The Rick Schwartz Domain Name and Traffic Blog: RicksBlog.com – Home of The Domain King®

Morning Folks!!
Let me put it bluntly, Europeans are not great risk takers. Ok, stop shouting at the screen. But regardless of the yelling, what I am saying really can’t be argued. It’s just a fact. Not all Europeans of course. But the masses. Even the masses of domainers.

So why do I say something like this? First I started saying this about 2 years back when the dollar was the weakest against the Euro. With such a discount you would have expected them to step up and get some bargains. Few did that. Very few.

Now with domain prices lower than at any time in the past 5 years or more and still a strong Euro, same result. I really can’t explain it. Yes, payouts are usually in dollars. But they don’t have to be. There are European programs and vendors as well. But little evidence they are changing from before.

Europe is still ripe when it comes to the net. And domains There is more opportunity here than in the USA where we have reached critical mass and then some. TRAFFIC Amsterdam will either be the break out point or it will prove what I say is true. There won’t be anything in the middle.

For years we have been asked to do a TRAFFIC in Europe. In a little over two weeks that will be a reality. TRAFFIC has done more shows in the last 14 months than any period ever. 3 continents. 3 corners of the world. 5 shows. So will Europe show up in mass? Is the European domain community really aggressive and looking to move to the next level? Like I said, risk taking is not high. Not sure why. Maybe just the renegade in us in the USA. Let me be clear, there are voids in the market here. I saw a number of businesses that I could open here and do very well. Some things are just not offered here. Some silly things. Silly things that could make someone a small fortune. Beats working for somebody else. One business idea is already in formation. Buying a product for $1 and selling it for $10 and having them lined up to get it. In a few months I will tell you about it. All I can say now is that I found a void and I found a market. The name of the game is to sell enough product fast enough so when the copycats come we are so far ahead that it really won't matter. Then just milk it until it becomes unprofitable. But 10x return is a GREAT place to start.

So when TRAFFIC in Amsterdam opens up in just 2 weeks what will be the story? Rick Latona has pulled out all the stops. Great speakers. New sponsors. An auction focused on cctld. All the things folks have clamored for. Or was it just clamor?

We are all about to find out. Hot air or real business? Oh stop yelling at the screen! If the shoe fits……..deal with it. I asked merchant after merchant about doing business on the web. I got a lot of empty stares. A lot of “I do not do that.” “My son handles that.” The web literacy rate by small business in the countries I visited is lower than I expected. So much to gain and so many not embracing it. That was the #1 thing that STUNNED me the most on my trip.

My job is to be aware. To notice differences. To question those differences. To try and understand those differences. Now this is not a personal reflection on the people. They were all great. I enjoyed talking to every single one. But to not notice the disconnect would have been impossible.

Many think IDN will be the answer. Maybe, maybe not. I see no evidence of that even with the predictions I have heard for year after year that next week, next month, in 3 months it will explode. Just like cctld's or dotcom not all have value. I see IDN as a limited market in limited countries. Now that does not mean some folks won't make millions with them. It does mean that if you don't know how to pick a great domain and don't know the difference between a great one and a worthless one that the extension or whatever does not matter. Geography counts! Buying power counts! Attidudes count! That does not mean failure. It means a crappy IDN, a crappy cctld has the same value as a crappy dotcom. Nah dah. A liability is a liability no matter the extension. Most domainers don't understand to this day what makes one domain have great value and another one worthless. A liability. Now this is not universal in Europe. Some countries are much more aggressive and progressive than others. Some countries may favor IDN or cctld. Buying power of that group is key. But the market is still a long ways from maturity. Germany is a leader. Other countries like the UK have found success. But many have not yet gotten there. They are literally years behind and that spells opportunity.

