Time Capsule Circa Dec. 2000. Recap of the first 5 Years in Domaining

Morning Folks!!

Not sure how he finds this stuff, butOwenfound this today. I hope you enjoy it. Then check out the first comment. Also from then, posted a few minutes later. I love being on record. Right or wrong. Set in stone. It is the ultimate test and grade. This is why I say, 'Time is my Best Ally.' A little sweeter as this is now the 5th anniversary of TRAFFIC.



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 - 216.34.244.106 - message #2845




11 thoughts on “Time Capsule Circa Dec. 2000. Recap of the first 5 Years in Domaining

  1. Rick Schwartz

    Rick, congratulations! The pioneers always get the arrows. But, they also get to stake first claims to the prime real estate :)
    Mark Twain said the way to be successful was to find out where people were going –and get there first!
    There are two types of people: workers –and– investors.
    In order to be good at the latter, you must be a contrarian with thick skin and a strong stomache, willing to buy when everyone else is selling, willing to draft blueprints on land that is presently swamp, willing to risk it all, willing to endure the nattering nabobs of negativism, and above all, willing to fail time and time again –so that you can succeed.
    You have proven yourself. You have taught us alot. Thank you.
    Wed Dec 27 08:06:50 2000 – 152.163.201.187 – message #2847
    (You would be surprised to learn who posted this comment)

    Reply
  2. Donny

    Rick – Where is that article you had about how you got started in the business. It was written before 2000.

    Reply
  3. Dave Wrixon

    “If you can cut and paste it, I can do it!”
    With a motto like that, you should have made a great IDNer.

    Reply
  4. Kevin

    This was so true in the early years. No real infrastructure yet and everything that was there was expensive as hell.
    I remember when the credit card companies were still trying to get their first online systems together to do Internet card processing.
    Seems like we’ve all been at this for our whole lives and yet it’s only been about 15 years. LOL

    Reply
  5. UFO

    I’m bored Rick so I’ll hit you with some economics. Things are going to get better.
    US % growth
    2.14 2007
    0.44 2008
    (2.73) 2009
    1.52 2010
    2.77 2011
    2.62 2012
    2.49 2013
    2.13 2014
    Now in 2011 the US is projected to continue on its long run growth rates.
    Hence, the stockmarket is due to kick off as soon as the market has enough confidence it really will. Using DFC on those numbers should point to a DOW above 12000 right here and right now (all things being equal)..
    So, If 2011 is back to normal then by the end of next year the market should be in the 12000+ territory.
    As I said earlier in July, we have a 2 speed economy. Globalisation has sold the semi skilled and”offshoreable” down the road.

    Reply
  6. Steve M

    Thanks for (continuing) great info and insight, Rick.
    Your time and effort is much appreciated.

    Reply
  7. Alex

    thanks rick. have bought 10 fully developed sites in the past 3 months due to your guidance. Have no development skills and I am a 23 year old recent college grad. kickin ass and takin names. thanks for blazing a trail.

    Reply
  8. domain guy

    this indicates that just having good domains ie ass. com,porno.com,etc there still were problems getting hosting and websites built.
    a great domain was not enough.another point more than 10 yrs later people still have problems comprehending that the browser type in traffic is gold.this is highlighted by the candy.com sale and failure by the top 3 firms
    not realizing what occured here.the same problem 10 yrs later. in addition you have proven this point and few have harnessed your wisdom.also shows what a sharp entreprenur can accomplish instead of educating the masses/webmasters you focused on acquiring domains.after the dust cleared it was too late to do anything.this also indicates how small the domain market really is….

    Reply

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