Opinions on Kevin Ham?

[RWAC]

Assuming just a few of you have read up on Kevin Ham, what's the best tidbits of advice that you have picked up from his wily practices to become in recent years, one of the kings of the market place?

Similar personalities of his ilk and prowess in dominating their market segment, what do you respect or disrespect about these characters?

Views welcome.

(You can disguise your identities if you wish)

 

[acronym007]

Ham was an INTERN when he got into domains. Interns are not rich.

Saying that all big domainers were rich when they got into domaining is just a way to make yourself feel better. Sahar used to run an ice cream truck. Go figure. Yes, they did have one sizeable initial source of funds - for Sahar, it was his sister's 20k limit credit card - and thats about it. They were not domaining on $200 every month; they were spending all their resources on domaining, taking huge gambles (imagine Sahar spending 20k on domains when he knew if the investment doesn't pay off, he would be in big big debt).

They all did the no.1 thing every man who has made it big in any field has done - they took huge risks. With their money, with their friends money, with their relatives money...

I don't hold a regular job; I'm a student and I work just 20 hours per week just so that I can pay my food and rent. But you can be sure that once I do get a regular, decent paying job, I will spend a sizeable amount each month on domains. Until then, I'll learn how I can best increase profits when I have the money...

risks man...gotta take them..

None of us know personally how much money they all had to start. I know for sure he was making decent money because of the sheer amount of domains he purchased and he didn't know what traffic was until he sat with Frank according to the article written about him. So, he was using his own funds. That's the facts, it takes money to make money. Do your research, they took risks but they didn't risk their mortgage or risk feeding their kids like some of us would have to do to be in the same position, they had some money to start and that's a fact.

Also, as other posters have mentioned, many of these people joined the domain era in it's golden age when domain's were nothing but expensive hobbies for some. They were smart, they were also lucky. I agree that the harder you work the luckier you will be.

It's also refreshing to see you have the drive and motivation to make money with domains. Just be sure to keep things in perspective. It's not as easy as it appears.

P

 

[sashas]

No matter if Ham came from a rich family or not, he got a shitload of great domains at reg fee, something that will never happen again. Sahar did the same thing. So good luck on your path to riches. While you focus on stories of success there are about a million other stories of failure that you never hear about.

dude, if you're already focusing on the stories of failure, then it doesn't make any sense to be even doing this.

Yes, they got some great domains at reg fee. So what? They were there when the opportunity was, and you and I were not (oh well, some of us - like me, and perhaps you - were too young then). I don't say that you can achieve their success today with the same amount of money, but I do believe you can be as successful as someone like Giode (another domainer I have the utmost respect for) in a fairly short amount of time with a fairly small cache of funds.

So if you ask me, is it easy to become a multi millionaire? No. Millionaire? Quite possible. Regular Six Figure+ earner? Yes, definitely.

 

[christopher_c]

It is great to read some motivating posts sashas!

 

[Jasonn]

dude, if you're already focusing on the stories of failure, then it doesn't make any sense to be even doing this.

Yes, they got some great domains at reg fee. So what? They were there when the opportunity was, and you and I were not (oh well, some of us - like me, and perhaps you - were too young then). I don't say that you can achieve their success today with the same amount of money, but I do believe you can be as successful as someone like Giode (another domainer I have the utmost respect for) in a fairly short amount of time with a fairly small cache of funds.

So if you ask me, is it easy to become a multi millionaire? No. Millionaire? Quite possible. Regular Six Figure+ earner? Yes, definitely.

I'm not focusing on the stories of failure but to assume because someone else did it, you can do it too is foolish. Sure, maybe you can. Hell, maybe you were made for domaining. I don't know you but there are a lot of people who will lose their shirts in this business too. I would love to see where you are a year from now and see if you are a six figure earner.

 

[acronym007]

Sashas I hope you do well. I'm one of those people that believe there's plenty of room for everyone and maybe then we can learn from you. If you are earning six figures in a year or two purely from domains I will personally want to know how you did it, it alludes me. Fresh eyes and young blood is always good. Best wishes.

 

[sashas]

Sashas I hope you do well. I'm one of those people that believe there's plenty of room for everyone and maybe then we can learn from you. If you are earning six figures in a year or two purely from domains I will personally want to know how you did it, it alludes me. Fresh eyes and young blood is always good. Best wishes.

acronym, I'm not earning six figures from domains! lol...
I've been domaining for just 4 months. But I will say that in these four months I have learned that it is highly possible to earn six figures from domains. It can be done if one has a good initial outlay (which I believe I will have once I graduate from college :hehe. I also believe (like you) that this industry is just too big for only a few players; you can always find your niche.

