Paul Sloan's

Yanik at work

Sometimes, you just can’t turn down an invitation.

So when Yanik Silver, a well-known internet marketer, invited me to come along on one of his trips for entrepreneurs–called Maverick Business Adventures–how could I say no?

This is not your typical business conference.

So far, it’s involved a mint DeLorean car, a lot of pink hair extensions, and some odd reactions from the button-down guests at the Ritz Carlton in Marina del Ray where we’re starting from.

To come are sessions with a few big-time entrepreneurs, such as John Paul DeJoiria, co-founder of John Paul Hair Care Systems (yes, there’s a connection to the pink hair).

John Paul DeJoria

Then we pile into a fleet of way-too-powerful cars (I’m angling for a Lamborghini) and head north, zig-zagging our way up through Big Sur, on to San Francisco and up to Napa Valley.

Some whackiness is promised along the way, and at some point I’m told we’ll pile into a Zeppelin for a flight over San Fran.

So much for the Great Recession of 2009.

These folks are doing just fine.

More to come…

Ordinarily, I’d post this on my own blog, but because we plan to cover some very interesting things about affiliate marketing on PlayingTheAngles.com, and I received a spurious link to one of Paul’s articles, it’s better suited to go here.

In my email inbox today was an unsolicited offer to join an affiliate program — one of those can-it-really-be-this-easy offers that should make any online marketer squirm.

For the uninitiated, affiliate programs offer ways to create income streams — sometimes really big income streams — by promoting other people’s products or services, in both online and off.

Some people don’t know that you can promote certain affiliate programs offline, but there are a few good programs around where you can print out cards with your unique affiliate or introducer reference on — sort of new media meets old.

But, today’s “partnership” offer was concerned with the domain name industry, something I know a little about.
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Mea culpa: Team ANGLES sent out an email announcing that Playing The Angels was open for business. Read it again: Angels, as in the heavens and Charlie’s.

Well, I received two kinds of emails.

My old media journalists pals blasted me notes alerting me to the boneheaded error with understandable WTF shock. And I admit: My bones filled with shame. A spelling error like could cost you your job at a newspaper, or at least a serious reprimand.

Then came the notes from me my Web-centric-traffic-wise friends. They too pointed out the goof, but then they applauded my foresight in registering PlayingTheAngels.com, which, as we unintentionally demonstrated, is going to be a common mistake people make looking for this site.

Nothing like a shrewd defensive domain play to alleviate the feelings of shame.

I first met Frank Schilling at a Traffic conference in Delray Beach, Florida in the fall of 2005. He was the longhaired guy who everyone said I should talk to. Frank didn’t want to talk. Then, after a long few days, he came up to me in the hotel lobby and said, “What do you want to know?”

“Um, everything,” I said.

“Okay,” he said.

My conversations with him that week and the weeks after helped shape Masters of Their Domains, the article I wrote for the former Business 2.0 that ignited the domain world. Richard Rosenblatt, of Demand Media, credited my story with turning him onto domains and their potential, although, sadly, he took my request for payment as a joke.

Frank was nervous about speaking publicly, but when the article came out, nothing terrible happened. Then he started opening up in the press and on his now-dormant blog, Seven Mile. He has always been a good voice for an industry that gets—how shall I put this?—its share of criticism, some of it justified, some of it not.

I always like talking to Frank, and I know others like hearing from him. He wasn’t early to the domain party; he built the bulk of his portfolio amid the dot-com rubble of the early part of this decade. But now he stands tall, with mind-boggling 370,00 names generating 25 to 30 million unique visitors a month.

Like everyone making his living from advertising, Frank’s taken a hit in the past year. A couple of years ago, Frank said publicly that his portfolio was bringing in $20 million a year. It’s not now. Far from it. How much it’s down, though, he won’t say.

For a bunch of reasons, I thought Frank would be the perfect first interview for Playing The Angles, which promises to bring you all kinds of insight into how entrepreneurs do their thing.

Let us know what you think.

http://www.playingtheangles.com/interviews/frank-schilling/

Want to comment on the interview? Please click the comment link below:

Well, I’d never heard of a TV show called “Shark Tank,” but after receiving an email from well-known domain name investor, Rick Schwartz, explaining an interesting new twist to his popular industry conference, T.R.A.F.F.I.C. scheduled for October 26th in New York, I sort of got the idea.

One of Traffic’s features is to have anoint a “Domainer of the Year.” This year’s nominees are being invited to be on a “Shark Tank” panel, where they will consider applications from domainers applying to to get funding for their domain.

In return for being chosen and getting the investment in the domain development project, the investors will take a slice of the equity in the finished project.

It’s a great idea and one that is sure to whip up a lot of interest from a stale-looking, recession-hit industry that’s crying out for new ideas.

Large scale web development is expensive and one of the biggest problems for domain name investors is to get the investment required to make it a success.

Whilst details aren’t currently available as to the extent of the investment, there are some big names in that list who’ve been there, done it and have the proverbial tee shirt.

Part of the application process to be considered involves submitting an email of 50 words or less explaining why your project should be chosen for condsideration. The best ones (presumably with a great name attached) will get to make their presentation to the panel.

The deadline for submissions is September 30. Fancy a go? Here’s where to look.

Actually, the idea is not too dissimilar to something we’re planning for PlayingTheAngles in the near future, so we’ll be watching closely.

The real challenge for domainers is being to select just one name from their portfolio, so if you’re going to enter, remember, the contest is to write an email of no more than 50 words – that’s not 50 domains!