. Eric's Life Changed 6 Years Ago and Didn't Even Know it Until Now!

I spent a lot of time writing about the iPhone back in June 2007 and later  this in 2009. By 2010 I had the 4th iPhone. Then the iPad that I wrote about Here and Here.. I was told about all the new smartphones that were coming and they were right but it did not matter because the iPhone was just SO much better. And it still is. I grabbed a Galaxy S4 a few weeks ago. Not bad. But not great. Much better than Blackberry's but no match for the iPhone. Don't take my word. just read how it transformed Eric's life and it has transformed mine as well.

I would go out on a limb to say that the iPhone is the smallest most powerful device ever invented. And it's big brother the iPad has transformed almost every business I see. From restaurants to hospitals to schools. To underestimate these devices by anyone is a huge mistake. And btw, make sure you read the comments on those past posts. That will also tell you now only who gets things right, but who gets things wrong as well.

Also, list your favorite apps. Eric gave a great tip yesterday. "My iPhone was not just a cool device for me to use, but a replacement for my entire office. I could do things like scan documents (by taking a photo), sign contracts (using the Hellosign.com app), send faxes (using Hellofax.com)"

I grabbed the app and it is GREAT!!

What are your top apps? Are you up to sharing. I have several hundred. Florida Restaurant Inspections is a great one too. Before you go into a restaurant it tells you the violations the health dept. slapped on them and how many. GREAT app!. I also use "Nexia" to control all my thermostats remotely for my properties. Here is my App Post.

There are many things I prefer doing on my PC. I mean my Mac. I switched to Apple for everything within a year of getting the iphone. I can't go back and I get sick to my stomach when I am forced to. Which by the way, is never. Only when I TEST. Yes, I speak from experience . I still have a PC and I got the Microsoft tablet. LOL!! I mean really? I fire it up for about 15 minutes every other month and just shake my head.

The iPhone is my office in the pocket. I can do anything, anywhere and do it FAST!  It is the single most used item I own and the one time it broke cuz I dropped it, I needed detox within 20 minutes. Here is my post about iphone turning 5 years old. In 2009 I stated the Blackberry was dead and it is still dying.

So while Eric went out of his way to tell you not to run out and buy an iphone I am telling you since 2007  that it is in your best interest to at least own one! Like Eric I used the iphone as a back up phone to start. By  the end of the first week I was hooked like a junkie!

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

 

Distinguish or Isolate? That it the gTLD Question to Answer!

Morning Folks!!

I really think the BIG gamble comes down to whether the new gTLD's will Distinguish a BRAND or isolate that BRAND. And that question MOSTLY applies to .BRANDS. Now that gamble for them is not huge and companies will always find inventive ways to use a  .Apple or a  .Dell. But many of the brands will keep their .BRAND on a shelf for potential future use or even internal use.

So they can distinguish themselves as .Apple but there could be a downside as well as it could isolate them. But I don't think so. I like .BRAND. I just have very mixed reservations about .WHATEVER as this is the real .CRAP shoot. Plus we already have some substantial evidence as far as success and values when compared to .com. The confusion factor. They are FORCED to switch back to .com as you can read here!

This is NOT opinion. This is EVIDENCE and as business people we MUST know the difference between opinion, sales and propaganda or it is costly if not dire.

When ANY company loses 35%-61% of their marketing efforts on CONFUSION, they can either change course QUICKLY or go out of business. BOTH of these companies did just that. They had to read the numbers and watch their eyes bleed!

Personally I think the biggest winners will be .TV, .ME, and one or two other extensions that had MANY years to take off with much less competition. That is an opinion. But there is also growing evidence. .TV is a natural but after some 15 years it is just now gaining some traction. But .TV means something. ME means something as we live in a world of Me's.

So from an investing standpoint it is quite different and I HOPE you have YOUR 20 year plan.

But whether we see great successes or great failures this is the point where things move in a very big way. These new gTLD's will provide the fuel I see to go where I believe this ship is going. That is an opinion. But it is based in FACTS and EVIDENCE. It is based on watching things very closely for a very long time. It is based on history. And our job is to just keep score and see what picture it paints. It won't paint that picture in 2013. But by the end of next year we will have a BOATLOAD of new information. Be skeptical. Most will be hype and deals done with friends and family or ones where no money exchanges hands.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Spied on, Listened to, Lied to and Mislead. And that was Just Monday!

Morning Folks!!

June 2013 may go down in history  as one of the worst American months ever.

Politics has been turned on its head as we learned that we were  Spied on, Listened to, Lied to and Mislead and then it gets worse from there as we are poised for war in Syria and beyond. Just a shiny object to distract? Great day!

