How lucky have you been in domaining?

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A topic that I had sitting in drafts for a bit came to light in a thread on Namepros. The topic being luck. How much does luck matter in domaining? How lucky do you feel you have been.

I would also argue that companies in the business have been lucky that this business that came together were very lucky.

The question on Namepros was a little more cut and dry as the poster asked if it was based all on luck?

My reply was:

Your question seems to be is it all luck? NO it’s not. There is a lot of luck involved with domaining, first off you can’t just go and make your own way, you need the misfortune or negligence of others. By that I mean there are plenty of names that sit and don’t sell for 15 years, many brandables have been like this and then someone lets the name drop and someone else picks it up and sells it passively, just putting it on Sedo and Afternic (nothing that requires skill or high intellect) in three months. That is pure luck, now you will not be able to make a living doing that, outliers happen and other bits of luck happen as well.

Look the whole secondary market is based on luck, GoDaddy and all the other registrars that sell their customer’s expired assets and pocket the cash got lucky. ICANN could have easily implemented rules that said all names expire after 30 days and are released back into the wild. A registrar cannot profit off of expired domains, they didn’t and that was very lucky for companies like GoDaddy.

Understanding linguistics, marketing, trends, the temperature of the culture and knowing how to sell are all real skills you need to adapt to make a living or a hobby where the juice is worth the squeeze.

But for anyone telling you that luck played no part in their success in this business is either lying or in denial.

 

So how much of a factor has luck played in your domaining experience?

 

How big a part has luck played in your domaining career?

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About Raymond Hackney

Raymond is a writer, domain trader and consultant based in Pennsylvania. Raymond is the founder of 3Character.com and TLDInvestors.com.

Comments

  2. John says

    People need to understand that there is no such thing as “luck” as it is commonly understood. There is only divine providence, i.e. the conscious gift of God, or lack thereof.

    What people normally think of as (dumb) luck is nothing of the sort. What people think of as “luck” is really “good fortune,” but there is nothing random or “dumb” about it, ever. That is true even though the universe functions in ways that sometimes or often appear “probablistic” or “random.” Those are merely aspects and attributes of a divine creation and created order that is still ordained, controlled, and its very existence continually and actively sustained by the creator.

    So it is certainly valid to say that people have been “lucky,” but only if it is properly understood to mean they have been “fortune,” and have received something from God Himself.

    We, however, in our extreme pride, vanity, arrogance, and so forth, like to believe that we did it all ourselves, are the captain of our ship and our own destiny, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth, and that is a total delusion. But unless someone has been given the ability to see what a delusion that is, then we are simply stuck in it.

    This divine providence includes everything, especially everything we want to think came from ourselves instead of Him: our ability to even expend all the blood, sweat, tears, and effort we expended, by which we might think we accomplished something on our own; every opportunity and “open door”; every talent, gift and ability, and every life circumstance that enabled such things to flourish and be free from loss, etc.

    Pride and vanity about these matters will do oneself in even though things may appear great our whole lives.

    So yes – “luck” had everything to do with it, but not in the way that word is normally understood.

    • John says

      PS, and it should go without saying, God is the one who finally adds the success to all the effort and circumstances and opportunity and talent He gave, or not.

      • Richard says

        ”I agree, nothing happens without the will of Almighty God!“

        If that is true, one has to admit that ”God“ appears to be a rather pretty big asshole. Lets take a look at his latest best of album, shall we?

        The Plague
        The 100 Years War
        The 30 Years War
        The Native American Genocide
        WW1
        The Armenian Genocide
        The Spanish Flu
        WW2
        The Holocaust
        The Vietnam War (bonus track)

        Well done.

    • Supplanter says

      You’re projecting your beliefs. The universe (or creation) appears neutral as according to current science. It’s on humans themselves if their circumstances reflect their needs, desires, wishes, expectations etc. and nothing happens without striving (reap what you sow), as per the natural law of cause and effect. There’s a lag between when a cause has its ultimate effect because it’s a process and its energy dissipates according on it’s ititial concentration and how all surrounding things take up it’s effects, unless it’s directed with enough force and concentration to have a most immediate final effect, but it appears very difficult to generate an immediate final effect without our environment i.e. the universe, nature etc. absorbing some of that ‘misdirected/unfocused’ effort, especially if one is not absolutely skilled in the outcome. Therefore you can surely forge your destiny so opportunites statistically land on your side, even if fate is somehow determined, the process with which it unfolds is measureable. And luck is more like when a very small probability fullfils itself.

    • Richard says

      “People need to understand that there is no such thing as “luck” as it is commonly understood. There is only divine providence, i.e. the conscious gift of God, or lack thereof. (…)”

      What you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought.

  3. JZ says

    You can call it luck but its more of a numbers game. Own enough decent names and one of them will be “lucky” enough to be chosen by someone with deep pockets as their brand name.

    • Logan says

      I agree — it’s a numbers game. It’s the same with dating women — you date a high number of women each month, you are going to get laid more often. Domain sales are the same — Michael Mann sells many domain names every day because why? He’s managing a portfolio of 300,000 domain names. With a portfolio that large, odds are, he’s going to be making sales every day. And so he does.

  4. Josh says

    I know when I work really hard I tend to get “lucky”.
    And when I work really hard and don’t get “lucky” it’s God’s fault.

    LOL

  6. David says

    I have seen poll results. In 70% poll on luck .if this right than more domainer are successful in this industry but now time only few successful domainer in this industry.

  7. BullS says

    I am always lucky in Domaining…heck what have I got to lose? I don’t drink , I don’t smoke or buy coffee, never drank coffee, so what have I got to lose by spending $8.50 hand reg a domain and sell it for $$$$…

    Just hand reg ArmChairJournalism.com and will get more than the $8.50.

      • BullS says

        @John– thank you for your kind words,usually and most of the time I get bad raps from other domainers.
        It is nice to know that ArmChairJournalism.com is a 2 letter words and you like it.

        If you like it, then there are billions of people would like it too.