Morning Folks!!
Business to me is about benchmarks and time lines. You set goals and then you set the time line to meet those goals. During the time line there are certain benchmarks you should hit in between and that is the key to everything. I like running slightly ahead of benchmarks. I like getting to appointments early. It's just in my DNA.
Passion is also in my DNA and as I look around I find it hard to imagine living in a world where one had NO passions. Life was just gray. Mediocre. Nothing special. Passing time.
Now there is a line where passion crosses to something else that is not so good. So you gotta be careful passion does not turn into crazy nut job. :-) But what does an army of passion look like when not mixed with mediocrity?
Success is nothing more than climbing the same mountain via different paths. You already know you can climb the mountain. But with each new climb there are new challenges and preparation is always the key as I explained in this post.
The mood of the industry is shifting and being passive is not always an option. Timing to me will always be the single biggest key. Timing, time lines, benchmarks, goals and I still LOVE Mondays!!
Each Monday is the start of a new set of benchmarks. New time lines. New goals for the week and the bigger goals that have long been set.
In the past 100 days we have changed the conversation and direction. In the next 100 days we are going to change the course of domaining history. While the army of naysayers will grow louder, stronger and wider, we will demonstrate why we are so confident in what we are about to undertake and achieve. Thousands of competing motives will try and drown out and torpedo what we are trying to do. But with each nay will be a motive linked because no real domainer is rooting against us. Domainers will rejoice as we start announcing deals. Others will become threatened.
So the question to ask as we hit another Monday is who has the most to lose in a JointVentures.com success?? Certainly not domainers. But who? Who would invest so much energy trying to discredit something that 5 others companies so far have followed our lead with?
JointVentures.com and leasing domains is a huge threat to some. What would our success do to the domain industry? It's a question many are asking because they see the writing on the wall. What happens when the very best domains are leased? The domainer is a winner because he is making much more and it is steady income. The lessee is a winner because he increased is odds dramatically in terms of a success and standing out among their competition. So where will all the noise that is to come trying to discredit domain leasing be coming from?
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
illino.is
Some may think of ‘domaining’ as just a curious past-time
for those with no money or social skills, but it is so much
more than that!
It is, in truth, a mighty battle of legendary proportions,
featuring the REAL ‘titans’ of the domaining world (it’s a
little bit like Transformers, but without the reversible
limbs – you get the idea).
Who will prevail in this mighty quest?
I bet that it will be you Rick… :-)
Furkat
I agree, it is a good news for our domain industry. Let’s cash in.
Jeff Schneider
Hello Rick,
All you need do is follow the money to find the old guard resistance you are experiencing. Domaining has many middlemen services and sales people espousing they can help Domainers, for a fee of course! It will involve many of the past traffic attendees and is sure to strain some old friendships. Some of the dysfunctional relationships we all have had at times in our lives fall to creative destruction, it is a law of nature.
Creative destruction at first causes Kaos but then evolves into massive strides forward,for the good of the many not the few. Lincoln knew this better than many, and had the vision and guts to propel us forward as a nation. The sensible majority is behind you Rick & Danny, now go out and fulfill your destiny of doing whats right for enabling new business creation in the bright future ahead.
Jon
Leasing may soon drive up prices on the best .coms by several hundred percent. Just shows you how undervalued they have always been. If RE can have approximate 1-10 rent-own multiple, domains should have at least 1-20, as there are no property taxes, no insurance, no maintenance.
So, and I am just making up random numbers, if rings.com can lease for $50K a year, that puts its value at $1M. If insurance.com can lease for $1m a year, that puts its value at $20M.
So domain buyers are not going to be happy. But the right domain is still a bargain to the right end user at lease price. Buyers will just have to get used to it.
Bill Roy
I think the very top of the list of ‘noise makers’ has to be thought of as two groups:
1) Parking companies will suddenly see that as domains are leased, especially top domains, then the portfolio of traffic that they have acquired from other domainers will deplete at an even faster rate than which it already is due to insultingly low payouts to the domain owners. This will result in even domains with minimal traffic having their parking payments cut yet again as parking companies try to withstand the loses and yet still cover their overheads.
2) Surprisingly perhaps I see domain leasing not being popular with registrars. Imagine the scenario, at present a registrar actually relies on the hope that domainers will see a value in investing in registering domains. Now with leasing about to take off part of the ‘greed’ element is removed from the calculation, i.e. the chances of registering a $10 domain and within the year returning a sale of that domain for $1million. But also with the parking revenue contracting even further the ‘safety net’ of parking will be deminished further, therefore many domains will not be renewed if they do not at least make an annual return near the registration fee.
Of course there are many more who will not like the leasing market, including some domainers (especially those that have invested heavily with just a short term re-sale business plan).