So as long as they are reading our emails, I will just write them all in public from now on. How about you? lol

When Glen Beck and Michael Moore agree, well then we have something new and extraordinary. It gives me cover to actually write something political. The lines have been blurred, crossed and many are rethinking what they think. SOME of this is worse than inexcusable.

The NSA has Clapper the liar.  The FBI has Muller the incompetent that can't name anyone at the FBI investigating the IRS scandal. The National Security Advisor, Donilon, has been the one accused at the White House of leaking for years and then of course being replaced by Susan Rice who went everywhere at the direction of you know who and LIED all over 5 Sunday shows. Hillary is nowhere to be found and that call at 3AM did not even go to Bill. It just got unanswered. But what does it matter??? So we left our folks to hang out there and get TORTURED!! The NEW American way and it is sickening to me. How about you?

About 10 years ago Putin stated they have the KGB and the USA has the IRS. Looks like he was on to something. When that BITCH at the IRS took the 5th, she should have been arrested, given immunity and then spilled the beans.

So we are about to see something very interesting with our politicians, our population, our morality and our values.  Who will win out? What will win out? Party? Country? Moral character? Watch very closely. These scandals make Watergate look like an afternoon Tea Party and is a THREAT to each and everyone reading this no matter where you live and no matter what political persuasion that you are. TYRANNY is a HORRIBLE way to live!

The excuse makers and protectors will be in full dress for the foreseeable future. But there is NO EXCUSE for us to be Spied on, Listened to, Lied to and Mislead and to IGNORE that............

Rick Schwartz

 

Hoping is Not a Business Strategy!

Morning Folks!!

The more I talk to folks the more I see they always have a missing link to their business plan. They fill that gap with "Hope" instead of a solid plan or even a number of plans. Hope is also the code name for Google rankings and traffic. They hope this and they hope that but hope is not enough to bend the needle. "Will" outranks "Hope." "Desire" even outranks "Hope". Almost everything outranks "Hope."

We all do it but "Hope" is not proactive, it is passive. Hope is wishing and waiting and not doing much to make it happen. DOING makes things happen. Hope is as good as a wish. They are equals. Thus you have two very different types of people from the get go.

"Hope" you enjoyed my little post. :-)

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Rick’s Guide to Making Friends in Business. LOL!

Morning Folks!!

Some folks don't like me. But it is almost never for what I did to them personally but it is almost always about my thoughts and words. They are pointed, sharp and direct. And they are also accurate as I view the world. So deal with it. Here is a perfect example. Let me piss off  MORE folks than I make friends with just by the following LOGICAL thought:

"If you did not see the recession or depression coming what qualifies you to see when it is ending?"

Seems like a fair question from where I sit. If I were looking for an answer to an unknown I would disqualify those that got the big one wrong the first time and at least start with the folks that saw it coming.

Lots of domainers disappeared over the last 5 years. Many others are still struggling to stay afloat. The single biggest reason was they did not see what was coming, were not prepared for it and reality foiled their dreams.

"If you did not see the recession or depression coming what qualifies you to see when it is ending?"

That's a very in your face question since most people did not see it coming they might be offended. So I am on the wrong side of math if I am trying to make friends. When you are like me and don't go along with conventional wisdom you are already at a disadvantage before we start.

Well, I would rather be at a disadvantage, have less friends, then to get things wrong. How's that?

And in 2007/2008 when I did write about it and prepare for it the same people got pissed. It's predictable because human nature has so many folks CONTROLLED instead of them controlling HUMAN NATURE. So who is going to like me when they think I have it upside down? I feel bad that they don't get it. I feel bad that they think I am talking down to them. I feel bad that in fact they are the ones that had it upside down. But they are blind to the energy I use to try and let them see what I see.

So that leaves us with an industry of multiple groups in multiple stages. One that is doing very well. One that has disappeared. One that is struggling for survival. And then there is the new group that comes in at the deepest and darkest times and is aggressive and will be making names for themselves. There are subgroups to that.

So to me it is plain to see that the depth and worst of what we have gone thru is well over. And while it still may take months and years to build up and regenerate, that is exactly what we are doing as the pace of things begin to pickup and before you know it. BOOM! And when the market does flip the switch, even after years it can happen overnight. The tide is rising. Period!

Will there be crisis? You bet!! Lots of bad things are still going to happen. Enjoy!! Profit from it! You make money by predicting an outcome and getting it right because the TIMING was right.

"Take advantage of folks that think it is going to get worse and have bills to pay!"

That made me more friends! Yes? Of course not. But that statement is also a FACT that makes the world go round. So the angry masses think it is more important to be angry with me stating a fact than it is understanding the FACT! That's the point!

Many folks are distracted by shiny objects and easy to be charmed. That made me more friends! Yes? Of course not.

