10 More Things I’ve Learned in Domaining Over the Last 10 Years

1.  Many people in this industry don’t want me to be honest.  I give them a good honest opinion of their blog, their website, and their services and all they get is mad.  They are too emotionally involved and have lost the ability to make their entity better. They only want to hear the praises rather than take the “opportunities” I’ve given them and try and improve.  Unbiased, intelligent, 3rd party analysis is expensive or hard to find,  yet I am treated like an enemy .

2. Not having time and not making time are completely different yet most confuse the two.  Time is precious and you make time for things that you enjoy. You make excuses for the rest

3.  This industry is full of copycats and followers.  The main reason people don’t share things is because every time you do people jump all over it.  Heaven forbid you share a way you make money.  The leaders, real business people, and innovators can be counted in one hand.   The rest merely follow and give their opinion of the results of the leaders

4. Sedo needs an advertising budget.  Sedo used to be IT. THE place to go for domains.  They are losing ground each and every day and they don’t seem to care.  They are good about giving their sales numbers out each week for bloggers to report but other than information release I see very little interaction.  Afternic, Godaddy, and Internet Traffic are eating their lunch and may be their demise.  Even their broker business is losing ground to the DomainAdvisors, Domain Holdings, and Andrew Roseners.

5.  An amazing domain means nothing with a bad business model behind it.  Domain investors overvalue the power of strong domains.  I’ll take a great business with a bad domain over a good domain with a bad business.  Yes the domain is an asset but you may need to sell it to pay off your debt if your business fails

6.  Non Disclosure and bid by private message are synonyms for really didn’t happen in 20% of the cases ,in my opinion.  Too easy to embellish on the Internet

7.  I don’t believe in leasing.  My grandfather told me long ago to buy with cash if you can afford it.  Think twice about buying if you can’t. Payment plans yes, price of domains includes piece of the action yes, partnership where my equity is the domain yes, but temporary ownership?  Have never understood how it’s going to work.   I do believe that if anyone can do it Rick Schwartz will. As passionate as anyone I’ve met

8. I still can’t tell which domains will sell at any given time.  I generally know what types sell but I constantly amazed with some offers some of my names get.  It only goes to prove their is no way to predict the wants of billions of people.

9.  Having plenty of money and not needing it is a snowball effect on making more money in domains.  You hold out for more money on offers because small amounts don’t financially move you.  You can afford the quality names that are appreciating at a higher rate.  There is no stress to make money to pay bills so you make better decisions.

10.  Quitting your day job to be a full time domain investor is over rated.  Your goal should always be to work for yourself, to be financially independent.  But if you can get a good paycheck and then pile on domain money why wouldn’t you. There is plenty of time in the day to make another $100K a year.  If you don’t like your job that much then quit.  You don’t need domain investing, you just need a better job.