discuss Most important quality that differentiate successful domainers among other common domainers?

[GreatBrand.in]

Domaining is a serious business which needs time, energy and serious efforts. It required at most level of dedication and sincerity like any other professions. In spite of all these dedication and efforts still the success rate in this profession is very low. There are very few successful domainers who are performing consistently over many years and decades and then we have list of domainers who are struggling to get even their first sales.

The average industry sale through rate is very low 2-3% and thus out of 100 domains only 2-3 gets customers either in the form of end-user or resell investors.

Anyway, I personally believe this sector needs some special quality and the domainer who posses those attributes succeed here and believe me money is not in my top three list. These are
1. Knowledge,
2. Creativity
3. Patience

and if you have more money along with these above qualities your learning curve and struggle duration would be shorter but if you only have money and not the other three qualities than I don't think anyone would be able to save you from bankruptcy

What is your view, out of all these four deciding factors (including money) which one is the most important main deciding factor mainly shaping career of a domainer and defining whether he is successful or not.

Other than poll your candid views and thought provoking arguments/ justification are most welcome to make this discussion engaging, entertaining and inspiring.

Best wishes!

 

[Bravo Mod Team]

Money and patience won't help without knowledge.

Creativity without knowledge may be unviable.

More important than all four is wisdom, which comes from experience.

 

[slader23]

Knowledge is what separates successful domainers among other common domainers. You can only become knowledgeable through hard work, research and learning from your mistakes. If you don't take the time to learn, you will never become successful in any business. Money, although important is not the main differentiator because the best domainers continuously apply their knowledge to take advantage of asymmetric opportunities hidden within the domain aftermarket.

Being knowledgeable gives you the patience to wait. For example----> Buying and holding a future trend domain....ex Mike Mann with CryptoWorld.com sale to Binance for $195,000.

AND

Being knowledgeable enables you to do more with less money. For example ---> Joseph Ciprut hand registering CognitiveAutomation.com in 2016 and selling it for $300k+Stock to the Cognitive Automation Community.


One big mistake for many domainers is overemphasizing the importance of creativity. IMHO we as domainers are not artists, we aren't creating or adding anything unique to the world, the value is inherent within the domain itself....we are selling it's UTILITY.

 

[steven55]

Pessimism is a good quality for Domainers to start with.
New Domainers should start with a lot of pessimism about their Domaining skills.

With pessimism, you ask more questions, seek more knowledge, seek Gurus, guides etc before
buying any domains.
With pessimism, you are not over-buying useless domains without solid grounds.

With optimism, you have a periodic "feel good" moments when you are too happy and buy wrong domains.
Why, because, you were in just a good mood. And add to that, you felt you had extra cash..

The cure for pessimism should be in knowledge.
But knowing what is right knowledge is key.
One may have a lot of knowledge, but it could be all useless too.

Being pessimistic about one's knowledge is important.
That will force you to keep refining it.
Knowledge encompasses patience too.
That patience is required, itself is knowledge.

 

[Sumeeth]

I believe, Good domainer should have the ability to pick right keyword + knowledge on different niches

I mean if he has good niche knowledge + ability to identify right keyword, he can even earn with hand registered domains as well just my opinion

 

[loredan]

Agreed with Brad here, it must be a mix of all the above plus a few more.

Money is obviously important but knowledge is importanter

 

[Cooldomainideas]

Like others said it's a combination of multiple factors.

#1. Pre-existing knowledge. For someone who already has a general concept of Seo/marking/Computers, they start off with good foundations.

#2. The ability to pick domain names.

#3. Money to afford domain names.

#4. A way to market domains. Establishing some sort of platform to sell your domains with a reliable stream of traffic is the next important. Listing on godaddy auctions alone etc. doesn't seem to be good enough. However, if you could generate your own traffic to your listings then that is how you are more likely to convert.

#5 Patience of course, especially if you haven't established a consistent way of domaining.

#6 Passion. One of the things I like about getting into domain flipping is that inspiration seems to be everywhere. Sure flipping domains is the act itself, but just by looking at different domain names, it seems to spark creativity and interest.

#7 Luck. If you get success early on, it's easier to stick around to see where things go. But if you have a 5 star domain name that you can't sell. Then it's easy to give up.

 

[biggie]

If I only wanted to 'sell' a premium domain, that cost a lot of money, could you not just find a buyer for the owner and make commission?

That is, if you're starting out and want to learn how to sell premium domains, could an individual find a domain they think they could sell, find a buyer, then... You get what I mean?

Hi

i get what you mean

but If, you're just starting,
then why would the owner of a premium domain want or need you representing their name?

and, with no knowledge or experience.... how would you know what a premium name is?

imo...

 

[frostify]

The #1 lesson I wish people would learn is to choose quality over quantity.
It's better to have 10 names worth $100 each than to have 100 names worth $10 each.

Less renewal fees (this can be a huge expense), higher margins, more demand, etc.
I try to tell people to invest in generic keywords, one word, two word, 3L, 4L, and other 'blue chip' domains that have a solid track record of slow and steady increases in value. Go for domains with some age and even previous sales history. There's so much data out there to make informed decisions these days.

Finally, unless you have over 5+ years of experience and know what you're doing, just stay away from unpopular extensions. Stick with the big 3 being: .com .net and .org

I can't count how much money I've seen newcomers waste on newer extensions that just never took off. Lots of people blew money on .biz .mobi .info and more. While a select few made a profit, the overwhelming majority did not.

 

[bmugford]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think creativity is not always a positive trait when it comes to domain investing.

It might be positive when it comes to finding some cute brand for your own personal use, but with 150M+ .COM taken there are a lot of creative people on Earth who have already registered almost everything good.

Sometimes it is just better to buy the types of domains end users are looking to buy than try to re-invent the wheel.

