Twas the day after Christmas

Morning folks!!

For everyone else it is the day after Christmas. For me it is the day my life changed. The day I entered into an unknown space of empty. In those days, just surfing and finding a site was exciting. The day I registered my first domain name and waited 24 hours before Netsol responded that I had gotten the domain. $100 and 24 hours. Today $7 dollars and a split second.

 

People still laugh when they hear about my "20 year plan"

 

TODAY, marks 14 years in the business for me. 14 years into a 20 year plan. 14 years. How mature is the domain industry really? How mature were you at 14?

 

Just look what has occurred in that 14 year span. At that time only 10% of businesses had an Internet connection and home use was even lower. Most folks had never been on the net yet. They heard about it. They knew it existed. Not all. Most. But it was a mystery of exactly what it was. That was 1995.

 

We are in the process of developing something more awesome than the Great Wall of China. More intense than Rome. More important than all the buildings in New York City. When history 100 years from now looks back at this period they will talk about it in glowing terms. Think of all the structures humans have built throughout the ages. Not a one of them or all of them combined will equal what the net will become. Not a one of them will compare to what the net has provided. Not a one of them will measure up to the incredible spirit of man to create something so limitless and boundless. They will be in awe because in 100 years they will have tools that make so much of this so primitive. The Internet is years and years away from the full potential it has. Much more than 20 years. It will just take folks 20 years to fully understand and exploit the Internet. 20 years before takeoff BEGINS not ends. 20 years to glue everything together and more than that. 20 years to get to the most basic reality of what will come in the next 20 years after that.

 

The seeds of frustration in the domain business is the lack of patience and understanding just how big a ship this is and how long it takes to turn a ship like this. To change the habits of 6 Billion people takes 20 years. But the most important bi-product the Internet will bring is opportunity for anyone on any corner in the universe to tap in and find and build their dream. When you stand back and look at the potential of what is coming it is something that brings me to speechless.

 

Have a GREAT day!

Rick Schwartz

Comments

[jyo]

Nice insight sir..U r true and straight on the matter.

[Terence Chan]

14 years of focus and perseverence, 14 years of believing in the .COM dream and the growth of the Internet, 14 years of fighting the cause for domain names, 14 years of putting yourself on the chopping block to skeptics - one heck of a journey for The "Domain King" - proclaimed, and in hard work and rhetorics, earned and reinforced, over 14 hard years.

Time flies, memory doesn't.

Have a great 2009 folks, being on the right side of the fence...Online..thank god.

[Scott Alliy]

Speechless? Now that's saying something!

BTW Rick, I agree that the world has yet to see what us domainers see about how valuable and important the net is yet to become.

The question I have is what will the Internet look like in 20 years and will those of us domain name owners who remain patient be rewarded.

In other words are we holding the future of the Internet or will the importance of domain names be minimized by other search or recognition features?

[Lucky Balaraman]

Great post, Rick, from another person who thinks the Internet is truly the greatest Wonder of the World.

It has transcended space and the associated time to traverse it.

It has placed enormous human knowledge at the fingertips of much of humanity.

It has brought people of different lands and creeds together as friends (like the people on this blog).

Thank God for it.

Best,

Lucky Balaraman

[RKB]

Nice read. I will be interested to hear what do you think of the remaining 6 years (especially in this economic mess) of your 20 year plan?

[RegFeeNames.com]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you Rick!

I think we all wish we had your insight 14 years ago and got into the domain industry.

Your 20 year plan is certainly one Im sure most people question 14 years ago but how good does it feel to say "I told you so"

You had the insight to take a risk and Im glad it has worked out for you!

The next six years are going to be exciting and I hope you have one killer payout in six years that shall have change our industry again.

Warm Regards,

Robbie

[Rob Sequin]

Agree completely.

This video http://tinyurl.com/7l9x5m (youtube link) is five minutes that will probably have an effect on your life.

All statistics about how big the world is in relation to the US and how technology is the future.

Shows that it took 30 years for television to reach 50 million viewers and took the ipod like 2 years.

Also, says if you are one in a million, well in China then there are 1300 people just like you.

I posted this video at the top of my site because it is so powerful and thought provoking and directly relevant to this post. (I have no ties to this video).

[Michael H. Berkens]

Rick

Happy Holidays!!!

If anyone ever wonders why people are successful, they need to look no further than to you my friend.

Wow to actually have a plan.

Any plan.

A 20 year plan.

How many people have any plan for their life?

For their business?

Few.

How many people are successful in their business life?

Yup its that dreaded 1% again.

[Wayne]

Rick,
The many years on your boards have been invaluable, an that's understating it! When I read your December 26 post, I had to come back the following day and read it again for its depth to sink into my slow mind. The internet has and will overcome most everything in my opinion.

[Steven Fox]

It's so huge that I can't believe only about 4% of the people realize it is the next real estate boom. If we can keep the government from stealing our domains. Yes stealing I said it. I think Barack Obama will be our friend. Thank god. With my site http://unitedstatesvicepresident.com , they might say that is ours and just seize it. It could happen like the gambling guys found out.

[singh]

Yes people are impatient and dont understand fully. It takes time and understanding.

[Kevin]

In terms of domaining, my big day of change was on Thursday, February 5, 2002, the day I first met Rick.

Rick had made a small short post on the YNOT board seeking a webmaster for some site projects which I e-mailed him on. I live about 15 minutes away so he invited me over to discuss the projects.

I'd been on the Net since it started, and had been doing web sites, but I hadn't gotten into domaining yet, until that day I met Rick and he told me his amazing life story and showed me his portfolio, which was mind boggling, with over 5,000 incredible domains. The domain bug hit me instantly as I browsed through page after page of prime Internet real estate.

I only wish it had been Feb 5, 1997. LOL

So as we head towards 7 years of successful deals and friendship, I have to say meeting Rick changed my entire business ventures focus and provided invaluable inspiration and so many exciting business opportunities, I can never thank him enough for all he's done as a one of a kind mentor over these years.

[Les]

If you fail to plan you plan to fail. Best of the new year. My new mantra is develop!! Good luck and happy new year!

[Michelle]

With so many jumping ship, its nice to read a positive post about the future

[Alex]

Been a while since visiting your blog. Some really good posts and still a flav of arrogance. Nonetheless, keep up the good work.

[domain guy]

one thing rick does not talk about much is that ricks
domains earned money from the beginning and still earn rick over 1 million a year.from the beginning ass.com earned 4k a month,
porno.com earns rick over 1 million a year..this allows rick to buy and keep and maintain over 4k+ domains a yr.in inventory
this also allows rick to have a direct feed because of ricks high traffic amount.most domainers just sit there hoping to sell a domain...the traffic does not cover their renewal fee.
so other domainers are in a completely different ballpark than the domain king.
also i want rick to address
complaints that i read about you because rick shut down your private board.
upset people ie schultz talk is out there complaining/backstabbing/politics
we do not like complaints about the domain king that are rumors and are not backed up by facts.just like a politican rick needs to address all compaints.

[Johan]

Interesting read Rick. Sounds like it might still be possible for people (like myself) new to the domaining business to get a piece of the cake and establish themself as eReal estators.

Is there anywhere we can read an outline of your 20 year plan?

/cheers Johan