Time Capsule December 27, 2000

Morning folks!!

This is going to be another “Time Capsule” post. This post I made on December 27, 2000 on my 5^th year on the net. You will see I say we are entering “Phase 2.” That is particularly appropriate today as I believe we are now beginning “Phase 3” of all this. So this post is a little over 7 years old. The more things change, the more things stay the same. If recollection serves me right, this post was made just a few months before the collapse. Hope you find a tidbit of value.

 

“My 5 year anniversary is TODAY.

And for the record......the net is 5 years ahead of where I expected it would be at this point in time.

Lipservice.com started this and has even survived WIPO.

The #1 question was always why aren't you building sites? Actually it wasn't really a question, it was more of an accusation. An assault on my judgment. A put down. Now 5 years later I can explain this, and with MATH, can prove it to be a safer and smarter road to travel than any other I could have chosen. My proof are all the dotcom failures laying on the side of the road.

The first year was the darkest. I felt so all alone but knew I was not. The Internet was little more than a wasteland of "Under construction" signs or the first generation carcasses of a website that would remain. There were other domain speculators that I would run into time and again. We were mining the same mountains and the same veins at times. There were not many full timers then. Perhaps about 12 guys that I would run into. In those days the ONLY thing that gave me motivation to plow forward was losing a domain by just a day or two. I knew at that point I was hot on the trail. At $100 a pop it got expensive pretty quick. But I believed in what I was doing so strongly that I could not stop myself. It was like a disease. I was hooked. All day....all night. Mostly THINKING of domains that could be important pieces of property in a few years. And where were the bills?? Netsol had not billed me for over 100 domains for MONTHS. I would pay for what I could afford and risk losing ones that I had to wait to pay. But I did eventually pay for them all. If netsol had not done that I doubt I would be where I am. They gave me financing and that made the difference. Hence my respect for incompetence.

It was November of 1996 that I hooked up my first 300 domains. All adult and all pointing to the same place. (A trick in those days that few knew could be done). I made okay money until ONE day in March of 1997. The day I learned to ftp and to manipulate a simple web page. THAT changed my life and my destiny!! My first day of traffic experimentation had begun and while others made ,005 a click or a penny a click. I made a dime a click and more. I thought my calculator was broken. But then the checks started coming I realized my calculator was not broken. I had indeed harnessed some very potent traffic. That led me to the ynot board in April of 1997. A place that changed my life like this place has hopefully changed some lives. It looked and sounded a lot like it does here but with a few REAL geniuses and many VERY sharp individuals. Folks I could never match. Folks that are sharper when they sleep than I am when I am awake. WOW!! I was in awe. But I decided to work my way in and while coming out of left field I had something to bring to the table, the most potent traffic anyone had ever seen. It was the first time anyone called me a "Webmaster" and I felt like I lowered all webmasters by being one myself with NO SKILLS that a webmaster would have. My motto: "If you can cut and paste it, I can do it!"

The #2 question was always why don't you have employees working on this all the time building new sites? First of all it would have been a DISTRACTION for me. I was in a unique crossroads of life and I focused on domains like a laser going thru a peephole. It was more important to run in directions never gone before than to stop and invest the time where everyone else was. Besides, I understood that things would get CHEAPER in time. It was in my best interest to move slowly with development and run like a panther to obtain those domains to develop.

For example when I came along $39.95/mo for an adult site was next to impossible to get. I refused to be put on an adult server cuz of their history of getting clogged with traffic and thus putting you out of business. So you were lucky to get $50 a month sites. Many paid $299 A MONTH per domain. I understood that these prices would only come down in time. Today you can get it for free, or just a few $$$ a month. Imagine having a thousand domains and paying $50,000 a month for hosting. I would have been out of business before I started. So while I opened my first domain and had my first site built on this day, it was another 11 months before I hooked up the next adult domain.

I remember when nobody believed that I got my traffic by typeins. They did not believe that folks would type an address on the browser bar. They were great techies, but they did not understand that when they would start to advertise a .com on the tv that people would get there via the browser bar entry. You may laugh at that now, but that was the sort of silly stuff I had to overcome with LOADS of other crap. They called me names and by the time they figured out I was right on the mark, I had bought every domain I could think of and knew it could not be duplicated.

Bottom Line.....my way, it is not the only way. It is not the best way. But it was my way. It worked for me. While THOUSANDS of others tanked, with THOUSANDS of employees and BILLIONS of dollars invested by faithful stockholders it was all wasted for they had no plan.

Bottom line.....i went thru the jungle, the desert, the doubters, the laughers, etc etc and I am still on my campaign!! I have SURVIVED!!!!! May others have survived too. But WE are the true warriors!!

So I toot my own horn today. I am proud of what I have accomplished and realize it is only NOW that it TRULY begins. I knew the day I started that it would be many years before the soup would be ready to serve.

Today is the begining of phase 2. I go into it with several hundred active sites and about 125,000 daily unique visitors scattered among them. Now it is time to focus on growing that traffic and linking the sites together. Most orbit independently but that will eventually change.

5 years ago it could have cost me tens of thousands for an obsolete site. Today for a few hundred bucks you can get state of the art site and with the collapse, there is some real talent running around. While I still don't have a clue how to do most things on the net I have been able to accomplish the one thing few have done and that gives me a great advantage. I know how to turn a profit. A footnote for most, but profit is my guiding light and everything else is bullshit.

Build it small and make it work, growth will occur. Build it big with no direction and you get the problems most .coms are now facing.

The turtle wins EVERY time!!!

Remember one thing.......You can have ANYTHING in this world if you REALLLLLLY want it. Those that doubt this, they are 100% right!!

Have a GREAT 2001!!

Domain King
Wed Dec 27 07:32:52 2000  - message #284

Comments

[Farid]

Nice as usually.
It seems to me that is me in 2007 when I am reading about you in 2000.
Hope to be like you in 7 years.

[Jeff Schneider]

Hello Rick

I can identify with your perspective completely as I was one of the developers that crashed and burned shortly after your post. I too remember the 100$s a pop for a name that I was also paying at that time. It was a painful period but I learned what not to do in the process. Now as you say I can buy names for under 10$. You have brought back bitter sweet memories, but as they say I wouldnt change a thing if I could. Thanks for the memories.

Jeff Schneider

[inquisitve]

dear rick,
great background..what i wanted to learn about you. but you were grossing a million dollars form a 10x10 bedroom i dont know in what industry buy this was the platform that gave you the financial wherethal to get ionto the domain market right?
neesd to learn more

[toxicis]

Domain King.. rofl, you're the domain king in your own mind.

[Art]

I find your post a bit pompous but hey you made it and earned it, so good for you. My belief is, if you had idea and implemented before someone else, you earned it.

You took risk and it paid off, you could have crushed and burned but you didn't and thats where i think those who start out now, before, or will start later will truly shine, jump in head first and see what happens.