It’s the time of year when I evaluate everything that happened during the past 12 months and set new goals for 2008. This is always a great time of year, because it allows me to briefly reflect on the positive things that have happened, and allows me to think about the things that could have been better. There is no point in sugar coating things, so deep personal reflection is essential in order to grow.

Although I think this reflection should be made internally, I will share a few of my goals for 2008, and if you would like to share yours as well, I welcome it.

Domain Investing
– Purchase 1-2 premium domain names with the goal of developing them in Q4 2008
– Trim down my portfolio, only keeping strong generic domain names and a few speculative names

Domain Development
– Successfully launch Lowell.com
– Create strong relationships with Lowell businesses and civic leaders
– Begin phase two of Lowell.com, including some social networking capabilities and newsletter
– Build several miniature websites using the hybrid development concept I discussed a couple of weeks ago

Blogging
– Continue to write 1-3 original blog posts per day to give advice to readers of my blog
– Teach people about the value of domain names using well-executed examples
– Forge advertising relationships with industry leading companies

While you are thinking about goals, it is important to think about more than what you would like to accomplish in 2008. You should also take some time to consider (or reconsider) your life goals. What do you want to accomplish in life? Where are you now compared to where you want to be? What can you do in 2008 to make it easier to achieve your life goals?

This will help you stay in track in business and in life.

Reading Sahar’s post this morning has me also wondering what people have in place as an “out strategy.” What if domain values suddenly dropped (due to a number of possible factors), and the value of undeveloped domain names suddenly plummeted? I can’t even imagine this happening on one and two word category killer .com domain names, but this is something to think about for people whose portfolios may be made up of decent, but not killer domain names.

As with any market crash, panicking will only make things worse. I would advise against rushed selling just because the perceived value has decreased. The domain market is always in somewhat of a state of flux because there is no completely accurate price guide.

Here are five recommendations I would make while you evaluate your portfolio (which is always a good thing at this time of year)
1. Cash in hand is very important – (you can’t pay your taxes with domain inventory)
2. Have a development plan for each name you own. If PPC advertising drops, you will be more protected
3. Trim down your portfolio ($8/year x # of names is expensive).
4. Drop names that realistically have no chance of making money unless someone random wants the name to start a business. A few names at $8/year is nothing major, but if you have 500 or 5,000 this is a huge sunk cost.
5. Make less speculative purchases. Just because Brittney’s sister is pregnant, doesn’t mean you need to try to guess the name of the baby and buy 100 .com names.

As an aside, if you are concerned about this and want to cash out of your one word category killer .com names, drop me a note 🙂

I sometimes reflect on just how incredible the Internet is with its reach across the globe   I am doing some work at Starbucks right now, and the guy who stands on the corner collecting money for the homeless walked in to get a cup of coffee. He and I frequently nod to each other and wish each other a good morning, but I know absolutely nothing about him.

As he was leaving Starbucks this morning, he saw me on my computer and asked if I had heard of YouTube before.   After telling him I was familiar with it, he gave me a piece of paper with his name on it and told me to check him out on YouTube.   Low and behold, there he was beat boxing. His seven videos garnered a few hundred views in about a month, no doubt intrigued by his beat boxing skill and cool personality.

On my way home today, I am going to give him something more valuable than a dollar or spare change.   I am going to make a suggestion to him. He should buy the .com of his beat boxing persona (I will even buy it for him). He should then overlay this domain name on his videos to bring traffic to his website. If he adds his contact information to his new website, perhaps someone across the globe will be intrigued by his skill and offer him some work. Even a simple blog site with contact information could give him the exposure he needs to break out of anonymity.

Assuming he takes advice, this will be one time he is happy that I didn’t give him a dollar.