Social Networks are Big, but are they Profitable?

Morning folks!!

Anytime you can accumulate large groups of people there is
money to be made. The more focused they are, the more money you could/should
make. I always use real world parallels to find unknown answers on the Internet.
For example. I use Yankee Stadium as a test. They fill the place with 50,000
people that pay to be there. All I want is to own the concessions in the stadium.
I want to sell them food and jackets and pennants and future tickets and beer
and anything else I can sell a 'Captive' audience.

The more people you have in that 'Captive' audience and the
more focused they are the more dollars you can mine. The more sales you can
make.

So back to the net. I think this concept is so simple and
elementary that few understand it. Without SALES there is no business. Show me a
business with no sales and marketing in their arsenal and I will show you a
business that will be out of business. EVERYONE MUST be a salesman. There is no
choice in business. You must sell. Don't sell and you won't eat. Most learn very
quickly. But most also don't know any techniques to selling. Don't know a sale
when they see it. Don't understand the concept of creating or closing that sale.

So until these social networking sites become George Foreman
or Ron Popeil type sales people, they will be extracting just a tiny fraction of
what otherwise can be mined.

The biggest gap on the Internet remains the lack of
understanding of how a sale is made. That actually is more important than
developing. You don't really have to develop a site. You need to develop sales
machines. Cash registers. Checkout stands. You can use other peoples businesses.
Just like Yankee Stadium. I don't need a damn baseball team to make lots of $$$.
I don't even have to own the stadium. I don't even have to build the stadium.
The land alone is my ticket.

How do you explain that you have this piece of land and for
some mystical reason 50,000 people a day flock to this piece and they are all
interested in Major League Baseball?? How do you tell the Steinbrenner that this
is a great place to build a ballpark? A place where you can guarantee that every
game will have every seat filled? Here have it! I just want the concession
stands when you build it.

So what does this have to do with Social Networks? Nothing.
Everything. The future unfolds one mystical piece at a time. It's like a puzzle
you try and figure out. It is hard at the beginning, but at the POINT that you
figure it out the answers come gushing out like an exploding
volcano.

We are soon going to witness such an event. The economic
crisis HELPS accelerate that eventuality. The one thing domain owners are the
worst at is being patient. Patience is the key to this treasure. It was the key
in 1995 and it is the key today. That puzzle out there is getting closer to
being fulfilled. It will happen so abruptly it may be hard to believe. There
will be a tipping point followed by a stampede. But I am telling you one thing, focus on meaningful domains. I think some folks are chasing shadows with many domains I see
out there. I believe we are entering a period that will give folks one last chance to buy really good domains at reasonable prices. In the next few months domains that would not ordinarily come to market will come and they will be priced to move. My advice, be patient and target the best domain you can afford to buy. You should walk away from this recession with at least a few gems. Gems you can point to and say you bought during the darkest of times. Circumstance will bring opportunity to those that are patient and know what to look for. Don't rush. I would say a 1 year window starting in the months ahead. So be patient, determined and focus on true quality. The way to quality is to insist on some stats and learn whether they are real or inflated. Better yet, learn to estimate traffic on a domain. The only reason I ever ask for stats is to see if they are selling me a bag of smoke. I know what the traffic on that domain is before I even ask. When it does not match I need to find out why. Many unknown brokers do the pump and dump. So knowing before you even ask is the real key. No traffic, no stats = limited FACE value if any at all. What was ok to invest in last year is a liability today. Most folks continue to buy liabilities instead of assets. That dog won't hunt in what we are about to go through.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

First Results From a Grand Experiment

Morning folks!!
Timing is everything. If you are selling mens ties in
Manhattan and your store is inside the subway station do you really think you
can open at 10am like other retail stores? I say you would be a fool to do that.
Why? Because the most likely time of day to sell that tie is early in the
morning on their way to work. So if your business model has you closed from
6am-10am I would argue that you are losing a good chunk of your business.

Same with blogs. There is a lot to learn about blogging. There
are also some things you can learn from newspapers. Again, there is a reason
they don't have papers come out at 10am. Too late. Your audience is paying
attention from 5am -9am on their way to work or while having breakfast or
while perhaps you are in the bathroom.

