eightturn

thank you so much! We'll start shipping next Monday, 4/29, and your order will leave the farm that week. We'll also send you a tracking link when UPS gets their hands on your box (fyi)

thank you jacurtis (Peter here, author).. your comments mean a lot. many thanks.

It makes enough to make me happy. And yes, I have other projects (jobs) that bring in revenue.

Great question (do I like Vidalias).. I was indifferent on them at the start. But when you're surrounded by them, you start eating them. And now, I put Vidalias (or other sweet onions) on virtually anything. Eggs, Chili, burgers, list goes on..

And yes, I communicate quite frequently with the farmer. We got along quite well, and I'm fortunate for the friendship I have with him & his team.

We're an LLC. Regarding tasks -- there really wasn't any deciding. We just starting doing stuff. The farmer grew the Onion, and I built out all the online stuff and logistics. When pain points arose, I tried my best to find software to shoulder those loads. But I made sure to never outsource my phone calls. I answer those. I wanna talk to my customers.

Peter here (author) - happy to answer any questions..

darnit.. thank you.. now fixed.

I find it sorta funny that the article ends with an ad : )

thank you for reminding me to backup my list...

This sorta reminds me of when Regions Bank forgot to renew its domain name.. for everything a smart business can do to acquire customers, developing groundbreaking software, etc - sometimes the things that break are the most obvious and mundane.. https://www.billhartzer.com/pages/regions-bank-fails-to-rene...

How about buying a category killing .com domain name, and use that as inspiration to build a business? The domain name can be your guide.

Here's one: Glowstick.com .. it's currently at auction. http://www.namejet.com/pages/auctions/standarddetails.aspx?a...

Go buy it, and create an online ecomm store selling stuff to party folks, halloween folks, safety folks, etc.

Or hire a domain name broker like MediaOptions.com or Evergreen.com to handpick a domain - that way you have an unfair advantage out of the gate, and a somewhat business direction already baked in..

Same here marsrover..

William Faulkner always spoke about the characters in his books, and mentioned that he doesn't decide their personalities, they do.

I sorta think my domains do the same thing.. I see them, and they tend to present business opportunities for me to consider..

I think people simply like saying 'it's a zero sum game'..

So, I'm not creating value if I build a real business on a neat domain name? If I bought MilkDelivery.com and launched a nationwide milk delivery service, I'm not creating value?

this ain't an seo play, this is a 'build a side-business' play. A keyword rich domain carries a lot of weight when you're knocking on doors, cold calling, meeting folks at conferences..

possibly helpful: https://www.semrush.com/blog/tell-site-hit-google-penalty/

>There are a million things that need to happen to launch a side business and a domain is literally one of the least important things

Different strokes, different folks.. My thought is, why not come out of the gate, guns blazing, with a killer product/service and the exact match domain of the industry.. Instantly compete with the leaders of your market. No ramp up needed.

> Also, how often do you end up not using an expensive domain name, or find out it was a dud? I use & develop every single premium dotCOM that I acquire. I dropped $26k on a domain recently, and the jury is still out whether that one's gonna be a dud.. It's always possible.

Everyone has their own quantitative method..

Me personally, I simply look at how long it'd take me to pay off the domain. I like to pay them off in 1-1.5 years. So effectively, I'd need my company throwing off enough profit to pay off those domains in that time period. That rough guide keeps me on track so that I don't overpay at auction. But since most folks I compete with are speculators, and need to flip for a profit, versus me who wants to build a legit business, I can typically pay more as my profits can cover the extra expense..

And I'm with you on the subdomain on nuts.com. A really bad idea, imo.

something simple..

you can simply go to google and type

site:domainnamedollarstore.com (example)

if google returns no results = no bueno

Sears has a somewhat similar story I believe..

>Offers.com (at the time a record-breaking price paid for a domain name) is still getting peanuts in traffic compared to retailmenot, which has the dumbest name ever.

Is it possible to spend lots of money and build a brand on a junky domain and drive lots of traffic, yes.

invest=what I spend to acquire the domain name. The renewal rates per year are around your $13 estimate, yes..

I mean to say that I buy domains from auction when an original owner abandons a domain.

And don't be so put off from buying a domain from a speculator or broker.. If someone owned a piece of mountain-view property, would you consider them scummy? There was no guarantee these domains would appreciate in price.. These domain investors took a huge risk in the early days. And it happened to pay off for them.

agree.. and I've found the more I invest, the more dedicated I am to the project.. spend little, and it just turns into, 'eh, I'll start that project next week'..

Tell that to Nuts.com, Diapers.com, Rover.com, Soap.com, Fabric.com, PoolTables.com....

Building a business isn't relevant anymore? And finding a unique way to promote it?

>But figuring out what is great is as hard as figuring out what products are great.

I gotta introduce you to the Google Keyword Planner..

author here..

why not find a domain that addresses a problem? then build business around it?

author here..

all I can say is, buy a B+ domain name, expect B+ results.

I prefer buying an A domain (not A+, not A-), and speed the process up, whether it fails or succeeds.

If it fails, eh, cost of doing business.. move on..

done : ) I'm a HN noob.

author here:

yes.. this..

side story, a friend of mine owns a city dotCOM name that also has a university with the corresponding .edu..

He receives email regularly from students pleading (to teachers) for an extra day for thesis completion or a gpa bump : )