Great article Bob!

Thanks for the great article Bob!

Bob,
Nice ideas.
Now give us (1) your method for evaluating the ROIs on any given "idea" and (2) your 10 step plan for turning ideas into action i.e. actual products testable in the market place.
As a brand new itty-bitty- wannabe company on Maui, Hawaii ( www.huladog.biz ), setting the "right" priorities and creating a practical week-by-week action plan for transforming ideas into realities is a challange.
ALOHA

I appreciate your ideas and insight into doing business on the web. Do your business ideas include driving away business and direspecting our leaders?

I recently signed up for your domain parking program on GoDaddy. Not more than 10 minutes into the program, I notice the domain names parked on your site included disrespecful pop-up ad's mocking the President of the United States. I really don't mind your thoughts or political views and that is your right to share them any way you choose.

I felt the pop-ups were distasteful and not something I would show on my websites. I have removed my domain names from the parking program, 48 of which I purchased through GoDaddy. I am canceling my account and will not be using GoDaddy in the future.

Good luck in your endeavors Bob!

Thank you Bob for motivating me, and confirming that my initial steps are in the right direction. I'm referring to your thoughts on making Big Ideas happen. You see, I was laid off from a media job in the semiconductor industry this past January 2006. I decided to start my own business as an LLC. When I humbled myself enough to say I'll clean toilets for a living if I have to, well guess what? That's when the phone started ringing. Thankfully I've been busy editing video for a variety of clients ever since. Although I've seen ads for GoDaddy.com many times, tonight was the first time I've visited your site. I am thoroughly impressed- not only with your services, pricing and accessibility, but your whole attitude. My favorite read tonight was that you value someone saying... "Hey you know what would be cool?" Well, so do I and that is how dreams become born. I've now decided that I'm cancelling my current webhost services and coming to GoDaddy.com.

Sincerely,
Randall Maxwell
Austin, TX

Outstanding! Thanks for justifying my methodology of creating and generating "Big Ideas" with my Spouse...
As an entrepreneur your advice was excellent!

To Mr. Bob: FINALLY: Someone who is Real and Intelligent and NOT a Russian Mobster or the ilk...You remind me most of professional theatre people, witty, brave, knows-what-being-poor-once is all about, etc. I am your devoted fan. For now.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on great ideas. I have many what I consider "great ideas" and I'm always looking for additional insights and ways to mesh things together and make things click. I'm grateful for Go Daddy so we can try out things affordably and change directions as needed. Like when I popped my hubby's book on my website and he sold 10 times more product than I had and it was MY SITE! It was clear my idea could wait since the public was clamoring for his. I'm sure my turn will come but it was kind of depressing to have worked hard and then the his success far overshadowed mine.

Just an additional comment on your idea to have blogs. Good idea I just wish they had been more user friendly for those of us who know so little about blogging. Maybe I'll try yours again now that I've learned how on another site

I agree that talking with prople who are in your industry or are related to your business in some way is very crucial to growing your business. Who is closer in the relationship to your business ahtn your family, your employees, your business contacts. discussing with one of my employees on the first day of our new website http://4anypart.com the employee started talking about some heavy equipment auctions that he had seen. I explained to him the scope of outr site but he was so exited about these auction sites that I agreed to check the sites out after lunch.
I not only looked at the equipment sites I joined up and befroe the end of the day we had purchased 4 pieces of equipment and put it on our new site which was again intended for parts. We started practicing search engine optimztion on the site and it ended up that we made a substantial income off of the site and still never listed any of the original auto parts! Along the way we picked up other motivated people and we have meetings of the mind as we call it a few times a week.
These incredibly valuable meetings have prompted us to move the equipment site to http4usedequipment.com and we have opened 10 other websites and an ebay store. Most all of these ideas came to us in afterwork discussions. where employees came to me and told me of their idas and we ether shot the idea down or created great ways to nurture the idae into a reality. The end result is that we have a great working evironment where people know that their ideas mean something and their dreams can be achieved. i have seen companies which state in their ads no daydreamers. I welcome daydreamers. I am having such a great time taking mine and my co-workers dreams and turning them into profits that I will run my business this way until the day I retire or die.
I cannot imagine what my life would be like if I just kept focused on my one goal without giving anyone a chance to tell me of their dreams. I will continue to purchase website names and hosting with godaddy.com because many new ideas require new websites of their own for us to grow and nurture.
Seeing my daughters not be afraid to tell me what they think would be a great website shows me that they will be able to voice thier opinions later in life. I feel proud of the fact that I remember my father's great words "The most valuable resource a business can have is the employees. They are generally the most expensive resource and by far the most valuable".

