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

Morning Folks!!

Mission Accomplished. I had time to think, reflect and verify. Mission Accomplished. So what I have tried to do is re-adjust and re-evaluate to a world where Domain Names are no longer an unknown. Quite the opposite. The entire world now knows that it all starts with a domain name. Every business, every idea, every child born. That's the first step. It is also a step they may need to repeat and revisit if they did not get it right the first time and found any degree of success. That is happening already.

We live in a world today where domain 'Evangelists' are in every corner of the world. Where there are more 'Domain Bloggers' than there were domainers back even as late as 1998 or 1999.

So where do I pivot to from here? What do we as domain investors see? That has been the question I have needed to answer and have wrestled with. I am not looking to create work. That is never a consideration. I retired in 1998 and even the thought about being trapped again is enough to make me run. I do 'Missions.' I don't do 'Jobs.' Is there a difference? You bet your sweet ass there is.

I don't look at domains as a business where I buy and sell. That is always a fallback plan but not the main plan. I look at it as a gold reserve that protects my financial independence. Strictly as an investment with expansion potential when and as I see fit. Each year I buy many more domains than I sell. I don't need a lot of new domains, I just need to invest in some every year that I see as safer than owning dollars and will rise in value faster than other riskier investments.

I defined my financial needs for a lifetime back in the 1990's and my gold bullion came in the form of a .com on the end. Storage was easy and very portable. It had so many faces I am still counting. Many parallels with many things. All making domains exponentially more valuable than the very things we can compare it to. As a commodity. As a collectible. As Real Estate. As the Yellow Pages. As the 800 Number. As Social Media. As Media. As an Address. As a Business. As a Movement. As a Stock. As a Location. As an Investment. As a TV. As Gold and Oil. So many more. What is yours?

I have sat behind a number of monitors and keyboards for 17 years now and I still don't see anything so universal, so meaningful to the future, so multi-faceted as a great domain name. Plus the annual overhead is something paid within the first days of each year.

Morning Folks!!

Never confuse the customer. That's just one of the takeaways from the O.co disaster. Sure, you can put lipstick on this pig but 5 months after they announce they are going to become O.com, the change goes down in flames.

There are many losers in this. Some are short term losers and then there are long term losers. As for winners, there is only one winner. Dotcom!

Now this does not mean you can't make money with different extensions. You can. Including .co. It does mean you are crazy to try and build a business on any extension other than dotcom UNLESS you own the dotcom. They will ALWAYS have a gaping hole in their advertising and marketing strategy/budget and that is a costly mistake if they don't have the .com counterpart.

What happened with this news is akin to a $25 million domain sale. It's a marker in the sand. Marking a significant day with new FACTS.

This is what I would call a 'Paul Revere Moment' because the following line is going to be repeated and repeated and repeated for YEARS to come. Had O.co just decided to make a change would be one thing, but when they said THIS, the WORLD changed:

'Mr. Johnson said customers responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots, 'a good portion' of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co.'

You can't put this back in the box. You can't unring this bell. This is not a low level employee, this is the President of the company. It is out there and I and others will hang our hat on it for years to come. Whether it be .co, .net, or HUNDREDS and soon to be THOUSANDS of other extensions.

'Mr. Johnson said customers responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots, 'a good portion' of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co.'

Do not forget that line. THAT is what this is all about. 'It's the traffic, stupid!'

But there is also some clarity for the first time. Plus the conversation now turns to traffic. They are finally talking about traffic. When they start targeting that traffic we will all know we have arrived.

Itr has always been about the traffic but now they are reacting to it and understanding it.

When Overstock first announced they would be O.com I thought it was a stupid idea. Not because of the .co. That was not the first thing that popped in my mind. The first thing that popped in my mind was that the Overstock Brand itself was weak at best. Overstock is certainly not on the lips of most people and when I asked folks, most never heard of them. So their move was a branding mistake and premature.

It was stupid. I said so then and I did not mince words but I also was patient enough to wait for a REAL result. So the birdie in the mine was born.

