All Change

The past 12 months or so have been some of the most turbulent times for me in recent years.

The house building project of course, was always going to cause stress and cost a load of money. Dealing with that has actually been easier than I imagined, but that's what comes of having the right people around you.

Those people first and foremost, include my wife, Jan, without whose constant trust, support and encouragement when things got difficult, I'd never have finished the job.

The builder has been brilliant and is one of those rare breeds who is totally passionate about his work and always goes the extra mile. Last Saturday (a day off usually), he stayed with me until 9pm - and even then brought his wife over to show her what's been keeping him late most nights for the last year!


But the past 12 months aren't just about the house.

Building that is one thing. Along the way, I realised that a business relationship I had with someone was running out of steam for a variety of reasons.

That meant having to put in place a contingency, as the arrangement has provided me with a significant percentage of my income for a few years now.

Along the way, whilst building more web sites, carrying out my asbestos surveying work (I shouldn't call it work really, it's still just a hobby, albeit very lucrative) and coping with the fallout from a failing arrangement, I've also been quietly retraining so that I can add yet another string to my bow in order to become recession proof.

On Monday I sat an examination and will get the results shortly. To be honest, I'm not great at exams, but the result will be what it will be. I can always resit :)

The key thing for me is to always strive to move forward no matter what. Working for myself since 2002 has taught me a great deal.

Prior to that time, if I had recognised the business difficulties that were heading my way (which I probably have), I would have been overwhelmed with uncertainty, filled with fear and would almost certainly have placed an unfinished house straight back on the market.

Employment feeds fear, because your future is not in your own hands.

When you work for yourself, that fear disappears and makes you strong. Very strong.

I've attached a couple of pictures. The first is the stage I was at with my building when things started to a little awry... The next is where we're at now, still not finished, but we're moving in regardless!

The new garage door comes next week.

After buying our house in November 2006, we'll be moving in tomorrow.

Large donations from rich and generous befactors can be sent to Dave's Huge Mortgage Fund by Paypal at info AT hollywood-internet.com.

Large Projects

I've been rebuilding our family home for the past year and it's been a long, hard slog.

Of course, I haven't done everything myself, but I have done some bits. Mostly I've been directing the builders and various trades, organising materials and making sure that the money has been in place to get everything done.

I've not done anything on this scale before, but when I started out, I didn't really give much thought to the task ahead.

As it happens, we're almost there and will be moving on Wdnesday, though a few bits and pieces (like a kitchen for example) will have to wait a while until my bank balance improves a little.

Now we're near the end, it's actually getting scarier, because a goal is almost realised - and not many people get to realise a goal.

It's made me think.

Many people online and offline, fail at something because they don't have a declared goal. They fail to plan for something they want, success.

Then, even when they are on the cusp of achieving a goal, they give up at the last minute, possibly at the very point they should be charging forward.

I've done that myself in the past. I've been content to have tried, but haven't been too concerned about finishing.

It happens a lot when building web sites.

An idea can be brilliant when you first start out, but after a few weeks of trying to get your ideas over to a designer and a developer or two, with everyone telling you what can't be done, it's easy to just put a project on the back burner and go on to the next idea - and then repeat the process.

Although I've been knocking out a few Adsense sites recenty, my main development goal has been to get one of my sites off the groubd.

It's been hard going and although I have a site up at the moment, it's not quie there, so I can't launch it yet.

All of the building blocks are in place, but it's just not right yet.

A year or two ago, I'd have abandoned it, but now, after going through the process of building a house, I fully understand (after only 49 years), that in order to succeed, you don't simply start projects, you have to see them through to the finish before even considering the next one!

Building a house is a lot like building a web site. It's frustrating, it's expensive, budgets don't matter, people let you down, there's a lot of negativity about and most importantly of all, it is extremely rewarding.

Acres of Diamonds

If you've never read Russell Conwell's speech, "Acres of Diamonds", I strongly recommend it. You can read the full text here: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/rconwellacresofdiamonds.htm

The reason I point this out is because so many people looking to make money online are looking to capture a global audience and sell stuff internationally.

