How Sway-able Are you?

Morning Folks!!


Are you easily swayed? Do you have a weak fortitude? Do you take the position of whoever you spoke to last? Another words are you a 'Wet Noodle' and just go where ever the breeze goes? Then again are you so set in your positions that no new evidence can sway you? No new information have value? No new information change how you might look at something?


I am sway-able. But it's not an easy job to have me change a position on a given subject. I can only do it methodically. One grain at a time and putting it on the scale and then re-weighing the new evidence to see if the scales have been tipped in a different direction. It's a procedure I do with everything in life. I clear off the irrelevant and give weight to each and every piece of true evidence.


Emotion is never involved at this point and seldom is. Facts are not emotional. Weight is not emotional. Evidence is not emotional. Information is not emotional. So when you limit or even exclude emotion, things look differently. Then you can always add the tint of emotion as you see fit afterwards. Separately. Like salt and pepper. Emotion might just be a sprinkling.


I think separating the emotion may be the single hardest thing to do. You can't always do it. It is always there. But you have to know when to factor in emotion and when to leave that emotion out of the equation.


The day you stop taking in new information and processing it.....you are DEAD! You are STUCK! You can only just rot away. The day you stop learning is the day you die whether you breathe or not.


And today, life moves so fast that if folks would slow down they would see incredible opportunity. Folks miss opportunity because they pass the exits of opportunity because they are in the left lane flying at 150MPH. Slow it down and you can have more options. Slow down and it is like magnifying things to see clearer.


When I listen to an idea I am completely open minded. But as the story goes on I get to shoot down assumptions the other party might be making. Usually because the number is based on a wish not a fact. Nothing proven. If it can withstand my assault, THEN there is something there. The key of a good idea is to try and shoot it down. If it can withstand the attack, then it has a viable chance of working.


So for me to be swayed, I have to have evidence that holds up to the scrutiny. So every new grain of information I get on any subject has to be put on the balance scale and re-calculated. Based on that, I am sway-able.


So we get to .whatever which for many is the single biggest question or even obstacle facing them. I have a panel at TRAFFIC. 'Do you See What I See?' See, I want to see .whatever through their eyes and then put it on my scale. What will they say that would sway me? Wishful thinking and grand ideas won't do much to move the needle.


Explaining what will change and WHY the consumer will adapt is more important. Explaining is there investment to be made or is this simply a clever way for registrars to make money? (That may not be a bad thing. That's Capitalism. Lead by a corupt ICANN of course)


The .mobi 'Regsitrar' might be successful but those that invested in the extension have not had the same success. Same with .Co. Great for the registrar, but a disaster for the end user like Overstock and investors like us. Point is even in a success, it is a fractional success. Not everyone up and down the chain is a winner. When that happens, I see a flaw. In the case of .whatever it comes in the form of a leak to the .com and the ONLY question or variable is HOW BIG IS THE LEAK? And when the answer ignores that part of the equation, it becomes hard to be swayed.


Domainers have reacted to .whatever like mind control. They just buy into these things without the evidence. They are easily swayed and if you are easily swayed then you become fearful. Snap out of it!!! It's not a threat!! Its an expansion. Manhattan won't collapse because Wichita is expanding. DUH!!


This is a simple equation from an investor and end user point of view. How can anyone in their right mind believe .com can or will suffer? Short term? Possibly. Long term? Are you kidding me? The leak will determine the value and ALL willl leak. WE know that, they do not. But they will LEARN! And when they learn, your dotcom counterpart of .whatever, goes through the roof. They are trying to scare you so you will drop your pants and it is working!!


They can build the mall right behind our small corner. But as long as we own that small corner, we can open almost any business and have a degree of success, while the mall loses business every day you are there. Whether it be in not enough parking. Not enough access. A competing entity. Whatever the case. Having owned that corner property before the mall was even thought of puts you in a pretty strong position regardless of huffing and puffing. So while they negotiate for a million this way or that way, they lose $10 million in time wasted and customers lost and other intangibles that exist but can't be measured. Like 'Good Will'.


Ya think Saveme.com.br has more or less goodwill then this time last year? What was the cost? What was the damage? What was the result of a self inflicted wound? Can anyone even measure it? Does ignoring it make it go away or help?


I think most surprising of all is after the loss he does not come to the table and get real. He is now infamous and I feel great to have been part of that. To help sway people and how they see things. People know right from wrong and THAT is the #1 way to sway! But he also missed an opportunity to rehabilitate himself and his reputation. He could be a Poster Boy with a message and he did not recognize it. Maybe even get what he wants, but he has to be willing to deal like a businessman not as a bully ad worse. He bullied for a few months and I get to repay that for a lifetime.


Saveme.com case will save more than just me. It will save you too. I am certain that companies that had been targeting me had to rethink what they were about to do. Is it worth risking their entire business and livelihood on a Reverse Domain Name Hijacking attempt? The 'Scarlett Letter' that WE have to enforce until there is a criminal penalty.


Ask Howard. I was waiting for a case like this since the day we met. One case that would be so clear and so overwhelmingly off the charts that I would be able to do my schtick backed up by Howard and sway opinion with right from wrong. That leads to the emotion you want in this decision. You can separate the emotion. The passion. And knowing this was the key we would all need to move forward through the jungle with less attackers because would-be attackers have so much at risk.


So we can sway in an effective manner and the number of Reverse Domain Hijacking decisions are becoming more frequent. That marks the beginning of the end for this practice. We have swayed opinion by proving something to be very wrong and then being able to have others feel how it would be like if it happened to them.


So I ramble a bit. But it is all connected. It is all from the same thread. It is all what we are dealing with more than any other thing besides paying the bills.


Sales is all about swaying. A customer comes in with their defenses at 100% strength and it is the job of the salesmen to melt that wall away. To gain their confidence by being knowledgeable and truthful. By being able to sway them from the point they came in the door to the sale as they left the door. That is the big sway. Each of us has to be a salesman but you sell from knowledge and comfort and no tricks at all. You sway. Sway is the dance that makes the world go round.


Last nights debate was all about 'Sway'. Thing of all the things you do or involved in where 'Swaying' is the key.


Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

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