We want to make money!

putting some domains for sale

davidscohen — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 23:28:33 +0000

I’ve decided to experiment with putting a few domains for sale. I’ve had these for a while, but never got around to building the projects that went with the names. Here’s some links to the listings:

bridgelogic.net
ruderings.com
ruderingtones.com
versalan.com

Have you ever sold a domain? How did it go? Did you get an appraisal? Was it accurate?

Great story and great design …. success!

davidscohen — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 03:06:26 +0000

Sometimes we like to take short cuts and skimp on the details, but if you want to stand out in this world you just can’t afford to cut corners when it comes to design and brand strategy. Great companies know this and they put a lot of time and effort into creating and protecting the symbols and stories that communicate their brand. Don’t believe me? Ever heard of a little company called Coca-Cola? Would you recognize their glass bottle even if it didn’t have a label? Of course you would, and it is no accident. It is smart design and a commitment to building a visual language for the brand.

I recently began a project that needed the right touch and I found that going to a smart, creative team of experts made all the difference in clarifying my market positioning and giving me an elegant and highly usable site design. Kudos to Propel Creative. Thanks for the great work!

Monopoly moves

davidscohen — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 20:48:19 +0000

If you’re a make-money reader, then chances are you got your first taste for wheeling and dealing the same way I did: playing Monopoly(TM). There is just no other game that captures the imagination and pulls you into the thrill of the deal at such a young age. But even something as traditional as Monopoly must eventual move with the times - innovate or get out of the way as they say - and Monopoly chose to innovate by dropping the cash and adopting a charge card for players to make their payments — the world may never be the same again.

Go ahead, get a little crazy

davidscohen — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 18:04:26 +0000

Sometimes the smart way to make money is to be a little dumb. That is if dumb means listening to yourself when others might scoff at your idea. Hey you’ll probably go down the tubes, but just maybe you’ll hit big like the folks on this list: Top 10 Dumbest Online Business Ideas That Made It Big Time.

Bargain shopping

davidscohen — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 16:54:21 +0000

If you read this blog, then you are probably a bargain hunter. Saving money and making money just seem to go hand in hand. So without further ado, here is a very cool website for the frugal: www.DealsPl.us. It combines bargain shopping with a Digg-like ability for the community to rate bargains.

Bob’s rules

davidscohen — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:14:04 +0000

Bob Parsons that is. You know the big daddy behind Go Daddy, the Internet’s largest domain registration site. Well Bob is an entrepreneur, a true self-made man. From humble beginnings he has worked his butt off to build a web phenomenon. On his blog today he shares the 16 rules that he tries to live by and that he feels have been a large part of his success. Check it out, great stuff.

Satire for fun and profit

davidscohen — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 17:56:56 +0000

Well there is more than one way to make a buck out there, and it looks like satire might be one of them. To understand what I’m talking about you have to check out Lasik@home. First off, the site is hilarious, but it is also a clever bit of marketing if you look at it as a site intended to promote ad revenue. Think about it this way - because the site is funny, weird, and has that slight feeling of “it just might be real” a lot of people are spreading the url around to friends so they can check it out too and share a laugh - basic viral marketing. But notice, the site sports Google Adsense ads, which of course are contextually relevant so they are therefore ads for legit Lasik Surgery practices. These are generally fairly premium ads with price-per-click going as high as $59 or more according to some sources, although average cost per click is probably much lower. Anyone stumbling on the site looking for legitimate Lasik is highly likely click on one of those ads, a nice bonus for making a cool tongue-in-cheek website.

In the pink!

davidscohen — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 21:22:52 +0000

So what do you do when you make some money? When you’re feeling flush? When you’re in the pink? You spend it of course! Well you SHOULD save it, but my new favorite place to spend it is at Kokopink. You see my girlfriend likes the color pink. Actually, she loves the color pink! If she could only take one color to a desert island it would be pink.

Kokopink is all about pink. They sell pink jewelry, pink clothing, pink electronics, pink kitchenware, even pink Nintendos. So where does all this pink goodness come from? Well from Amazon of course. The site is actually a storefront that uses Amazon’s associate program. All purchases are really just a referred sale to Amazon, the price is the same to the consumer, but the value comes in the niche. If you’re a pink-a-holic it is a lot easier to find what you want at Kokopink than surfing through the whole amazon catalog. Maybe you should open your own ecommerce affiliate store. The competition is tough, but the investment is low. If you find the right angle you might be able to make a little side income.

“It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that Swing…”

davidscohen — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 22:16:48 +0000

They call it Swing Trading, I call it confusing. Seriously, this stuff is over my head, but if you can understand articles like this one - How to make money off opening gap reversals — then you probably don’t need to be reading this site, but thanks for stopping by.

