God.com Vision
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
I had just finished my medical residency in June 2000, when the dot com imploded and started to become the dot com bust. AOL had just acquired Time Warner, one of the largest traditional media companies. AOL did that with phone dial-up internet services!
I paused and prayed as I pondered my next big step, whether to practice medicine or go all-in on the Internet. I was excited about the possibilities of domain names and acquiring virtual real estate.
Vision of a Better Future
Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
I believed the Internet would be a revolution, like the Industrial Revolution, powered by the steam engine. It would be more transformative than the automobile, airplane, radio, or TV revolutions.
As I pondered and prayed, I had a vision. If I were to enter this Internet revolution, I would want to own some of the best virtual real estate properties. Four domain names appeared in my vision:
God.com
Heaven.com
Religion.com
Jesus.com
I saw them in that order. I researched to see who owned these domains and emailed the owners. I never got a reply from anyone except Religion.com. He was asking $150,000. What? That's crazy. This is not a business name, I thought. Good luck. Later, the God.com owner said he would never sell and just wanted to safeguard the domain. The same for Heaven.com. I never got a reply from Jesus.com.
As I saw things, acquiring these four domain names would require millions of dollars, and it seemed virtually impossible to acquire all four of them as I had envisioned.
How to make the Impossible Possible
There is nothing impossible to him who will try.
Alexander the Great (356-323 BC)
It was a chicken-and-egg problem. I had to make enough money to acquire these four domains if any of the owners were even willing to sell them at some point. I decided to keep in contact with each of them and email them monthly.
In the meantime, I decided to acquire a supporting cast of religion domains; why not pay for them by creating a business around commercial internet domains? Yes, that sounded like a great idea.
I saw how a handful of domainers had impressive domain portfolios, like my now good friends Scott Day (the watermelon farmer who acquired watermelons.com and then just started registering and buying great domains like recipes.com, webdesign.com, and webhosts.com), Frank Schilling, who just sold his domain business for $160 million, and Yun Ye, who sold his 100,000 domain name portfolio for $164 million in 2005.
To accomplish the heart of my visions, I required not only money but also great providence, God's helping hand. I determined that I would also have to have a pure heart and focus on missionary work while figuring out the business of domain names.
I wrote these thoughts down on a page of paper to visualize them. This would be the method I'd use to develop all of my future go-to business plans for subsequent ventures. If it could fit on half to one-page of paper, it would be simple to focus on and execute.
It's usually one big thing with a few supporting things that make a business work.
Think of Instagram. Initially, it started as a location social network, but photos were the main feature users used, so they simplified the app to just photos with filters and social sharing—perfectly timed to ride the wave of mobile photos.
Think of Slack. It started as an internal communication tool for the team developing a big game. The game failed, and they pivoted to Slack, which they later sold to Salesforce for billions.
Heart and Character
The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching.
John Wooden (1910-2010)
I also envisioned that I would not be ready as a person to start this massive stewardship of God.com if I were to ever be granted it. It was put in my heart that the time would come when all four were granted, if ever.
Four years passed. I asked my friend Richard Lau to help me and offered him a 10% brokerage commission. As my friend was talking to the owner of God.com, the domain was hijacked (ie. stolen). Richard worked with the FBI to help recover the domain. He told the owner that I would be a great steward of the domain name. He agreed to sell it for just under half a million. By then, my commercial domain name portfolio, in the hundreds of thousands of domains, could easily afford it.
God.com. Check. Thank you God.
I then asked Richard to help me with religion.com. The previous owner donated it to the Presbyterian church, which put out a press release saying they would never sell the domain. My heart dropped when I read this. Yet, five years later, they agreed to sell it, with the condition that it had to be the same price they had offered the previous owner the donation receipt for the domain. $150,000 five years later. Wow.
Religion.com. Check. Laus Deo.
In 2007, I had been offering unsuccessfully increasing amounts for Heaven.com. The owner was still adamant about not selling. One day I received an email that he was ready to sell. I asked how much, expecting a reply of millions—$ 350,000. I had just sent him an offer to buy for $500,000 a week earlier so I told him if I could get Director approval, we could do it in one day for $350,000. He agreed. The fastest deal I had ever been a part of. Surreal.
Heaven.com. Check. Soli Deo Gloria.
I had secured other supporting casts like messiah.com, trinity.com, proverbs.com, devil.com, satan.com and wanted to have the mate of heaven.com--hell.com. The owner of hell.com had a steep asking price: $7 million. A no-go for me. One day, a decade later, he said he was ready to sell. I asked how much. He asked me what my offer was. I said no more than what heaven.com cost. $350,000. He said yes and looking back I should have ensured hell.com cost less than heaven, even if a dollar less.
24 years later, there has still yet to be progress on Jesus.com. Patience truly is a virtue.
Upon reflection, I realize that after these 24 years, my heart and character still lack the responsibility to steward such majestic domain names.
It may sound odd, but I knew that to realize this vision would require at least 20 years of my life. I also envisioned making three epic movies based on the Bible that fascinate me. I had pegged 2020 to start venturing into movie-making, but I've learned to trust God and not to place deadlines on my dreams.
Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day.
Heraclitus (535-475 BC)
My Life Questions:
The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
For what and why me?
What on earth are you here to do? And why is it you who needs to do this?
As I pondered these two questions over the decades, they became: For who and why me? I realized it isn't for what but for who.
My 'what' is not for me but for my loved ones, for my fellow man, for Jesus who died for me, and for God who sent him.
My Life Lessons Then (from my younger self):
Dream big and dare to fail.
Norman Vaughan (1905-2005)
1. Make the dream in your heart real. Never lose faith. Never give up. I still dream my dreams.
2. Don’t be afraid to be crazy. I announced my vision to many people close to me. They thought I was crazy. Seven years later, when I was on the cover of my favourite business magazine, one of my friends, wondering how I could predict what I would do so many years later, asked if I was from heaven. That was funny to me since we had gone to high school together. I'm just a guy with a vision that I believe in. And though decades have passed, I still believe in it.
3. Keep the faith. No one really knows how much we can do until faith is absolute.
Life Advice Now (from my present 53 year old self):
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
1. Continuously knock on doors and solicit help from above and around you. Prayerfully and in full faith, pursue what you are destined to do.
2. Do not take lightly this vision and stewardship set in your heart. It has been planted in your heart for a reason.
3. Finish what you start. You are a quick starter and persistent, but ensure you complete the vision. Each day is one less day. Ask, and you shall receive, but only with faith. Seek and you shall find. Then knock incessantly until the door is opened to you. You stopped knocking. Keep knocking.
Next week:
What Do You Really Want? Really.
You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage — pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically — to say ‘no’ to other things.
Stephen Covey (1932-2012)
See you next Thursday!
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