I'm sitting here at the airport in Queenstown, New Zealand after a great weeks vacation in a magnificent part of the world. Almost as a parting gesture I couldn't help noticing that one of the the networks available at the airport was called "whizbang". Shame about dropping a "z" but it made me feel right at home.

After the past week I feel energised and looking forward to the new year! This is going to start with heading to Vegas tomorrow for NamesCon where I've heard that over 1200 people will be in attendance. Seriously, if you aren't attending you will be really missing out.

As well as having around 30 scheduled meetings I will be speaking on Domain Monetisation for two sessions, an intro and also a masterclasss. I spent the week before Christmas researching some great case studies to illustrate the points in the sessions....it should be a lot of fun! If you are interested in monetising your domain traffic then make sure that you signup for the sessions online at the NamesCon website as they are filling up fast.

I'm also going to be doing a Q&A on Sunday where people can ask any question they would like about how to best monetise and manage their domains. I'll do my best to answer all the questions and help out as many people as possible.

ParkLogic has a table on the Sunday where we will be providing a new installment of a sneak preview of our new Next platform. We'll also have five of us at the conference....so make sure that you grab any of us if you have any questions about how we can help you with your portfolio.

One of the great things about this trip is that I'll have my wife, Rosely, with me. I know that everyone will make her feel more than welcome and I know that she's really looking forward to meeting everyone.

Anyway.....my flight is being called so I'd better get going now. Cheers!

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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.

As an eleven-year-old, I’ll never forget seeing Star Wars (A New Hope) for the very first time. The path of the huge Imperial Star Destroyer simultaneously blazed its way across the screen and my mind. As a young kid I desperately wanted my own X-wing fighter just like Luke Skywalker or fly alongside Han Solo in the Millennium Falcon.

Prior to this baptism of the imagination I’d already been well indoctrinated by my father into scifi by a nightly diet of Star Trek. It was way prior to VCR’s, DVD recorders or any sort of time-shifting technology so the family dinner was always delayed so that we could see Captain Kirk and Spock in action.

Later in life, I decided to be a really cool Dad and pulled my kids out of school so that they could see the very first session of each of the first three newer Star Wars. The teachers were horrified that I would prize seeing a movie above “education”…..but sometimes education goes way beyond a classroom. At the end of the movie I dropped my kids back off at school so they could tell all of their friends that they’d already seen the latest instalment of the light sabre universe. Trust me that my kids got some serious kudos from this and Dad became a hero! :-)

Earlier this year I finally reached a life-long goal by publishing my own science fiction book, Battleframe. Holding my book for the very first time is one of the proudest moments in my life. I’m already a third of the way through book two so watch this space.

Battleframe was ultimately inspired by my father who opened up the worlds of Doc Smith, Frank Herbert, Gene Rodenberry, George Lucas and the like. I’ve journeyed with each of these writers as their characters have fought against insurmountable odds to overcome some challenge…..but Star Wars was something special.

So other than a few special moments in a movie theatre how has Star Wars and the scifi genre changed you? Fundamentally it has given me a positive outlook on life. Nothing is impossible and there is no problem so great that it can’t be solved by creative thinking.

For example, the other day I’m sitting at my desk and decided that it was about time that I dusted off my PHP programming skills (btw, inspired by R2D2 and C3PO) and tackle some really, really difficult algorithms. After a few days of effort my emperor was slain and before me was a report of simplistic beauty……you’ve just got to love it when something comes together.

When I look at my various business endeavours I know that there will be difficulties along the journey but I’ve also tried to train myself to view the challenges as something that can be overcome. Luke Skywalker didn’t have it easy but eventually he became a Jedi and defeated the evil emperor.

Late this afternoon, I’m taking my whole family plus girlfriends and boyfriends to see the latest instalment in the Star Wars franchise. It’s not the very first screening (stupid kids jobs!) but it I’m sure that I will become the eleven child once again as I see Lucas’s universe unfold before me.

What will be really special is that I’m also taking my father along. We’ll both have one of those really special times together sitting in the dark and getting freshly inspired about life’s possibilities.

So, how has Star Wars changed you? Did it convert you into becoming a bit of a geek and ultimately get you into domains? Share it in the comments below.

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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.

There’s nothing like a funeral to remind you about your own mortality and what’s really important in life. At 2pm today I will showing my support for a lady that lived her life, not for herself, but for others. She was an amazing person who showered those around her with love and compassion even though she herself was in great physical pain.

It’s so easy to get so caught in being busy that before you know it the years have slipped away and you stand at the precipice of the afterlife. When that moment finally comes, you can’t take all those toys and trappings that you’ve worked so hard for with you….they all just fall to the wayside.

What we can do is decide how we will be remembered. A great partner? Fantastic father? A person of great ethics and moral fortitude? Although we cannot influence the afterlife we can have a dramatic impact on those we are leaving behind. How will they remember you?

I don’t know anyone that wants to leave a legacy such as, “He made lots of money or has 50 house investments.” Although those nothing wrong with those pursuits most people would rather be remembered for who they are, not just what they have accomplished.

