The Domain King's® thoughts on domain names, web traffic, increasing web sales, success, life, and plain-old Business & Marketing 101. Nothing happens until a sale is made!
I am often reminded by domainers that there is a world out the USA. That's fine and you may even be surprised to know that I recognize that and have visited my share of countries around the world. But what folks don't seem to recognize is how to fish! You go where the fish are! DUH! Where they are biting. Where they are hungry. Were they are big and diversified.
So here is a tidbit of PROOF of what I see and how I see it and why I focus on the USA and other ENGLISH speaking countries as it pertains to sales and domain names and the value of a domain name.
Lets look at the .Me registry. Please explain how one country in the world of 350 or so can be responsible for 53% of all their registrations when EVERYONE had the same opportunity? 53%!! That is a REAL number. Why do more than half of ALL their registrations come from the USA? Why so disproportionate? Why?
53% of .Me domains are registered in the US;
46% of .Me domains are registered by businesses;
That .Me is the most popular domain choice for startups after .com;
There are still 35% of three-character .me domain names available!
Interpret that into Dollars. Or Euros or Yens or whatevers.
See the problem is I see an answer where others don't. I choose to compete in the arena with the largest fish. Why the USA??? It comes down to one word.
CONSUMPTION!!
Read it again.
CONSUMPTION!!
The USA consumes MORE than the rest of the world combined on MANY things. Many! Many!!!! So that is why I don't dabble in IDN or country codes and only lightly in non-dotcoms. It's fine for those that do but it is not in my DNA for reasons I am about to explain. The numbers guide me.
So if you don't understand or even can't accept that one tidbit in life, then we will never see things eye to eye. We will always disagree because. We will never be on the same page. You will always tell me why your small pond is better and I will always point to the SEA with no limits! The sea of consumption! Sales!
And that is fine. I don't want to talk you out of the pond. It may be very nice. Very comfortable. Very good to you. But at least acknowledge the difference in size and VALUE of the audience. maybe not 100% of the time, but most of the time.
Yes, they consume more rice in China than the USA. So what?? They consume that rice to build things that we will consume mostly in the USA.
Maybe what is important is figuring out since nobody here is in the rice business and many here are in the domain business that facts do count. Numbers do count. This is just one tiny tidbit of an example. So why does .Me have 53% in the USA if it is not about how we consume things and that has enriched many folks around the world? Do you think .co's numbers are much different? They may support my argument even more! .com's numbers are widely known.
Sure you can come here and tell me the USA is slipping by percentage, other contries are gaining or this or that. But it does not mean much when it translates into business.
Domain Names by Country of Purchase. USA has more domain registrations than all other countries combined! 12X the second closest. All other countries combined equal 48 million to the USA at just under 80 Million. Then add the English speaking countries to that. That would bring that number up to over 92 million and the other down to 36 million. The numbers paint a picture. Then add buying power to that equation and it further tilts.
If you fish, you go where the most and the biggest fish are. It is not about what you know folks. It's about how you interpret what you know. Whether you play for an audience of 600 or an audience of 600 million. Just numbers. Then add BUYING POWER and Kaboom!
And btw, how many of the .whatevers are not English words or abbreviations? Why is that? These are questions worthy of some thought. Numbers don't lie. They paint pictures. Some see different realities in their pictures. By starting off with 50% of anything you are bound to do quite well.
So .Me is 53% just in the USA. Then add the other English speaking countries. Maybe you are over 75%. The rest is fragmented. Fragmentation is costly to market to. Fragmented markets are limited markets.
Do you market to the folks with buying power? How does that factor in? Do folks in Guatemala have the same buying power as in the USA?
When I was growing up 'French' was the universal language. It then shifted to Spanish. But English dominates things from English speaking Airport Traffic controllers all over the world to New domain extensions. There is a reason. Why English? Because flight was invented in the USA and as it blossomed it blossomed in English because all the terminology was/is in English. That holds true on so many other things.
From Cars to computers to medical to DOMAIN NAMES!
Are things shifting? Sure. So what? 6000 member audience will grow to 12,000 while 600 million will grow to 1.2 billion. And even if the 600 million only grows to 610 million, it may be a lifetime or more before the 6000 grows into the first million. If ever. That has to factor in. It can't be dismissed. It has to be understood.
Some people are going to come here and beat their chest for this or that. But they all have A.D.D. because they won't focus on the point of the post. They will joust with themselves as they invent straw-men to defend their point of view and maybe their turf.
Numbers are in my DNA. Focus on numbers and money happens. Why is that? Because money is based on numbers and numbers don't lie!
My partner with JointVentures.com
wanted to title this post “Good Morning Folks...and if I Don't See or Talk to
You Much the Next 60 days: Good Afternoon, Good Evening and Good Night!'.
I changed that title because well, its RicksBlog and I felt like it. LOL.
To
business: As I said the other day, Danny and I only answer to about 120 people
from here on out this year as we build JointVentures.com the domain name into
JointVentures.com the business. I figure that will be a 3 year plan for most of
the initial growth, with a LOT happening this first year. Those 120 guys and
gals signed up as inaugural clients and we’re going to work tirelessly to move
mountains and do deals for them in repayment of that trust.
