Morning Folks!!
The search for competency in a world of mediocrity is what many of us deal with daily. I expect way too much from folks in everyday life. Way too much. I actually expect them to do their jobs. I expect them to be competent. But in case after case I am finding out that those in power no matter where on the food chain they are located are mediocre and in many cases they hold hostage everyone else to their mediocre standards.
When I grew up and you murdered somebody you were not likely to get out of prison until you were either old or dead. Now you get a plea bargain and in countless cases my past car payments lasted 2X longer than their incarceration.
I saw a guy repeatedly assault another with a shovel for over a minute. Hitting him over and over. He got 10 days! This is just one example of the decay and mediocrity that we are suffering from.
What does that have to do with domains? Everything. It has to do with life and business and domains and they are all intertwined and sometimes even on the verge of getting tangled up. It takes energy and a plan to keep them as separate as you can.
I always try to come at a conversation in either of two ways. Either be extreme and confrontational to spark discussion or come to the points of agreement in the middle that we all have in common. Point is when you only focus on extremes you lose the opportunity to work on the things of common agreement.
Banks are on the verge of nationalization in the USA. That is a BIG deal. That is something that will have huge ramifications. Maybe it can’t be avoided, but don’t think for a split second that this is a good thing. This is not a good thing.
So that brings me to my greatest disappointment. While I write my blog for domainers, the people I really want to reach are on Main St. and Corporate America. In that regard, I have failed. The greatest value here is for them. Maybe someday they will discover this blog, dust it off and take a read. But as the years pass, I see less of a chance. So this is my greatest disappointment and my biggest failure.
I have not given up, but the chances of a “Buzz”, of a break through, of even a serious discussion on how a business on Main St. can change their own destiny’s is still as big a dream as it was over a decade ago. It really is not their lack of interest in domains that disappoints me. It is their utter disregard for understanding the different qualities of traffic and asking the right questions to get the proper traffic that can convert to sales. This is the one point of commonality to all business. Traffic and sales. Traffic that produces sales. Sales that make the world go round.
A lot of time has passed. In some cases too much time. Habits are formed and once that happens it is hard to break. I do most of my online purchases from Amazon. It is a HABIT. It is also a convenience. Plus over the years I have learned that not only do they have everything I ever looked for, but their prices are right in line. So I can go there, search for what I want, put it in my cart, pay for it and I can do that in the same time in took to compose and write this sentence.
Point is the greatest sales machine ever invented has largely passed most businesses without a single ka-ching in the register. They did not harness the power when they could, when they should. So now they face a much harder and much steeper mountain to climb. They face failure and extinction.
Now, there is also a new phenomenon happening as these businesses try to stay in business. The last few weeks I have noticed MANY meeting of business people when I go to Panera for lunch sometimes. I keep hearing the word “Hosting.” As folks scramble to stay in business and keep their livelihoods in place, they KNOW there is only one place to look to….the Internet. So we are going to see another round of Internet growth. Does not mean Internet success. But we are going to see growth as everyone realizes that is the only frontier left to exploit. The only place they can look to save them.
They say it is always darkest before the big break. Well it is pretty damn dark. I wake up each day waiting for my biggest failure to turn into my biggest success. Some days I feel confident that it is right around the corner. Then there are days like today that I have to look back for 14 years and just shake my head in disbelief, then lower it and wonder if I will ever see the day? When do folks see the obvious? When do companies realize the lessons of Hotels.com, Loans.com, Toys.com and soon Candy.com and apply it to their business?
Susan Boyle has always been a great singer.....it just took the world 45 years to see it. In life, in business, with any of our new ventures, at the end of the day we are looking for that Susan Boyle moment.
The Internet is the greatest equalizer ever known. Any person, any business any idea can rise from obscurity to the next big thing is SECONDS. The competition gets greater every single day. The next news, the next gimmick, the next hoax, the next overnight sensation.
We are entering an era of 'Go for Broke.' No kidding. Many companies in a broad sector of the market are going for the long ball. If they succeed, they survive. If they falter, they are doomed. That is where we are soon to be at.
Do you see contradictions in my posts? Well there are many. That is the reality of the current conditions. The wind is blowing from multiple directions and each is very intense. Each has peril and each has opportunity. In 2008 I wrote what 2009 would look like. Few really believed it. Well here it is. On one hand I am having a record breaking year. On the other, I watch fire after fire and embers flying and no matter how well your home is doing , when the neighborhood is on fire, their problem is your problem.
We have WITNESSED a collapse. We have WITNESSED a meltdown. The conditions in place right now and the seeds that have been planted we will next face an implosion. The only way to survive that is plant the seeds now. Doom and Gloom? No, reality. Let's see what a hot summer brings in cities with 20% unemployment. In Detroit they riot when the Tigers win the World Series. What do you think it may look like when it is hot and you are hungry? Do you have a plan 'B' in place? How about a 'Plan C'
Having lived through the turbulance of the 60's, the gas lines of the 1970's, the 21% interest rates, the crash of 1987, the dotcom bubble burst of 2001 and saw what we are going through for a couple years before it actually manifested itself, I am convinced we are going to make all those events look small in comparison to what we face right now. When wrong is right and right is wrong then something needs to give. It is never wrong to do right and it is never right to do wrong. Where exactly did we lose that?
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
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