The Pyramid Inside the Pyramid. How to Approach any Situation and have Success!!

Morning Folks!!


Some posts are about domains, some posts are about life and some posts are about history. This one is all 3.


In every situation, problem or challenge the #1 job is identifying the single most important piece or the most time consuming piece or the piece of the puzzle that has the longest lead time. I call that 'The top of the Pyramid'. See if you get that one wrong, you automatically fail before you even start. To recover from that is difficult and you will always be wasting good energy recovering from not identifying the top of the pyramid.



It illustrates my example that if you sail the Atlantic from New York and your destination is London and you end up in AFRICA......your problem did not start when you landed on the shores of Africa. It started before you even sailed from New York. The top of the Pyramid! With just some proper planning and identifying a few things they could have made it to London. But when I tell people that almost ALL failure happens at the beginning, they just shrug their shoulders, laugh and continue on the path of failure. Remember, human nature wires us upside down and we need to be disciplined to break the cycle of failure.



When you identify the top of the pyramid right, your job is easier and chances of success is greater.



For example. The Internet. If you approach that wisely you would know that the domain name is the top of the pyramid. In this case it is a tough call. Because the 'Idea' could also be on the top of the Pyramid. Usually the choice is much more vivid and distinct. But on this one they both have a lot of weight. So then it becomes the chicken or the egg and we can debate that for years. And we have!



But this works even if you are planning a trip. The pyramid can be used to identify the 'Time Sensitive' things.



If I am going to Hong Kong the top of the pyramid for me would be getting the plane reservation. Next would be the hotel. You would do those things as far in advance as you had time. You would not leave it to the last minute because you may not get there in time if there are no seats left. You don't worry about the taxi to the hotel at this point. That is burried deep on the bottom of the pyramid. The LAST thing you might do. If you start there, that's called failure. You just need to identify the things that can get you in trouble. Things that are urgent. Things that are time sensitive and then place them in the pyramid in their proper order. Getting a taxi?? PLEASE! But that is how many operate. Get caught up early on things that don't belong in the discussion. It's #8 on my crude attempt at illustrating what 'I' see below. And as far as I am concerned, it is #15. It is something I don't have to focus on until all other plans are already in place and I can likely not plan it at all and still end up successfully at my destination or goal or the hotel may ask me if I need transportation when I make my reservation with them and then THEY do the work and THEY fill in one of the pieces of the puzzle. That's an example of the wind at your back. Or you might just call your travel agent and let them put it together. Many ways to climb the mountain. If I get the taxi right and something else wrong then what?? I'll tell you what....FAILURE each and every time.

Work harder or work smarter. It starts right here for me.

Pyramid

Now if you noticed in this pyramid or triangle the top of that can be removed to make it's own pyramid or triangle. No other piece there can do that. That means to me that the top piece is so important, has so much weight, that it can determine everything else that happens.



But many deal with human nature. They start at the bottom of the pyramid. They waste their time doing things with low importance at the cost of what is important. Now that does not mean you can't work at the bottom. But you do that during down time or when there is nothing to do or when you got the arger pieces on top done. Starting at the bottom will end up in failure 90% of the time or more. Starting at the top and identifying that single item gives you a minimum 50/50 chance and likely a much higher rate of success.



It was a MISTAKE for so many companies not to get their domain name first when it was affordable. Mistakes can be costly. Mistakes have to be factored in. Mistakes can be fixed. Sometimes. Sometimes blame comes into the equation and that dog just won't hunt!

I started making my 'Memorial Day Posts' back in 1996. When adult was the only home to a domain industry that had yet to be born. An aftermarket still years away. While I tried many avenues, closed minds were everywhere and the adult business was the only business focused on sales and making money other than perhaps Dell.com back then.


The minds were not only closed but each post was removed no matter where I was at or what industry I was trying to reach. There was no soapbox to blog from. But there was a common thread with adult and they were not only willing to listen, the smart ones focused on the numbers and the results and that gave me some street cred. Cred that I have been trying to add to and expand my reach over all this time.


So it really has not been decided. Domains vs idea. Pets.com vs Books.com. So you can see in this example, BOTH share the top spot. But why laugh at them, they all got half of the top of the pyramid. I know it was the half I did not have the talent or brains to accomplish let alone the know how. So since I recognized from the gate that one side of my top of the pyramid was not in play, I had to focus on the domain side which was in play and was just as important.


But think of this. The IDEA for Pets.com died a long time ago. But what remains is the domain. It cna be reinvented and rebuilt and experimented with until you catch lightning in a bottle. Think you can buy Pets.com today??



Not only that, but by buying time I had that time to get up to speed on developing and knowing how easy it would become in 20 years and how ridiculous it would be for me to waste my time on what would be antiques pretty quickly. So domains were the avenue that would lead to the other side of the mountain known as ideas and content.



One was time sensitive, one was not. One may have shared the top of the pyramid but for me, I just put it in the bottom corner until I was ready to deploy. That's not cybersquatting, that is risking everything you have on a 1000-1 shot that few believed would actually happen. It was my CHOICE how to climb this mountain and I have never varied off the trail I set. That so many of you set.



