Last week the one of my favorite new blogs, Fusible.com, wrote a short post on how wrong Rick Schwartz’s prediction was on the sales price of Rio.com.
Rick predicted an epic auction ending in a a huge seven figure sale, when in fact the domain sold just above its reserve of $400K, for $450K.
So Fusible decided to point out that Rick was wrong.
Ok Rick had an opinion, made a prediction and was wrong.
So?
The greats make mistakes.
On Friday, another one of my new favorite bloggers, Aron Meystedt on Symbolics.com, wrote a post reveling a mistake he made which he called a $1,000,000 mistake, to which he promptly received plenty of comments telling him how stupid he was for making the mistake.
The reaction to his initial post prompted Mr. Meystedt to publish a very defensive post basically telling off those who had left the ridiculously negative comments in very Rick Schwartz like fashion.
Good for him.
In his response Aron said you don’t know me, you don’t have the right to judge me.
Aron’s right.
I don’t know him.
I have exchanged a few e-mails with him, but don’t think I’ve ever met, talked to him on the phone, nor do I claim to “know” him and certainly have no right to judge him.
Today the original post, the follow up post and all the comments are gone, pulled down by Aron in what I’m sure was in pure disgust.
Too bad.
It was a well written piece with a sole purpose.
To let people learn from his mistake.
Last weekend I watched, Tim Tebow, who I consider one of the greatest college football players to have every played the game, have a terrible game, full of mistakes.
Comfortably, from my well positioned club seats, with a cocktail in one hand, well Ok in both hands, I could see every mistake Tim Tebow made.
I saw every overthrown, underthrown and otherwise poorly thrown pass.
I could see every wide open receiver who was not thrown to.
I could see every running back who if given the ball would have scored a touchdown.
I could see it all.
Clear as day.
Do I consider Tebow no longer great, because he had a bad game?
Of course not.
He is still the best college football player I have seen in my life.
The greats make mistakes.
Sure its easy to sit back and watch and pick out every mistake people make.
But what’s the point?
It makes you smarter? Better? Does another persons failure make you succesful?
No.
Sports is of course is unique in that every decision you make, good or bad, is seen by millions of people.
If your a baseball player and you hit for a .350 average you on top of the game, which means the best hitters fail 65% of the time.
In the past couple of weeks we found that another top athlete has made mistakes.
With a non-stop 24 hour news cycle, we all know that Tiger Woods has some martial issues.
Sitting in the Florida sun, watching, I think were now up to 15 women (but it is kind of hard keeping count) on my plasma come forward talking about their “affairs” with Tiger, I could come up with 50 ways he could have left his lover and handled the situation a lot better than he has.
We all can.
But all we can really do is learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others.
All we can do is learn from our and other peoples mistakes, so we do not repeat them.
So when Mr. Meystedt came forward to bravely tell about a mistake he made so all could learn by it, I was pretty nauseated to see “anonymous” commentators heaping the criticism on.
Unbelievable really.
Image someone telling you in person, I really made a stupid mistake and I’m going to tell you a story so you make sure it doesn’t happen to you, and then after giving you every detail of the story you turn around to say to the guy, well your stupid.
You wouldn’t do it.
Here’s is the funny thing.
For six weeks I’ve read a ton of comments on blogs and forums on Oversee.net and Snapnames.com on the bidding scandal.
Many have been quite harsh calling for anything from putting everyone in the company in jail, to public hanging and flogging.
But last week I found myself in a room with 50 South Florida domainers and there stood Jeff Kupietzky President of Oversee after making a short statement turned to the crowd basically saying “if you have any questions I will be happy to take them now, I may not be able to answer all of them for legal reasons but if you have questions I’ll do my best”.
Guess what?
Not one person got up to ask a question.
Jeff said do you have any questions to 50 domainers.
Dead silence.
Not one of the 50 in attendance had a question to ask, a word to say.
There were thousands of comments made on blogs and forums on the bidding scandal but yet when confronted in person by the President of the company, not one person got up and asked a question, or made a comment.
Interesting.
Sure is easy to sit behind the keyboard of your computer, in the stands of a game, or in front of your TV, behind the shield of anonymity and tell people how much they suck, how stupid they are, what crooks they are, how they should run their business and their life, but confronted face to face, its a whole different game.
So maybe you should adopt a simple policy.
Don’t say something anonymously online, that you wouldn’t say to that person face to face looking him in the eye.
Because if your not willing to say it to someone’s face then its not worth saying and its sure not worth listening to.
Learn.
Learn from success stories.
Learn from mistakes.
You will become better businessman; a better family man; and a better person.
Mike, you are the man.
Mike,
Here it is in a nutshell. Guys who never lose, NEVER WIN either.
Guys who are never wrong NEVER get it right.
Failure is the ONLY road to success. Those that never fail will never taste success.
Those that laugh at failure are the same ones afraid of success.
So it amuses me when folks sit on the sidelines and take their shots. They are not even in the game.
Guys that sit on the sidelines never get up to bat. They are the grand stand at the ball game. Never bat, never hit. If I strike out 20 times and hit a home run on the 21st try, that alone is infinitely better than the side liners that are afraid to swing. Afraid to fail and ultimately afraid to succeed.
In time I think Aron will use that nonsense as fuel as I have learned. The more folks that pray for your failure the more success you will have. They waste their energy and prayers and I take their energy and prayers and make fuel from it. Nothing they can or ever will understand. Get 100 successful guys in a room and maybe 1 0r 2 will fall into that category. Get 100 that have yet to taste success and you will see that number swell to a majority. Is the glass half empty or half full? His post should be put back online and let it stand to the test of time. He automatically wins.
Success allows you to take bigger risks. It allows you to be wrong without suffering. It allows you to look at failure in a more meaningful way. There is no such thing as failure unless you learned nothing from it and then repeat that failure. That is TRUE failure. The MASSES are trapped in that cycle and pattern and so are a good portion of folks that are in business.
Business and projections are based on initial assumptions. An assumption is a stating point and is not about being right or wrong. It is about being able to adjust that assumption as more information is learned or comes to light.
Mike, I agree with your posting.
(as I hide behind an anonymous name. 🙂 )
Yes, we sometimes will say something on the net that we wouldn’t say in person.
Years ago in a different industry, I use to experience similar outbursts/attacks in phone conversations or emails that they wouldn’t say to me in person.
It usually happens when someone feels helpless, negatively surprised or disappointed.
Could it be that everyone has said just about everything that could be said about Snapnames?
Now, the ball is in DomainSponsor/Snapnames court.
I’m impressed that Jeff is putting himself out there for attack.
It was good that he attended the get together.
As for predictions, no one can be correct 95% of the time.
Much less, expecting 100% accuracy.
The only way that could happen is if you had a time machine.
And then, that would not work because you will ultimately be changing history.
I would be happy if I was correct 65% of the time.
Rick, nicely said.
He is correct.
It is easy to monday quarterback.
I love Tim Tebow, love to have my daughters some day marry a guy with that type of class. Mike, I know your a Florida Gator but I would put John Elway, Tony Dorsett ahead of Tim Tebow as better college football players. He is still in my top 10 along with Vince Young, OJ (Hate to say that), Jim Brown, Rocket Ismal, Archie Griffen, Marshall Faulk (I am a San Diego State Grad), and a few others.
Thanks, Jim
maybe everyone already knows that the answers to the real “meat and potatoes” questions will all fall under the “I cannot talk about that” category.
I’ve yet to see any notice that an ex-exec at SnapNames has been charged/indicted/arrested or even legally accused of anything.
Myself and one other person on that Rio.com post got the final selling number predicted correctly at $450,000.
In times like these you have to keep prices inline with reality of the marketplace. There really aren’t many undeveloped domains that sell for 7 figures each year, even when you add in the 7 fig deals done privately and not published anywhere. What do we have this year on DNJ’s YTD list? There’s only 8 million dollar sales showing. That’s a very minute percentage out of all the transactions for the year.
In regards to the point of the post though, in my years of domaining, I’ve learned a lot from the old timers but even more from my interactions with the newcomers to the industry. The new domainers tend to be very industrious, enterprising, innovative, and filled with enthusiasm.
So maybe there is a market for a conference where the newbies are the ones up on stage on the panels and the old timers are the ones listening intently in the audience to fresh ideas. I think that would be quite interesting.
As to failure, I’ve never met a single millionaire entrepreneur in all my years who didn’t fail more times than they succeeded. Most times you’re damn lucky if even 1 out of 10 of your “great” ideas works. So failure is the norm in business and it’s the only way to learn from your mistakes and tweak your game going forward.
Mike, I wanted to rep you for this post, but couldn’t find the button! Nice post.
I agree, nice follow up Rick.
“”Mike, I agree with your posting.
(as I hide behind an anonymous name.:))””
..something profound about this.. 🙂
I also think Aron should republish the posts. Afterall, it’s ‘his’ blog!
One of the positives of Facebook Connect is that people who sign in with it would not be commenting anonymously. I use Disqus on my blog to try as it allows sign in via various social media platforms.
With that said I think that Facebook’s recent push to open is not positive at all from the user perspective. The privacy settings seem to be made complex intentionally to obscure your ability to remain private. It took me around 30 minutes to adjust mine.
Fusible is my new favorite blog too. Look forward to tracking their progress in 2010 while I try to match it.
One of the best posts I have read all year. Keep up the good work, Mike.
Well said Mike and Rick!
My comment on Aron’s blog was ‘chalk it up to experience..’
This was not really intended for Aron, he already knew that. It was meant for the ones who left negative comments, they’re the inexperienced!
Mike,
Great job, it is amazing when someone has to put their name to it how they will not say something but if someone sits anonymously behind their computer they love to bash people all day long.
People really missed the point of what Aron did, he basically sit there and said I have failed and do not do these things, he learned from them and wanted others to do the same, pretty ballsy in my mind and knowing Aron I know he truly wanted people to learn.
Instead people do not appreciate what he did and started bashing.
I had to kill the comments on the post I did about it because the anonymous folks starting throwing out the f word in every other comment.
Thanks for the great post Mike. Yours is one of the few blogs I read religiously and I really appreciate the well thought out post saying what needed to be said.
Thanks,
Bruce Marler (not anonymous, my name goes on every thing)…
I love it when I see posts like this and Aron’s. It inspires me and I know it inspires others. So, thank you, Aron for posting your article.
I know the nay-sayers take the time to post how “stupid” someone may be anonymously online so I thought it would be nice to post what I got out of it.
Regardless of how it seems, people who need the advice and inspiration are listening.
Well said.
I was lucky enough to read Aron’s great piece. Hopefully he knows that we all appreciate his intentions to educate. It’s just a tiny minority of “hecklers” with nothing better to do.
sweet article Mike.
Rick Schwartz…
perfectly said
Guys who never lose, NEVER WIN either.
Guys who are never wrong NEVER get it right.
.
the very low price of Rio.com has been a true surprise for everybody
.
Great post Michael, it is the way of the world though. I watched a piece where this high school coach allowed with help from the other team to let a child with Down Syndrome score a touchdown. It was put on youtube because his Mom was not at the game. They should have made it private because you get the scum of the earth leaving comments making fun of the kid. I mean you need to check yourself when making fun of a kid with Down Syndrome, I have taught tennis for special olympics so maybe it more personal but I think that’s pretty low.
It does not surprise me what you said about no one asking a question. And for those that say well everyone knew he would say no comment, You should have stood up and said I am damn mad, I am a customer and want you to know I am mad.
To Jim Holleran you left out Barry Sanders and Herschel Walker. I love Elway and Dorsett but would rank Tim above them, he did more.
Excellent article, Mike.
And Rick, this is so true: “Guys who never lose, NEVER WIN either.”
Teddy Roosevelt understood this well:
“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”
Wow Mike great writeup.
There are great additional thoughts in the comments section as well.
In business, you HAVE TO take risks.
You can calculate, plan, configure all you want… but
risks have to be taken.
I’ve mentioned this quote before, and it’s posted on the wall
next to my desk:
“Failure is an event, not a person.
Yesterday ended last night.”
