If I were my boss I would probably have a little talk with me. It would go something like this. “Shane, I noticed you spend some of your day thinking about things other than the nursery, it looks to be something related to the Internet, particularly domain names”. “I see you scanning through blogs and lists and they don’t seem to have anything to do with work”. Of course, this little talk would never happen for a few reasons. One, I’m the boss and two, I put in 80 OTHER hours a week running my business and since I spend every hour of every day there, I have to do some personal things during the “work” day to fulfill my personal wants.
For those of you that aren’t the boss, are you spending your bosses money domaining? Most domainers that I know do this on the side. For every this guy, there are 100 me. I do think I make much more than most part time domainers but I do have a little more money and make a little more time than most but we are still in the same category of “part time domainer”. Notice how I said “make”. I don’t ever take away from my business time. They may be during working hours but when you work for 7:30 to 7 then you don’t feel as guilty taking 30 minutes out of the day to read and gather data. For those of you that only work 40 hours a week how can you possibly do your job in those 40 hours and still find time to do a little domaining?”
I know some very successful domainers such as Morgan Linton, have other jobs. I often wonder what his bosses think of his concentrated efforts on domaining. I have never spoken to him but I can’t help but think that he is in the same boat as me and that is we really have to concentrate to make sure we are doing our “real job”. The job that pays the bills, feeds the family, and builds for retirement. The other similarities we share is the flexibility of the job. Morgan’s bosses must be flexible. You don’t become a nominee for “Domainer of the Year” by putting in 80 hours a week at your day job (not meaning to be harsh here I love what Morgan’s doing) Being boss doesn’t mean you work less hours, it actually means more. What it does mean is flexibility. As long as I have staff to cover my stores, I can finish my work all day, any day, as long as I get it done. The only person that reflects my dedication is the bottom line. My decisions, whether they are positive or negative are easily answered through my employees and profits. If I were to lose too much focus or travel to all these conferences, I would stand to lose much more than I’ll ever make domaining. That is the difference between me and most other domainers, I have no ambitions of doing this full time.
I love domaining but domaining to me is no more than an additional part of what I already do, selling plants. I flip names for fun. I buy gardening names for business. If I were to developing insurance names I would be too far away from what I do. I would have to be at work looking at articles about insurance, reading up on things I have no interest in or will help me in my brick and mortar business. Learning more about online plant sales does. Setting my company up for future online sales and revenue…does. The extra $25K I make is merely to feed my habit, having fun and buying more names. So this brings me back to you.
For those of you that hold down regular jobs, how many hours a week of your employer’s money do you waste domaining? Do you ever feel guilty? What is your goal in domaining, to make enough to quit that job or to make enough extra that you can buy more/better domains?
I’m aware of the time I spend “domaining” at my real job, and I do my best to focus on my work. I’m sure distractions of all kinds are an issue for those of us who sit at a desk for hours on end.
I find it ironic that both you and Morgan have said you’re not interested in domaining full-time. I would absolutely love to figure out and do whatever it is you two are doing to succeed in this business (I’m a newbie) so that I can quit my day job and pour all of my time and energy into something I’ve built.
Do any of us really know how successful any other “domainer” is? Especially domainers that do it only part time?
Regarding Elliot. I have to assume that he is making some decent money because he lives in NYC and does domaining full time, he obviously is making enough to live there, which takes a lot. The same assumptions regarding ML don’t necessarily have to be true. We have no idea how much he is making. I would be glad to hear he is making $5000+ a month but the truth is we simply have no idea how much he is making. He could be making $10,000+ or he could just be making less than $1000 per month. This all makes me laugh because without ANY information or without ANY transparency we are voting on “Domainers of the Year!”
Yeah, us “domainers” are a silly lot. We like giving credit and awards to one another using no more information than what they write on their blogs.
In closing I don’t want to give the impression that I don’t want anyone to succeed. On the contrary, I would love for Morgan to be successful in domaining. My only point is that we all act like there is no doubt that he is successful when really we have absolutly no way to measure whether or not he is. Its like voting on the Oscars without being able to watch any of the actors in a film. How do you know they deserve an oscar when you haven seen their movies? It is like buying a stock without knowing the income of the business.
We are silly.
Troy
For every successful domainer, there are +100 people who have failed, we all want to make that big sale and earn an easy living off the internet, but let’s face it, if it was that easy we all would do it, and then I would teach my brothers/sisters/cousins/uncles to do it too so they could quit their day jobs.
Making a living off the internet is not easy feat, you will only read about success, rarely about the failure, the latter being more common.
Troy: at the same time – why would we need people to disclose their income levels to determine how successful they are or not?
I’m not sure how much Morgan or Elliot makes but I am very familiar with the type of role models they are. Truth be told: both of them work their asses off. Not only for what they do but for the domain industry itself.