I’m often asked how I keep track of all the domains I’m working on.

I have to tell you that I am just left of useless when it comes to remembering what’s what and where what is at.

I’ve tried a number of product management sytems over the years and the common problem I’ve had with all of them has been to get people working with me to actually use the system consistantly.

I might have found the answer and it may help you too.

It’s called Trello, it’s simple to use, will always be free(according to the developers), works on mac, PC and all your “smart” devices.

The best part is that it’s kinda fun to you use too, which means your team will learn how to use it qucikly and actually like working with it.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

Australia’s premier domain auction house, neetfleet was hacked the other day and although they use credit card encryption and have assured users that credit card details are safe, it still leaves everyone with that sinking feeling, kinda’ like when you find out that your best friend has been sleeping with that girl you were keen on.

Not that it’s ever happened to me.

But, there is a positive to every story and mine is that just before Netfleet went offline, I accidentally bid on a site I had no interest in buying. I was simply showing someone how the system worked when the site went dead and my erroneous bid died along with it.

Oh, and that “friend” dated the girl for a while, until she stole his credit cards and cleaned out his bank account.

Some interseting things I want to share with you

A great collection of wordpress plugins

Some very cool SEO advice

The best selling niche on flippa

The 10 minute guide to wordpress

…but the most rewarding

Another good week for flippa, moving over $400,000 worth of sites last week.

The “Buying and Selling Websites” market is growing by the day.

Monday again

Wow, the weekend does fly by. Last week was a big one with lots of hours spent putting the final touches on dominiche.

We’ve spent most of this year, researching and building the course and it’s a nice feeling to finally see it out there.

So, I gave myself the day off yesterday and spent the afternoon playing with our younger kids in the city gardens. That’s where I found the “stoned Santa” busking in central Melbourne.

Christmas and the end of my first year working online full time is only weeks away. Although it’s been an incredible year, there’s still so much left to squeeze in.

How are your plans panning out?

You can’t learn to surf by reading books on surfing.

You have to get wet.

You can’t build an online business by reading blogs on building an online business.

You have to get wet.

I’ve been a fan of working in 30 minute blocks ever since Ed Dale put me onto CFT (critical focus time) and the pomodoro technique.

If your not familiar with the pomodoro technique, it’s not the missing chapter of the Karma Sutra. It involves working with laser like focus for 30min to a timer and then taking a 5min break, before moving on to the next task.

The tools you use to time and record your activities can be whatever works for you.

I’ve used kitchen timers, iPhone apps, notebooks and text files. Any combination works.

Lately I’ve been using a free online service, my tomatoes

It’s a one button solution and as each timed session finishes, you’re prompted to enter the details of the task you were just working on and it’s all recorded for you. It’s a great way to keep everything in one place and you can review how you’ve been spending your time whenever you want.

Of course it won’t do the work for you, but it’s a great, easy to use tool that can keep you on track.

Long live flipping….          

Not so long ago, you could by a domain for $7, throw a PLR ebook onto it and flip it for $300, often that same day.

Next step in the evolution of the flip, for $10 you could buy a dropped domain, one that had good PR and a ton of backlinks, all pointing to pages that you could recreate and within a few months, you could flip that for $1,000 – $1,500

Fast forward to today,

Flipping isn’t what it used to be

Sure, there are good domains available, that you can buy and flip right away, but you need to invest at least $500 and your average return on investment is 40-60%. Nothing to be sneezed at, mind you.

I’m not sure how much time can elapse for it to no longer be considered a flip, but the best strategy today is to buy,build, sell.

Think of it in terms of farming, rather than a quick turnover. You need to invest time and grow your sites.

It’s all about building a brand

A workable, dropped, aged domain will cost you somewhere between $500-$1,000 and you should be looking for something with a healthy history and lots of blue sky (room to grow).

It makes life easier if the domain is in a market that you have an interest in, particularly when starting out.

If you’re ever around kids, take note of how passionate they are about the things they’re interested in. You need to look for markets that are going to hold your attention.

Once you’ve found that domain in a market you like, build to sell. You need to build a business where you aren’t the brand. Your aim should be to build a business that anyone could step in and run it without you.

I borrowed this from Ed Dale, where he advises people to sell their profitable businesses after 2 years.

Why would you sell a business making money every month?

If you think about it, it makes sense. The more money you make every month, the more you’ll usually end up spending. When times are good, you buy better orange juice, a bigger TV, eat out more often, travel.

Now, when you sell a successful business for a big payday, it’s a different story.

When you have a large some of money fall into your lap, you look at it differently than when it’s flowing through to you every month.

Build your business to generate a monthly income, but structure it so you can sell it.

You worry too much.

There are really only two kinds of problems you can have.

A problem you can fix and a problem you can’t.

If you can fix a problem, great!

If on the other hand there is no solution or you can’t find one,
that’s ok too.

Why worry?

Sometimes, just walking away from the problem is the right solution.

I borrowed that from Buddha and made a mess of it, I’m sure, but it works.