Morning Folks!!

Like other things, I have been waiting a long time for certain milestones to appear. But to me the granddaddy of all of them is the day that mainstream catches up to where the adult industry was online back in 1996-1998. When mainstream would begin to take their businesses as seriously as the adult industry did back then. They did not close shop on weekends. They understood they had a 24/7 business and they provided customer service to match. Most importantly, they understood it was about sales.

Mainstream still goes home at 5PM on Fridays. Their online store is still open, just nobody there to man the business and they are too cheap or too stupid to fix that in too many cases. Not all. It is evolving. But still so many don't get it and so many more, don't want to get it. But those businesses that think like that will be forced to evolve because their competition will eat their lunch if they don't. It's gonna happen more and more and some companies won't even know what hit them because the decline will be too steep and too fast to see or catch. Their demise is already being plotted by aware competitors.

Make no mistake, we are going to see a lot of online companies fold during this period as well. Maybe the most since the bubble burst. Many are just not seeing what they thought and are stuck and that is not good in a growing medium. Stagnation is a problem that is widespread. Most just depends on what level you are stagnating at.

But these things are starting to change. Stupid things like SALES are starting to get their attention. Maybe even conversions? Maybe even TARGETING?? Follow up? Unheard of!

My point is that while we are getting closer to this back to the future event, I can still point to dozens of things that mainstream has yet to even discuss. Many of those adult guys made their millions and rode into the sunset. Many became domainers. And even more built mainstream businesses using adult business principles learned in 1996-1999. True discoveries of things unknown and now being discovered again.

When I compare the headwinds in mainstream and domaining during 2000-2012, they were brutal at times. Matter of FACT, from 1996-1999, it was virtually impossible to even have a conversation about domains or traffic. Remember, there was no aftermarket. There wasn't even Afternic and the birth of the shill bidder days.

I offered 50% of Porno.com to ANYONE that would go partners with me to develop it in 1997. They all laughed in my face. Thankfully they laughed!! Had they said agreed to my proposal I would have had to pay at least $10 Million for their share over the years plus any growth that may have occurred from having it a full fledged business.

But I still believe in that model. Half of a watermelon is better than 100% of a grape.

So I predict that at TRAFFIC in Las Vegas you will see many partnerships emerge. They won't necessarily be with JointVentures.com. They will be made between individuals at the show because the time is right and RESOURCES are available! People with talent are looking for jobs and more importantly, opportunity.

During the past 20 years it has been hard to find qualified talent. Unemployment was at near zero for many years. That is no longer the case. Talent is out there and talent is looking for long term opportunities.

We are at a moment in which those headwinds have shifted. They are in fact becoming tailwinds. And while those tailwinds are not shifted completely, the process of that shift has begun. It is underway. I have been writing about this for several months. How we as an industry will be sheared away in different orbits and missions.

1900 .whatevers insure this will take place sooner rather than later. Like a MONSTER winter weather front coming through, this is highly visible, highly predictable and highly profitable. I may be 100% wrong, but I have never been so certain of anything in my life because I have been studying it a very long time and I have accumulated the facts and examples along the way to prove it. The buys, the sells, the deals, the predictions, the actions and the events. Proof. I spent the last 18 years gathering proof. Most others are on the hope train. Hope and math don't intersect in my book.

Ignorance can be cured with a willing mind. But those that cling to ignorance when the thought cure is there have to be prepared to go down with it as well. Numbers along with other people's mistakes paint a vivid picture for some and are invisible and meaningless to others.

Which picture do you see?

Here is a more recent post about porno and advertising. And this one asks if Porno can save JC Penny's.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz