Morning Glory Desigs is now a Dot Com!

Patience is a virtue.  Or so I am told.  Heaven knows I waited a long time for the price to come down on my domain name.  I purchased the .net version of my domain name for about $10 in 2006 when I started my business.  At that time the .com version was not available.  Someone had it, and was parking ads on it.  When it came up for sale the next year I offered $15 for it but was outbid at the very last moment before I had an opportunity to counter-offer.

Yes, bought up domain names are offered for auction on a lot of sites.

So I waited.  It appeared on auction for $750.  Holy S**t!  I was appalled by the hubris of someone looking to make a bazillion % profit on a lousy domain name. I made an offer of $100 which was rejected.  I waited.  The price continued to grow and I continued to wait.  I would make occasional offers, but clearly, I was the only one bidding. The price grew.  No competition.  I even got phone calls asking me to buy the domain, and would be given a special price. . . $1000 off the price of $3700.  I told them to call me when they would sell for $500.  That was my top price.

They kept calling, I kept saying no, and telling them to call me back when they were ready to get real.  I waited.  7 years later they were finally ready to get real and I bought the domain. 

http://morningglorydesigns.com

I lament the days of being able to buy it for $15 but at least I didn't pay anywhere near the absurd asking price of $3700!  I understand profit.  But this was pure greed.

And now a commercial message to interrup my rant on the injustices of the world.  Thought you might like to see how much the kitties have grown.

Now back to my regularly scheduled rant.

One more lament about greed before I go back to work on my design work. . . . Why is it so wrong to have "enough" and not want to strive to have "more and more"?  As a business person I understand the need to make money at what I do.  But according to the IRS I should be making more money every year.  To lose money is the ultimate sin.  In fact, according the the IRS, if you lose money 3 years in a row you are NOT A BUSINESS!!!  The definition of a business, according to them, is someone who makes money.  Why not someone who meets their needs?  Who enjoys what they do and shares it with others?  Why not make some, lose some, break even?  Granted a business person needs to pay their bills.  But why the push for more and more and more?  Greed is an insipid motivator and clearly it motivates the IRS.

Yes, I am still battling with the IRS over my tax audit.  Yes my lawyer is likely to cost me more than I would have paid in taxes.  Yes, my stress level is still through the roof, and my meds to control my BP are only marginally successful.  Yes, I am still mostly unproductive as a result of the stress and resulting anxiety.  All because of greed.  Is it worth it?

I give away free blocks every month and have for the past 5 years.  It brings people to my website and results in occasional sales.  I am not aggresively marketing my work online because I still have a full time job.  When I retire next year I will ramp up my design work and my marketing efforts to offset the drop in the my salary.  I have already proven I can do that.  I invest in my business, overhead, equipment, supplies and support the industry which supports me.  It works for me. 

But you can't give things away forever.  So offering free blocks for a brief period of time, then offering them for sale is a buisness model that works. . . .mostly.  Hundreds -- sometimes thousands -- of people download my blocks every month.  And a couple even say thank you.  I appreciate those folks.  Some complain because they missed the free blocks and want them -- for free of course -- because they. . . well, because they want them, and feel they deserve to get them -- for free.  I feel your pain.  I love getting free blocks too.

I had a woman call me, while I was driving through the mountains on vacation, no less, berating me for taking down a free block.  She had been ill and just wasn't able to get to the computer to get her free block, and she had all the others, and it wasn't right that she should pay for one when she had gotten all the other ones free, and how could I be so heartless as to deny her the complete set when she had faithfully downloaded all the other for free???  REALLY? 

I told her she could purchase the missing block for $3 on my website.  OMG, I can't do that, she told me, she was on a fixed income, and had medical problems, and was supporting her grandson, six cats and a dog, and there was no money left over for something as unimportant as free quilt blocks!  REALLY?

Hope you are enjoying your free blocks of the month.  :-)

Reeze