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Long before one could see the recession in the horizon my partners and I have been hard at work to break out of the domain cycle. This was about 2003 when we made our most important decision ever: Stop buying domains and focus on building businesses.
The beginning:
Like all beginnings it was venturing into the unknown. We had ideas, some money to invest, but since we have not done this before, it was all in the air. How to go about it, what to do, when are we ready, when do we hire, who will run the office, manage employees, raise funds if needed, and the list of questions goes on and on and on..
Working hard!
As it is with most of our R&D projects, we work really hard without a concrete plan to execute, nor a time frame. We hired many developers and started building our first product, our directory platform (NDP). In 2004, the first Targeted Traffic domain conference, we came to the show with a rough demo. We showed it to few and had a good response. We believed in it of course more than anyone else. Some looked at it, said “looks cool” and walked on their ways. Darren Cleveland, my partner and co founder of RMG, took a different approach..
A partnership in the making
Darren and I spoke a bit, we found out we live in the same area here in South Florida, and decided to get together and talk some more. Darren liked our product a lot and felt he can do something with it. He already had his own marketing business locally so we felt the experience will help. In addition, both Jeff and I were impressed with Darren as he managed some 200+ employees in his past job. As our platform was built mainly for a sales force this was a point we could not ignore.
Working in the trenches
We decided to work together at it, partnered. We all took a leap of faith here, none really knew if our model will work or not. We cleaned up the software, created a finished product, put a plan in motion, and went hiring.
First months..
Pretty quickly we realized our model will not work. Worst, since it was all new we didn’t know what was broken. Is it qualify of sales people? Is it the sales pitch? Is it the business model? Is it the economy? Is it the industry? Is it our technology? Imagine buying a car and driving it off the lot just for it to stop working 2 minutes later. What is broken? You have no idea. We didn’t either.
Question everything!
We decided we will question everything. Some sales guys had to go, we had to try many different marketing methods, hired assistants, tried various advertising campaigns. Anything we could have thought of.. we tried!
The turning point
We found out it wasn’t something specific, just all around we had to figure things out. Better business model, better people, and simply maturing as a company, build reputation, trust, relationships.
Doing better
Every year since than we’ve done better. Slowly but surely things caught on. We were still burning a lot but hope was in the air.. will we ever break even?
This train isn’t about to stop!
A while after we broke even, started to make some profit. Not only that, but as we’re doing better the progress is much faster and noticeable. Like a train, it takes time to build momentum but when it does, there’s no stopping it!
Today
Starting this business, working hard, was the smartest thing we have done. To all who doubted us, you were wrong. Our business today is on an amazing growth curve, highly profitable, and we’re just scratching the surface. Not only what we’ve built is highly scalable, our experience is something money cannot buy.
Compound Investment
Our investment is much greater than building a specific business here. We did not just build a business, we learned how to build a business. We now have the knowledge, skills, and experience to do what we’ve done with other projects. We’re not just dreamers anymore, we’re dreamers with a proven track record. That my friend is compound interest. Our investment over the years will pay dividends in much greater ways than the one business we’ve worked on.
Should you walk the same path?
It isn’t for everyone of course but if you decide to go at it, be prepare for years of dedication. Rewards not always come overnight, and those who stay the path are those who tend to win.
Have a great weekend!
Sahar
That’s interesting, because I broke out of the development cycle to concentrate on domains in 2003….I never looked back and it was the best decision I ever made.
I had over 400 sites up and running and it was full time work, making money, but it was total maintenance all the time. I realized I could not develop and buy quality domains at the same time…..there was not enough hours in the day…..so I became a full time domainer.
I will say that I was too early in development though. I had those sites up starting in 1998 and the advertisers were still getting organized and gearing up for the Net. If I had started in 2003 maybe it would have been different….but I would have missed countless domain gems since I would have had very little time for speculation. “Panning” for domains is very time-consuming.
There’s a lesson here somewhere. What works for Johnny didn’t work for Sahar and neither works for Jethro. But it’s all good.
I think there are few lessons. “What is your goal” is one of them. In 2003 we were already making solid six figures income. At the time our goal was to move from a company which was worth a solid eight figures (about the same time we declined 15M offer to sell our portfolio) to one that would be worth nine or ten figures. We couldn’t see this happening with domains but we could with business development. In addition, we felt it was extremely important to diversify.
If that makes sense..
Sahar
Enjoyed this post, Sahar. Turning a domain into a business is not a simple process, but certainly a logical “next step”. Quite a few factors seem to be at play: business model, start up capital, people & personalities involved plus their level of dedication to the project, ability to adapt.
And as you have stated before, the goal itself. I have often disliked collaboration, but appreciate that this is where the real strength is. As was the case with Darren, successful collaboration must revolve around finding the right people for the partnership?
Dear Mr. Sahar,
It’s really interesting to read this. I am a Pharmacist from Viet Nam.
I have a couple of domains and want to develop atleast one of them from scratch, but i don’t know how.
Could you possibly give me some hints?
http://www.ePostel.com
DuongTrung
From Viet Nam
Duong,
You seem to have a theme going between your two domains you used here. And I noticed you probably have hosting already arrainged for the epostel domain. For now I’d point the second domain into the first.
Then, maybe you could just start typing away for a “coming soon” page there and put a email link on incase someone reads it and has a question. Getting started is the hardest part.
Then just keep going there everyday or whatever time you can block out and “keep talking”. You’re just starting out so have fun with it. Put pictures about you and what’s important to you if you don’t have anything else to say.
You don’t want to hang yourself too far out but if you have a good idea for a feature you probably should atleast hint about it there. After a while people will ask you about it and possibly spur you to action there.
Don’t give up and keep smiling.