 

[gazzip]

Okay here's a partial list of Kevin Ham's domain names:

http://www.reinvent.com/domains.html

Wow, Nice list Jeffrey, I love to look at what the Big Boys have in their portfolios

Here's some I've seen him win at Snapnames, the prices he paid range from $70 up to a dazzling $171,250 for HotelDeals.com :hehe:

all .coms

Tokyotour
GreenWedding
PolandTravel
NutritionalAdvice
Willopond
RomanticBreaks
ComputerTechnology
SkyDiveVideo
HealthyPlanet
Kayakers
Greenmark
PetFashion
SportsFlooring
SunBlinds
RussianVodkas
SwissChocolates
CardDesign
OrganicEssentialOils
Worthing
MortgageRenewals
ItalianBags
WebDeveloping
OhioLawyers
PcWorkstation
PocketBikeRacing
SpinalPain
WildPig
Bodygloves
HispanicMusic
LasPalma
FontDesign
HotelDeals
BathDesigns
Yonkers
NinjaGames
ScottishMusic
Cluny
LondonWeddings

+ Og.org

+ Ghost.net

.

 

[sashas]

there's one thing: all the big boys have invested exclusively in .coms, part of the reason for the huge inflation in .com prices.

 

[duskdawn]

I like Kevin Ham because he was doctor before he became a full time domainer. From what I've read he was writing programs to catch domain names during his spare time when he was doing his intern. When he finally realized that he could make more money than just being a physician he became a full time domainer. The cool thing about his situation is that he can alway fall back on his MD degree once he gets tired of domaining (yeah right :D).

Seems a story of mine. LOL

 

[goodkarmaco]

You can buy names like that right here on Namepros

 

[bigfoot]

I'm sick and tired reading about these domain horders that blanketed every nook and cranny, every useless variant of everything and now have 300,000-400,000 domains out of which 299,000-399,000 are regular fee to $60 domains.

Quality always beat quantity, and it's pity that nobody talks about quality portfolio holders. Nobody talks about Digimedia.com or Anything.com guys who don't own junk, but hundreds of true world-clacc PREMIUM generics that make your head spin. Their top 100 domains are worth more than 300,000-400,000 domains of these horders. Now those are the true masters of their domains, and not these cheap bozos that regfee 300,000 names, and then overpay for in drops 1,000 names thinking they have found an equilibrium.

 

[gazzip]

I'm sick and tired reading about these domain horders that blanketed every nook and cranny, every useless variant of everything and now have 300,000-400,000 domains out of which 299,000-399,000 are regular fee to $60 domains.
.

Then don't read them, it's your choice what you read. All we are doing is sharing what we DO know.

Quality always beat quantity, and it's pity that nobody talks about quality portfolio holders. Nobody talks about Digimedia.com or Anything.com guys who don't own junk, but hundreds of true world-clacc PREMIUM generics that make your head spin. Their top 100 domains are worth more than 300,000-400,000 domains of these horders. Now those are the true masters of their domains, and not these cheap bozos that regfee 300,000 names, and then overpay for in drops 1,000 names thinking they have found an equilibrium.

Yes there are quiet a few excellent portfolios of PREMIUM country names and cities etc that have been posted here before, the problem is many people do not make their portfolios public for obvious reasons.

I would love to see your portfolio if you think these guys are "cheap bozos".

$70 million a year revenue and you're calling him a "Cheap Bozo" - GET A GRIP !

If you want to talk about PREMIUM DOMAINS........we're listening

.

 

[Charley]

If you want to talk about PREMIUM DOMAINS........we're listening

He[Vaxis] is in the Friendship.net auction on SnapNames

 

[acronym007]

He[Vaxis] is in the Friendship.net auction on SnapNames

You might as well stop bidding now, you will not win.

 

[goodkarmaco]

Sasha makes an interesting point, although I don't agree with it. I try not to reg just any name so I can keep my names portfolio to a manageable amount. I have no problem though with making a profit.

The domainers who reg a name to cover every crook and cranny are merely taking their dollar they worked for and are making that dollar work for them. Its their dollar so they have that right to invest it.

The principal behind the reg everything you can is this.. if a name costs only about .0.3 cents a day to own and the name tasty sweets.com, (an example) makes .05 or .06 cents a day on average the domain owner has a winner.

The person who manages thousands of those names will become wealthy and have a stable future. It may not be your cup of tea, but that is all they can do, grab the bread crumbs, but grab alot of them and that way they have a way out of the rat race, they can retire or quit their job.

The names do not have to make big money to make the owner big money. They just need alot of them making pennies to pile the pay per click profits high.

 

[Kate]

You might as well stop bidding now, you will not win.

Ah not sure, you have to try I have won at least one name with him and another big spender in the auction. It all depends if you are prepared to pay a bit more than fair value. Also I notice that sometimes he seems to lose pace a few minutes before auction end, too many bids closing in at the same time I presume

 

[RWAC]

Some excellent tips, tidbits amongst many of your replies - also good to see that The Hamster has several of the names that I myself have been searching for, so I must be doing something right.

My interest in this field is leading me to only buy select domain names, good generic terms, two words max, shorter the better and very easy to remember.

Churning out lots of availabilities at present across the range, which I then as a newbie need to this put these into my own ranking system, based on possible desirability values.