Brad

 

[FavourB]

I choose money.

You need money to gain knowledge ( DN Academy)

After the training you need money to start investing properly.

After Investing you also need money to stay afloat in the business and still if you got money you will automactically have patience as there wouldn't be any need to sale in a hurry.

Money Money Money

 

[griff]

knowledge & enough funds to act on that knowledge.

 

[frostify]

To add to my previous point, don't be afraid to spend money on a domain if it's high quality, especially if it looks like there's still room for profit. Lots of investors have this mindset that they can only invest like $15 to $20 per domain name which simply isn't true. My most profitable flips have been names I've bought in the low to mid $xxx range and flipped for low to mid $x,xxx.

Check expired domain auctions, check popular marketplaces and sort by new. Check previous domain sales, domain age, other extensions registered, etc. You'll get back what you put into it. If you keep investing in cheap domains, you're best case scenario is cheap profits.

 

[Future Sensors]

Serious question: Do you mean per NP rules or are you suggesting I should elaborate?

You're generalizing this at an extreme level, while more subtlety is required - especially in this thread.

For example, you can differentiate by TLD (.com, .cc, .io), by time period (domain registered in 1995 or 2021). You could tell us what you think is "cheap" and "not cheap". You could add some statistics if it's not your n=1 experience. You have endless possibilities to take us along in your way of thinking. But what you wrote is simply too blunt and can mislead new domainers with little budget.

Just have a look at the Recent Sales thread and you see what I mean.

 

[bmugford]

I'm just saying, the domainer doesn't need consent, and can simply source offers. Present these offers to the owner and presto. Either enough or not. Ultimately, they'll get a feel for the negotiations/valuations, and eventually have a great network and money to buy premium names.

If I were broke and genuinely wanted to make a career, that's where I would start.

This mindset is toxic. A property owner can choose who they want to represent their assets.

Some random person has no right to pitch domains that they do not own or have permission to represent.

It can create all kinds of potential issues for the domain owner to deal with. The owner is stuck dealing with these as the clown just moves on to the next domain.

Brad

 

[tonyk2000]

1. Knowledge. And, one cannot "buy" it from paid "academies". Or learn it from self-proclaimed "domain gods". You need to learn the stuff youself, starting from technical end of the things. For example, it is amazingly unfortunate that many folks still think that whois is a bunch of websites. Learning what whois really is and how it works should be one of the 1st steps.

2. Experience. If you have knowledge, then, with apporpriate big data analysis, you will find how dirty and corrupted industry we are all in. To some extend, you will then be able to use the data in your favor. Sharing it publicly? What for, you are a businessman and not an "investigative journalist" (IMO). To give an idea what I am speaking about, you will learn that questionable netsol-owned entity ("New Ventures Services, Corp"), which they use to warehouse domains, is just a tip of an iceberg.... similar activity happens not only with netsol... And, the last but not the least, you will lose all (if any) respect to some so-called "industry leaders".

Money? Where is the NP poll where ~50% participants openly admitted how they lost money in domaining? Cannot find it now. It may not be possible or practical to start domaining in 2021 without money, but, you'll lose all the funding, and quickly, without appropriate knowledge

 

[bmugford]

Show attachment 183642

That is basically a Dunning-Kruger chart. The more you think you know, the less you actually
know.

Newcomers don't even know what they don't know.

Brad

 

[Future Sensors]

It is true because money brings opportunities. The more bankroll the more opportunities you have.

It is why rich people tend to get richer in general, not just in the domain world.

If you think a stock is going to triple and you only bought $100 stock the gains are almost irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. You do the same thing with $1M and now you have serious gains.

Brad

Agree. And, having some money in the bank will give you freedom & time to focus on domaining full-time.

 

[Mister Funsky]

I would rank as follows:

1. Knowledge
2. Money
3. Patience
4. Creativity

 

[DomainTurbo]

"Mindset & Discipline"
The way you think. the way you manage your time, prioritize your tasks and eliminate wastes. The way you handle failure and learn from it. the way you keep improving and not giving up

 

[NicTraders]

I reckon experience and practice are possibly the most important. Which is probably a mix of knowledge and patience to an extent (so I voted knowledge), but certainly there are plenty of other important aspects.

 

[theinvestor]

Well out of the 4 to choose from in the poll I would have to say you need knowledge first.

Being creative doesn’t make you a good domainer. It doesn’t matter how much money or patience you have. If you are buying the wrong domains you won’t be successful.

 

[Future Sensors]

Know when not to run after the crowd. Learn how to get ahead of the crowd in a smart way.

On a great forum like this, it's easy to get tempted into all kinds of purchases, which won't always make sense afterwards. Realize that on every forum there are always multiple views and that people use different strategies to achieve their goals. These goals do not necessarily correspond to your purpose in life, or in domaining. When in doubt, ask people to explain further on their way of thinking, as it will help you to create a strategy for yourself.

Some of the most successful domainers have become successful because they failed to do what others did en masse, at the right time - and vice versa. Obviously, you need some financial resources and some independence for this and it is not wise to immediately quit your permanent job. But in domaining it's perfectly possible to earn a good income with making the right choices. You have to work hard for it though.

 

[karmaco]

Money certainly helps, but money without knowledge and experience is also the quickest way to lose money.

Brad

True and this question is complex. I voted money because its easier for any domainer to gain the knowledge if determined enough. Not every domainer can recognize a great name and have the funds to bid it up to 25K at auction.

 

[Future Sensors]

The following is more a definition thing

An excellent salesman sells lots of really bad names to other excellent people. Just because he's an excellent seller. He doesn't get the respect from other domainers. But, will we consider him a successful domainer?

 

[VadimK]

The most important thing is patience to get knowledge. And along the way you will show creativity and will spend some money.