I like being able to connect people that I think can do business together. I have no interest in “monetizing” these connections because I like to think if I am able to make a connection for people, they might be able to connect me to someone else in the future.
A few weeks ago, someone emailed me to ask if I could offer any advice about buying a domain name from a large company:
“Long story short – I work for a company called [Redacted]. We would really like to purchase [Redacted].com, but it is owned by [Redacted] a massive [Redacted] company that is headquartered in NYC.
They don’t currently use the domain for anything. We would like to make a substantial offer to them for the domain, but we have no idea who to contact. I have tried some other brokers in the past, but I think they ran into the same problem. This was a couple of years back. I wanted to see if I could try again, and I think the trick is really going to be just to get someone to respond.
Is this a worthwhile effort, or do you think there’s no way in hell I’d ever be able to buy that domain from [Redacted]?”
When I saw the name of the company that owns the domain name, I immediately remembered seeing a domain name the company had listed for sale a few years ago. One reason I remember is because I asked the domain broker about a different domain name owned by that company. Unfortunately for me, the price was well beyond what I would pay to buy that domain name (which the company still owns), but I did not forget that the broker had a connection with the company.
I wrote back to the person who had emailed me, and I gave him the name of the domain broker I knew had a contact at that large company. It had been a few years since I saw the listing, but I figured he might still have a contact there. Some time passed, and the broker emailed me to thank me for the lead. I had a look, and the company was able to acquire this domain name.
There was no financial incentive for me to make the connection, but I was happy to be able to connect two people who might both be able to benefit from a deal. I hope someone would do the same thing for me if I ever needed a connection like that in the future, and it’s something you should think about the next time an opportunity to connect people comes up.
And the name of the broker is ….. Dave Evanson.
Right?
Not going to share any details about this, although the person who contacted me allowed me to share this article.
Great story! As the saying goes: you reap what you sow. That also holds true for good things. You make a way for someone else and in your time of need someone will do the same for you.
Sometimes giving is the best way to receive..
There are a lot of great people in the domain industry and you are one of them Elliott! Very nice thing of you to do!
@Jamie Zoch—don’t forget, YOU ARE THE BEST!!
you know will inherit lots from the Berkens , all you need to do is outlive them and be a good son, which you are.
Agreed!
🙂 Thanks
You are a nice guy Elliot. I wish there was a way to LIKE an article like we used to be able to do with comments here. I think it could be beneficial to you if you put a LIKE button for the article itself this way you can track different types of things you write about and how your readers like or dislike the subject. I think it would be interesting to see.
If only a company like Facebook would invent a button where you can “like” an article. They would make billions.
It’s pretty obvious I don’t use Facebook or I would have known that.
Great story. This is definitely the best way not only to do business, but to do life.
That’s fantastic! I’ve been in a similar mind frame since the beginning of the year and it’s been incredible.
One of my most recent clients had failed at acquring his brewery’s exact match for over two years, I helped them get it for $100 and I refused to accept payment. They later hired us to do the entirety of their marketing, netting over $6k and they gave us several referrals.
Empowering others is truly just empowering yourselves!
I believe “karma” works in all aspects of life, including business. You’ll get yours, maybe not today, but the day will come.
People remember who have helped them in the past and they will come back to you if they trust you.
Elliot, That is one of the reasons that I have had such a successful run in the IT and web services industry. It is all about relationship building. I have often used my limited knowledge on things like online marketing and development to help optimize my clients’ sites and a lot of that time was spent in my off hours on weekends and after hours. When you build relationships through selfless acts, it really comes back to reward you later.
We can’t cheat nature. What we send into the universe will definitely come back to us. Keep up the good work Elliot.