They pay attention again in the afternoon and evening. That is
the reason papers have editions. At least they did in the old days. Morning
edition, evening edition and special editions, So if you are a blogger and you
want to tap into the audience the a key factor is the time of day you publish
it. The other key factor is the headline.

Few will ever break out of their small audiences. Me included.
There are millions of folks talking and growing. The more it grows, the less
time to read. So billions on a soap box looking for an audience.
So why am I blogging again? Well there are a number of
reasons. If I were to tell you all of them it would screw up the test. I can say
this. I am learning a whole lot. I am a numbers guy and I follow stats to draw a
picture. A mural to me is one filled with numbers and days and times and
subjects. Art to me is different. The numbers paint the art that I focus on. So
I am testing and experimenting and I am discovering many things. You as an
audience are the artists. I just try to interpret what unfolds. How long does
this or any test last? Until it is over. Until it gets to stagnation. Until it
runs its' course and paints the picture. Some tests run for minutes and hours.
Most last for several weeks or months.

So thank you for being part of this grand experiment. I hope
at least I am giving you something back in return.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

It’s All About Sharing our Stories….


Morning Folks!!
All you can do as a writer or a blogger is to share your story or write hard news with or without commentary. Share your
view. Share the way you did it. Share the way you see it. There are so many ways to climb this mountain.
There are many right ways. There are many wrong ways. Many profitable ways. Many
unprofitable ways. Probably the best way has yet to be discovered. Sometimes you even play the devil's advocate.

But sharing what works is what makes the difference. Does not mean
you have to do or like or embrace. It is just one way. One idea. One
path of many. Personally, I love to hear the different stories and
adventures and the emotions along the way. Some hit gold by accident,
some by design. Some have had one success, some have had many, some
have had none. But each story is another clue. Another piece of the
puzzle. Even the wrong pieces contains clues. Even wrong pieces can be
valuable. We are just wired one way and that sometimes is not a good
thing.

It's easy to look back and say this and that. It is harder to look forward
and to be on the offense. We are living in an age now of caution. The $$$ are
not flying around like they once did. The dollars now are held and delivered
very deliberately and after great research.

I write these posts as a collection in total not as islands. Chapters.
Thoughts. They paint a picture all together. A very detailed picture
for those that read the way I intend it to be read. There is a lot of
redundancy. That is by design. There are many points of intersection
and each one has to be fully examined. There are two choices here. Stay one
step or more ahead or keep pace with the masses which is always one or more steps behind.

The hard part of the next period is to navigate treacherous conditions
and stay ahead of things. That really is the key. Be ahead of it. Fix it before
it breaks. Prepare before need. Don't be in a position to be surprised by
unexpected events.

Do all that and also look and search for incredible opportunity. But don't
measure that opportunity by yesterday's standard. Not even today's standard. It
has to be based on a future standard that will be difficult to pinpoint.

So much of what is happening is geographic. Regional. But the fallout is
worldwide. In past crisis I would say, close the TV, don't read the newspaper,
just go ahead and ignore the bullshit. This time that still may be a good
strategy, but I don't think so. This time it is more akin to whistling past the
graveyard.
There
is incredible opportunity at the moment as well as incredible pitfalls.
It is a tight rope. It is dancing on the edge of a cliff. 2009 will go
down as my best year ever. It should be your best year ever. In good
times money flies around. In challenging times it is opoortunity that
flies around. It takes a different set of skills to harness
opportunity. Opportunity is usually not visible to the naked eye. You
have to look into another dimension. But when you can do that and you
learn to repeat, repeat, repeat, it becomes easy to see the opportunity
and harder to decided which one is the one worthy of your time and
energy.
So while some see my posts as doom and gloom, they are
not. They are an acknowledgment that some things have more force than
others. That some things are bigger than us. I am sure many stocks on
the market are stronger today than a year ago, But their stock prices
are down due to no fault of their own. They are doing great. But that
does not give them the power to defy downward gravity. Navigating these
waters is now a full time job.

