I've decided to document my journey into domain name trading.
I'll flesh this post out a little bit later on....quite very tired now....just had to post this right away to meet my deadline.
Stay tuned.
EDITED TO FLESH OUT POST: (WARNING- LONG POST AHEAD):
Yeah, so I decided to go into domain trading full-time.
For those who aren't familiar with it, it's basically the digital equivalent of real estate.
Acquire valuable domain names, and sell them to interested clients at a profit, or develop the domain names to full digital properties (websites) which you can own or sell.
I'll be going more with the flipping model (buying and selling domain names), as developing domain names into full fledged valuable websites takes time and resources.
WHY DOMAIN NAME TRADING:
I think it has the best potential to yield reasonably good profits from reasonably low capital in the shortest time, compared to other business models, if done right, with the right strategy.
However, that's the challenge....doing it right. It requires a lot of learning and a lot of reading to know what works and what does not, and I am willing to put in the work as required.
There are about 4 businesses I intend to do in future.
I'm starting with domain trading because (hopefully) it will help me build the capital I need to tackle the other ones.
Then I can move on to the subsequent businesses one by one in order of increasing capital requirements, once one business has grown to the point where it can be run on almost autopilot mode.
Very importantly too, domain trading gives me an opportunity to learn some key skills I think will be fundamental to success in the other businesses I may do in future, and to business in general.
Things like cold emailing, cold calling, selling, negotiation skills...... these are skills I will develop and hone in the course of domaining.
They are skills I didn't particularly need or learn in my day job career, but are important in entrepreneurship.
So it's like a real life business school for free, where I can get paid to learn (hopefully).
Also, the business has the capacity/potential to scale to a significant size if my thoughts are right. I've seen pointers to indicate that it's possible to operate it at a much higher level that can have revenues (and profits) in millions of dollars, though difficult, but possible.
PREVIOUS HISTORY
I had dabbled into attempting to kick off some other businesses before, but on both occasions, got to the point of actual takeoff and stopped, (after creating full fledged websites ready to start marketing and receiving payments). This was largely because of my day job which was crazily time consuming both day and night at the time, and also because the day job was providing some income, so the motivation and discipline to go the extra mile to market the sites and actually take off just wasn't enough.
I've always desired the entrepreneurial life, (even though my day job has the potential to pay quite well compared to other jobs), but I've never been able to push myself enough to combine both, partly because of the taxing nature of the nature of the job, and partly because of the small cushion provided by having an income.
So I quit my job 2 months ago, to compel myself to develop the discipline and motivation to do the needful.
As I've realized for myself from past experiences, deadlines and need and adrenaline can be a powerful motivator.
The job would have ended anyway by the end of November, as it was a fixed term contract. However I'm not looking for another job, as I want to go full time into entrepreneurship, though I may be doing a little occasional consulting to make some minimal funds along the way.
WHAT I'VE DONE SO FAR IN DOMAINING:
I had built up a small portfolio of names, which were gotten late last year/early this year when I first heard about domaining. I currently have about 120+ names in my portfolio.
Had a small sale come in sometime during this year spontaneously with no effort from me (someone simply messaged me that he was interested in one of the names I had, and I sold it to him).
But I haven't made any serious effort towards marketing the domain names, other than listing them on one site.
Since quitting, I have done a lot of reading, and set up a system to enable me send cold emails to well targeted potential clients at scale. And I've actually started working the system and sending out emails. But I feel I do too much reading (and sleeping and playing- being distracted online), and too little actual work that moves the needle.
The initial results I have gotten from my cold email outreach have not been encouraging, as most of my emails seem to be landing in spam. So I have to pivot and find a better way to reach the inboxes of relevant targeted potential users (who in some instances are actually happy to learn that such domain names are available).
May also need to combine cold emailing with other forms of outreach such as cold calling or targeted ads in particular cases.
GOALS FOR THIS MONTH (NOVEMBER 2019).
My goal is to generate a revenue of at $10,000 by the end of the month.
That's a high target for a first month starting from scratch, but I honestly believe it's achievable, though difficult.
My personal disposition is that I'll rather aim for the stars and land on the moon. So even if I don't hit the target, the amount of effort that I put into reaching for that target will get me something appreciable, or set me up to achieve something good the subsequent month.
Plus I'll be learning all the way what works and what doesn't work.
HOW DO I INTEND TO ACHIEVE IT:
1. Listing my domains on ALL available marketplaces ASAP.
2. Going back to relearn cold emailing properly, to find a way to land in the primary inboxes of well targeted recipients.
Hopefully by the end of the month, I should have gotten to the point where I am sending 500-750 emails per day, and actually landing in inboxes rather than spam.
