I’ve been writing allot last few days but what you do not know, I’ve been pretty sick last few days as well, since Tuesday. Fever, heavy coughing, worst than I ever remember. No fun to say the least. Having partners such as Darren Cleveland and Jeff Bhavnanie, having a domain portfolio on auto-pilot (long term deal with Hitfarm.com, domains consolidated with Monte Cahn’s Moniker.com), the business is not affected at all. If anything, we’re doing better last few days.
My family, my sister and my mom, came to visit yesterday and I brought this exact point up. Whether I’m here or not, the business will likely go on strong. How is that for security, knowing whether you wake up or not your loved ones will be taken care of for many years to come?
How did I get to this point? It has to do with life design, knowing what needs to be done in order to get the results you want to achieve. We worked tirelessly over the years to automate systems, put long term contracts in place, hire reliable managers and associates, and so on. At the last TRAFFIC show I brought the family to the show to meet the key people we’re working with and other various close friends. Yes, it was mainly for social reasons however the other side of it was also part of my overall protection plan, in case of emergency.
If something goes awfully wrong, can your family and/or loved ones survive without you? Do they know which sites to go to, user names/passwords, bank accounts, and basic daily management tasks? Within various sponsors you are working with, in case of emergency, do they know who to talk with? Do they know not only how to maintain the business, but grow it? Can they even log on to your computer?
These are tough questions we tend to avoid, put aside for “later”, but later may never come. I highly recommend to take the time soon and put an emergency plan in place. Many before you have failed to put plans together and the families got stuck with not knowing a thing what to do. Don’t let it happen to you.
Have a great day,
Sahar
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One of the most critically important domain/business posts ever.
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I bet majority of readers said to themselves something like “make sense, I’ll get to it later”.
Sahar
This is important. What it comes down to is staying proactive on and off the field before the game is over. However, I encourage people to plan as if your replacement does not wish to carry on your passion of business in this or any industry. Think outside of the box. Everyone assumes that loved ones want to carryout YOUR plans after you are gone just because the money is good and because it took years to build the business.
There is hardly any truth to this most of the time.
Remember, this is a world of “I”, “My”, “You”, meaning individualism. Loved ones will only embrace things they can relate to or have the same passion on. We see this all the time with major businesses. Loved ones sell off the family business that took so many years to build and use the money to fund their passions.(Hilton Great Example) If your loved ones have not joined the team by now, chances are, they will not after you are gone.
So emplace systems for your loved ones to embrace THEIR passions with the wealth you left behind being built from your passions.
(If that makes any sense)
Death is certain, so plan smartly. Sit your loved ones down and talk about what interests them, so you can effectively implace security blankets for your loved ones to continue building wealth from the seeds you have planted.
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Good point you are bringing up Steve, very good.
Sahar
Hope your starting to feel better…
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Thanks Alex, starting.. much better than yesterday or earlier today for sure. Now just hope it is not coming back.
Sahar
You just need some of that Florida sunshine and time on the beach. Summer is coming and all of these colds and flu will be out of the way. Feel better and sleep with peace of mind.
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Can’t wait! It really is just a bad health period in my life right now. Dog bite, flu, and a couple of other minor issues. Who’s playing with my Voodoo doll??
Sahar
You really know how to ask the tough questions. With this single post you’ve set me a critical task to accomplish for 2008. To automate and document my businesses processes so that my wife could take over seamlessly should anything happen to me.
Well, Sahar, better advice was never given. Three weeks ago, recently semi-retired from my day job, I was looking at Pompano and LHP water properties and feeling very out of breath. Two tests later and I was on a plane to Mayo Clinic Rochester for open-heart surgery for mitral valve repair. In the intervening day I assembled lists of:
Excell listings of my domain holdings annotated with development status.
User id and passwords for all domain, hosting, and parking accounts.
Details of pending site auctions.
Bank account numbers and access codes.
I mailed one copy to myself at home, handed one to my wife with isstructions to give to my son, and was wheeled to the OR.
I had previously obtained recognition from my son as to my general domain-investment objectives. (Bonus: IT is his strength, and we are now begining to work jointly on several of the sites.
The classic will would just not have fit the situation. Thanks for the push, Sahar.
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Anytime Fred, hope all is well now.
Cheers
Sahar