Folks keep asking me which way domains will go as far as pricing.
The answer for me is clear. Marginal domains will not go up in value
right now. Likely will go down. However, with premium domains there is
some insulation. While they may not go up inside the incestuous
confines of the domain industry, they are likely not to go down outside
the industry.

But you nor I will decide this. Circumstance will decide.
Financial health of each of us will decide. Your overhead will decide.
A unique asset on sale at a unique moment in time that has great value
will always sell. So no downturn will really affect the sale if the
market is big enough and sophisticated enough.

Many ask about the future of live auctions. Each auction is only
as good as the domains in the auction and the prices asked plus the
audience you attract. That along with pre auction marketing is what
will determine the future of auctions. Historically bad times are
extremely good for auctions. Domainers are just coming to terms with
the fact that this economy affects them as well as everyone else. There
is no full immunity. Those that think that are in for a rude awakening.
Like they say....it is hard to make millions, it is even harder to keep
them....
I think at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Silicon
Valley you will see a much different result then the recent auctions. We have a great audience and the domains need to great.It
will come down to the domains. Great domains make for a great
audience. It always has, always will. Money finds its way to the
marketplace when you put up something good. Something of value.
Something they want or need. Anything less and we all keep our bidding
paddles in our laps. It is really as simple as that. So take the
garbabge out, keep the bidding active and realize people get bored with
hundreds of domains. Especially when they are of bad quality or greatly
overpriced for a WHOLESALE audience. I think there will be so many
great domains coming to the market by April that veteran domainers will
likely go out of their way not to miss another unique opportunity in
time. One last chance to secure a few gems before they are locked away
and reserved only for the end user.


Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz


The last in the Series……Now the”T” word………


Morning Folks!!

Our society is based on one word. Our entire civilization is based on one
word. The free enterprise system is based on one word. Now in the past month I
have talked bout the 'C' word as in 'Confidence' and the 'F' word as in the
'Future.' But on the foundation of those two and bigger than those two is the
'T' word as in 'TRUST.' The trust is being broken at every level.

We see it in the domain business with the shenanigans that have gone on
with some companies stepping over the line. We see it on Wall Street cuz they
are full of shit. We see it in the banking industry as they are full of shit. I
wouldn't trust these guys to give me the right time of day. We see it in
congress and every level of government. How many governors had to resign in the
past year?

So trust is the central nerve system of everything and I see evaporating
trust and with damn good reason. How could you trust these clowns with the facts
we already have?

Here is what I do trust. I trust Congress to do whatever is needed to cover
their asses while exposing ours. I trust the government to waste most of the
bailout. I trust the TARP $$ are gone forever. I trust that taxes will be going
higher. I trust the value of all currencies will be going lower. I trust gold is
a pain in the ass then, now and always. I trust that the stock market will
eventually be relocated to Las Vegas where I trust the odds are much
better.

So I still trust a lot of things. But the trust is a negative trust.

Confidence, future and trust are the 3 legs of the stool. Any problem with one of the 3 leads to a collapse. Problems with 3 out of 3 exposes us to something much worse
So now I am on record. That was what I wanted to accomplish and I did. I posted about this privately this summer. What I said then was more unlikely to happen. Well it happened and if anything, I underestimated the fallout. Don't make the same mistake.
So when will the FUTURE be brighter? When CONFIDENCE and TRUST return to the system. When will that be? Well if the Frankie Valli concert I went to was any indication, not for a while. Not for a long while. Years not months.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz!


I Told you About the”C” Word, Now Time for the”F” word!!


Morning Folks!!.........
Last month I wrote about the 'C' word as in CONFIDENCE. Well since I wrote that, confidence has gone nowhere but down. I can't find a soul that thinks otherwise and is fully sober. Now it is even a deeper crisis.

I lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis. We had drills in school and had
to hide in the bomb shelter in the basement under our desks. It was a scary time when you are in grade school. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived through The assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Marin Luther King
and Robert Kennedy. They cried in the streets. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived through the Vietnam War and all the turmoil that went with
it. 58,000 dead in a war that nobody wanted to win. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived through assassinations of leaders around the world. Sadat probably being the one that sticks in my mind. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived Through Watergate. I lived through the impeachment of Richard Nixon.A time where Congress had a moral compass and did the right thing even when it was hard to do. The future always looked better than the present and the past.



I lived through 21% interest rates and 3 hour gas lines when you could get gas which was every other day. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I paid 22 cents a gallon for gas and I have paid $4.50 a gallon. $5 to fill up and $100 to fill up. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived through Bill Clinton getting impeached. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived to watch Sadaam Hussein lob scuds into Israel. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived through 9/11 and the single darkest day I have ever known. The day the future stopped completely in its' tracks. The first time the future may not look better than the past. Eventually that passed andthe future always looked better than the present and the past.

We lived through the latest wars and attacks and turmoil and all that goes with it and the division it has created. Divide and conquer. Surely we can't be that stupid? Surely we probably are.

We lived through the greatest economic collapse in history. The biggest robbery in history. Some might say it is a robbery in progress. I may be one of them saying that.

I lived through a number of market crashes. More money lost this time than in 1929. More to be lost.

In my years I have seen a lot and gone through a lot. But during each of
these events I knew there was a better day ahead. As you know by now the 'F' word is the FUTURE. At
each point of crisis there was a more hopeful tomorrow. The future always looked better than the present and the past.
That brings me to this
post. This is the FIRST time where the future may not be as bright as the past.
Now don't get me wrong, I am wired to be optimistic and still live my day to day
life the same as usual, but I see darkness ahead. We may avoid it. But I FEAR
for the future that we may have a head on collision.

Have you ever stopped and thought what happens next? We are at a point in
time where certain areas may just collapse. What happens to a town that has a
50% foreclosure rate and no hope of getting employed? What happens to the tax
base of that town? What happens to the Police and Fire Department? What happens
when things spiral our of control and the resources are no longer there to
contain it? Raise property taxes!! The final nail in the coffin. Before or after the riots?

This is the first time in my life where I see the quality of life about to
decline. Possibly crash. Like being on flight #1549, prepare for a very hard
landing. Only difference is we are coming in nose first and accelerating and I don't trust the pilot, the co-pilot nor the crew. This
is the first time in my lifetime that nobody is in control. Nobody has a handle on it. I have never seen it like this. Never,
ever. What scares me the most is we have yet to see even the completion of the
first phase of fallout from all this. It takes TIME to manifest itself. The
manifestation is gonna be one ugly motherf***er. So the future I see is in
jeopardy. The future I see can turn really bad. The future I see has a fork in
the road. One path leads to disaster. The other path flirts with it but barely
skims over it. That is about where we are at.

The very foundation of our economic system is in shambles and the same
PRICKS and CROOKS that got us there are now in charge of getting us out. That is
a near impossibility. Then add the crooks in Congress. Dog and Pony shows. Grandstanding. Then add the government
sure to screw it all up and what we have is a 'Happy moment' followed by many
years of strife.

So the FUTURE is my new 'F' word. You can minimize this all you want, but
you will soon concede as events will override things. We do have about a 25%
chance of missing the worst of it. But only 25% and be on the lookout for a blip
up before the final bombshell and BIG crash.Our economic ship is in a fog. The compasses are all spinning pointing everywhere and nowhere. It's like watching a tragedy in slow motion. The worst, is domainers think things are so good it can't affect them. That is where they are wrong. If you are not ahead of the events to come, the events will swallow you up and spit you out. The pitfalls are so many and so deep that if you don't pay attention every day you are not going to have the tools to thrive and survive.

Sorry folks, I like being upbeat. But reality always trumps everything
else. It is the first time in my life where I see a juncture of a better yesterday than a better tomorrow. It PAINS me to say something like that. It really does. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best and expect something
pretty bad. No matter how good things may be for you personally, when half the houses in your neighborhood are boarded up and 1 out of 8 people you know are unemployed, it will affect you. You could describe it as a hurricane. Even tho you are in a home (or industry) that is safe, has impact windows. will survive the storm does not mean you get away unscathed. When your neighbors are less prepared or have older homes without protection (Income and savings) and you walk outside your home after the storm, your home may be fine, but the neighborhood is destroyed. You can't sit there and tell me it has no affect on the quality of YOUR life. Your future is linked to the fortunes of others .

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz


Highlights of a 20 Year Plan. First 14 year report…….

Morning folks!!Few really understand how hard it was early on. No road map. Less than 5% of
the population were online in USA and less elsewhere. Slow connections. Nobody to bounce ideas off of.
Nobody to network with. Nobody to understand a word you said no matter how
simple you made it. You question every registration at $100 a pop. You certainly
don't buy the singular and the plural. You figure out which one is better and
pick that. It's 100% investment in the unknown with zero return. There was no
short cut to learning. There were no building blocks. There was just history in
other mediums and any match was a big deal. 1996 was tough. 1997 was a year of
tremendous risk. Going for broke on several occasions. 1998 was the beginning of
the great rewards. But it was still nearly 5 years away from the first domain
get together. Those were important days. Unique days. Dark days. Long days. I
needed help but there was nobody that could help. How do you explain the
unexplainable? I loved those days, but it is a little easier these days as there
is an understanding that just was not there at that time. The trail had yet to
be cut. There was no map. There was no nothing. Once there is a model,
everything changes. There is light and there is tried and true. The tried and
true today was born back then and I saw the birth. Something that will be with
me and shape me forever. I can't really describe the era,but there is a little
peek.

How I would define the years for me personally.....


1995....Nearly invisible and totally clueless

1996....Learning and making progress and $$$.

1997....Breakthrough year. Porno.com purchase among others. It was 'The
shot heard around the world.' I could do in cyberspace things not possible in the real world. Like paying off the mortgage on that domain in just 6 weeks. 6 weeks for an internet property with the RENT I was earning vs 30 years in the real world for a mortgage. Went on to buy all the domains I could that you could say on TV but were on the defining line. Ass.com, Horny.com, Slut.com, Whore.com, Bitch.com, Orgy.com, vagina.com, virgins.com, booty.com. All permissible to say on broadcast TV and Radio so don't freak.

1998....My First million dollar++ deal for traffic. Maybe the first to get that. Flat $30k a week for all my traffic. Paid in advance.

1999....Solid and growing. same deal, more $$$$.

2000....Solid growing and then disaster with Credit Cards.

2001....Revenues still coming in. Same deal, same partner

2002....Solid business then collapse. Government goes after Microsoft which
kills confidence. Deanfest brings domainers together for first time.

2003....Worst revenue year out of 14. Tested fire wall I had built. I wanted to make a minimum amount per year in the worst of times. No matter what. Firewall held strong.

2004....Men.com sale ignites aftermarket with 7 figure deal reported by
hundreds of media throughout the world. A new era begins with the first TRAFFIC
domain trade show.

2005....T.R.A.F.F.I.C. puts a face on the industry and accelerates deal
making. First live domain auction. Biggest domain purchase. Property.com @ $750k.

2006....Tide is rising, industry expanding. First Silicon Valley TRAFFIC
brings in Venture Capitalists by the bus load. First live million dollar auction.

2007....Pay outs hit record high levels. New York TRAFFIC/Moniker auction nets $12.5M

2008....Pay outs in decline. Recession hits. Becomes my single biggest year
ever with iReport.com deal, Property.com deal, Widgets.com deal.

2009....Pay outs looking for realistic levels based on quality and bottom
out. Could be best year ever in spite of the turmoil. Tremendous opportunity
among massive amounts of pitfalls.

2010...Biggest year ever as recession deepens.

2011....Biggest year ever as recovery tries to take hold.

2012....Biggest year ever and then the earth ends. Or not.

2013....World survives. Biggest Year ever

2014....Biggest Year ever

2015....End of the 20 year plan. Biggest year ever!


Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz


At what point are you a serial trademark infringer?


Good Afternoon folks!!
At what point are you a serial trademark infringer? I think that is a fair question.

I have heard every excuse in the world for owning trademarked domains. That
is what they are, excuses.

Now let me tell you how I view it. When you have thousands of domains there
are going to be a small percentage that could eventually be challenged. But the
keyword is SMALL PERCENTAGE!

So if you have 100,000 domains and 10,000 (10%) are questionable, you ARE a
trademark infringer.

So if you have 50,000 domains and 2500 (5%) are questionable, you ARE a
trademark infringer.

So if you have 10,000 domains and 500 (.5%) are questionable, you ARE a
trademark infringer.

Now let's work it backwards and see. I think it is possible for a TINY amount of any
portfolio to possibly have a few questionable domains. It is the nature of the business and you never know who will challenge what, but some are in your face obvious.

10/1000? Ok and THAT is even high!!

But as a rule of thumb, that would make a portfolio with 100,000 domains
have 1000 possible infringements. I believe that number is still high and unacceptable. 1000??
Come on! There is no excuse for that. What number is realistic? Maybe 100. 1 in
1000? 2 in 1000? THAT is where I would say a portfolio should max out. Really,
anything more and you could be labled a serial infringer. 1 or 2 in 1000. 3? 5? What is an acceptable rate from where you sit?

Newbies are coming in and all they do is buy this garbage. They make us
look bad and put themseleves in lots of legal jeopardy that has the potential to blow up
in their faces.

Why is this important? Because 'Ambulance chasers' have found a more
rewarding and lucrative pass time. They can mass email domain owners and rake in domains and
dollars like a casino clearing the craps table.

Be warned just how widespread this is about to be. If you are a serial
trademark infringer, it's gonna ruin your day. At some point we are all in the
same cesspool when anyone from the outside looks in and that is why everyone
should care about this. On the other side there is a lot of over reaching. Those
that think they are entitled to what you own. But it is FUELED by the
infringers themselves for making this such a fertile ground of TM
abuse.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz.

The Domain Industry’s Dirty Little Secret Exposed

Morning Folks!!
Which dirty little secret do you want to hear first? How many do you know first hand? Actually there are dozens of dirty little secrets. I don't have the time or inclination to go through all of them, but there are many and I see it growing. Trust is definitely going to be an issue going forward. The worst kinda scams are from the people you know and trust. Just ask 'Bernie.' So we are entering a phase that others have talked about. Except this phase may be pretty ugly in what goes on.
I think the last phase could be labeled the abuse phase. Starting at the beginning was the 'Geek' or 'Free' phase 1994. That was followed by the 'Dark' phase 1996 where domains had gone from free to $100 a pop certainly was a dark period with still such little understanding of what existed on the net.
That was followed by the 'Adult' phase in 1997. That was followed by the collapse. 2001/2002. Then we enter what I would call the 'Frank Schilling' phase. This is the post collapse phase in which drops and ppc and mega portfolios emerge. This becomes the domain industries first big boost. That leads into the mega sale phase when we have the Men.com mark the end of the collapse and the biggest rush we have seen to date. 2004. That lead to the trade show phase 2004/2005. Which led to the formation of an industry. 2005. That led to the 'Cut their nuts off' phase. 2007. Which led to the 'Auction Phase' ($12.5 Million T.R.A.F.F.I.C./Moniker auction) 2007 which leads us to the 'Abuse' phases where many took advantage and we are paying the price today. 2008
So here we are in 2009. The next phase. What is it called? I don't know yet. There are other phases. I could and should have mentioned the Marchex deal. The VC phase. There are so many. Like chapters in a book. Perhaps this is 'Book 3' of it all. Or book 4? We can each sit down and name our own personal phases. Maybe the 'Steve Forbes' phase. Whatever you want to call it I call it lifting an industry from obscurity to front and center. A rising tide helps all of us. We can all assist in raising that tide. It happens one contact at a time. Like making a million dollars. You don't make a 'Million' dollars. You make a dollar, 1 million times.
Have a GREAT day!!
Rick Schwartz

.


Will 2009 make you Stronger or Weaker? Here is a Roadmap to Avoid the Latter

Afternoon Folks!!