3. Doing auctions for some of my domain names if i can figure it out fully this month.
4. Offering discounts and promos where appropriate to stimulate sales in this month of November.
MY STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES (Personal SWOT analysis)-
Strengths:
1. Very intelligent (I think, may be very wrong, lol).
2. I can be very hardworking. I use the term "can be", because when in paid employment, I work extremely hard, working day and night, sometimes over 24-48hrs at a stretch with no real breaks, so hard that all my bosses love me and were sad when I quit. However, in this past 2 months working for myself, I can't seem to muster that same degree of hard work (or even a quarter of it, lol). Seems like I need a frowning boss looming over my head to get me to work hard. A major challenge will be transitioning that extent of hard work I did in paid employment, to doing same working for myself. If I can pull that off in any way, that will be superlatively fantastic.
3. I have time to pursue the business maximally. Whether that time will be used productively is another issue entirely- that's the challenge.
Weaknesses:
1. Discipline: I do not think I am disciplined enough when working on my own. Either I do not get up to do tasks when I should do them, or I get distracted when online doing them (simply follow a YouTube video or interesting link and enter a rabbithole of videos and links from there). I need to develop the discipline to stay focused.
2. Procrastination- ties in with lack of discipline above. I'm working on measures to control both of them and I'm seeing results. This thread is one of such measures.
3. Analysis paralysis- I tend to overanalyze and think up all the possible scenarios in an attempt to mitigate risk. Instead of saying- f..k it, let's do it! I'll consciously try to reduce that by doing more of "Ready, Fire, Aim", though that may come with more mistakes. But better than not taking a decision from analysis paralysis.
HOW I'LL UPDATE THIS THREAD:
I may not have much time to participate a lot in the forum this month, as I intend to dive deeply into doing everything I need to do.
However I'll update the thread at the end of each week, stating-
-A review of the week in general
-Whether I achieved my goals and To-do list for each day of the week (I'll be setting goals for every day of the week, and at the end of the week I'll state publicly whether I achieved them each day or not). I intend to finish whatever is on my To-do list everyday, before I sleep for that day. If I don't think I can achieve it for that day, I won't put it on the list. Or I will list it under Extras- do if there's more time.
-What went right for the week
-What went wrong
-Goals for the following week.
So that's about it.
I think it's going to be an interesting ride, sort of like watching a movie play out........... only in this case, I'm the actor, and the consequences of actions and inactions and decisions are very real, not just a movie you get up from after 2 hours.
Whatever happens, win or lose, I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot.
So ultimately it's still a win either way it goes.
Apologies for the long post...see ya later!
I'll flesh this post out a little bit later on....quite very tired now....just had to post this right away to meet my deadline.
Stay tuned.
EDITED TO FLESH OUT POST: (WARNING- LONG POST AHEAD):
Yeah, so I decided to go into domain trading full-time.
For those who aren't familiar with it, it's basically the digital equivalent of real estate.
Acquire valuable domain names, and sell them to interested clients at a profit, or develop the domain names to full digital properties (websites) which you can own or sell.
I'll be going more with the flipping model (buying and selling domain names), as developing domain names into full fledged valuable websites takes time and resources.
WHY DOMAIN NAME TRADING:
I think it has the best potential to yield reasonably good profits from reasonably low capital in the shortest time, compared to other business models, if done right, with the right strategy.
However, that's the challenge....doing it right. It requires a lot of learning and a lot of reading to know what works and what does not, and I am willing to put in the work as required.
There are about 4 businesses I intend to do in future.
I'm starting with domain trading because (hopefully) it will help me build the capital I need to tackle the other ones.
Then I can move on to the subsequent businesses one by one in order of increasing capital requirements, once one business has grown to the point where it can be run on almost autopilot mode.
Very importantly too, domain trading gives me an opportunity to learn some key skills I think will be fundamental to success in the other businesses I may do in future, and to business in general.
Things like cold emailing, cold calling, selling, negotiation skills...... these are skills I will develop and hone in the course of domaining.
They are skills I didn't particularly need or learn in my day job career, but are important in entrepreneurship.
So it's like a real life business school for free, where I can get paid to learn (hopefully).
Also, the business has the capacity/potential to scale to a significant size if my thoughts are right. I've seen pointers to indicate that it's possible to operate it at a much higher level that can have revenues (and profits) in millions of dollars, though difficult, but possible.
PREVIOUS HISTORY
I had dabbled into attempting to kick off some other businesses before, but on both occasions, got to the point of actual takeoff and stopped, (after creating full fledged websites ready to start marketing and receiving payments). This was largely because of my day job which was crazily time consuming both day and night at the time, and also because the day job was providing some income, so the motivation and discipline to go the extra mile to market the sites and actually take off just wasn't enough.
I've always desired the entrepreneurial life, (even though my day job has the potential to pay quite well compared to other jobs), but I've never been able to push myself enough to combine both, partly because of the taxing nature of the nature of the job, and partly because of the small cushion provided by having an income.
