From Flippa to Sucka

As I alluded to in my New Years address, I was going to become more busy with some website launches.

Well, that ‘some’ has become ‘many’ thanks to an obsessive pastime I have had this year. That pastime is named Flippa.com.

When I found Flippa, I was stoked. I quickly realized it to be the channel where I could direct my multitude of interests in business, media, and starting a business sideline. I found my investment with Complex Games not moving along as fast as I wanted so jumped right into the world of website buying.

Flippa.com as a website and as a marketplace is attractively designed and very functional. It superior to eBay in both features and the quality of the listings. Flippa,com is like a well run computing machine.

In July 2010 I purchased my first website, a Flash Arcade. I then purchased a second website, a Persistent Browser Based Game and between these two sites I started generating some money! I could not believe it. These websites were established, had traffic, and a revenue record. I quickly thought it should become possible to develop a sideline that I could expand into a full time job.

In January 2011, I made a decision to start making website purchasing a serious business. Between July 2010 and August 2011, I made close to 200 bids and won 21 auctions, ranging in price from two digits to five digits. Most of the websites depend on Adsense for revenue, a few of them sell WordPress plugins, and a few sell Amazon and Clickbank products.

And I am sorry to say that only three of the 21 transactions is performing to expectations. Two of the 21 were pretty speculative and so far are not generating any revenue, but I knew that going in. Eight of the 21 are not performing to expectations, and the real kicker is that the final eight were outright cheats!

For the sake of disclosure, three of the purchases were negotiated outside of Flippa. I bid on them via the marketplace, and when the auction ended without a winner, I negotiated privately to purchase the sites. I should also note that each purchase is not just a single website. One of auctions was a collection of small websites so the actual number of websites I purchased is higher, so I can safely say that I am pretty well-diversified in terms of product reach and income stream.

In summary, here are the pretty sorry statistics of my Flippa marketplace experience (21 purchases between July 2010 and August 2011):

• 14% of purchases met my expectations. They either made the same amount of money as listed or have increased.
• 10% of purchases were speculative. They are not producing revenues yet, they needs more work, and I knew it.
• 38% of purchases were disappointing. The revenues dropped after getting the site. It could be either the seller were lying, hyping their revenue, or there is something I am not doing right to maintain the revenue. Regardless, it proves that a large percent of the sites have disappointed.
• 38% of purchases were outright cheats. The seller sold me a site that was incomplete, did not produce any revenues, and were general nightmares. I can say that it was a sorry combination of me being too trusting and particular sellers being liars and scammers. I need to take responsibility for being a Sucka as I trusted people when I should not have.

I cannot blame Flippa the company for such a poor showing. Again, their job as a marketplace is to bring people together, and they have done so dozens of times for me. I see evidence that they are working hard to get rid of the cheaters.

But because Flippa is a well run computing machine, then like any computer it is susceptible to successfully processing bad data. Its the old adage of Garbage In = Garbage Out. The Flippa marketplace may be a well run entity but the actual content the makes up the marketplace is now very suspect to me. There will come a point by which a marketplace gets tainted by association to a bad experience. Look at what happened with eBay and with Wall Street. Dishonest behavior and disappointing results that is allowed to be carried out unchecked, will eventually assumed to be condoned by the marketplace. I think Flippa knows this and will work harder to police its marketplace, but I doubt they will prevent the creation of new Flippa Suckas. The problem is that people need to get cheated before a cheater can be found out.

So what’s next? I am stuck with sites that are under performing but I am not giving up. While my experience with website buying has been unimpressive, I am going now switch over to website improvement (to find ways to improve traffic) and hopefully learn how to turn those disappointing and speculative sites into meeting expectations. Once there, I would then sell those sites to recoup some of my capital.

Given my experience, my advice to you is keep your Flippa purchases to $300 or less and slowly build up. Look for something that is generating some income so that you recoup your investment within 6-12 months and then put that new income to slowly expand. There is a high chance (74% as it was for me) that you will be a Flippa Sucka, but at least you would be only out a few hundred dollars and won’t lose sleep like I have a few times.

Popularity: 4% [?]

The Newest NHL Team: The Manitoba Mosquitoes

I grew up being a Winnipeg NHL hockey fan. I ceased to be one when the Winnipeg Jets left in 1996.

I never became a fan of the Manitoba Moose, just because I never found the level of hockey to be too exciting and cheering for a team that had its best players called up to the majors did not appeal to me.

So, I am pleased that Winnipeg and Manitoba is getting the Atlanta Thrashers franchise. The fact that season tickets sold out and a wait list was created really demonstrates that Manitoba is pretty hungry for NHL hockey.

There is lots of opinion that they will be called the Jets, possibly the Manitoba Jets to create a separation from the old franchise. Personally, I say let the Jets name go. I was a Winnipeg NHL fan, but thought that the Jets stunk. From 1979 to 1996 they posted a pathetic 0.378 winning record. While they had some exciting players, they were haunted by a culture of mediocrity. It continues to this day with the team in Phoenix.