Hi,

can you share with us your 16 rules for doing business?

Mihael

I couldn't agree with you more, Bob. A few beers and a relaxed environment seem to add to the creativity. That's how many of my ideas including my site www.winpartypoker.com came about.

Hey Bob, I'm from Singapore here.

I really like your entrepreneurship. I have been struggling with ideas, making things to work for 2 years already... Sometimes it makes small time money, sometimes it can make no money with lots of expenses... Recently, I just became your GoDaddy subscriber and have been happy with the kind of support it gives... It's truly world-class! I have been thinking of becoming your reseller and do a big time business here...

I really like your blog! Keep it up and let us hear your heart of how you are dealing with businesses... I believe I have a lot of things to learn from ya!

These days, I think you know you have a "big idea" when you are bold enough to register a domain name for 10 years. Actually, it used to be more gutsy, when I was with Network Solutions and it cost me $350 to do it. I'm so glad GoDaddy is around so my "big ideas" can hedge my "whimsical notions". I moved 15 domains here a year ago, have registered 20 more and won't even think about looking back.

I've only taken that 10-year plunge a couple times, once for my company and again today - just before I found this thread, in fact. And it happened just as you said, Bob. I was at a trade show speaking on several topics, had a random conversation, shared the random thought that came to mind with friends and family, and let it settle for a month. I'm hoping it's as big as everyone thinks it is.

-Rob

Bob,

We must say that our organization truly admires your ambition, dedicated and devotion to what you have created and transformed Godaddy into over the past several years. You're truly a dot-com visionary and pioneer. Not only have you literally helped contribute to the fall of Network Solutions, but also how you amicably stuck by your business model and remained truly dedicated to your clients and customer's along the way.

You definitely belong in the categories with the likes of Scott McNealy (Sun) and Jack Welsh (GE) to name a few of the best executives to ever exist.

We are also extremely pleased with your customer support staff that you have on board at GoDaddy. They are extremely knowledgeable and very customer-oriented. We would like to give many thanks to Barb @ WWD, Camille @ Support and James @ TDNAM and most importantly Mike Fear @ GoDaddy Support.

After being skeptical of using a "personal account manager" at first, Mike has shown extremely dedication to assisting our organization in regarding to building a better relationship with GoDaddy. Whether it's registering new domains, closing purchases, processing returns or putting out fires, Mike has delivered each and every time in a timely and professional manner. He's truly an asset to your organization! He definitely deserves a corner office with a few windows! Keep up the great work!

Many thanks to all the individuals not mentioned that have also assisted our organization, we greatly appeciate all of your effort.


Sincerely,

Domain Manager (Jason)
Senior Partner
Acquisitions & Business Development

WebContents, Inc

PS— Bob, when you have a few minutes, please forward us Mike's resume as he heard a rumor that he has expressed an interest in once again returning to the Midwest. Just kidding!

Bob again good to see you providing your successful godaddy vehicle to promote good business sense. I have been involved in 4 start ups and the two I enjoyed the most were the companies where people were encouraged to think of those big ideas. As you say many of these ideas happen away from the office environment. I got my idea to set up www.domainaffiliator.com from reading an article in business 2.0 on a flight back from Baltimore to the UK. Since that time 4 months ago I have procured over 150 domains on godaddy and hope to get up to 5000 within 2 years.


Look forward to meeting you at an upcoming convention or exhibition.

