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debate Why are you not successful in domaining???

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For a while now I am seeing a very limited number of domainers being covered in blog post after blog post. I can count them on one hand. It has led to their current high profile status. It makes the domaining industry look very small while, at the same time, giving maximum exposure in a very niche market to very few people. Now, I am not trying to imply that they don't deserve that adulation and attention. It is very clear that they have gotten where they are due to hard work.

It can make one reasonably wonder if only a few players are very successful? Are most domainers hobbyists, dipping their toes in to feel the water, so to speak? Or are there many more other successful domain entrepreneurs that prefer to stay in the shadows. Are we too fixated on those that make big sales which are publicly reported? And live in a "hopeful thinking" frame of mind rather than doing the hard work to make deals happen? Just sayin'. What are your thoughts?
 
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Great question. I believe there are a lot more successful domainers. I guess the word successful is rather subjective as well. Just look at the DAN homepage daily and you can see that alot of domains are sold daily on their platform alone. And I would say that selling a domain (whatever the price might be) equals success in the industry. Even I sold some domains in the low xxxx a few times which nobody knows about, and for me that's success.
 
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I don't think all success has to be shouted from the rooftops, though it is motivating to hear on it.

Surprised you say can count number of domainers profiled on blogs on one hand. I think Bob has covered a couple, and Alvin Brown does a new person almost weekly via podcast and posts a summary on NP. You can catch them via the Domain Industry News section.

I think as Bernard said, success is measured in many ways, but we see more the high-profile ones covered because often they are most active and willing to go public.

A lot of success also happens behind the scenes which rarely get accolades. I think as you say though, probably only a few are very successful and for most its a daily grind. Hard work coupled with investing in the right names and manageable overhead should get one to a comfort zone.

For me I ain't giving up my day job anytime soon.
 
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We had few polls here on the subject and about 50% of all domain investors actually lose money and another15-20% would be making more flipping burgers if they'd factor in the time commitment.
 
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Isn't the same true to all the industries?

I think there are many more successful domainers than the exposures show, but at the same time, it's also true that ratio wise not many people are successful, at least not in the big scales.
 
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Even I sold some domains in the low xxxx a few times which nobody knows about, and for me that's success.

High XXX to mid XXXX seems to be the sweet spot. It is important to do research on domains so that we don't leave money on the table or lose sales.

I don't think all success has to be shouted from the rooftops, though it is motivating to hear on it.

Indeed.

Surprised you say can count number of domainers profiled on blogs on one hand.

It was a bit of a hyperbole. There seems to be an askew coverage though.

about 50% of all domain investors actually lose money and another15-20% would be making more flipping burgers

Domaining is not the problem. More likely education and work ethic.
 
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Are we too fixated on those that make big sales which are publicly reported? And live in a "hopeful thinking" frame of mind rather than doing the hard work to make deals happen?
It is a great view, well expressed in your opening post. Thank you.

It is definitely true that a relatively small number of people seem to get all of the mention. This is stating the obvious, but it is those who make large reported sales and are eager to be noted publicly, to some degree.

The vast majority of the market makes sales, meaningful to them, without much mention. It is almost certainly true that about half are not making any money at all, some losing a substantial amount of money.

I do feel that those who write in the industry, and those who organize conferences and have podcasts, need to be cognizant of making sure that a suitable variety of voices are heard.

I should also say that one thing that I like so much about our community at NamePros is that anyone can start a thread, and we do, not infrequently, learn the stories that are not getting covered elsewhere. Several times this year the community favourite was a story that was not, to my knowledge, covered elsewhere.

Anyway, just wanted to say message heard. Thank you.

Bob

PS I did want to make a shout out to @Alvin Brown who has had a number of guests with interesting viewpoints that I did not hear elsewhere. Also @Page Howe brought a number of new voices to his TheDomainShow. And @Keith DeBoer has had guests beyond the usual ones on his excellent podcast. I really appreciate that they are all active, to varying degrees, with us here on NamePros as well.
 
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Why are you not successful in domaining???

I am seeing a very limited number of domainers being covered in blog post after blog post. I can count them on one hand. It has led to their current high profile status. It makes the domaining industry look very small while, at the same time, giving maximum exposure in a very niche market to very few people.

It can make one reasonably wonder if only a few players are very successful?

Hi,

i'd say, that blog posts don't determine who is having or has had success.

as there are so many domainers who are succeeding, and haven't been interviewed or written about.
and....
there are those who have been interviewed/written about in blog posts in the past and you might not be aware.
5 With... Donald Williams, Jr. | DomainInvesting.com

:)

also, one should hope,
that the "domain industry" continues to "look small" and stay a niche` market, so other mo-fo's with mo-money won't come in and up the competition further.

imo....
 
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Interesting discussion going on here..
 
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"I'm not a successful in domaining because I'm broke"

With an increasing competition and technology, you need more money and budget to invest on those premium domains that could make you richer.

Of course there's some exceptions to that, but that's like playing the lottery, and you can do that too for few bucks.
 
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two words my friend
Chinese investors.
every auction i have to bid against them and they seem to have bottomless pockets
also what @iAdam said
 
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"I'm not a successful in domaining because I'm broke"

With an increasing competition and technology, you need more money and budget to invest on those premium domains that could make you richer.

Of course there's some exceptions to that, but that's like playing the lottery, and you can do that too for few bucks.

I respectfully disagree with that.
There are many different ways of domaining.

For example, I've sold a 3 months old domain upper mid $XXX, hand registered. Got another $550 offer on a 1 month old hand registered domain (didn't sell). Drop caught a domain for $25 and got an offer of low $XXX within a week (didn't sell).

Someone I know bought a domain for $9 from nameliquidate.com & sold that domain for upper $XXX after two months. These are just examples. The main point is, if you invest intelligently, steadily and keep your eyes open for new opportunities, you don't need a lot of initial fund to get more funds for those premium domains.

Anyways, these are just my experience and humble opinion. Perhaps what I call success is not success to you. Or perhaps you had a different experience simply because of bad luck. It's possible. I'm just saying that it's not the norm, and it's definitely not like lottery.
 
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It`s a good question that everyone wants to know
 
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As pointed out in many polls here, many are hobbyists.
 
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