So, I say we rename the team to something fresh and unique. Something that captures some defining element of Manitoba, namely the Mosquitoes!

I have taken the liberty to quickly draft up a graphic for the team uniform. True North is free to use it!

The benefits of being named the Manitoba Mosquitoes are:

• Its relevant to the Manitoba experience,
• We would have a really cool mascot,
• We would ‘swarm’ the opposition net when trying to score,
• Instead of icing skaters, we would ice ‘skeeters’,
• Fans could use the Mosquito sound when they score – “Bzzzzznnnn!”,
• We could have blood drives during games with Canadian Blood Services,
• We could have great corporate sponsorships with the makers of “Off” and “Raid”, and finally…
• It would be okay if the team sucks. (Thanks to Frano for this one)

Popularity: 6% [?]

Five Star Parade: Tounge Twisted – Catherine Wheel

Our next song on the Parade takes a very different approach to music than Tangerine Dream by creating a brash, distorted, and desperate sound. Catherine Wheel is a group often included in the shoegazing scene, characterized by bands that made extensive use of guitar feedback and droning washes of noise, as well as their continuous interaction with extensive amounts of effects pedals on the stage floor. They are from Great Yarmouth, England.

Catherine Wheel consisted of:

Rob Dickinson (vocals, guitar), Brian Futter (guitar), Neil Sims (drums), Dave Hawes (bass, 1990-?), Ben Ellis (bass, ?-2000)

Tongue Twisted is a great guitar driven song that builds in a dreamy, somewhat eerie riff that follows each lyrical line. The power and build up of the song throughout, with the almost whispered vocals creates tension and release. I find myself swept away by the waves of sound when ever I listen to it. This song is about musicianship, with the vocals acting as a support to the entire song. If power can be thought of as beauty, Tongue Twisted is beautiful but in a way that is unexpected.

Tongue Twisted by Catherine Wheel on Amazon

Lyrics:

Tongue tied twisted, steal time to stay
Real song drifted keeps the thorn inside
Tongue tied twisted twist around and creep
Tongue tied twisted keeps the leaf

What are you gonna feel? What are you gonna feel?
Will it fall will it drop, I despise the time
Thought I love to feel the tongue twisted
So pleased to find

Beneath the grass this time, beneath the grass
I know this fear will last
I know this fear will last
I know this fear will last
I know this fear will reach beneath the gutter
The restless I know I know I know

But I love to feel the tongue twisted

Popularity: 36% [?]

Subtle Observations About the 2011 Federal Election

So in following up on the obvious and newsworthy events arising out of the 2011 Federal Election, I am following up with a list of more subtle, interesting, or amusing events.

First, despite all of the pro-democracy people talking about how the people have spoken I will think of it as a bit of a sham. It is not rule by the people. It is rule by a minority of the people. We can see this thanks to the Historical Voter Turnout report by Andrew Heard. It appears that Canadians turned out in greater numbers this election reversing a downward trend. This demonstrates a desire for change and an appeal to a positive image by NDP Leader Jack Layton, but I will be surprised if this reversal is permanent and we see rising voter turnout. Elections Canada has bent over backwards to make voting more accessible to people, but tweaking the mechanics of voting will not fix the fundamentals of what we are voting for.

Unless political parties change their purpose, Canadians will continue to stay away from voting in greater numbers. Canadians do not vote because of the steady predominance of parties and policies over leaders and inspired action. It has been demonstrated in our media and our folklore that we all seek to be inspired, have a connection to people, yet political parties will focus on ideology and platform only. Until political parties become quality leadership making machines, we will see our society continue to drown under policies, laws, and government interference, and further killing voter interest.

Second, this election result has done permanent damage to the fair vote movement in my eyes because Canada continues to be governed competently despite a flawed electoral system. A proportional or fair election result may help political parties, but it does not translate into good government or a successful nation. Look at Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Ireland; each of them have a form of Proportional Representation and yet they are all in absolute shambles economically. Yes, PR gives the people the exact kind of government they want, but as I said before in Why Economics Trumps Democracy, giving people what they want perpetually is a recipe for disaster! This is why we need leadership who have vision and can make hard decisions. We don’t need Proportional Representation despite it being a ‘fairer’ system. Its a giant red herring and a bit painful revelation for me since I spent many years working in that movement.

In the spirit of full transparancy, the U.S.A. has a similar voting system to Canada and it is in a financial mess, but this just proves that the electoral system does not really matter as far as economics are concerned. The voting system is about enshrining one’s cultural values, because I believe that the system has become so co-opted by political parties for their own purpose, that tweaking it does not really matter.

Third, whether you agree if the Conservative Majority is deserved or not, the result will be good for Canada economically. I would expect Canada to continue to outstrip the other industrialized nations and continue to be a beacon of fiscal prudence and stability. I just hope Harper will use his four years to find efficiencies and reduce the size of our bloated government. We are facing a future social and fiscal crisis as the Baby Boomers retire and come to be even greater takers from the health care and pension systems. Hard decisions need to be made.

Fourth, is the revelation that now that Ottawa is controlled by two Western Canadian political parties! The Barbarians are definitely at the gates and I could not be happier. The shift in power from the complacent eastern establishment as enshrined by the Liberal Party, Progressive Conservative Party, and Bloc Quebecois to the Conservatives and NDP is the first time ever this has happened.

The Government Conservative Party gets its origins from the Alberta-born Reform Party, which took a brief profile change as the Canadian Alliance, and finally as the Conservatives. The Official Opposition New Democratic Party got its start as the Saskatchewan-born Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, a socialist & populist response to the Eastern business establishment. I would expect politics in Canada to now change as Western Canadian political culture gets exported to Ottawa.

Fifth, I was pleased to see a new political party that is trying to shift the focus away from traditional politics by using the Internet as its tool of governance. The Online Party of Canada has some fresh ideas. Some of them are simply too unrealistic thought. Banning the Provinces? Really? While I do agree in principle that cities and rural municipalities are a more reasonable way to run a country, the existence of Provinces are enshrined in the constitution and you will NEVER get any Province to agree to give up its autonomy and power. But, I appreciate a number of their other positions. Hopefully, they will find inspired leadership. I wish them luck.

Finally, I did find Elections Canada’s list of registered political parties amusing because one of the parties did not follow through on full registration. The Work Less Party lived up to their name by voluntarily not wanting to register. A political party that keeps to its platform! I would have voted for them.

Popularity: 3% [?]

New Endings in 2011: A Historical Federal Election

The 2011 Election was worthy of note because it created so many new endings. Lots changed on May 2.

Yet, some things didn’t. Despite the best polling and computer simulations, nobody predicted that Stephen Harper would end up with a Majority Government. Early on in the CTV Election Coverage, their computer statistics expert claimed that there was only a 10% chance the Conservatives would win a majority government. They were wrong and its because they make a fundamental mistake in understanding our electoral system.

Each electoral district is its own election. We vote at the same time, but we don’t vote together. So that’s why it does not really matter whether there are national trends because those trends don’t carry over to each riding perfectly. In each riding there is a unique dynamic of vote splitting, strategic voting, and democratic culture that cannot be easily predicted. This is what allowed the Conservatives to win a majority despite winning less than 40% of the popular vote. Its how our system works. It appears to be unfair, yet I think those who complain about it are not going to find any satisfaction soon.

This election marked the end of fair vote movement momentum. Vote reformers (BTW. I used to be one of them) will talk about how this electoral result is wrong and unfair, and in a sense they are right, but this election proved that our plurality system does not discriminate.  Yes, it does distort the results, and votes are wasted, but it does so for all parties. It happened for the benefit of the Liberal party in 1997 and now it worked for the Conservatives. The fair vote movement has suffered failed referendums in three different provinces in the past four years. The Conservatives will not entertain the notion and I am pretty sure the NDP having tasted Official Opposition status will not be too interested.

This election has brought about the end of politics as we know it. The New Democratic Party revitalized the electoral landscape by replacing the Liberals and almost completely snuffing out the Bloc Quebecois. While I am not a fan of NDP policy, I personally appreciated their positive message and their ability to dispatch the pesky BQ. It is the first time ever that the NDP are the Official Opposition and we will now see a traditional political alignment like the rest of the modern world where a Conservative Party competes with a Labor-based party.

This election will bring about the end of the Liberal Party. I am almost certain that they will not recover. To do so would require that the Liberals do absolutely everything right (such find an new charismatic leader, bring back their brain trust, and get grassroots donations to replace all of the corporate donations they used to have) plus need everything to go wrong for the Conservatives and NDP. The chance of both self-destructing is unlikely to happen. It was the hubris of the Jean Chretein and Paul Martin legacy and their ongoing battle that has devastated that party, forcing most of its organizational leadership to leave a sinking ship. When Harper changes the political party electoral financing rules (he was forced to back track during his last attempt as a minority government) he will put the final nail in the coffin of the Liberal Party, choking off their donations.

I am not a nationalistic person. I don’t really have a problem with Quebec or any other province exerting their autonomy but the BQ was so disingenuous continuing to run at the federal level, receiving money from the rest of Canada so they can use the specter of separation to get more for their province. It really annoyed me. They were a virus whose time it was to expire. Good riddance.

This election is the end of the Green Party seat shutout. The Greens wisely sunk all of their resources in Elizabeth May’s electoral race in order to get her elected. Whether her seat will act as a beachhead to expand the size of that party in Ottawa will need to play itself out, but it will be interesting to see.

Finally, this election has brought an end of boredom. The 2011 election with which few wanted ended up giving us a new political landscape and it will make politics interesting to watch again.

Popularity: 56% [?]