September 6, 2026 – 𝗔𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗗𝗘𝗖𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗦, 𝗜 𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗨𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗜𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗨𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗧.

For many years, while serving as President of the Associated Cities and GeoPublishers trade associations, I freely shared our development and monetization strategies with members — and frankly, with almost anyone who asked.

𝗔𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝘁𝘁𝘀𝗱𝗮𝗹𝗲.𝗰𝗼𝗺, 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲-𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲.

When the team at Atlanta.com called and asked how we handled hotel bookings, I shared exactly what we were doing.

Why wouldn’t I?

Atlanta wasn’t competing with Scottsdale.

And the exchange went both ways. I learned an enormous amount from other operators.
Some of David J Castello’s “We Own The Brand” discussions about how he successfully competed in the Palm Springs market remain among the most valuable lessons I ever learned in the geo-domain business.

Over time, something else happened.

𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲.

I believe that trust is one of the biggest reasons that today I am relied upon to broker 75+ major, medium and smaller geographic markets, and why owners now entrust me with category-defining brands such as Beef.com, IVF.com, Development.com and others.

None of that happened overnight.

It was built through years of sharing information, keeping commitments, helping people when there was nothing immediately in it for me, and treating relationships as more important than individual transactions.

Not every deal closes.

Not every opportunity works out.

But your reputation follows you into the next conversation.

And the next one.

And the next one.

Your reputation enters the room before you do.

Make sure it says something worth hearing.

𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗱𝗼
𝗢𝗺𝗻𝗶 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮
𝗙𝗠@𝗢𝗺𝗻𝗶𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮.𝗰𝗼𝗺

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