True, the Internet is a global tool that allows you to do business just about anywhere.

However, if you are selling services (or somebody else's services), I believe that you can do this more effectively by actively targeting local web users of those services.

People like local. The trust local. They are comfortable when dealing locally, even online, simply because if they have to, they can meet the people they are dealing with.

In an age where anonymity rules, the local approach is a sure winner.

Try it.

Recession, What Recession?

I've pretty much stopped reading newspapers at the moment, as the press seems determined to talk us all into an economic recession. I can't bear the negativity.

It's ironic that the very people who we are supposed to trust for financial guidance, banks, the so-called experts, are the very institutions that have been reckless in their lending and have created a situation that has caused a virtual meltdown in the financial markets.

It looks like there will be some hard times ahead.

My response to all of this predicted chaos is to strengthen my position by looking at how I think people will react online.

As business and household budgets get stretched to breaking point, people will be flooding online more than ever, seeking answers to their problems.

The simplest way for me to prepare for this is to build more sites, something I wasn't really that interested in doing a couple of months ago.

However, my safety net for a recession is my domain name portfolio, so it's time to put it to work again.

This means creating a few specialist niche sites that will allow me to:

1) Earn direct income from services offered (only the stuff I like doing)

2) Earn commissions from other businesses

3) Earn residual income from programs like Google Adsense

That's what I've always done of course, but there's no harm in adding a few more sites to the pot and making some money from those who turn to the Internet for their answers.

My job is to anticipate the questions of course. If I get them right, I'll make money.

So how do you anticipate the questions?

Simply put yourself in to the position of the people who will be affected by an economic downturn of course.

Personally, my approach will be to look at the service industry sector, as they will be the amongst the first to feel the strain.

Services like recruitment, training and the like always suffer from budget cuts.

Companies still have to recruit of course, even in recessions, but suddenly they find that they can't afford to be paying 20% fees to recruiters, so they'll have to start learning how to do it themselves - they'll be looking for free advice on how to do so.

Employment related information will serve the many people who will soon coming flooding online looking for new jobs as inevitable redudnacies take place. They will be looking for ways to promote themselves by writing a better CV. They'll want answers to interview questions.

Those struggling with mortgage or rent problems will be looking for new sources of finance, or information on how to cut their cost of living, or manage their budgets better.

Small businesses will be seeking out new ways of promoting themselves and having ignored or written off the Internet, will suddenly start exploring this wonderful "new" medium.

I've only touched on a very small part of what could happen, so the opportunity to strike it rich, or at least provide a cushion from any recession by putting in a few hours a day online are limitless.

Just like they have always been.

Working Online

I'm in Spain at the moment, logging on with a laptop from an Internet Cafe.

In the 30 minutes I've been here, I've managed to update 3 web sites, add one new one using XsitePro and check the stats on some of my sitres.

My email is still downloading and sifting through tons of Spam but all in al, it's brilliant to be able to get away from the cold (it was snowing when we left on Sunday morning) and then spend the day in the sun with my wife and kids without feeling guilty about not working.

That's what Internet life is about. It's not the money, it's the freedom.

The Book That Never Was

There are few really world-class, industry leading domainers (no, I don't include myself) and even fewer who provide free information.

One of the most prolific is Rick Schwartz.

Today, he closed his blog. He's posting no more, but he is leaving the archive online for all to see.

It's an education. Love him or loathe him, you will learn a lot from his blog at www.ricksblog.com

I for one would liek to thank him for his generosity in sharing his insight. I don't always agree with his viewpoint, but he has welcomed me into his private board and into his home and for that I am very grateful.

There are times when I have wondered I have a blog, but then I'll receive an email from someone who has taken a snippet of advice from one of my posts and turned it into cash, or made a positive change in their life.

That happens about once or twice a year.

Amazing considering the number of viewings this blog gets, but do you know what? Those emails, messages and calls I receive always spur me on to give more via the blog.

I don't crave praise and I don't really care if anyone ever reads my blog, but I do like to know if I've made a difference to somebody's life.