So I’ll be around here posting and commenting whenever I
want just like always. Danny mostly won’t unless it’s obvious/possible the
commenter is an END USER that followed the river here to the pond and is asking
buying questions…or it’s one of those 120 people wanting to ask a question in
public for some reason instead of simply calling Danny to ask. But
I DO have quite a few “pre-written” posts from Danny I think are going to give you all even more
idea about how Danny and I work well together, despite the fact that we FIGHT
about certain things too…more of an idea about how much of all we’re doing in
2013 has a precursor in the thoughts and notes of two guys for years...and
reveal some pretty amazing opportunities for folks to do business with us
TODAY, earning money potentially for life.
In the next 75-90 days as Danny puts 99% of his focus on
completing the 3 or so scaling up priorities he and I have discussed and
decided upon, I think when he comes back into the arena here daily it’ll be
obvious just what the hell he was doing that was more important than crossing
swords with folks on a blog daily (even tho it’s fun). And I do see this as an
“arena”. Maybe it’s just the “Gladiator” movie fan in me! Or that Teddy
Roosevelt quote. Whatever. To daring greatly!
Rick Schwartz
“Good Morning
Folks...and if I Don't See or Talk to You Much the Next 60 days: “Good
Afternoon, Good Evening and Good Night!'
By Danny Welsh
JointVentures.com
If you haven’t heard the news, as predicted by Rick Schwartz
and brought to fruition by us both with the help of some very smart and
forward-thinking folks that took the leap with us, as of 2/1/2013 our “domain
owner” JointVentures.com client roster for the first half of 2013 is completely
filled.
Boarding doors are closed. The jet engine is warming up!
We will accept no
further domain owner clients unless someone convinces Rick Schwartz on
a one on one email that marketing their property will provide a “headliner” for
our company that ALL of our clients will benefit from when a deal is completed
for it. I won’t even see the submissions, and I’m asking our website developer
to remove the “Submit Domains” button on our site…now.
(ASIDE: Okay so Danny P beat me to it, and yet still the
inquiries pour in from all kinds of other methods. Maybe tomorrow I’ll wake up,
walk outside on my front porch with Bailey the Service Dog Flunkie and expect
to see a carrier pigeon dropping a domain submission… *sigh* does anyone
understand that I’m just one guy? We all have our bandwidth…400 properties to
market this year is mine)
That’s right, dance
fans. Club’s closed and now for those who are IN, we are going to show you just
what you got on the INSIDE of…and I hope you’re not disappointed. I’ve been
planning this for two years, but without Rick Schwartz’s green-light it could
not have happened. Without your all’s buy-in alongside Rick’s own, what’s going
to happen in the next 3 years could have taken many more years, or been
completely impossible.
How do we do go from plan to
ever-increasing profits?
Well, First
…let me thank you for this opportunity to serve you the best way *I* know how, even as you increasingly realize
that my ideas and plans are nothing like what most people expect.
Please realize I don’t do things the way most companies do.
I admit. I’m kind of a nut. But I’m the nutty entrepreneur that’s about to
crack a lazy industry wide open and show people on BOTH sides of the table
how doing joint ventures together will break the frame of what’s possible to
increase PROFITS FOR BOTH by a more qualified operator exploiting an
underutilized asset.
Which lazy industry am I talking about?
Is it “domaining” when thousands of Category.com value
assets are sitting UNUSED “parked” and making hundreds of millions of...nickels?
Could be…
Is it “Category” industry when a sales-increasing MVP like Category.com
is on the sidelines and not in the game at whatever price is needed to make it
work for both parties? Could be.
Is there something offensive about me saying that to either
party? Could be.
But forgive me for saying so but when I see 6, 7, and 8
figure assets earning thousands instead of millions…then it only calling a
spade a spade to say that BOTH sides of the table when it comes to the
very BEST and most valuable domain names in the world have been short-sighted,
greedy, and refusing to see what the other party sees…except in a FEW cases.
My role is to increasingly bring both
parties to the table and create a
WIN-WIN where both sides make more money WITH each other
than they can make without each other.
And that’s exactly
what I’m going to do, and if you think any force on Earth can stop me then you
clearly don’t know the power of an idea infused with faith and backed by ACTION.
Second…we
need to work out how we communicate (and how we don’t).
Our biggest potential problem right now is the likelihood
of “information bottleneck” unless steps are taken to avoid it FIRST. Rick
and I have to take what’s mostly in our brains only and transfer it to a team.
And we are asking that each of our clients take what he/she wants to
communicate to me and Rick and transfer it to us using certain protocols. “File
transfer” protocol is key…that’s why I put almost one page worth of notes on
that answer/request of ours in the clients FAQ that was emailed out. Please pay
attention to it. You’ll only have to
read it once. It won’t change much, because we ANTICIPATE problems, not create
problems.
If we ever “fire” a JointVentures.com client, it will almost certainly
be for simply refusing to cooperate in this area, and jeopardizing our ability
to keep our promises to others because one person believes they can monopolize
our time and attention. Unlike something you’ve ever heard from a
“broker” who should be (and IS, trust me) grateful to get your business? Get
used to it! Neither Rick Schwartz nor Danny Welsh are very ordinary guys, and in
an arena where people go ga-ga over 20% income increases we don’t offer
promises of ordinary results…so a few out-of-the-ordinary requests in exchange
for the possibility of extraordinary 20x and more income increase?
