To the Top! The Mt. Kilimanjaro Story

The trip started out like most of my worldly adventures. I left my passport at home and had to call a friend to run by my house and rush it to the Atlanta airport. Twenty minutes later I realized that I had the keys to my car in my pocket which was parked behind my wife’s car. I had to call that same friend and have him run all the way back down to the airport and get them. Now that I am back I figure I’ll buy him lunch and find out if he is still a friend at all anymore.

I’m not sure what I expected Tanzania to be like. I’ve done business throughout Latin America and Asia and I’ve seen poverty many times. On the flight there from Amsterdam I struck up conversation with quite a few people. Everyone was going there for either a safari, to hike the big mountain or for humanitarian reasons. Not one person was going there for business. I started to lower my expectations.

What you quickly witness upon arriving at the Kilimanjaro airport and driving to your hotel takes it all to a new even lower level. The sad part is that I’ve only seen such a small part of one country yet I feel certain the entire continent is in dire straits. There were no hordes of bicycles or rickshaws scattering the streets. Instead there were simply throngs of people walking in every direction. It was all broken down to the most basic level of human existence.

Granted, it’s a vast continent and I was there only a small amount of time. I really have no right to speak on such matters. That said, I’ll be first in line to rally behind anyone who has a solution to help those people. Read more

Quick Update

Alabaster.com and LakeLosAngeles.com have been sold from last night’s blast. FYI

Back to Business

Ok, I’m back from Africa. I’ll be posting a report on the trip by tomorrow. I’m tired as hell now so I don’t know if I will get it done tonight. What I did get done tonight is a Daily Domains email. It’s been 10 days since one was sent so this should be interesting.

I have about 4000 emails to get through but once I’m done you’ll be hearing a lot from me. Walking on a mountain for 8 hours a day gives you lot of time to reflect.

In to Africa - Why I hate Domain Capital

So it’s been what? 4 days since I launched this blog? Now I’m going to Africa to attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro so it’ll be a solid two weeks until I update again.

Those that know me well know that I’m not exactly a pillar of health. Hell, one of the reasons  I signed up for this experiment was that I thought it would motivate me to get in shape. While I’ve certainly been to the gym more than normal I’m hardly a poster child for Mountain Climber’s magazine.

Now to add insult to my inevitable injuries Domain Capital has announced that they will donate 30,000 hard earned American dollars to a children’s cancer fund if I summit. Some of my other compadres have anteed up as well and there is now over 45,000 dollars on the line for dying kids if I manage to reach the top. Like I need that pressure.

On the business front I’ll also be missing the closing of Sedo’s GEO domain auction, the TRAFFIC auction in Vegas amoung many other deals I have working. I’ll have a satellite phone with and will be somewhat in touch but definately not much.

My team will keep buying and when I return there will be a huge pile of domains to unload cheap. So sign up for the newsletter if you haven’t already to get the scoop and please, wish me luck.

I don’t research domains

People often ask me how I appraise names or if I use a third party appraisal services. The truth is that I do neither. In fact, nearly every time, I know within seconds what I’m willing to pay or willing to sell it for.
You only need to ask yourself one question. Is the name cheap? If you need to do a lot of research you are probably over paying for a name. It’s that simple.
Granted it helps if you’ve been doing it for ten years. It certainly helps to go to or at least listen to all the auctions and it is downright necessary to read all the domain sales reports.
I have to feel like the price I put on names for you guys is low enough to get you excited to buy it now. It’s one of those; you know it when you see it things. Most of the time when I prepare these daily emails I go back to it over and over and keep lowering the prices before I actually hit the send button. I want you to have that same gut feeling I have.
I probably get four hundred emails, instant messages and phone calls a day about names. If I had to research each one I think I’d jump off a building. Never underestimate the power of a gut decision.

I don’t research domains

People often ask me how I appraise names or if I use a third party appraisal services. The truth is that I do neither. In fact, nearly every time, I know within seconds what I’m willing to pay or willing to sell it for.
You only need to ask yourself one question. Is the name cheap? If you need to do a lot of research you are probably over paying for a name. It’s that simple.
Granted it helps if you’ve been doing it for ten years. It certainly helps to go to or at least listen to all the auctions and it is downright necessary to read all the domain sales reports.
I have to feel like the price I put on names for you guys is low enough to get you excited to buy it now. It’s one of those; you know it when you see it things. Most of the time when I prepare these daily emails I go back to it over and over and keep lowering the prices before I actually hit the send button. I want you to have that same gut feeling I have.
I probably get four hundred emails, instant messages and phone calls a day about names. If I had to research each one I think I’d jump off a building. Never underestimate the power of a gut decision.

Sedo’s GEO Domain Auction

I’m not sure how well they have promoted their new auction but there are some real gems on this list. Check it out at http://sedo.com/search/searchresult.php4?auctionevent=globalauction&language=us&partnerid=37836 

 Here are some of my names that I have listed:

Iran.com
Rhodes.com
Versailles.com
ChristChurch.com
Zoetermeer.com

True to form, they were all priced to sell.

Sedo’s GEO Domain Auction

I’m not sure how well they have promoted their new auction but there are some real gems on this list. Check it out at http://sedo.com/search/searchresult.php4?auctionevent=globalauction&language=us&partnerid=37836 

 Here are some of my names that I have listed:

Iran.com
Rhodes.com
Versailles.com
ChristChurch.com
Zoetermeer.com

True to form, they were all priced to sell.

An answer to a post that deserves a post

Anunt Patel // Feb 12, 2008 at 8:11 pm

Rick, are you willing to sell our premium domains for us that we own and take a percentage cut?

thanks!

That’s an excellent question Anunt and it deserves it’s own post. The short answer is yes. There are however, a few rules.

1. I’m not going to sell more than 1 or 2 names a day that don’t belong to me.
2. I take 10%
3. All my sales are non-negotiable BIN sales. In other words, I post buy-it-now prices and the first person to respond gets them.
4. I’ll have to agree that the asking price is low enough for my audience. I have a reputation to protect and I’m not going to mail out something that I don’t think will sell.
5. I’ll need only a 7 day exclusive
6. You’ll need to have domain privacy added before I’ll send the mail.

If you are fine with those terms, then I’d love to see what you have for sale.

What’s the best time of day to send these Daily Domains?

My new software lets me queue these Daily Domain specials for any time I want. For instance, today’s email is going out at 5 pm EST. I know you guys are scattered around the globe. When is the optimal time?

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