We all go through periods of discouragement and depression. At times like that it’s hard to motivate yourself to keep moving forward as a domainer or entrepreneur. The good news is that there are tools you can use to get through those rough patches.

I’m no exception. Sometimes the ills of the world, and my own personal problems, weigh on me like a sandbag on my shoulders. I feel lethargic and tired of my work. It’s easier at such times to pick up a good novel, especially a science fiction or fantasy novel, and lose myself temporarily in another world. Or I might begin several new online chess games and immerse myself in chess strategy. I have always been like this.

Now, however, this is a problem. I’m not a student or a 9 to 5 employee anymore. I’m a self-employed entrepreneur with a family, a business to run, and bills to pay. Furthermore, we are entering a challenging time, with PPC income down and domain buyers adopting a conservative stance as the U.S. heads into a recession.

So, what to do? It happens that I’ve survived stormy seas in the past and I’ve gotten to know myself well. Over the years I’ve developed a suite of motivational and organizational tools that helps me get through these rocky periods.

1. Affirmations

I’m a big believer in the power of affirmations. J. Donald Waters, a well known author and lecturer, says,

“An affirmation is a statement of truth which one aspires to absorb into his life. It has been said that we are what we eat. It could be truer to say, ‘We are what we think.’”

I began using this tool in my mid twenties, when I went through a dark and difficult period, and it made a huge difference.

Affirmations helped me overcome:

• negative self-images of myself
• negative self-assessments of my competency
• negative memories of my past behavior that replayed constantly in my mind
• feelings of jealousy toward others who are more “successful”
• self-pity and cynicism

At the same time my understanding of my own strengths and worth, and my right to realize my dreams, came into fruition. Along with this came a new faith in the future.

In subsequent years I wrote extensively, held a steady job for years (a first for me), started a business, got married and bought a house. All of this was possible because prayer, meditation, and daily affirmations enabled me to change my self-conception. I went from confused to intrepid, self-reliant and determined.

I didn’t intend for this to be a how-to on affirmations, but I do think this is an important subject, as I believe that many people are crippled by negative self-beliefs that have been put upon them by others.

My personal affirmations consist of three short lists, each containing different types of “I” statements: “I am,” “I will,” and “I love.”

“I Am” Statements

“I Am” statements are affirming declarations of some good qualities that I possess, or want to possess. For example:

1. I am a loving, attentive husband and father. I cherish my family and they are the most important part of my life.
2. I am a hard working, confident and highly successful domain name investor.
3. I am a natural moneymaker. I am good at making money, investing money, and increasing my wealth.
4. I am open to opportunities that others may miss.
5. I am a talented writer, with an original voice and important ideas to share.
6. I am an athletic man. I love working out, practicing martial arts, lifting weights, hiking, and strengthening my body in every way.
7. I am a spiritual person. Prayer and meditation are an important part of my daily routine.

To those of you who are already self-confident and self-aware, such affirmations may seem like a waste of time. But most people are full of self-doubt in some or all areas of their lives, and their doubt acts as a brake, shutting them down when they try to move forward.

Keep in mind that the affirmations do not have to be 100% true. For example, looking at the second one above, I am indeed a hard working and relatively confident individual. But there are times when my confidence flags. And I would not call myself highly successful yet. That’s where I want to be, but not where I am. The affirmations steadily mold my self-perception until they become reality. In addition, they act as motivational kindling, stoking my internal fires to move me forward.

There are three critical points to keep in mind concerning affirmations:

1. Make them ambitious but believable.
2. Repeat them frequently, at least two or three times a day.
3. Follow them up with specific action plans.

You may have noticed also that my affirmations are balanced across the various spheres of life, including business, family, physical and spiritual. That meets my needs, but yours can be more focused on one area if you wish.

“I Will” Statements

These are statements of specific, concrete goals that you intend to achieve. Again, make these challenging. They should stretch your capabilities, but be believable. “I will sell a million dollar domain name within five years” is great, but “I will become the richest domainer on earth” is not believable.

“I Will” statements can also cover all spheres of life.

I suggest that you write these statements down and keep the list somewhere handy so that you can review it, at a minimum, three times a day: first thing in the morning when you wake up, once in the middle of the day, and last thing at night before you go to bed.

In the beginning you will be skeptical of your own affirmations and you may find yourself thinking that it’s silly or embarrassing. You have been conditioned for years to believe that your dreams are unrealistic and silly, and some of that will come out as you read your affirmations.

Never mind that. Just keep at it, three times a day minimum, and you will find that in time your skepticism will disappear. As your faith in yourself grows, you will see opportunities that you did not see before. You will conceive of concrete ways to realize your goals.

“I Love” Statements

This may not be for everyone, and in fact I only occasionally use this portion of my list. These statements are appropriate for individuals who are deeply depressed, discouraged or negative.

