One of the most frustrating things about the domain industry is the complete lack of innovation. This isn’t necessarily because companies don’t want to innovate but more because they are caught in a bind and can’t innovate. What do I mean by this?

Every company should be evolving. Evolution has the sense of slow change over a long period of time where internal processes are streamlined, website made “snappier” and customers are being looked after. These are all important things to do but they stem from the evolutionary basket not the revolutionary.

A revolutionary change is where a company completely transforms an industry, and everyone looks up and says, “Why didn’t we think of that?” It’s looking at domains and saying, “I think there is an aftermarket for them.” In its day, this was a revolutionary concept. It’s looking at domain traffic and matching it up with advertisers…..again, another revolutionary concept.

The problem the domain industry has is it’s been caught in the revenue bind. This is where the bean counters look at resourcing a new idea as a cost rather than as an investment into a competitive advantage. Serious innovation often means cannibalising existing revenue streams and this is regarded as a “no go zone” by managers that are given quarterly targets.

Becoming enlightened is that “aha” moment when the penny drops as you perceive something that you were not aware of before. It’s often the power of these enlightened moments that drive innovation and entrepreneurship as individuals gain a glimpse of what could be rather than what is. So how do you become enlightened?

On the "Life Principles" diagram that I have been sharing with you over the past weeks enlightenment is the relationship between the truth and learning. You can not have enlightenment unless you are open to both these characteristics.

For example, at the core of the scientific method is the quest for truth. A scientist will not achieve enlightenment in their field of studies if they refuse to face what their data is showing them.

There’s a problem with this position though….we view the truth through our own set of filters. This means, one person may look at the data and see one thing and another person see something completely different. Does this mean the first person is wrong? Not at all……and this is where learning comes into play.

Learning is the foil to truth that provides the check and opens us up to the idea that there may be other answers to the problem we are trying to solve. Learning is all about possibilities and it acknowledges the fact that everyone can potentially contribute to the issue at hand.

I wanted to continue the series I’ve been writing about on what it means to conduct your life through principles. I hope you appreciate and value the openness of which I’m sharing and that you receive a benefit for your own life from reading these articles.

The previous articles in the series can be accessed from the following links:
Three Vital Aspects of the Truth
How to Develop Trust
The Power in a Learning Mindset
It’s All About Character

In this article I would like to start exploring the relationships between the three underpinning principles. If you wish to build strong relationships with others, then there is no better way of doing it by conducting yourself under the guidance of the principles of truth and trust.

Too many people expect to have great marriages and wonderful relationships with their children while conducting themselves in a manner that is contrary to a positive outcome. The key that unlocks the power of truth and trust is consistency.

I remember many years ago I had a disaster in one of my businesses. I ended up leaving to go to work at 5am and getting home at around 9pm each night. Our son Timothy was around eight years old at the time and one of his chores was to set the table for dinner each night.We’d talk on the phone and he used to ask me if I’d be home for dinner. Of course, I told him, “Yes”. The reality was that I didn’t make it and was inevitably caught up in all the things at work. Eventually he learned and stopped asking me the question.

For a while now I’ve been concerned that due to China’s massive appetite for debt it was going to experience a severe correction. When you consider the debt levels in China, they absolutely dwarf the levels the USA experienced during the global financial crisis of 2008. So where is China at now and are the debt levels like an elastic band that is being stretched more and more?

It’s estimated the total Chinese debt-to-GDP ratio has risen to 317 per cent at the end of 2017. Compared to 158% at the end of 2008 means this number is continuing to rapidly increase.

In real terms this means the amount of debt in China grew to RMB 262.1tn at the end of 2017, representing a year-on-year grown of 13.5 per cent. Considering China’s nominal GDP growth was at 11.2 per cent yoy in 2017, the rate of credit grown continued to exceed the rate of nominal growth.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) pointed out in 2016 that it took four units of debt to raise the GDP by one unit. A decade ago the ratio was 1.3 to one. It’s clear that China has a serious debt problem that could potentially drag the global economy down.

Selling domains is close to the heart of most domain investors. They hear about the big sales being made and look at their own portfolio and wonder why many of the domains don’t get any offers let alone an offer to get them excited about paying off the mortgage. Here’s a list of ten ways that can help you increase your sales.

1.  List your domains on all the marketplaces.
I know this seems a little obvious but so many investors forget to keep their domain listings up to date. Think of it like fishing, you can have one line in the water or ten lines. Each line will increase the chance of catching a fish. Whatever you do, list your domains in the two major marketplaces, Sedo and Afternic.

By listing your domains in the marketplaces you’re hoping to catch the eye of people that may be browsing for a domain in the aftermarket. With any luck an offer will be made, and a sale will result.

2.  Build Your Own Sales Page
A person that clicks on the typical “for sale” link will be directed into an existing marketplace for information about your domain. In the process, they may see someone else’s domain and end up putting an offer in on that one. Even though your domain delivered the traffic, you don’t get anything for the sale of the other domain.

The link at the top of a parked page that says “This domain may be for sale” should point to your own landing page. This page should say something about your domain plus links to related domains that are in your portfolio. This will encourage potential buyers to look at your domains rather than someone else’s.

3. Contact dn.biz
Dn.biz run a newsletter that goes out to thousands of buyers. They regularly look for good domains to feature, so you may as well reach out to them and see if any of yours can be listed.

4. Real Whois Information
Make sure you put real information in for your domain whois data. A lot of potential buyers do look up the whois for a domain and if it is privacy protected or has fake details then it will be impossible for them to contact you to make an offer. Think of the whois as just another line in the water.