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

Afternoon Folks!!

It took 30 seconds. That's it. 30 seconds that has the power to change the dynamics of what we all do. Sometimes the ball hits the sweet spot of the bat and the moment you feel it is the moment you know that ball is going for a very long ride. The Godaddy commercial below is going for a very big ride. It explains domains and the sense of urgency in a perfect way for this medium and it is EFFECTIVE!!

It sells domains. It explains domains. It does things that a book can't do. It has the .co logo at the end but that is certainly not the focus of the spot. The message they send is understandable and it will penetrate at all levels. Just terrific! They nailed it. Bravo!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

So Serena Williams gets defeated by a teen named Sloane Stephens.

Shaquille O'Neal tweeted 'When you Defeat a Legend, you Become a Legend.' That is really a very powerful statement. I really like it. Aim high my friends. Aiming low is so yesterday not to mention pathetic.

Sometimes the legend may not be a person but an obstacle or a monkey on your back. Remove the obstacle and you can achieve the same thing. So simple but so powerful. 'When you Defeat a Legend, you Become a Legend.'

Adversity really does unlock your inner strength.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

If you want to succeed you need to prepare. Preparing usually takes a LOT longer than the actual goal or the actual hunt. Olympians prepare for years for a 50 yard sprint. A race lasting seconds and they prepare for YEARS!! WHY??? Because they want to succeed!

Danny and I WANT TO SUCCEED!!!!

So what you have been seeing is preparation. Not only for the hunted, but for the hunter. You! Understanding why leasing is to your benefit whether you do it via JointVentures.com, yourself or the DOZENS of others that will be offering a leasing service or option.

The entire industry is moving to a lease model because it has been around for a very long time and it works! Ask any top tier domainer. They ALL have leases or have had leases. I have not met any saying they never leased a domain. We are just bringing the model out into the open in a big way. Educating domainers is the first part of all this. So folks can see what we see and why we see it and why NOW??

This is the loading the truck stage to go to market. This is how we prepare not only the end user but the domainer. Maybe it helps folks pick better domains.

Next Friday we will release our entire 2013 domain leasing collection. We do many things each and every day to prepare and move things forward. While others go home we still work. While others sleep we still work. We accomplish many things each day. But we also pace ourselves. So we are 1 full week ahead of schedule. That allows us to prepare on other fronts and do it early.

Each day we accomplish hundreds of tasks. Interview people. We are building a complete infrastructure. But we both need time off and breaks and other outlets.

Domainers are reading this but more importantly end users are coming here more and more each and every day. I bet some will even begin to identify themselves in the months and years ahead. There is nothing I would not say here that I would not say to an end user. That's the definition of transparency.

I have no problem letting a customer know I paid $100 for a domain he will lease for $1000/month. Why? Because who cares?? If that is their focus we won't be doing business anyway. I want smart people that want a domain for their own self interest. That's why it is a winner for all.

So while some may see this as a waste of our time I can tell you it is part of our preparations. It is part of our plan. This is my soapbox and I will tell you that the crowds HERE will grow as folks look for REAL ANSWERS based on a REAL HISTORY. End users ARE reading this. End users are contacting us every day now. We are priming the pump. THIS is how you make something from nothing.

So sit back and watch the 'dance' we are going to do that is going to change the destiny of HUNDREDS and then THOUSANDS! In the next 90 days we will demonstrate what we intend to do. We are building something. It may not be the way you build things, but you are sure as hell going to see how *I* build things.

First you gather the ammo materials. Then you load the ammo into a case. Then you put it in the delivery mechanism. Then you carefully aim. Then you aim some more. Then you pull the trigger. The deed happens in a split second. The prep is what it is all about. Getting it in the right order is what it is all about. Soon all will see what it is all about.

So be patient as we take you on this journey with us. We will all roll into Las Vegas knowing our destiny is owned by US once again!!

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

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This GREAT Domain Name May be Available for Joint Ventures or Lease. Click here to inquire.

Why Will the 'Domain Industry' Never Look the Same? Last Days of a Treasure we will all Miss!!

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Sophisticated, Long Term Domain Deals Can Make YOU Wealthy!

Morning Folks!!

Reading this post, I learned a few things about my JointVentures.com partner Danny Welsh that even *I* didn’t know about. A $2,000 cash offer to buy one of MY real estate domain names in 2010? LOL. You can wish in one hand and…well, I’ll let Danny tell the sad, sorry story that started with his misguided desire to be a CASH BUYER of one of my properties and ended with the reality of him as my INCOME PARTNER with a long-term plan aligned with my own vision that’s making money for us both. You mean it wasn't love at first sight Danny? Tell me it ain't so. ;-)

Rick Schwartz

By Danny Welsh

'A passionate,
energetic, HUNGRY guy or gal is looking at your uncooked Steak.com right now
and wondering if you’d let them have half…if he/she cooked it to mouthwatering
perfection FOR YOU.'

I first stumbled across RicksBlog.com November of 2010. I
found it the same way many “end users” found their way here. I wanted to buy
one of Rick’s real estate related domain names for use in one of my own
businesses. I typed it in and saw it
wasn’t being “used”.

I did my due diligence on the domain owner through the
public databases and followed the yellow brick road and landed here and found a
self-promotional blog from this brash, cursing, big-mouthed guy sitting like a
troll atop a mountain of treasure he was Hoarding.com all to himself.

Sorry, Rick! ;-)

(that WAS my first
impression of you, and I’m sure it was
many people’s impression before you won them over)

I think I had in
mind that I might offer this blowhard as much as $2,000 since the guy “wasn’t
using the domain” with all those crappy links on a one page website…and I was
sure that would be plenty when “domains only cost 8 bucks” (my thinking
then).

