Dear Principal,

We are a domain name registration and dispute organization in Asia,who mainly deal with global companies’ domain name registration and internet Intellectual property right protection in Asia.Currently we have a very important issue that we need to confirm with your company.

On Aug.25, 2010,We received an application formally from one company named Shinory Company that wanted to applly for the Internet Name”billonsite” and some domain names from our organization.

After our initial examination, we found that the Internet Name and domain names applied for registration are as same as your company’s name and trademark.These days we are dealing with this case,we were wondering whether you consigned Shinory Company to register these domain names with us? If it is true,we will complete the registration of these domain names.Do you know this company? Currently,we have postponed this application of this company temporarily.In order to deal with this issue better,please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.

In addition,we hereby affirm that our time is limited for dissent application.If your company files no dissent within the time limit,we will unconditionally approve the application submitted by Shinory Company.

(PS:If you are not in charge of this matter,please transfer this email to appropriate dept.)

Best Regards,

Anna
Hong Kong Head Office:
Tel: 00852 9566 0205
Fax: 00852 3069 6940
Email:anna@skasiadnr.com
Website: http://www.asia-gov.com

Riiiiight. You approve that application and have fun with it. But I’ve been around the block, and I know my domain name isn’t in any danger. You just can’t wrangle a dude’s domain name out from under him without being contacted by a real legal authority.

I also love how her website is “www.asia-gov.com”. Very official sounding.

So cute!

Okay, rather, I figured I’d have the fortitude to resist writing such a post, but I at least figured I’d want to.

But see, I got laid off earlier today and frankly, I’m not upset at all.

I’m not upset with the company – I wish them the very best. They have some neat technology and if it pans out (and it looks like it will), then they’re going to clobber the marketplace. I’m not upset with anyone left behind – these things are usually as hard on them as they are on those that got laid off, and everyone still working there is good people that I just don’t wish this on. And I’m not upset with the management either – they were faced with a tough decision. They’d cut every non-staff expense they could (we watched and noticed and were grateful), but this economy is brutal and people are loathe to commit to purchasing decisions, which affects their bottom line.

And it’s not like I’m going to be in dire straights or anything. Since I was laid off, I can get EI for Quite Some Time, or even better, Ontario offers a Self-Employment Grant that you can get if you’re otherwise eligible for EI. Since I wanted more time to work on Bill On Site, then this may actually work out to my benefit.

Ultimately, I’m choosing not to think of this as a setback, but rather as a hell of an opportunity.

But just today, I decided to sign up for The Micropreneur Academy, by Six Figure Software. Run by a fellow named Rob, who has experience creating, launching, and running not one but many super-small businesses, it looks to be a very interesting resource. Two main things attracted me:

• It’s not free. Actually, it’s rather pricey. The benefit here is that it keeps out the riff-raff. The only people here are the people who really want to learn how to launch a super-small business and succeed, not just some shmoe who wants to dream of doing constantly without ever achieving. Signing up to something that costs serious dollars at least signifies some intent.
• The forum. I waffled on signing up for a bit, wondering if the information imparted would really be worth the money, when I realized that it didn’t matter. The course could be a total wash, teaching me nothing that I didn’t already know or couldn’t already find on the internet for free. But it would provide a guided discussion of all the varied aspects of running a super-small business, and all those people on the forums with intent and businesses, who are currently putting it on the line will be there, taking part in that conversation. That, in and of itself, is worth it.

Today was the first day the Academy was open, and the forum is already lively. There’s the seemingly-mandatory introduction thread, there’s a few threads about very specific questions that are returning some interesting answers, and there’s an entire sub-section dedicated to people announcing goals each week and how well they followed through on the previous week’s goals, a brilliant little feature that I immediately participated in. It’s good to have people keeping you honest.

And honestly, I’m really looking forward to the coming weeks and the lessons learned therein.