So one day they wake up and realize there is another side of the pyramid and they did not factor it in. That's the consequence of a bad decision. Of bad timing. Of not understanding about prioritizing and most of all, just being cheap, lazy and skipping important steps. Securing your location is #1 on the pyramid whether you are a pizza shop in a town, a booth at a trade show, a counter at a Jewelry Exchange. Location, Location, Location. Top of the pyramid for me. And if you are not there, you better be damn good so folks will go out of their way to make you a 'Destination'.



With ladders you start at the bottom and take one step at a time never trying to skip a single one until you reach certain plateus that become your new first step.. With pyramids, start at the top and swallow up as much of the project as you can on one bite of the apple. Then fill in the ones that are time sensitive, then the easy ones and before you know it the damn this is 9%5 built for success and you have not even broken a sweat.



Keep those two items in place and in focus and success will never be far away.



Again, What is cool is if you remove the top triangle and put it on its own, it is another pyramid. You can fill that pyramid up by getting the right answer in ANY situation.



This is the #1 tool in my toolbox. I use it many times a day. Dismiss at your own risk.

In closing, thanks to the troops past, present and future. YOU have given US the 'Top of the Pyramid' and many times thanklessly.



Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz
'Success is just a matter of luck. Ask any failure.'

Are you a $50 or a $500″Domain Waiter”?

Morning Folks!!


A distinction has to be made between investment quality domains and those domains folks buy to flip as fast as possible. Those are 2 separate and distinct business models even tho they coexist together and benefit each other in many ways.


As I stated before 'First of all anything can be sold. Any extension has an aftermarket. So there is always money to be made. So let's be clear on that.'


I compare it to the waiter making $500/night at a top restaurant and a waiter making $50 a night at a restaurant that is 3X as busy but the prices are lower. The guy making $50 a night has to work 3x as hard as the guy making $500 at a top restaurant because the guy at the top restaurant has a bus boy and other help. It's the same job folks! Sure, you might get a job at the cheap place to get started but those with half a brain would want to work their way up to the best restaurant so he could make 10X the money by doing 1/3 the work. That works out to an effective rate of 30-1.
Imagine what you could accomplish with the new found time and energy. It does factor into the equation whether you want to believe it or not.
How much clearer can you make it? It is time to raise your game my friends. It takes just as much effort to sell a $500 domain as a $5000 domain. It takes the same effort whether you sell a $50,000 domain or a $500,000 domain. But while the effort may be the same or even less, the monetary result is oh so much more. So raise your game. There is always a sweet spot for business. A monetary number the average business would pay to improve something without a lot of decision making.
Most flippers want to flip their domains as fast as possible. That allows many investment quality domains to pass through their hands without even knowing it. That gives them a lower ROI and it does nothing in training them to look for certain elements when buying domains. Study them for at least a few days. It can be like exploring an entire world, not just a domain name. Not just something to flip and make $50. If you can flip and make $50, you can flip and make $500 or $5000. Just depends what restaurant you want to be a 'Domain Waiter' at.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
'Success is just a matter of luck. Ask any failure.'


.mobi, .biz, .co, .xxx, RIP, .COM, .TV, .ME, PARTY HARDY!

Morning Folks!!


Numbers have always been my road map. Numbers cut through all the motives, agendas and bullshit and hopes and all the rest. Numbers don't lie people do. I am guilty of forming opinions based on numbers regardless of the fallout or who is involved and I have done that since 1996. I test and I report. I invest to find REAL answers. My reports cut all ways because I just follow them wherever those numbers lead and to the conclusions they provide. I now have some conclusions and if you have been following my posts over the past year you won't be surprised. Some will always squeal but that is because they are emotionally and financially invested in whatever results I find if it does not dovetail with what they want to hear and their agenda.


First of all anything can be sold. Any extension has an aftermarket. So there is always money to be made. So let's be clear on that. Even manure has value.


.Com is universal because you can put any word or combination of words and it sounds good not awkward. However you can't say that about all extensions. Even extensions I like have limits. .ME in particular. Call to action verbs and some nouns. Not all work well or sound good. There are limits. .TV may be more universal as you can put anything that would naturally go with TV before the dot.


So at this point in time I would say .COM, .TV, .ME, Are the 3 primary extensions today and into the years ahead. We will see if any of the new extensions are universal. I can't see more than a handful even having a chance and I don't count .Company because I see that more as an Intranet as opposed to an Internet.


.mobi, .biz, .co, .xxx, RIP. These extensions have had the benefits of a single star on stage and have yet to reap much in the way of rewards. Again, you can flip these extensions and make a living. I don't focus on that. I focus on raw and natural value and whether it will go up or down in the future. I just see them now with limited futures because the NUMBERS point that way. Could that change? Sure! But it is doubtful with thousands of next extensions entering the marketplace.


That said, you can do well promoting ANY extension IF and ONLY IF you own the .COM counterpart. Sorry, this is just not a debatable issue except for people that are ignorant on the subject. Any other choice and it is guaranteed to cost you a significant portion of business. That business that is lost is the cream, the profit. It is not just another sale. It is not just another 1000 sales. So while companies go googoo over SEO, they are missing the more important piece and time sensitive piece of the puzzle which is a 'Domain Strategy'.