Regards Greg

Bob,
Time is precious - time is all. If there's one 'chat' room to join, let it be this one! The simple sanity shines through. I posted several comments vis-a-vis 'Big Ideas' a little earlier;however, as a relative newbie, I have recently undergone some aggrevating realities, which ultimately led to someone directing me to Go Daddy. Soon my domains will follow.
Un-accredited Resellers!! They've GOT to GO! Too convoluting. (In fact, in my opinion - NO resellers!) The left doesn't know what the right is doing!
While renewing my omnibol.com and registering a new email address to the 'mothership' NetNations, Un-accredited, through some 14 emails, the 'Accredited' subsidiary 'DomainPeople' send me 4 emails (in as many weeks - DUH!) trying to tell me my Domain is running out. I pay NetNation, get updated account confirmation etc. and figure the deed is done! Months later, when I try to access my omnibol.com account to register another domain name, I can't, and upon contacting Domain People am told it has expired and someone else has bought it. Well, after freaking right out, down loading 28 pages of the REGISTRANT'S Agreement, I glean, that 300% the Registrar can't be held responsible for ANYTHING (right or wrong; take them to court why don't you).
By the grace of St. Peter, after sending ICANN all email proofs, Mike Zupke, refusing to continue communication after a little spill over lip from me, where I dare to ask him what ICANN actually DOES as an over-seeing, governing body! if it "Can't help me," does pick up the thread and becomes very 'understanding.' QUESTION:
Do the Accredited Registrars have any clout? Do you meet, Bob? Who created ICANN in the first place. If they are so inept the still reigning glory of the internet is doomed to fall, like a house of cards. I give it 3 years.
What about us, the paying public - the consumers who foot the bills? Is there anyone, with scruples, like yourself who is/has started a meaningful consumer protection bureau? Like some of the huge scams on Ebay, one of which I fell for when 'buying' a saxophone; if those hyenas are allowed to continue, based on an outfit's primary GREED, this continent - like Rome - will fall fast. We have to clean it up! NOW! P.S.: I did get my omnibol.com back (too long to explain) Ciao and thanks.

All well and good, but unless your environment is condusive to allow the 'Big Idea' to take flight, you're just barking in to a rose bush. I spent 8 years on a billion$ idea, went through 22 potential 'deals,' before I gave up. Everyone loved the concept/product. The problem's with me, you'll say. You are right. I was a poor one man band, wearing too many hats, being vulnerable, with the rent due. They had me for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner - waiting me out. Most business men are hyenas. They're big boys who need to win - at all cost. I kept looking for a fair 'win-win' deal. "Hey! Count me in. Give me something!" My US Patents ran out last year. Now I want to give it, and other ideas, away on the net. Somebody DO something with these ideas! Make some money, stimulate the economy. I will invite other inventors to dust off their prototypes and join me.
I hope that the recent American Inventor show, with all due respect to the blood, sweat and tears they've put in to creating their products, isn't the best the country has to offer.
At 67, my candle is waning. The trick, with some 6 million Invention sites on air, is to get noticed. Time will tell! Ciao.

Hi Bob,

Thoughful points on business improvement through continual review and implementation of those improvements.

Edwards Deming wrote in great detail about continuous improvement and was one of those who helped Japan become the commercial force it has.

I'm also a great believer in improvements. After all if you were to do just one improvement a day you'd have over 300 improvements at the end of a year. That's going to make your business better isn't it?

As I'm sure you've found.

Jim

So Bob, I really think its a nice deal to not put up legitimate comments to your blog just because it calls your "big ideas" into question..

Kevin Black

Bob you are so right about coming up with great ideas away from your work.I do my best when I'm alone in my car traveling. No interruption! Now i'm trying to get funding to take Netmemories.com to the next level,a global obituary service online. What do you suggest.

