I got an email recently, from a reader who used to enjoy my regular posting. He wondered, “what gives?” Where was the content he used to enjoy reading?

In a nutshell – I Need to Regroup.

I’ll explain.

In the elusive hunt for everflowing greenbacks, moneda, dinero, Benjamins, good hunters and huntresses need to do one important thing to survive…

Evolve

And in the evolution of my business, as one should with any business, I must take a step back, like with art, and see the whole picture.

I’m analyzing many factors, such as:

1. What facetes of my business do I most enjoy?
   With having a “portfolio style” business, as Coach Dave Buck, CEO of Coachville, would call it – I have several main components, not just one focus. In my Coaching, Writing, Designing, and Educating – I’m looking at if there’s something I like to do more than the others.

   And in this evaluation, I come to one conclusion. Nope. I love them all. It’s the client or the project that makes the difference.

2. What do the people want?
   

   Give the people what they want – not what they should want.

   In order to follow this old adage, one really needs to study people, and their motivating factors. People are motivated in buying, and in everything they do by a force somewhere between Fear <-> Love. Where do your products and services fall on that spectrum? Where do mine?

3. What aspects of my business can I outsource?
   I have more ideas than the day is long – but everyone from the novices to the “guru moguls” all have one limiting factor in common. There is only 24 hours in a day. One needs to sleep for some of them, and if one wants a happily fulfilled life – one needs to be social for some of them, too.

   We all are working with the same limit in hours. But we can struggle with that hurdle alone, or we can get help & leap the hurdle as part of a team.

   Don’t get me wrong… I like being a solopreneur. The success of my businesses will reach the tipping point and mushroom by leaps and bounds when I can leverage the time of others.

There are other evaluation factors, too, but these are the big three that I’m re-organizing my businesses around.

I wonder how you would answer those, on your own Hunt for Money?

I also have examples of how awesome it can be to help someone get their business on the internet. But it was an already looooong post.

Some of the highlights of last week were:

• Helping the Midwife client break free of domain enslavement & getting her more progress in a week than she had in months.
• Getting a “tire kicker” from earlier in the year engaged in creating a successful online business.
• Knowing my website editing services are a valuable asset to a team project for a major plastics company.
• Making strides in my own projects is pretty sweet, too!

Even though I need to take a moment to vent, sometimes, the benefits of running my own businesses greatly outweighs the occasional problem. After all, obstacles are really opportunities for growth, right?

I very rarely self-medicate with alcohol or anything, but yesterday put me through the ringer.

Remember the midwife that I’m helping get started online? I think I wrote about her before. Well her so-called former web designer is a complete scam artist. I used to just think he was a moron – but after needing to file a BBB report on him yesterday – we now know he’s a duplicitous control freak.

Ok, kids – pay attention – this is very similar to other scams that security pros warn about.

*names are changed, but if you contact me and ask if “so-and-so” is who is mentioned here, I’ll be honest. I don’t know how many internet newbies got scammed by this disgrace to the Geeks.

Scammer says, “Hey, you need a website! I’ll help you. You need a printer, I’ll help you.”
You say, “Ok, that sounds great, thanks for your help.”
Scammer says, “I registered 6 domains for you. And here is a list of reviews for a printer. That’ll be $300.”
After you notice that the scammer hasn’t done anything but put up your contact information on a white background and that he registered the domains in HIS name not YOURS – you get wise.
You ask for them back.
He plays dumb.
You ask to have them transfered over to you.
He ignores you and lets two expire.
You say, after six months of waiting, you’ve found another web host / designer and you need to get ownership of your domains before you proceed.
He sends authorization codes. That transfers the registrar and allows the domain to be hosted somewhere else, but does not replace his ownership for your own.
You say, “That’s not what I asked for.”
He plays on your naiveté and says you’re wrong, that’s not how it’s done.
You have him call your new web designer.
She walks him through it, step by step.
He realizes she knows what she’s talking about and gets cranky.
She guides him to the place to put in your information as the “new” owner.
He yells, “WHY DOES SHE NEED HER NAME ON THEM ANYWAY?” and when reminded that she paid for them and would like them under her own account, with her listed as the registrant – he yells more.
When he’s invited to play nice or face the BBB, he yells “Let’s be civil! Y’know what? GOODBYE!” and hangs up.

What’s the scam? You might think, “Buyer Beware.” Yes, you’d be right. But variations of this scam are all over.

1. Charging double for domains.
2. Charging low only to have a rate hike that’s quintuple what you thought you’d pay.
3. Charging ridiculous fees to transfer your domain name to another host.
4. Waiting for you to build up your domain, visitor count, Page Rank & then selling your domain out from under you. (Hey, your name isn’t on it – THEY own it.)

So, let this be a warning to you. Register your domain only through accredited ICANN, or receive a guarantee IN WRITING that your domain will list YOU or your company name as the “Registrant.”

Sigh.

Mean people suck.

And drive me to drink.

Be nice. Make money.

These guys wouldn’t do that to you. They’re a little light in the loafers for this deal, but they’re good people. Seriously, click through & talk to someone live about it.