But now lots of good is also happening when compared to nearly 100% stagnation and worse. The economy is a tide that affects all of us in some degree. But just like a surfer learns to ride a wave, YOU can learn how to ride the economy of tides and win no matter what when you step back and see the cycles. Cycles that are natural and cycles caused by man.

I'm just sayin' what I am seein' and from what I see the worst is well over, the summer and fall will begin to accelerate and I think 2014-2016 are gonna be years filled with great growth and opportunity. Folks are sick and tired of being sick and tired and THAT is the point in which things turn around. It does not turnaround everywhere at once. It is area by area and sector by sector. But we are in the midst of a new cycle. There will still be plenty of bumps. But 2009 is GONE, DEAD and BURIED even tho some of the stink lingers and you still see the damage that has been done.

Bottom line. Things ARE moving and shaking out there and that is a lot different from what we have witnessed over the past few years when few moved, few shook and few were buying while many were selling.

And so while 80% will never like me and never consider me a friend, I just LOVE the 20% that get it and do!

Those are the folks that mean the most but most of my energy is used to try to sway some of the 80% to break the shackles of their own thoughts and nature. Why? Because I was them at one time and I know the difference between the two schools as well as anybody else in the 20%. Each and every one of them was an 80%er at some point in their life. Just ask them. But the 80% have yet to be in the 20%.

Believe me I have the ability to win over the 80%. I just tell them what they want to hear whether I believe it or not. I blow smoke up their ass cuz they want to hear what they like. It's like telling a kid a bedtime story. The more they hear what they like the nicer and more charming you are. And that has how much value in BUSINESS?? So the 80% need to learn one thing. Their BIGGEST enemy is hanging out with 80%ers telling them what they want to hear instead of hanging with the 20%ers and figuring out what they are missing. That made me more friends! Yes? Of course not.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

 

Procter and Gamble’s Biggest Management Shakeup in 100 Years?

Morning Folks!!

Let's not minimize or maximize the Reverse Domain Name hijacking (RDNH) decision that came down against Procter and Gamble (P&G) over Swash.com back in March. But for a stellar company like P&G it is a black eye they should have never gotten.

So lets just deal with a few facts. This was what I wrote about the fallout back then.

This was my open letter to the CEO Bob McDonald that followed.

That was besides personally contacting each and every communications director for a comment without a single response.

But let's look and see what has happened in the days since. Exactly 90 days if you are counting.

The CEO, Mr.McDonald, steps down "effective immediately" at the beginning of Memorial Day weekend on May 23rd.  "Robert McDonald's four-year struggle to adapt Procter & Gamble Co. to a new world of more frugal consumers and tougher global competition has come to an abrupt end."

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Did "Frugal" (another word for CHEAP) include giving him or those that report to him the order to try and grab Swash.com?

But that is not all. Then just DAYS later P&G announces "Organization changes". MASSIVE changes. I then asked myself when in my lifetime did I ever see a shakeup like this at Procter and Gamble and I just can't remember one. Can you? They even picked the former ceo A.G. Lafley to get the compnay back on track. Both men in the industry for well in excess of 30 years.

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A.G. Lafley. Chairman, CEO, President

Straw that broke the camels back? I guess we will never know. But it was a straw and that STAIN remains with this company FOREVER! It happend and somebody in their organization made a very costly and unfortunte mistake. A mistake that could rise to the level of ending a career.

So as domain name investors this is a case we can point other would-be hijackers to which will let them know that no company no matter how big or small are immune to a decision like this and the repercussions that come both personally and professionally. Ignorance is no longer an excuse.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

 

Heinz Introduces GREEN Ketchup. Outsells Red 2-1 Within One Week!

Morning Folks!!

The most surprising thing about people is how gullible we/they are. Fish you expect to bite on the bait and be dumb. But people have brains but don't question things. They swallow facts whether true or not. Here is my tiny little example.

There is one small invention over the last few years that has the potential to save more  energy and moneythermo than solar and wind combined. It may have already done it. Such a simple device. I got my first one in about 2007. Cost about $75. But if WE are programmed, then we miss the program.

In my example, programmable thermostats can save more money in 3 years than all the solar panels in the world in the last 30 years. Now I just made this up. It is what I call an assumption. A fact yet to be discovered. But I will believe what I just made up because to me it is simple. And of course, that is before I even get into the costs and politics.

So opportunity means you look at things in a different light and don't swallow things without questioning it. My point here is 100% valid. My example may also be 100% valid. The losers are the ones that can't even open their minds long enough to consider my assumption. They are so controlled and programmed that they lose their ability to break away from a habit.

It's simple and the little things. You put your socks on the same foot first probably every morning. Shock yourself by putting the other sock on first. Force yourself to look and see things differently.

That my friends is where opportunity resides. And as far as the Green Ketchup from Heinz, I made that up. Happy June Fools!  Or at least I thought I did until I googled it looking for an image and found Heinz actually did this. One of the great FLOPS of all time!