I think it’s a fair deal, don’t you agree?
Third, we
now need to get back to the plan I was already quietly implementing for Rick
Schwartz and getting results BEFORE he asked me to take an 8 week side trip
into taking on more clients as his partner with a new domain brokerage. I’m
already 7 days behind in the master plan, but I’m not disappointed. I was
flying a nice prop-plane but Rick summoned a Gulfstream Jet out of thin air in
8 weeks. So I won’t complain. View’s nice.
Company is pretty good, too. I’m already walking the aisles of the plane
and talking to some of the passengers in First Class (that’s you) who have
GREAT ideas on how we can fly this jet even better, more efficiently, etc. Lot
of SMART people in those seats, and I’m listening to everything you say and
incorporating what is good…what is important…and will use those great ideas
when the time is right.
Rick and I’ll be emailing (or may have already by the time
this is posted) a blast message to each of our new VIP domain clients with a
video overview of where we are at and where we are going. I think it’ll give
you a hell of a high level 50,000 foot overview, and confidence that you made
the right choice. If you didn’t get it, that’s a problem. Please email our
admin so you get your address WHITELISTED properly so any mass email
communications we send you this year GO THRU.
Fourth, we
need to be ruthless about what’s important…and what can wait. We’re behind
because I made that mistake thinking it was “important” for me to respond to
everyone’s emails. It is simply not possible for a guy used to DOING great
things to keep up with thousands of people in the blogosphere that seem to love
mostly only TALKING about great things (or criticizing those that do). Sorry.
Making our clients money this year IS important. Implementing my plan the way I
know it will work IS important.
It is ALSO simply not possible for a guy used to DOING great
things to keep up with 120 new clients that seem to love sharing their ideas
about how Rick and I can market/sell their properties for them.
Thank you for the dozens of blog recommendations emailed
to me. But forgive me if I say that being expected to read every blog in
the domaining universe = not important. Rick gave me 6 he recommended, and 6 I
have read and will continue to read. A horse that wins the Kentucky Derby has
blinders on and just runs his race, devoid of distraction. It’s GoBabyGo.com,
not StopBabyStop.com…:) Thank you for the great past leads you’ve passed on to our admin. But
forgive me if I say that taking special time to immediately drop everything and
follow up with 5 year old referrals who were “interested” in a domain property
= not URGENT. Same goes for any company you tell us “should be interested” but
has never contacted you. THANK YOU FOR PASSING THAT INFO ALONG. IT WILL BE
SAVED AND USED IF IT’S SENT PROPERLY TO THE RIGHT PERSON (i.e. not me)! But using it immediately is simply not urgent
when viewed in the context of our team implementing a 12 month plan including a
“domain launch” this year for that specific property of yours.
I will be posting more about the domain launch formula and
sending some videos of what it looks like and how it works. I’d prefer to just
be DOING it, but Rick has changed the dynamics a little bit of what my 2012
plan was. Now it looks like in a few months I’ll be getting to do it with even
better properties to launch…with more back-end sales help from a team…and
bigger companies to be negotiating WIN-WIN deals with for each to get the ONE
unique asset they most want…with 120
clients instead of 1.
So that’s cool. In short…a domain launch is a formula of
marketing activities completed in a rapid-fire fashion from 3-14 days
start-to-finish during which anyone who should
be interested and might be
financially qualified WILL learn about the domain’s availability and pricing
terms because that’s what the launch is DESIGNED by me to do (penetrate
a small niche MARKET with a simple MESSAGE using multiple MEDIUMS)—everyone…including
your older leads sent to us which have been and will be databased, for firing
once the gun is loaded.
Expect BIG things slowly…
that has been, is, and will always be
Rick and my promise to domain owner clients.
Fifth, I
am not only the business owner but also the chief marketing officer and sales
content copywriter of our little merry crew.
That means the next 60 days I have to write hundreds of pages of compelling
salescopy to create our customized “pitch pages” for 100s of unique domain
names— individual custom pitch pages which are designed to compel ONE
action revolving around the domain name itself (typically to trigger a “how
much” inquiry but not always)— and targeted to as many as 1000 companies or as
few as ONE person, depending on the needs of the deal.
One fun example you may have already seen is
TerryBradshaw.com.
A lot to get done, wouldn’t you agree? I wrote the content
(200+ pages) for JointVentures.com in a “vacuum” where even Rick Schwartz barely
knew what I was up to for 4 months…now I have an even MORE DIFFICULT task, and
120+ people to whom I’ve made a promise of progress and a possibility of BIG
results that want to know “what happens next?”
I don’t blame ya! So even though every minute I take
explaining what I’m going to do and am doing makes me frustrated…I understand
why you want to know. On the other hand, I will (and can) tolerate only so many
questions before I’ll have to simply say it’s probably better for us both that
I shred your listing contract and call someone in to be a client who’s on the
waiting list.
Priorities are simple. First is hundreds of custom pitch pages. I’ve given myself 8 or so weeks to complete
that next phase of our 12 month plan. Will I Succeed.com? Go ahead. Mark your
calendar for 8 weeks from today. Just do me the favor and before you criticize
me…ask yourself if YOU could do it.
