Sharing Some Thoughts This Weekend

The last couple of weeks have been like nothing I have ever experienced. Luckily and thankfully, my family and I are in good health and safe. In difficult times like we are all facing, family is the absolute most important thing. I truly hope all of you who are reading this have a good support system in place to get through these uncertain times.

While my business and domain names in general are taking a backseat to my family obligations, I will continue to write about domain names and domain name news as it comes up. We are doing what we can to flatten the curve, and that means social distancing and keeping to ourselves as much as we can. I am always near my computer or phone, so while I will be taking care of family matters first and foremost, I will also be tending to my business as usual, including my blog. I am truly grateful to the advertisers who support my blog, and I hope you understand it is primarily because of them that I am able to spend my time sharing.

Speaking of my business, I want to share some thoughts about how I am operating my business right now:

I am spending less money on domain acquisitions. Ironically, I recently acquired one of my favorite domain names in quite some time – Luminous.com. That said, I am planning to substantially cut back on spending in at least the short term. I feel like my portfolio and financial situation is much stronger than during the great recession, but I also have more responsibility these days. In addition, I think there is more uncertainty about many life factors than there were back then. Put simply, managing my cashflow is more critical than ever.

With that said, I can’t afford to let my portfolio get stale. I have enough names right now, but I want to continue to smartly add inventory. I will focus on finding expiry auction deals while keeping an eye on cashflow. That means letting some opportunities go.

Over the coming days, I will be evaluating domain names in my portfolio and cutting some dead weight (names that have no traffic, no inquiries, and little opportunity to make money from). There’s not a lot of fat to cut in my portfolio, and even if I did it would not be a significant enough savings to make much of a difference. That said, letting go of a few less desirable names will feel like a win.

I had a chat with Gregg Freeman from Domain Capital (a long time advertiser here) last week. Domain Capital is one company I know of that is financing and buying exceptional domain names. If you run into a cash crunch, that is an option if you have good domain names. Sending names to auction is another option, but it can take time for auctions to run their course and payment can take time to process.

If you are buying domain names and want people to hit you up, feel free to leave a comment so people can get in touch with you directly.

While great domain names are in stronger hands now than in the last downturn, I think there will be some good buying opportunities on the horizon. I can’t speculate how long it will take for those to materialize, but I think domain names will always have substantial value. My goal with cost cutting is to buy fewer names now in the hopes of being able to acquire better priced assets down the road.

I am very fortunate to be able to work from home so I can be helpful to my wife and children. The flip side is I am always connected to Twitter, and all the breaking news can get stressful. In the coming days, if you need a distraction and want to talk domain names, feel free to contact me. I am happy to chat about domain names or just be a distraction if you need one.

These are going to be difficult times for many people in different ways. We need to be as helpful to each other and supportive of each other as possible. Give people a break. Support your neighbors. Be kind. Stay healthy and safe. Wash your hands.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

7 COMMENTS

  1. Isn’t it amazing how your entire thought process changes during extreme times when you have kids. I remember being in a apartment with my friends n the middle of the eye during Hurricane Andrew. Drinking beer and having a blast watching s#%t get blown up around me. Now I’m creating a stockpile of food, water and other essentials just in case. Incredible how things change.

  2. Using domain finance like domain capital is a very bad idea. The rates tend to be huge and at a time like this many would end up in default down the road anyway. If people need cash they should sell some names, not get into debt right before a recession potentially hits.

      • In my view there is two ways,

        -Have a no reserve auction
        -Have a listing price and constantly reduce the price until it sells

        Have been down that path before and in times like these people can expect to make a loss on a large numbers of sales if they want liquidity.

        I remember last recession 30%+ of the name I sold were at a loss. Only firesale type selling really works otherwise you just end up with 95% of names not sold.

  3. Coronanames- thanks for the LOL!
    It would be great to hear the outcome of that strategy.
    I’ve heard some think the virus comes from Corona beer.
    I saw a similar strategy played out last year with photography domains the net +/- 40k (estimated from auction sales) don’t know actual.

    I picked up a few telemed domains –
    looking for what changes business going forward as a result of this event

    San francisco just shut down with essential services excepted WOW.

    An exceptional event for the world indeed.
    A good time to adjust and prepare to wait it out.
    On a + note,
    I’ve never seen the level of cooperation from the corp world.
    Simply amazing !
    Flatten the curve- One of the best social health strategies ever!
    Cheers

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