Little did I know how highly Rick Schwartz valued the best
generic .com domain names…how many years he’d patiently been making one annual
bet after another on the future he saw through a crystal ball…or how asleep at
the wheel so much of the business world had been JUST LIKE ME.

Suffice to say…Little did I know then how highly *I* would
come to value the best domain names now as 2013 gets into full swing just a
shade over two years later as Rick’s junior partner with JointVentures.com.

But my email to ask about that domain’s price never
happened.

I read that first blog post of Rick’s and I was hooked.

My first impression that this guy was a greedy troll changed
in minutes to a feeling that I was hearing direct from one of the most
visionary business thinkers I might ever have the fortune to meet or interact
with…and he’s talking direct to me and saying he’s looking for partners! I left
a comment that’s pretty relevant to what I was thinking at that moment…and what
I’m still thinking at THIS moment.

Check it out:

http://www.ricksblog.com/2010/11/the-future-of-domains-is-in-strategic-alliances.html

Some people have asked when I got the idea for what we’re
still just in the baby stages of creating with JointVentures.com. It's hard to
say exactly, but I can tell you when I
started thinking about the things that would later knock together in my mind
and make it my mission to get Rick Schwartz on board with the ideas I had…FIRST.

It was the day I read that “strategic alliances” post by
Rick.

I continued reading this blog, finding some pretty powerful
gems of business wisdom, but you wouldn’t find me engaging in any conversation
or “comments”. Then a little over a year ago, I read this post:

http://www.ricksblog.com/2011/12/mission-accomplished.html
I saw that Rick wanted to create strategic alliances and joint ventures, and
that’s where he was going to put his focus.
I saw him claim that he’d get a piece of 100 companies by bringing to the table
ONLY a great domain name upon which a great business can be built.

Shortly
thereafter I came across Rick’s WorkSmarter.com, and it just clicked in my
head: “I can sell that concept better
than he can”, I thought to myself.

Sorry, Rick! ;-)

And yet even though secretly I thought this guy I’d never
met or talked to initially came across as a DICK and a know-it-all to those
that don’t do their due diligence below the surface, I realized that without a
doubt in my mind, no matter how many rough edges his BLUNT approach to business
had…I realized ”He’s GOING to succeed in that vision.”

Then I started thinking what it might be worth to him…and to
me…if I could help make that vision crystallize faster. If I could bring the fruits to harvest more quickly then maybe he’d
share with me?

A year later, I’d made over a dozen attempts to personally
connect with Rick Schwartz.

Email. Phone. Mail. Christmas
Cards. You name it.

No real luck, and
in fact no response at all.
[[Aside: Rick told me recently that when
he closed out a post office box there was mail from me in it…never opened….TIMING
is everything in some things, is it not?]]

I wasn’t making it my #1 goal to reach him or anything. I
was already successful with some business stuff. But I have a habit of
connecting with smart, successful, influential people no matter what it takes
or how long it takes…and adding value to those contacts to turn them into
personal connections…a habit that has made my relationships with other people
the #1 most valuable asset I have as an entrepreneur.

And in all humility I will say that I’m one persistent guy,
passionate about accomplishing more in business than most people allow
themselves to dream is possible.

Persistence, relationships, hunger and passion are 4
of
the key components missing from a great domain name like Steak.com
‘heating up’ to become a great business, are they not?

Not all the components, but quite a few.

We're approaching year 20 of Rick's long-stated famous 20
year plan and you probably know by now that he's publicly claimed that by
that year --2015 to be exact—the vast majority of his income will come from
domain leasing and domain partnership joint ventures, with only the quantity
and not the quality domain names left in his portfolio being
undeveloped/parked.
If you follow RicksBlog.com regularly,
you now know that this guy “Danny Welsh” is the guy Rick is trusting with an
exclusive deal on a large part of his choicest portfolio of names to create and
implement the plans to help make that transformation from a passive portfolio
to an active one.
Plans to transition from unexploited
assets to ones that maximize every advantage of premium domain names turned
into real destination businesses.
Plans to transition from depending on aggregate 'machine-driven'
monetization companies to partnering with warm-blooded human beings passionate
about a business/niche.

Plans to transition from having an important puzzle piece in any 21st
century business that the domain owner exchanges for cash alone in a sale, to a future where the domain owner exchanges
control of their most valuable Internet property for a piece of the company
acquiring it, monthly guaranteed income, AND cash.

Will Rick's trust in me be a good bet? Will the plans for JointVentures.com he and I have developed together
fly or fail? Will you also making the same bet by letting Rick and I and
the team we're building list and market to represent a few of your best
properties as an active deal-hunting broker?
Maybe it will be a good bet for Rick and for you all, and maybe your community
of domain investors will revisit this post in a decade and laugh at the balls
of the 'outsider' who came here talking about domain leasing, domain
joint ventures, blah blah blah…and failed utterly.
Which is the smarter bet?

Time and deals will
tell.

Rick Schwartz has predicted a lot of what I'm trying to 'speed
up' for years and that's on the record for the record-- leasing, joint
ventures, being a part of a great domain name forever ala Candy.com style
deals.

Since he has ASKED ME to come
here and ask permission of some of his closest friends and past customers to do
business with them as well, and he's
not only backing me as a partner in representing other domain owners but “he's
also a client' like that old Hair Club For Men commercial you may remember,
this series of posts has been about doing just that.

Knowing those things, and knowing Rick's track record for making great bets
on the future...maybe that's all you wanted or needed to know about me
before listing with JointVentures.com and giving Rick and I a chance to make
some money together with you, at no risk or up-front cost to you.

For that I thank you just as I thank the first 100 or so clients that
are giving us that chance in 2013 to do for them the kind of deals Rick is
known for doing for himself.