Make a list of the things in life that you love, no matter how small or remote that may seem. For example:

• I love my parents, my wife, my children, and my close friends (it’s a good idea to name each person individually).
• I love the color of the sky in the evening just after sunset.
• I love a good banana split.
• I love the soreness in my muscles after a workout.
• I love the satisfaction of making a good profit on a domain name sale.

Etcetera. Reading this list over each day will serve to remind you of all that is good in life, so that you’re not constantly thinking of life in negative terms.

Disclaimer: For individuals who are clinically depressed or suffering some emotional trauma, I am not suggesting that affirmations should take the place of therapy or medical care. But they can augment your recovery.

What these are really useful for is long-term reshaping of your self-conceptions, which then changes your approach to everything in life.

To learn more about the power of affirmations and how to craft them, I’d suggest reading the following books:

Affirmations of Wealth: 101 Secrets of Daily Success

Affirmations for Self-Healing

Part two of this article will discuss simple organizational techniques that can keep you moving forward when you’re not in the mood.

Was Rick Schwartz lucky, or was he a visionary? Was Yun Ye lucky, or was he smart? Some struggling domainers complain that the most successful icons in this industry are guys who got lucky because they were in the right place at the right time.

Being able to look ahead and see what others cannot or will not see is not luck, it’s foresight. Some of these top domainers are people who recognized the value and importance of domain names in the early years, way back in the early and mid 1990′s, when the rest of us were creating print ads, selling retail, buying real estate, or whatever. Or in my case, riding a bicycle.

Yes, that’s right. In the late 80′s and early 90′s, I worked one odd job after another, from librarian to literacy tutor to electrical plant safety monitor. In 1992 I settled down in San Francisco and worked as a bike messenger. I was still in my 20′s and I loved the freedom and exhilaration of it. I lived in the YMCA and had a tiny room where I stashed my bike and my computer, my two most important possessions. But the computer was only for writing stories and my novel. I had never even heard of the internet at that point.

In 1994, still messengering, I made a delivery to a place called Organic Online. It took up the entire floor in a dilapidated building down on Third Street, south of Market, just above a sweatshop full of Chinese seamstresses. I walked into this huge, darkened room with workstations scattered across the floor and young people sitting in front of glowing monitors. “What do you people do here?” I asked. “Web design.” It looked fascinating and it sounded a chime in my brain, but I didn’t respond for another two years.

In 1995 I remember having a conversation with someone who told me about the internet. “What’s on it?” I asked. “Oh, not much,” he said. “A few discussion forums, and a few company websites that are just like brochures.”

“Doesn’t sound like much,” I said.

But by 1997 it was clear a revolution was taking place. So I went to the Software Training Group and studied web design. Since then I’ve mostly been self-employed though I was employed briefly as an internet researcher before the dot com crash, and then later in “media intelligence” – basically just a media clips service. In any case since 1997 my work has always involved the internet, whether it’s creating websites, blogging or buying and selling domain names. The internet has become a big part of my life and has enabled me to enjoy certain freedoms that I would not have had otherwise, and for that I’m grateful.

What about you? What were you doing in the mid 90′s? If you were registering premium dot com domain names, then hey, more power to you. I’ll never complain that you were just lucky, because I had the same opportunity you did, but I didn’t see it.

I’ve seen a number of very successful “original” domainers state recently that it’s not too late to get into the business. I’m not disputing that – in fact I agree – but I’d like to see one of them put his money where his mouth is. So I’m issuing the Start Over Challenge!

For example, Rick Schwartz wrote,

“So when folks ask “Can you get into domains and be successful if you started TODAY?” The answer is YES, but when they ask ME how to do it…..I can’t tell them. It is a different set of circumstances and I would have to STUDY the market for several days, weeks or months to create a new formula. But there is no question there are many successes to have out there. If I started again today I would still be very successful.”

Rick, I understand your point that you can’t simply tell people how to become successful. Rather than telling us, how about showing us?

Other top domainers have made similar statements.

I’d like to see one of you top guys set aside $1,000 and pretend to be just starting out. See what you can do with that $1,000 in, say, one year, and document your progress for the benefit of beginners.

Let me be clear that in reality I think you guys have nothing to prove. Your success was built on vision, persistence and hard work. And no one’s asking Bill Gates to start over as a junior programmer. But I think it would be an enlightening and fascinating exercise, and next time you insist that it’s not too late and that if you had to start over you could, you’ll have proof to back it up.

Most importantly I think it would be a great demonstration and teaching tool for novice domainers.

We’ll call this the “Start Over Challenge.” How about it Rick? Frank? Sahar? Or Kevin Ham or any other great domainer? Care to take the Start Over Challenge?

What are the terms of the challenge? How will we measure success?

How about $1,000 to $100,000 in one year? What do you think readers, does that seem fair, or is it too hard or maybe too easy? After all, these guys have access to other major players and big buyers. What’s your opinion?

Added Note: Someone suggested that the challenge must be done anonymously or under an assumed name, to more accurately reflect the experience of a beginner. I think this is a great suggestion and we will make this one of the conditions of the challenge.

Sahar Sarid has replied that it’s an interesting idea but he already has plenty of challenges on his plate. Fair enough. Anyone else?

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Thomas A. Edison (1847 – 1931)

Many new domainers feel that the domain name train has left the station. They look at the pioneers like Rick Schwartz, Frank Schilling and Kevin Ham and think, “Those guys took all the good names. There’s nothing left. It was a one-time deal.” Is that true? Can you still get rich with domain names, or is it too late?

Sahar Sarid recently wrote a post comparing the domain market now to Florida real estate 80 years ago. In response, Steve of Alledia.com (an SEO club for Joomla users) commented:

Chances like this don’t come around very often. Domaining had its window 13 years ago. Fort Lauderdale property had its window 80 years ago. It may well be that there are no such opportunities available right now. One may develop next year or not for the next several years.

To be fair to Steve, many folks struggling to enter and succeed in the domain name market express the same frustrations.

True, a beginning domainer with a limited budget cannot acquire a Business.com or Applications.com type of domain name, and maybe not even BusinessApplications.com. Does that mean that opportunities to get rich do not exist?

I’ll write a post soon outlining some specific ways to find good domain names. It’ll be a good one, so stay tuned. In the meantime, let me point out some broad trends:

1. Population Growth. The human population continues to grow, creating increasing demand in every consumer sector. The world population is expected to grow to 9.4 billion by the year 2050, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Insane, huh? Of course only a small percentage of these will be internet users, but with the spread of internet-capable mobile devices and cheap laptops, that percentage will continue to increase.

2. Internet Evolution. The internet itself is still developing to say the least. If you count from the invention of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and others at CERN in Geneva in 1990 or so, then the web is in its teens. It’s an industry in its infancy, yet thundering ahead like a hurricane. Can you imagine declaring 17 years after the invention of electricity that the moment had passed and there were no further opportunities in electric devices?

3. Internet Users Growth. The number of people with part time or full time internet access continues to mushroom, especially in the developing world. There are a billion people with internet access now, and there will be 1.5 billion people with internet access by 2011, with the biggest growth in the online population occurring in Brazil, Russia, India and China, according to a new report by Jupiter Research.

4. New Technologies. New types of handheld devices, new internet browsers for mobile phones, and new internet services for mobile users are all going to dramatically change the way people access and view the internet in coming years; these trends will also open up the internet to the masses of people who have cell phones but no computers.

5. Domain Trends. Like the World Wide Web, the doman name industry is constantly developing. Important new ccTLDs are being introduced, many more people are taking up domaining as a hobby or full time job, media companies are being formed based on domain names, and price appreciation is extending to previously quiet sectors.

In the next twenty years technology will evolve in ways that will boggle our minds. As for the domain name market, it’s busy and getting busier. When a market is busy it creates opportunity. As Thomas Edison pointed out in the quotation up top, opportunity is a function of the work you put in (and keeping an open mind). Study, learn and don’t shut yourself off to new ways of thinking.

Lastly, let me change the direction of this piece and point out, since we’re speaking of opportunity, that every sunrise grants you an opportunity to be a better human being. I hope that you achieve financial wealth and success in the domain name industry. More important than that, however, is that you keep peace with your own soul and be a force for positive change in the world. That’s what we really need, and that will benefit you much more than any domain name.

I became interested in domain names as early as 1997 or 1998, though it was just a curiosity back then. I held on to several good domains because I thought I might develop websites around them, not because I had any inkling of the way generic domain valuations would skyrocket. I also let a lot of good ones go.

I once owned TheService.com, and I let it expire. Not a giant-killer perhaps, but a pretty good domain. I also planned to register Islam.com. I checked it and found it was available, and I remember thinking, “I’ll register it next month, after I’ve paid my bills.” You can guess what happened. Someone else took it.

I could sit around kicking myself for missing out. Many struggling domainers spend a lot of energy bemoaning lost opportunities.

But you know what? Hindsight is 20-20. If I’d invested in Apple stock in the early days… If I’d registered that generic domain back in 1996… I’f I’d come up with the idea for that simple invention that everyone uses now…

People who only look back will always fail, because they see only a world of missed opportunities. They see a world of scarcity, not enough to go around. They see only what others have done.

Those who succeed look ahead. They see the coming opportunities or they create their own. They see a world of plenty, a world of a million waiting opportunities. Such people are limited only by the length of a day. This is true not only on the internet but in every industry.

Are you looking for opportunities? Read about future technologies and consider what markets they might open. Read Business 2.0, Entrepreneur, VentureWire.com, TheAlarmClock.com, and other magazines and websites that cover emerging trends.

Here’s an idea: whenever you find that there’s something (whether in the physical world or the internet) that’s persistently annoying or inconveniencing you, then make a note of that thing, because that is an opportunity. If it’s bothering you, chances are it’s bothering other people too, and that is an opportunity to create a solution. Creating solutions to everyday problems is how people get rich.