To whom it may concern;
This morning is my first time in reading a blog (whatever that is) and I must say it is both confusing and enlightening
I am one of those poor souls with a multi-page resume that spans some 50+ years. Unique and out of the box ideas have never been a problem for me.
So why am I here typing away on my 6 year old HP laptop? Perhaps I see a couple of Dots that can be connected by me for others and by others for me.
The slap on the forehead and cryng out of whatever sound goes with the realization that you have a big idea is, usually, followed by looking around to see if someone is going to steal it.
The next question of ones self is if this is such a great idea why hasn't someone else thought of it.
Well the answer to thought #1 is that many people will want to steal your idea, some will need to steal your idea and still more will desire to steal it. Deal with it.
The answer to thought #2 is that your great idea may have been thought of many times by others but have either never been followed up or were fleshed out until either time, money or interest petered out. Again deal with it.
If money were the reason ideas succeeded only the rich would have ideas. What they have is money and many wheeler dealers (never could spell that other word) think that all they have to do is talk'em out of some of it to make their idea come to full bloom.
You can pour money over a poor idea until the cows come home and it will not survive the test of time nor the bright lights brought to bear on any idea.
To wit: Several years ago I had come across an idea that was, in my opinion, breathtakingly simple and held promise of great wealth.
But I, like so many idea people, set about to gain capital from the usual sources. You know - Mom, Dad, Brothers, Sisters, inlaws people I met on the street. Whoever. Didn't work because I hadn't put it on paper and the listeners didn't have my background so they couldn't understand it as well as I could.
Well I took my electronic typewriter, a ream of paper and borrowed a friend's basement and I brought my idea into focus on one typewritten page. I then wondered who would be my best investor(s).
I stood back and analyzed the process. The process that we all know is that you:
A) Have a geat idea
B) Find people with money and give them a "Piece" of the action
C) Promise them great returns on their money
D) Work your butt off and get the idea to market
E) Find out what the end buyer thinks of your great idea
F) Share the resulting profits or, God forbid, Losses

I realized that there might be a better way to do this thing. I took my single page concept and literally went door to door selling my service. In 30 days I had my answer = I had nearly enough sales to pay my start up costs. I approached my friend whom I had taken into my confidence. He and his friend offered to put up $5,000 in exchange for 2/3 of the concept. I said NO WAY JOSE! So I still have my idea and they ha...

Hi Bob,

I think the most important reason beyond your success is you are humble enough to listen anybody ordinary like me. And as long as you keep this humility you will always succeed. This is a great wisdom which m very few have really.

I have registered around 80 domains through register.com around 3 weeks ago. By then I didn't know about godaddy. I won't go into the details here but I have had various problems at almost every stage. And after that I found out about godaddy and then I asked register.com why their prices are so expensive, they said their services are better. And I said to myself if their services are better then of course they have the right to ask for higher prices. But then I registered more than 100 domains through godaddy and I noticed that godaddy is in fact giving better services. I won't go into the details but one simple thing will explain it all; at register.com I could't list my domains in alphabetical order. But I even accepted not to be able list my domains in alphebetical order although it is very difficult when you have many domains. But today just by coincidence I noticed that around 15 of my domains out of the total 80 registered by registered.com are missing. I called them immediately and they said they are canceled and they will send me an e-mail about this matter. Can you believe this if I did not notice this by coincidence perhaps they would never let me know! And this was enough! I decided to transfer all my domain to Godaddy asap. See they say they ask for higher prices because they have better services!

So today I sent a mail to their customer service about these issues and I kindly asked them forward that mail to the CEO of register.com but I am not sure if that mail will reach to the CEO although I warned the person who will receive that mail that if she or he does not forward that mail to the CEO she or he will have to look for a new job soon anyway because it is an impossibility to survive in this competitive market with higher prices and worse services. I don't think my mail will reach to the CEO of register.com and I think even if it reaches it won't be able to wake him up from his deep sleep

Anyway the reason why I wrote down all this is that you made it so easy for a final customer like me to reach you directly so this will keep you very awake different than the deep sleepers. So this h isumility the true reason beyond your success and thanks for giving me this oppurtunity to reach you directly. I wish your succes continiues but I will be very openly critisize if anything begins to go wrong in godaddy. I will critize for the good of godaddy for two reasons:

1-I don't want o see a company like Godaddy whose CEO can be reached directly.

2-I love godady because of the excellent services given at lowest prices possible.

Thanks again Bob and never lose your direct contact with your ordinary customers like me because the moment you lose this contact you fall asleep as well.

Dear Bob,

I have the utmost respect for you. I think you are an incredible businessman and love reading your blog.

As you run the world's premier blog about domain names, could you please consider writing about the .eu domain name registration fiasco? It has affected millions of people including godaddy customers. You can read my article here: http://www.azam.biz/eu-domain-names-fraud

There have been countless discussions about the fiasco on domain name forums.

Thanks and keep up the good work.

I can agree. I still strongly believe to this day that if you want something bad enough and you put forth your hardest effort.....you will succeed.

I also believe that another key to success is growing at a steady pace and not becoming greedy.