Domain owners tend to spend an inordinate amount of time alone, staring at their computer screen and some have even drifted off into the next life without many people really knowing about it. I love domaining but I don’t want to be remembered for the fact that I owned gx.com.au or some three letter .com. I want to be remembered by colleagues and online friends for who I am.

I aspire to be like the lady whose funeral I will be going to today. While in hospital, she would spend time encouraging doctors, nurses and other patients who may have been going through tough time in their lives. She had a tremendous faith in God that she would be looked after in this life and the next. Whether you believe in a God or not, you have to admire and respect people who have such unshakable belief. They are an inspiration for us all to remember that people and our relationships are what’s really important.

So in this Saturday Musings of reflection…..what do you want to be remembered for?

Have a great weekend.

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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.

I’ve had my cat, Pepper, for around 13 years now and to say that she’s a part of the family is actually not quite true. For a start, the previous statement is completely incorrect. Pepper has decided to grace our family with her presence for the past 13 years and we are a part of her life would be a more correct statement. For those of you that have a cat, you will completely understand the not so subtle shift in those sentences and who actually runs the household.

Pepper has the entire world figured out. She has servants that feed her, give her a regular massage and she sleeps for about eighty percent of the day. The house is hers and she only lets the family live in it because we play a necessary part in her hedonistic lifestyle of eat, sleep and lie in the sun.

As all cats will confirm, they are absolute geniuses. For example, Pepper has saved me from spending untold thousands of dollars on completely irrelevant domain names. When I get excited about a name and I’m about to press the “buy now” button she just looks at me in a disapproving manner and that’s all it takes. I abandon my misguided shopping cart with a sense of relief that once again I’ve been saved by my beloved feline.

After a particularly intense day of work she graciously lets me pat her head and give her a bit of a scratch under the chin. The stress seems to leave me with each passing minute and Pepper just looks up me with a knowing smirk on her be-whiskered face that once again she’s manipulated me into getting what she wants.

Every now and then she has to whip her underlings into shape and demand the attention due her status. On one particular day her bowl wasn’t brimming over with delectable delights so she calmly entered my study and started chewing on my iphone 6 USB cord to let me know her displeasure. Within half a second I had bowed to my master, filled her bowl and asked if there was anything else that I could do for her.

I sometimes think that if Pepper deemed it worthy of her station she could have the entire domain industry whipped into shape in no time. Google would be transparent, monetisation providers would soon have the flexibility to really innovate and some registrars wouldn’t “accidentally lose domains. They’d all be terrified that she would pay them a visit to truly express her displeasure at their actions.

Even as Pepper dictates this blog, I’m feeling a little intimidated by the forcefulness of her purring. It’s almost like she’s decided to place the entire domain industry on notice. Then again, what would a cat really know? Oh, oh, she just growled at me for writing that!

Have a great weekend.

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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.

Each morning Roselyn and I wake up to the beautiful sounds of a family of magpies warbling their very unique song in our garden. The mother and father hunt out worms for the juvenile that tags along behind them constantly needing to be fed. It’s a beautiful sight to see a family enjoying life and living in peace.

I then contrast this to the mayhem and destruction in Syria, Paris, Lebanon and now Mali. My heart goes out to the families and friends that lost loved ones in any of the terrorist incidents. I was so inspired by the story of a Parisian husband that had lost his wife and in his grief he made the decision to not rise up in hatred against his wife's killers. What an inspiration to be admired and also aspire to.

So why is it that so much terror against innocents is being justified as the answer to improving the lives of the perpetrators? How is it that death has triumphed over life as the solution to happiness?

There’s only one answer and the butler, Alfred, in the Batman franchise of movies summed it up by saying, “Some people just want to see the world burn.”

Yes, there are parts of the world that are burning and a small group of people rejoicing in the fact. Slaughtering people and treating the preciousness of life as something to be carelessly disposed of is a crime….but more than that, it’s a sickness and a disease.

When I look at the madness that is driving the hatred and carnage and I can’t help but feel sorry for the perpetrators. To be living with such a tortured mind that taking the life of another is the only salve for their insanity must be a horrible place to be.

I used to get angry at terrorists but I don’t anymore. I view them as incredibly sick individuals that need our help. For some of them they need to be shown that love will triumph over hate and that there is a better way of life not death.

For others, sadly, to stop the infection spreading they need to be excised from humanity and ushered into where they believe they will be happy. We shouldn’t rejoice and treat it as revenge but do so with a heavy heart that a fellow human has become so deranged that the only solution is to cauterise humanities wound.

To me the answer is really simple to a complex problem. An ultimatum needs to be given by the world against those infected, choose love over hate and life over death. If you genuinely do so we will embrace you and help you and your families. If you don’t turn from your ways then you leave us no choice but to remove you from existence – the people of the world have spoken.

The overwhelming majority of people just want to have a good family, friends and enjoy life to its fullest. We need to stop highlighting on our televisions the 0.001% of people that don’t want this. Starve them of the media oxygen that fans the flames of hatred and focus a lot more on the magpies in the garden.

Yes, this article is simplistic….but love often is. Have a great weekend!

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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.