The Domain King's® thoughts on domain names, web traffic, increasing web sales, success, life, and plain-old Business & Marketing 101. Nothing happens until a sale is made!
Never apologize for being early. For seeing things first. For blazing trails while others laugh. I am damn proud of getting into domains early. Many got it it YEARS before me and have done very well. But I also recognize that a guy could come in today with a modest bankroll and still grow to make his or her mark. Will it be harder? Yeah. Next time recognize it early on. How do you do that? PRACTICE!!!
Every day is a day you can practice being early and seeing things early. See something before somebody else. Discover something before the masses. Dream of something and have nobody copy your dream.
More opportunity raced by TODAY than the first thousand years of life combined. So much sometimes is too much. But a fresh set of eyes will look at nearly anything and find some opportunity.
Opportunity has no headlines. It just quietly crosses our path and most times we all miss it. But when you train yourself to look for certain things and look at other things in a specific way, you would be amazed what passes by on any given day.
So be first. React first. Think faster. Make a decision. Weigh the risk vs reward and if it is a good outcome, just do it!
Someday I hope to relay an incredible story to you.
But today let me tell you what I have learned these last 8 weeks.
When I receive domans for the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. auction, MOST are overpriced. More than that, MOST are really crappy domains with no value that I have to wade through until my eyes bleed. Not all. But it is pretty incredible when domainers want to clear out their closets.
On the otherhand, with the submissions to JointVentures.com, the domains are much higher quality and domainers are UNDERVALUING their assets. It's incredible how the owner of the domain sees it as being worth a TINY fraction of what I see the value being.
Ask around. I don't think I have tried to have anyone lower a monthly rate. On the other hand there have been folks that are not understanding the gems they hold and what the true market value is. And at the end of the day that is a good thing because it leaves enough room to have everyone come away a winner. The ned user MUST be the single biggest winner in every equation for the del to fly.
And let me be be very clear. These rates are still pocket change to their true value and their true potential and the next few years will show that. Domains and their need/want/desire will eventually catch up to the Park Avenue Rents, the South Beach record Condo sales and big flawless diamonds. And when that happens, it will overtake all 3. Why? Because the domain has the POWER to obtain all those other things with the business and cash flow. Those other things can not.
So as we go through the next 2-3 years domains will have not only broken through the ground, not only being expanded 100 fold, not only being covered by every media outlet, but someday soon will be and maybe already is, one of the most desireable assets in the world.
I remember when I registered my actual name and folks thought I was insane. And I looked back their way and asked how they could not see something as simple as that?? I bet each had a name shared with thousands of others. Tens of thousands. Hundredes of thousands. Maybe even millions or more. I said every baby born should get their name or think of a name that is available as it would server that kid well for a lifetime and that was one of the greatest gifts they could give them. Before you even think about starting that college fund.
AdamShannon.com.......Dean, I still hold that for your son who must be getting to the point in his life where that domain could become very useful. Regstered in 1998. That would make him 15 sometime this year. Maybe a great graduation gift for him soon. A life changing gift that I have saved for you and him and only for you guys for all these years.
Did you know that just 10 years ago the brick and mortar folks, the media and anyone else that saw themselves as threatened by the internet tried to kill the internet. Bury it alive. It was called a 'Fad'. They did EVERYTHING in their power to bring the net down and they LOST!! They lost and some have failed to compete. Some can get back in the ring to fight another day and some are out for the count. (Boarders) Many more coming.
The domain is not everything. Really. But it is the FIRST decision a company makes and that is a foundational decision that most take very lightly and like to rush through without proper thought, discussion or understanding of ANY and ALL pitfalls related to it. That is the thing they seem to skip over that sometimes comes back to bite them in the ass.
So here we all stand all these 10-15 years later. Let's stop for a moment. Let's look back. Let's review where we have been and how long each step of te way took and how long and how big the next steps will be. When you do that and you see the transformation at every level in every corner of the world with bilions more still to come, your jaw should just drop. In basically the first 20 years of this medium, life as we know it changed more than at ANY 20 year period in the history of mankind.
Think about that and what it means and represents and then you will understand what the next 20 years will look like. And no, the world does not revolve around domains. But that is the vehicle we have all chosen and it has been life changing for thousands of folks. More to come. Many more. They will have their own 'Vehicles' and they will come in many forms. Plus nobody is stuck with one vehicle or one dance or one anything if they don't want to be.
Matter of fact, MOST domainers that I know have multiple businesses outside the domain industry, domaining and on and off the net. But the focus is where it is the most lucrative and for most of you reading this it has been domains. Electronic real estate. eRealestate.com.
My education in physical real estate came via the virtual real estate parallel. An exact and more powerful parallel. Nobody saw it then......EVERYBODY will in the years ahead. We have crossed over the hump of all this. The tough haul climbing the mountain and the peak is within reach and easier to get to than the hike we just took.
More and more folks will see what we see and that is a great thing and our asset class someday will be #1 in the world. It's happening faster than you can see it. Just remember one thing. An overnight success takes 20 years to achieve.
Your GREAT domains will COMMAND more than mall lease rent in the near future. Why? Because your GREAT domain can provide them with 10x the business their stores can at 1/10 the cost. That's for starters. The point here is you can operate like you own a broken down, unmaintained strip center or you can operate like you own the hottest mall on earth. Which mind and head do you want to go forward with? Because as time proves me right once again........
Look. If you want to sell your unique assets for less then they are worth, that's your decision. A decision you just may regret someday. But at least LEARN how to value a domain through the eye of the end user. Through the eye of somebody with passion that is looking for a break. Through the eyes of a couple of Twenty Somethings from New England that struck a deal with me for Candy.com that is transforming all of our lives. So maybe the Hershey's of the world saw no value. But the ones that want to be the NEXT Hershey's DO see it.
In each and every industry there are leaders and there are guys that want to make their mark. The domain name married with a solid business plan is the formula that works the most effectively and economically and expansion is unlimited. It's the basis of a big success that has the fewest leaks and will catch the most air. And in a new business, ANY AIR is vital to getting it to lift off the ground.
I never had the luxury years ago to go through lists of expired domains or domains for sale. They did not come to be for several years later. I had to think and explore each and every one of them. And when I would think and explore I would try to imagine myself using that single domain to change my destiny in any particular industry. If that was the only domain I owned and I put all my effort into it, could I make money and a good living? That was my standard back then. Before so may tools available now and it is still the standard today.
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