I wonder who owns more cctld’s? Europeans or Americans? Each country is different.You could
have every domain in the country of Somalia (yes I know this is not in
Europe) and not make a penny. You could have one domain somewhere else
and make a fortune. But I bet there are countries in which foreign folks own more domains than the folks that actually live there. I bet German domainers own the most. That is just a gut guess based on absolutely nothing. But the Germans come to all the USA shows in mass. Canada too. I can’t think of another country other than Australia with more representation. Seems like they too are risk takers. Risk takers. Folks, THAT is what it is all about. Taking a risk. Risk losing. Risk winning. Risk failure. Risk success. Risk what you believe in. But risk must be attached with reality.

So stop yelling at me and the screen. It is just a provocative post to provoke discussing. Discussion produces ideas. Produces solutions. Produces opportunity. Like they say, nothing personal, just business.

I am not for or against any extension. Any cctld. Any IDN. But I follow the MONEY and the MONEY decides who is right and when they are right. Success decides. Society decides. We don’t have the power to decide for them as much as we would like to. The only thing we decide is which action to take or not take. I am not asking for you to agree with me. Most won't. 99% won't. It is a position in life I deal with on a daily basis. My thinking is almost always against the grain. I simply just state a view from where I sit and what I see. I share that view and it would be much easier to hit the delete key and not deal with the fallout. So call me stupid for posting what I see. But that won't make you a single penny or give you a single success.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz.

Morning Folks!!

No question that business sucks everywhere. I talked to hundreds of merchants in the last 2 weeks in Europe and they all said it was not good. Yesterday at the Vatican there were people everywhere, but only a fraction of the usual crowd. The store owners were doing little business.

Then we went to look for some shoes. I saw a brand on the way here and I liked the look. So when I passed the Hogan Shoe Store I was excited. But the 6 Foot 5 inch door man would not let me in. I had to get in line behind 10 others. I had to wait 10 minutes to get in. The place was packed. The place was doing real business. Everyone was buying and everyone was walking out with big bags of shoes. It was not prime time either. It was 7:30 on Saturday night. Wonder what it was like at 3PM?? They closed the store and it was still wall to wall. Excitement creates sales. This place was exciting. The energy level was off the chart. They had sizzle AND the steak. A rare combo.

Recession? Depression? For many yes, but for Hogan, selling $300-$500 sneakers and walking shoes, business could not be much better. Why is this important? Because it proves that when you have products consumers want, no matter the times, they sell. Period.

I wrote before about the recession of the late 1970’s. It was much worse than now. Opportunities were much less. It was a different era. But General Motors came out with a new spiffy Camaro and Firebird and THAT was what ended the recession. People flocked to the dealers and bought those suckers for years. People buy what they want no matter what. So stop teasing us with 'Concept cars' and start making DREAMS instead of metal with 4 wheels. Morons are in charge and THAT is the reason we are here.

Look at Apple. If they announce a new iPhone is coming out, the line will be hours long. Recession? What recession? Maybe a recession in exciting new things to buy. Maybe a recession in other areas. But the best way to get out of a recession is exciting new products that people want to buy. That is the secret. They can have all the stimulus they want, but nothing trumps things that people want.

So there is a lesson here. Is Twitter having a recession? Facebook? Apple? Hogan? There numbers may have been better if times were good, but they are all doing one hell of a job.

Btw, notice many signs missing? Like the ones that won’t allow you to bring a drink in the store? Amazing how a good recession can make silly rules go away. Right now anything goes because many are getting to the desperation stage. I was waiting for somebody to throw me out or warn me not to do this or that. Never happened. It’s a buyers market and if you are a buyer it sure is a lot of fun.

The point of each of these posts is to show the dire situation we are in on one hand and finding the silver lining on the other. If you are reading this, I am telling you that times have NEVER BEEN BETTER to do business. To make business. To share ideas and take risk. NEVER better. But for those that are trapped in a bunker mentality, they will surely pay a price IF they survive. It’s just a tale of two minds. Two outlooks. Two approaches. This is a time to steam roll the competition. To put folks out of business. To buy their business. This is the time. Folks it does not get better than this. Talent is out of work and available for the first time in some 20 years. That alone makes for a great opportunity to start and build companies. This is a great time to approach companies that last year would have laughed in your face and not given you the time of day. This is the time like no other. It may even get better. A bad summer is a GREAT thing. Many merchants are holding on for the summer season, if that does not materialize, it is over for many of them. The rest are waiting for the Fall and Christmas seasons. Again, if it does not materialize, it is going to be a carnage the likes of which none of us have ever seen.

Many can hold on through 2009, but if 2010 comes and we are still in this mess, it is over for them as well. But Hogan, Apple and companies that produce what people want, will survive, thrive and probably expand by buying weaker companies that they can transform.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

After visiting Naples and Capri in Italy, Istanbul, Kusadasi and Ephesus in Turkey, Athens, Santorini and Mykonos in Greece, I am back in Rome and on the way to the Vatican. I have visited less than 10% of the world. However about 50% of the world I have no desire to go see. So that makes it about 60%. But like Dorothy said….”There is no place like home” no matter where “Home” is. Had I not travelled so extensively around the USA when I was young, I might have the desire to travel more often now. To me, being home is a great gift. A gift I could not afford for many years. Home was a hotel, suitcase and a car back then.

My takeaway is that even with the country codes that are very popular, many also have their .com version of their domain. Any successful business also wants to secure their dotcom even if they only promote their country code domain locally. There is still a lot of room for Internet growth and acceptance in these countries.

While others sight see I am much more comfortable talking to the local merchants at each place. The international language of business breaks all barriers. In a word, business is not so good. They all anticipate the summer season, but are also worried it may not materialize to the numbers they need to make a living.

As a traveler, the downturn is a good thing. Upgrades to suites is now common. Service is better than ever because folks are scared and they want to keep their jobs. That turns mediocrity into superior service.

The ship I was on was full. But there are reasons for that. First, it is the newest ship afloat. Secondly, the line we use is already known for great service and great food. But while our ship was full, the ships we encountered were largely empty. Our ship had 100% capacity. The ships I saw looked liked about 25%. Many of them will not survive. The consumer now has choices like never before.

Bargaining was interesting. When we got to the point where they would say….”I am only making 10% profit” that became my opening to explain why they should sell below cost. Explain why turning dollars was more important right now than turning a profit. If my home is down 20% then they should absorb the loss as well. Their choice is to leave it on the shelf and maybe sell it later in the season or turn it into cash now and pay the rent. Some did and I walked away with several super bargains. Others did not….so I just walked away. It was their choice, not mine. My job was to make the offer.

The more I travel the more things are the same. Thinking is different sometimes. Reactions may be different. Lifestyle is different. But the day to day life is very similar no matter where you are assuming you are in a civilized part of the world. Even more similar when you go to the areas that tourists want to see. The faces may change but business is the same. Universal. Almost no difference.

The highlight was when I saw my slippers yesterday when I checked into the hotel. The name of the hotel printed on it followed by DOTCOM! In 1995 I said that eventually every brochure, every billboard, every ad, every letterhead, every label and every piece of material they produced would have their dotcom address on it. Few really believed that at the time. I was POSITIVE that would happen. Positive and stubborn in my belief in the face of disbelief.

As early as 2000 I knew I nailed it. One of my early beliefs is that someday I would walk through Times Square and every billboard would have a dotcom ad. When the reality happened in 2000 I had tears running down my cheeks. Even though I believed it with every fiber of my being, seeing it in the flesh was truly overwhelming. So when I saw it on the slippers, it brought back that day and confirmed just how powerful a domain name is. How powerful this new medium is.

What I can say is that we have barely scratched the surface. That there is still so much room for growth. More room for understanding. We are less than 50% of the way there. This economic period will force the world over the 50% mark. However I am still amazed about the lack of understanding the average business has about the power of the Internet to transform their business. And while that is disappointing, it is evidence of how much more can be mined. How much more can be achieved. How much more business can be done.