Until NOW most folks did not know or maybe even did not believe that there is traffic leakage from ANY extension to the .com. That was inside baseball. We knew, few others did. Now the world knows. That's a good thing.

Read my posts for the last 15 years. I have stated over and over and over again that .NET is an'Orphan' extension. The weakest one because of the leakage to the .com. So this is nothing new. What is new is a mainstream company articulating that for the world to see. That is HUGE! That will have huge ramifications.

'Mr. Johnson said customers responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots, 'a good portion' of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co.'

That is the key sentence to focus on. Nothing else in the release matters. But there is still a variable there. How MUCH leakage was there? We can guess at this. But let's look at the FACT that 5 months after they went to O.co they change course. 5 MONTHS!!! How much money did they spend in that re-branding effort? New commercials, new ads, new this and new that.

They did it 1 week before Thanksgiving. That is more evidence on how much leakage. Would you have liked to be a fly on the wall during those board meetings?

My estimate is as follows. 25% would be the very least leakage. But i think it is more. 50% would probably be getting close. My guess is they brought in a focus group, ran the commercial and then asked folks to simply go to their website.

So if that focus group had let's say had anywhere between 25% and 75% of folks going to O.com, then you can see why they would do something so drastic they know would be very embarrassing. The exact number we can speculate on. Just look how many times we have messed it up on blog posts or comments. CONFUSION!

But the FACT is it was so much leakage that they were forced to make this move after a huge investment.

Re-branding was a huge mistake when the original brand was not fully branded. But that is just a debating point. What can't be debated is the FACT of the traffic leakage. It's always about the traffic.

There is no excuse or justification. There are now facts. Facts to look at and plug in. But when we agree that this 'Experiment' is a big deal, we can't go back and say it doesn't mean much when it fails. And this was much more than a failure.

The single biggest loser, let me see, there are a few of them. But the biggest loser is down the road. I will have to re-read my August post on .Whatever and see if I need to change any of my thinking.

The gTLD's MOMENTUM is the the single biggest loser. How many companies will rethink their plans? How many will see this as the deciding factor? None of us know but I will guarantee you the answer is greater than 'None.' It may even rise to 'Many.'

Next up is .XXX. They have a different vision. Together we will see how that birdie does. I don't know, you don't know, but the birdie will know. The birdies cousin did not do well and this could be the next fatality. But sex sells and so I would say .XXX is the last best chance. A failure there is a nail in the coffin of .whatever as far as domain investment goes imho. We can count the carcases and come to a conclusion at that point. But I will still wait for the results and as always, time will tell.

I will also see what happens with the .XXX lawsuit. Mike Berkens wrote a piece yesterday and gives some good reasons why companies should get their .whatever. We will see if they take his advice. One thing is for sure, understanding of domain names and traffic on the Internet are still in the elementary stages. Folks that at this point should be fluent in domain names can hardly speak the language.

Those that don't understand how meaningful that one statement Mr. Johnson made is just missing the entire picture and wishing won't make your assets worth more. Taking in new information and adjusting is key. This was HUGE information. Nothing we did not know, but now confimed in a very public way.

I will be using that quote for YEARS to come. Forget the .co, (allthough the confusion factor here is off the chart) put in any extension. If you are going to mass market, you MUST own the dotcom version. SIMPLE. One sentence says it all! Thank you Mr. Johnson. You are my hero!

'Mr. Johnson said customers responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots, 'a good portion' of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co.'

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

The #1 problem people in business have is they would rather do it FAST than do it RIGHT. I have been in board meetings for some 40 years. I can tell you that almost each and every meeting had 3 flaws. The first flaw was they worked too fast and the 2nd was indecison and the 3rd was wrong decisions.

I say here is the roadmap to 'Work Smarter.'

I have said for many years that if you leave New York and you set sail to London and end up in Africa, your mistake was NOT when you landed in Africa. It was BEFORE you set sail from New York in most cases. Failure happens EARLY on.