There could also be a winner due to the leasing development, and this is just my opinion (and I know not a lot of people think much of that). This maturing of the business will allow the smaller bricks and mortar shop keeper to actually redefine their business into an internet business with affordable domain leasing rather than a huge investment in purchasing a domain which for many is beyond their means. By developing an online business at an affordable cost these small and medium sized businesses could be revitalised by utilizing their product knowledge and experience and (generally) better customer service and treating their bricks and mortar store more as a warehouse than as the major retail outlet.
Danny Welsh
In reply to my partner and mentor Rick Schwartz:”Now there is a line where passion crosses to something else that is not so good. So you gotta be careful passion does not turn into crazy nut job. :-)”
Is this about my crazy nut job idea that you and me get in the ring and box at May’s TRAFFIC in Vegas with an extra price on tickets given away to 3rd world entrepreneurs via Kiva.org micro-loans?
Or someone else’s crazy nut job ideas?
Say it ain’t me, DK! Cuz I’m pretty sure I could win. But then again, you are a little older so when I win it might not be too big a deal. Maybe you’ve hung up the boxing gloves for good?
I know you’re”thinking about it”.
Please let me know your decision on that soon, though.
Just in case you really *can* kick my ass…I’d like to start training on my footwork and punching skills NOW.
I kind of like the first few seconds of this as my theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yituzXhl2pU
Anthony was and is a good guy. I should know. I picked him 3 years ago. :)
A lot of guys and gals with that kind of heart are about to join the team with JV…and the companies that put tigers like this in a cubicle are right to fear what happens when the iron bars come off.
They’re right to fear Rick Schwartz, too.
Danny Welsh
JointVentures.com
Jeff Schneider
Hello Bill Roy,
#1 , #2 are hard economic truths, and thanks for having the guts to expose the cruel hoax that has been betrayed on Domain Name owners and Creative End Users by Search Engines as well.
F R E E T H E I N T E R N E T !
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
Richard
@Bill Roy
Agree, registrars and parking companies – it will slowly dawn on non-domainers what extensions are valued and they’ll start avoiding the crap extensions, whilst the parking companies will find that the peanuts they pay suddenly don’t look so good.
Google and the other SEs, whose ecosystem will be disturbed. If the masses start typing in generics like rings.com instead of brand names then their own algorithm, which definitely measures traffic flow and time on site will boost generics to the top spots thus screwing the Big Brands which pay Google a regular tithe. Google might have to consider changing the algorithm to put less weight on brands.
Non-holders of generic domains i.e. the stupid corporations. They’re REALLY going to kick up a stink. Expect to see legal exploration and lobbying.
Hmm. That’s a lot of people who aren’t going to like you. :-) Good job you’ve got deep pockets and an attitude. :-)
UFO
You can’t apply simple metrics to valuation as there’s not open generically tradable substitutes.
Leases should be more akin to 1% of market value as they are simply an option.
Leases de-risk the investment of gaining the best .com’s but that comes at a price, as it should ensure the successful viability is transferred/shared in the exercise price.
E.g. could pay cash $1m for Rings.com or lease for 50k Pa and pay $2m when it’s proved itself.
Effectively domain owners who know the potential commercial nature of domains take risk out of the purchase and benefit from the upside. Start Ups and Large corporates examining a new line could be easy customers for this offering.
But the true sweet spot is mid to upper tier SME’s looking to break out into the big time that already has a viable business model.
UFO
Note: When I talk of leases as an option it is basically to engage a suitable target customer that can make best use of the domain and by doing so afford to pay the most on exercise price.
E.g. World class corporate leases domain for 1% of likely price of $2m but will pay $5m for successful proof of concept after 3 years is FAR better than leasing domain for 5% of 2m to someone else but probably at most can pay the $2m because they don’t have the business model credibility to fully actualise the latent potential. (Techie words allow you to charge more.. ;)
UFO
Nb: Top domains could actually be leased for ZERO to the best of clients with credible business cases. The fact that they will sink so much cost into the proof of concept ensures they are serious and allows the more entrepreneurial elements of large corporates (Marketing etc) to get the green light on trying something new. Getting the green light on spending $1m on a domain name is far more onerous.
Hence, once the proof of concept turns positive then they WILL get the green light on exercising the purchase price. Large corporates are risk adverse although they will pay serious money for proven income streams and scalability of those.
Jeff Schneider
Hello UFO,
It is hard for most investors to wrap their minds around what .COM URLs really are. They are the rarest of all asset plays in that they are an irreplaceable commodity with tremendous Mass Marketing Applications. They have limitless Marketing capabilities as they are front and center to the worlds largest traffic streams and yet are anchored to one unique Address, with one exclusive holder.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
Altaf
@John
Soon there will be insurance on domain incomes. Insurance Corp. knows how to milk out. Who knows may be they already started drafting the articles & policies to include domains & domain investors to cover under insurance.So don’t even mention this.