How did you get into domaining?

[discobull]

I'm curious to know the stories behind how others ended up in this business. Care to share?

I'll start the ball rolling. I came at this sort of through the backdoor. Unlike most people that start off with money they want to invest, I started out with a few domains that I had acquired for a business as an end user. They were all along the lines of CityService.com and ServiceCity.com and when it was time to move away from the city where I lived, I had the "brilliant" and "original" idea that my competitors might have an interest in acquiring those domains. At that point, I had never heard of domaining or even heard of anyone selling a domain. Moreover, I had no idea what I should charge for them but I figured I would give it a shot and try to get as much for them as possible. So, I sent out 40 emails and lo and behold I managed to get one sale. Several months later, I tried again and sold 3 more. That's when I realized that there was potential for a business so I reinvested the earnings from those sales and have been doing this full time for the last 3 years. The End.

Your turn...

 

[vivaldi]

Got tired of the robots playing around in the stock market so looked for an online business where there is a lot going on and ta-da!

 

[discobull]

Got tired of the robots playing around in the stock market so looked for an online business where there is a lot going on and ta-da!

You're significantly more succinct than I am.

 

[Mads]

Somewhat similar story here...
We purchased .in name for our Biz & when learned that the .com is King, tried to contact the .com owner and...WHAT!!? he threw this crazy amount!!
During that process we came across this beautiful tool- WHOIS!, and it set the spark!!
N NamePros has been Oxygen.
Fuel!?.....ofcourse GD codes!! :P

Traveld few milestones and way to goooooo!

 

[tomcarl]

I was researching alternative investments and came across articles about domains. I did research for days, became fascinated with the industry and the success stories that touched my passion of Direct Sales (B2B, Cold Calling, etc)

I came across NamePros shortly after, did a lot more reading, got a lot more insulted by the low/regfee appraisals in the forums for my domains, thought they were haters on my $xx,xxx regfee names.

 

[KDN]

Searched 'how to make money online' on Google and voila!

I'm not a good writer so I didn't even think about being a blogger. It's either I do domaining or I'll die from starvation hahaha.

But seriously, there's something magical in domaining that I can't explain. It's actually addicting but it's an addiction that you won't regret.

Gonna smoke domain names later.

 

[ajaydz]

Back in 2011,got an enquiry from Godaddy domain buy service for a domain registered for my personal use,sold it for $1,500.next googled for "domain name forums"and landed at NamePros.now it's more than a hobby.

 

[Mohammad]

I got started too late. I started with .IR domains and then got into gTLDs from too years ago. I don't invest much in domaining and I won't do risk that much. So, I just get very good names only.

Johnny

 

[nomen]

I followed the light.

 

[Kate]

I can't remember the exact circumstances, but back in 1999 I was registering domain names for my own use ($6/year at namebargain). As par of my research, I studied the process by which expired domain names become available again. The next step was manual dropcatching of course, and pushing it further.
I was a member on the old Afternic. I joined forums only in 2005, before I did not even know domaining forums existed. I had been domaining without knowing it :P

 

[nomen]

Searched 'how to make money online' on Google and voila!

Hah

 

[LoneDeranger]

I have some spare time at the military, so as one person wrote above, I just googled "how to make money online. I came across freelancing, domaining and few more possibilities. I chose domaining and now all the dead time is invested to this profession, hoping to end my service at the military with some cash in my pockets !

 

[Mads]

hoping to end my service at the military with some cash in my pockets !

Good Luck Mate!!
Cheers!!

 

[discobull]

I followed the light.

Many would suggest that you've turned away from it.

 

[bytedo]

Drones made me do it

 

[Ian Goh]

Wanted to form a startup in Malaysia. So bought a few .my extensions and thought it may rank well in Malaysia. Met Derek Gehl and he said .com is king. Curious, I research more on domains and found that domains are traded like real estate, thus join Namepros community

 

[onebrand.co]

Erm the internet?

 

[RogueWriter]

Someone offered me $2K for a domain I had registered. Had not occurred to me you could resell domains for a profit, I was just building a web site to display projects my sons and I had worked on.

 

[biggie]

a co-worker came to my office one day and asked me to check out an "online money making catalog" website

when I asked her why she came to me, she said "in a dream that God, told her to ask me"

no lie!

so, I did some research and told her that basically it was a money hole and not a wise investment to make.

however, while doing a search on the url, I found dnf, which at the time was domainnameforum in 2002.

that's when I registered my first domain and a year later, NP was born.

 

[discobull]

a co-worker came to my office one day and asked me to check out an "online money making catalog" website

when I asked her why she came to me, she said "in a dream that God, told her to ask me"

no lie!

so, I did some research and told her that basically it was a money hole and not a wise investment to make.

however, while doing a search on the url, I found dnf, which at the time was domainnameforum in 2002.

that's when I registered my first domain and a year later, NP was born.

That's a great story. Do you send your coworker a percentage of your profits?

 

[biggie]

That's a great story. Do you send your coworker a percentage of your profits?

Thanks disco

by the time I started earning "residuals", that company closed and we went our separate ways.

i did keep a $100 bill in my wallet for a few years, hoping I'd run into her, but we haven't seen or heard from each other since.

but it was truly a blessing, that I will never forget.

BTW, her name was Mary.

 

[hookbox]

I came across this article by Tim Ferriss a few years ago and was blown away and have been hooked ever since.

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2009/02...-pro-10-tips-from-the-founder-of-phonetagcom/

 

[McDuke]

I first was introduced to domains in 2001 when a computer genius i knew would help me with questions. He would get excited and tell me about LLL.com's he had, I didn't get the significance. I was more interested in building computers and flipping them as a hobby.

Then in 2011 or 2012 i saw that .xxx super bowl commercial. I thought because xxx related sites generate alot of money and the xxx industry may move to it's own extension. It's was a logical investment to me, so I registered 20 .xxx names "non graphic media related names" I have kept 3 over the years.

Then in 2013-2014 i was injured and had to keep busy while at home waiting to have surgery, I had a few future business ideas so i went and registered a bunch of names in that niche so i had options down the road.

Now I am a Domainer4Life / com

Frank Schilling is my hero!

Happy Domaining!

 

[ricksinfoshop]

I actually bought a domain on ebay for like three bucks and parked it on sedo..forgot about it and then had an email from sedo a few months later saying i had a 700 dollar offer on the table from a buyer...took it...got me hooked

 

[Ms Domainer]

In 2007, I was writing a book and needed to register the title of the book and my characters' names (In 2001, had already registered my own name).

I just kind of got caught up in it, regging reams of really bad names.

I linked on to my first domaining blog: Domaintools, then owned by Jay Westerdal, who was blogging quite regularly.

I found Namepros in 2008.