Bob,

You should spend some of this blogging time writing a Business Biography, or at least get a ghost writer going on it. I'd love to read more about your early struggles and how you overcame them, and would gladly pay the going hardcover price for the privilege.

What I love about GoDaddy is what's represented in this post, and what's missing from the stodgy hand-fed mentality of your major competitor. It's what makes GoDaddy fun to watch.

It was exciting to watch fresh thinking win your battle for market share, and its great to see that you're still hungry for more.

It's interesting how different your company is from the Good Ol' Boys at Verisign in that way... when they want a new product they look around for an opportunistic acquisition, choke down another big cash/stock transaction, then turn off the lights and go back to sleep.

Keep up the good work, I can't wait to see what's next.

-Rhett

I've been eading what Jean has posted about making a great idea into reality. I'm intrigued, because I've started my own business several times, and not all have been successes. I think that money was a factor in many factors, because I wasn't open to doing much in the way of raising startup capital or keeping an eye on cash flow.

I don't think it takes money to make money. Or rather, you certainly shouldn't limit yourself to using your own money. Consider financing a startup with investors, as limited partners, not general partners, so that you control the enterprise without their meddling. You just agree to return their money with a specified return on their investment within 5 years. In exchange, they stay out of your business and wait for the check to come back to them.

I'm not sure what business you're contemplating, because I visited your blog and didn't get any clues there.

If you have many ideas, I would suggest you focus on the best one, the one with the broadest appeal and potential. From there, consider all the necessary operational needs (other people's talent, labor, and money) then work out a business model that allows you to pin down your costs, so that you can arrive at a pricing structure that yields a solid profit. If "x" is your proposed service or product, then work out what factors will yield "x" while leaving enough money for you to make it worth it. Of course, if you have investors, use the money they have loaned you as a factor so that you can calculate how many "x" products you need to sell before returning their money back to them.

Good luck to you!
Dom

Big ideas usually stem from frustration at least mine are based on frustration. One of those ideas is now selling pretty decenty in the brick and mortar realm.

I like to go on the adage that if something frustrates me, then it most likely will frustrate others, I just happen to be in the fortunate situation to develop software solutions for it.

Mr Parsons,

Great article, many don't realize a team is a group of individuals working cohesively towards an ultimate mutual goal. It seems you have this down, perhaps something you aquired in your USMC days?

Its nice to see people of incredible wealth that haven't lost sight of their fundamentals or who they really are. I admire your ability to think outside the box and valuing the input of your subordinates/peers in your business decisions.

Also as noted earlier, awesome decision to move the login to the right side!

I believe your values influence your customers to do business with you. I don't buy godaddy products because your prices are the best...I do so because I believe Bob Parsons is a good man and runs an equivalant company. You've got an excellent business model/marketing campaign!

Jon Kleinhans
USMC - 0321

Hey Bob,

Great site — and I love GoDaddy.

In reference to your latest article, not sure where the big "ideas" are.

> To become a domain name registrar.
Proven existing business that you entered — Idea 0 points

> To offer private domain registrations.
Primary business extention, but okay — Idea 1/2 point

> To purchase our own root certificate and become a secure
> (SSL) certificate authority.
Obviouse business extension — Idea 0 points

> To create our own domain name after market.
Existing business you entered — Idea 0 points

>To create Wild West Domains reseller
Reseller program is an obvious business extention — Idea Points 0

Ideas are new, or a new focus on something existing.

I admire your business success, but calling them big ideas is a reach.

Markus

Hi Bob, read through your blog entry and some of the responses... I believe that there are two types of people in this world. Those who can widthstand the pressures of entrepreneurship and those who cannot. People have this mirage that you build something and "they will come and you can retire"... RARELY does it happen this way.

I have never had a job myself, always created my own path through life. If the first thought in your mind after "thinking" of a big idea is hitting the closest VC, you are not only cheating yourself but your business. You want leverage and jumping the gun before showing some promise gives you 0 to negotiate with.

Money doesn't amount to much without passion and sacrifice... if you are willing to put your entire livelyhood (and then some) on the line for an idea... then you are going somewhere whether you make it or not. If you cannot do this, then why would anybody else invest in your idea?

Jon
Founder of myfoodcount.com
Free, Anonymous and Secure Online Health Monitoring