Those pitch pages combined with the sales team we are hiring
and will be training in the next 90 days gives Rick and I both time for
precious little else…but when complete WILL ensure the increasing success of
our deals, our company, and our clients.
THIS thoroughbred knows the distance of the race, will not be distracted, and
knows what the Winner’s Circle looks like. See you there? I’ll be the one
with a garland of Carnations.com draped on my shoulders (and no jockey).
Sixth, we
need to staff up and scale up certain procedures to be capable of fulfilling marketing
and sales for more domain properties and more clients.
You elected Rick the General when you signed on. And I’m
going to be the Sergeant for now. The Sergeant is extremely important for a
unit to operate, and makes sure “shit gets done” (operations).
But being the Sergeant ain’t my gifting. So I’ll be the
Sergeant until we find someone BETTER, and I’ll move up to where you really
want me to be if I’m going to make us all a lot of money.
The email Rick just sent out (or will shortly) via email
blast ONLY to our signed clients this year lays out a LOT of our plans for the
next few months. If you didn’t receive it please email the admin for a copy,
and they’ll also make sure you get your email program “whitelisted” so Rick’s
email blasts in the future get thru to you.
It’s really
important that all 120 of us are on the same page so we can turn on a dime all
year long.
The plane is built.
The passengers are on board.
The pilots have a destination.
The instruments are being checked.
The crew is about to hear the “last call” to board
immediately thru the crew only door.
The journey is almost starting.
So if you’ll allow me to extend the aviation analogies…if
you’re one of the select 120 inaugural domain owner clients of
JointVentures.com, we’re gonna GoFirstClass.com, okay?
Play it cool. Chill out. Relax. Stretch out with all that foot room.
Realize you’re in the First Class
Seats and the plane is taxiing the runway on a heading for a 3 year flight
where you already know where we’re going because Rick told you so almost over a
decade ago when he first predicted this journey...and the destination.
Here, have a mimosa.
You’ve got Rick Schwartz and Danny Welsh in the pilot seats. Or as Rick calls us “Orville” (me) and
“Wilbur” (him). We may not be the original Wright Brothers but I can tell you
this: if we accomplish what we’ve talked about accomplishing in the next few
years…then everything so far ever in domaining is about to look like that first
7 second flight of that first rickety plane in Kittyhawk, NC all those years
ago compared to what is about to transpire in the future for “domainers”.
Ballsy claim? Yeah. But if we succeed at the level we’re
capable of…and I’ll admit…it IS a big IF…it’ll have been TRUE.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing with you our entire
unique asset (that’s your domain) marketing funnel and launch formula, what it
looks like, how it works, etc.
You can post the mindmaps and videos I send you on the
internet for all we care, because no one can copy ME and no one can copy Rick
Schwartz. But until TRAFFIC we MUST be “close to the vest” about a couple of
things. Whenever we email about those things, it’ll say so. Cool?
The rest, if Rick
and I know it, you get to know it too for trusting us to go on this journey
that is designed to help Rick accomplish his long-term vision: an income stream attached to 100 growing
companies, into which he contributed only the domain name.
I am grateful to YOU (clients) and Rick (my partner, and
your negotiator) for helping ME provide a WIN-WIN deal for those 100 companies.
Some will be attached to Rick’s own domains, some will be yours, but if I’m
successful then in the next few years the Candy.com style deals will become
“commonplace”.
All I’m going to be
doing starting in mid-April is putting one huge Fedex-Logo-Style “Generic”
arrow in the sky after another pointing to GENERIC.com no one in the “GENERIC”
business will be able to ignore when they “SEE IT”. (aka domain launch after
domain launch)
The domain names don’t sell themselves and you all know
that’s true. Nor will they sell themselves when paired with the right “offer”
(custom pitch page) or price (lease), but I can say this: once that RIGHT end
user company for each great domain name “SEES IT”…they WILL want it, and Rick’s
job is to work out how they can have it for the right price and terms agreeable
to both parties.
It’s called a seller’s market and right before your very
eyes you’ve all just seen Rick Schwartz mastermind gaining legitimate “listing”
control of 300+ domain name properties arguably better than many of his
own…(maybe I helped :) )and you all know how good Rick Schwartz is at “timing”,
right?
Is there a “domain broker” on the planet who could have done
what Rick Schwartz and Danny Welsh have done in 8 weeks? In 1 year? If so,
PLEASE give them my contact info because they’re selling their work too damn
cheaply.
So we’re about to hit critical mass and LAUNCH unless the
folks in First Class (that’s you) are unable to to hang out, relax, drink a
mimosa or two and chat with each other instead of wandering around the cabin
asking a million questions and knocking on the cockpit door. :)
The folks in business
class seats are happy to pay you to sit on the beach just to get what you’re
not using to earn anything more than those millions of parking income nickels.
I know because I was and AM ONE of them (you do realize that while
Rick and I co-own JointVentures.com the BUSINESS I don’t yet own JointVentures.com
the domain name, right?).
The folks in the economy class seats can make a choice:
complain or cooperate.
It’s always their choice, but the www.imitation.jets that’s
$8.99 in 2013 will NEVER IN OUR LIFETIME equal www.Jets.com.
They will see proof after proof of that in the next years.
Sorry, ain’t even debatable to me or Rick. And if you believe THAT…then there
also ain’t no hurry, but we’re going to move with a purpose anyway.
In the coming days
and weeks you’ll see that we will give a LOT of $$$ opportunity to some really
sharp people who want to sell leasing the most premium Category.com style
domain names available on terms any smart “category” company is going to
recognize is a STEAL.
Before the “conversation” shifts 100% to building our sales
team and then both they and we shift again to only talking to the companies
that want to lease….
This is a last mass message
to our JointVentures.com domain clients…If we don’t talk much in the next 60
days…know that I’m working hard for you and a team is being formed to do the
same.
So until then, you may hear Rick Schwartz say “Morning
Folks!” many times in the next 60 days…
But I won’t be able to do that so much (even if the
pre-written “post” has my name on it). ;(
From me…as Jim
Carrey’s character might say about the Rick and Danny Show…
In case I don’t see
you later:
Good afternoon, Good
evening and Good NIGHT!
Danny Welsh
JointVentures.com
P.S. See you all in May at Vegas for TRAFFIC!
P.P.S. NOTE: To
readers of RicksBlog who are NOT clients of JointVentures.com this year…We are
almost ready to return you to your regularly scheduled programming…but not
quite.
If these recent weeks’ bull-rush of ideas and a FIRE HOSE of
value from a guy you’ve never heard of speaking as an authority in sales and
business bothered you simply because I’m giving value AND selling at the same
time…perhaps you should look at whose name is on the blog. Not mine. You gave
Rick permission to talk to you and share stuff he thinks is of value the moment
you visited his blog and subscribed. Recently the most newsworthy things he has
shared…it just so happens that it’s me sharing it on his behalf…and he owns
half of it. So our next pre-written posts
will mostly, with Rick’s blessing, detail our exclusive sub-broker sales
opportunity. 'Who else wants $500 cash plus 5% of $5000/mo for as many
as 5 years or more and then a chance for 5% of $5,000,000 buyout?' kind of
thing.
Business to me is about benchmarks and time lines. You set goals and then you set the time line to meet those goals. During the time line there are certain benchmarks you should hit in between and that is the key to everything. I like running slightly ahead of benchmarks. I like getting to appointments early. It's just in my DNA.
Passion is also in my DNA and as I look around I find it hard to imagine living in a world where one had NO passions. Life was just gray. Mediocre. Nothing special. Passing time.
Now there is a line where passion crosses to something else that is not so good. So you gotta be careful passion does not turn into crazy nut job. :-) But what does an army of passion look like when not mixed with mediocrity?
Success is nothing more than climbing the same mountain via different paths. You already know you can climb the mountain. But with each new climb there are new challenges and preparation is always the key as I explained in this post.
The mood of the industry is shifting and being passive is not always an option. Timing to me will always be the single biggest key. Timing, time lines, benchmarks, goals and I still LOVE Mondays!!
Each Monday is the start of a new set of benchmarks. New time lines. New goals for the week and the bigger goals that have long been set.
In the past 100 days we have changed the conversation and direction. In the next 100 days we are going to change the course of domaining history. While the army of naysayers will grow louder, stronger and wider, we will demonstrate why we are so confident in what we are about to undertake and achieve. Thousands of competing motives will try and drown out and torpedo what we are trying to do. But with each nay will be a motive linked because no real domainer is rooting against us. Domainers will rejoice as we start announcing deals. Others will become threatened.
So the question to ask as we hit another Monday is who has the most to lose in a JointVentures.com success?? Certainly not domainers. But who? Who would invest so much energy trying to discredit something that 5 others companies so far have followed our lead with?
JointVentures.com and leasing domains is a huge threat to some. What would our success do to the domain industry? It's a question many are asking because they see the writing on the wall. What happens when the very best domains are leased? The domainer is a winner because he is making much more and it is steady income. The lessee is a winner because he increased is odds dramatically in terms of a success and standing out among their competition. So where will all the noise that is to come trying to discredit domain leasing be coming from?
I want to thank the 120 different domainers that we represent with the following 304 domain names as well as 100 of my own. So this is the list we go to market with in 2013. I decided to put in in REVERSE alphabetical order. I like change!
We fought hard to arm ourselves with the best domains available that we believe fit our leasing model. We know this won't be easy, simple or fast. But each day we will press on until our goals are met. That means by the end of 2013 we should have built a head of steam and there will be no doubt how serious we have been these past few months.
It's not for me to release the names of the domainers involved. But I can tell you there are many familiar names and we really appreciate that you have decided to run with us.
You 120 are the ONLY folks we answer to from this day forward. Each of you know what we are up against. Each of you know this won't be easy. Each of you know that Danny and I will work TIRELESSLY on your behalf as well as ours to find the highest and best use of each domain below.
I think that is the one thing nobody questions. Some toss the word 'tirelessly' around. But I think we have demonstrated what that means when aimed at domainers just to get the following list possible.
Now we take that same energy and MORE on the road in the other direction! Aimed at end users that think big, dream big and have the track record and ability to see what we see. Pretty simple. For every 9999 that don't get it. ONE, gets it!
