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Are you a loser if you can’t “make it” as a domainer?
I wanted to circle back on Rick Schwartz’s near rant against people who can’t seem to follow his advice and “make it” in the world of domaining. In fact I’ll cite the exact same quote as I did in my earlier post about the .CO launch:
I think all these bozos are about to be schooled. Yesterday EVERY domainer had the EXACT [same?] opportunity to speculate and win or lose. All the big mouths will have their jaws dropping soon as they watch folks manufacture money from thin air. This proves they have no talent and just whine. Losers in every sense of the word. While others are enjoying success and creating even more, they will still be saying the same crap or sitting on the sidelines spewing hate instead of jumping in and do what a true domainer does and have the balls to speculate. If they can’t make it in domains which is a gift from the heavens, they will make it in nothing.” (emphasis added)
It’s a pretty stern assertion out of Rick, which I took to mean: If you can’t make it in domains, you can’t make it anywhere. I find that a very puzzling stance to take. [ This sentence was reworded after Rick's comment - M]
It runs contrary to what I’ve always thought, which is “If it was truly as easy as people make it sound, then everybody would be doing it, and everybody would be rich”. Where “it” is any field being discussed. Usually by somebody trying to sell you some information product on how easy it is to succeed in a given field (indeed, Rick Schwartz has a going concern running domainer conventions, so it follows that he espouses that anybody can succeed at it).
The best anecdote I can relate about who should or could succeed in any given field I learned from Tim Paulson and Joe Polish in their “Barracuda Marketing” course I bought a few years back. One of those guys was a penniless carpet cleaner, and he had an opportunity to go golfing one day with A Rich Man. He seized the opportunity because he was dying to ask The Rich Man the following question:
“What business should I go into?”
The Rich Man asked him, “What business are you in now?”
To which he replied that he was a carpet cleaner. The Rich Man then asked him “Are there any wealthy carpet cleaners?” and was told that yes, there were.
Then The Rich Man told him the most important piece of advice:
If that’s the case then it doesn’t matter what business you’re in. If you want to be rich and you’re not, the problem is YOU, not your line of business.
After that, the recipient of this tidbit reinvented himself and his carpet cleaning business. Within a few years, he was a wealthy carpet cleaner.
I think this is the single most important piece of advice you can give to anybody who seriously wants to improve his material circumstances. Sure, there are always those stories you hear: the bricklayer who starts daytrading his way to millions, the accountant who decides to flip houses instead. But those stories are outliers. For every success story like that, there’s about a hundred others who tried it and went bust.
Realistically, people don’t go from rags-to-riches by entering some alien terrain from the outside and start slamming home runs out of the ballpark. More often they do it by working within what they know best, usually by making some critical insight on how to do it better, or by leveraging one’s own experiences and knowledge within that field.
This is known as one’s “Circle of Competence”. Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger always stress that investment success occurs within that circle. Everything I’ve discussed in this post is meant to drive that point home. If you approach any attempt to better your lot in life or achieve financial independence from within that circle, you vastly improve your odds.
To be fair, pretty well anybody can learn domaining. But pretty well anybody can learn just about anything. Success depends on the person more than the field. Domaining isn’t for everybody and if the only reason you’re going into it is because somebody else tells you anybody can get rich at it, you’re chasing the equivalent of a “hot stock tip” (probably the singular most guaranteed method of capital evaporation known to man).
Pioneers have the luxury of being in the right place at the right time and they end up inventing the circle of competence. Frank Schilling originally went to the Caymans to start an online casino and started experimenting with domain names. Next thing he knew, he was an expert in the field, and extraordinary wealth followed soon after.
But if you’re an out-of-work janitor and there are no major tectonic shifts occurring in the economic landscape that you understand and can capitalize on as a pioneer, then you have a better shot getting rich starting a cleaning service, or a cleaning supply company than you will domaining. Maybe you will leverage the internet and a domaining strategy to build up your business, and that’s fantastic. Maybe by the time you finish that, you will know enough about domaining to enter the field in a more generalist sense. That’s called expanding your circle.
Great post, and I will definitely use that carpet cleaner story in the future, both to tell and apply. At the same time you kinda know where Rick is coming from. Domaining isn’t something you do half-way, at least not successfully. It’s easy and hard at the same time; Easy because once you find your groove you can repeat the process over and over again, getting into bigger deals, recognizing golden opportunities, etc. Hard because you have to ignore a lot of people, block out the naysayers, laugh at conventional wisdom and trust yourself much more than most people are used to doing these days.