– Zig Ziglar
You’re not a failure. I’m not a failure.
The good Lord doesn’t create failures.
As the quote also says: “Yesterday ended last night”.
Today is a new day — time to move forward.
Great writeup — love the comments as well.
– Aron
The Florida vs Alabama game definitely hurt.
Life is full of BS…that why I take it as the way it is.
You the Man..MHB!!
@ everything.tv
You are so right about Hershall Walker and Barry Sanders. I saw Barry play in the 1987 Holiday Bowl in San Diego and he rushed for something like 250 + yards. He kind of came out of nowhere in college because he was the back-up at Oklahoma state for 2 years to Thurman Thomas. I think Bo Jackson needs to be on this list as well. In fact, if Bo just focused on Football and never got hurt he could of gone done as the greatest ever.
There are others, that were awesome as well, Billy Sims, George Rogers, Johnny Rogers, Ronnie Lott, Kenny Easley, Ty Detmer, Steve Young, Jim McMahon, and the list goes on. For those who think Reggie Bush or Dion Sanders should be on this where smoking too much dope. Both overrated. I love college football and what is crazy is I watch classic sports network of many of the past college games.
After the Florida meetup, I was kind of surprised to hear that no one asked Jeff questions about the SnapNames scandal (at least publicly; I’m sure some did privately). Kind of made me wonder. I know you had questions (perhaps answered by then), and I know Elliot sent some questions to you about the scandal (in his blog post). I was kind of surprised Rick S wasn’t there, or didn’t send someone in his place, since he had a lot to say about it too.
But, in a nutshell, I was thinking the same thing after hearing that no one asked questions of Jeff during the meetup. People tend to talk crap when they’re anonymous or at their computer, and then clam up in person. They realize they’re talking about real, breathing people…and that those people can rebut their attacks.
@ Aron – you should consider publishing your post again. I know it’s hard, but most people will just look at the idiot commentors and laugh them off. I have to do that a lot myself 🙂
Andrew, I didn’t bother asking Jeff anything while I was there because I had a scheduled lunch meeting with him the next day. There were a couple others there that were effected by the Halverez issue, but they also had some private time with Jeff. I can’t speak for the others, but I’d assume it has to do with not biting the hand paying for your dinner and drinks, lol.
I have an interview which I’ll be publishing soon. I’ll tell you now, there wasn’t much he could answer on the record because of the all the legal issues going on.
Andrew
For myself I chatted with Jeff privately at lunch the day of the meeting so I had my chance to ask him questions and was allowing others the time to do so.
Michael, I figured as much in your case. I just found it kind of ironic given how much furor there was, and then Jeff shows up with an ‘open’ mic and doesn’t get blasted away.
Andrew
I think Jeff was the most surprised.
Standing up in a room full of peers and going after the CEO of Oversee (in the same manner forum posts and blogs do) would take some bravery to say the least.
You’d better believe Jeff was fully prepared for the possibility of stepping into that ring. No contender showed up . . . internet muscles only.
Think the same thing will happen at DomainFest with 10x the people in attendance?
I think it’s important to point out that there are 2 types of criticism: constructive and unconstructive/destructive.
What you have been describing is destructive. I think you make a great point.
Constructive criticism would be to point out that this article (and some of the responses) misuse “your” when they really mean “you’re”.
The great ones make mistakes and LEARN from them. So I hope this doesn’t offend anyone. And I liked the post, honestly.
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-You%27re-and-Your
Wow, wow. . .
That’s a lots of positive energy here!
Aron should put the post back up the way it is.
Face the critics to fuel your success.
Great Article and Commentators. I like this group.
Hi Em-Bee,
Best post by you this year. You nailed it in so many areas, especially Aron’s frustration with the wannabees in the industry who like to attack easy targets, because they get that secret crotch jolt of excitement from putting someone down, but not using their real names.
