If there is one thing I can say about this years’ DomainFest, it’s that it will be one we’ll never forget. Obviously, all of us that got very ill were less than happy to go through the ordeal , but I do have to admit I’ve talked to more domain investors post show than I’ve ever talked to. From Elliot, to Adam Strong, Ron Wells, Oscar Correa, and Ron Jackson, we’ve all kept in touch via email, text , and phone to see how everything is going. In some senses, I feel like it’s brought the domain community together. Now that most of us have “turned the corner” we can almost laugh about it.
I’ve added more Facebook friends in the last week than ever and it’s because of the flu talk, not necessarily DomainFest. All of our talk lately has turned to “how are you doing?”. Sometimes it takes unusual circumstances to bring people together and this certainly was an unusual circumstance. Even my wife laughs and said well if you weren’t part of the community before, you have been initiated through the Domain Flu. Lately it doesn’t matter how many domains you’ve sold, or how long you’ve been domaining, it’s “did you get sick and how bad was it”.
The publicity has also been good for business. The publicity has been great for the blog. Last weeks visits were an all time high. As a few people checked in we did a little business as well. Business that might have been put off but since we were already talking we went ahead and finished it up. The reporters calling and the links obviously don’t hurt. I couldn’t really give any quotes on this one because my uncle (State Senator) shares the same name and I have to respect him by not putting Playboy Mansion and Shane Cultra on the front of national websites and newspapers. No problem if people have to dig for info and it’s nothing I’m ashamed of, but national news is a different animal. Also, this isn’t a story on domaining, it’s about the Playboy mansion. None of the reporters want to hear anything about the industry. That’s not the angle they’re going after. Half of the reporters know it was a domain investor’s party but prefer to call it a “tech” party. It’s a much better story.
So looking back at this ordeal, in some ways I’m glad it happened. I’ve lost a week of productivity, and suffered a few days, but I do feel like I am much friendlier with 20-30 people that I wouldn’t have had as much as in common. Relationships that I’ll continue to build from this point on. And like everything in life, from a negative comes a positive.
Interestingly enough.. DomainFlu.com was registered on March 5, 2006.
Now all you guys need is a TShirt that says
“Survived the Playboy Plague 2011”
~Patricia – DomainBELL
Difficult circumstances, especially a shared “trauma”, always brings people together. Not the best way to go about it, but sounds like it will be worth it in the long run!