… please note that there’s no right or wrong answer here, it’s all a matter of being in touch with who you really are.

Obviously, if you’re an investor at heart or in other words someone who is always more than willing to defer consumption and re-invest, you’ll probably make more money in the long run as a domainer than someone who prefers consuming right away.

But, again, it’s not a right/wrong situation.

Someone making $x per year can be much happier than someone making $5x yearly. And if the $x per year person says that no, from now on he will do whatever it takes to also earn $5x, he or she will only end up more miserable in the process if the goal of earning more isn’t something he or she genuinely wants.

In my case, I knew all along I was a “cheap bastard” or someone who is not into fancy cars, expensive clothes, exotic vacations and what not. It’s not that I hate these things, I don’t crave them. What I do however crave and have always craved is financial security, knowing that I’m on the right track.

Other people I know are consumers by excellence. They purchase better cars on credit, indulge in the latest and greatest consumer goods (from newly-launched phones to home cinemas, you name it), the list could go on and on.

Are they doing the right thing?

Well, it depends.

In my opinion, as long as they don’t go overboard and become compulsive spenders, the answer is most likely yes as long as they’re doing it for the right reasons. As long as they’re doing it because it makes them happy deep down inside. I have no problems with that whatsoever.

If they do it to impress their friends or because it’s what society conditioned them to think they should be doing, then that’s a different story and way too many people make this mistake.

What I’m trying to say here is that the decision to “live your life” is a deeply personal one and it’s all relative. I feel like I’m living my live by knowing that I’m financially resilient (with peace of mind being what I *actually* crave), whereas other people would be miserable without indulging in the best society has to offer.

Again, I’ll probably do better than them in the long run as an investor… but so what?

In both of my books, I’ve referred to research conducted based on data from multiple countries: time and time again, it has been noted that as long as your basic needs are met, future income gains aren’t correlated with directly proportional increases in happiness.

Therein lies the key do figuring out how to live your life IMO.

If your current financial behavior puts your basic needs in jeopardy, something has to be done. If, however, that is not the case and if your current lifestyle is one you find fulfilling, then by all means, do your thing and be happy.

Simple enough, right?

Today: The five-year domain investing plan / Top domain sales of all time! / Lich.com sold for $15,750 / And more!

Here are the new discussions that caught my eye in the domain community today!

LLL.Co wanted – Budget: Up to $600.00 – Do you have any three-letter .co ccTLD’s in your portfolio you would sell for up to $600.00? If so, this might be an opportunity.

Looking good keyword with letter “X” .com – Budget: Up to $250.00 – If you have a keyword .com that contains the letter X, be sure to check out this buyers specified criteria.

Looking for one/two Keyword Domains – Budget: Up to $150.00 – Are you looking to liquidate a sing-word or two-word domain name for some fast cash? Take a look at this buyers guideline.

Lich.com sold for $15,750 – That’s not a bad domain name sales report for a four-letter, pronounceable, brandable, .com. I might have guessed it would sell for more. What do you think it should have sold for?

Top domain sales of all time! – Do you already know what the top domain name sales of all time are? Can you guess what they are? Take a look to see if you were right.

The five-year domain investing plan – Do you have a five-year domain investing plan in place? How did you break it down and organize your goals? Take a peak at what other domains have done for their five-year investing plan.

Strategy – Focusing on a single domain pitch vs. multiple domains to an end-user – Which strategy do you use? Is one better than the other? Check out which strategy domain investors are claiming works better than the other one.

Right off the bat, I want to make it perfectly clear that what I’m about to write constitutes my personal opinion and nothing more. There are absolutely no guarantees that you’ll be rewarded by doing (or not doing) any of these things… think of this post as just me sharing the way I feel right about now.

Most of you probably know what the business cycle is all about and if not, the like I’ve just provided will help you understand in about one minute. The bottom line is that humans aren’t angels or robots and as such, the economy doesn’t really have the habit of going up in a continuous linear/predictable manner.

Sometimes, things are going good, so we become excessively optimistic.

The excesses we make when overly optimistic bring about market crashes, recessions and all that good stuff.

Once the dust settles, the economy can start going back up… rinse and repeat.

So, here we are in 2019 and if you haven’t realized it by now… it’s been a LOOOOOOOONG time since the last recession in most countries. We’re talking about record-breaking territory here.

As such, perhaps it would be wise to assume the proverbial party will come to an end sooner rather than later and at the very least implement a few mindset changes here and there.