Your example covering the “concept” of those who may have posted attack comments online about “halverez” but can’t stand up and talk to the President of a company that is being “accused” unfairly of being a part of the scam proved the “concept” you state that I give kudos to at the end of this comment. These anonymous posters are all over the place. (NOTE: I said “concept” of not hiding behind an anonymous name to make unfair accusations. The fact that no person stepped up to address J-Kup about the “halverez” issue just shows that the attendees weren’t hiding behind anonymity and instead had other goals – like wanting to have discussions with fantastic domainers who I know where there. Nobody stood up to ask J-Kup any hard questions because nobody there were “anonymous cowards,” and are on board to moving domaining forward. They understand that “truth will out”. Kudos for J-Kup appearing at what could have been the “Lion’s Den”).
Now, I am here at the “you will hate me” comment! Don’t hate me, really. But as far as your description of Tim Tebow’s failure to win his last game for the SEC, it was poignant and correct. But there were several things about Tebow that bothered me, and what I know about football players and their future success. It had NOTHING to do with his onfield performance:
1) Don’t go into a game with Bible verses pasted on your face. God doesn’t care nor help those publicly waving Bible verses around to “help them win”. This discussion is another whole 1000 pages, so that’s for another day.
2) If your team is rated #1 in the country, and you are the LEADER of your team, you don’t mope, cry, and sob because you lose. (Rick The King’s comment here somewhat addresses this). I almost vomited seeing Tebow, this supposedly ‘strong” football player losing his composure on camera for the national audience to see. ADVICE: Tim, if you want to be a strong leader, you stand tall, congratulate the winning team, and take the loss as a way to learn something about yourself and your team. You gather your team together and exult in your past accomplishments to remind them they are winners. You don’t sit around on the bench crying, where stronger-minded teammates have to come up to you and rub your shoulders and put their arms around you for consolation. WHUUUT!??? This isn’t a little girl’s game. When you win and celebrate, dancing across the field hugging everyone when your opponents are sad and upset, you better have a better mental/emotional stance ready when you lose a game. All I saw after that game was Tebow throwing out crocodile tears because he didn’t get his favorite toy for Christmas.
3) NOW TO THE FACTS! Best QB in college that pushes the Tebow legacy into a little backroom where they keep the brooms and mops? JEREMIAH MASOLI of the Oregon Ducks. He lost two devastating games, but he never looked back, never whimpered, never cried, and brought his team to the Rose Bowl and #7 in nation. Remember, after the Ducks lost to Boise State in their FIRST game, losing to #6 Boise State, they were written off . Don’t take my word for the Tebow/Masoli test: check their stats comparisons.
Now for the final HIGH FIVE if your readers got this far in my attempt to regain the “verbosity title” from Atom Bomb:
Your comment above near the end of your article is THE KEY KILLER STATEMENT THAT CUTS ACROSS ALL ONLINE COMMENTARY, WHETHER ABOUT DOMAINS OR ANY OTHER SUBJECT:
“So maybe you should adopt a simple policy. Don’t say something anonymously online, that you wouldn’t say to that person face to face looking him in the eye. Because if your not willing to say it to someone’s face then its not worth saying and its sure not worth listening to.”
That statement pounds home the truth about online participation in any discussion. If you’re anonymous, you are scared and unsure of what you’re saying, or you’re just getting out your emotional worms. When you post as anonymous, or behind a “handle” few people know, you have lost all credibility in a professional forum.
Em-Bee, you should make a graphic of your comment, in nice bold letters and neon frame border, and place it at the top of your website. Heck, give it away for free with your name as the person who made the quote, and domain blogs should place it on their website, with backlinks to Thedomains.com. I would put it on my site in a second. I’m sick of reading any comment on any blog/forum from people who are hiding.
Sounds a little nutty, but lots of people like nuts and nuts are healthy for you!
cheers!
My goodness. I hope this is not the end to my favorite domaining pastime…gloating, poking fun of, regret(my primary reaction), brash predictions, bold statements of facts(!?!) and general hyperbole. Domaining is still a small community and there are very few pillars with the heft to be torn down. Those pillars are confronted with an inordinate amount of the criticism and vitriol from the masses, mainly because they have so few targets to aim at. Because of that, they take lumps many of us hacks deserve instead.
Let’s not forget though, that those same reasons also make their opinions and statements that much louder and hold that much more weigh among us well. When those same pillars make a statement, they come off as statements of fact (Hmm, maybe it is how they are presented to us minions? More humility might help) rather than opinions or advice. And who doesn’t like the whole David and Goliath story? Taking down or attacking a giant. Unfortunately that comes with great success in a growing dynamic industry.
I have little appetite for negativity and am more interested in what the most successful domainers have to say because it is usually solid, sage advice needed to improve our own position and portfolio. I have too much growth to do before I can start to point fingers. We also need those voices to continue to be credible and sound for the sake of our fragile industry and egos. There are too many “haters” attacking us from outside the industry, for us to be doing it from within. There will always be room for dissenting voices and contrary opinions as long as those thoughts are based on solid fundamentals and well though out opinion. Picking apart a single statement or incident, just make you look petty.
@ Chip Meade: Philosopher
(for real).
Wish I could have said it the way you did. Excellent.
Couple of comments on this love fest:
1. Let’s say you see someone walking down the middle of the street, naked, in sub 0 temperatures… and you stop them to ask what in the world they are doing. They simply say, “Yeah. Jeez, I feel so silly. It’s cold out and I forgot my hat.” You want to scream at them and say, “Hey, Moron, you are naked AND in the middle of the street!” Some of the comments to Aron’s post were trying to point out problems and issues that Aron was not “owning up” to (such as how he claimed the data was “backed up” but was backed up to the same hard drive). I don’t get my jollies off of ripping into people, but there were valid issues people had with his post and his situation. But when confronted with these things, Aron became very defensive. Now, it’s obviously still a fresh wound and I’m not sure I wouldn’t have acted any differently, but this is the internet. When you put yourself out there, expect to have some critics and don’t expect that everyone will “get it”. If they don’t “get it”, in some ways that’s a failing you should learn from, too. I’m not sure how someone with a thin skin can survive as a cybersquater. I mean, domainer 🙂
2. Incorrectly estimating the auction results of a domain name is not a mistake. In order for a domain to reach it’s maximum price, it requires at least two parties who are willing to bid the price up. Who’s to say what the winner would have been willing to spend, because no one else was willing to bid it up any higher. That does not make the name worth less than a million. This is one of those situations where you can be fairly justified in saying the winner got a very good deal. It happens in auctions. What was surprising was that geo domainers weren’t going after it in droves. I’m not sure if that’s recession or business model problems starting to show themselves here and that’s the worrying bit for everyone. If Rio doesn’t get a lot of auction action, what name will??
3. The world may be a better place if everyone who posted comments online had to do it using their real name, but I’m sure the internet would not be the place that it is if everyone didn’t have their right to privacy… even when making their comments. That said, I personally agree, if you see me casting stones, know that I’d be willing to do it face to face and that I’m open to stone throwers myself.
That was a really good post by Aron, he said exactly what was on his mind, plain and simple with no bull – pitty he took the post down though.
Halvarez
“But last week I found myself in a room with 50 South Florida domainers and there stood Jeff Kupietzky President of Oversee after making a short statement turned to the crowd basically saying “if you have any questions I will be happy to take them now, I may not be able to answer all of them for legal reasons but if you have questions I’ll do my best”.
Guess what?
Not one person got up to ask a question.
Jeff said do you have any questions to 50 domainers.
Dead silence”
🙂 That’s really funny but also pretty sad at the same time – I can’t imagine that happening in Britain, in fact I think he would have been bombarded with questions once one person started….just ask the politicians 🙂 Brits tend to say exactly what they are thinking.
Mike,
Great job on a well considered, thought-provoking post. Perfect end of the year sentiment for me.
Chris
What an excellent post, Mike. Bravo!
You and I first ‘met’ due to a mistake I made during a product launch. While I greatly regret the mistake, it was also an amazing learning experience, though it didn’t feel quite so amazing to me at the time, LOL.
As far as I am concerned, if you never make mistakes, it probably means you’re not trying anything new, not breaking any new ground. And how boring is that?
We all make mistakes, but the biggest mistake of all is to not learn from your previous ones.
Happy holidays, and keep up the great work on your blog.
Bill