"The program for eliminating ego-fear and unblocking serendipity is very simple: seek ego-fear. Hunt it down and soak in it. Steal its energy. This is, by definition, scary. That's good."
I get these kind of offers all the time and I hate them. To me, what they're essentially asking is "will you work for free and assume part risk in our venture?"
That is the only thing I hear when I get approached with one of these proposals.
Take the cash. Don't even think twice about it. Who cares if you think he's a nice guy or connected or whatever. You need to get paid asap.
Rejection Therapy: http://www.rejectiontherapy.com is the real life game with one rule: to be rejected by someone every single day, for 30 days consecutive.
It's designed for anyone who wants to get out of their comfort zone more and overcome rejection.
You're right. Rejection is hard, and people are terrified by it (why do you think cosmetic surgery is so prevalent?)
And yet, rejection usually consists of a simple and benign "no".
Why are we so sensitive to the word no? Can this be healthy, that we would hide in the shadows all our lives than ask for what we want and need?
The amazing thing about Rejection Therapy is that people are more likely to give you what you ask for than you can imagine. The world is yours for the taking, but you have to create opportunities and ask.
I agree with Thomas S. Monson when he said "In reality, we are all travelers - even explorers of mortality", and taking risks where rejection is a real possibility is necessary to personal exploration and conquest.
A 301 redirect should pass any link juice you've accrued from the old domains to your new domain.
That said, it's better to have multiple domains and attack niches (for example: if you sell office stationary online, it's better SEO to have a website exclusively for staplers and another for pencils and pens instead of lumping it all in one website).
You can go the route of having everything under one umbrella domain, but make sure your website architecture is flat.
P.S. I made some assumptions about your website (since I have no idea what your product or service is), but my advice is applicable to anyone.
But if you form a cabal to make front page of HN - whether your clique be Twitter followers or a "group of friends" on this site - it's gaming the system.
Essentially, that is what the article advocated (oh, and write interesting content - duh).
I'm an introvert, but because I'm the oldest child in a large family (and had to take charge a lot) and opinionated by nature, I appear to others as extroverted.
However I'm definitely introverted, so much so that I designed a game back in 2009 to get out of my comfort zone more.
Your post reminded me of when I tried to monetize "blooks" (serialized books in blog format) about 5 years ago with PrintPusher.com (now defunct).
It was a tonne of work. Sourcing and promoting the content, publishing and layout (we were using WordPress, which was way jankier back then), and yes, generating traffic. It was so much work I didn't have time to enjoy any of the content, and it became unfun.
Heck, you should've just asked me. I could've saved you the hassle ;-)
Jason Shen is an excellent example of hunting down ego-fear: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1811868