So few seem to be able to get their heads around something as simple as that. Failure comes before you start in MOST cases. Poor planning, wrong direction, working fast. Not understanding the results of each step and why there was a result.

Decisions come with time. Not too much time, but time. Quick decisions without thinking of EVERY possible ramification is a failure in the making. A perfect recipe for failure. The FIRST thing you need to do in success is get the recipe right. Do things the right way. Failing to do that results in failure. You must exhaust all avenues.

People often want quick decisions from me. I slow that train right down. I like to sleep on things. I may need a few days and maybe not. But each decision should be made when needed and not before unless you are 100% comfortable with it. When folks rush me, I just decline whatever it was. Life is not like buying a car with a salesman pressuring you. You get to take a deep breath and KNOW that YOU are in charge, not them.

I have been involved in a number of businesses. Businesses grown from an idea. I can tell you that nothing happens overnight. It is a long marathon. As I say in the title, it takes 18-36 months to make a solid business and grow it and get it on a solid foundation. But folks are always in a rush and their time line is so much shorter than reality dictates and that leads to many disappointments. They outsmart themselves by taking shortcuts and skipping steps. It's the bullet train to failure. But the same people always say the same thing....'I will do it right NEXT TIME,' when they still have the POWER to do it right THIS TIME.

As I explain here you don't use a CLOCK in business. You don't measure by time. You measure by milestones.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

When you celebrate great success one of two things happen. You either help folks in back of you or you step on their fingers to make sure they don’t catch up. The overwhelming answer is most help others. You feel a need deep inside to give back. That is the bi-product. That certainly upsets the other group that wants to keep folks back. So there is the first line of battle. First line of detractors. They are out to protect what they have and they believe by locking others out they can accomplish that. They are wrong, but don't tell them that.

I believe when you help those behind you do something good and when you do good, you get rewarded. I believe that opportunity is not a threat when more are involved. I believe that more involved provide greater opportunity.

Some see all the next extensions as a threat. I see it exactly the opposite. I see it as great opportunity that will make my dotcom assets increase in value, not decline. Expansion is not a bad thing. Yes, if you are a one trick pony and don’t know how to adapt then you are also likely very defensive. If you believe in the future and the future holds more opportunity not less, than you are on offense.

Lots of millionaires have lost their homes in the last few years and a lot more will be losing them in the future. Which way do you think they see life? Somewhere along the way they did a bad job of planning and not doing the math if things get tight or unforeseen things strike.

I have been in domains when nobody knew what a domain was and I have been in domains as they evolve to be mainstream and more. Guess what? I like the odds of today’s opportunity even better than 1995 because not only am I armed with more knowledge, the world is armed with more understanding.

In less than 60 days I start my 17^th year investing in domains because I saw a unique opportunity in time. You will be STUNNED by the progress we will make in the next 3 years. Stunned beyond what any of you can fathom. The understanding that is happening is vast and the puzzle is turning into a clear picture. When that happens, get ready! STAMPEDE is in our future just like STAMPEDE has been in the past. Only difference is the size and mass of this coming stampede. The first stampedes only involved small groups. The next one will involve everyone.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I never told this story before and it is just one story embedded in all the other stories and there are even stories within this story. I know nothing about STARTING a business with money. I only know how to start a business with the money in my pocket or a credit card. Now that does not mean you don't need money. But you don't need a lot of it when you have something good and the passion and know how to follow through.

If you want to be an idealist, that is all well and good. Go into politics. Business is a different playing field. Like baseball and football. Different game, different rules. If you are easily offended, business is not the best place to be. Business is about failure and rejection and dusting yourself off and trying again. So save the whining for the welfare office or political office.

Business is very simple but people make it complicated. Complicated fails almost all the time. Simple works almost all the time. Some folks go into business and from day one they also go into debt. They get in debt for the wrong things and wrong reasons. They get in debt because of bad decisions. They get in debt by doing things in the wrong order and at the wrong time.

The first thing is not getting an office and employees. That is the LAST thing you do. The first thing you do is make a sale. PERIOD! MAKE A SALE. When you make a sale FIRST, you have income. When you do ANYTHING else first you have debt.