If not, no big deal.

If we’ve lit a fire under some of these folks like Rick to try
something DIFFERENT, even if it’s not doing business with JointVentures.com…I’m
fine with that.

All I know is that if every one of those among “the 500” who own the
best .com generic domain names in the world believes in their intrinsic value
as much as Rick does, puts a future price on their holdings and sticks to their
guns, whether we play on the same team or not, we cannot lose.

And if those folks do as Rick is doing and give a growth-oriented
company a chance to operate a million-dollar domain name in an affordable
monthly lease or risk-free joint venture…they just might be DAMNED SURPRISED at
how much potential profit is left LOCKED UP in a 2^nd Tier domain
name like JointVentures.com getting only a few hundred type-in visitors per
year and earning almost NOTHING UNTIL it is paired with a business plan and a
team that will execute it.

For damned sure no one is surprised at how much value is locked up in a 1^st-tier
Candy.com value domain name when it’s parked. What you’ll see more and more of
this year is nothing new. Just how things will and MUST unfold, and who gets
paid for predicting the future better, the guy with the uncooked steak or the
guy hungering for the opportunity to cook and eat some of it.

Selling a top-tier domain name in the next 3 years for cash
only is going to be like trying to cook a 60 second steak from a beef cow that
took YEARS to be grain-fed and well-treated to create the highest value steak
imaginable. It’s selling yourself WAY short, steakmeisters!

AND it’s selling your steak buyer short, if you’re promising
him an instant mouthwatering steak in 60 seconds or less.

Can’t be done! Sorry, it’s what we see and there ain’t no
changing that. Patience is the virtue here, for those among the 500. I believe
what Rick Schwartz believes: You’ve already arrived. You own the restaurant.
Accept it and quit doubting yourself. Let the qualified and passionate General
Manager come along and operate the business THEY WERE ALREADY GOING TO OPERATE,
paying you a percentage for letting them do it in YOUR superior restaurant
location.

I’ll leave you today how I greeted you:

A passionate,
energetic, HUNGRY guy or gal is looking at your uncooked Steak.com right now
and wondering if you’d let them have half…if he/she cooked it to mouthwatering
perfection FOR YOU.

But these waves of
end users increasingly coming are not stupid.

They’ll eat your lunch, domainers…IF you LET THEM.

Let them buy that generic category-defining top-tier .com
social or commercial domain name they want and I don’t care HOW BIG THE CASH
OUTLAY IS for a straight sale in 2013-2015…it WILL prove to be short sighted.

Insist on exchanging that domain name for having a seat at
that business’s table forever and you are no longer a domain speculator; but
you’re now an investor in a potentially great business.

For a one-time investment you already made.

Danny Welsh
JointVentures.com

Morning Folks!!

First of all submissions are now closed. But this is just a sample of a response to a domainer that will also translate to an end user and sheds some light on who Danny is. Starting Feb 1, Next Friday, our focus is on end users. Actually that process has already begun. But PLEASE, no more domain submissions for 2013. They are now closed.

'Come on Guys! You Will be Not be Able to Lease More than 5-10 Domains.'

Some actually believe that so let's kill that myth right here and right now and tell you our EXACT plan for leasing hundreds of domain names.

So please forgive me for saying so but some folks are interpreting what we're doing through an 'inventory' and 'commodity' standpoint and not a 'unique asset' standpoint. We have said NO to 50,000 domain names submitted by folks like you in the last 6 weeks. We said yes to less than 300 BECAUSE they are unique ideas that have value far above a cash-only sale.
Let me be clear: we're not doing crap a domain sales broker would do. Not to dog those guys, everyone needs to put food on their table. But we're so outside the box there IS no box. This is a fresh approach and it is working for Rick Schwartz. We are telling our clients to price UP, not down. Price UP and JUSTIFY. It's how the Rolex of the world gets $xx,xxx when I can get a $2 watch at Kmart in 5 minutes.
Rick asked me to share the vision and some of our early results with his friends and expand in 2013, and if so he'd bring the domainer clients and we'd split profits we make for his friends. I told him it'd take time to scale up thru March but yeah, we can do 400 for the community instead of 100 for Rick Schwartz. Simple as that.
You want one example of how we're DIFFERENT? Look at JontVentures.com itself. A 200 page BOOK formatted as a website and the average deal with an end user we do spends HOURS consuming every scrap of information on that site educating themselves on why it is a GOOD decision to pay Rick Schwartz $xxx+ monthly for something he has $x,xxx invested into and 20 years of patience. The people that want the BEST generic .com domain names don't need to be sold.They need to understand, and justify. For starters, we make their due diligence FUN to READ, and with every sentence they read they get sold better than a salesperson on the phone could ever cold call.
Who wrote it? Me or Rick? It has his name on it and his face on it. Does it matter to the guy who wants GENERIC.com who authored that book? Does it matter to the guy who OWNS Generic.com right now and wants to use it? Not really. It's a tool, and one of only 7 tools in mine and Rick's toolbox and the community of domainers has only seen 1. Does it matter that this was an actual letter from Danny to a customer with a concern.
So yes, I get why you are hesitant to give Rick Schwartz and someone you don't know a one year exclusive listing without knowing more of the plan. That's cool. Just because everyone wants to trust Rick Schwartz, doesn't make it wrong for YOU to trust but verify.
If I were saying Rick and I were 100% confident that we could in one year or two years make a deal happen for this domain or that domain I'd be skeptical too. Not to mention the 50,000 commodity domains any company copying us in 'domain leasing' is going to put on their website. That is not our game.
Please look thru my responses to you. I said in essence about the 2 domains of yours 'they are valuable no doubt'...But I said 'I have no idea YET how I'd market those 2 domain names to make sure someone who'd be happy to lease your property at the amount you're asking would even find out the domain name was AVAILABLE. But we can see what we can do on those ones that still have obvious NOUN.com and ADJECTIVE.com value' (paraphrasing).
Compare that with THIS...
I don't need to CHASE the guy who wants to buy a generic product name like your ******.com from you. I also don't need to SELL him on why he wants it because he already does want it.
My role is to attract him and others LIKE him all at once, and tell each it's not for sale for cash and tell them what deal one of them CAN have to operate ******.com and get all of it's benefits...if he moves faster than his competitor.
Want to know how to make more Candy.com deals happen? You give the driver at a company that COVETS GENERIC.com a way to GET THE DOMAIN and not worry that down the line they'll look foolish. You present one GENERIC.com success story after another. You make JointVentures.com and what we are doing so newsworthy that it's in Entrepreneur magazine and Forbes not as an advertiser...but as an editorial. You put a price on your car for sale in the newspaper and everyone that is interested and calls you tell individually to show up at the only time you can show them the car, which is Friday at 5pm, and when they show up they see it's more DESIRABLE and there is built-in URGENCY to buy that car now.
How are we different #3? There LOTS of ways to do ACTIVE SALES stuff ain't nobody in this somewhat PASSIVE industry of domainers first and entrepreneurs second haven't tried...all designed to sell a UNIQUE ASSET for what it is instead of waiting for someone to come along as an interested buyer and 'sell themselves' on why they should give that domain name owner $5 MIL. That's what so many of the top domain name owners do because it's all they have time for! LOL I mean seriously, when has Rick Schwartz ever TRIED to sell a domain name actively? I think he sent an email to Hershey's once about Candy.com. Gimme a break. It's a different world entirely when you give that opportunity to a SALES GUY recruited and trained by me and Rick Schwartz and he has ONE domain name to do a 7 figure deal for this year and he gets $50K+ residuals forever for that one deal.
How are we different? Example 4 of how we are DIFFERENT: How would I attract and sell the deal for one of your domain names, specifically. Let's say *********?
An www.jointventures.com/******.com custom pitch page gets designed for only that ONE guy who would do a Candy.com style deal if it's presented to him, a $xx,xxx yearly lease with a $x,xxx,xxx contractual buyout if he likes it and you keep the domain name if he fails to live up to the contract. I tell that guy even at $x,xxx,xxx today ******.com is NOT for sale, unless a small x% equity share or royalty comes with the cash.
That would take me half a day if that to customize the words of a simple pitch like that. I used to charge $2000/day for copywriting services. I hate to toot my own horn pal but sometimes ain't nobody else gonna toot it for you, so when people DO, I 'save' that info. I share some of it on ThanksDannyWelsh.com. Billionaires, senators, people on TV, best selling authors, thought leaders of all types. This is my network. These are people that know me and could explain why the domain industry just got a nice deal that I quit real estate and freelance copywriting/marketing consulting both in 2012 because I found something more profitable. Leasing eRealEstate WITH my skills of marketing and copywriting.
Long story short...and I've reached a length of this response that no doubt Rick will use this as another blog Q & A but damnit pal I really want you to hear my passion come through. And if need be I share with you why you should hire ME to be your sales guy for 2 domains this year and back ME as I am in turned backed up by RICK.
I have created copy responsible for tens of millions of dollars in sales at price-points from $x to $xx,xxx. Now I give that talent free to Rick, who is now my partner, and will do the same for our other clients. Why? Because now I get to use the SAME talent God blessed me with and that I've worked my ass off to become among the best in the world with...to sell a JET instead of a JEEP. To sell an unique IDEA worth millions of dollars instead of a commodity product that costs $10.
The margins are bigger, more opportunity for everyone. I have told all of my other clients in 2013 I cannot help them, and that they should have made me a partner when I asked. Rick did and I will love him for it forever unless he screws me. Copyrighting is three things: medium, message, market. Hit all 3 and you have a sale. One sale at $10,000,000 or a million sales at $10 each, the fundamentals are the same.
I am experienced with both, and my talent is better used selling unique assets. That is what this is about, as 3 years from now we look at whether Rick accomplishes his 20 year goal of an income stream from 100 different companies upon which he is the landlord of their eRealEstate, whether in a lease, sale with ongoing royalties, or other JV deal. Each agrees to a creative deal for GENERIC.com because they see the value, and that the alternatives are no good.
It's not about domaining anymore.
It's about SALES.
So that happens when you sign as a client. Then you get our Fast Start instructions so you know how/where to send inquiries as they come in. Simultaneous to that custom pitch page for each of your domains we list, I give MY network the domain names we are listing and offer them a 5% sub-broker opportunity. I let them know they might just get paid for LIFE for a 5 minute conversation with a high-level connection in their Rolodex that may not be in mine, and a personal referral to an interested party.
I ask them to look over the list. I ask these people who are CONNECTORS...
'Which CRM Software company do you know that would LOVE to stop paying Google Adwords so much money to advertise for 'CRM Software' keywords at $x.xx per click...and would love to use CRMSoftware.com?'
and 'Who do you know that would see the value in paying monthly to be the only law firm in the world that communicate with their real estate law clients from @RealEstateLaw.com?'
and 'Which hungry young guy do you know that is growth-oriented and would be excited to read about the success stories of a Bobbleheads.com or AmericanFlags.com style success where a guy with drive can shake up a lazy industry, be perceived as a market leader from the day you open the doors, and get paid huge money when the IMPROVED eREALESTATE ASSET you just increased the value for wants to be ACQUIRED by one of the lazy companies that should have been smart enough to buy the land alone when it was for sale?'
That's phase 1 of marketing. Custom pitch page, and sub-brokers, starting with MY network.
If that ONE guy for ******.com for instance gets attracted from a type-in inquiry link on your domain name itself, or by my connectors, we need do nothing further but turn him over to Rick for him to negotiate on your behalf.
Congrats to us all four! WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN. Including the end user, as he is KEY.
If NOT, we roll into phase 2 for the next 90 days.
And we get a little deeper into implementing OUR unique plan you either realize by now I've fully thought through...or not.
Either way, it's not about domains and it's not about domainers. So least you think this argument is one I'm making to YOU, it's beyond that. In full transparency I can say every single one of these words to the end user, and Rick has a track record of telling the buyer inquiry with little money and no vision NO as many times as it takes.
My job is just getting him more and better qualified people to say NO to...until that one person comes along with an offer you (our client) and Rick (your negotiator) simply cannot refuse.
A diamond is a diamond is a diamond.
It's beyond 'domaining' what we're doing. It's about business and sales and increasing profits with JointVentures. It's about ONE best operator for the best domain names in the world, and the domain name owner stays in the deal with a small ongoing royalty % for generations while a shopping mall gets built on their land they already made a nice profit selling.
Rick and I can't guarantee we can bring both parties together within 12 months for a deal like that for 50,000 domains like those we've had to say no to when submitted by some really great people.
We can't guarantee it for the 5,000+ domains Rick owns.
We can't guarantee it for 500 domains, either.
But every success we have will make the next easier.
And we're listing a total of 400 this year, counting 100 of Rick's, and that is til 1/31. After that you will not hear from us as a 'domainer.'
My friend, Sorry but you're not seeing the full picture. What just happened in the last 6 weeks tossing dynamite in the domain pond can and WILL be duplicated in pond after pond after pond, industry after industry after industry..
Each one like a BOULDER tossed in with a MESSAGE about a million dollar opportunity for GENERIC.com (from me) delivered through a MEDIUM (GENERIC.com itself to start) to the MARKET that will be most likely to take action on the message's offer.
Game, set, MATCH a great domain name with a great business and a greater deal that's WIN-WIN for all parties.
And folks will watch these deals happen again and again in the next 2 years from in the game...or on the sidelines.
I hope my passion has come through and you say 'YES' to doing business on one or two of your prime properties. The GENERIC.com like ******.com can be done, and I'll make it a priority that it DOES get done.
I've given you more of my ideas than I planned to at this time. Maybe because you remind me of my long-time best friend, who is the most gifted negotiator I've ever met. He always sells me on doing stuff using a 'takeaway' like he's not interested. And every time I get sucked in to convince him why I'm right, while I'm busy putting together the argument on why, he's already thought ten steps ahead to how he can turn me being right to his advantage. LOL if so, you're sneaky man!
Point is...You'll see more of the full picture in February. So will everyone, and it appears we'll be building this with tens of thousands watching our every move. Following Rick the leader. That's cool.
Just know that with Rick Schwartz backing me, everyone can copy us in the small things they can 'see' and it will NOT be a threat to us.
Everything we do can be copied except what makes Rick Schwartz the Domain King and what makes Danny Welsh...who I am.
There's no zero sum game in 2013-2015 with 'domain leasing', but there's gonna be a HELL of a lot of ZEROES with JointVentures.
Really hope you want to give the ol roulette wheel a spin with us, too.
Warmly,
Danny Welsh

Have GREAT day!

Rick Schwartz

Evening Folks!!

Never apologize for being early. For seeing things first. For blazing trails while others laugh. I am damn proud of getting into domains early. Many got it it YEARS before me and have done very well. But I also recognize that a guy could come in today with a modest bankroll and still grow to make his or her mark. Will it be harder? Yeah. Next time recognize it early on. How do you do that? PRACTICE!!!

Every day is a day you can practice being early and seeing things early. See something before somebody else. Discover something before the masses. Dream of something and have nobody copy your dream.

More opportunity raced by TODAY than the first thousand years of life combined. So much sometimes is too much. But a fresh set of eyes will look at nearly anything and find some opportunity.

Opportunity has no headlines. It just quietly crosses our path and most times we all miss it. But when you train yourself to look for certain things and look at other things in a specific way, you would be amazed what passes by on any given day.

So be first. React first. Think faster. Make a decision. Weigh the risk vs reward and if it is a good outcome, just do it!

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Someday I hope to relay an incredible story to you.

But today let me tell you what I have learned these last 8 weeks.

When I receive domans for the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. auction, MOST are overpriced. More than that, MOST are really crappy domains with no value that I have to wade through until my eyes bleed. Not all. But it is pretty incredible when domainers want to clear out their closets.

On the otherhand, with the submissions to JointVentures.com, the domains are much higher quality and domainers are UNDERVALUING their assets. It's incredible how the owner of the domain sees it as being worth a TINY fraction of what I see the value being.

Ask around. I don't think I have tried to have anyone lower a monthly rate. On the other hand there have been folks that are not understanding the gems they hold and what the true market value is. And at the end of the day that is a good thing because it leaves enough room to have everyone come away a winner. The ned user MUST be the single biggest winner in every equation for the del to fly.

And let me be be very clear. These rates are still pocket change to their true value and their true potential and the next few years will show that. Domains and their need/want/desire will eventually catch up to the Park Avenue Rents, the South Beach record Condo sales and big flawless diamonds. And when that happens, it will overtake all 3. Why? Because the domain has the POWER to obtain all those other things with the business and cash flow. Those other things can not.

So as we go through the next 2-3 years domains will have not only broken through the ground, not only being expanded 100 fold, not only being covered by every media outlet, but someday soon will be and maybe already is, one of the most desireable assets in the world.

I remember when I registered my actual name and folks thought I was insane. And I looked back their way and asked how they could not see something as simple as that?? I bet each had a name shared with thousands of others. Tens of thousands. Hundredes of thousands. Maybe even millions or more. I said every baby born should get their name or think of a name that is available as it would server that kid well for a lifetime and that was one of the greatest gifts they could give them. Before you even think about starting that college fund.

AdamShannon.com.......Dean, I still hold that for your son who must be getting to the point in his life where that domain could become very useful. Regstered in 1998. That would make him 15 sometime this year. Maybe a great graduation gift for him soon. A life changing gift that I have saved for you and him and only for you guys for all these years.

Did you know that just 10 years ago the brick and mortar folks, the media and anyone else that saw themselves as threatened by the internet tried to kill the internet. Bury it alive. It was called a 'Fad'. They did EVERYTHING in their power to bring the net down and they LOST!! They lost and some have failed to compete. Some can get back in the ring to fight another day and some are out for the count. (Boarders) Many more coming.

The domain is not everything. Really. But it is the FIRST decision a company makes and that is a foundational decision that most take very lightly and like to rush through without proper thought, discussion or understanding of ANY and ALL pitfalls related to it. That is the thing they seem to skip over that sometimes comes back to bite them in the ass.

So here we all stand all these 10-15 years later. Let's stop for a moment. Let's look back. Let's review where we have been and how long each step of te way took and how long and how big the next steps will be. When you do that and you see the transformation at every level in every corner of the world with bilions more still to come, your jaw should just drop. In basically the first 20 years of this medium, life as we know it changed more than at ANY 20 year period in the history of mankind.

Think about that and what it means and represents and then you will understand what the next 20 years will look like. And no, the world does not revolve around domains. But that is the vehicle we have all chosen and it has been life changing for thousands of folks. More to come. Many more. They will have their own 'Vehicles' and they will come in many forms. Plus nobody is stuck with one vehicle or one dance or one anything if they don't want to be.

Matter of fact, MOST domainers that I know have multiple businesses outside the domain industry, domaining and on and off the net. But the focus is where it is the most lucrative and for most of you reading this it has been domains. Electronic real estate. eRealestate.com.

My education in physical real estate came via the virtual real estate parallel. An exact and more powerful parallel. Nobody saw it then......EVERYBODY will in the years ahead. We have crossed over the hump of all this. The tough haul climbing the mountain and the peak is within reach and easier to get to than the hike we just took.

More and more folks will see what we see and that is a great thing and our asset class someday will be #1 in the world. It's happening faster than you can see it. Just remember one thing. An overnight success takes 20 years to achieve.

Your GREAT domains will COMMAND more than mall lease rent in the near future. Why? Because your GREAT domain can provide them with 10x the business their stores can at 1/10 the cost. That's for starters. The point here is you can operate like you own a broken down, unmaintained strip center or you can operate like you own the hottest mall on earth. Which mind and head do you want to go forward with? Because as time proves me right once again........

Look. If you want to sell your unique assets for less then they are worth, that's your decision. A decision you just may regret someday. But at least LEARN how to value a domain through the eye of the end user. Through the eye of somebody with passion that is looking for a break. Through the eyes of a couple of Twenty Somethings from New England that struck a deal with me for Candy.com that is transforming all of our lives. So maybe the Hershey's of the world saw no value. But the ones that want to be the NEXT Hershey's DO see it.

In each and every industry there are leaders and there are guys that want to make their mark. The domain name married with a solid business plan is the formula that works the most effectively and economically and expansion is unlimited. It's the basis of a big success that has the fewest leaks and will catch the most air. And in a new business, ANY AIR is vital to getting it to lift off the ground.

I never had the luxury years ago to go through lists of expired domains or domains for sale. They did not come to be for several years later. I had to think and explore each and every one of them. And when I would think and explore I would try to imagine myself using that single domain to change my destiny in any particular industry. If that was the only domain I owned and I put all my effort into it, could I make money and a good living? That was my standard back then. Before so may tools available now and it is still the standard today.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

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This GREAT Domain Name May be Available for Joint Ventures or Lease. Click here to inquire.

Domain Name Submissions for JointVentures.com Coming to a Close for 2013

The Domain Space Has Never Been Hotter! I'll Prove it RIGHT NOW!

Afternoon Folks!!

All things come to an end. What you have grown comfortable with in our small pond is coming to an end. Sadly there is nothing that can be done but remember the good ole days. Folks, this is the sunset of the good ole days. Things are changing that makes our pond something that we will just remember. It's not in our control and it is not our fault. But progress and age are going to rewrite what domaining looks like.

There are two keywords you are hearing of this year,'gTLD' and 'Leasing'. One will cost you money. One will make you money. That's how I see it. The next phase is coming at us faster than you might think and the WORST mistake I could make at this stage is be LATE to the game. To the landing of this new phase.

I have patiently been waiting on the beach all these years. Now it is time to prepare the runway. Build the infrastructure. Get ready for the assault. Why now? Because the movement is already in the air. The plane has taken off and now it is just the time to travel here and land. 18 years of waiting STANDBY at the gate waiting for the plane to taxi on the runway. That plane has finally taken off. There are 1900 bumps along the way so it won't be a smooth ride. But when we emerge on the other side in 2-3 years, folks will look back like it was always that way and new folks coming in won't know any different. They will just think it was always like that just like many of you think there was always a domain aftermarket and auctions and unlimited places to register a domain name as opposed to one that did not work well. Working like your local DMV in those days. But 'Horrible' has its privileges.

In 2-3 years nobody reading this TODAY will even recognize the 'Domain Industry'. It is about to change in an uncontrollable way and voices like mine will be drown out by thousands with an agenda. Including myself and maybe you too. That is the way of the world. That is evolution. We can't control it but we CAN HARNESS IT!!!!

It is that 'Drowning out' that will elevate great domains names to their proper place in the eco chain of business. The more everyone yells me, me me, the more the domains will stand out as a way to.....stand out!

See it is the gTLD''s that will make leasing a viable option. It's just so simple and that is why you are seeing a WAVE of folks focusing on this area. Progress is not to be feared. It is to understand what happens when something new is introduced. ALL of our voices will soon be drown out by 1800 STAFFS of 'Cubicle Whores' each with their job spreading great rumors about their extension. There will be announcements of multi million dollar deals and maybe NONE will actually be done from an arms length. 1900 competing motives. They will rip each others eyes out trying to survive. Let's see how long t will be until 'Consolidation' begins. I suspect very quickly. Each consolidation is an exclamation of failure!

That's the difference going forward. It won't unfold the way 99.9 expect it will. It could be ugly. All I know is you will see a lot of caucuses lining the road to the future. All with high hopes. Most based on the second coming of something that will never be repeated. Each step only fortifying and increasing the value of .com no matter what they spew in their own self interest.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

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On the Record For the Record. Changing the Dynamics of what We do. Submissions to Close!

The Domain Space Has Never Been Hotter! I'll Prove it RIGHT NOW!

Morning Folks!!

My JointVentures.com partner Danny
Welsh has got something to share today about the incongruity of the salary of
Babe Ruth versus the minimumleague salary today, and the maximum money
paid to the top guys in the majors today. Who was the better baseball player?
Does it matter? What’s it have to do with valuating the BEST domain names?
Every time YOU fill the stadium with people, how much are you paid? This was
one of the first posts Danny wrote but we’ve saved it for today, for a reason I
think will become clear soon enough.

Rick Schwartz

By Danny Welsh:

The PRICE paid to hire Babe Ruth vs Alex Rodriguez’s salary…and who owns the LEAGUE of a business full of players online?

My mentor Rick Schwartz has taught me that baseball salaries
over time are a great analogy to point to for valuing domain names, just like
Babe Ruth famously pointed into the stands predicting a home run shot. What
does it mean that in 2013 the *average*
salary per player in MLB is $3,200,000 US Dollars-- compared to the
highest annual salary EVER earned by the Great Bambino himself, the MVP of
his age in the 1930s, at $84,000 per year?

Can we chalk it up to “inflation”? Nope. Sorry, but if you
use this lens to explain the value of your best domain names that “inflation”
statement will be a weak answer that weak and/or dishonest people with an
agenda will resort to in attempting to refute YOUR assertion that the times
have changed not only in baseball but in all kinds of commerce as the world has
EVOLVED.

Today I’d like to talk more about how TRUE VALUE is
intrinsic, while “price” is variable with the times and how things unfold. Yes,
it’s the same line you’ve heard from me throughout this series of guest blog
posts Rick has allowed me to make— the truth savvy investors see shown again
and again through a different lens, and if my job is done properly with
each lens shown the bright and blinding truth Rick revealed to me will grow
more magnified as more and more folks in the domain universe “get it” and see
what Rick Schwartz saw long before I was a blip on the radar coming along to
simply articulate these truths we both see maybe a little better than he can.

In my inaugural guest post on RicksBlog I said I’d be
posting in the future to answer this question:

“When exactly in the
maturation of premium dot com category domain name values are we currently
experiencing in 2013 along the scale paralleled by premier baseball player
salaries, Babe Ruth's earning less than $1,000,000 over his entire
1914-1935 career or the $30,000,000 in salary paid for Alex Rodriguez in 2012
alone?”

You see, if we ignore the internet and “domain names” and
just look at the lens of commerce through the lens of just ONE
category/industry, is the BUSINESS of
“Baseball” more or less profitable in 2013 than in 1995? That was when
many of the best generic commercial and social domain names such as
Baseball.com for example were first hand registered by who I feel are some very
smart visionary entrepreneurs.

In case you missed the $250,000,000 contracts paid for a
single player, the “salary cap” attempts of some sports to create parity among
a rich ball-team owners’ game, the World Series ratings and TV commercials
bonanzas, billions and billions in merchandising and endorsements, or the 60,000
person baseball stadiums costing up to $1.5 BILLION to build according to
MLB.com (Yankees)…

That was a rhetorical question.

Of COURSE, the business of baseball
has become more profitable over the years.

The Chicago Cubs play in a stadium built in 1912, costing
$250,000. I love that stadium! Wrigley Field is the past history of baseball
wrapped up in all its splendor and tradition.

But the future of baseball as a business is more and more
going to be about merging tradition with MONEY. Money flows downhill to VALUE,
no matter what people want or believe. How many multiples is it from that $250K
1912 Chicago stadium to the $1,500,000,000 2012 New York Yankees stadium?

Let me do the math for you, since it’s probably really early
in the morning when Rick will be posting this blog post for everyone to read. J

The 2012 investment in a stadium was
6000x the 1912 investment in a stadium.

And those are BOTH buildings meant to accomplish the same
things…give people a place to SIT while they consume a company’s products.

There’s yet another “lens” through which you can see the
true value of a top-tier generic category-defining dot com domain name property
like Baseball.com, as an EXAMPLE.

The most valuable domain names like that one for the most part aren't
in the game at 2012’s Yankee Stadium. They're 'parked' in the lot
outside the stadium, selling hot dogs every day to passersby drawn by just the
HINT that a ball-game they want to see might be going on inside.

I’m not knocking domain parking as a way to make money.
Really, I’m not.

Many times these category-killer domain names make a LOT of
money, just as Rick’s Porno.com has made $1,000,000+ per year without effort or
work, parked and selling nickel-a-pop peep shows by the click to passersby that
more often than not will never come again.

(no pun intended)

But even with 7 figure earnings possible on the higher ends
of the spectrum for a single domain name…and with many other $xxx,xxx to
$xx,xxx,xxx VALUE domain names earning
$xxx-$xxx,xxx per year or whatever …STILL nobody I know thinks domain parking
is the BEST MONETIZATION strategy for a great domain name like that, do they?

Nope.

Just like nobody who gets “inside” after visiting a parked
domain thinks they got their ‘money’s worth’, even spending NOTHING as they
click-and-go elsewhere to find what they were looking for, do they?

We all KNOW that a truly great domain name DESERVES
something BETTER.

Truly great domain
names deserve to be
IN THE GAME and not in the parking lot.

So you witness the search for real, solid solutions by Rick
and others among “the 500” for many years.

The first innings of this game are over. The middle innings
are ending.

We’re in the 7^th inning stretch of a 20 year plan
and a ball-game Rick Schwartz predicted how it would end…20 years ago, right
there in his virtual living room before the first strike-out of “.whatever” (of
which there will be MANY more in the coming years, littering the stadium of
business like discarded popcorn boxes filled with kernels of popcorn that were
sold and never POPPED).

So far as I can tell, the biggest “curve ball” Rick swung at
personally and missed was the .mobi fiasco…and he admitted that mistake when so
many self-promoters never tell you the bad, only the good. Personally, I like
that in a guy I’m doing business with. Don’t you?

TIMING IS KEY TO HIT THE FASTBALL OUT OF THE PARK.

A number of people
in the domain community have seen what Rick and I are doing with
JointVentures.com and have brought up this company or that company that has
“tried” domain leasing and failed. Others have been and will continue
to jump into the domain leasing game as we shake the bushes and demonstrate
deals (don’t be surprised to learn many of the domain investors the smaller
players all look up to have been doing this quietly for YEARS).

There may be many variables for the companies that FAILED to
“represent” domain leasing as brokers or 3^rd party platforms, and
specific companies could have a most
important factor each for why they failed.
The biggest GENERAL reason if you ask me would be TIMING.

Same reason it doesn’t matter who was the BETTER player,
Babe Ruth or Alex Rodriguez.

It’s not comparing apples to apples, even when BOTH played
in the BIG APPLE of New York City.

Timing is what determined the difference in price of each player’s
salary, not the value of the player.

Hell, Rick himself fought an uphill battle early on trying
to get mainstream business owners to see the value of premium generic domains
in the 1990s. No one listened except for the adult entertainment people, and
Rick made them a lot of money.

The commercial business owners were being told by their
“webmaster” that a 10 digit numerical IP address was a perfectly good online
address for a website, and by their “advertising agency” that branding was more
important than sales.

Today, more and more they
know differently.

And they COVET what
“the 500” have, those of you who like Rick had the foresight to grab
Baseball.com level generic category-defining domain names before companies in
the mainstream had a clue.

They also COVET the best domain properties owned by select
other smart domain name owners—myself included-- to a significantly lesser
degree at THIS TIME-- but the next couple years TIMING and the movements made
in the market by “the 500” are pivotal in whether the end user businessman of
the future pays FULL VALUE to get what they covet ala Alex Rodriguez’s
salary…or “today’s price” in between Babe Ruth and that time in the future when
people will look back and say with disbelief “Baseball.com made HOW little
money per year?”

Rick and I predict that in the next 3 years these companies—
both established companies looking to increase their presence online and small
start-ups looking to get an edge over the competition— will continue striking
out with “.whatever” domains and we believe that it’ll become obvious VERY
quick that .com is here to stay and .whatever is the minor leagues for any REAL
business with REAL ambition.

Others will end up choosing to play only in the minor
leagues using made up words as their business name online, using hyphens and
numbers and modifiers like “My”, “The” ETC ETC cutesy little attempts to get
around the guy “sitting on the home-plate” of the very BEST generic domain name
they’d have and want if money was no object.

Many will build companies (and have) on domains they’ll want to
“truncate” and trade-up from a lead-off hitter to a CLEANUP BATTER.

Many will dislike the guy they see as blocking anyone from a
grand slam score without paying what they feel is an exorbitant sales cost to
get past…

But it only takes ONE
PLAYER IN EACH LEAGUE to see what we see, one business in each niche that knows
the true value of NICHE.com, and soon every great domain name that deserves to
be a part of a great business CAN be the MVP of a great business.

So long as that guy sitting on home-plate where
he knew everyone would want to be one day sets up a toll-booth instead of a
cash register because he REALIZES that one day he’ll be recognized as a
visionary business leader and not a “cyber squatter”.

So go ahead, we invite all businesses looking to do big
things online with either big ideas and talents OR big resources to point to
the fences and “call your shot”.

Hit a homerun, start-ups!

Hit a grand slam, established companies!

The more you win, the more we win.

Rick Schwartz and the 500 domain name league owners will be
waiting patiently at home-plate where the crowds are going to be showing up
daily no matter what else may happen in the next couple years.

Meet you there!

Danny Welsh
JointVentures.com

Morning Folks!!

When I started in domains there was not even a puddle. Just a drip or two of moisture. Eventually turned into a puddle. Then domaining came to be and we turned into a pond. We have been a pond for a very long time. Then recently we have turned the corner of being a lake. And when 1800 .whatevers come thru we will be a river. The river eventually leads to the ocean and there you have the entire history of domaining and the future of it as well.

Rick Schwartz