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This actually happened to me today...

by TimothyW
20 replies
Went to meet with a restaurant owner about building a site for her.

I ask her what her domain name is. She tells me. Then she points out that the name is already on ALL their fancy, full-color menus, and on the signage, AND that she wants to site done SOON cuz there's a whole radio campaign that's about to launch in a few days -- very expensive campaign that will direct people to the website.

It's all in place, she says.

Then I ask her for the domain name registrar and the user name + password, so I can change the nameservers, etc.

She says she's not sure -- a friend bought the name for her.
So, I check on my phone to get the whois info.

Here's the shocker (you probably saw this coming) -- The name is STILL AVAILABLE! - never registered! It is not really a unique name - it's just three common words. Could EASILY have been taken by someone at any time -- then she woulda been SCREWED!

Astonishing, really -- that she could have proceeded with the menu printing and the radio campaign, etc., WITHOUT having bought the name!!!

Scary stuff!

-- TW

PS: I immediately bought the name for her.
#happened #today
  • Profile picture of the author DJL
    That is too funny.
    Maybe the friend bought a different TLD?
    Anyway, you ought to interview her on video for a great testimonial: "The man who saved our bacon!"
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  • Profile picture of the author ProServices
    Your a life saver Timothy. God knows what she would have done if the domain was taken.

    I've heard about unethical people creating a website for a business owner using a free blogger and charging an arm and leg for it. So when a normal business owner sees e.g Angiesflowers.blogspot.com ( just made up for this example), some will not look at it closely. We live in a World where these unethical things happen.
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  • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
    Originally Posted by TimothyW View Post


    She says she's not sure -- a friend bought the name for her.
    .

    Friends like that who needs enemy's... Its sad to see what would of happened if the radio ad went on the air and she got zero results. She would of thought the radio ad was the problem and blamed them for lack of sales. She should be very happy you saved her a lot of money.
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  • Profile picture of the author xlfutur1
    It really is unbelievable how stupid many offline business owners can be.

    The fact that 80% of small businesses are out of business within 5 years is completely believable if you have ever worked with any of them.
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    • Profile picture of the author XponentSYS
      Originally Posted by xlfutur1 View Post

      It really is unbelievable how stupid many offline business owners can be.

      The fact that 80% of small businesses are out of business within 5 years is completely believable if you have ever worked with any of them.
      I do not agree with your pessimistic outlook on small business owners. The reason why 80 percent of them go out of business within 5 years is because the business world is brutal. What you don't know (or at least don't mention) is that many of them LEARN from their failures and "go for round 2" to become very successful.

      I've gone ,bankrupt TWICE but now have become very successful. That long term success is the result of lessons learned. This is what some refer to as "the school of hard knocks".

      It's what one does with that education that defines whether or not they're stupid. I've many clients who are very good at changing a furnace (HVAC client) but are "self proclaimed" idiots when it comes to what I do for them.

      That's ok - it's why they're thrilled to pay me.
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      Originally Posted by xlfutur1 View Post

      It really is unbelievable how stupid many offline business owners can be.

      The fact that 80% of small businesses are out of business within 5 years is completely believable if you have ever worked with any of them.

      Online business' fail in even faster than that, only 2 years. At a whopping rate of 98%. The value that is set to determine success in the online world... $100 a month consistently. And you find it unbelievable how stupid offline business owners are? hahahaha
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      • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
        Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

        Online business' fail in even faster than that, only 2 years. At a whopping rate of 98%. The value that is set to determine success in the online world... $100 a month consistently. And you find it unbelievable how stupid offline business owners are? hahahaha
        Isn't that crazy? Judging by the main internet marketing forum on here, it seems that the value that determines success is even lower... just $1 a day and you're successful. LOL.
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        • Profile picture of the author savidge4
          Originally Posted by iAmNameLess View Post

          Isn't that crazy? Judging by the main internet marketing forum on here, it seems that the value that determines success is even lower... just $1 a day and you're successful. LOL.
          It is just crazy... STUPID crazy. The idea of wanting to make money online starts the spiral into chaos. People sit there and think... geeze I lost my job, Im desperate for cash. Ill start selling some cheesy click bank product. And they Fail.

          They tell themselves it was a bad product. They do their "research" this time. I know what all the product matrix means, and they pick a niche, then select the best product...and again failure. In the mean time they have another sucky job after almost losing their car, their wife, their house. And they simply give up.

          Some point later they reach another breaking point. This time they are going to promote Amazon. People on the WF are successful at it.. its easy, write a blog and sell some product. We all know what happens... they fail. So back to the job, and the grind and you know what, life sucks.

          Then it clicks. They have built all of these websites - that's it! They are now hitting the street and they are going to build websites for small business' in their community. They simply don't have the portfolio or the experience to land a contract in the 20%er category, so they are hitting the 80% of business' that are doomed to fail.

          And THERE is the disconnect. A business owner with a vision for their business, that unknown to them will fail. Mixed with a service provider with nothing but failure as a benchmark. Sad but true. I see it right here on this forum, and I see it in real life DAILY.

