Much to be Thankful For

I don’t like to write sappy posts, but I have much to be thankful for this year. On the personal side of things, I married a great girl a few months ago and things have been going very well. We are both happy and healthy, and have a lot of good friends and family who are close with us. Our puggle Lucy has stopped peeing on the floor, although she has more energy than a work-from-home guy can take sometimes!
While the economy has been in a tailspin of late, I really can’t complain about business. I launched Burbank.com, TropicalBirds.com, Lowell.com, several mini sites, and I own a few other pretty strong domain names that will be developed in the coming months. I also had a pretty strong year in terms of domain sales. I’ve made a number of new friends in the domain industry, and I have established many new business relationships with quality companies and people.
For me, 2008 was a year of change (personal and business), and I think the focus in 2009 will be to strengthen the core business and emerge stronger. Outside investment has been shaky lately with many added risks (markets down, companies facing liquidity problems, buyers not buying as much…etc). Right now, I would rather spend money investing in my websites and technology for my websites than buying new domain names. Sure, I will buy if the price is right and/or I want to develop, but I (and many others) are buying to hold less often than before.
I tend to always think ahead (almost to a fault), and I rarely look back at what’s been accomplished. 2008 has really been a good year for me (with a few exceptions), and I am very thankful for it. I know the predictions for 2009 haven’t been great, but I will keep myself focused on growing and strengthening my companies.