With income you are free to do more things. With debt you put chains and locks on your future. Sorry, I am a very simple guy. No business should cost you more than pocket change to get off the ground. Off the ground means making your first sale. But you can’t stop there. You need sale #2 and sale #3. If you can make 3 sales in a short period of time, you have a business. If you can’t make those 3 sales, you got something else. If you can’t get to 3 you can’t get to 30 or 300 or 3000. You need 3. Period the end.

If you don’t have something to sell….then what are you doing? Why are you doing it? You don’t even need the product to sell it. You need the idea. You need a picture. You need a sample. And most importantly, you need a profit. That profit has to be substantial. If you don’t have these elements……you are digging ditches, filling in the ditch you dug and then feeling great on all that you accomplished or feel rejected for working so hard and not accomplishing anything. So many fall into these groups it is plain sad!

Sure, there are start up costs for most businesses. But you can control that and climb the mountain one stage at a time or you can try and leap the entire way and that often leads to disaster.

We are all going to be in multiple businesses along this path. Warren Royal never planned to be the bobble had king. Jeff Reynolds never planned to be the #1 flag supplier in the USA and maybe beyond by now. None of us are planning for what is coming. But it has a way of finding us. These businesses were created only because they ended up with a domain name. It then became their life's work. Not planned. It just happens when you are on the right path in life and do what you are supposed to do and see things in the right manner.

How do you know it when you see it? Training, awareness, follow through and know how.

3 weeks after I got fired from my last job in life I started selling my lighting product I found and tracked down the source. Long before I ever went to Asia, I would buy for $3 a foot and sell it for as much as $15.50/foot. But most was at $6 a foot. In time my costs went down. It went down to as low as 35 CENTS a foot. So am I supposed to sell for 70 cents a foot? HELL NO!! My prices only changed a little. It went down to $5/ft but would allow me to compete for the large orders. Did I ever sell at 70 cents? NEVER! $1? NEVER! $1.50? NEVER. $2? $3. You bet! But that was for large orders. I could have increased my volume going big, but I let others have THAT business. I went for what was profitable and still plentiful. My bottom line was just as good as theirs, but they did a lot more work and took more risk than I did. I was semi-retired and that time eventually allowed me to get 800 numbers and domain names.

You don’t have to be the biggest. You don’t even have to be the best. You just focus on a place with plenty of fish and be satisfied with the abundance you have there instead of going where all the others fish. They will always work longer and harder and end up with the same amount of fish. So knowing that, you can use your new found time chasing new found solutions that may or may not work. The others will never have that luxury. They don’t have the time. They are bigger, have employees, offices, warehouses and all the rest of the trappings. Headaches too. I just had passion and a garage.

My first sale of my lighting product was to my Dry Cleaners. Really! My next 2 sales were in New York City at 4:30 in the afternoon on a Friday in April. I made a beeline from my Dry Cleaner to “The belly of the beast” as I would call New York City. I knew if I could sell it there, I could sell it anywhere. I made my second call, the first one in New York. SALE! I got in my car, drove around the corner to my next destination. SALE! I was on my way. I started the first 2 days of the week in North Carolina. I was in Florida mid week. I was in New York City on Friday. Cape Cod Friday night and Saturday. Back to Florida by Monday afternoon. In a car. A car that you will soon read put me in business more ways than one.

So it is now Tuesday. I needed money to buy the lighting product and have some inventory. I had no money. I had just lost my job after some 7 years as I describe in this post. All I had was a paid off 5 year old Mercedes Benz and the samples the supplier gave me. The bank told me they could not give me a loan on a 5 year old car. I knew the banker. She was a lady I knew for a few years. So she says to me, let me go ask the bank President. The bank President comes out of his office and asks what I have. I plug in the lights, toss it out on the floor. Everyone in the bank stopped what they were doing to look and the next words out of his mouth were: “Give him the money” True story. I walked out with $12,500 and that was enough to buy inventory for the orders I ALREADY HAD.