I come back on Tuesday after nearly a month on the road. I am exhausted on one hand and ready to harness the universe on the other. Timing is everything. I have written about timing very often. My friends, THIS is the time. THIS is the time to do great things. THIS is the time to take risk. THIS is the time to allow yourselves to become great. There is a window of opportunity that is NOW OPEN. I don’t know how long it will last. My gut says about a year. Maybe a bit less, maybe a bit more. When it does close, it will close fast and without notice. The greatest opportunity will be gone and simply a memory.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!
So I was in Istanbul for 2 days and 1 day in another part of Turkey (Kusadasi and Ephesus pictured below). I like to look at local magazine ads. I noticed something a little unusual. While almost all had an email address in their ads, only about one third actually had a website listed. Brought me back a few years when that was more common here. But it still made me wonder. Especially with a young population with an average age of about 35.

Then my wife was interested in an item and she told them that she did not want to make a decision right now and would email them when she got back and have them ship it to her. Which they replied that they 'don’t ship.' I thought that pretty weird and that made all of us question the legitimacy of the business even though they seemed to be solid.

I later learned that Turkey was one of the few countries in the world in which the US Post Office would not insure or even guarantee delivery. It seems their mail system is so wrought with fraud that some 20%-30% never make it to their final destination. Many have found ways around that by opening US offices and sending boatloads of merchandise. But a disconnect to be sure.

There was a noticeable difference with their next door neighbor, Greece. Websites were common, to the ads, still not to the U.S. numbers, but .gr was everywhere and .com was pretty solid there as well. The folks that can benefit the most from the Internet also seem to be the ones to embrace it last. Go figure.

On the ship I strolled in to a “CruiseCritic.com get together. There must have been about 100 members there. I was looking for the culinary tour at the time and joined the wrong group. Just shows the power of the Internet once reserved for techies and webmasters, now includes so many different groups and interests that will again transform the net to what it was meant to be. The greatest communication device ever invented. The greatest shopping tool ever invented. The greatest information resource ever invented. The greatest learning tool ever invented. The greatest gaming ever invented. The greatest this, the greatest that. I could go on all day all night and still barely scratch the surface. The greatest social gathering mechanism ever invented and that includes millions of things I would have to list here once again.

Domains are a sliver of the opportunity out there. It is a foundational sliver and that guarantees a value that can only be judged when most folks truly understand the power of this medium. I have lived and breathed this medium for 14 years as a domain owner and years before that. And while I have always understood the power that could be achieved, even I am still getting my head around it. So how long for the casual user to get their heads around it? Be patient my friends. The true value of domains may not reveal themselves until we are all long gone from this planet. Even inventions like Ben Franklin and electric are still bearing fruit hundreds of years later. Look at all the things that we would not have in our lives had there been no electric. Think old Ben would be amazed beyond words? More invented after his death. After the death of all in that era and many eras since. Perhaps the real building blocks of civilization and progress. No electric no nothing. No computer. No modern medicine. No anything we come to use and live with and get comfort from.

There will be a reason that we will not have a great depression like 1929. The reason is the Internet and the reason is much beyond. So many new products will be hitting the market and they will all be internet enabled. Things you would never even imagine. Your dishwasher. Your oven. Your refrigerator. Any electrical device. Any battery operated device. Maybe even in furniture.

We are on the edge of history. The cutting edge. That edge is about to get red hot. Hotter than anything anyone has ever seen. Once all income had to come from a local market. Today that market is any point on the globe. The realization of the power that has yet to be tapped into will unleash a wave that will last for generations. So many models to copy in one ring and apply to another ring. Another market. Another group.

Greatness comes from despair. Success is born from adversity. Depression and recession produce motivation to think and create. If you have all the food, no reason to farm. Point is getting the world out of their “Comfort zone” is the greatest thing ever to happen to the internet and to domains. After the pain will come the gain.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Good Morning from Istanbul.

I believe a domain name has a value that is in direct proportion to the population it serves and the spending power associated with those particular groups. That is why I have always believed in dotcom. It just serves the largest sector. The wealthiest sector. The most global.