          But there is actually a connection between the aspiring to fail offline business owner, and the guy that aspires to succeed online. It comes down to something not even related to business. Its this idea... this fantasy... its about a life style. that whole I work 8 hours a week and travel the world and live in hotels BS.

          It is 2:30 in the morning for me right now. I am watching a video about "Yik Yak", I am conversing with a client oversees on Skype, I'm writing this, Im working on a personal web project, and all of this equates to what? Im working my ass off!

          I personally thrive online and offline for one simple reason. I do work. I implement systems that allow me and my co-workers to work FASTER... get more done. To give you an idea of this. I started doing CRO. Through out the course of the day Me and my staff were spending on average of 5 minutes a day opening the assorted websites,and software to do what it is we do for each client.

          I HAVE 58 CLIENTS. do the math... its staggering really, 5 minutes times 58 clients equals 290 minutes a day logging in to pages and applications. A mind blowing 5 hours a day ( +/- ). 35 hours a week, 1820 hours a YEAR if I kept that up. I brought in a software developer, to address this and many other issues. I NOW spend 30 seconds a day doing what I was spending 5 minutes doing last week.

          In essence I do the same for my clients. I don't work 8 hours a day... I work 18+ I'm not working this amount of hours because there is a special project... I do this day in and day out for YEARS now. Yes.. I do my very best to work smarter... but that does not mean I work less... It means I can work HARDER, and accomplish more.

          So tying this in to the OP... The Lady that owns the Restaurant didn't know she was a stones throw from disaster. She thought she was working SMARTER. she delegated the work, and considered it done. She moved on to radio ads and signs and menus. That's what business looks like in todays world. But in this case.. she almost got caught with her pants down.

          Tim walked in and did what? he "Verified" the information given to him. He helped the lady pull her pants up, and in that very instant became an integral partner in that Restaurant. The absolute best service you can provide any client you may have is to accept, research, and verify. Basically let that client know, with you they are working SMARTER - with someone that has a pattern of success prior to today.
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    • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
      I RESENT your statement about stupidity. Unbelievable that you'd ever say that about any small business owner who risk's a lot to be in business every single day.

      I think a more appropriate word instead would be ignorant, but surely not stupid.

      Originally Posted by xlfutur1 View Post

      It really is unbelievable how stupid many offline business owners can be.

      The fact that 80% of small businesses are out of business within 5 years is completely believable if you have ever worked with any of them.
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      • Profile picture of the author Freebiequeen1999
        The fact is that many small biz owners get overwhelmed by the internet, social media.


        I look at it this way - I don't cut hair, kill pests, run an insurance agency, make pizzas etc.....no one would expect me to know all those things


        I do know how to set up sites, social media, store passwords etc....so they can "use" me for that ...being helpful and kind is always good


        Business owners sometimes get themselves in a mess - they have several websites floating around, 2 pages on facebook , using a facebook personal page as a biz page...the former cashier, receptionist who set it up has left the company and took the passwords with them.....I deal with this stuff all the time
        No problem - I am there to take care of that stuff so they can go about their real business


        I do think that with the ease of facebook, wordpress etc..some small biz owners set up things and didn't follow through - or allowed the nephew, receptionist etc to handle it and they bailed out.


        Getting log ins, passwords, finding where their logo graphics files are stored - it is all part of it.
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        • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
          You are correct and last year I read a study that polled several thousand small business owners and the reality is that they do feel overwhelmed with marketing their internet online.

          The truth is, they are so many different ways to market a business line they suffer from paralysis and end up doing very little or nothing at all.

          Originally Posted by Freebiequeen1999 View Post

          The fact is that many small biz owners get overwhelmed by the internet, social media.


          I look at it this way - I don't cut hair, kill pests, run an insurance agency, make pizzas etc.....no one would expect me to know all those things


          I do know how to set up sites, social media, store passwords etc....so they can "use" me for that ...being helpful and kind is always good


          Business owners sometimes get themselves in a mess - they have several websites floating around, 2 pages on facebook , using a facebook personal page as a biz page...the former cashier, receptionist who set it up has left the company and took the passwords with them.....I deal with this stuff all the time
          No problem - I am there to take care of that stuff so they can go about their real business


          I do think that with the ease of facebook, wordpress etc..some small biz owners set up things and didn't follow through - or allowed the nephew, receptionist etc to handle it and they bailed out.


          Getting log ins, passwords, finding where their logo graphics files are stored - it is all part of it.
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      • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
        Originally Posted by Rus Sells View Post

        I RESENT your statement about stupidity. Unbelievable that you'd ever say that about any small business owner who risk's a lot to be in business every single day.

        I think a more appropriate word instead would be ignorant, but surely not stupid.
        For the most part, a lot of business owners have a lot more knowledge than people give them credit for. They learned how to do complicated filings, deciding on different types of insurance, forecasting, budgeting, etc.

