Many people feel that life is all about accumulating money, power or girls/guys. They believe that as long as you quest for these three things then they’ll be happy. Sadly, many people who attain the heights of what they believe is the epitome of success discover that happiness is nothing about any of those things at all.

A number of years ago I was at a dinner with a large group of guys at a business function. Each person around the table was trying to outdo the person next to them by telling stories about how great they were. Ultimately, the conversation degenerated into how many girls each of them had conquered and in their eyes this seemed to prove they were “real men”.

I sat quietly eating my dinner until finally someone asked me to tell them my “stories”. I explained to them that I’d been married for nearly three decades, faithful all the time and incredibly happy with my life. I wasn’t judging any of them but just stating a fact from my own life.

There was stunned silence and then almost tentatively a number of them began to ask me how I’d managed to be with the same girl all of my life. Despite the bravado, each of them was yearning for a measure of happiness that they really weren’t finding.

In my experience, if you want to find true lasting happiness in life then you need to be committed to whatever you put your hand to. In the case of my marriage, I’m absolutely committed to Roselyn. What happens when you’re really committed is that all of your own flaws get exposed. You can put a brave mask on with friends and fake it but that façade slips down when you’re relaxed at home.

A number of years ago I had a revelation. I discovered that I couldn’t change my wife at all. Only she could do that. Likewise, she couldn’t change me…..only I could. So the adventure of my life is about changing myself into a better person because I love her so much. So the focus then became on how do I improve myself for my wife.

For example, let me share with you a silly story that had a profound impact on my life. When I was first married I went down to the local store and bought some chocolate and chips for Roselyn and I to munch on while we watched a movie. Upon arriving home Roselyn looked on sadly and in resignation said, “Oh…..I thought that you knew I didn’t like that flavoured chip?”

Why was this important to me? It highlighted that I hadn’t been paying attention to Roselyn and that I really didn’t know even her most basic likes and dislikes. I then made it my mission to change myself and really pay attention to her.

Once I made this decision a strange thing happened. The more I paid attention to her the happier I became. In other words, the more I paid attention to Roselyn’s desires the more mine were met…..it was like magic! Being a relatively smart individual I quickly worked out that this principle worked in many aspects of my life.

The more I paid attention to servicing clients the more my businesses prospered. The more closely I paid attention to my business partner the better our working relationship. I’m the first to say that I’m not perfect and regularly mess it up but I am absolutely focused on my long-term goal of learning about people and changing myself. I do this because of a deep rooted desire to show love, compassion and empathy with those around me.

So happiness is not about getting something from those people around you. Happiness is all about changing yourself so that you can better serve others. I know that this sounds a little backwards but let me assure you that I’ve found it works.

Have a great weekend!

Michael

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Gilmour has been in business for over 32 years and has both a BSC in Electronics and Computer Science and an MBA. He was the former vice-chairman of the Internet Industry Association in Australia and is in demand as a speaker at Internet conferences the world over. He has also recently published his first science fiction book, Battleframe.

Michael is passionate about working with online entrepreneurs to help them navigate their new ventures around the many pitfalls that all businesses face. Due to demands on his time, Michael may be contacted by clicking here for limited consulting assignments.

Today it hit me hard what a huge gap there is between people my age (generation Y) and the other older generations. Today I was reading through an article on DNW and stumbled across a podcast that talked about jumping on trends before they happen. It discussed buying domains that could potentially be worth a lot more in the future.

I found it very interesting and I can remember when dad started domaining, he was trying to think of catchy domains to buy that could be worth more later. It surprised me that Podcasts are even still around, but what surprised me even more was that the term ‘Vlog’ was presented as an example of a domain that had lost its value. The term vlog stands for ‘video blog’, and according to DNW is not a valuable phrase that you could potentially make money off.

That was a huge shock for me because if you ask anyone my age, they would know exactly what the term vlog means. Not only that, but I would say that vlog or vlogging is probably one of the most popular forms of video on YouTube right now.

After speaking with my dad about it, he suggested that although it may be a well-known term amongst people my age, people my age don’t have the money to buy them. This then depressed the value on the term ‘vlog’ and results in the domains being dropped by investors. Another reason the domains are dropped is because people my age may use the term on YouTube but not in a domain main, which means the domains have no traffic.

So my question to you all is, why do you think there is a lack of traffic going to domains containing the word vlog? Let me know what you think in the comments!

When I attended “The Domains Conference” in Fort Lauderdale last year I gave each of the attendees a free copy of my debut SciFi book Battleframe (see blurb below). The domain industry has given me so much that I would like to extend the free giveaway to everyone in the domain industry.

From March 13-16th the Ebook version of Battleframe will be FREE on Amazon.

Click here to download your copy:

I would love it if you could share the link with family and friends, so feel free to pass it around to anyone that you know. It would also be awesome if you could provide a review on Amazon as well. :-)

Don’t forget to register at my author's blog http://michaelgilmour.com to view maps of featured installations and the planet Alpha Three. There’s also a forum that you can participate in to ask me questions about the characters, plot and setting. I love hearing from readers so feel free to fire away!

