Special Guest Post - "The Sage". Will it be You?

"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and the Success is sure." -- Sam Clemens.

You have probably all heard of this author but don't know who Sam Clemens is. He was an author, visionary businessman, inventor, venture capitalist, wall street investor. He is better known by his pen name Mark Twain.

I’ve been meeting with some wall street bankers and investors and the common thread I keep hearing is that if they only knew and invested in domain names back in the 90’s … That they could have done it and what were they thinking? How could so many people have missed the opportunity? It’s so easy and it was just sitting there, the opportunity to register tons of good domain names.

Well, the opportunity is still there as it was seven years ago. I just talked to a guy who sold his domain name for $1.5M. He paid $35k for it two years ago. However, are you prepared to take out a loan, use your savings, mortgage your house, borrow money from your friends and family, max out all your credit cards, work 16 hour days, read a lot of books, blogs, forums and risk everything to build a business?

What seems so easy in hindsight is not so much about concept or idea but really a marriage of seeing something of value and then deciding to really take the risk on realizing that value. I have tons of ideas that I think will do well but there are only a select few in which I am willing to risk what I have and what I do not have, that is, borrow money.

As you continue to grow the business and take on debt, you risk losing everything you’ve built but if you don’t grow the business, a good friend of mine told me that you are therefore shrinking. If you wait until things are very evident, then everyone is doing it, but even in such times, there is opportunity. In this domain industry, there are opportunities and there will be some new “players” that start now or years from now that will go on to become the biggest in the business. When Frank first started, he used to admire the portfolios of the legacy domainers in the mid to late 90s. They had a few hundred to a few thousand domain names that were great but they stopped growing. He passed them and outgrew them. It’s hard to get motivated to work when the passive income from domain names are so good. It is actually an inhibitor of having the drive to work hard and build businesses around your domain names. So complacency kicks in. Every goal that was set has been passed.

But few make it to this stage. When I started [observing] this industry, there were a lot of people who I considered to be great competitors. There are only a few from 7 years ago that have grown and scaled well. Was it pure luck? Timing? Brains? Relationships?

I think there are certainly those elements but those who were in this industry 7 years ago had the same opportunities. It’s not like any of us had more money than the others. The domainers who started before us had more money, but money didn’t always give them the edge. A vision, a drive, thinking around obstacles, trying to be better while not burning any bridges are all essential. If we fast forward another 7 years, who will still be in this direct navigation market? Who will be the leaders? Will it be the names you recognize now, or will it be dominated by the mainstream media players as they establish an online presence and strategy?

Will you be one of those people?

The paths that are before us are many and sometimes we are on a path that is a dead end and some are on the narrow way that leads to great success in business. I believe that these opportunities still exist for many out there both in this industry and in every industry.

Learn from the past and look to the future. You shape your future by inventing it, visualizing it and living it.

The Sage.

Comments

[Empedocles]

Time you took some time out to get back to someone else's reality. Volunteer work abroad!! your words of wisdom and past hardship would make such a difference.

[Andreas K.]

Great article, very inspiring, even for a beginner from Asuncion - Paraguay...

Best Regards,

[Tia Wood]

Thank you, Sage. This is exactly what I've been needing all week long.

Tia

[William Brister]

Oppoortunity is everywhere. It is only the beginning of the Internet if you are willing to see. Domain Names are like seeds. What do you see in an apple seed? If you only see an apple tree your not seeing the opportunity. If you only see the apples that will grow on that tree, your not seeing the opportunity. If you only see all the seeds that will come from that apple tree your not seeing the opportunity. If you see an orchard from the seeds from that apple tree your not seeing the full opportunity. If you see all the orchards on the earth recreated from that single apple seed your not seeing the full opportunity. If you see all the apples being eaten today, all the apple pies being made, all the jobs picking apples, all the apple picking machines being made, and all the people who work in the apple picking business (cpa's, apple farmers, etc) and all their families living and buying domain names from the profits of their labors your getting close but still will never see the full power and opportunity in one apple seed. So eat an apple today and thank God for His incredible gift of life and opportunities all around us becuase we don't only have apple seeds but orange seeds, watermellon seeds, pear seeds, peach seeds, are you seeing the opportunity yet?

[ActNow]

A lot of wisdom and food for thought in Sage's posting.

The growth rate in the domain industry is moving exponentially. And, within this growth offers a number of niche opportunities.

We are only limited by our own ambitions and our desire to succeed.

What I forget sometimes, while being caught up in everyday business, is to stretch myself and think outside of the box.

Sage, thanks for reminding me.

[Carlos]

Wise and inspiring words, those that are driven by passion and persistance already won in business and in life!

Carlos.

[David Wrixon]

The problem is William that everyone else has an Apple in their packed lunch as well, and your Apple is no more valuable than theirs.

[owen frager]

Thanks for your alway's inspiring posts.

I think Frank, like I, may be discovering that his web.1 is pretty boring and this blog (web2) is much more fulfilling. And if you are passionate about what you do and make a difference for others, money will always follow. PPC is a very cold existance, but all you need is one domain and with a fraction of the PPC war chest, you can have it all.

[William Brister]

David, its what you do with your apple that matters!

[David Wrixon]

William, there are two things in play here. One is Web Addresses, and the other are Internet Business models. Domains don't automatically make businesses, and business don't automatically make domains. If you are a developer and you pick the right domain, it can give you huge synergy and may make the difference between success and failure. To do that the domain needs to be very special. Most traffickless extensions just won't cut it, and neither will contrived combos even in dot com.

You need to work out whether you are primarily a domainer or a developer. I guess I fit primarily in the first category. For me the game will be primarily PPC for the foreseable future, with perhaps a bit of buying and selling. Meaningful development is likely to be a more long-term objective, if at all.

[Omar]

This is an *awesome* post. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your wisdom. There was a lot in there :))

[William Brister]

I see your point. I am primarily a domainer but have begun some deveopment to diversify. I don't see it as any different than what Name Media is doing only on a smaller scale. I am doing well on my PPC income but do not want to put all my eggs in that one basket. I have an Indian based company that is developing out sites for me at a very reasonable price. This includes, site design, 4-5 pages, article creation and SEO. I am into the early stages. We are adding some affiliate type revenue links now. The traffic was up 20% May over April. The next step will be to take one of my top performing sites and then develop it our more. I am investing a certain percentage of profits on this development and a certain percentage on buying new domains.

[Robert]

Thank you, Frank.

[Brian]

The Sage really nailed it... this one hit home for me, great post

[Saleem Qureshi]

I have recently started exploring the wonderful world of domains, and reading Sage's article was inspiring. From my limited knowledge, it seems as if this industry will double within a few years - it will be a wonderful ride!
Thank you for the educational posting