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Now it is time to re-bait my hook for another post!

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Champions and Challengers.

Morning Folks!!

In 2007 I wrote about it and prepared for it cuz I saw in coming.

In 2008 we were in New York City when they were jumping out of windows.

In 2009, 2010, 2011 we lived thru the fallout.

In 2012 we started rising from the ashes and by the end of 2013 we may be roaring back. My first post about this just 2 days ago.

Folks need to learn what recessions look like. Both going into a recession and coming out of a recession. The tide is rising. Not for all. There are many many folks that the tide is still getting lower. They have yet to bottom out. But for the vast majority, folks have adjusted to the new normal and that brings the market back to more normal levels for those that have survived.

Now there are plenty of challenges we still face. But that is all they are, challenges. How do you approach a challenge? Do you approach it as a challenger or a Champion? It makes a difference. It makes a difference in the outcome and the path. And if you do it right, sometimes you will come to it as a challenger and sometimes you will come to it as a champion. But you should always walk away victorious.

The worst is over and the earlier you realize that the more you can take advantage of it. There will be movement this summer and it will continue into the fall and then I think 2014, 2015 and 2016 could be rip-roaring good!

That's what I see. Take it or leave it. Your choice. But imho we have turned the corner from survival mode to something that will produce lots of movement and new opportunity.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

The Finanical Recession is Over. But a Recession of the Mind Remains and Lingers.

Evening Folks!!

Over the past few years most companies and people have had an up and down review and a full inventory of where they were at and where they were headed. It was forced. The times dictated our actions. That made us leaner, meaner and smarter. Growth happens when we are challenged in a big way and overcome the obstacles. Once you learn to overcome obstacles and exercise that power, nothing can really hold you back.

So those with a keen grasp of what I just said see opportunity regardless of the "Times".

Some are victim of the times and others are empowered by the times. It's mind control more than anything else. Can you control your mind? Can you control what you see? Can you control where you go? Can you control where you are headed? Can you control yourself? Can you control an outcome? Can you control a result? Can you control your thoughts? Can you control learning? Can you control negative and positive?

Add 100 more. You will find you can control most of them but many have US controlled and maybe it is time in life to sit down and separate the two if you are not where we want to be or going in the direction we want to go. See others are and they deal with the same BS you and I do. However they can overcome it? Why? How? Maybe they know what they can and can't control.

And folks like that do it over and over again. In face of this or that. Sure, sometimes the pace slows down. But that's all it is. The pace slowing down and adjusting to it or resisting it. But not being a victim of it. Victims of this or that or even fear so many times set themselves up to end up that way. You can set things up for success or set things up for the unknown and worse.

I think the day we realize just how much control we do have is the day things change in our lives. So you can sort groups out all types of ways. Negative people and positive people. People that control what they need to and those that look to blame others.

But the most stunning thing is seasoned business people not knowing the difference between what they can and can't control and how they react to that. They mistake really bad times and low tide. Tides are an expected event. It can't be changed. But I see many react like it is a surprise event. I see all too often folks reacting to a tide and not really to the bigger picture. It then becomes confusing. I think separating those things is paramount in the path to success wherever your path may lead or whatever path you might choose.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Ritz-Carlton Reservations Now Open

Morning Folks!!

Wow!! Been quite a week! Between wrapping up the Las Vegas show, the red-eye home then opening up the October, Annual Show, and recuperating from the last few weeks, this is the first time I have had time to have some time. Was this really one week? I think this week started some time in mid May! ;-)

Just a quick note to let you know that reservation choices for the Ritz for the October T.R.A.F.F.I.C. are now open and online.

Here is the link for an Oceanfront King Room at $295/night. Run of house goes for $275.

There are a limited amount of these rooms so book now.

Show dates are October 20-23rd with Cabana Networking beginning on Saturday the 18th.

Rooms with 2 double beds are the hardest to get and should be booked early as well.

Here is the link with some other options

The hotel will run out of rooms before we run out of tickets. So secure your choices early.

This is a 5 star oceanfront hotel built in 2007 with 192 rooms. We will sell out the hotel.

We have outgrown this hotel as you will see and that is why we have a new and larger venue for 2014 and 2015. We will announce the venue later this year. But it is somewhere between Delray Beach and Havana. ;-)

It will be hard to compete with the service level of the Ritz-Carlton. They have graciously hosted us in 2011 and 2012 and is only hotel other than the Venetian in Las Vegas that has hosted 3 or more of our 26 shows. So before summer distracts you, make your plans early and get the most out of TRAFFIC. As folks will tell you when we say T.R.A.F.F.I.C. MEANS B.U.S.I.N.E.S.S........we deliver!

Rick Schwartz