Rick Schwartz

Defining a New Mission, New Path for a New Era vs. “A Kodak Moment”

(February 3, 2012)

Morning Folks!! Mission Accomplished. I had time to think, reflect and verify. Mission Accomplished. So what I have tried to do is re-adjust and re-evaluate to a world where Domain Names are no longer an unknown. Quite the opposite. The entire world now knows that it all starts with a domain name. Every business, every idea, every child born. That's the first step. It is also a step they may need to repeat and revisit if they did not get it right the first time and found any degree of success. That is happening already. We live in a world today where domain "Evangelists" are in every corner of the world. Where there are more "Domain Bloggers" than there were...

My Personal Pick for Rookie of the Year in Domaining for 2011

(January 16, 2012)

Morning Folks!! I never did this before. But it has been several years since someone new in the domain industry has burst on the scene and made such an impact. I appreciate folks that try and further the domain business and understanding of domain names. Who reach out to new audiences to expand the pie. 2011-2012 will be remembered as the years in which we hit "Critical Mass" with domain names. Long ride on the trail since 1995. But those covered wagons then are big businesses now. Things have changed in a dynamic way. Numbers get folks attention and in our world it is all about the numbers. We have watched a cottage industry blossom and take center stage. His...

The FUTURE Will be in Sub-Domains and I have PROOF! R.I.P. iReport.com

(January 6, 2012)

Morning Folks!! No, I am not blogging again. But as I said, I would chime in from time to time when I discovered something or had something to say etc. A few weeks ago I discovered something very powerful and done by a company that was here before most knew what the Internet even was. I heard CNN.com long before I actually made it online. One of my proudest sales was iReport.com to CNN. But guess what?? They no longer use that domain. Here is the iReport Link. See where it goes? Follow the leader and you will find the answers and no question CNN has been one of the earliest. If not the earliest. Now this is not definitive....

TRAFFIC Tickets on Sale Next Week

(January 2, 2012)

According to a tweet from Rick Schwartz, tickets for October’s TRAFFIC conference in Ft. Lauderdale will go on sale beginning next week. Instead of pricing them in tiers by order date, TRAFFIC organizers are pricing them by number of tickets sold. Rick’s Twitter post stated, “T.R.A.F.F.I.C.Registration opens next week. 35 Tickets @ $995, 65 Tickets [...]

Mission Accomplished! My Last Regular “Daily” Blog Post.

(December 1, 2011)

Morning Folks!! It's December 1, 2011. I started writing this post weeks ago and waiting for just the right moment to publish. Over the last weeks I have posted a strong summary of the events and the vision I have now and the one back in 1996. I admit it is boring. Virtually nothing has changed in that period of time other than the world moved in the direction I bet the farm on. My words are the same in 2011 as they were in 1996. The only difference is they are now backed up with history and facts and oh so much more. So I woke up one morning and realized that my job has been accomplished. No longer...

How to sell a Domain Name (Part 1) and 20 Ways to do it Better in (Part 2)

(November 30, 2011)

Afternoon Folks!! I am always told I am wrong when it comes to sales. But I have a very deep belief in certain aspects of a sale. A sales equation of sorts. I know the difference between somebody wasting your time and an actual buyer. Not knowing is not only time consuming and costly but you are letting other opportunities pass you by. I wrote these posts before the Property.com or the Meet.me deal. The meet.me deal took about 6 months. The Property.com deal took a couple years. If you want to extract the true value of a domain the last thing you need to do is be in a hurry. If you could look in a Crystal Ball and...

Some of My Most Satisfying Posts. My Top 20, Right Here!

(November 30, 2011)

Morning Folks!! The past few months I finally have some satisfaction in that the posts I made were some of my most meaningful. Almost like a summary of everything I have believed and accumulated over the years. Not just domaining years, but all my years. With the blog I tried to recreate what I had first written back in 1996 and 1997. When there was virtually nothing. Before Google was born. Just a different era and betting the farm on what I saw and exactly how it would unfold and WHY it would unfold that way. Like a rose blooming. So simple and so complex. I am going to post links to what I believe are some of my best...

The Early 70’s and Living in a Trailer Park. High School in New Hampshire and California.

(November 29, 2011)

Evening Folks!! I never discussed my early life but as I put things together on this blog to fill in the blanks I want to let folks know that the path is never easy nor is it valid to look at the end of the path to make a determination on things. I got handed NOTHING! I worked hard all my life and still do even though I don't have to. But my journey did teach me how to work smarter and think before I invest time in something. In the early 70’s my dad, an electrical engineer, got laid off. At the time he was 61. The market for 61 year old electrical engineers was nil when they could...

Most Expensive “Grass” EVER! Marijuana.com sells for $4.2MM

(November 29, 2011)

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

It Starts with an Idea and Ends with an Equation. Key to Success in Domains and Beyond!

(November 28, 2011)

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...

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