- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
I have a little over a month before my “buy-back clause” for G&C runs out.
At this time both the buyer and me can decide to back out. Procedure for this is all in place in the contract. It is all fair and doable and took a long time to put together.
G&C has experienced slow and consistent growth since the sale.
Part of the reason I sold was the many growing pains I had – I needed more and more staff to stay on track. I wanted to continue the growth and not stagnate.
This problem is now solved.
The interest that accumulated on the purchse price pretty much covers the increase in Value, so I would not be out of much.
If I don’t buy it back, my management position will fade out slowly until I am totally replaced.
I do not have a no-compete.
So I am very much leaning towards buying it back. It has become a part of me, I love running it. I just wonder about the future of the industry…
Hi Dom if you are happy with the buy out then my suggestion would be let it be. Times here are very tough for our industry and I am not a doom and gloom person but it is hard to run a biz here with much staff or overhead.
Overall I think it will rebound but it is slow to be seen and very stressful for most I believe. Whatever you do I wish you success.
Brian
Thanks Brian
I am going to watch developments with uigea like a hawk. There are a lot of things going on these days that look promising…
If you received a good price I would RUN for the hills.
I only wish I had sold the vast majority of my portals (not CAP) before George W nuked our industry. My revenues are down 75%. Collections are getting difficult. Smaller companies have already started to fail and the industry contraction is most likely to accelerate. Dom you got out at the PEAK of your sites earning. You can still participate in the industry, keep the money and thank your lucky stars.
G&C has a steady 3% growth per month still. G&C just hired 4 more staff.
If I had not sold, I would have banked 1/3rd of the purchase price by now.
It has a player base that is now 60%+ non US. (US is still more profitable though by far, just slowly picking up good European players. Their playing behaviors are much different.)
What worries me is the thought of Micro leaving the US market, or US deposits drying up. If that happens, things will still go on due to the European player base, but there would be cut backs and lay offs, and very small profits for a while.
No trouble collecting since I had Chris Rusch take care of banking. Very smooth, transparent and legal. There will be no IRS or other problems, everything is out in the open yet fully functional. The bank is aware of the income source and happy. Programs like the ease of payment. That was one of my main concerns, getting that in place before July and UIGEA.
My new ventures will not be profitable for some 2 years I estimate. Of course if I get G&C back, work on these will slow down some, making for a longer lean period.
I have done something one should never do – I have formed a personal attachment to the business. It makes me happy to run it, I enjoy it all, even rolling with the punches. It’s just the right amount of challenge to keep me engaged and allows the right amount of being in charge of my own time. It’s the best business situation I have ever had as far as personal satisfaction goes, and I have grown fond of the life style.
You owe it to yourself to wait until the final day, as news happens that fast right now.
Consider your options, buid new? did you retain your affiliate accounts?
You are in the perfect position as you really can not loose by doing nothing, and you can gain by buying it back if this month goes the way I think it will.
@allfreechips 129485 wrote:
You are in the perfect position as you really can not loose by doing nothing, and you can gain by buying it back if this month goes the way I think it will.
Yes, my timing has been good all around, lucky.
Accounts stay with G&C.
Quote:G&C has a steady 3% growth per month still.If that is really the case then buy it back by all means. You have something there akin to cold fusion, a perpetual motion machine or a cure for cancer. G&C defies all the natural laws of physics and is worth holding on to.
it’s google.
G&C is an “authority site” or whatever they categorize this like, and it is steady in the serps. I haven’t tweaked SEO in over 2 years. I just add what I like, name it for what it is and google does with it what it wants to.
It’s also because I work like a bastard to make sure not a single player lands at a casino where they can’t play. I update like a maniac. Players always come back (80%) for current info.
Talking about google, I think they are trying stuff out on G&C, I have no other explanation.
Backlinks should be around 1000. With all the blackhatters riding on my back they are usually shown in the tens of thousands. The other day I showed 200, then 600, it fluctuates wildly.
It has going on 6000 indexed pages, and now I see 600 and no supplemementals.
All the serps I can find (there are too many to keep track) are still in the same places.
The traffic hasn’t changed.
It looks like they are changing their stats regarding the site while leaving the serps alone.
All the blackhatters have dropped off.
Somehow I think I got picked for experimentation with filters to clean shit up, and so they don’t destroy the guinea pig they seperated their stats from the actual serps. I have heard of no one else who shows this behavior by google at this time.
For a long time I reported spamdexers regularly, almost daily, openly telling google about G&C and using it as an example. I sent in lists and lists of offending URLs. I gave them contact info. I was tireless. They never contacted me, but after a while they would periodically wipe the blackhatters off my back, and they fixed all the google bombing I got back then too.
I’m thinking maybe that got them studying the blackhatters riding on G&C and that is what this is all about. Just a toy for them to play with and study results. Probably gambling attracts the most blackhatters and G&C attracts the majority of those.
Anyway, thats the only explanation I can come up with. I about shit when I saw how few pages were indexed.
Google is more powerful than god it looks like. They can make and break you in a minute, they don’t even have to pass laws or answer to anyone about it.
In my humble opinion, it is dangerous to place too much faith in the results Google is telling you when looking at indexed pages. For one thing, just like the backlinks Google shows, they lie. Also, there are numerous indexes, not just one, so even if you have X number indexed in one, you may have a widely different number indexed in another. Same with the supplemental results.
As for your original question, I have no idea. I am glad I left when I did, at least from owning my own gambling related sites, but I may ease back in as a small part of my overall picture. From what you are saying though, it would be really hard not to buy it back.
Generally, for years I always saw all the existing pages indexed.
Threw me for a loop, lol!
Well after meeting you Dom one thing I noticed is that your very passionate about what you believe in and I think your not going to be happy without G&C under your belt. This is a hard decision to make I am sure and only you can make it but if it was me I would buy back. Make a list of the pros and cons of the situation and decide from there I suggest.
Hi Dom,
I am personally glad I sold my main sites and old affiliate accounts when I did. Still I miss the way it was before Oct. 2006. For the past few months I have experimented promoting a few brands and was simi sucessful in Jan, Feb, March, and April 2007. Now it seems that revenue has drop to unprofitable level. As Brian said it is very stressfull times and many are struggling I am sure. Right now I am working on the two houses I bought to flip many long hours. It is hard work and no money till the project is finished and sold. I know there has been some positive news of late, but I feel it may take a long time if ever before we see positve results. If online gambling is regulated in the US, the big boys will not be paying affiliates what they have been. Harrahs and the others will direct market to the US and world market big time. If we all had a crystall ball it would make life easier during these tuff times. My advice is way both the pros and cons of buying back G&C. You’ll have to make yourself happy either way. I know I have had to.Thanks, Cappy!
We had some good times, remember CR? Things like that stay with you for life, no matter what happens.
Fixing up houses is hard work to be sure, I did this too, but a long time ago when I was much younger. I still remember the wonderful satisfaction that came when I looked at the completed work. (I also remember sinking into bed completely exhausted and being asleep in seconds.)
Make sure you take before and after pictures, so you can feel proud of what you did for years to come. It’s a totally different ball game, but I can see the same entrepreneurial spirit at work. The rewards are different but just as wonderful.
I think you made a great choice there, I bet your body loves you for not sitting at the computer all the time anymore.
I don’t know yet what I am going to do. I am keeping a close eye on how things unfold. We might well be stopped dead in our tracks next month.
So we find new things to do. I have done so many new things in my life, it comes easy. I take a month or two off and something pops into my head and before I know it I am head over heels involved.
Thanks for your answer, you have kind of grounded my thinking.
Hi all (D)
I am for one happy i didn’t sell … I’ve made money although it is about 25% of where i started topping out ……
since you already sold and are now considering buying back in … I cannot say what I think is the best future ….. but can say I’m glad i never sold.
July may bring better or not. I for one think it will not make a big difference but could be wrong.
Euro players are now my target and I hope to increase my exposure thru partnerships. Remains to be seen but I DO think the July deadline won’t effect such target areas ….
it may take a few months to get back on my feet and I’m mostly expecting traffic thru other sites I’ve partnered with but already am seeing a glimmer of hope from two strategic and trusted partners.
I’ve also had at least one situation where I’m already getting screwed but that person won’t get any more content and IMHO was really stupid to make such a move. We both stood to gain and now it will remain stagnant since I won’t write any more for this person.
I think the answer in many ways is targeting the European areas as it takes out any equation of as an aff targeting US players and also opens up the advantage of having players who aren’t in the states and thus not succeptable to any laws passed or the deadlines they project.
