Well it’s a beautiful sunny day here in Southern California and we’re getting ready to go for a nice bike ride on the beach. It has been an incredible busy and exciting couple of weeks and I’m happy to have a relaxing weekend at home.
Next week we’ll be attending one of the first Startup Conferences in Los Angeles, aptly named, The Startup Conference. Daina and I have been really looking forward to this conference and as per usual I’ll be sharing the experience with all of your through my blog.
It’s almost time to hit the beach so onto my weekend musings!
- It was awesome to see Meet.me sell for $450,000. For anyone that thinks there aren’t amazing opportunities in the domain world and in TLDs like .ME – think again! Huge congratulations to Michael, Rick, and Ammar, three visionaries and game-changers in the industry that continue to inspire us all!
- gTLDs are definitely heating-up the domain market. Whether you’re a big believer in gTLDs or not, there’s no arguing that they are already changing the dynamics of the industry. Extensions like .XXX have come out of the gate with some some very promising results and absolutely solid business-people behind them. I’m not saying that every single gTLD will see this kind of success but I can tell you that with .XXX I think this is just the beginning!
- We added our third writer to Kayaking.org this week. Over the past month we have been interviewing writers for Kayaking.org and this week we found our third writer. It has been great to hear from so many passionate kayakers that want to contribute. I’m actually having a lot of fun visiting the blog and watching videos/reading posts. I can’t wait to increase the frequency and make our blog the go-to kayaking blog on the net – we’re one step closer!
- I sold four domain names last week. As I wrote in a recent post picking-up the phone has made a huge difference in my end-user sales numbers. I sold four domains last week all to end-users. The magic hasn’t been in making a million calls but instead calling the right places, and even more importantly, getting in contact with the real decision-makers. I’ve been sticking to one hour a day of calls, after this honestly I get sick of it – definitely not something I would want to do all day…which would make me a terrible broker! Still it’s really exciting to see the results and it’s been fun to do the research which is all made possible by Domain Tools.
- My first five-figure sale. I am in the process of negotiating my first five-figure sale. I’ve had some great four-figure sales this year but not have crossed the five-figure barrier, until now. I haven’t talked to the buyer about disclosing the details to the world but am crossing my fingers they are okay with it so I can all of you all about it! What I can tell you is it is a .COM, I did not hand-register it, and it is in the credit/debt space.
- Google’s Focus On Fresh is Refreshing. Both as a web-searcher and web business owner I am a very big fan of Google’s recent algorithm changes. I’ve found that some of my sites are finally outranking some old mainstays I’ve been trying to inch past for quite a while now. As a searcher I’m finding more relevant results. I think Google has made some really great changes this year and hope they continue to move in the direction they are.
- I’m getting old. For some reason my right elbow has been really sore lately, a few months ago it was my right knee. What’s the deal with turning 30 and suddenly feeling so old? I know all different age groups read my blog so to some of you I am old, and to others I’m really young. Still, I do feel like I’m getting old for one of the first times in my life.
- It’s all about finding balance and knowing when to delegate. When reflecting on getting old I think my biggest lesson has been learning how to balance work and play. I used to be proud of working a 16 hour day, now I still like to have 16 hours of work being done but have learned to delegate so I’m only working 8-10 of it. This has been hard to do, I want control of everything and want things to be just how I like them, but doing that means that I have to be doing the work. As I’ve continued to delegate more and more I’ve freed-up more time to create a much better balance than ever before. It really is the difference between running a business and being self-employed. While we’re biking today blog posts are being written, videos are being uploaded, ads are being swapped-out, new sites are going live, and logos are being designed. Remember, you can do a million things at once, just not all by yourself!
On that note it’s time to head to Santa Monica! I hope you all are having a great weekend!
