I was meeting with a colleague recently, and the topic of domain names came up. I have a lot of domains. Now, I wouldn’t say I’m a squatter, but looking at my domain portfolio (yes, I have enough for a portfolio), you could say that I am. Its really a lot more than that though.
Ideas that bind.
I have a story for every domain I’ve bought. Some are funny, some childish, some weird. Most are painful… they remind me of a dream, of an idea that was so good, yet not good enough. I’ve let many go over the years, yet some of them still lure me in, convincing me that the idea is still there, and that I should work on it.
To All the Domains I’ve loved before
So, I was sitting there, explaining to this person some of the domains and their attached ideas, and she suggested that I write a book about it. Not a bad idea! (uh oh, here we go again). While I do not want to write a book at this point, I do wonder if perhaps writing some of these ideas out as blog posts could be therapeutic in some way. Sort of cleanse those ideas from me. My only fear is that instead of putting the ideas to rest, I just get excited in them all over again.
Over all, I think its worth a shot.
Dangerous Ideas
Here is the cycle I go through that has led to this amassing of domains:
- Get an idea
- Flesh out the idea enough to think I should start on it
- Hunt for a domain
- Find a domain that would work (or in some cases is perfect)
- Buy the domain
- Start working on the project
- Have step 1 interrupt my focus (again)
- Stop working on project to focus on new project
- Domain lingers in my portfolio, reminding me of the idea
Also known as “Shiny object syndrome“.
Ideas are dangerous. They lure your focus away from what you’ve already committed yourself to. Just look at the loop up above. If I had stopped on just one of these ideas and finished it, I would have one more thing off of my plate. Instead, I have this lingering notion that I haven’t finished something. Lets hope that writing these things out does what I intend it to do, and that I can put some if not all of these ideas to bed.
Thief!
Now, some people invariably say “but, then other people might steal your idea!”. My only response to that is: “FEEL FREE!”, and lets talk and we can figure out how to get you the domain name if you want it. I certainly don’t mind people taking these ideas and running with them. In fact, I’d love for that to happen. That might bring more closure than anything else.