Now I have not told you everything. In time I will tell you a promise I made Danny later this year. Nothing happens overnight but in the months ahead we will demonstrate just how far we have all traveled from 'Base Camp' in October.
I am sure Danny will be making one more statement or two before we go off and do what we plan. Yes, there really is a plan. Don't underestimate Danny Welsh. In TIME you folks will all understand what I mean and together we are going to change OUR own destiny. Why? Because this is what we believe and our job is to explain why we do with the evidence we have. And of course because it is a win-win situation for all and when you demonstrate that FACT, the rest is pretty easy. Know why? NEED, WANT, DESIRE. And then when you add DOLLARS to the end of that equation, that my friends is called a GRANDSLAM.COM!
Most domainers have all tried self-development and most failed to get
much traction.
Don't even get me started on so-called ideas for 'scaled
mini-development' or 'automated' development or 'outsourced
development'. The problems with these are too numerous to mention.
It's SO obvious for a guy like me to see, who was an
'outsider'
to this thing called domaining until 2 years ago.
When you look at the VALUE of a domain name at it’s HIGHEST possible value…It’s
NOT about the “website” you build on a domain property (and it never has been).
Domainers have tried WAY too hard to “fake” a business with smoke and
mirrors, CPA, CPM, CPC bunch of BS you do not find as part of the “money-making
plan” of a real CATEGORY.com business
run by a real CATEGORY leading end user corporation (or a start-up company with
plans and aspirations to use the domain as a launch pad to BECOME a real
category-leading business).
Exceptions like you see with an AmericanFlags.com, PalmSprings.com,
Bobbleheads.com or CreditCards.com etc where a great domain name was developed
into a great business through the sweat and persistence and passion of a
dedicated domain name owner operating as a domainer second and an entrepreneur
FIRST are the stuff legends are made of, aren’t they?
But why are these exceptions?
I’ve said it before and it bears saying as many times in as many ways as
is necessary to reach John Jones, CEO, with the message.
Because for the most part, the most
valuable domain names aren't
in the hands of a company dedicated to making that domain name alone a part
of a great business. They're 'parked' in rows of hundreds of BEAUTIFIL CARS sitting on the
showroom floor “for sale”, and no one
who’s interested can even get a test drive!
The internet of the future I believe will merge great companies that have great
ideas with domains owned by about 500 people currently. These marriages will provide Harvard Case
studies for a century or more in MBA classes.
Because the experience of many domain investors attempting to develop
their best quality properties themselves often looks MUCH different when a
Candy.com quality domain name ends up in the hands of a passionate end user
business capable of exploiting more of that domain's advantages than a domain
investor ever could.
Through focus, resources, relationships, existing products and
services, and so much more among intangibles…in 100% of the cases a Melville
Candy Company is a better steward of a Candy.com property than ANY domain name
owner.
Rick Schwartz has been saying this for years.
Some heard, most didn’t.
It’s not about SELLING a domain name.
It’s not about PARKING for pennies.
It’s not about DEVELOPING a website.
It’s about what’s the highest and best use
development of any given property in any given area.
And the “domainer” will NEVER add the other inputs
into the equation for the output to be the highest and best use of the domain
name without being a BUSINESS OWNER FIRST.
Sell, park, develop? That’s all? Shhh
What would you call it when the domain is of obvious value
such as JointVentures.com but unused with little income and has untapped
beneath the surface the potential for millions when paired with the right ideas
and monetization strategy SPECIFIC to that domain itself?
What about licensing like the Castellos with Acapulco.com?
Or direct sales of highly targeted advertising in the 7 figure per year with
great destination sites/businesses they sweat to build as END USERS like
PalmSprings.com? I don’t know those guys yet but I hope to meet them soon,
having devoured their writings when Rick asked me to immerse myself in your
all’s world. They provide GREAT value in the marketplace and the companies that
pay them to advertise on those sites get a BARGAIN.
What happens when a company leases a domain simply to use it
on their TV commercial and redirect to their own lead capture page because the
direct response % of Rings.com will out-pull BrandJewelry.com to grab a higher
number of eyeballs you can turn into customers?
[[ASIDE: If you own a chain of
retail jewelry stores that sell rings among other jewelry products, is that a
bet you’d be willing to make me? You can find my email address pretty easily.
We’ll split-test it and bet real money on the results. Your existing TV
commercial. ONE tiny change = more money in your pocket every damn time you run
that commercial. If you win the bet, you walk with the cash having tried
something DIFFERENT to increase SALES. If I win, we can talk about maybe
rolling your cash from the bet into a deal for the Rings.com domain.]]
What happens when you sell @baseball.com email addresses for
$10/year and then you make a success of it with 100,000 fans becoming
customers? Could you thereby create a market segment and a windfall that allows
you to use the SAME infrastructure and head-start also then in a JV to offer
email addresses for @rockies.com and @yankees.com to tens of millions of MLB
fans WITH the MLB’s blessing since they’ll be getting a cut for you to license
a dormant resource within THEIR domain names?
If someone thinks that somehow pre-JointVentures.com the
options to monetize a great domain name were “to sell” or “to park” or “to
develop” and now are also “to lease” or whatever, that’s baloney.
Not a single person reading this in 2013 will live long
enough to see ALL the creative and lucrative options to monetize a great domain
name. Even “domain leasing”, which people are trying to say is somehow
revolutionary is NOT. It’s evolutionary, and many domain owners have been doing
it for years.
THIS is the year, however, that Rick Schwartz and I have
teamed up to show the model to Corporate America with enough wind at the back
and empirical examples to show ANYONE doing their due diligence on domains to
know WITHOUT DOUBT that if money was no object and your business is in
“category” then CATEGORY.com is the game you want to play online in the 21st
century going forward.
*shakes head*
Sell, park, develop…or lease?
Which one of those simplistic monetization models is Rick’s
deal for Candy.com?
Rick told me this was risky…that some people who are domainers would
read this and think we’re belittling them, and many domainers try to hide the
facts to business owners about what they paid for that great domain name as an
investment you want to buy as a real tool.
If we can help the early .com domain name investor “SEE IT” that it is
perfectly OK not to have the resources or knowledge to develop even one great
domain name into a great business, then that’s a WIN. If we can help the
ambitious business owner who already has a good business and is looking for an
EDGE to make it a GREAT business “SEE IT” that it is perfectly OK not to have
realized 20 years ago that the asset you want today was once available for
$100, then that’s a WIN.
WIN-WIN joint ventures that put a great domain name in the hands of a
business that is or wants to become GREAT is what we are all about with
JointVentures.com—through WHATEVER creative joint venture deal that got the
parties together, whether it be lease, license, equity share, cash with
royalties, or other.
My role in what’s coming down the pike is to make it IMPOSSIBLE for the
end user entrepreneur in ANY business category to ignore the fact that
CATEGORY.com is available, and present a UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY for a limited time
to ONE COMPANY to grab that strategic advantage…before their competitor wises
up first and takes a test drive on the Ferrari available only for lease instead
of buying the skateboard in the window.
RIGHT NOW there is an entrepreneur business owner seeking to
use and own a CATEGORY.com that’s no longer for sale for cash alone AT ANY
PRICE, and he’s researching and reading the Candy.com story -- and many like
it-- for the first time in 2013…
RIGHT NOW there is an entrepreneur who is in an entirely
different business than anyone reading this except maybe his competition…and
he’s doing his due diligence on branded domains online vs generics online,
doing his due diligence on .whatever vs .com, talking to people he trusts,
getting in his marketing team’s face and demanding answers for how to increase
SALES...
RIGHT NOW he has followed the yellow brick road of research
and been ATTRACTED from the world wide ocean of commerce somewhere on the globe
and he ends up RIGHT HERE.
JointVentures.com, a river.
Then RicksBlog.com, the pond.
And once he realizes the IRREFUTABLE TRUTH of what Rick
Schwartz already knew in 1995 that guy will write an affordable check every
month for 10 years if need be to get that kind of growth advantage that is not
offered for sale, but lease only to a qualified company that may buy later with
ongoing royalties to the previous domain owner.
That business owner will hand the a great domain name off to
his marketing team and his web development team with a high-level plan to
increase sales of the products and services they already have using little more
than the notes he made while reading JointVentures.com and an existing
infrastructure that is fully capable of MAGNIFYING and MULTIPLYING every
benefit of a great domain name once it’s paired with a GREAT business instead
of lying unused or underutlized…
That guy will say “GET IT DONE”. And that CEO will succeed
to grow his company like gangbusters, in multiples of millions and will likely
never read this blog again.
All while so many “domainers” squander the same advantages
that guy has on ONE domain and they have dozens just as good and they’re
parking for pennies to monetize the trickle of traffic coming in without any
effort or trying to build a website in a category niche to sell products where
they don’t already have a business or infrastructure.
The best domain names are not just about websites and never have been.
Think highest and best use.
Think real business.
Think “I don’t have to do everything myself” because the
other guy is there…and he needs me to profit more than he is now, just like I
need him too.
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!!
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
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.
The domain game is not changing. The world is evolving. Domains are exactly the same. You have two basic types of domains. Ones with great FACE value and those with NO FACE VALUE. Face value domains are just easier to develop into a business. When a domain has no face value and is pigeon shit on the surface,then the idea has to carry the day.
It's been about 2 or 3 years since I started defining pigeon shit domains. But now it is time to define the very best domains. The domains that mean something. Domains that can transform a business. Even a 37 year old local candy company in New England.
So now we are talking about lease quality domains. As I have been saying...a very narrow field. A long time domain player has also made the plunge into leasing as have others and by the end of 2013 LEASING will be all the rage with domainers for a simple reason. It takes a $10 a month domain and transforms it into a $1000 a month domain. Domainers will RUN at that opportunity.
Each time a company announces their leasing program it will just reinforce what we do at JointVentures.com and why we do it. The difference is the 'How'.
I have poured thru over 30,000 submitted domains and have found 250 that will fit that narrow pipeline. JointVentures.com will distinguish ourselves by the deals we do. Of my own domains I have identified 750 out of 6000 that are what I would call good leasing candidates. So just 15% of my own portfolio would qualify after I let 1000 more names drop in the next 12 months.
