Morning Folks!!
The domain industry is much smaller than you might think. If
you define the people you will see that after a certain number, folks come from
“Central Casting”. The time wasters and folks that do this as a hobby or part
time that have worthless domains and just take up room and time. I won’t be
making any new fans with this post. Here is the breakdown as I see it:
The entire domain Industry is about 2000-3000 but that
included employees and other allied folks that are not actually domainers. So
if you take those folks off then we are down to about 1000-1500. From those you
would have to peal off the part time guys. That would bring you down to about 500-650.
Then to break that down further, you would ask how many of those do this full
time and make over $100k a year? Now we are down way under 500. Maybe 250-350. Probably
less. That’s it my friends. I think the industry comprises about 350-500
domainers and then the rest are sponsors and employees of sponsors and then all
the rest. What would you say the breakdown is?
You can’t be all things to all folks so you have to choose
what and who to focus on. When I sold product at a tradeshow and I had 100
people in front of me, my job was to blow away the 95 that would waste my time
and energy and get to the ones that wanted to do business and place an order right now. Weeding out the crap
is the difference between success and failure. Between your time being valuable
and your time being wasted. TIME is our only natural resource. So I learned a
way to segregate folks. If made the buyers happy and pissed off the rest. Ok,
fine. I would get up and bark:
“BUYERS ON THE LEFT, NON BUYERS ON THE RIGHT, CASH UP
FRONT!”
That would usually get a chuckle from the crowd and then they knew in an instant that I was not kidding. I would grab an invoice, a clipboard and a pen and then I
would shut up and start writing. I had no time for the 95. I was focused on the
5. Once I was done with the 5, then maybe I would look for #6. It was the
difference between making money and talking about making money.
That is deep in me and
even shows itself at TRAFFIC. I don’t want the other 95. I want the 5. I want
the 50. In this case, I want the 350-500. The ones that have made it and the ones that have the passion in their belly to get there. The others are just time wasters from
Central Casting. They will never make you a penny. How valuable is your time? How much of your precious time are
you willing to waste, piss away, never get back? For me, let them call me rude,
arrogant, let them call me whatever, but the ultimate rude is somebody that wastes your
time and energy. The time wasters of the world are a huge segment. Their gravitational pull is strong. Is your will to avoid BS and time wasters stronger than their will to waste your time? Are you man enough or woman enough to be rude and declare yourself free of time wasters in this life? Do you even know how to spot a time waster? Then take the TIME to learn as that will be TIME well spent. It will pay dividends that can be counted in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years. That does not even count the benefits you will get by never wasting your time with those that live just to waste it. The benefits by investing your time wisely. You are not here for your health. This is not a disco. This is business. Those that want to do business, grow their business, do great things for them and their families, don't waste their time with those that don't.
Today is September 1. It marks the beginning of the business cycle. The beginning of what most would agree may be the most important business cycle in our lifetimes. The stakes in the coming months is very high. Go back and read what I wrote last Fall. The stuff nobody believed. The stuff that has actually happened and is happening. Most thought they were immune. Most would have been wrong. Your time has never been more valuable. If you don't see and understand that, read this post again. Take a day off. Take a week off. Take off as much time as it takes to figure this out as we are going to enter a period of pain and prosperity. What will determine which side of the fence you are on is how you played the game unil now and the adjustments you are willing to make. Time wasted is money lost and life we will never get back.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
Kevin
250 – 500 Tier 1
500 – 2500 Tier 2
2500 – 5000 Tier 3
Alex Danner
Rick,
You are my hero in the domain world. Started 3 months ago and have cash flow positive sites and am kicking ass. 23 years old and I do not have to have a job because of you and the rest of the domain heavy hitters. The thing I have learned from you is to actually take action. I did, and since I have no computer knowledge, I just started buying existing developed sites that were not being monetized correctly. The one thing domainers ignore is that for a little real world contact, far more money can be made…example: I do referrals to lakeside resorts in my hometown for a 15% cut of gross rent. Rent averages $1700 per week, so I average around $250 per referral. Next year I expect to do 10 per week. I also sell PPC to the resorts and sell email inquiries at $7 apiece.
Bought the site for a prayer and a song, is now my retirement plan after I scale it into other markets.