That was when banks were real. They would take a risk. They would bet on your success. He didn’t even ask me for a business plan. He just said, “Give him the money.” I don’t even know his name and the bank has been renamed more times than you can imagine. Would have surely liked to thank both of them.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

And here is a little postscript. After I wrote this post on Monday morning, I LOCATED the lady at the bank from more than 25 years ago with a bit of searching. Thank you Google! And had to make a few calls but within 10 minutes was able to track her down. No longer in South Florida, but not that far away either. Another person pivotal to my success in life. Just that one simple act of asking the bank President, changed my life. One tiny fork in the road. I was able to call her, speak to her, thank her, learn who was the bank President at the time and agree to have lunch with her in the not too distant future. She made my day and I think I made her day as well.

Morning Folks!!

I have often talked about my 20 year plan but have NEVER talked about what happens after 20 years. See it is 20 years to the starting line. I think I have helped to shorten that time. I believe at about 17.5 years things will just POP!

So what happens after 20 years? After 20 years the dealmaking really begins in earnest. I don't want 100% of the pie. I want 25% of 1000 pies. Maybe 2000 pies. I mean businesses. Can you imagine that? I sure as hell can. I have dreamed it for a very long time. But as it gets closer, I can taste it. I already have several of these deals in place. Partners I may or may not have met. They have a talent to do something profitable specifically with one of my domain names.

Like every mountain you have to climb slow at first and then it begins to accelerate. Candy.com started with just 2%. Property 5%. Luv.com 25%. Depending on the attributes and ideas and profit potential, each one will have a different number. But the one that seems to be the path of least resistence where you allow a third party to use one of your domain names to make a go of their idea is worth 25%. They need no money, they need a profitable idea.

So the profitable idea is really like carrying American Express. It goes anywhere. Your GREAT idea is your passport to other places and dimensions and success.

So 100% of 1 business is 100%. Could be gold mine and then some. 25 businesses at 25% each comes to 625%. (Like owning 100% of 6.25 businesses. 100 businesses at 25% ownership comes to 2500%. 1000 businesses at 25% ownership comes out to 25,000%. So you can own 1 business as a whole or you can own 100% of 6250 different business entities.

Follow that??

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

There has been a lot if discussion on the blogs about our new auction rules and process and that is a good thing. I hope to paint a picture so folks know what we are doing and why we are doing it.

http://www.thedomains.com/2011/08/29/no-online-bidding-from-live-domain-auction-at-the-traffic-conference/

http://domainshane.com/brilliant-move-by-traffic-if-the-online-bidding-doesnt-work-drop-it/#comments

Howard and I have certain obligations when we organize an event like T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Our obligation are as follows when we talk about the show and the auction and when you look at it the way we MUST look at it you will understand WHY we do what we do.

Our FIRST concern and obligation is to the Attendees. We can't cater to folks NOT at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. at the expense of those that are at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. That is our foundation and nothing can supersede that. Nothing!

So when you start there and realize those folks in attendance are the ONLY ones we have to answer to, no auction or event can violate that.

Attendees are the ones who MUST be satisfied. PERIOD. That part is not debatable. And when you understand that part, the rest falls in place.

The SECOND group we are accountable to are the ones that have paid the fee to have a guaranteed placement in the auction. Having the crashes as we have seen them over the past year does not help them. The Internet slows the action because the bids are slow to post if at all. So we just go back to basics. I think they used the phone for the past 100 years. If your calculator battery goes out you still have to know how to do the math.

It’s not an issue with any of those folks. They understand what I am trying to accomplish. They are not close-minded. That is why they did what they did to begin with and I have no issue if any of those want to pull out. No issue whatsoever. But they have not and that means they “Get it” and now even more are being submitted!

It is pretty simple. We have phone lines and make sure those on the phone realize that they are there to bid or not bid. If they are not bidding, then that call is terminated. Most of the bidding won't even reach the guy on the phone because the action INSIDE the room will be fast paced. So the 10-second rule does not even come into play until the end of the process. At that point there are 2 or 3 bidders. There are NEVER 10. So of the 2 or 3 bidders at that point....shit or get off the pot. Bid or get off the phone. Why should 350 people in the room wait for one guy making up his mind on the phone?? THAT is ridiculous and THAT is exactly what has been happening as everyone WAITS for the Internet to bid or lock up or get a connection or whatever.

The THIRD group we have to satisfy is the seller. We do that by opening up the process like never before and this is the second time we have done it. It's a pretty simple pitch to them. We have the single best qualified audience in domaining and if your prices are domainer to domainer prices, you will do quite well. If you are looking to sell to the end user prices. Bring the end users to bid. Don’t know the difference between a domain priced for a domainer to buy and an end user price?? Well I sure do! And so does every domainer there.

The FOURTH group is the phone/internet bidder. We are doing them a service by allowing remote bidding. We have no obligation to them other than to take their bids and complete the transaction if they win. I have already stated that we are seriously considering identifying remote bidders so folks in the room know who they are bidding against. Especially if they are a domainer. I could see how a TRUE end user would want to be under the radar. So we are weighing the pros and cons. The folks in the room WANT to know who they are bidding against. So I revert to concern #1.

We are not begging for domains. We have ample inventory at this moment. But we want the BEST names and THAT my friends is what will drive all this. Want a prime .XXX domain?? There may be 7 figures in sales just off those domains.

Want an underpriced domain with a 7 figure future value? There is such a domain in the auction and I have slapped my hand not to buy it before the auction. But I know where the line is and I respect it. So it will go on the block and if you can figure it out. Then you are seeing the future.

Great domains at great prices. We can't control it all. We allowed those that believe in their domain to place them. This has NEVER happened before. But domainers are taking control of their own destiny. Nearly 2 dozen so far!!

We want to have a great auction, but we don't have to sell our souls to do it. We can set a standard and we can set the rules. When folks feel comfortable that they are not being 'Played' they bid with more confidence. So simple!

That is why we won’t insult our audience with starting bids wildly above their value. Each domain will start at $1, $1000, $5000, or $10,0000.

We won’t be starting it at $500,000 and looking for a sucker working down until somebody bids $25,000 and then works up to $40,000 on a domain with a $150,000 reserve that has a value of $50,000. It may be the “Way it is done” but that way really sucks and does not work for OUR audience in THIS industry.

So far the majority of ones not liking this are anonymous folks that are ghosts to us. That brings me to the last point. Since there is phone bidding…ANY and ALL phone bidders MUST pre-register and pre-qualify with a credit card at least 5 days before the show. They will not be allowed to sit on the phone for every auction. They can participate in up to 15 total auctions unless we personally know them and are qualified beyond reproach.

You can’t do the same thing and expect a different result. We have seen the same thing and we have seen the results. So we believe these changes will reinvigorate the process. The PROOF will be a 7 figure auction at a time that things are very bumpy.

So on record, for the record, before the record happens. Most of you get it and I appreciate that you have been so supportive as we try and update the process and produce a result we can all be proud of.

This is the first time that Howard and I are actually controlling the action and setting the rules. I have been in the audience for some 20 auctions and it is clear to me what needs to be done to make things happen and bring the excitement back INTO THE ROOM!!

We will have contracts on no more than 150 domains. We will have no silent auction before, after or during. We will be tying up ONLY those domains. We have no motive or reason to tie up 150,000 domains. Our ONLY job is to find the best domains from those domains submitted at the most reasonable prices. Bidding that will EXCEED the reserves because they were priced right to begin with. Because they were valuable and they were bargains. Because our audience is unparalleled when it comes to quality.

My ONLY obligation is the folks that are there. How do you argue with what is obvious? That means most of the 350 there will agree and the thousands not there will be split. Some with their own motives and agenda as we are a THREAT to them! But they should not look at it like that. We are just paving a new path that they themselves may likely follow.