I hope you reading enjoy Battleframe as much as I did writing it!

Have a great weekend!

Michael Gilmour

BattleFrame – Book One of the Mindwars

Resource rich planet Alpha Three becomes the focus of a galactic wide conflict. In the midst of a remorseless Scourge invasion a lone human battleframe pilot, call-sign Whizzbang, strives to find and rescue his closest friend from the invaders.

With the extermination of the human colony seemingly inevitable, Whizzbang's squad of veteran pilots struggle to turn the tide of the war. Just when he thinks they may have a chance, members of the squad begin vanishing before his eyes and the odds of winning the battle become slim to none.

The mysterious nano-robots, unknowingly developed by an alien intelligence, appear to be all that will enable humanity to survive the onslaught. But all is not what it seems as the micro-machines begin to dramatically transform Whizzbang's friends in astounding ways.

Safe within his command dome, the enemy General plots on how he can cover the world in the enigmatic Barrier, a force that kills humans in seconds. It is then that Whizzbang discovers that the Earth may be the next Scourge target.

Book one in the “Mindwars” opens with our galaxy in turmoil and humanity on the brink of extinction.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Gilmour has been in business for over 32 years and has both a BSC in Electronics and Computer Science and an MBA. He was the former vice-chairman of the Internet Industry Association in Australia and is in demand as a speaker at Internet conferences the world over. He has also recently published his first science fiction book, Battleframe.

Michael is passionate about working with online entrepreneurs to help them navigate their new ventures around the many pitfalls that all businesses face. Due to demands on his time, Michael may be contacted by clicking here for limited consulting assignments.

Today I have the privilege to be writing my very first article for Whizzbangs blog. Can I just say, that it’s a lot of pressure not only to be writing for a successful blog, but also to be writing on a topic I don’t know too much about.

I think from my perspective that’s where I struggle. I feel like there is a huge gap between knowing about domaining and understanding what its all really about. I mean, still today when someone asks me about my dad I struggle to explain what he does to a person my age. It normally starts off with “…well, he sits on the computer a lot” and for a lot of people that already generally enough to shut off.

As I watch their eyes glaze over, I fumble and try to explain in the simplest terms what domaining is about. Bottom line is nothing about domaining to me is simple. People my age are very tech savvy when it comes to social media, computers and video games, but as soon as something as technical as domaining comes up I can see my friends (as polite as they are) just shut down. I was once the same, until I realized how interesting business can be!

Now that I am working part time for Whizzbangs Blog I have already learnt so much! I’ve been actually excited to look at spreadsheets (unlike when I was at university) and its even better when all the numbers actually make sense a little bit. But my question to you all is how do you describe what your job is to someone who has never heard a thing about domaining?

I’d love to get know many of you in the domaining industry as I know my journey has only just begun! Please leave comments and feel free to reach out to me and share your own journey!

Many years ago when I first got married I said to Roselyn, “You need to understand something about me…..I’ll only keep on doing what I’m doing if I’m enjoying it.” This doesn’t mean that I’m going to quit working if I have a bad day but it does strike at an important life issue.

We spend a large amount of our time working and I’m amazed by the number of people that hate their job and yet turn up every day. I’m amazed for two reasons. One, they are disciplined enough to keep on doing something they don’t like, two, they are in a position where they have to do it and three, they feel they can’t move onto something else.

Obligations are a scary thing and one of the lessons I’m trying to teach my own children is the financial noose that all those unnecessary things can place around your neck. You don’t really need a fancy car, brand new phone or the very latest computer. Going without is often a really good thing to do as it teaches us patience. Going without often gives us the flexibility to move onto to other things where we really enjoy life and work becomes play.

As many of you have seen, my daughter Sarah, is now working part-time with me on Whizzbangsblog. The other day she had a great big smile on her face and she said to me, “Dad, I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying this!”

I replied, “There’s nothing like working hard and having a fun time doing it.” Make sure you drop her a line and say "hi" on the blog here.....just look up Sarah Gilmour.

For many years, work has been associated as one step up from slavery and jobs were a thing you just had to do. Yes, we need to earn money but work in itself is often its own reward. This is why so many people volunteer for worthy organisations…..it’s not work to them.

The other day I had my nine-year anniversary at ParkLogic and I can honestly say that it’s been one heck of a ride. Each day I work really hard but I love my job and I keep on having fun. There’s nothing quite like doing a great job for a client and having them thank you for the work that you’re doing. I would also like to thank all those people that wished me well on my anniversary!

Have a great weekend!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Gilmour has been in business for over 32 years and has both a BSC in Electronics and Computer Science and an MBA. He was the former vice-chairman of the Internet Industry Association in Australia and is in demand as a speaker at Internet conferences the world over. He has also recently published his first science fiction book, Battleframe.

Michael is passionate about working with online entrepreneurs to help them navigate their new ventures around the many pitfalls that all businesses face. Due to demands on his time, Michael may be contacted by clicking here for limited consulting assignments.