So if you have .gr for Greece, that is the population and the economic center that you tap into. It’s your base. Expanding that base is the trick. Same with all country codes. So there is a formula that you can form that helps to show the value. China may have the largest populace, but may not have the biggest spending power. There are other factors. Some items are more popular in one geographic region but not another. The point is there are all just a few factors that go into a value of a domain. Then we get to what somebody could do with it. What their potential is. Again, the point is there are so many things to consider. Each with a value. Each with a mathematical number attached to it. Dozens and dozens of factors.

Now this is something that there is no analytics’ on. Few really understand how many different facets there are to weighing a domain. And even when some consider it, their timeline is not included which is perhaps the biggest facet. But to be honest, there are many competing facets. Too many for me to even mention. You don’t have all day to weigh each and every facet. You have to learn to do it rapidly.

So I look at crappy domains and folks, they are as worthless as anything on this planet. Does not mean you can’t make it the next Google. But the inherent value is nil. You add up all the facets and it adds to zero. It adds to minus zero since it is a liability not an asset. Maybe I am exaggerating. Maybe the domain you have gets a 7. But the problem is it is a 7 on the scale of 1 million. Valueless. Worthless.

This period is your last best chance to find gold at below market prices. The window of opportunity will be quite short. It started just last month and could be over by this fall. Puff. Here today, gone tomorrow. The aftermarket next year won’t be as good as this year for the simple reason that there will be less domains of quality up for sale. Many will change hands this year. It won’t repeat next year as those that buy are buying to keep as opposed to flipping. The pool of quality domain names will not be what they are today. The window of opportunity is open. Don't blow it this time!

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Last year was 2008 BC. Before the crash and before the meltdown. So is 2009....2009 AC? 2009 AFTER CRASH? In a word, no. It is 2009, YEAR ONE on the Internet. This year is the actual starting point of the net. Whatever happened before was just positioning. Just a test. Just whatever it was. But now 2009 marks the true beginning of the Internet.

Today, when somebody loses their job, they go and signup for unemployment and their next chore is putting up a website. Not for all, but for too many to even count. Millions upon millions. In 2001 and 2002 I stated “From the ashes domains would rise the true Internet.” It did in spite of Main Street and Corporate America and the media doing everything in their power to kill it. The newspapers saw their empires in jeopardy and they fought tooth and nail to destroy the Internet. Same with broadcast media. Story after story about security and only to scare folks away. Misinformation spread purely for their selfish survival needs. Well, it did not work! It worked for a short time, but now it is over. They have lost. They have been defeated. They have been annihilated. They won’t disappear completely, but just like the local Blacksmith, their time has come and gone. While there will always be a need for the blacksmith, there will also always be a need for newspapers and periodicals. They will just take a different form and the newsstand of tomorrow won’t look like the ones of today.

The blacksmith’s that survived likely put in a gas pump. A gas pump to keep up with the times. Those that did not, mostly disappeared. Same with media today. Those that put in gas pumps, I mean transform their business to websites, have a chance to survive. Those that actually embrace and are aggressive will have a chance to thrive. The NY Times is on life support, the Boston Globe in even worse shape. The Wall Street Journal, flying high because they adapted instead of fighting the losing battle of the others. Pretty simple stuff from where I sit. Pretty predictable from where I sit. Why did those in the boardrooms miss it?

So as we look ahead to the rest of 2009 and into 2010 I can tell you that transformation is in the air. The last phase of a 20 year plan is about to start. This phase will trump all other phases combined. You are about to witness an explosion of epic proportions. And while payouts are as low as I have seen, I am here to tell you that in the next 12-18 months payouts will once again reach record levels. Demand for targeted traffic will go up exponentially. You will see the fist signs of this as early as August 2009. Then of course the fall will be even more interesting. However we won’t yet be out of the woods. It will unfortunately be short lived. As prices early in 2010 will once again collapse as I see it. However that will be the end of the worst part as we go through 2010 things are going to firm up. By August 2010 get ready to rumble. This time it will be here to stay and we are off to the races. That’s how I see things unfolding. As always, time will tell. I could even be off by a year. Point is this IS what is coming. The only question is the time line.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

People and friends I have met over the last years have no idea how hard I used to work. For me domaining is a hobby as well as a job and as well as an income producing investment. But long before that I did things that few humans ever did. I traveled so extensively few even believe it. So here is a picture of my key collection (With actual Metal Keys) representing the 15 years I lived out of a suitcase. Packing and unpacking almost every single day. Seldom did I stay in a hotel room for more than 1 night. Seldom did I pay more than $15/night. On one hand it was great to see the country and then later the world. On the other hand traveling was not so conducive to long term relationships. These are just 2 large vases full of keys. I have 5 in all and someday want to do an entire wall with these keys.

But even today few know to the extent in which I traveled. Back in the 1970’s when I was in my 20’s the economy was a mess. “Whip Inflation Now” was the slogan. I barely made enough to continue traveling and businesses were going out of business left and right.. Untied Airlines and Eastern Airlines (The largest airline of the day) had this special travel pass. You could travel UNLIMITED through the USA for $999 for 31 days. The only catch was you had to plan the entire trip itinerary in advance. In those 31 days I would start in Miami. I would fly to New Orleans. Work the day there. Then in the evening I would catch a flight to Seattle. That would save me a night at the hotel and they fed me dinner and then breakfast. I would work Seattle maybe spend 1 night there and then that evening I would get on a plane to Atlanta. Sleep on the plane, have dinner and breakfast and then work Atlanta. Then on to Los Angeles. You get the picture.

Sometimes I would take as many as 3 flights in 1 day to various cities. In those 31 days I would hit 21 major cities and also rent a car and “Surface travel” between others. I would do this for 1 month and then get in my car for the 90day journey from coast to coast and border to border. When I say few if any traveled as much or extensively as I did, I mean it.

I was very determined even back then to make it big. But it was hard and it took a very long time. I also figured someday I would do well and folks would think how lucky I got. And yes, luck always plays a big part. But I learned early that the harder you work, the luckier you get. I also figure that nobody would really believe me when I told them this story. So I began collecting the hotel room keys from all the places I stayed. Proof that this was a tough road and I really did pay my dues. Nobody handed me JACK!

This was tough. Tougher than you may think. But it provided me with an education that to this day pays dividends. I saw things that nobody saw. I understood thing that nobody understood. I had a perspective unlike any other living person because no other did what I did.

So those were tough years to do what I did but those were the building blocks of today. It is how I formed my perspective. Talking to so many business owners in so many different parts of the country. They were all different and all quite the same. Quite a contradidction, but also a reality. So folks look at me now and don‘t think I work hard. They are right.. On the other hand, I really never take a day off. 14 years and each day I have read and responded to emails. I have NEVER been out of touch since the day I got on the net. No matter where I am I do what I have to do and love doing it. Work? What’s that?

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks!!

A MUST see. I promise you will be entertained. Direct from TRAFFIC. This is how the ordinary person feels about domainers and the net. Howard Neu is 'The man on the Street.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBZ9OXDsvRw&feature=channel_page

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I am making this post on the first full day of a 12 day cruise that will bring 8 of us including my wife’s parents, Sister, brother-in-law and my good friends and best man taking us from Rome to Athens to Istanbul with stops in Capri, Naples and 3 other ports of call. The ship is the newest afloat and “Magnificent” is the first word that comes to mind.

When I started cruising over 30 years ago there was not even a TV in the room and for women to do their hair they had to go to a common “Hair Room” to blow dry their hair as that was the only place on the ship with 110v. Today, 52” LCD TV’s. Bose sound system, wifi and the list goes on and on. The business center has more than 50 cubicles. Each equipped with their own laptop.

It’s been about 5 years since they equipped ships with some of these conveniences. But now it is at a level that makes it possible to cruise the world and still do business as if you were at home in the office. Miracle of miracles.

Now on to today’s subject. As I have been saying, this is probably you last chance to buy great domains that actually have value. When this window closes, and it will, it will be over. Period. The chances of buying quality domains after this downturn for prices like we have been seeing are nil.

After my Property.com purchase in 2005 and even before I sat on the sidelines most of the time. I just did not see value and so I did not care to participate in a market that gave insane prices to worthless domains. Today, there is value like not seen in close to a decade. See, when I buy a domain I ask a number of questions. While many are satisfied with flipping domains for 2x, my focus has always been more of 100x and more. It’s just a different way to play the same game. You can have great success either way if you do it right or great failure if you do it wrong. We are at the day of reckoning.

In Florida there are 2 housing markets. The prime land of the coast and the waterways and the swamp land that was filled in and golf course communities were built. The homes in the swamps sold for many millions. The prices rivaled and in many cases were higher than the prime land of the beach and deep water canals. When things were going well it did not matter much. But for years I kept pointing out that those in the interior that bought in the filled in swamps would be decimated. To me that was like buying a 6 letter domain that spelled nothing. Since people did not believe things would ever turn bad, they laughed.

Well, guess what? Today the prices of PRIME waterfront in South Florida has not only not gone down, I just paid for apprasials on all my properties and even with the extra caution and even during the WORST market in generations, my properties have all gone up substantially. Each and every one of them. I was SHOCKED to say the least. I felt like I was in good shape, but until an independent pro comes in, you really don’t know for sure. Now the properties inland and in the swamps, multi million dollar properties, are 50% of their original prices and STILL are not being sold. In a good market, everything sells. In a bad market, you get your report card. Same is true with domains. Those with crap are paying the price and many are hanging on for dear life. Their only avenue to survive is selling their best domains under market value just to sustain themselves. Their loss is the gain of those that are strong and play the game differently. That is why we are seeing so many FANTASTIC domains coming to market at 1998 prices. Once this period ends, and it won’t be that long, the game is over. Done! At least this phase of the domain game. The game will begin to shift. Big players, deeper pockets, interesting proposals. All coming but not on our timetable. On their timetable. So I continue to say that PATIENCE is and always will be the KEY ingredient to this phenomenon called domains.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Monday Monday, so good to me,
Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be…….

Those are the first 2 lines of a song by the Mama's and the Papa's from 1966.

So what should I write about today? That is always my first question. Then an idea usually hits within a minute or so. Ok, let’s pause. Ok, idea formed. I used to hate Monday’s. When I was young it was the day to go back to school and there was the seed of that hate. Then in 1984 I went into business for myself for the first time. That was when I started to like and even anticipate Mondays.. It got to where I could barely wait for Monday to come? Why? The phones would ring and I would start doing business. I loved Monday! I still do. Monday means money.

I can’t remember the last time I woke up not looking forward to what this new week would bring in terms of business. The excitement of the future keeps me going. Gives me fuel. Gives me whatever it is. Spinach to Popeye.

These Monday’s are especially exciting. Each week brings new challenges and new opportunities. Oops, there is that word “Opportunity” again. I can’t seem to hide or shake it. See, I have lived thru days where either there was no opportunity or my eyes were not trained to see it. My soul was not trained to feel it. My wallet could not take advantage of it even if it was there. But a few times, opportunity was few and far between even with the dollars. Not today. Today is ripe with opportunity never seen before on this planet. Really. Truly. I am just overwhelmed by the choices.

I guess my question then becomes if this is a time of opportunity and the wrapper keeps saying recession and the opportunities keep growing, are we really in a recession? The answer is that we are about to see whatever is coming. See, when 10 or 15 million folks lose their jobs they can survive on their savings and credit cards for a while. How long? THAT is the question. THAT will tell the story. As I see it, the fall has the potential to be the worst ever. So you still have a few more months to cut those recurring monthly expenses because likey those expenses will dictate how well you get thru what is yet to come.

Many domainers will collapse as their renewals bury them in debt. Desperation will set in when they find it next to impossible to sell what they have. Why? Worthless domains don’t sell well during times like this. You bought SWAMPLAND and the gators are about to eat you for dinner.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz