The Rick Schwartz Domain Name and Traffic Blog: RicksBlog.com – Home of The Domain King®

Morning Folks!!

Reading this post, I learned a few things about my JointVentures.com partner Danny Welsh that even *I* didn’t know about. A $2,000 cash offer to buy one of MY real estate domain names in 2010? LOL. You can wish in one hand and…well, I’ll let Danny tell the sad, sorry story that started with his misguided desire to be a CASH BUYER of one of my properties and ended with the reality of him as my INCOME PARTNER with a long-term plan aligned with my own vision that’s making money for us both. You mean it wasn't love at first sight Danny? Tell me it ain't so. ;-)

Rick Schwartz

By Danny Welsh

'A passionate,
energetic, HUNGRY guy or gal is looking at your uncooked Steak.com right now
and wondering if you’d let them have half…if he/she cooked it to mouthwatering
perfection FOR YOU.'

I first stumbled across RicksBlog.com November of 2010. I
found it the same way many “end users” found their way here. I wanted to buy
one of Rick’s real estate related domain names for use in one of my own
businesses. I typed it in and saw it
wasn’t being “used”.

I did my due diligence on the domain owner through the
public databases and followed the yellow brick road and landed here and found a
self-promotional blog from this brash, cursing, big-mouthed guy sitting like a
troll atop a mountain of treasure he was Hoarding.com all to himself.

Sorry, Rick! ;-)

(that WAS my first
impression of you, and I’m sure it was
many people’s impression before you won them over)

I think I had in
mind that I might offer this blowhard as much as $2,000 since the guy “wasn’t
using the domain” with all those crappy links on a one page website…and I was
sure that would be plenty when “domains only cost 8 bucks” (my thinking
then).

Little did I know how highly Rick Schwartz valued the best
generic .com domain names…how many years he’d patiently been making one annual
bet after another on the future he saw through a crystal ball…or how asleep at
the wheel so much of the business world had been JUST LIKE ME.

Suffice to say…Little did I know then how highly *I* would
come to value the best domain names now as 2013 gets into full swing just a
shade over two years later as Rick’s junior partner with JointVentures.com.

But my email to ask about that domain’s price never
happened.

I read that first blog post of Rick’s and I was hooked.

My first impression that this guy was a greedy troll changed
in minutes to a feeling that I was hearing direct from one of the most
visionary business thinkers I might ever have the fortune to meet or interact
with…and he’s talking direct to me and saying he’s looking for partners! I left
a comment that’s pretty relevant to what I was thinking at that moment…and what
I’m still thinking at THIS moment.

Check it out:

http://www.ricksblog.com/2010/11/the-future-of-domains-is-in-strategic-alliances.html

Some people have asked when I got the idea for what we’re
still just in the baby stages of creating with JointVentures.com. It's hard to
say exactly, but I can tell you when I
started thinking about the things that would later knock together in my mind
and make it my mission to get Rick Schwartz on board with the ideas I had…FIRST.

It was the day I read that “strategic alliances” post by
Rick.

I continued reading this blog, finding some pretty powerful
gems of business wisdom, but you wouldn’t find me engaging in any conversation
or “comments”. Then a little over a year ago, I read this post:

http://www.ricksblog.com/2011/12/mission-accomplished.html
I saw that Rick wanted to create strategic alliances and joint ventures, and
that’s where he was going to put his focus.
I saw him claim that he’d get a piece of 100 companies by bringing to the table
ONLY a great domain name upon which a great business can be built.

Shortly
thereafter I came across Rick’s WorkSmarter.com, and it just clicked in my
head: “I can sell that concept better
than he can”, I thought to myself.

Sorry, Rick! ;-)

And yet even though secretly I thought this guy I’d never
met or talked to initially came across as a DICK and a know-it-all to those
that don’t do their due diligence below the surface, I realized that without a
doubt in my mind, no matter how many rough edges his BLUNT approach to business
had…I realized ”He’s GOING to succeed in that vision.”

Then I started thinking what it might be worth to him…and to
me…if I could help make that vision crystallize faster. If I could bring the fruits to harvest more quickly then maybe he’d
share with me?

A year later, I’d made over a dozen attempts to personally
connect with Rick Schwartz.

Email. Phone. Mail. Christmas
Cards. You name it.

No real luck, and
in fact no response at all.
[[Aside: Rick told me recently that when
he closed out a post office box there was mail from me in it…never opened….TIMING
is everything in some things, is it not?]]

I wasn’t making it my #1 goal to reach him or anything. I
was already successful with some business stuff. But I have a habit of
connecting with smart, successful, influential people no matter what it takes
or how long it takes…and adding value to those contacts to turn them into
personal connections…a habit that has made my relationships with other people
the #1 most valuable asset I have as an entrepreneur.

And in all humility I will say that I’m one persistent guy,
passionate about accomplishing more in business than most people allow
themselves to dream is possible.

Persistence, relationships, hunger and passion are 4
of
the key components missing from a great domain name like Steak.com
‘heating up’ to become a great business, are they not?

Not all the components, but quite a few.

We're approaching year 20 of Rick's long-stated famous 20
year plan and you probably know by now that he's publicly claimed that by
that year --2015 to be exact—the vast majority of his income will come from
domain leasing and domain partnership joint ventures, with only the quantity
and not the quality domain names left in his portfolio being
undeveloped/parked.
If you follow RicksBlog.com regularly,
you now know that this guy “Danny Welsh” is the guy Rick is trusting with an
exclusive deal on a large part of his choicest portfolio of names to create and
implement the plans to help make that transformation from a passive portfolio
to an active one.
Plans to transition from unexploited
assets to ones that maximize every advantage of premium domain names turned
into real destination businesses.
Plans to transition from depending on aggregate 'machine-driven'
monetization companies to partnering with warm-blooded human beings passionate
about a business/niche.

Plans to transition from having an important puzzle piece in any 21st
century business that the domain owner exchanges for cash alone in a sale, to a future where the domain owner exchanges
control of their most valuable Internet property for a piece of the company
acquiring it, monthly guaranteed income, AND cash.

Will Rick's trust in me be a good bet? Will the plans for JointVentures.com he and I have developed together
fly or fail? Will you also making the same bet by letting Rick and I and
the team we're building list and market to represent a few of your best
properties as an active deal-hunting broker?
Maybe it will be a good bet for Rick and for you all, and maybe your community
of domain investors will revisit this post in a decade and laugh at the balls
of the 'outsider' who came here talking about domain leasing, domain
joint ventures, blah blah blah…and failed utterly.
Which is the smarter bet?

Time and deals will
tell.

Rick Schwartz has predicted a lot of what I'm trying to 'speed
up' for years and that's on the record for the record-- leasing, joint
ventures, being a part of a great domain name forever ala Candy.com style
deals.

Since he has ASKED ME to come
here and ask permission of some of his closest friends and past customers to do
business with them as well, and he's
not only backing me as a partner in representing other domain owners but “he's
also a client' like that old Hair Club For Men commercial you may remember,
this series of posts has been about doing just that.

Knowing those things, and knowing Rick's track record for making great bets
on the future...maybe that's all you wanted or needed to know about me
before listing with JointVentures.com and giving Rick and I a chance to make
some money together with you, at no risk or up-front cost to you.

For that I thank you just as I thank the first 100 or so clients that
are giving us that chance in 2013 to do for them the kind of deals Rick is
known for doing for himself.

If not, no big deal.

If we’ve lit a fire under some of these folks like Rick to try
something DIFFERENT, even if it’s not doing business with JointVentures.com…I’m
fine with that.

All I know is that if every one of those among “the 500” who own the
best .com generic domain names in the world believes in their intrinsic value
as much as Rick does, puts a future price on their holdings and sticks to their
guns, whether we play on the same team or not, we cannot lose.

And if those folks do as Rick is doing and give a growth-oriented
company a chance to operate a million-dollar domain name in an affordable
monthly lease or risk-free joint venture…they just might be DAMNED SURPRISED at
how much potential profit is left LOCKED UP in a 2^nd Tier domain
name like JointVentures.com getting only a few hundred type-in visitors per
year and earning almost NOTHING UNTIL it is paired with a business plan and a
team that will execute it.

For damned sure no one is surprised at how much value is locked up in a 1^st-tier
Candy.com value domain name when it’s parked. What you’ll see more and more of
this year is nothing new. Just how things will and MUST unfold, and who gets
paid for predicting the future better, the guy with the uncooked steak or the
guy hungering for the opportunity to cook and eat some of it.

Selling a top-tier domain name in the next 3 years for cash
only is going to be like trying to cook a 60 second steak from a beef cow that
took YEARS to be grain-fed and well-treated to create the highest value steak
imaginable. It’s selling yourself WAY short, steakmeisters!

AND it’s selling your steak buyer short, if you’re promising
him an instant mouthwatering steak in 60 seconds or less.

Can’t be done! Sorry, it’s what we see and there ain’t no
changing that. Patience is the virtue here, for those among the 500. I believe
what Rick Schwartz believes: You’ve already arrived. You own the restaurant.
Accept it and quit doubting yourself. Let the qualified and passionate General
Manager come along and operate the business THEY WERE ALREADY GOING TO OPERATE,
paying you a percentage for letting them do it in YOUR superior restaurant
location.

I’ll leave you today how I greeted you:

A passionate,
energetic, HUNGRY guy or gal is looking at your uncooked Steak.com right now
and wondering if you’d let them have half…if he/she cooked it to mouthwatering
perfection FOR YOU.

But these waves of
end users increasingly coming are not stupid.

They’ll eat your lunch, domainers…IF you LET THEM.

Let them buy that generic category-defining top-tier .com
social or commercial domain name they want and I don’t care HOW BIG THE CASH
OUTLAY IS for a straight sale in 2013-2015…it WILL prove to be short sighted.

Insist on exchanging that domain name for having a seat at
that business’s table forever and you are no longer a domain speculator; but
you’re now an investor in a potentially great business.

For a one-time investment you already made.

Danny Welsh
JointVentures.com

Morning Folks!!

First of all submissions are now closed. But this is just a sample of a response to a domainer that will also translate to an end user and sheds some light on who Danny is. Starting Feb 1, Next Friday, our focus is on end users. Actually that process has already begun. But PLEASE, no more domain submissions for 2013. They are now closed.

'Come on Guys! You Will be Not be Able to Lease More than 5-10 Domains.'

Some actually believe that so let's kill that myth right here and right now and tell you our EXACT plan for leasing hundreds of domain names.

