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

Morning Folks!!

Can't make this stuff up. Marijuana.com sells for $4.2MM. Let's Party!

http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/28/weedmaps-acquires-marijuana-com-for-a-kushy-4-20-million/

'The executives involved obviously have a sense of humor, but General Cannabis is a serious business: it’s traded on the OTCQX market, and a year ago it acquired WeedMaps, a popular ‘Yelp for Cannabis Dispensaries‘ site with a large following. WeedMaps was topping $400,000 a month in revenues at the time of the acquisition and it’s growing nicely — the site did over $1 million in gross revenues in July, and now sees 10 million page views a month.'

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks!!

An idea does not mean much unless you follow thru and the EQUATION works. Equation? What's that? What does that have to do with domain names?

Well, simply put, the equation is everything. It will prove you wrong or it will prove you right. It will give you the right direction if you use it and it may keep you lost if you ignore it. Equations are filling in the blanks. But FIRST you have to define the BLANKS!

For some I may be talking in riddles. For those that understand and know about equations, my statement is as clear as day. If you want REAL ANSWERS to things unknown, then it is the equation that will get you there. Equation is about filling in some of the blanks and then figuring out the rest of them. They fit natuarally like a puzzle. You NEVER have to force an equation. An equation will tell you if you will succeed or fail before you even try. That means it saves you a lot of time and money. But most do not employ equations. They give 100% effort and find themsealves at one dead end after another.

Ever notice that the problems and failures always happen at the begiining or before you even start? That is because everyone is in a rush to do but can never slow down to think. I talk about it HERE.

Success is a thinking pattern. Success is repeating the thinking pattern but filling in the equation with a new set of variables. What is a variable? It's the BLANKS in the equation.

2+X=4. The answer to most things is just as clear as the simplest equation when you understand and embrace them and use them as a guide. A domain equation may look like this:

(.Com) - (.Whatever) = .Com

That's just a funny and simple one.

The two biggest tools in my toolbox are equations and 'The Ben Franklin Method.' The Ben Franklin Method has been around for a couple hundred years. Take a piece of paper, list allthe positives on one side, all the negatives on another side. See which side outweighs the other. But you also have to keep your eye out for 'Deal Breakers.' It only takes one entry on the negative side that is overwhelmingly negative to sink everything. Like if someone were to get hurt. If there is too big a risk etc.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

So earlier I told you the story about my 1977 Cadillac. But that story led to other events and other events led to the future. They day before I introduced you to 'Sampson' and 'Ribeye.' If you have not read those 2 posts, please read them first so this story makes more sense.

I had that car for only 2 1/2 years and put on lots miles and not much left. It was 1979 and business was not so good and my employer was taking 90 days to pay me. He was behind tens of thousands in commissions and I had to BEG him to send me money. Why not quit? Well it is 1979 dude! It's hard to get a job and harder to get a good job. Anything I would do would make me less. A lot less. Not enough to cover my bills. So begging them for money became normal.

They were just hurting themselves because by Tuesday I was so dejected and unmotivated that I would just take the other 5 days off and be in vaction. What difference does making $100k mean when they only feed you a few grand at a time to just keeo going but not enough to enjoy what I really earned. So I became a slacker. A damn good one. lol

I traded in my loaded up 1977 Cadillac for a stripped down but brand new 1979 Caddy with a lower note. I was preparing for my next move and a car with many miles was not going to do the trick.

They were finally into me for close to $70,000. They would always give me just enough to stay but never what I had already earned. It really sucked but I was trapped.

So I finally opened a furniture store in Houston, Texas and became a customer as well as my National Sales Manager title. Most of my inventory came from the factory I represented and when I was as close to even as I was going to get, I jumped ship and went to the competition. I owed them as much as they owed me. Bye-bye! My days of being an 'Indentured Servant' were over.

The other company had been hounding me for 3 years to make the move. But I never could because of the amount of money that was always owed and money I would never see if I left. I finally did and that closed one chapter and opened another. And even more stories upon stories within stories. But my days of begging for what I already earned were over. It was like being a free man for the first time.

The next 30 days saw me visit every single account and drive 10,000 miles to do it. 30 days! Coast to coast, border to border and many nights driving without sleep. My old employers wanted to kill me. Really. They might have if they knew exactly where I was at. They would work the phone in front of me and behind me. I would write 3 orders and have one canceled. But the one they got was always the one with the least profit. They were on me 24/7. But my new factory had given me 'Carte Blanche' and they loved what I was doing. Every day I would call and they would get 3 or 4 new accounts. Maybe 8 orders a day. I was burning it up! The first months were uncomfortable and then our paths finally crossed at the Furniture Market. Things were still tense. But eventually things calmed down.

The first factory went out of business just 18 months later. I was taking a lot of business and the bank ended up closing them down. Eventually they sued the bank for something they did and walked with $12 million. The 2 brothers from Cuba wanted to kill me then and for months after that, but we competed fiercly those 18 months and are still good freinds to this day. I speak to both at least once or twice a year. They abused me, but I also learned a lot. Things you can never learn without being exposed to it.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

In September of 1976 I left the furniture factory in Miami and decided to trade in my 1976 Grand Prix that was only 6 months old but had like 60,000 miles in for a new Cadillac. I bought the Grand Prix on a Saturday when I was in Mobile, Alabama. Actually I had bought a Plymouth Cordova earlier in the day. But after 3 hours of waiting for them to get a credit report, I went to lunch and decided to look at the Pontiac Grand Prix. Well they put me together in 15 minutes for a nicer car at a lower price and while the Plymouth guys were still dicking around, I bought the Grand Prix and proceeded DIRECTLY to the Plymouth dealer to let them know they fucked up. You can read the first part of the story here.

1976 Grand Prix at the dealer before delivery. I traded in a 1974 AMC Javelin

I went to EVERY SINGLE CADDY DEALER between Miami and New Orleans looking for one salesman to take me seriously and sell me a car. EVERY dealer. I was 'Ripe' and nobody would or could make the sale before they pissed me off and I left.

So it is 8:15 one Saturday Morning and still have not found anyone that wants to sell me a car. I am in New Orleans after stopping in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Tallahasse, Mobile and I am sure I left a couple of them out. I go to a place called Pontratrain Cadillac in Downtown New Orleans. They were an old school dealer that had been there for some 50 years or more. They were not even open yet. There was a black guy standing at the door dressed in a suit. I asked him when they open. He said 8:30 and found out he was a salesman there. I asked where there was a place to get some breakfast. He told me and I told him I will be back after breakfast and buy a car from him.

So I go back and see Alexander. He takes the order. I ordered every option and he gave me a decent discount and said it will be in in November 1976. The 1977 Caddy was the first one they ever downsized and I was going to be one of the first with it. I didn't even give a deposit. He just took the order and told me he would call when it came in. And he did. 6 weeks later I get a call, I have no idea where I was at the time but I jumped in my car and I was there the next day.

Tomorrow I will tell you about that era and my next car.

West Texas.....Spring 1977 with Girlfriend leaning on trunk on our way to Los Angeles

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Evening Folks!!

After my Saturday blog post, I ran across a few other old photos of cars and such I have had and stories to go along with it. Tomorrow I will post my 1977 Cadillac Story and how hard it was to buy.

I saw one for the first time when I was in High School. When I was 18 or 19 I went into this car dealership with my friend on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles. I wanted to show him a car I wanted someday. A car that I had a picture of and was unlike any other back in the 1970's. This was the only dealer in the USA however the car was outfitted in Torino Italy and used a Grand Prix Chasis.

They had one on the showroom floor. Mink Carpet, 24ct. Gold knobs, wheels and looked wild! They only made a few. Elvis had one. Dean Martin had another. Most owned by celebs. The price tag, a whopping $57,000 in days that a new Cadillac was $8888. I went back to look at it again a few years later. I still loved it.

Now in 1998 I really did not need this car and my taste has changed over the years. But on the other hand it was one of the earliest goals I ever set so what the hell. The red car below is the Stutz Blackhawk 7. It was in Beverly Hills and I bought it on ebay. I had it shipped to Florida. I kept it about 2 years and got rid of it. It was a beast. 6000 lbs. But it was another 'Mission Accomplished.'

Below the Red Stutz is my 33ft 1983 Bluebird Motorhome that I traveled in to do trade shows with in the mid-late 1980's. I lived in that one and the 1976 Bluebird I owned before that one. That was another 'Club' I found myself in but did not belong. I went to the factory a couple times in Fort Valley, Georgia. In those days the owners of these motorhomes were mainly retired Generals and Judges and CEO's. They were enjoying their golden years and I was enjoying my formative ones. We had nothing in common. But I really enjoyed traveling the country in a house with wheels after living out of a car for so many years.

1976 Stutz Blackhawk on Top. 1983 Bluebird Motorhome on Bottom.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Have you ever stopped to think long enough whether you are a 'Domain investor' or a 'Domain flipper.' Some are both but there is a huge difference. The last thing I want to do when I buy a domain is flip it. Even folks that flip domains for a living may want to adjust.

The first thing I do is study the domain name. Most domains I buy are ones that I believe will have more value in time not less value. So I am never in a rush to sell. I want to know as much as I can. I want to see where it stacks up against my other domains. The process takes several weeks to several months.

I am never in a rush because in most cases I am dealing with an appreciating asset. Sometimes doing nothing can make you more money than doing something or even doing something stupid.

There is a lot of money in both. That is why this is such a great business. You can buy just ONE domain of value and sell it and you are in business. It just blows me away that folks would take their TIME and buy a $25 domain and flip for $50 and pat themselves on the back. Let's just say that is an under achiever attitude. If you can do it for $25, you can do it for $2500 or $25,000. Raise your game.

If you are a waiter you want to work at the busiest restaurant with the highest prices as you will likely make the most money there than a slow cheap restaurant. There is a parallel in domains. You decide which one you want to be.

Just remember it takes the same time and effort selling a $25 domain as a $2500 domain and I surely could make the case it is MUCH EASIER to deal with folks at the $2500 level than the folks at the $25 level.

For me it was a balancing act. How do I hold my domains for 20 years and still establish a market? That meant I had to pick my sales carefully. What I was building was a foundation of value long before there were outlets to sell domains. I had to point to examples that I achieved. Now I have the luxury of a thriving marketplace. Domain sales are 24/7 and there are countless auctions. Each establishes foundations and that is helpful.

I no longer have to count my own domain sales to prove something. I don't have to prove about leaking traffic from .co to .com. What we have discovered will now be verified with 3rd parties. They no longer have to believe me or you. WE can point to Mr. Johnson and what he learned and his words.

'Mr. Johnson said customers responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots, 'a good portion' of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co.'

Morning Folks!!

I can't sing. I was kicked out of the Glee Club for 2 years in a row in 7th and 8th grades and also in the 4th grade. As evidenced by American Idol, we would all like to think of ourselves as the next great singer. There were always two things I was jealous about when it comes to singers. First is they can sing. That may be obvious. The second one was they spent a life promoting, THEIR own name.

Now what made the 2nd one more important as I was out there in my 20's and always promoting a company name in lieu of my own name. I was never satisfied with that and I knew I could not just blend in with hundreds of others in those days. So I carried a Stick Pony name 'Sampson.' Want to read that one again? It's true,

Matter of fact, I used to call on the world's largest furniture stores with Sampson in hand. I would be waiting in the room where they put the reps waiting to see the buyers. Many of these guys were the top in the field. The best of the best and the owners of the factories. They may forget them, they NEVER forgot me. That was my way of elbowing my way into a club I should not be in and do it 30 years ahead of schedule.

I had Sampson at my side. I was 21 in an industry where most were in their 50's and later. Some would see the humor, some would think I was insane, but they all had to think when they met me.

I was not done there. I had 'Ribeye' with me. Ribeye was an attache case that was sold at a place in Dallas called 'Cutter Bills' which was like the #1 Cowboy store in the world. They later got busted for drug smuggling and went bye bye, but that is another story.

I could not afford 'Ribeye'. This is before PETA became a force so in those days there was not the outrage of furs and such so please spare me the grief. 'Ribeye' was/is made of 'Unborn Calfskin'. They make cowboy boots out of lizard, ostrich, alligator, crocodiles, elephant, just to mention a few. But this 'furry' briefcase was 'Calf skin' with 24k gold plated combination locks which was cutting edge back then. From there I would pull out all my wares and pictures.

Nobody ever forgot Sampson or Ribeye and BOTH are pictured below by iphone yesterday. I was what they called a 'Drugstore Cowboy.' I drove up to a store. They did not know me from Adam. 20 other guys called on them that day and hundreds more would call on them before my next trip. They may not buy from me the first time, maybe not even the second time. They all bought on the third call. ALL!

The price of the briefcase was insane in those days. $2000 or $2500 back in 1975 or 1976 and in today's dollars, I would say about $10,000. But I used it as a tool. I was broke. Really broke. I lived on credit cards. I had cash flow so I lived well but I could not save anything. It was called 'Spinning your wheels.' But at least I was spinning them in comfort. As long as I could earn $$$ at least I could live good day to day in an economy that was MUCH worse than the one today.

I had to drive a nice car for any of those store owners to take me seriously. I was 22 or 23, looked like I was 16 and was competing with guys that had families and they let them know that. I had no home as I lived on the road. But I needed certain 'Props' to change my destiny. To make my name as important as the company name. I became known throughout the industry. They all knew I had physically been in more furniture stores in the USA than anyone alive by the time I was 25. I knew every credit worthy furniture store owner in every corner of the country. Large and small. But I still could not sing and that meant I had to sell or else it would come crashing down.

Why did I do this? Something Bob Hayde said to me when I was 19. 'DARE TO BE DIFFERENT.'

Sampson

Ribeye

Picture Taken in spring 1977 in West Texas with My Girlfriend back then on back of my 1977 Cadillac. If you look closely thru the back window, you will see all our clothes hanging in the back and what you can't see is all my worldly possessions in the trunk. There is even a story about that rest stop.