As for sponsors. Our job is to get the right audience to the show and showcase their companies the best we can. Support them the best we can. Help them grow their business by putting them together with the heart of the industry.

I hope this helps folks understand. Those that don’t….all I can say is wait before you judge. In my world there is RESULTS and everything else. These changes will produce results! If that threatens you, so be it! But it isn’t meant to threaten anyone. It is simply to fix something stale, outdated and no longer working from the folks that brought it to you when it was working.

You can find the “Pay to Play” info here:

http://www.targetedtraffic.com/program/the.auction.php

We are only accepting domains now that are $50,000 or more. Like I said, we know our audience.

As accepted they will be posted here. Just scroll down to 4PM:

http://www.targetedtraffic.com/program/101811.php?day=18

I won't apologize if we fail. I will only apologize for not trying something new and different when something is already broken and no longer working. But you will be seeing a GREAT success! This is not a recipe for failure. This is a recipe for success and THAT success has some worrried and others thrilled. That's the reality.

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. MEANS B.U.S.I.N.E.S.S.

Rick Schwartz
CEO & Co-founder T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
http://www.TargetedTraffic.com

Morning Folks!!

Capitalism is about taking a risk and being rewarded if it works out. That is why so many take risks every single day. The risk/reward level is huge. You never know how big the upside can be while knowing exactly what the risk might be if you do your due diligence.

So we are entering a period in which you are going to have to defend owning large quantities of domain names. Let’s define “Large” as anything over 250 domain names. May not be large to us, but will be to those looking in.

If you look at my posts from 15 years ago you will see that the thing that concerned me the most would be over reaching government intervention. They would target valuable domains and assist those that decided they had more of a right to that domain name than you do.

The defense to all this is the risk we have all taken to get whatever degree of success we can harness by the system that they invented. They set the rules. They set the standards. They set the boundaries. They set the entire playing field.

Given that playing field we all invested in this medium. We did our job by making new business and trailblazing new paths. Personally I invested $500k in renewal fees and in excess of $5 Million acquiring my portfolio. We took risks when nobody else stepped up to do it because they did not see what we saw.

THEY STILL DON’T SEE IT!!

Sure, they see what happened in the last 15 years but they still have not figured out what happens in the next 5 years. THE 5 years. The 5 years that changes how we look and value domain names. All the silly formulas will finally look as silly to you as they do to me.

Domains valued on PPC. Now that is funny!! But as funny as that is, that is the standard the industry adopted. What PPC and a domain have in common in value is way beyond me. Why?? For one reason PPC did not come into play until about 5 years after I started. So was I supposed to wait for PPC to be invented so I could put a value on a domain name? See how SILLY that is??

These were VC formulas that everyone swallowed but NEVER had a true bearing in relation to a domain name. I say this over and over again to be on record and for those that disagreed before now can see what I see and why I see it.

EVERY domain is unique. You can not value a domain on a set of guidelines or ratios or payouts or formulas. That is a false system based on nothing.

Comparative sales? Way over used imo. There is very little relation from one domain to another unless it is the same keyword with different extensions or a plural or some other DIRECT relationship.

The value of a domain is not what it is, it is what it can become. Not 5 years ago, 5 years from now. When you chase yesterday you need formulas. When you chase the future you need vision and gut. You need to see things as they will be not as they are and not as they were.

There is an endless supply of domain names. There is not an endless supply of ideas. So to extract the value of the domain it always will and always did come to the idea. The vision. The profitability of that idea and the size of the audience.

Folks in this business have single domains that get more traffic that some of the cable channels. That’s pretty powerful. That’s just one of the many mediums we compete with while having things in common. Both able to grow and have more power based on the idea and content and the ability to attract others.

I have more projects on my plate today than at anytime in 15 years. It’s hard to keep track of to be honest. Partners, joint ventures, equity stakes, development, new businesses, boards, etc.

There is a time to mine and a time to take your booty to town to sort out and see which nuggets are the ones to keep, collect, build on and which to bury for the future. Which you thought were gold and find out was mineral rock. Until now there was no time to do that. There was a “Unique Opportunity in Time” in play.