I'm amazed at the rubbish that some people, well, many people seem to go for in choosing and acquiring their names, I don't know, maybe they've just got oodles of spare cash floating around and need something to spend it on, this however is a route I for one, do not want to go down.

Sure, in my first couple of days, I bought one or two crap names, I realise that now, and it was only through making a post on another forum, where someone in rather brutal plain english tore my bought names apart, and told me exactly what he thought of them and their possible values, (not much), in fact, he said a waste of money.

But that's ok, I did engineer the question in the thread title to elicit the best possible answer, that although I might not have wanted to hear it, got me the advice that was most certainly needed. Advice that looking back, was worth it's weight in gold and got me to thinking, what are the best questions that I need to be asking myself, concerning my own buying strategy. I learn quick, and for a good reason, I want good profits.

It's all a game of probabilities as far as I am concerned.

Everyday, hopefully, as my knowledge is increasing, I also increase the probability that my risk taking strategy will pay good to excellent dividends.

Once more, thank you every one for your replies and answers given, learn't shed loads from that little lot - excellent.

Enjoy the week ahead and all the very best to all of you.

Regards.

Mark

 

[Charley]

Also I notice that sometimes he seems to lose pace a few minutes before auction end, too many bids closing in at the same time I presume

Yes, this is a fact.

These top bidders are in all the premium name auctions. Yesterday there were about 5-6 premiums, closing time is in 2 days at the same time. They will lose focus and hopefully we can end up getting them.

 

[snoop]

I'm not focusing on the stories of failure but to assume because someone else did it, you can do it too is foolish. Sure, maybe you can. Hell, maybe you were made for domaining. I don't know you but there are a lot of people who will lose their shirts in this business too. I would love to see where you are a year from now and see if you are a six figure earner.

You have the wrong mindset if you hope to achieve success, I'd like to see where you are in 12 months as well, I'm guessing still poor and telling others the same stuff.

 

[Jasonn]

You have the wrong mindset if you hope to achieve success, I'd like to see where you are in 12 months as well, I'm guessing still poor and telling others the same stuff.

Its called being realistic. I don't swallow all these success stories and instantly think i will be one too because of the mindset so many have that its "impossible" to not make money in this biz. I have spent tens of thousands of dollars on domains in 2007 but im not so full of grandure that i think i will become a millionaire from it.

 

[innovation]

The only reality is that there are no guarantees in life and surely no such thing as a guaranteed investment. I think that you don't give enough credit to the people on this board. If you look at domains as an investment, a long term investment that is, there is no reason why you should not expect to become a millionaire in the near future after spending tens of thousands today. Maybe you won't be a millinaire tomorrow, but maybe 5 or 10 years from now, you could easily reach this milestone. Do you think Ham, Schilling, Schwartz and the other players in the industry expected such big returns and opportunities in such a short time frame when they were actively acquiring their portfolio's? I'm sure they realized a great opportunity was there, but did they expect many thousand times ROI when they purchased their domain names? In fact, I find comfort in domaining knowing that the early innovators of this space are still actively acquiring domains and they are willing to pay more than you or I. My financial situation doesn't allow me to acquire the category killers that are so valuable, however, I do see a future in the long-tail keyword domain market. Remember, when these guys were investing heavily in their portfolios, there was no such thing as PPC. Now that the PPC dollars are beginning to unleash the value of a keyword domain, I believe this is just the beginning of opportunity. Imagine when everything is PPA and instead of cents, clicks generate dollars, I think the long-tail, targeted traffic will become extremely valuable, increasing the value of long-tail search keyword domains. I know for a fact that I can still hand reg alot of these domains in several niches and continue to do so. With a long term, systematic approach in mind, I do believe I will become a millionaire in time. Do I think I will become a millionaire because Ham and Schilling have? No, but I understand how they have become millionaires through the valuable knowledge that they and the people on this board are gracious enough to share with us and I for one, have found truth to what they are telling their readers. They do not ask for judgement, but all too often, we are there to provide it. How many industries do you know where the leaders of that industry openly discuss their strategies and revenue opportunities like they do in domaining? Is it self-serving, possibly, but 10 years from now, when big manufacturers and the media in my particular niches are calling me self-serving because I will be able to hold them hostage to a never ending PPA environment when it comes to an internet presence, I just won't give a damn. Now that is realistic in my overall strategy into domaining.

 

[filter]

rep added for great looooong-paragraph rant :yell: actually more or less coherent with good points about potential effects of PPA vs PPC in long-tail search niches ... thanks for sharing that perspective!

 

[Sam]

All I am going to say to those who said the pioneers had a lot of cash to start up with... I started with $0 dollars. Went and did sites such as FREEIPODS.com, sold those items off and bam, with those 700 bucks, here i am

 

[Chris Hydrick]

Reviving this 2007 thread to relay that it looks like the legend himself is now active on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1788986046694236201

HatTip: @GeorgeK

Learn more about Kevin Ham in this 2008 thread: https://www.namepros.com/threads/ke...ess-new-may-cover-story-at-dn-journal.467998/