It all depends on what one considers as rich. I'm probably rich, though I'm living a simple life. I like comfy but most rich people are spending on luxury which I feel as mostly pointless unless it has a very practical benefit to me.
I'm rich by my own and local standards. I'm not rich by US standards for example. Where I live (Eastern Europe) I can currently buy an apartment with one year's worth of domain profits. High 5-fig in euros. That's not very much, but it's something. Everyone around me thinks I'm rich. So I might be, at least per local standards. I must also say that I currently have other business bringing another good portion of cash per year. Domains just add up. I have no financial stress for the future - that makes a person rich in today's world, I think. How many are able to say that with 100% certainty.
I'm able to have enough personal time, and get the things I want and able to pay studies for my kid at the best university in London. That makes a dad rich, I think. I have people working for me on all things including domains, so I save time. That's a business, where you don't do everything.
2020 was the year when I broke into profit with domains. I must say that I'm a long time businessman so I knew what I was getting into. Did some well balanced projections from the start. They matched the reality afterwards, and still do.
In the first couple years I've burned money - to learn fast. I had a budget and knew exactly what I was doing. My only drawback was lack of names' experience. So I had to beat that - the fastest, the better. Time is the most precious thing.
I always work with a budget. Business has taught me over the years that you cannot make a business without a budget. Because money is made with money. Anyway - domains, I knew it was worth it for me, right from the start. I had that special feeling that although I don't know enough about it yet, I'm born to do this. Be a domainer.
In the old days I used to own and flip some 4L .coms but then I got out of that. So for me it's a return to a business I've ignored for about 15 years or so. Been busy to do other things meantime.
But the most important thing in m model is precise business projection. Which so far has never been wrong, again due to experience over years in doing that.
I know for sure that in a couple years I'll be into solid 6-fig range in profit and looking up to final goal of exceeding 1M / annum. Have had one of the fastest sales growth ever in domains, I think. There was some calculation here in one of the posts (don't remember exactly which) about how and how much you can grow in domains over the years. I checked against that and my growth rate was far better. I'm looking at domains as a business, not a side gig, not a personal investment, although that is also fine for others - everyone has their own approach, goals and situation. (Edit: Funny competition thing, I have friends doing that 1M+ per annum in business profits so I can't wait to match them sooner and celebrate over a bottle of fine drinks. In fact I've already told'em I'm all set to get past them and right in front of the pack).
My model is multi-segmented, I have all sorts of domains in different tlds. So you can't really put me in a given category as I'm all over the place. I make profit in most of these segments. I lose money in some. This year I'll be losing about 15-20k (estimated) in various tests, but assumed losses. But overall even with that small loss I will still be nice profit. In fact I am already.
My next immediate goal is to reach $1k/day in sales. I'm not there yet but it is approaching. Each day there is improvement, each day I make some progress. When I started this could not fathom how much you can learn in domains. Now each day I find out there's even more to learn than I could figure out the day before.
I sell at all prices, and any price. I sell daily, and sometimes hourly. 4-fig, 3-fig, even 2-fig clearances. It depends. Haven't sold 5-fig yet but I have some and there's time for that. I keep money rolling. I don't get in love with any of my domains. Everything is for sale. Make me an offer, you might get lucky.
Often I sell a 4-fig domain for 3-fig and people tell me I undersold it badly. Believe me, I know. But I also know exactly what I am doing. I'm keeping cashflow good, and with that domain I can buy tens of other domains like it. There is still a ton of domain value to purchase, catch of even hand reg if you know what you're doing. So I have a ton of volume - much more than I could renew, unless you do the math right and have that cashflow as well to keep them renewed and still make profit for yourself, and still grow fast. A business that is not always growing is a dying business.
Edit: People always ask this: "How much is my domain worth?" Instead of asking, "How much can this domain be sold for in the next 2 years, and actually get sold?" It doesn't matter if your domain is worth 200k if nobody, ever, gets to buy it because you keep that price high and it all turns you into a collector, not a seller.
If you get in love with domains, you're creating scarcity - for yourself. I always sell, discount, liquidate a portion of my assets constantly, only to keep the portfolio growing, and fast. Again business experience teaches you things over the years.
There are a ton of models out there and so far I haven't seen one like mine, but who knows. When I'll get older and tired I will probably stop growing and simply focusing on retail sales. That's a good model but not necessarily useful for me today. Edit: And I really love managing my names, indeed passion is at play.
Unsure how all this info helps others however. I know that my model is based on a lot of things I do different from a different position that most are unable to (e.g: significant budget). So it's not something extraordinary but would be hard to replicate without those particularities. Overall, I can say that yes, you can get rich with domains, but few will and you need to be very good at a least one thing or couple things, far better than others, in order to achieve that goal.