My dad used to say that if your neighbor was unemployed it was a recession.
If you were unemployed, it was a depression. Can't argue with that. Perception
is everything. This is not my first recession and I had one depression in my
life. That lasted for 3 weeks. It was awful. Losing what you love to do is like
a death. A romantic death.

But it was those 3 weeks that would point me into my life's direction.
Through adversity great things are inseminated. The seed of almost all great
success came from the greatest adversity. That is a pretty interesting
phenomenon. Have you experienced the same?

So I want to know how things are in your area? Are stores closing? Are you
living in a tourist area? Are you seeing indications of decay or expansion? The
best way to really find out the state of things is to ask a lot of people and
listen to what they report.

So while we are going through this storm, the good news is most will come
out stronger. The strong will get stronger because they get great strength from
adversity. They rise to the occasion. They work better under pressure. The weak
do just the opposite. They either get weaker, or some will get stronger because
they get great strength from adversity and they may not have known it. It takes
a real disaster to see what folks are really made of. Most rise to the occasion.
Weak or strong, most will find their soul and dig deep when it really counts.
THAT is the difference between everything. The true test.

So as we go through 2009 and what is coming, know you will come out of it
much stronger IF you can understand it and harness it. Harness the mood. Harness
the fear. Harness the energy that times like this produce. There are always new
ways to make old money. There are always old ways to make new money. There are
always ways.

That brings us to us and how lucky we are. We have been challenged before
and come out stronger each and every time. This will be no different however you
can position yourself for the rewards to be much bigger and much sweeter.

If you posses the right mind set, you will sit back, relax, observe, engage
and excel. But knowing where you are at in this down cycle will have a great
impact, if you act too soon, you could be at risk. If you wait too long you could
miss great opportunity. So observing is the key and when the TIME IS RIGHT (and
EVERYTHING is about timing) then you can swoop in and make the deal that can
change your life. It only takes one deal. The right deal. If you are busy making the wrong deal, then you will likely miss it.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

What does”Word of mouth” Really Mean and How do you Make That Happen??


Morning Folks!!
Let's start from scratch. The fastest way to get the word out of something
you have is word of mouth. You want to motivate somebody not motivated to take
an action by telling someone else. That is the essence of great marketing. So we
can talk about development but we are not really developing anything. We need to
create businesses. But in that creation the key is attracting people by having
them tell their friends. It's about hitting critical mass. It's what youtube.com
is about. It's about what all the social networks are about.

So what can you do to make someone as lazy as me to take action? That is
the key question when we develop or open a business. Finding a niche. Tapping
into an energy that we ourselves must create. It is hard to grow a business on
the Internet unless you tap into it in one form or another.

Blogs are a great way to create an audience. But there are millions of
others on their soapboxes and their megaphones. All wanting to do the same
thing. Strike gold. Tap into a gusher. Everyone out their screaming ME! ME! ME!
Soon nobody will be out there to even listen. So getting folks together looking
for similar things is a task that will be getting harder in the future not
easier. That is why I believe domain names with traffic will just become more
and more valuable,

Bottom line, we are all searching for what works. Most things will fail,
but you know it only takes one spark to light the world on fire. One item, one
vehicle, one idea. So folks either spend too much time chasing failure or not
enough time chasing success. That TIME is really the key along with the timing.

Let's say you know a train is going to come in 3 days and is an express
from Miami to NY that takes only 1 day. Is it foolish to do nothing for 2 days
while folks that may not know about the express leave 3 days earlier on a train
that makes 100 stops and takes 4 days to get there? What if I told you that the
local with 100 stops cost 3x as much. What if I told you that the on time record
of the local with 100 stops was 42% and 50% of the time it was a day late? At
some point there is enough info and pitfalls to make you realize that the local
with 100 stops is just kinda silly and the express is much easier, cheaper and
more enjoyable. Sometimes doing nothing can make you more. Especially when you
know the real info. On the express you get in all refreshed. On the local after
4 days and an extra day late you are dirty and tired. It's a tough route. You
still get there, but if you had it to do over again probably enjoy a few extra
days on the beach. So it isn't about working, it is about working
smarter
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz