Do You Have The Courage To Say... Stuff It?

Haha,

I've been gradually letting some domains go that I have no intention of trying to auction or build to sell, etc. Some I will be using for some video tutorials I'm doing, but once I am done with them, those I will be looking to sell off.

A big point that gets easily overlooked (I think) is that a business should be constructed/built the same way a house is. It should look more like a piece of property in the end, and should be able in the end to stand on it's own without you standing in place of a beam on the foundation. If you are having to hold the place together, then the new potential buyer should have the ability to step in where you step out or know someone or something to put in there.

You should be able to put a price tag on it. If there is a nice matching pool and jacuzzi in the backyard, then great! If there is however an old clunker car in the yard that is an eyesore then you need to clean that stuff out of there. The clunker adds no value to the property you are putting together.

You said it John!

I am ready to say "stuff it!" this year for sure...

I also have about 30 domains that I must take OFF "auto-renew" and some projects that never got off the ground...

Time to focus on the stuff that I KNOW works and makes me real money!

Great post!

Best,
Shane

John, first of all, it's great to see you back. I was starting to wonder where
you'd wandered off to.

In the 8 plus years of running my own business, I have 9 domains. All but
2 are related to each other.

Since 2006, I concentrated on building myself as a brand and working on
a funnel of products in my chosen niche.

The strategy has served me very well through building a list of satisfied
buyers, many of whom have purchased a vast number of my products.

While the means I took to get to where I am (many hours of writing, writing
and more writing) was not an overnight process, it has paid off in the long
run as I am now able to work when I want at what I want and not have
to worry about continually spinning my wheels to keep the income flowing.

Having said that, not everybody wants the headaches and responsibility
of running a "business."

I have spoken to many people over the years who simply want to
supplement their income each month. Some just want to pay off a car
payment or some other bill. And that's fine. There are plenty of models
where a person can avoid the responsibility of running a business and
easily make a few hundred bucks each month, if that's what they want.

But if somebody wants to earn a full time living, gimmicks, tricks and
shortcuts are not going to last long. As you said, a lot of people who
were using MFA sites back in the early days saw their whole fortune
wiped out overnight.

So the key is sitting down and honestly asking yourself what you want.

If it's just a few hundred bucks a month to pay off a car payment, that's fine.

But if a full time income that you don't have to constantly slave over is
what you're looking for, then a serious look at your model is in order to
make sure that the one you're using is going to get you to where you want
to be.

My 2 cents on the subject for whatever they're worth.

VERY timely post! I'm letting 3 domains go this month. And I'm in the process of taking a good hard look at the rest of my domains to see if they're contributing to my main focus or draining energy from it.

Most of the domains that are now superfluous were experiments and seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm classifying them as 'learning curve' sites. That way I put their true value in perspective.

They were useful as practice sites at the time, but I really only need to keep the sites that qualify as finished products.

It feels good to be doing spring cleaning of my website inventory.

I've been giving away my domains the past couple of weeks. My problem is I see a great domain, register it and then do nothing with it.

Well said John, last summer I had about 56 doman names, to say I was spreading myself thinly was an understatement. I've currently got it down to about 18 with some more to go yet in the next few months.

2011 - Much more focused and much tighter, honed in, planned out strategy

"Non-flashy" thinking like this is worth its weight in gold. I think one reason why we don't see more of it is because, if you don't already have one working for you, it's hard to feel the reality of a cohesive business model in the moment. What seems present in the moment is simply a large gap between where you actually are and where you want to be. Then you begin thinking of all the work and learning you will need to do to bridge that gap. When you do this, it becomes depressing because it seems overwhelming. The flashy, quick solution is appealing because it seems doable and relatively easy. That it might go away in six months gets pushed aside.

To help with this problem, I think it's important to bring the long-term approach into the present moment with questions and reminders for yourself. For example, every time you think of going after the latest and greatest shiny thing, ask yourself, "Can I see myself doing this day-in and day-out for the next 5/10/15 years?"

As we all know, one popular sales technique is to use the scarcity principle, and I think we use this technique on ourselves all the time. One of the biggest ways we use it is by giving ourselves deadlines and making time itself scarce. You aren't going to build a long-term business in a month or three months or by the next holiday, etc. So even though time is important to some degree (you can't go on not making money forever), it might help if you asked some hypothetical questions such as, "What if I knew I was going to live forever? What type of business would I want?"

Another question along these lines is an oldie but goodie: "If I could do anything I wanted, and it was guaranteed to succeed as long as I worked at it day-in and day-out for the next 5/10/15 years, what would I like to do?"

Another good way to bring this principle into your reality is to look at all the time you've spent in the past spinning your wheels and chasing snowflakes. Then ask yourself, "What if I had spent that time building an actual business?" ... But it's important not to beat yourself up. No doubt you have actually learned a lot chasing snowflakes, and no doubt you can use some of those things in building a real business.

In short, the way to bring the long-term goal into the immediate present is to re-orient yourself and begin seeing your "goals" in a different way. Don't see them as end-points to reach, see them as paths that you would like to travel ... ways you would like to live your life. So, for example, instead of saying, "I would like to make X-amount of dollars a month," say, "I would like to spend most of my days doing (verb) this type of activity/work, or dealing with (verb) these types of people, or engaging in (verb) these types of activities."

If you see your goals as being on a certain path instead of being and end-point, then you begin to realize that the doing of all the little activities/tasks you need to do is the same as achieving your goal. For example, if you want to work with local businesses and help them with their internet marketing (notice this is an "action path," not an "end-point" ... think verbs, not nouns), then you realize that every time you set out to research a new client, you're actually achieving your goal (remember your goal is to work in this area). Every time you pick up the phone to talk to a client or potential client, you're on your goal path (remember your goal is to work in this area). Every time you read a great new tip on the Warrior Forum and begin thinking about how you can incorporate it into your business, you're on your goal path (remember your goal is to work in this area).

So, to sum up and to repeat, if you can re-orient how you see your goals--seeing them as paths to be traveling instead of end-points to reach--then the day-to-day activities you do become more meaningful and you soon begin to realize that you're actually achieving your goal all the time.

Just did.

Deleted 4,000 emails from my database.

Decided not to renew 78 domain names.

And I'm also just getting started.

Lovely post!

All success
Dr.Mani

John, this was the same lesson I applied to my brick-mortar business when I cut out property management then focused on the rental agent aspect and eventually to the information about rentals business. I stuffed everything and everyone that was not profitable and then moved over to another much much more profitable niche. Yes, I built up a few "unnecessary properties (websites)" that I will not be renewing. I know my system and know it works and will cut the fat this year. Thanks for the post. I think a lot of IMers do not understand that it is a business and as such MUST be profitable and lean to make income for it's shareholders.

Great thread- As a new years resolution, I spent a good part of January looking through all my web properties and getting rid of those that no longer fit with my present business plan.

The comments above are so key- when it comes to building your business, there will come a time when the smart decisions are to peel off not just unprofitable sites but also sites and activities that may cause you to be distracted from you core business plan.

For me, it meant deciding to take down 13 sites and not renew another 27 or so domains!

Amy

I have never used auto renew for this very reason. As the notices arrive in my inbox, I look at the profitability of each website. I only renew the sites that are 'paying their rent' in terms of domain registration, web hosting costs and SEO costs. Each year I become more profitable from a fewer number of sites.

Doing my Spring cleaning also. I'm cutting half of my websites over the next few months. Need to make room for another project I'm thinking of starting.

Great article...pushed me to makes some decisions about my websites.

This is spectacular. I always try to get the best bang for my buck so to speak. I want to get good at one thing. I used to flip flop between strategies but now I am loving domaining and am sticking with it.

Fantastic thread, thanks John. This kind of post is why I visit this forum. BTW feel free to let me know those domain names you're tossing out, I'd love first crack at 'em

Sold 27 sites at the beginning of the year. Sometimes you have to ditch the good for the great.

Great post, John. I have decided not to renew at least 3 domains this year because they didn't fit with my overall business plan.

Thinking with a long-term business mindset will increase your chances of being able to make money consistently with it over time, and if you have established systems and processes in place it should make it fairly easy to hire and train new employees to run a large part of the business for you as well. It'd also make it immeasurably easier to sell it down the road, if you choose to do so.

Hi John,

It's really great to see you back on the forum

I have been doing this for about the last six months or so. I have
probably dumped about 50 domain names over that time. A lot of
them have been experiments that didn't really work out, but I have
learned something from each of them.

I took some time to sit down and really to work out exactly where I
wanted to go and how to get there, and that is what I am working
on now.

I still have other domains that don't really fit with my plan but have
become established so I will most likely sell them off eventually.

It was actually another of your posts that got me thinking about
what direction I wanted to go in.

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...00th-post.html

Excellent stuff. Thanks.

Lynette

Very well said. I guess the IM arena is always changing and we as marketers will always have to adopt to the changes.

I agree that way too many people are building websites in hope that it will take off without any business sense/planning. At the end of the day, IM is still a business and many people fail to understand that.

Whew been letting domains expire like crazy. Down from hundreds to lower hundreds!

Well it's good point John. I think John Reece said "do one thing and do it well." BUT look here on the forum 99% of people preach "diversify...have many niches, income sources etc.." Some people are addicted to creating new sources of money.

I agree with you....the easier money is in dominating one market. You can "invest" in others..but as for running them..it's a headache.