I’ll start with the things I personally believe should be avoided at this point:

A) F**k the Joneses… or in other words, resist the temptation of buying a fancy car to impress your friends or anything along those lines. Now is the time to be humble, if not fearful

B) on that note, don’t go overboard when it comes to personal spending and, instead, at least build a little buffer fund for yourself. If you were thinking about buying a home cinema, don’t. If your phone works just fine and you wanted to upgrade to a better model “just because” then, once again, don’t

C) take a close look at your portfolio, especially at the assets which have had a very good run… while it is true that the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent, it might be a good idea to at least take some profits off the table

D) stay away from ultra-speculative domain investments for the time being and, generally speaking, be less exuberant. Don’t get me wrong, go for it if you’re presented with an absolute bargain, just be careful and perhaps a little bit “tighter” than usual

… alright, so what should you be doing?

A) don’t be afraid to hold on to cash… money, dinero, Geld. While cash is a terrible long-term investment due to inflation, you need to understand that should a collapse take place, those with liquidity at their disposal will be able to take advantage of life-altering purchase opportunities, so there are periods when being long cash makes sense 😉

B) become more willing to invest in assets through which one can “hedge” against uncertainty… in other words, assets that tend to perform well during an economic downturn, I believe the risk/reward ratio associated with being a little bit of a contrarian at this point can work in your favor

C) be more willing to say yes to offers on your domains… this doesn’t mean selling your best assets for pennies on the dollar, not by a long shot, but it does mean it might be a good time to be a bit less rigid than usual

D) there’s no time like the present to restructure a bulky domain portfolio. From bulk sales to simply dropping names, do whatever you can to eliminate liabilities

… I’ll put an end to this post here because I think you understood the message I tried to get across.

Can I guarantee the mother of all market crashes is coming?

No, I cannot.

I’m simply explaining why I believe that at this point in time, it might be wise to consider this possibility more than you have in the past.

Today: What makes the final retail price of a domain name / Pysoft.com sold for $5,000 / Should I buy out a competitor .io domain? / And more!

Here are the new discussions that caught my eye in the domain community today!

looking to buy a brandable for domain marketplace – Budget: Up to $75 – If you have a brandable marketplace related domain name that meets this buyers specified criteria and want to quick flip it for some fast cash, this might be an opportunity.

Should I buy out a competitor .io domain? – Competitive buying. Do you play a counter-defensive competitive domain investing game to block other investors from getting a gem before you do? Check out what some domain investors are saying about it.

AFO.COM – Wow! Check out the domain name a broker put on the table to have appraised publicly. So far investors think it’s worth anywhere from $50k to $200k. What do you think it’s worth?

$5.99 .com domains @NameSilo – If you’ve been thinking about registering a new .com domain name to resell or develop, this $5.99 promotion might help.

Pysoft.com sold for $5,000 – That’s not a bad domain name sales report for a six-letter, brandable, pronounceable, .com. Do you think it should have sold for more or less than what it sold for?

What makes the final retail price of a domain name – Do you know what makes the biggest difference in the final selling/buying price of a domain name? Some domain investors think they figured it out. What do you think?

Discipline in Domaining – Do you have the proper discipline to be a successful domain investor? What is the disciplinary formula that you use? Take a look at what other domain investors do to discipline themselves.

Out of ~7.7 billion people on this planet today, roughly 1.4 billion of them live in China. It was hard to ignore China when they were going through a rough time economically (China after the First Industrial Revolution as well as China during Mao Zedong’s regime, two shameless plugs that I think you’ll find useful)… let’s not even talk about today’s China, with a GDP per capita that grew 25x (NOT a typo) since Mao’s death.

What I’m trying to say is that a trend has been set in motion that is ridiculously hard to stop and while there will be bumps in the road (remember, the US had its own share of problems until it became the economic superpower it is today!) as well as difficulties to overcome (the huge discrepancy between the economy of the highly industrialized regions of China compared to let’s say Western China), it’s only a matter of time until China will become the world’s largest economy.

And even once that happens, there will be PLENTY of room to grow, since its GDP per capita will still not be unbelievably high.

As such, I don’t care what industries you’re in, opportunities in China are and will be all over the place.

The trillion dollar question is this, however:

What exactly are you doing about it?