So I quit my job 2 months ago, to compel myself to develop the discipline and motivation to do the needful.
As I've realized for myself from past experiences, deadlines and need and adrenaline can be a powerful motivator.
The job would have ended anyway by the end of November, as it was a fixed term contract. However I'm not looking for another job, as I want to go full time into entrepreneurship, though I may be doing a little occasional consulting to make some minimal funds along the way.
WHAT I'VE DONE SO FAR IN DOMAINING:
I had built up a small portfolio of names, which were gotten late last year/early this year when I first heard about domaining. I currently have about 120+ names in my portfolio.
Had a small sale come in sometime during this year spontaneously with no effort from me (someone simply messaged me that he was interested in one of the names I had, and I sold it to him).
But I haven't made any serious effort towards marketing the domain names, other than listing them on one site.
Since quitting, I have done a lot of reading, and set up a system to enable me send cold emails to well targeted potential clients at scale. And I've actually started working the system and sending out emails. But I feel I do too much reading (and sleeping and playing- being distracted online), and too little actual work that moves the needle.
The initial results I have gotten from my cold email outreach have not been encouraging, as most of my emails seem to be landing in spam. So I have to pivot and find a better way to reach the inboxes of relevant targeted potential users (who in some instances are actually happy to learn that such domain names are available).
May also need to combine cold emailing with other forms of outreach such as cold calling or targeted ads in particular cases.
GOALS FOR THIS MONTH (NOVEMBER 2019).
My goal is to generate a revenue of at $10,000 by the end of the month.
That's a high target for a first month starting from scratch, but I honestly believe it's achievable, though difficult.
My personal disposition is that I'll rather aim for the stars and land on the moon. So even if I don't hit the target, the amount of effort that I put into reaching for that target will get me something appreciable, or set me up to achieve something good the subsequent month.
Plus I'll be learning all the way what works and what doesn't work.
HOW DO I INTEND TO ACHIEVE IT:
1. Listing my domains on ALL available marketplaces ASAP.
2. Going back to relearn cold emailing properly, to find a way to land in the primary inboxes of well targeted recipients.
Hopefully by the end of the month, I should have gotten to the point where I am sending 500-750 emails per day, and actually landing in inboxes rather than spam.
3. Doing auctions for some of my domain names if i can figure it out fully this month.
4. Offering discounts and promos where appropriate to stimulate sales in this month of November.
MY STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES (Personal SWOT analysis)-
Strengths:
1. Very intelligent (I think, may be very wrong, lol).
2. I can be very hardworking. I use the term "can be", because when in paid employment, I work extremely hard, working day and night, sometimes over 24-48hrs at a stretch with no real breaks, so hard that all my bosses love me and were sad when I quit. However, in this past 2 months working for myself, I can't seem to muster that same degree of hard work (or even a quarter of it, lol). Seems like I need a frowning boss looming over my head to get me to work hard. A major challenge will be transitioning that extent of hard work I did in paid employment, to doing same working for myself. If I can pull that off in any way, that will be superlatively fantastic.
3. I have time to pursue the business maximally. Whether that time will be used productively is another issue entirely- that's the challenge.
Weaknesses:
1. Discipline: I do not think I am disciplined enough when working on my own. Either I do not get up to do tasks when I should do them, or I get distracted when online doing them (simply follow a YouTube video or interesting link and enter a rabbithole of videos and links from there). I need to develop the discipline to stay focused.
2. Procrastination- ties in with lack of discipline above. I'm working on measures to control both of them and I'm seeing results. This thread is one of such measures.
3. Analysis paralysis- I tend to overanalyze and think up all the possible scenarios in an attempt to mitigate risk. Instead of saying- f..k it, let's do it! I'll consciously try to reduce that by doing more of "Ready, Fire, Aim", though that may come with more mistakes. But better than not taking a decision from analysis paralysis.
HOW I'LL UPDATE THIS THREAD:
I may not have much time to participate a lot in the forum this month, as I intend to dive deeply into doing everything I need to do.
However I'll update the thread at the end of each week, stating-
-A review of the week in general
-Whether I achieved my goals and To-do list for each day of the week (I'll be setting goals for every day of the week, and at the end of the week I'll state publicly whether I achieved them each day or not). I intend to finish whatever is on my To-do list everyday, before I sleep for that day. If I don't think I can achieve it for that day, I won't put it on the list. Or I will list it under Extras- do if there's more time.
-What went right for the week
-What went wrong
-Goals for the following week.
So that's about it.
I think it's going to be an interesting ride, sort of like watching a movie play out........... only in this case, I'm the actor, and the consequences of actions and inactions and decisions are very real, not just a movie you get up from after 2 hours.
Whatever happens, win or lose, I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot.
So ultimately it's still a win either way it goes.
Apologies for the long post...see ya later!
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