Now don’t get me wrong. That unique time is not over. It is just spread out. Mining is more specific. The aftermarket is more targeted. You can take your time and be more deliberate of your selections.

Take a deep breath. We are entering the GOLDEN AGE of domaining. Corporate America may be on the slow boat. But they are on the boat.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Why mince words? I found their statement pretty harsh for a guy that traveled to the ends of the world for these folks and cost him dearly not being with his family. But beyond that, it was filled with BULLSHIT imo and I think I can lay it out here.

First the Oversee statement from DNJournal.com:

'Predictably, the path Monte Cahn has chosen is needlessly confrontational and provocative. Regrettably, his perceived dispute with Oversee is a result of his own falling short of expectations. This action will do nothing to further his cause and will only result in the needless expense of time and attorneys fees. It is unfortunate that Monte’s actions will impact employees and clients of Moniker, the company he helped found.

Monte’s unfounded claims are well overstated and singularly without merit. We will vigorously defend this action and we look forward to resolving this in court at the earliest possible opportunity.'

This is the BULLSHIT Oversee had the NERVE to write and release yesterday about Monte.

Let me pick this apart like a VULTURE on a DEAD Pigeon.

Line #1:

“Predictably, the path Monte Cahn has chosen is needlessly confrontational and provocative.”

Predictably?? Are you kidding. The guy that saved Oversee from a HUGE confrontation in 2007? The guy that coined the word Coopertition? The guy that would go to any length to avoid problems?? TOTAL BULLSHIT from the get go.

Predictably? Maybe for ME….but for Monte??? TOTAL BULLSHIT!

Ok so that is CRAP #1 and on to #2

“Regrettably, his perceived dispute with Oversee is a result of his own falling short of expectations.”

Read the lawsuit. According to that, they fucked him 5 ways from Sunday imho in front of the entire industry. It rings of the truth given what I personally have witnessed over the years.

“This action will do nothing to further his cause and will only result in the needless expense of time and attorneys fees.”

Wrong! 3 strikes and it is going to cost Oversee more in lost business than the lawsuit. Trashing Monte was a VERY stupid thing to do imo and that was what this release was about. I don't even think 'Halvarez' aka Nelson Brady was treated so harshly. Remember, the ENTIRE INDUSTRY is watching.

“It is unfortunate that Monte’s actions will impact employees and clients of Moniker, the company he helped found.”

Actually this may be the biggest BULLSHIT here and there is a LOT if bullshit. It would seem that Oversee.net is PURPOSELY destroying what WAS the most trusted registrar in the business. That would explain many things. THAT makes sense considering what has gone on over the past months. I have now moved all but about 3 dozen domains from Moniker. The rest need special handling or just keep getting rejected for transfer.

They are FORCING customers to move. Let the employees of Moniker testify to that. They are just scared of losing their jobs at this point and NOW, now that THIS has happened, how much longer before they get thrown under the bus? Will they get fired if they testify in behalf of Monte? What kind of pressure they must be under.

The rest the courts will determine. And yes there are two sides. But with a history we have all witnessed with Oversee, there is a LOT to come out. You can only cover things up so long.

I wish I broke the Halvarez story. I could have gone 3 for 3. That was a CRIMINAL ACT that was handled in a way that created more questions then were answered. Wanna know why??? It is my STRONG OPINION/HUNCH that others in the domain industry and maybe at the same company would end up in the next cell. Maybe that will still happen. Personally, I NEVER believed he acted alone.

So we all need to do some serious thinking. Do you support this? THAT is the question. Does the Industry as a whole think Monte is getting the shaft? If you do, then it is time to come forward and say something. This is the time not to be afraid or intimidated. This is the time to stand up for something. And want to know why? Because when it happens to YOU, THIS will be the day that determines if anyone will care. Frankly, I don't have much hope or faith anymore in many who I used to. I'll just sit here and take arrows for YOU.

A contract is only as good as the folks who sign it. Just more proof how true this really is.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz