Survival to Replace Domaining as your Main Job?

Morning Folks!!

Last year at this time we were in a fog. Business fog. Business runs on preparing for tomorrow. Projecting where you are going and how fast you will get there. When you can’t do that, big problems will occur and they did and they have. Now things are much clearer. The fear of the fog may be gone but the moment of reality is soon to be. It is physically impossible to sustain the status quo. It’s going to blow up if we do. If things are done to make it worse, it will just blow up sooner. It will be uncontrollable once it starts.

The theme of this year’s TRAFFIC is “Survival”. Now that certainly is not a popular thing to trumpet. But what am I supposed to do? Be a cheerleader when I see disaster looming? NONSENSE! What value does that have to you?? It is always so much easier to just tell people what they want to hear. Blend in. Be a pal. Ruffle no feathers. Be a friend to everyone. Mr. popular. And exactly what value is in that? May as well have a meeting and watch a bunch of heads bob up and down in agreement cuz you have a company made up of spineless people afraid to speak out. Afraid and without authority to make a decision. The Sales Department is no longer in control even tho sales drive everything else. No sales = no company. The Advertising Department is no longer in charge of Advertising even tho the sales department needs that to help get the message out and reinforce what they do. Matter of fact, no department is in charge of anything. Lawyers and bean counters are. CEO's are paralyzed or figure heads. They report to the lawyers and bean counters. So how many sales exactly did the lawyers and bean counters make for you last year? But forget all that. That is the small problem close to home that you can actually control and do something about. Let's turn to what you can't control.

The numbers paint a DISASTER! But that is just the numbers. Just the dollar. The unemplyment. The fact that most of those jobs lost will never come back. That does not include outside factors that could accelerate that disaster. That point is fragile. More fragile than you might imagine. Another 9/11 style attack at THIS MOMENT would be much more devastating than in 2001.
As I write this I just glanced to my right. Outside my room window is the Statue of Liberty. To me it represents a really tough time in America and the world. The struggles they had to endure with little more than the rags on their back and a great desire for a better life. For the first time in my lifetime, that “Better life” is in danger. That is what I see. I can’t help seeing it. I have seen it and written about it for quite a while. Some point to the stock market going up. But when you peel it back and see why, it is the weakness of the dollar and real estate market that are driving it. Safety is driving it. What will happen next? Pretty easy one, reality will set in next year, it is llike going to Vegas and playing Craps, the house is gonna rake in your money……AGAIN.
And while the dollar is in trouble, they are also in demand. Deflation still is the beast even tho they have been fighting inflation for years and years. Decades. The point is, this CRAP is all connected and things are fragile. The industry is shrinking. The weak are falling off on a daily basis. Just disappearing from the scene. They make no announcements. They are just gone. There are those that are running a negative cash flow. It is a matter of time. 100,000 crappy domain names, better trim them sails. 98,000 are going to drop. But not to worry, isn’t it about time you realized it is a liability and not an asset? TIMBER!

Last year I made no points for talking about “Beyond PPC”. But was it the right call given that you have seen your earnings erode away??? Not popular, made me no points, but right on the money. YOUR MONEY! So as an industry, do we want popular propaganda with various agendas or a vision of where we are going that may or may not be right? But I sign my name to what I see, to what I believe, to what I do, to how I see it all unfold. I take the slings and arrows and live by one sentence that usually win over most reasonable folks at some point “Time is my Best Ally”.

We are all here because we saw something before most others. In life you can be one step ahead or one step behind. It truly is a choice. That is why God invented the Ostrich. He also invented the Eagle. They have no choice, they are what they are. WE DO!


Have a GREAT Day!
Safe Travels
Rick Schwartz