See this was not something that was debatable before O.co as far as I was concerned. But when they went public and announced the amount of folks that were actually confused was the majority of folks. 61% to be precise. What IDIOT can copy that KNOWING this?? That is my position! I mean I would have to define an idiot as making a business decision that could cost them up to 61% or more of ALL of their NEW business.


Now I am NOT calling the guys at Overstock, idiots. Quite the contrary. They had the balls to try something and when it did not work they had the balls to change course. They even had the balls to announce the actual numbers. So the folks I am calling idiots is anyone that has that information and still ignores it or buries it. That's an idiot by my definition. Ignoring important information and not learning from other peoples mistakes.


Personally I wanted to develop Rick.TV. But each time I think of doing it I just refer back to what I just wrote. I don't own Rick.com. That means much of the fruit of MY labor will end up somewhere else. That's a bad equation. I even went out and got Rick.co. But without the .com version I just know I will always being running faster than I actually am.


Now I might launch Rick.TV anyways because I do believe in 'Destinations' and hopefully I can overcome the hurdle by drawing attention to the difference. When 1-800-MATTRESS came along they had a problem. There were 8 letters in a 7 digit telephone number. So to educate the consumer their slogan was 'Leave off the last 'S' for savings!' That was enough to do the trick.


So when .co does not have a slogan bringing attention to the difference, there is no difference and the result is 61% being misguided. Some of those folks will still find them. But it won't be the majority. The answers are always in the numbers and those that ignore numbers are ignorant and since they do it knowing full well that the numbers will tell them the truth, they don't want to know the truth and the facts and that by my definition makes them idiots.


So idiots have 2 choices in life. Remain idiots or instead of getting insulted, actually look at the numbers and realize spitting in the wind won't hurt me, it will only hurt you.


There is no longer an excuse. 17 years and enough facts and numbers to prove the point. It's a compass. Ignore it at your own peril.


Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
'Success is just a matter of luck. Ask any failure.'


The Front Door, The Back Door, The Side Door. The History of Doors in Stores!

Morning Folks!!


If you have no sense of history it is hard to know where the future is going. I look to history for almost every new event and apply a test to see if it is consistent with other points of history.


It started with the 'Front Door'. That is how business started. That was the ONLY access. The Front Door. Then one day somebody got smart and told the good customers to come in the 'Side Door' as not to deal with the other folks or the lines. Then of course came the 'Back Door' for deliveries and still other folks. Some even used the back door for special customers! Imagine that.


See this was before there was a telephone. The 'Door' was the only way to get in. The only way to conduct business. Door guys were domain guys? Maybe. Must have been a hot business. Doors!



Then they came up with the idea of door to door salesman that would focus on the customers door instead of the business door.




Then comes along the telephone and there is a new 'Door'. A new access point for customers. WOW!! That was a huge milestone. But calls were sometimes expensive. So the '800 Number' appears on the scene. Another 'Door'. This one even bigger than the other 'Doors'. The 800 Number became the lifeline for many businesses. It is to this very day. Just like all the other doors that are still in use.


Now with the 800 number came the next door in the form of a catalogue. Another huge breakthrough. Each one transformed the business more than the one before. Now if you look back, so far, I don't see them closing any of those avenues of doors. They just add doors in different forms. Some work better than others.


The next door of course was the Internet. But the Internet started basically doorless. Then domain names came out and few used them. Most thought this new door would just be a fad. But they were wrong. This door transformed their business more than any other door. Oh but wait, not for everyone. Still many if not most are not using this door in the right manner.


First, many have doors that are hard to find or hard to remember or confused with others or all sorts of really important problems. But they would rather give up then actually figure it out. At least that was the way it was. Now everyone knows they need to survive. But are they willing to look and study the most important door in all of history so far??


They hire guides they call SEO gurus and they are supposed to lead them to the prize. Problem is any SEO guy worth his salt is not looking for new customers. He has them lined up and whoever he is working for keeps him locked up in a cave. So that leaves the 1 billion other SEO guys that have to spam you to get business. Most have ZERO results but take your money. I can trump 99% of SEO guys with one word. RELEVANCE!


So now it is time to stop outsourcing your future to SEO fakers. Time to understand the real way to get traffic, to keep traffic and to have an endless supply of traffic. Spamming the engines will do you long term harm and very little short term good. Businesses had all these years to put a 'Domain Strategy' into practice and get traffic for a lifetime for a fraction of the SEO faker. I don't know what your business is but I can ask the same question and you can fill in the blanks.


How much is a new customer worth to your business?

How much are 5 qualified leeds worth each day to your business?

How much is it worth to have 100 people stand in line before you even open the door in the morning?

How much would it be worth to have a FREE full page ad in your trade journal for the next 30 years?


I have spent years talking to domain investors but all along I have just been trying to reach out to the common businessman that may have outsourced his future to some kid that understands the Internet but does not understand business. Some techie that understands tech but is clueless in business. And what's worse is these business owners that have built businesses from scratch BLINDLY follow these guys instead of learning for themselves.


Blindly take the advice of people that have no clue about sales and marketing and growing a business and serving the customer and all the rest. They are clueless about what I have described here as far as the doors and history and that NOTHING on this planet happens until a sale is made.


Almost everyone reading this is losing more business online than actually doing business online. They are not asking the questions that need to be asked when somebody just leaves their site. They would never allow 1000 visitors to come into their real world store without any of them buying something. They would immediately address it. But online, you folks piss away 1000 customers like they were sand.


Questions I asked in 1995 have yet to be asked by MOST online business or websites. There is such a deep divide that it is hard to connect the 2 worlds. When I physically go into a business and engage the business owner while my wife is buying something at their store, seldom do they do anything but point to the nerd and run away. So sad. He would never do that if he truly understood what was happeneing. But the nerd rules and nothing will get in between him and his nerd.


More and more I am having conversations with business people from every type of business you can think of and many I never even heard of before. They are reading, they are inquisitive, they know there is more and they are missing something. That part alone is about 90% of the journey. Just recognizing there is much more.

Failure happens at the beginning of a journey not at the end. You just find out the result at the end. But almost every single failure happens at the beginning. The start of the Internet is a domain name. The door. Main Street is .Com. The Mall is .Com. Almost all important business is .Com. 95% of all advertising is .Com. So if you have a domain that is your MAIN DOOR on the Internet and it is not .Com, I don't care who you are, how big or small you are, how smart you are, you are losing customers because they can't find your front door. If pissing away 25%-61% of your business by confusing your customer is nothing to look at, then you are much smarter than me. Who cares that they might just end up at the one place you don't want them. Your competitor that did not confuse them. WAKE UP!

Folks can always point to the few dozen exceptions. But I can point to millions of carcuses along the path. I can point to UDRP's that are out of control because now companies recognize the value of the .Com and that they made a HUGE BUSINESS MISTAKE not securing the domain earlier so they try other tactics. The stakes are high and are getting higher by the day.

You can make a living flipping any extension you like. I am not talking about that. But if you want to be a serious player with a serious business on the world stage and join the biggest franchise in the history of the world then .COM is your only smart choice. We can certainly disagree and after all these years you are still entiltled to be WRONG!

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
'Success is just a matter of luck. Ask any failure'


Juan Calle of the .CO Registry DISSES Domainers!! UPDATED!!

Afternoon,


Want to know what Juan Calle thinks of Domainers after taking MILLIONS of our dollars??? You are not much more than a 'SQUATTER'!


Calle: $30 price: 'Deters Domainers from Cybersquatting.'


He clarified his comments on his blog later on but just seems to have dug a deeper hole:


'But, if you're a cybersquatter, or even a mass speculator, leveraging technology to register thousands of names, please do so in someone else's backyard.' Juan


I guess sponsoring ALL the major domain shows was your way of deterring us??


Watch this interview on Youtube that Elliot Just Posted. (embedded below)


And since Juan's customer owns a .net and filed a UDRP against the owner of the .com that was registered long before he went into business, I think domainers would label him a 'Reverse Domain Hijacker' as long as we are throwing labels loosely around here.



Rick Schwartz


UPDATE:


On his blog here Juan states:


'But there is an aspect in the world of domaining that sucks: it's called cybersquatting. The reality is cybersquatting makes our industry look bad. I hate to break it to you, but the entire internet ecosystem thinks cybersquatters are the scum of the earth'


I agree with that. Almost all of us do. There is no argument there. But that was not what was said and certainly not defined. It wrapped us right up in one little bundle.


It would have been very constructive to take the opportunity to define the difference for all to see instead of lumping us all together. We have spent years trying to explain the difference and this only reinforces the stereotype to the exact people we are trying to win over.


Juan's customer, Loïc Le Meur, files a UDRP for making a BONEHEADED business decision of getting a .net and that makes him a 'Reverse Domain Hijacker'in the eyes of domainers.


It's really time to set the record straight. Maybe an opportunity will present itself. I for one am tired of getting trashed for investing in things nobody else on the planet did and then putting up with reinforcing a stereotype.


So stereotype this. This company tried to hijack a legit domain and I am happy folks want to cozy up with him. I would really like for Loïc Le Meur to see the error of his ways. The domainer that owns the dotcom did NOTHING wrong and he should reimburse the owner for his expenses. THAT would be a good start.


Then maybe getting on stage at your event and explaining what you have learned.


Then maybe the guy that owns the dotcom version will allow you to use it and then maybe you can measure the losses of BOTH the .net and the .co to the .com and report back. Isn't finding out answers the real key and then sharing it with YOUR audience?


Almost all professional domainers stay far away from trademarks. We invest in generic names of social or commercial value and we buy most of our domains in the open market in which all have a fair and equal shot. We have a legitimate marketplace with hundreds if not thousands of companies doing commerce in a 100% legal manner. We also follow a model. Real Estate in which people and families have been investing in and passing down generation to generation for hundreds of years. Go tell Trump his model is illigitimate. Tell it to Ted Turner one of the largest land holders in the USA. Tell it to millions of land holders throughout the USA and the world.


I and many others are still wrestling with another disturbing comment on his blog:


'But, if you're a cybersquatter, or even a mass speculator, leveraging technology to register thousands of names, please do so in someone else's backyard.' Juan


Where would Mr. Calle like to draw the line on that one???? Seems that was a really big FLIPOFF after spending a boatload to get our business over the past 2 years and tens of thousands or more domainer registrations.


As for the precious 'End Users' and 'Startups'.....may as well tell them in some sort of disclaimer that those that have used .co have found it to be VERY COSTLY and as much as 61% of all traffic will never find them as they type in the .com. Those are FACTS! Just ask Overstock.com


Let’s Have a Meeting! Then Another and Another. Afraid to Make a Decision?

Morning Folks!!


I don't do well with morons. Especially when they are disguised as professionals that are supposed to know what they do for a living. So when I have to deal with idiots that are clueless about what they do and whatever they are doing I don't play well. These guys will only last a few weeks or months anyways until the other idiots they work with find out that he knows even less than them. Let's have a meeting!


You all know that 'Meetings' are a pet peeve of mine. I have worked with enough entities to know it should not be a 'Meeting.' It should be named, 'Let's make a decision' because most meetings achieve little in the way of concrete decisions. When they do have a 'Decision' many don't really care if it is good or bad as long as it is made or it is made fast. Most importantly of course is if the decision blows apart, you don't get blamed. That is the #1 item. Not to be blamed. So you have a culture of spineless wimps incapable of doing most things quick or right. Scared, meager, give me my check on Friday so I can pay the rent and my toys. And while I do my job I will circulate my resume so if I do get blamed I can have another gig lined up before the bank takes my car.


So you have folks that are coming out of schools and many have never held a job before. They are led by the folks I just described above them. They will just probably go with the program and wander aimlessly for many years to come unless they break the mold.


Some folks are made to work like that. I have just never been one of them. I am sure I would have fit in better. Made less waves. Got along better. Had more friends and all the rest. But is it worth it to grow up and have 'Mediocrity' as a guiding light? Kissing the ass in front of you, to the left of you, to the right of you and on top of you. Ass kissers make me puke. The weakest of the weak. Usually the only thing they know is who they know. Charming little social butterflies. They get hired with great fanfare and leave without a peep.


Each of us figure it out at different ages. Some of course never figure it out. But the key is to learn it as early as possible. Life is about making decisions. If you are afraid of decisions than Corp America may be the place. But if you understand that life is about decisions and if you make good decisions you are likely to have a better life than if you make hasty and bad decisions. You never know how the smallest decision can affect the biggest part of life. Like a grain of sand that can bring a halt to the largest and most powerful machines.


I don't have all the answers. But each day I continue to eliminate all the wrong ones. And they seem to always have a common thread at the base. A bad decision. Then wrap up a bad decision with folks that don't care. These folks always move forward without ever cleaning up the mess they created and therefore never learn what they did wrong, why they did it wrong, how it affected others and how to get it right in the future.


We are almost all wired this way. It is called 'Human Nature' and most spend a lifetime fighting against what comes natural. Against a knee jerk reacton. Against the animalistic behavior inside of us that has been tamed by society like a wild horse is broken. Everyone is better off after they become civilized. Then each determines to what degree. That is the choice. There is no law against mediocrity. But knowing that so many occupy this category should give great hope to anyone that can vault over it and not get TRAPPED by it and by others.


Want a clear image of EXACTLY what I see?


Watch this short 30 second commercial as it crystalizes what I am saying.








Then watch this 30 second commercial as it shows and defines 'Corporate Mediocrity'.



So now you can clearly see there are 2 cultures and those 2 cultures can be inside a corporation. A corporation that is bound in mediocrity and ones that excels in excellence. For every Yahoo! there is a Google. For every Fed Ex there is a Post Office. For every Boarders there is a Barnes and Noble. For every McDonalds there is a McShit.


Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

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T.R.A.F.F.I.C. RETURNS to Las Vegas in 2013. Last Call for $1295 Tickets for 2012

Afternoon Folks!!


As you might have heard, T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Returns to Las Vegas in 2013. We will be returning to Las Vegas for the 7th time! But this time in a new venue that you are sure to love.

We had great times at the Venetian but that now is part of the history of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. We are stepping it up a notch and going to the fabulous 5 Star BELLAGIO HOTEL!!!!


T.R.A.F.F.I.C. WEST Starts right after the Memorial Day Weekend next year. So save the date and we will have more to say in the year ahead.


Trafficlasvegassign


Until then, let me remind you that TONIGHT the price of attending our October show at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Fort Lauderdale goes from $1295 to $1595. A significant increase so this is really the time to lock in the rates that will be $1795 starting July 1.


You can Register Right here, right now.


Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

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My Top 10 Domain Purchases, The Prices I paid. The $$$ they earned. The New Ones I am Buying.

Morning folks!!


I was looking for a post I thought I already wrote announcing our plans for 2013 and Las Vegas and stumbled on this little gem that I wrote back on February 20th but decided not to post at that time. I have a number of posts that I write and never publish or wait until the right time. This is one of them. This is basically Part 2 of a story I started telling here.


I was constrained by the times and my own knowledge. But my mission was to build a $1MM revenue engine that would act as an oil well and be able to pump for my lifetime and beyond that annual minimum. In 1996 I learned about the Internet. It was a period that started in December of 1995 and did not truly blossom until the spring and summer of 1997.


Like I said....it was a learning process and I was not that computer savvy. I remember getting online with Compuserve back in the mid 1980's. I still shake when I think of those days. I was lost. Lost and in a dark place with few other people and was clueless on where I was or where I was going. I think it was 'Prodigy' by Sears that started illuminating things. I am not sure but I think that was about 1988?? 1987?


But by the summer of 1997 I started seeing things differently and started buying domains form 3rd parties. So I made a list of my top 10 purchases. Biggest bang for the buck. All I can say is I followed the money. I followed that path. I saw what sector was doing well and adult not only was doing well they were YEARS ahead on what they had discovered. Mainstream is still catching up with what the Adult Market discovered in 1996-1999. Those adult guys from that time have expanded into mainstream. I can verify that mainstream is just beginning to learn the lessons that we learned back then.


#1. It's no secret that the purchase of Porno.com was what I call 'The shot heard around the world.' It was unheard of at that time to buy a domain for that much money. Most techies scoffed at the $100 price tag let alone $42,000. But they were techies and the business people had yet to arrive for the most part. I have never had a bona fide offer for Porno.com even tho it has generated well in excess of $15 million as a redirect or a parked page.


But Porno.com was not my first purchase. I had to build up to that and even in that moment I could only come up with about $15,000 cash. So a creative financing deal was used where I paid $15,000 up front and 9 monthly payments. But within the first 6 weeks I paid it off just on the earnings back then. Details of the deal are here.


So that is in August 1997. If my memory serves correctly it was about 3 months earlier that I landed my first 'Drop' which was unheard of at that time. But somebody emailed me and told me to register Dick.com the next day as it woud be available. And so it was. May 1997. Dick.com. $100. Plugged it in and there was traffic and I was earning $200/day for my $100 investment. EUREKA!!! The MOMENT!! I already knew there was type in traffic, but not to that degree.


I did have one MAJOR type in domain before that. Two word very adult domain that was getting 5000 visitors a day and making $500 a day. That was at a time NOBODY beleived me about type in domains. They did not understand where the traffic would come from. They could not accuse me of sending them bad traffic because they had the sales that verified the traffic was real but they could not see where it came from. They still can't in may cases! So a 7 letter domain, Starting with 'Hot' and referring to some female anatomy that is 4 letters was the one that illuminated the path the most and the earliest and led me to everything else.


#2. During that summer of 1997, before Porno.com I started with the Ass.com purchase that I described many times. This was early July if I remember correctly. $12,500 and had to send the funds to Germany with no recourse. I did not sleep for 3 days. I could not afford a loss like that back then. It would have been a crippling blow if it went south. I was still growing my real world business and buying inventory many months before I needed it or got it. So the disruption in cash flow would have been a very tough setback.


#3 Men.com purchased for $15,000 also in August of 1997. I knew things were time sensitive and I wrapped up the deals as fast as possible. By the time I bought Horny.com a few months later, I bought it at $20,000 and by the time I hung up the phone and got to the bank National A-1 wanted it and upped the ante. I paid $40,000 as the price doubled within minutes and with a threat of a lawsuit on one end and $40,000 cash in his account on the other, he chose the $$$ that were already there. While Horny.com was a great purchase and has made 10x the purchase price so far, it does not make this list, but the story does.


I sold Men.com to an investment group led by Kevin Leto in 2003 for $1.32MM and finally demostrated that domains would go up faster in value than any other commodity in history. That sale ignited the domain space at a very low point, gave me some cash to buy more real estate and gave me the credibility to help create TRAFFIC.


#4 Sexo.com. Sex in Spanish. Next to Porno.com, Sexo.com is my #2 earner. With a cost of $10,000, Sexo.com has earned nearly $2 Million.


#5 Booty.com. One of my very best bargains. Paid $1000 for it and has earned that in as little as 5 days or as much as 30 days. I estimate total earnings approaching $1 Million.


#6 xxxvideos.com. Another bargain with a cost of $920 with similar earnings about 50% of Booty.com but since the release of .xxx, income has doubled.


#7 Whores.com for $1000. Another huge bargain that produces steady income.Approx $350,000 in earnings so far.


#8 Queen.com for $2500. Just a great domain that I bought early on from one of the top domainers in the world. Used mostly as adult. Lifetime earnings about $150,000.


#9 Stud.com for $1000. Not only another 6 figure earner, but could be an interesting play someday.


Then I turned the corner and started to head to mainstream. I had been hand registerering mainstream domains since Day #1 even tho there was no commercial mainstream. Dell.com was the #1 site in terms of sales back then. Very early adapters usually connected with the computer business which was pretty well established at that point. But now I was branching off and started taking the dollars I was making and putting it in a diverserve direction. That brings me to #10


#10. Widgets.com $5000. This is before there were Internet Widgets. This was when a 'Widget' was just a generic item you sell. So Internet Widgets became a very welcome surprise. It was not planned. It was just 'Stepping in Shit.' The beauty of a domain like this is that it is so universal. Time will tell where this baby goes.


I targeted the 7 dirty words you could not say on TV at first. 'Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits. And as Carlin would say.....'Tits did not belong on the list because it was such a friendly sounding word.' But those were either taken or not allowed to be registerd at that time. So I set my sights on the ones you could say but were right on the line. They say these words all night long during prime time. 'Horny, ass, bitch, slut, whore, orgy, booty and as few others. I went out and got them all. All registered to 3rd parties. All the defining line on what you can and can't say on broadcast TV. Why? Because Sex Sells!! Nipples sell. Ass sells. 'Leave it to Beaver' was a wonderful show. But Sex in the City sells more things and has more value. I was able to parlay ALL of my earnings back into domain names.


My very best buy may be my $62 purchase of Cheapest.com. A domain I would not even consider letting go for under 7 figures and a few points. See there can only be ONE that is truly the Cheapest! So I don't buy to sell like many do. I buy to watch an asset increse in value to where MY value is. I wait until the fruit matures. Yes, I am sure I could have sold that domain for DOUBLE! Whoopppeee!!! Domaining is much more than that. It is about KNOWING the value. That is why I compare it to diamonds all the time. Many look the same, but there is a huge difference in them when you examine them and see their depth and potential.


By this time there were others starting to follow what I was doing and some would emulate and even compete with me. So things became more urgent and I tried to get as many as I could as fast as I could as a lone wolf. About 10 days ago I hand registered a domain name having to do with a certain sector I saw that could become something. I grabbed a couple. Then this week Google announces their new Glasses which just happened to be the sector I targeted but froma different angle.


The Media dubs them 'Smart Glasses. Of course the first thing I do is try and register SmartGlasses.com. But it was already registered. But luckily there was a BUY IT NOW PRICE and so I popped that baby in the cart and for $3280 I have a possible category killer domain. We'll see. I see it as a great gamble. Maybe, maybe not. But everyone reading this had the same shot. It takes 3 things. Decision, action, risk. The last thing on my mind is selling it. The first thing is to measure traffic and study that traffic. Beleive me, there is traffic. How do I know? I have a better question, why do so many domainers not know??


While I would love to add another $1 Million domain to my portfolio, I would rather grow them nyself. I like $1 Million domains disgusied with a low price or $100,000 ones for pocket change. I added DailyRentals.com in December. A whopping $400. An instant full time business IF that was my calling in life. DomainShane listed that one on his drop list. I don't know if there is a contribution requirement, but I would gladly send him a $100 finders fee.


In 1997 I would pay folks $50 bounty on the YNOT board if they sent me a domain that was available and I registered. On Ynot I used the theme and changed the words from 'Kung Fu Fighting' to 'Everybody was domaining hunting' Those hands were fast as lightning' and went on there for about 4 verses. Did that on some Saturday Nights and would get 10-20 domains that would make money the next day. They all thought I was crazy to spend $100 a pop AND give a finders fee.


I Hand registered 38 more domains since December. (As of February 20th) Not to sell. To study and understand. Most I will drop next year. Not sell. Drop. I buy on a hunch. On something new. On a phrase. They are all longshots. But long shots pay big when you hit. Linsanity.com, Tebowing.com and alike. Not mine. But demonstrates what I do. Predict Human Behavior. Predict how the masses will react. Predict how a group will react given the circumstances of life.


In January 1998 I sold all my traffic to Dean Shannon for a little over $1.5 Million a year. I sold my real world business for 7 figures in March. I had nothing to do. I retired. I just wanted to go out and have a nice lunch every day because the last 10 years I could not do that a single time. My home based business kept me home from the first calls in the morning until UPS showed up at 6PM or so to pickup our shipments for the day. Cell phones and call forwarding eventually helped to liberate me. But retirement was removing all those time constrainst and I now owned my entire 24 hours every day of the week.


Retirement was a full time job and I had no interest in working again. Life and work and investing would all take a back seat to being retired and it remains that way to this very day. That did not mean I don't do things. It is just about priorities. Work revolves around my life instead of my life revolving around work.


I goofed off for about 90 days and decided to do it again in my spare time. I just repeated what I had done from 1995-1998. By the summer of 1999 I had duplicated that revenue stream. I did that one more time in 2000-2002. I just wanted to fortify what I was doing so that no mater how bad things got my little empire could survive and do 7 figures a year in the most adverse times. A financial 'Ark' is probably the best way to describe it. I knew the net would go bust and it would likely happen more than once.


The little deals allowed me to do some big deals. And as I have said many times before, 'Sometimes doing nothing can get you further than doing something'


Now what I am trying to do is recreate that revenue stream by being a silent partner in the deals I do. I don't know how long that will take. But it is accelerating and I think before the 20 year anniversary I will have accomplished that mission as well. I think the biggest plus for me is giving my missions enough time to find success. I never try and rush it. I know when to go full out and when to let things evolve in their own way. You can't force time. That just comes back to patience. I define a timeline beforehand of how long something should take me to achieve. I know pretty quick if a mission has 'Legs' or not. I adjust as things move along and if things don't move along, I never kid myself into bending reality.


Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz


What does the Next 20 Years Look Like? A Business Plan Too Simple to be Respectable.

Morning Folks!!



If your goal is to have a commercial and worldwide presence then dotcom is the domain extension that is recognized in that manner. If you believe differently, that is fine, but the bigger your company is the more costly that belief will be over time and eventually you might be blamed for that belief. As far as the desire to get the dotcom version, it will never go away and each passing day makes it harder and more expensive to obtain. And if your competitor gets that domain, well they will likey hurt your company to the point of collapse. That is what 'I' believe.



Now country codes are just fine. But who can argue that it may be a more limited market that you target and maybe even confined to? The average person does not even know such a thing exists if you are in the USA. They don't know that hundreds of different extensions are already out there.



There were many short term business decisions made in the past 15 years or so that now they are finally recognizing there were long term consequences if they failed to realize the importance of what was happening and the time sensitivity. So that is what makes winners and losers and now the losers are whining. They bet the Internet was a fad and many of us bet it would be the new way to do business and provide a revolution in business the likes we had never seen before.



The laughs and jeers of 1996 tho distant, are still present. There is a large group that took their place. Some of them learned, some not. I am not kidding when I use the term 'Fad'. Many believed the Internet was a fad in 1995. I believed it was the best communication and selling tool ever invented. That it had the power to transform 3rd word countries into competing entities. Folks in shacks with an idea would become millionaires. The first time in history where no matter where you were or who you were, you had a shot at success.



'Unique Opportunity in Time'. I stated that and repeated that more than anything I have said. I explained why getting a great domain name was time sensitive. Why that had to be the first thing you address if you seriously wanted to build an empire. Like the game of Risk, the first thing you do is secure your countries. In this case it was to secure domain names that represented commercial and social audiences. Where there would be foot traffic. Where no many how many times you failed, with a great domain name you can reinvent yourself until you get it right. Just like the restaurant on the corner that went bust a dozen times and now has a 2 hour wait to get into. The landlord made out well through all the busts. He of course does better now with a stable tenant.



There are so many parallels with Real Estate and Commodities and Diamonds and the Yellow Pages, and Oil Wells and Gold Mines and People of history in all of those various fields and the dozen I did not mention and the 1000 I did not even think of. I have said that domain names specifically and the Internet in general represent an opportunity my Father did not have, My grandfather did not have, my Great Grandfather did not have nor his father before him. Think about that for a moment. And then LOSERS WHINE. How does anyone whine and complain when you are sitting in a diamond mine and the only thing you need to know is the difference between a rock and a diamond?



Never has there been so much unlimited opportunity and have it so close and convenient. I used to say that human nature is such that if you put folks in a diamond mine with all the free diamonds they could gather, there would still be those that would steal from each other. Go figure.



I knew the Internet was an Infant in 1995 and that like a real infant, it would need 20 years to be fully adopted by society IF that were to be the case. I believed with all my heart, soul and wallet, that it would happen and I bet it would take 20 years and I planned to survive many ups and downs along that path. My only mission was to hold on tight because a roller coaster ride it would be and if you get caught without certain elements, it all comes crashing down.



20 years to the starting line of understanding and embracing. What many of us learned nearly 2 decades ago is just being discovered. While I have always been disappointed about that I was never surprised by it because I expected it.



In 1996-1999 I tried to reach out and expected some folks to embrace what I saw. It was pretty simple. But few took the time to stop laughing and even consider looking at what I saw.



Today, it is different. I have more than 5000 of my domains no longer parked and going to Worksmarter.com. It took 5 years to accomplish that. Do they have traffic? For the most part, yes. But I have found greater value in talking directly to my future partners that I have never met and someday will be part of how my business plan unfolds.


I have another 1000 that are parked but have a link to the site. A site of just words and ideas. Nothing fancy. But I have a dozen different projects in the works. I stopped responding to emails about buying domains. I don't want to sell. Never did. But I did sell some to demonstrate what I saw and now that has been accomplished.

I do have more than a dozen active conversations with folks that have ideas. Now the idea alone does not make the deal. It has to be a 'Profitable' idea. It has to be well thought out and has to have certain elements in it for me to consider.





I intend to hold a private trade show in just 3 years for my partners and myself. My goal, 100 independent businesses with folks I have yet to even meet by some time in 2015.



I have already done the hard part. I have spent a lot of money putting contracts together for Candy.com and Property.com. 6 figures and then some to create the framework not for just these deals, but all future deals. I have developed contracts on a different level for domains like Luv.com and Punchbowl.com. These contracts offer folks with passion and an idea a way forward to build something with 'Sweat Equity', 'Cash' and a 'Percentage' of the new business. It offers me the protection I need and the chance to build something I don't have the talent to do and be part of that domain forever.



At the core of my strategy was understanding that the $750,000 website of 1998 that was obsolete by 1999, would be a $75 template by 2010 and then FREE! So if you knew and believed that in 1998, why would you spend the $$$ then? You would wait and in that time do something useful. Like figuring out how to build an empire. 100 sites in 1997 at $750,000 each would be $75,000,000 before you even open the door. Today you could do it much better and it could be done for pocket change. Folks would ignore that part of the equation and that was what allowed me to look at things in a long term way. 20 year plan followed by a 20 year plan. I knew it would take 20 years for domain names to take center stage. Every business starts with a domain name and while that was true in 1996, most did not recognize it until many years later. Location, Location, Location. Real world or Internet still has great value. Still gives you a leg up. Still gives you the wind at your back. Still can make the biggest difference. Still can be deadly if your competition is the one that has the better location and gets the first shot at potential new customers.

So folks can say what they wish about my plan, and many have laughed at me along the way, but it is a plan and whether folks understand it now or not does not matter much to me. I can guarantee you they will understand it when I have 100 partners. And when I get to 100, I will set a new goal of 200. And when I reach 200....



Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz


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