So please forgive me for saying so but some folks are interpreting what we're doing through an 'inventory' and 'commodity' standpoint and not a 'unique asset' standpoint. We have said NO to 50,000 domain names submitted by folks like you in the last 6 weeks. We said yes to less than 300 BECAUSE they are unique ideas that have value far above a cash-only sale.
Let me be clear: we're not doing crap a domain sales broker would do. Not to dog those guys, everyone needs to put food on their table. But we're so outside the box there IS no box. This is a fresh approach and it is working for Rick Schwartz. We are telling our clients to price UP, not down. Price UP and JUSTIFY. It's how the Rolex of the world gets $xx,xxx when I can get a $2 watch at Kmart in 5 minutes.
Rick asked me to share the vision and some of our early results with his friends and expand in 2013, and if so he'd bring the domainer clients and we'd split profits we make for his friends. I told him it'd take time to scale up thru March but yeah, we can do 400 for the community instead of 100 for Rick Schwartz. Simple as that.
You want one example of how we're DIFFERENT? Look at JontVentures.com itself. A 200 page BOOK formatted as a website and the average deal with an end user we do spends HOURS consuming every scrap of information on that site educating themselves on why it is a GOOD decision to pay Rick Schwartz $xxx+ monthly for something he has $x,xxx invested into and 20 years of patience. The people that want the BEST generic .com domain names don't need to be sold.They need to understand, and justify. For starters, we make their due diligence FUN to READ, and with every sentence they read they get sold better than a salesperson on the phone could ever cold call.
Who wrote it? Me or Rick? It has his name on it and his face on it. Does it matter to the guy who wants GENERIC.com who authored that book? Does it matter to the guy who OWNS Generic.com right now and wants to use it? Not really. It's a tool, and one of only 7 tools in mine and Rick's toolbox and the community of domainers has only seen 1. Does it matter that this was an actual letter from Danny to a customer with a concern.
So yes, I get why you are hesitant to give Rick Schwartz and someone you don't know a one year exclusive listing without knowing more of the plan. That's cool. Just because everyone wants to trust Rick Schwartz, doesn't make it wrong for YOU to trust but verify.
If I were saying Rick and I were 100% confident that we could in one year or two years make a deal happen for this domain or that domain I'd be skeptical too. Not to mention the 50,000 commodity domains any company copying us in 'domain leasing' is going to put on their website. That is not our game.
Please look thru my responses to you. I said in essence about the 2 domains of yours 'they are valuable no doubt'...But I said 'I have no idea YET how I'd market those 2 domain names to make sure someone who'd be happy to lease your property at the amount you're asking would even find out the domain name was AVAILABLE. But we can see what we can do on those ones that still have obvious NOUN.com and ADJECTIVE.com value' (paraphrasing).
Compare that with THIS...
I don't need to CHASE the guy who wants to buy a generic product name like your ******.com from you. I also don't need to SELL him on why he wants it because he already does want it.
My role is to attract him and others LIKE him all at once, and tell each it's not for sale for cash and tell them what deal one of them CAN have to operate ******.com and get all of it's benefits...if he moves faster than his competitor.
Want to know how to make more Candy.com deals happen? You give the driver at a company that COVETS GENERIC.com a way to GET THE DOMAIN and not worry that down the line they'll look foolish. You present one GENERIC.com success story after another. You make JointVentures.com and what we are doing so newsworthy that it's in Entrepreneur magazine and Forbes not as an advertiser...but as an editorial. You put a price on your car for sale in the newspaper and everyone that is interested and calls you tell individually to show up at the only time you can show them the car, which is Friday at 5pm, and when they show up they see it's more DESIRABLE and there is built-in URGENCY to buy that car now.
How are we different #3? There LOTS of ways to do ACTIVE SALES stuff ain't nobody in this somewhat PASSIVE industry of domainers first and entrepreneurs second haven't tried...all designed to sell a UNIQUE ASSET for what it is instead of waiting for someone to come along as an interested buyer and 'sell themselves' on why they should give that domain name owner $5 MIL. That's what so many of the top domain name owners do because it's all they have time for! LOL I mean seriously, when has Rick Schwartz ever TRIED to sell a domain name actively? I think he sent an email to Hershey's once about Candy.com. Gimme a break. It's a different world entirely when you give that opportunity to a SALES GUY recruited and trained by me and Rick Schwartz and he has ONE domain name to do a 7 figure deal for this year and he gets $50K+ residuals forever for that one deal.
How are we different? Example 4 of how we are DIFFERENT: How would I attract and sell the deal for one of your domain names, specifically. Let's say *********?
An www.jointventures.com/******.com custom pitch page gets designed for only that ONE guy who would do a Candy.com style deal if it's presented to him, a $xx,xxx yearly lease with a $x,xxx,xxx contractual buyout if he likes it and you keep the domain name if he fails to live up to the contract. I tell that guy even at $x,xxx,xxx today ******.com is NOT for sale, unless a small x% equity share or royalty comes with the cash.
That would take me half a day if that to customize the words of a simple pitch like that. I used to charge $2000/day for copywriting services. I hate to toot my own horn pal but sometimes ain't nobody else gonna toot it for you, so when people DO, I 'save' that info. I share some of it on ThanksDannyWelsh.com. Billionaires, senators, people on TV, best selling authors, thought leaders of all types. This is my network. These are people that know me and could explain why the domain industry just got a nice deal that I quit real estate and freelance copywriting/marketing consulting both in 2012 because I found something more profitable. Leasing eRealEstate WITH my skills of marketing and copywriting.
Long story short...and I've reached a length of this response that no doubt Rick will use this as another blog Q & A but damnit pal I really want you to hear my passion come through. And if need be I share with you why you should hire ME to be your sales guy for 2 domains this year and back ME as I am in turned backed up by RICK.
I have created copy responsible for tens of millions of dollars in sales at price-points from $x to $xx,xxx. Now I give that talent free to Rick, who is now my partner, and will do the same for our other clients. Why? Because now I get to use the SAME talent God blessed me with and that I've worked my ass off to become among the best in the world with...to sell a JET instead of a JEEP. To sell an unique IDEA worth millions of dollars instead of a commodity product that costs $10.
The margins are bigger, more opportunity for everyone. I have told all of my other clients in 2013 I cannot help them, and that they should have made me a partner when I asked. Rick did and I will love him for it forever unless he screws me. Copyrighting is three things: medium, message, market. Hit all 3 and you have a sale. One sale at $10,000,000 or a million sales at $10 each, the fundamentals are the same.
I am experienced with both, and my talent is better used selling unique assets. That is what this is about, as 3 years from now we look at whether Rick accomplishes his 20 year goal of an income stream from 100 different companies upon which he is the landlord of their eRealEstate, whether in a lease, sale with ongoing royalties, or other JV deal. Each agrees to a creative deal for GENERIC.com because they see the value, and that the alternatives are no good.
It's not about domaining anymore.
It's about SALES.
So that happens when you sign as a client. Then you get our Fast Start instructions so you know how/where to send inquiries as they come in. Simultaneous to that custom pitch page for each of your domains we list, I give MY network the domain names we are listing and offer them a 5% sub-broker opportunity. I let them know they might just get paid for LIFE for a 5 minute conversation with a high-level connection in their Rolodex that may not be in mine, and a personal referral to an interested party.
I ask them to look over the list. I ask these people who are CONNECTORS...
'Which CRM Software company do you know that would LOVE to stop paying Google Adwords so much money to advertise for 'CRM Software' keywords at $x.xx per click...and would love to use CRMSoftware.com?'
and 'Who do you know that would see the value in paying monthly to be the only law firm in the world that communicate with their real estate law clients from @RealEstateLaw.com?'
and 'Which hungry young guy do you know that is growth-oriented and would be excited to read about the success stories of a Bobbleheads.com or AmericanFlags.com style success where a guy with drive can shake up a lazy industry, be perceived as a market leader from the day you open the doors, and get paid huge money when the IMPROVED eREALESTATE ASSET you just increased the value for wants to be ACQUIRED by one of the lazy companies that should have been smart enough to buy the land alone when it was for sale?'
That's phase 1 of marketing. Custom pitch page, and sub-brokers, starting with MY network.
If that ONE guy for ******.com for instance gets attracted from a type-in inquiry link on your domain name itself, or by my connectors, we need do nothing further but turn him over to Rick for him to negotiate on your behalf.
Congrats to us all four! WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN. Including the end user, as he is KEY.
If NOT, we roll into phase 2 for the next 90 days.
And we get a little deeper into implementing OUR unique plan you either realize by now I've fully thought through...or not.
Either way, it's not about domains and it's not about domainers. So least you think this argument is one I'm making to YOU, it's beyond that. In full transparency I can say every single one of these words to the end user, and Rick has a track record of telling the buyer inquiry with little money and no vision NO as many times as it takes.
My job is just getting him more and better qualified people to say NO to...until that one person comes along with an offer you (our client) and Rick (your negotiator) simply cannot refuse.
A diamond is a diamond is a diamond.
It's beyond 'domaining' what we're doing. It's about business and sales and increasing profits with JointVentures. It's about ONE best operator for the best domain names in the world, and the domain name owner stays in the deal with a small ongoing royalty % for generations while a shopping mall gets built on their land they already made a nice profit selling.
Rick and I can't guarantee we can bring both parties together within 12 months for a deal like that for 50,000 domains like those we've had to say no to when submitted by some really great people.
We can't guarantee it for the 5,000+ domains Rick owns.
We can't guarantee it for 500 domains, either.
But every success we have will make the next easier.
And we're listing a total of 400 this year, counting 100 of Rick's, and that is til 1/31. After that you will not hear from us as a 'domainer.'
My friend, Sorry but you're not seeing the full picture. What just happened in the last 6 weeks tossing dynamite in the domain pond can and WILL be duplicated in pond after pond after pond, industry after industry after industry..
Each one like a BOULDER tossed in with a MESSAGE about a million dollar opportunity for GENERIC.com (from me) delivered through a MEDIUM (GENERIC.com itself to start) to the MARKET that will be most likely to take action on the message's offer.
Game, set, MATCH a great domain name with a great business and a greater deal that's WIN-WIN for all parties.
And folks will watch these deals happen again and again in the next 2 years from in the game...or on the sidelines.
I hope my passion has come through and you say 'YES' to doing business on one or two of your prime properties. The GENERIC.com like ******.com can be done, and I'll make it a priority that it DOES get done.
I've given you more of my ideas than I planned to at this time. Maybe because you remind me of my long-time best friend, who is the most gifted negotiator I've ever met. He always sells me on doing stuff using a 'takeaway' like he's not interested. And every time I get sucked in to convince him why I'm right, while I'm busy putting together the argument on why, he's already thought ten steps ahead to how he can turn me being right to his advantage. LOL if so, you're sneaky man!
Point is...You'll see more of the full picture in February. So will everyone, and it appears we'll be building this with tens of thousands watching our every move. Following Rick the leader. That's cool.
Just know that with Rick Schwartz backing me, everyone can copy us in the small things they can 'see' and it will NOT be a threat to us.
Everything we do can be copied except what makes Rick Schwartz the Domain King and what makes Danny Welsh...who I am.
There's no zero sum game in 2013-2015 with 'domain leasing', but there's gonna be a HELL of a lot of ZEROES with JointVentures.
Really hope you want to give the ol roulette wheel a spin with us, too.
Warmly,
Danny Welsh

Have GREAT day!

Rick Schwartz