I guesss Rick is the same, so thamks Rick, you have helped me immeasurably - often indirectly, just through running your board.

Whilst I am on this theme, I'd also like to publicly thank Donna Mahony who runs another domain board where many of my peers reside.

Without the people on both boards, I wouldn't even have an online presence now.

More On Snowe

As some of the regular readers of this blog know, I am currently renovating our home. Hopefully we'll be moving in within the next threee weeks.

One of the final external jobs was to put up a boundary fence between my property and my neighbour's.

That's when the problems started yesterday.

My neighbour has been very good and extremely patient whilst living next door to a virtual bomb site for a year now. There have been no complaints, no problems and we've all got along fine.

As soon as the boundary fence stared going up yesterday, all hell let loose.

I had asked my builders to err on her side when placing fence posts and luckily he'd followed my instructions. The net result was that we actually sacrificed a few inches to accommodate my neigbours requirements to move stuff betwwen the two houses. I do try to be reasonable.

However, she came out to see how things were going and screamed at the bulders that I was stealing her land!

Once all of the posts were in though, the builder was calmly able to demonstrate the reality, that we had actually given her more space than she previously had. All calmed down,

Boundary disputes are extremely expensive in the UK - one of the few things that every householder should try very hard to avoid. My work in the surveying industry has taught me that!

So, when I first insured my buildings last year, I added on legal protection with an extra provision for covering boundary disputes.

If the neighbour couldn't have been placated, then I could have expected a legal letter and huge expense in defending my boundary. Two sets of surveyors, a land surveyor acting as an independent arbitrator and of course, tons of legal fees.

As it happens, it wouldn't have cost me a penny, but the neighbour doesn't have such cover and probably doesn't have the cash to fight the case. There's nothing like being prepared.

Why do I mention this?

Simply because the Snowe Bill, if successful, will put our virtual property in similar jeopardy.

There is no insurance to protect against a domain dispute.

Many domianers don't have the funds needed to get professional representation in the case of an unprovoked attack from somebody wanting to "legally" steal domain investments.

Think about it.

Domains could be worth considerable sums of money. That could be a few hundred pounds to some and several million to others.

Why should you sit back and let someone take your property?

The simple answer is that you can't. Visit the ICA web site at http://www.internetcommerce.org/ and read up on this ridiculous Snowe Bill.

Understand the threat.

Then take the appropriate action - whilst you still can!

Threat to Domain Owners

The Snowe Bill, for those of you who haven't seen the reports, represents a major threat to domainers everywhere.

Rather than repeat what others are writing, please take a look at Ricks Blog for a quick reality check. http://www.ricksblog.com/my_weblog/2008/03/what-is-the-exc.html

It's time for action. The domainer community isn't know for banding together, but if it doesn't happen now, there won't be a domain industry because will be able to legally STEAL your domain assets.

Donate A Domain

I found an interesting Pay Per Click site today and donated an entire domain to it, allowing me to support a well known and under-funded children's charity.

Take a look: Cash For Kids.

Instead of me as the domainer taking my share of the revenue, it goes to the charity instead.

Sunday Times Advertising For Domains

I'm trying a new experiment this week.

Although I only ever reluctantly offer domain names for sale, I am advertising a single word, prime UK name for sale this week in the Sunday Times (Publication date is 9 March, under the business section).

I won't mention the name here, because I want the advertisement to work for itself - Sunday Times advertising isn't cheap - even for the small display ad that I've placed.

This is an experiment to see whether national press advertising in a prime publication can really yield a result.

The domain is being advertised at what I consider to be a giveaway price.

I'll keep you posted on progress.

Who knows? If it works, I might even repeat the exercise on a larger scale in the future - with bigger prices of course :)

Update

The ad didn't work.

Visitor numbers to the domain went up but the domain didn't sell.

Print advertising in an untargeted newspaper is a waste of money, so don't be tempted.

The ad did result in three telephone calls though. Two from domainers wanting to sell their domains and one from a complete idiot.

Never mind. I hope my experiment saves you some money.