I dont mean to tell you that domainers are not sharp, but there is more to business than adsense, where normally independent people like domainers are held hostage by the google machine. If the domain world would wake up and start building businesses to add HUGE value to their domains, it would be a much easier sell to end users (in my case a travel agency or resort owner) for kick ass valuations, scores higher than just a parked domain would ever yield.
Just my two cents Mr. Schwartz. Thank you once again for your wisdom and courage to buck the trends and give upstarts the knowledge to move onward, upward. I will be forever greatful to you. If you are ever in Missouri, don’t be a stranger.
Regards,
Alex D.
AD
rjb
I am definitely a part timer right now, but the great thing about domaining is that you can be a part-timer and still do $x,xxx to $xx,xxx per year in ad revenue and domain sales. This can be a great supplement to a regular job, easily done from your home computer on weekends and evenings. And who knows, eventually it could lead to full-time. I think it’s great that domainers come in all forms. Not everyone can make the million dollar sale or build the high traffic website, but that’s ok too. As long as domaining is making you money, and you are learning and making more every year, you are on the right path. For example, I made a domain sale last December that helped ‘save’ Christmas – without that sale it would have been a struggle. So thank God for domaining!
ekal
great post Rick
I enjoy your writing 1000% more now that you’ve got those Glenn Beck / Ann Coulter crap blog posts out of your system.
belshass
“I had no time for the 95. I was focused on the 5.”
So why do you put so much efforts into attracting big crowds at TRAFFIC show then ??!?
KD
I have been drinking your koolaid for a while now and have learned so much.You really need to have a TV show.Can’t wait for the next post.Cheers and Beers Rick,Kevin Davis
Francois
I confirm your numbers.
Domisfera
Only one note: blog.domaintools.com has 21817 readers …
Jim Holleran
Rick,
There is a big difference between being productive and being busy. 95% of people are busy but not productive.
I actually had a friend call me the laziest person he ever met who makes over $XXX,XXX a year. Of course he works in a dead-end 60 hour a week corporate job. Time wasting meetings, time wasting commutes, time wasting phone calls, stuff I don’t do and never will do again.
Thanks, Jim
Paul
I recently found this blog and I’m really enjoying it, thanks! :) I’ll definitely be coming back, keep it up! I’m eager to learn more! :D
Graham
2 months ago you said Virtual Estate would overtake Real Estate. That was the blooper of the year, you were out by a factor of 10,000. Now you’ve flipped and say there’s less domainers in the world than you get every 3 months at a Traffic convention. DNForum has 80,000 members, that’s one of several big domain forums. I don’t fit into your definition of domainer but I’ve had several 6 figure deals and I can retire from domains, so does that make me a domainer?
Danny Pryor
Here’s an analysis I believe is very accurate, because there can only be a certain number of true domainers. Much like a good domain name with genuine inheritance to its value, domainers are scarce. Scarcity determines value. I always found it amusing that, during some auctions, the auction host would announce a domain getting 500 uniques per month, or 1,000. That’s a small number. A domain name can have good value, like cars.com or laptops.com, but what if everybody already knows to go to chevy.com or dell.com – what happens to the value of those generics? It probably goes up, if you know what you’re doing. True domainers – and those only connected to them via content development (I’m in the latter category) – recognize the pioneering days of domaining are likely well behind us. The industry is small, but its influence can remain the driving force of the internet. That influence has had its peaks and valleys. At the moment, there is a HUGE opportunity for a new zenith, and that will come with the industry players’ decisions and actions going into the next TRAFFIC show in New York, and through the other shows in 2010. Another thing that must be considered is timing and endurance. How many people think they are domainers, when all they want is to flip domains and make millions, versus the serious players who choose to invest for the long-term? The long-term participants are far more likely to be a genuine influence within the industry. It takes guts, it takes insight, and from the perspective of a developer who knows the value of the industry, anyone who wants to be online and make money is a fool if they shun very close affiliation with this indsutry. The industry may be small, but its power is enormous.
Brands-and-Jingles
Good one Rick. Though, you talk about the players, not the size of the market, which is sure.ly also very important.
refurbished computers
The thing I have learned from you is to actually take action. I did, and since I have no computer knowledge, I just started buying existing developed sites that were not being monetized correctly.