Time and time again, we become the masters of hindsight, the people who say “I knew all along that XYZ will be big” but made exactly $0 because they didn’t take any form of meaningful action to get a slice (no matter how small) of that pie.

What can you do?

Well, it depends.

I for one, as mentioned in an earlier post, am learning Chinese.

If you don’t want to do that, no problem. Some of you might decide to brush up on your history, especially Asian history. Great idea!

Others might choose to travel to China every now and then, make connections and see where that leads. Excellent!

As perhaps the architect of today’s China (Deng Xiaoping) said:

“It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice!”

… a huge shift from Mao’s less than flexible ideology and wise words to live by, if you ask me.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter that much what you do as long as you promise yourself you’ll at least think of something to take advantage of this monster of a trend… which isn’t going anywhere. For a very in-depth perspective on all things China, I’d recommend checking out China Fund Dot Com when you get a chance to.

Half the battle is showing up 😉

Good luck!

Today: Share your 5 letter .com domains / SwimmingPool.de sold for $14,326 / I sold amor.tv for $2500 / And more!

Here are the new discussions that caught my eye in the domain community today!

Looking for One Word Brandable .com Domains (Aged) – If you have some single-word brandable .com’s in your portfolio that you would sell for up to $500.00, you may want to take a look at this buyers specified criteria.

BrandPa Portfolios + EMD domains – Budget: Up to $100.00 ea. – Do you have any BrandPa EMD assets in your portfolio you would liquidate for some fast cash? Check out this buyers guideline.

I sold aha.tv for $1200 – Here come the .tv ccTLD sales reports again. Those .tv’s just keep chugging alone. Do you think that this investor should have sold Aha.tv for more or less than what they sold it for?

I sold amor.tv for $2500 – For those of you still holding onto your .tv ccTLD’s tight, check out this other single-word .tv sales report.

SwimmingPool.de sold for $14,326 – That’s not a bad .de ccTLD, twelve-letter, two-word, five-figure domain name sales report. Do you think it should have sold for more or less than what it sold for?

Share your 5 letter .com domains – Are you investing in five-letter ,com domain name assets? Share a few of your best and take a look at what other five-letter domain investors are buying.

Funny comeback lines from endusers…. do you have one? – Have you ever sent out an outbound email and got a funny response from the potential buyer on the other end? What did they say? Check out some of the funny things other were told.

Time and time again, this way of thinking proves to be wise, at least in my case. When it comes to anything from domains to real estate negotiations, it makes sense to get outside your comfort zone and even if you think you’re being too aggressive… just ask.

I was involved in a negotiation this week for something I didn’t really *want* but I knew it was a decent opportunity. However, since I wasn’t really all that motivated, I felt I had nothing to lose and made a very, very low offer.

When it wasn’t accepted, I thanked the other party for their time and wished them all the best. A couple of hours later, I got a call that they changed their mind and decided to accept my offer, sealed the deal yesterday.

The thing is, our brains want to keep us safe more than anything else. As such, they’ll fight anything that takes us outside our comfort zone and the idea of asking for something that you think would be too good of a deal for you doesn’t represent an exception.

In my opinion, you need to have an “AHA!” moment and realize that while your brain’s defense mechanisms are more than justified evolutionary (being afraid to pet a tiger is a good thing, ask our ancestors!), in today’s complex world, your brain can end up being the very thing that stands between you and a good deal.

I’d strongly recommend deciding to no longer think this or that is out of your league, whether it’s a partnership with someone you perceive as being higher up the ladder than you or an acquisition.

Am I saying you’ll always succeed?

Nope.

Am I saying you’ll usually succeed?

Probably not.

But think of it from a best case/worst case perspective:

A) What’s the best thing that could happen? Well, you might end up on the receiving end of a truly awesome opportunity, one you would have been to afraid to pursue in the past… tempting!

B) What’s the worst thing that could happen? In most cases, just someone saying no… not pleasant by any means, but you’ll survive 🙂

I really believe people need to try rewiring their brains this way, as in my opinion, the risk/reward ratio is usually asymmetrically in your favor in such cases!

Today: Looking to Purchase a LL.cn domain – Budget: Up to $1,000,000.00 / GLO.tv sold for $1,049! / Just Playground.TV sold for $3,000! / And more!

Here are the new discussions that caught my eye in the domain community today!

Twork.net – I know twerking got popular a few years ago, but do you think the world is ready for a twork network? Ist even brandable in .net? What are your thoughts?