        Most "consultants" don't have a budget for themselves, they definitely don't typically have any sales forcasts or run P/L statements. Hell, most consultants haven't even set up a business entity for themselves.

        Now I would say... 99% of photographer business owners are a bit stupid. Everyone and their grandma is a photographer now and they think starting a business is as simple as telling your friends on facebook that you can take pictures. LOL.

        Some business owners I guess aren't smart in the general sense, but a specialized sense. I can say the same for consultants in different areas as well.

        Not knowing how to market yourself online doesn't make you stupid, just like you not knowing how to perform a root canal on yourself doesn't make you stupid.

        But Russ... There truly are many "stupid" business owners out there. They just aren't people you and I would ever be approaching to do business with in the first place.
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      • Profile picture of the author xlfutur1
        Originally Posted by Rus Sells View Post

        I RESENT your statement about stupidity. Unbelievable that you'd ever say that about any small business owner who risk's a lot to be in business every single day.

        I think a more appropriate word instead would be ignorant, but surely not stupid.
        OK. Ignorant it is then.
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  • Profile picture of the author XponentSYS
    Anything could have happened. Perhaps her friend told her he bought the name but "never got around to it". Who knows?

    She's lucky she met you and good on you for snapping that up and helping her. I've had situations like tis come up. Most business owners have no idea "how this stuff really works" which is why WE get paid so well to do good by them.
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  • Profile picture of the author xlfutur1
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    • Profile picture of the author xlfutur1
      Of course everyone learns from their mistakes, and failure does not mean anyone is down and out by any means.

      But from my experience, the lack of any kind of marketing sense (and oftentimes common sense) for many small business owners puts them behind the eight ball from day one.

      80% failure rate is not a pessimistic view at all, its simply statistics.

      How many business owners have you spoken with recently that completely grasp the concept of "lifetime value" of a customer, or "conversion rate", or simply tracking and quantifying the results of an advertisement?

      If 80% of the failures of small businesses can simply be blamed on the "brutality" of the business world, then why would any of them need help from any of us? Based on that premise, they are toast no matter what they do.

      The ones that are thrilled to pay you are in the 80%, and are most likely the ones that don't have a clue on how to market their products and services.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    Originally Posted by TimothyW View Post

    Went to meet with a restaurant owner about building a site for her.

    I ask her what her domain name is. She tells me. Then she points out that the name is already on ALL their fancy, full-color menus, and on the signage, AND that she wants to site done SOON cuz there's a whole radio campaign that's about to launch in a few days -- very expensive campaign that will direct people to the website.

    It's all in place, she says.

    Then I ask her for the domain name registrar and the user name + password, so I can change the nameservers, etc.

    She says she's not sure -- a friend bought the name for her.
    So, I check on my phone to get the whois info.

    Here's the shocker (you probably saw this coming) -- The name is STILL AVAILABLE! - never registered! It is not really a unique name - it's just three common words. Could EASILY have been taken by someone at any time -- then she woulda been SCREWED!

    Astonishing, really -- that she could have proceeded with the menu printing and the radio campaign, etc., WITHOUT having bought the name!!!

    Scary stuff!

    -- TW

    PS: I immediately bought the name for her.



    Congrats! Today you get to be a hero! Lucky her, that you came around!
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  • Profile picture of the author MoneyDan
    Banned
    You could definitely charge a pretty, pretty penny for that domain...my goodness.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ken_Stone
    I just asked a guy for his WP login & password to do some work on his site.

    He gave me his domain name & asked why I couldn't just log in with that?
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  • Profile picture of the author TimothyW
    Maybe we should start a new WF sub-forum called,
    "This actually happened to me."

    -- TW
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  • Profile picture of the author n_touch
    For the most part, a lot of business owners have a lot more knowledge than people give them credit for. They learned how to do complicated filings, deciding on different types of insurance, forecasting, budgeting, etc.

    Most "consultants" don't have a budget for themselves, they definitely don't typically have any sales forcasts or run P/L statements. Hell, most consultants haven't even set up a business entity for themselves.

    Now I would say... 99% of photographer business owners are a bit stupid. Everyone and their grandma is a photographer now and they think starting a business is as simple as telling your friends on facebook that you can take pictures. LOL.

    Some business owners I guess aren't smart in the general sense, but a specialized sense. I can say the same for consultants in different areas as well.

    Not knowing how to market yourself online doesn't make you stupid, just like you not knowing how to perform a root canal on yourself doesn't make you stupid.

    But Russ... There truly are many "stupid" business owners out there. They just aren't people you and I would ever be approaching to do business with in the first place.
    I firmly agree with this. I have run into both types of business owners. The main thing for me that sets a business owner apart, is knowing when they are out of their league. As a business owner, you do not have to "know" everything. That is the reason that you are approaching someone to help you. I can guarantee that most successful people are the ones that are smart enough to put their ego aside and hire someone smarter then they are for the tasks that they need done. That to me is what truly separates business owners that are doomed to fail and those that will succeed.
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