Is there gold in them thar hills?

davidscohen — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 14:19:20 +0000

If you’re interested in money, then chances are that thoughts of gold have occasionally crossed your mind. I know for me the attraction for gold started as a kid watching pirate movies. I mean who wouldn’t want to find a buried treasure chest filled with gold dubloons? Of course the vault scene in Goldfinger with all those golden bricks didn’t hurt either. Gold has fascinated humans for eons, including many investors (yes they’re human too), but like all investing knowledge and timing are critical to success. So if you’ve got gold on the brain, I suggest you do your homework. An interesting place to start is Goldseek a website specializing in information on gold and other precious metals like silver and platinum.

Good Old Fashioned Lemonade

davidscohen — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 20:21:53 +0000

Is there any icon of youthful entrepreneurship more enduring than the classic lemonade stand? A few lemons, a little sugar, sunshine, and smiles and voila - the piggy bank is stuffed! Of course even a business plan as simple as a lemonade stand is not without its pitfalls: bad weather, poor location, neighborhood bullies - these can all hurt the bottom line. In fact just about every business issue is addressed in this microcosm: having adequate supply to keep up with customer demand, marketing and promotion, market timing, customer service, customer retention, having enough cups…good thing the kids don’t know how tough all of this stuff is! And that’s my point, it is possible to overthink even the simplest of business plans and overwhelm yourself to a state where you won’t get started for fear of the complexities that you might face. Every business plan needs scrutiny, but they all need action too.

Now lest you think a lemonade stand is an absurdly trivial example, let me tell you about a very special one: Alex’s Lemonade Stand. Alexandra Scott started her lemonade stand at the age of four with a very serious purpose. You see Alex was a victim of pediatric cancer and her lemonade stand was her means of helping to raise money to help fight childhood cancer. Alex, unfortunately has passed, but by the time she was 8 her stand had attracted sales and donations of over $900,000 for pediatric cancer research. Her legacy now lives on in the form of the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation which has raised over $5 million for childhood cancer research. Simply beginnings can lead to amazing ends that can truly touch people’s lives, especially if started with heart, drive and determination.

Do some networking

davidscohen — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:28:30 +0000

Sometimes in this crazy world, it’s just about who you know. After all your world-beating business plan, or universe-denting invention might go nowhere if you don’t have the right connections to build a great team and open the right doors. Almost any book on success will tell you it is important to build your network and strengthen your networking skills. It can be the key to finding the right job, or getting the big lead that helps you close that million-dollar deal. So here’s a link to a site that is all about making links, of the people sort. LinkedIn is an interesting tool for helping you build and manage your network. First off, the basic service is free, which as you know is my favorite flavor. You can place a profile online to let other members know what your skills are and what type of opportunities you are looking for, you can also invite contacts to link to you and share networks. That’s the cool part, every member of your network can potentially help you grow your network by sharing contacts, and vice versa. Check it out, chances are someone you know is already a member.

Dividends

davidscohen — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 20:29:57 +0000

The thing about the web is that there are lots of ideas, lots of opinions and plenty of people willing to share their insights and experience. I recently ran across one such person that I thought I would bring to your attention: The Dividend Guy. Basically this guy believes that the road to a healthy retirement is paved with stock certificates, but not just any stocks, strictly ones that pay dividends. It is a hard position to argue with since stocks that pay dividends tend to outperform the market, and oh by the way, they pay you to hold them. Check out the site, there is some great info and The Dividend Guyeven lets you see his portfolio so you can see which companies he was willing to bet his hard earned money on.

Happy Investing!

Play games

davidscohen — Fri, 12 May 2006 20:23:37 +0000

You can make money playing video games. You just have to be able to play them really well. As for me, I enjoy a little Nintendo DS time, or a good puzzler on the PC like Myst, but I don’t have the thumb reflexes necessary to make it in the big leagues of Halo 2 so I’m going to have stick to more mundane approaches like saving, investing and entrepreneurship. For those of you who are younger and twitchier than myself, you may want to check out this article: Local teens hope to make money playing Halo 2. You know who you are.

Ask for a raise

davidscohen — Tue, 02 May 2006 08:36:16 +0000

There is an old saying, but it is a good one: “You get what you settle for”

Sometimes making more money is simply a matter of asking for it. Now timing and common sense are very important here. You don’t want to ask for a raise right after returning from a long vacation, unless you’re sure they were struggling without you. Don’t go storming into your manager’s office making demands if he or she is obviously in a bad mood. In fact, you should try to look as objectively as possible at the value you are bringing. This is hard, you have to put your ego in check. Write down 5 ways in which you bring value to the business that show you merit a raise — then write down 5 reasons why the company can’t afford it. How do they compare? You have to be prepared to make your case for the increase and be prepared for a negative answer. Have your contingency plan in mind.

Remember, all too often, if you don’t ask for it you won’t get it. It is not uncommon for a boss to not realize that you desire a raise, especially if you are doing a good job, he or she might just think you are content. Hey I said you have to have common sense - don’t necessarily expect it from your boss!

More on the subject:
SoYouWanna: Ask for a raise?
eHow: How to Ask for a Raise
The Career Adviser: How to Ask for a Raise