Folks don't think they can do BIG things. Well I think in 2013 I will demonstrate when you have a big idea and others see the wisdom in that idea then folks will jump on board. Domain leasing IS the way of the future for domainers. Don't take my word for it. WATCH! Watch what happens and what is happening. It is the way today and it was the way in 1995. How do you vault over all those years?
People talk about branding. I can safely say that in basically 60 days we have branded JointVentures.com. Maybe not to the world. Not yet. But to the domain community. We have branded ourselves and it cost pocket change to do. It was the idea and the domain and the track record. A record that is about to be broken each and every time a new domain company announces their leasing plan.
Leasing has come of age. It is acceptable. It will become more and more acceptable. And it will change lives in a very dramatic way if used wisely.
So congrats and cheers my friends in Turkey and to each and every domain leasing company to come to market! In business the key is staying one step ahead.
From July 4th 1998........15 years old and still current. Morning All!!
This is my 3rd annual July 4th post on domains.
Second on Ynot - and I believe the first was on Jonathans OLD board.
The first year they laughed me off the board
The second year they began to see what I saw
The third year I would like to show you where this 'Domain train' is ultimately going.
First of all you MUST visualize a domain as a PHYSICAL piece of property, land, undeveloped land.
Second you must realize that it is a MULTIDIMENSIONAL object because of 'Product branding' and WORLDWIDE address.
Third you must realize the special 'Uniqueness' ALL domains inherently have.
Fourth......it is FREE to get to and hopefully EASY to remember and SPELL.
Fifth and MOST important, you must realize just how VALUABLE that real estate REALLY is.
I have said one thing numerous times since I started down this path.....and 3 years later......I believe it stronger than ever!! 'The price of domains (Electronic realestate) will go up faster than ANY other land EVER known to man' I had made $0 at the point that I BELIEVED that statement to be true.
When I talk about domains I talk of PRIME domains. Not some of my silly 'cams' or 'gos' or 'starts' or other such veins. (That is for down the road) I am talking corner properties in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, South Beach. 1 or 2 word domains that are TARGETED to a SPECIFIC group of people.
So where do I see myself at this point.......
I see myself in Times Square and I own a few corners plus a BUNCH of land on 42nd st.
When I arrived.....it was like a ghost town....it was barren and empty and MORE than scary.
Today......I hear the sounds of a MASSIVE construction project underway. Trucks and cranes and banging and digging and everything else you can imagine.
AND IT HAS EXPANDED!! Those sounds are being heard in other geographic regions as well. It's not only Manhattan!! They have expanded to KANSAS if you were talking in domain terms, and with new highways opening up in the form of different extensions......things get even more interesting!
THIS is the year that the mainstream WILL figure it out. I started this journey expecting it to be 4 or 5 years down the road before it hit. That would make my ultimate predictions come true in the next 18 months.
So What will happen??
First of all how many of you would have imagined a year ago that the board would have soooo many postings in references to domains....buying, selling, trading? That IS significant.
I believe that the 'Multi national' companies of the world may begin to see what I see. When that happens....AND IT WILL HAPPEN.....you will see a significant amount of buying going on and the prices will go thru the roof! I see numerous domains that will become next to priceless BECAUSE they WON'T be for sale. THAT will cause other domain prices to rise.
Location! Location! Location!
I always believed it was a lot easier for a crummy restaurant to be successful in a prime location with built in traffic than a GREAT restaurant that nobody is able to find. Doesn't mean the GREAT restaurant won't be successful.......but it DOES MEAN:
that he MUST be MUCH BETTER!
that he has to work MUCH harder!
that he has to give them a reason to go out of their way!
that he will always look down on the guy with the great location!
BUT
At some point......the GREAT restaurant may want BOTH!
The BIG money IS coming! REALLLLLLLLLLY Big! I believe it. I believed it in 1995. And I believe it stronger on THIS July 4th than any other!
I remember last July 4th when I said to friends and such that a company's website address would appear in every commercial, every magazine ad, every billboard and at some point in time will become MORE important than even their 800 number. Guess what - yes, they laughed at me. I got more than a FEW raised eyebrows.
I would say on THIS July 4th that ANY company without a presence on the net is LOSING BUSINESS and their competition is gaining it! It indicates a company with little foresight and if you were an investor in one of these companies I would say it was time to change.
Keep your eyes on Disney, Microsoft, and some OLD GIANTS, plus a few unknowns to lead the hottest race you have EVER seen. Look at the domains Disney and Microsoft are buying up RIGHT NOW.
The BIGGEST factor!
Let's say Sears decides to build a store in Osh Kosh......It costs them $25 million, takes them 2 years to build after 5 years of planning.
VERY SLOW......VERY EXPENSIVE!
And if they get it wrong.....Ha ha!!
Now if Sears decides to build NUMEROUS websites TARGETED at different groups of people they could take that same $$$$ and do some SERIOUS damage on the net! AND they can do it overnight!
WHY did I stop advertising my Dirty phone numbers in all those magazines I was in back in 1996?
Cuz on the net I could take it and turn my money around in days and I no longer had to wait 6-9 months to get a return!
Maybe others will come to the same conclusion......If they follow the $$$$$......then there isn't a doubt in my mind.
Sorry for the Long and Boring post......But I LOVE tradition!!
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