First time hitting your site so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but you really nailed it. There are some distinct advantages to domain investing like the crazy ROI and the ability to fairly easily create a passive income, but it’s not for everyone.
You have the quote right there in front of you, and post it, and you find it necessary to put something in quotes I did not say nor was it the spirit of the post. Did twisting my words, thoughts and spirit make it easier for you to do what you do??
YOU WRITE in your first paragraph and what is puzzling to me is you have the NERVE to post something in quotes that is not even there!
It’s a pretty stern assertion out of Rick: “If you can’t make it in domains, you can’t make it anywhere” and I find that a very puzzling stance to take.
WHERE did I use the word “ANYWHERE”????
My actual quote is :” If they can’t make it in domains which is a gift from the heavens, they will make it in nothing.”
That refers to all the jerkoffs and morons that have a bad attitude, a so-so work ethic, twis things and waste their time writing about me.
So at least be accurate or is that too much to ask?
sorry Rick, I guess what seemed a self-evident paraphrase when I wrote it, wasn’t so upon reading.
So foulmouthed Rick! Relax dude, you will be able to sell flowers.mobi one day.
And get rid of that phony used car salesman smile
“More often they do it by working within what they know best, usually by making some critical insight on how to do it better, or by leveraging one’s own experiences and knowledge within that field.”
Well said. I’ve said this countless times myself.
Know what you know, and know what you don’t know.
Most of the time, innovation comes from people already in a certain field — who find ways to improve a product or service, or, find the need for a new product/service and fill it.
Good post.
Well said.
Aron
Great reading and great point’s you make. We’re really all in the same boat. Some will work hard and become captains, some will always scrub the deck. Little luck.. lot’s of hard work.
I like a lot your story about the carpet cleaner, sounds so logic!
Rick definately comes out swinging and doesn’t take it easy on people.
But people do buy a ton of pigeon stuff and waste their money.
Rick could be a lot more polite about it.
If you can’t scan the expired domain list, aka not a programmer or have any tools, then you are not going to make it. It just gets harder.
If .co is a flop, which it probably will be, people lost a lot of money. That is a risk. Buying the best .com you can afford is Rick’s plan but people don’t do that and he gets mad.
Rick should realize he can’t help but maybe 1 out of every 1000 domainers since most don’t sit to listen and think.
I lost $20,000 now I make $20,000. Ricks advice is spot on. He should tone it down a bit and get more positive response from the domainer crowd.
Domains Are DEAD. Game OVER. It’s all hype and you buy it- lottery tickets that will never be cashed. Less than 4% of the investment domains listed for sale have ever sold.
Want to make quick money:
1. Take an iPhone or Flip video of you washing a car or baking a cake or anything and demand media will pay you $500 for it
2.Stand at the corner and light of an exit from a busy turnpike with a sign that says Homeless and Hungry. Have a skinny dog for extra impact. Have a glass jar with dollar bills in it. Do not bath or shave for a week before trying and look like you picked clothes out of the garbage to wear including 2 mismatched sneakers. When I agreed to do this with a dog from the shelter and the agreement all proceeds would go to them, I picked a light where 50,000 cars pass in a day. One out of ten will give you a buck and half of them will give you another buck for the dog. I was there three hours and raised $2200.
I can give you dozens more that you wake up in the morning broke and go home with thousands. But, you have to work. And if Rick Schwartz were on the corner he would double what I make because he wouldn’t stand there waiting for offers, he’d go up to each car and make them an offer they can’t refuse.
All I was trying to say in the first place is that Rick is not a genius. He may be a bright guy and maybe he means well, but in no way a genius. While I do not like his attitude, I understand his message. I am not sure why him and some other domainers think that because you disagree with them, or question their genius status, means that you are some sort of bitter failure trying to scrape by in the domain business. I have made decent money domaining and I have a decent portfolio, so I hardly consider myself a loser, jerkoff, moron or genius. The fact of the matter is that in life, the people who are successful in any business will be successful in any business, and the failures will pretty much fail at anything. You either have it or you don’t, and I don’t think Rick’s or anyone else’s motivation is going to change that. That motivational mojo usually wears off in a day or two. I understand that Rick thinks that you have to tell it like it is and that being a hand-holding cheerleader is not going to help anyone. But his attitude really sucks and to see him extolled as a genius rubs me the wrong way.
