Working Hard – or Hardly Working

There is a stereotype about domain investors that they don’t work hard, but they do party hard while hardly working. This might be true for a lucky few, but this is false for most.

These days, I spend most of my time developing my websites, making phone calls with local organizations and businesses, writing on my blog, domain consulting, and sending emails to acquire domain names. I am probably working more hours now than I was while I was working at AIG and moonlighting for myself! The purpose of this (of course) is that I want to keep my overhead low. It’s the same reason why I work from home instead of renting (or buying) an office.

The best things about it are that I love what I do, I can work from wherever I want, and I can make my own hours.

The worst thing about it are that I always am driven to work more and to get more done, although that is something on which I am working – as my wife told me when we were out for dinner with friends last night, my work life balance is improving (certainly good news that she notices!).

For anyone with the desire to get involved in this industry on a full time basis, you should know that just about everyone I know is working long hours again. Many had stopped after they had acquired great names in the late 90s and early to mid 00s. Long hours are back once again, but we are building stronger businesses. For some of my friends, long hours means 4 hours a day, but that’s longer than 30 seconds a day šŸ™‚

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

14 COMMENTS

  1. I’ll go with working hard for myself. I usually fall asleep working on something at my laptop each night before dragging myself to bed. Its not as easy as it looks to be a domainer and own a brick and mortar at the same time. Hopefully if I stay up late enough times I can get rid of the brick and mortar.

  2. I agree 100% Elliot. I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve forgone sleep because that’s what was necessary to get what needed to get everything done. I think your average domainer puts in far more than your average 9-5 five day a week guy. Plenty of domainers don’t take days off on weekends and most work well past five.

  3. Im great believer that if you work hard – You shall gain the rewards.

    I have been working Full Time on my domains in the past 3 weeks and looking at projections I can make as much money doing my domains building, buying and selling than doing my day job as running this as 2nd business.

    Im thinking of take the risk and going for the complete switch. . .

    At least when you are working hard for yourself you know what you have achieved and can reward yourself where if you work for a large company you normally work long hours and never even here a Thank You!

    Regards,

    Robbie

  4. The great thing about being a full time domainer or developer is that you reap ALL the benefits of your labor. I work longer hours because I want to, not because I have to. We have staff to a lot of stuff and are adding more, but there is always somethng that needs to be done or planning to do.

    I do make sure to set aside a bit of time every evening to enjoy a cold one (or two) with my wife on the balcony. There is no better satifaction that working for yourself…

  5. It’s not work if you enjoy what you are doing. . . I’ve never felt like I had to “work” . If you feel like you are working, why not do something you love that makes money too. There’s no balancing either if your “job” is fun and you love it.

  6. Yo Elliot!

    You do work hard, and you show the amazing results of your work. You’re probably the most successful “newcomer” in this business, and a perfect example for touting the domainer investment industry. Did Zappy get an interview from you for Internetwarrior.com? He should have if he didn’t! (forgive me, Zappy, I didn’t go look before posting).

    I did a DomainMaster interview yesterday, and talked about you, for a short time, instead of myself. WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH ME!!??? I guess I’m too impressed with you, and looking forward to you hitting a massive goldmine, which I don’t doubt I will have to wait too long.

    Anyway, my biggest problem about being a domainer is keeping my quick domain sales to myself, and watching my family and friends wonder why this crazy viking dude who tells ridiculous life stories, is collecting more cash in one day than they make in 2 months. And my poor wife, I can see her eyes glaze over when I start spouting some new domain idea, or project, “domain this” and “domain that”… but she appreciates the results! lol

    keep up the good work broey.

    @JP – dude, you should be making money while dropping in and carving your inside edge in the trough. (you goofy or regular?)

  7. @adam – thanks broey, for admitting you’re in the club! I’m in there too, and there’s a whole pile of other domainers to keep us getting “goofier” by the day. lol

    But when I say “goofy” in the above comment, I mean “left handed surfer”.
    cheers!

  8. “But when I say ā€œgoofyā€ in the above comment, I mean ā€œleft handed surferā€
    Right. what’d you think I meant? šŸ™‚ It applies to snowboarding and skateboarding too.

  9. @Stephen

    To answer your question – Regular

    BTW, surf has been pumping for a few days now, especially yesterday and hopefully today. I havn’t walked across the street yet to check this morning.

    This week work has been tough. I’m too tired to stare at the computer after surfing for a few hours.

    Oh yea, and posting at 8am? Are you just waking up or just finishing up for the night.

  10. If you are starting out now, as a complete domainer newbie it would definately take many long hours to reach a decent pay! Unless, of course, you have a good bankroll to begin with to invest in some good names..

  11. @ Solid Domainer

    Most new domain investors are making the smart move in hiring domain consultants like Elliot Silver, Adam Strong, Rob Sequin and myself. We each have expertise in all areas of the domain industry. You can shop around for pricing that suits your best budget expectations. My 90 day plan costs $1500, at $500 a month, but Elliot, Rob, and Adam Strong have different pricing.

    If you’re serious about making over $100k a year like we do, then focus on getting a consultant to guide you and your domains. You could struggle on your own for over a year trying to understand the business, and make contacts. The investment in hiring either of us can set you up securely to move ahead confidentily in your domain appraisals, potential buyers, meeting top domainers, and how to prepare your portfolio for the best revenue experience…

    Think about getting professional consultation if you are serious about domain investing. Get the best direction/info from the start. It will save you thousands of dollars and tip you off to finding out the best ways to buy domains that will make you money. (In just 10 days, I sold two domains for a total price of $17,200. My cost for those domains? $250.

    I don’t even want to determine what the percentage payout ROI is on those two domains I sold. It makes it a lot nicer in considering my other 3700 domains!!!! Domains ROCK!!!

    cheers

    Stephen Douglas
    Successful Domain Managementā„¢
    Blog: Successclick.com
    DomainRelevance.com
    “Own Your Competitionā„¢”

  12. @ADAM – Sorry broferd… I didn’t know you were dialed in… my bad.

    @ JP – aww… i would love to see you backside on a left at Blacks, or Cardiff, and if you want to just back up your rep, I’ll take a a few bottom turns and OTL’s at Trestles at min. 4foot.

    I’ll post them up on a new album on my facebook called “guest domainer surfshots”. If you’re ripping it, you gotta have some pro pics of the action… And a few pics of Sarah staring at you adoringly on the beach would be so romantic too… šŸ˜‰

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