There is a story that goes with buying that Cadillac. I bought it in New Orleans. I will save it for my next post. In the meantime you can fill in some of the details here with my Hotel Key collection.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

My views back in the 1990's only get stronger today with more and more proof. My words then are almost identical to my words now. How can that be? It can be because almost ALL the evidence that has come in during those 10-15 years support what I say. That means I get to be even more certain of things. I don't have to argue my point. I just present proof. And that proof will largely come from 3rd parties.

And here is how I explained .whatever back then and before and the SHIT I was met with then sounds just like it does today. I state it in the FIRST sentence. They chased garbage back then and little has changed now. In 2000 they said, 'All the good dotcoms were gone.' DUH! DUH! DUH!

Maybe this post from 2000 will have SOME stop spitting in the wind and understand WHY they are spitting in the wind.

Owen posted something I wrote 11 years ago about .whatever.

-----

Good Morning Folks!!

I know a lot of you don't like my thoughts on the new extensions, but step back for a moment.

Let's use Owens pet.com example.

Will pets.biz make them more or less successful?
Will pets.aero make them more or less successful?
Will pets.info make them more or less successful?
Will pets.museum make them more or less successful?
Will pets.pro make them more or less successful?

Don't like that example?

Let's try it with Amazon.com or priceline.com

The fact is the new extensions are virtually meaningless. But if you WERE to speculate, and you guys still buy worthless domains......it will still be worthless. Anything more than a ONE WORD new extension at THIS point in time is SILLLLLY.

Point is.....IF you DO get a GREAT .biz, it won't be GREAT until you build something GREAT there.

Look at human nature.....

He will type in porno.com
He MAY type in porno.net (1 in 100 at best)
He MAY type in porno.org (1 in 1000 at best)

The new extensions will get even less. Especially since the most you are likely to find there is a for sale sign.

I'd rather have a $1500 .com than a 100 .whatevers

As for .biz.......wait for the SALE!!!

Have a GREAT day!!
Rick Schwartz

Rick Schwartz
Sat Nov 18 09:24:48 2000 - message #7257

Do you see change? I don't. Compare the post below with these posts:

http://www.ricksblog.com/2011/11/whatever-and-the-biggest-losers-.html

http://www.ricksblog.com/2011/11/the-march-of-whatever-and-what-it-means-to-domainers.html

http://www.ricksblog.com/2011/03/whatever-to-the-rescue-brooklyn-bridge-for-sale.html

ok, so 11 years ago what exactly did I get wrong? What views have I changed? Does the example have more or less validity? I mean you can argue anything if you want to argue. But don't argue with me. Argue with Mr. Johnson. Argue with a guy that spent millions to PROVE ME RIGHT!

'Mr. Johnson said customers responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots, 'a good portion' of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co.'

Morning Folks!!

If you want to know what makes one domain have great value and one domain have almost no value, you need to look no further than the Diamond Business. For years I tell folks to get the best domains they can. That would be like me telling Diamond miners to get the biggest and best diamonds.

Here is the parallel that I hope will have you understand how I see things so you too can see what I see.

A 1 carat diamond can be any price. It depends on the quality and a few factors. For this example let’s leave that part out for the moment. Let’s agree that an average 1 Carat diamond is about $5000 today. As you go up in size to 2 carats the price just does not double. It goes up much more. So by the time you get to 10 carats you are not at $50,000. You are more likely at $500,000.

The opposite holds true when going smaller. If you have 100 little diamond weighing 1/100 of a carat each,(1 point each) you would have 1 carat of diamonds. But that 1 carat ain’t worth $5000. It isn’t worth a fraction of that. Those diamonds may only be worth a few hundred dollars. They are not significant. Their value is much less. No significance.

But when you have BIG diamonds, they mean something. They have exponentially greater value. That is why I look to domains that are like raw diamonds. I am not looking for tiny insignificant things and no domainer should with all the opportunity with the GREAT domains out there.

So we can see parallels with domain names in Land, Real Estate, Oil, Gold, and Diamonds among so many others. That is why it should be easier for many than it is. The road map is already there. Understanding of the map is what holds the KEY to getting a domain name that others would desire. If nobody desires something there is no value. Simple. Selling sand in the desert just may be hard to do. But if you look at it the right way you may have the right idea just the wrong domains. You sell water in a desert.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I have seen a lot of Thanksgivings come and go since I started investing in domain names. The landscape today looks nothing like it did a decade ago and nothing like it will look like in 10 years from now.

We are the 'Homesteaders' of this era. It’s really that simple. We are in a great industry with unlimited opportunity and we are still in the first innings of a great game. Investing in domains is money in the bank if you are patient and KNOW what makes a domain have great value. Great domains are on the market and some have great prices because of the times we live in and the “C” word. Circumstance.

I would venture to say that things will bottom out next spring. But between now and next spring will be some of the best buying opportunity we have seen in years if ever. After that, the shakeout will be over and those that remain will be stronger than ever before.

Have a safe holiday!

Rick Schwartz