Donna Mahony has made the big decision to leap into the world of blogging. For those of you that don’t know, Donna is the queen of the domain forums and has run domainboardroom.com for many, many years.

DomainBoardroom.com is a closed forum that is only accessible by applicants being approved by the entire community. It’s amazing to see competitors, domain owners and other industry professionals discussing domain topics and working together for the betterment of the industry.

I know that Donna has a huge amount of expertise in the domain industry and as she says on her very first blog…..she’s going to bring her own point of view to the articles that she writes. So get ready for some great reading!

I would like to wish Donna good luck and every success and would highly recommend that you place her blog on your watch list!

You can visit Donna’s Blog at not surprisingly donnasblog.com

Over the years (gee I’m sounding old!) I’ve spoken to many business people that have climbed to the top of the ladder of success. Not surprisingly, when you talk to them they generally fall into two groups, those that are happy and those that aren’t.

The ones that are happy seemed to have attained a balance in their lives of having time for work and time for family and friends. They still have a spring in their step and a twinkle in their eye, they’re fulfilled in their lives.

The unhappy ones may have lots of money in the bank and worldly possessions but when they look around they no longer have a great relationship with their children and true friends are not to be found. Many of them try to buy a relationship with their kids by giving them incredible gifts when all their children want is some of their time and love. When these people finally reached the top of their ladder they found that it’s leaning against the wrong wall.

Getting a life balance is so important if you actually want to be happy and fulfilled in your own life. I’ve been married for nearly 27 years and have been incredibly blessed to have an amazing wife and three wonderful children that can put up with me. I have definitely not been perfect but I’ve continually tried to make decisions that are positive for my family in everything that I do.

Some of the things that I’ve found have been useful for me is that I work really hard during the week and on the weekend it’s rare that I do anything. I have a complete break. Your body and mind need a rest, they need to recuperate and recharge but more than that your family needs you.

I try and pay attention to the little things. Who likes what special treat? We create family times with everyone…..no one is allowed to not attend. Dad has a special meal that he makes that’s fun! Even though they are in their later teens and early twenties both Roselyn and I insist on getting a kiss or a hug good night each and every night. It’s a ritual, but it cements the relationship with our kids every day and reminds them that we love them.

I love the ladder of success but more than that I love being on the right ladder. Think about what you can do for a loved one today……and then…….just do it!

This weeks video discusses what's been happening on Whizzbangsblog and the explosive growth that it's received!

My daughter is in the process of trying to find her first car…always a great experience! She went and looked at one with a friend and instantly fell in love with it. “Dad, this is the best car in the world! I have to have it!”

I openly admit that I know nothing about cars….computers….we’ll that’s another thing. So Sarah returned to the seller’s house to place a deposit on the vehicle but this time she took a friend’s father who happens to be from the automotive industry. It took him ten seconds to glance at the car and say, “No.”

This raises the point, if you want to invest in diamonds don’t ask the butcher for advice, ask the jeweler – it’ll save you a packet! I have domain investors coming to me all the time with a wide variety of deals that they’ve been offered to ask my advice on whether it’s a good deal or not. If you’ve been in the industry as long as I have then you never get surprised by the garbage that some people try to sell at incredible prices.

My 10 rules of buying:

1. Never buy when I feel pressured and take your time to think it over.
2. Good assets are worth the price, you just need to find the good assets.
3. You can ask whatever you want but I’ll pay the price that I’m offering.
4. Telling me over and over again how good something is will not change my mind. If it’s a dog it’s a dog, if it’s not then it’s not.
5. Fancy deals normally end in tears….keep it simple.
6. If it looks too good then it probably is.
7. Go for repeatable income not just look out for the big one offs.
8. Investigate the person selling the asset as much as the deal itself. If they’re right then the majority of the time the deal will be fair.
9. Never do transactions, do deals where everyone wins and both parties will want to do business together into the future.
10. Get good advice and then make up your own mind.

Do you have any rules that you use in your own deals? Please add them in the comments below.

For the past 30 years I’ve been building businesses and the majority of them have been in the Internet industry. As fate would have it I was talking to a friend of mine last night on skype and he was lamenting the pain of his new startup. Investors didn’t invest what he really needed and technology wasn’t coming together fast enough. All the typical birthing pains associated with a new venture.

If you’re looking at your domains and thinking to yourself, “I really need to start developing some of these” then be ready to go through some tough times. It’s never easy doing something new and what you think is a great idea, other people will trash.

Which brings me to another point. Over the years I've found that the worst sort of people in the world are those that cheer you on no matter what. For example, my wife and I had to give our daughter a bit of tough love near the end of her final year in high school. Essentially it boiled down to, “Don’t be an idiot!”

She came back and told us we weren’t very supportive and that we needed to be more encouraging. I thought about it for a few milliseconds and replied, “People will cheer you on as you leap over the edge of a cliff, we’re not those sort of people honey.”

Now that she’s passed her exams and been accepted into university she’s told us that our advice (which was really tough) was the best advice she’s ever received.

The real secret with being an entrepreneur is knowing whom to listen to and then taking all of that good advice so that you can make a better decision yourself. Once you’ve made that decision, be bloody minded about it and as tenacious as a bull terrier. Never, I say never let that bone go and push through every obstacle!

So what did I say to my friend going through the tough times in his business? I consoled him a little and then said, “Suck it up princess.” What did you expect? If it was easy don’t you think that other people would have run with your idea already? It’s tough love but sometimes people just need to hear it…..I’m absolutely confident that he’ll make it a success…..and that it will take him about twice as long as he initially thought to do it.

So back to your domains. My advice is get good advice, make your own decisions and then be ready for the obstacles. One last point…..the opposite of those that cheer are those that jeer. It’s always easy to tell a person why it won’t work. I use these people to inspire me forward with a, “I’ll show them mentality!” So go to it and get off your backside and change your world. :-)