SkyDomains

I have not been posting frequently due to a couple of reasons. However this post is not about why I have not been posting but about something I came across in the media that I think is worth passing along. I ask you to indulge me for the next 6 minutes of your life and you will not regret it.

Michael Dorf  the founder of Music Club Knitting Factory and City Winery was recently interviewed by Best Life magazine. Mr Dorf had managed to excel even in tough times like now. The following are adaptations from that interview.
I have condensed below the tips and advice from Michael Dorf which is applicable to any industry including our very own domain industry.

Dream in Word, Think in Excel;  When you come up with a good business or domain idea, write down why it’s so exciting , then open Excel. Michael goes on to say that “Creative people tend to fear spreadsheets, probably because they’ re reminiscent of boring account classes’ Keep it simple; Two columns, one column tallies potential revenue and the other tracks expected costs. “The difference is the bottom line and the bottom line doesn’t lie”  Before you purchase your next domain, wouldn’t it be great if you applied this formula? Instead of buying domains or registering domains for the sake of registering. Having a clear thought process will help us achieve a more stellar portfolio.

Generate Multiple Revenue Streams: What if you had relied solely on parking revenue? Things will not be looking great for you now. This is why it is important to generate multiple revenue streams even outside the domain industry. Here is a few ideas:

- Develop mini-sites
- If you are creative and good with photoshop, you could make logos for others on the side.
- If you have the gift of gab and can do research, offer to write articles for people. Most developers will pay more for talent than word count.
- Let it be known amongst your friends that you are the go to guy for everything web. Even a small family website that you can pump out in about 3 hours could guarantee the renewal fees of a couple of domains.
- Never stop searching for a product you can leverage with your domain(s). When you find the right product go back to “Dream in Word think in Excel”.

The above ideas are purely elementary in nature. Your particular position in life, determination and dedication will determine what you are able to do to generate multiple streams of income with and without your domain empire. Don’t be handicapped by the title “domainer”. You can in addition be a webmaster, a writer, a blogger, a negotiator, a mediator ,  even a gardener print you domain name on the lawn with some annuals and someone might just take notice and that someone might be your local newsman. What if your lawn craft  goes viral?

Create Value: Every body complains of time. The fact is that time is the only thing which  you may have exactly in common with Chef Patrick, Elliot Silver, Jamie , Ron Jackson, Frank Shilling, Rick Schwartz ,Rick Latona  and even President Obama just to mention a few in no particular order. We all start the day with exactly 24 hours each. Now if you can find a way to help people achieve more in an hour than they would have ordinarily, you get there attention. One of the reasons Domaining.com is so relevant is because in less than a minutes  you can decide if you are going to read this post or not. Instead of  hunting down individual blogs to see if you want to read them or not. If you can pack more into your domain or website offering, you will go places.

When offering to sell a domain to a small business, don’t stop there, offer to build the site for them too. (if you can’t, contract it, you don’t have to phisically do it  your self) Even offer to maintain it for them for free for one year. Take the hasse of  internet away and you might just make more money than you would have selling the domain alone. You can get a 5 page minisite these days for $250 or less. Let them know that there site can grow with them. What I dislike most in business is broke people who claim they do not have time.

Your business should fit your lifestyle: What sort of person are you? As you develop your virtual realestate, it is imperative that you pay attention to those domains in which you have comparative advantage and also make sure they fit your lifestyle or you will have some problem. It is unlikely that I will be able to reconcile my concience with a portfolio of adult domains and I will probably not manage then adequately either because it is contrary to my lifestyle. If you know nothing about gambling, gambling domains might not be your best bet. This tip in the domain world will be interpreted as sticking with what you  know and keep away from those things that will run contrary to you lifestyle and beliefs.

Plan for scale: It is OK to start small but think big. When developing a site, always think about how you can scale it in future to meet greater needs or demands. Your mini-site should not stay mini for ever. How can that great domain be made greater in future to serve a greater audience? I am an avid animal lover and I have noticed that when I name my dogs great names, they do command more attention in the dog park. Hence I have never named a dog bingo, spot, spark etc. They are usually Pharaoh, Caesar, Gore, Sultan, etc. What is my point ?, a great domain name in the beginning will make a lot of this tips much easier. Think growth, think 5 -10 years from now.

This post was inspired and adapted from
“Liquid Courage”
Best Life magazine
May 2009