Very nice post, eloquent, intelligent and of course I have admiration for anyone who dares think for themselves.
The “Bozos” are not those who within their limited means and capacity try to nobly better their lot in life, but rather those who blindly follow a leader without questioning his motives.
The “Circle of Competence” is a simple yet elegant theory that eludes a great deal of us. It’s kind of a dichotomy in the sense, that we are so eager to break out (in?) of the circle, yet we come to realize the whole time we were already there. I think it is human nature to want to over analyze and complicate that which is essentially a simple thing to begin with. This has given me much inspiration and food for thought.
Looking forward to future posts.
P.S.
@Frager
you finally revealed the secret of your success! I saw someone the other day begging for quarters underneath the “internet superhighway” it looked just like Rick, but I don’t think it was him.
I like the concept of the circle of competence – sometimes you can apply what you know to something else as well, or use it as a basis to learn something new.
For example when I help someone with building a website, I will learn more about their profession. Often this can lead to me recommending for them to register specific domains that I identify with a little bit of research. This way I’ve learned about the funeral and raw materials businesses.
Hi Frank,
It’s a habit of mine to look at the domains of all the contractors and tradespersons I interact with. I remember having a guy (G.J. Macrae) in to look at a leak in my basement because he came highly recommended (and he is very honest and professional). He shows up, looks like a one man outfit and emblazoned across his truck is WETBASEMENTS.COM …simply amazing. That guy nailed it.
This is an interesting post. I read rick’s blog on occasion, and he is admittedly brash in a lot of what he says.
If you are within his demographic, as most domainers are, it’s difficult to find anything tangible that could be put into action or tested in com-mensuration with one’s current strategy. I’m not saying he should loudly proclaim industry secrets to the masses, but maybe take a less offensive approach in his delivery, so that he would spend less time on the defensive about what he really meant when he wrote what he wrote. I don’t think that the “jerkoffs” & the “bozos” actually even realize that they are jerkoffs or bozos. Any new-coming domainer who may be struggling with their learning curve might take offense to posts like that. Personally, I believe that Rick could use his position more effectively to advance the industry. Continue to be assertive as he is, but maybe a little less elitist in his approach.
I don’t believe the author of this blog had any malice in his heart when he took his position – he merely processed what he read and articulated it his own words. Well written, clear & provocative. I’ll be back for more.
Spot on.
Do what you know. Tride and true. But, as others have commented, you can apply what you know to things outside of your “circle of influence”.
First time on your site, look forward to more…
I’ve listened to enough shit and hype about domaining. You’re post is right on! Unless you have the money to buy one word com’s or you lucked out along time ago getting in you’re in the pot with everyone else. It’s like trying to become a successful actor in Hollywood. All domainer’s want to be a Rick Schwartz or a Frank Schilling. Not going to happen. All those domains are gone. The secret to their success? Their not going to tell you. They will tell you “You can do it!” But they won’t tell you how. We keep holding on to the bits and pieces you read in DN Journal hoping you’re going to be next. But nobody tell you about the gazillion names on Sedo and GoDaddy for sale. Things have changed drastically in this business since the big domainer’s started. PPC is an good example. If you have a chance of making it in the domain world it will be buying a good business domain and developing it into a business.
Stop being jealous of Rick Schwartz. He got in at the right time and smart enough to buy the right domains. Give him credit. He’s a smart business man and deserves his accolades. If you owned Candy.com you would be a millionaire too.
The only thing I ask of Rick Schwartz? Can you speak English in your blogs so dummies like us can understand what your saying?
[...] Are you a loser if you can’t “make it” as a domainer? Written by Mark Jeftovic, The Web Value Investor blog is one of the newer blogs listed on Domaining.com. If you’re a regular reader of domain bloggers, it might not be that difficult to guess where Mark is going with this story. Rick Schwartz, the domain investor some fans can’t stand, is the subject of this story. Rick Schwartz even chimes in. [...]
I am still keeping a bullish investmnet portfolio overall. It is just a matter of time until the market starts swinging around. Never forget that when a bull market fires up, we don’t realize it until it’s at least six months old.