UniversalBasicIncome.info – Is that like universal healthcare, but for income? How would one monetize that and does the .info help or hurt it?

Looking to Purchase a LL.cn domain – Budget: Up to $1,000,000.00 – Stop the press! Did they just say $1,000,000.00 (One-Million Dollars)? If you have a two-letter .cn ccYLD you may want to jump in on this potential action.

GLO.tv sold for $1,049! – Wow! A .tv ccTLD sales report has emerged again. That’s not too bad for a pronounceable, three-letter, brandable, .tv.

Playground.TV sold for $3,000! – Boom! And yet another strong .tv ccTLD sales report for $3,000.00 on a ten-letter, dictionary-word. Should it have sold for more or less than it sold for?

Has .net fallen out of investors favor? – When did this happen? Does anyone investing in .net have some research data to compare to these claims? What has been your experience with .net gTLD’s in today’s markets?

Southampton.com sold for $36,237 – That’s not a bad domain name sales report for a eleven-letter, two-word, Geo, .com domain name for a nice five-figures.

Today: Falling in love with your own domain names / 10678.com sold for $12,227 / Just Closed my First Outbound Sale – It works! / And more!

Here are the new discussions that caught my eye in the domain community today!

Moouv.com – This is a pronounceable, five-letter, .com domain name that could work as a brand. Do you think that is enough to give value in today’s market though? Check out what other investors think.

Buying CC.org – Budget: Up to $1,500.00 – If you have any two-character .org domain names you would liquidate for some fast cash, take a peak at this buyers specified criteria.

Buying General Words .com domains – Budget: Up to $600.00 – Do you have any general word type domain names in your portfolio you would sell for up to $600.00? Take a look at this buyers guideline.

Just Closed my First Outbound Sale – It works! – Have you ever had any success with outbound sales? This domain investor tried it and made their first outbound sale today. Check it out.

Falling in love with your own domain names – Have you ever fell so deeply in love with one of your domain names that no amount of money would motivate you to sell it, so you develop it instead?

10678.com sold for $12,227 – That’s not a bad domain name sales report for a five-number .com domain for five-figures. Do you think it should have sold for more or less than what it sold for?

Anyone can sell a domain name if I could sell… – Now thst’s an interesting domain name sales report. Do you think the domain they sold was rubbish or did it warrant the value the buyer saw in it?

Etymologically speaking, the term “newbie”or “noob” might derive from “new blood” and I’ve chosen it for this title because in my opinion, our industry needs new blood desperately for it to even be called an industry.

Yes, “veterans” love making fun of beginners for their acquisition mistakes and all that but… frankly, the reseller market is witnessing first-hand what happens when “new blood” (those who are interested in making money online by investing) no longer considers domaining an attractive destination.

Nowadays, even after the humongous crash, it’s still all about crypto and while you might think it’s time to celebrate because there is less capital bidding against you at domain auctions… this might just be a curse disguised as a blessing for many reasons such as:

A) Less and less liquidity on the reseller market. Now there are certain domainers who are wealthy enough not to care about this. They only sell to end users and have a robust enough nest egg set aside so that if something like a medical emergency arises, they don’t need to liquidate domains on the reseller market. Most people, however, are not as fortunate and if you end up needing quick capital in a dry reseller market… good luck with that!

B) Less of a voice. The less influential an industry becomes, the less its voice matters and a few years from now, people would have told you you’re crazy if you would have predicted Verisign’s major attitude change when it comes to domainers, our most talented allies such as Phil Corwin moving on to greener pastures, etc.

C) Less critical mass when it comes to domaining-related projects. Even a few years ago, it was hard to do well with a business that catered primarily to domainers… don’t expect it to get any easier, on the contrary!

D) Less (or no) new leaders. My generation of domainers was spoiled because quite a few “old timers” were more than willing to generously share information free of charge. Unfortunately, I have it on good authority that they’re not immortal and with no new leaders being eager to fill the proverbial void, future generations of domainers won’t be as privileged as I have been

… I’m sure you get the point.

I wish I could do more through this post other than just (hopefully articulately) state the obvious but I really do believe there’s a ton of value in no longer minimizing the issue of “new blood” or “hotness” when it comes to domaining.

I have no idea what a solution to this problem would look like, but who knows! Despite domainers not always being nice to one another and despite the many shortcomings of our industry, there are a ton of talented individuals around who might be able to take this conversation to the next level!