Celebrate your wins
Recently I purchased an apartment (condo for those outside of Australia). When my offer was accepted my brother bought me a bottle of alcohol to celebrate. I told him that I wasn’t going to mark the occasion until the contract went unconditional. This is something I’ve always done with any major sale I’ve been involved with, delayed celebrating until all the i’s were dotted and all the t’s crossed and the money is in the bank. And for whatever reason, by the time everything finally gets completed, I’m exhausted and never truly celebrate.
This time, the day the sale settled and the keys were in my hand, I went over to the apartment with my brother and one of my best friends (who had been generously giving up many Saturday mornings to help me find the perfect property) and we toasted the occasion with a glass of the spiced rum my brother had bought me. It felt amazing, especially considering the year that we’re all experiencing.
During the last few months, I’ve found that I’ve been censoring myself, feeling guilty for the success and achievements that I have made; knowing how difficult this year has been for most. However, celebrating this massive milestone was necessary for me. It signified many years of hard work getting myself into the position I am now. This is not an overnight success, this is something that I’ve worked at for years, with many stepping stones that have helped pave the way. A lot of those stepping stones I’ve rarely discussed or gave myself recognition for, so I thought now was as good as any time to journal them.
eSignature.com, marked the first domain I sold as an independent broker. At the time I was trying to get my startup off the ground and took on this brokering assignment for a close personal friend. The domain was sold to Echo Sign, who were bought by Adobe a month later. Getting this deal under my belt was the catalyst to pivot and direct my focus on brokering premium domains. For me, the sale of eSignature is a pivotal sale and changed the trajectory of my start up.
Curious.com, is a domain I acquired on behalf of the current owner, Justin Kitch. Justin was targeting this domain specifically for his start up. At this stage, I had been working in the domain industry for over 10 years and I knew exactly who owned Curious.com. The owner wasn’t someone I had worked with or dealt with previously, so it took some time to establish contact. However, with some persistence I was able to get a response from the owner and an agreement was made. The acquisition of Curious.com for Justin and his team was the first time I had acted as a buyer broker, so again, another landmark sale.
Rev.com, another domain where I acted as the buyer agent, this time for Jason Chicola. Jason was referred by Curious.com buyer, Justin. In this instance, Jason was in the planning stage of a new venture and was brainstorming various names and domains. From memory there was a shortlist of about 10 domains which I had to reach out to the owners and request prices on. Long story short, he turned his attention to Rev.com. Again, I knew who the owner of the domain was, however, this time I had a close relationship with the party that was responsible for managing the domain. I was able to establish contact and enter negotiations very easily and quickly closed the sale.
Strong.com, is probably in the top 5 of domain acquisition that I’m most proud of. The reason for this being the client had hired two domain brokers prior to engaging me. At the time, Strong.com was owned by Wells Fargo bank and neither of the two brokers before me were able to engage with anyone at Wells Fargo. Always up for a challenge, I spent a considerable amount of time researching the domain names history and using LinkedIn, identifying someone at Wells Fargo that would be best to approach. I received a response within 48 hours and was able to structure a deal within a few short days.
BTC.com, is another special one, because I acted as the buyer’s agent for the client and then successfully brokered the sale of it for them within 6 months. At the time I did not know what Bitcoin was, so I was perplexed as to why they were interested in purchasing, BTC.com. Once I understood, I knew this was going to be an exciting deal. Previously the domain was owned by a Japanese company who were using the domain. After acquiring the domain, I discovered that there were a number of other domain name investors also trying to purchase BTC.com. Where I believe I had the advantage was, I have a friend who is a high school Japanese teacher, so I was able to bridge the language barrier with them translating messages.
When it came time to sell BTC.com, I had conducted a comprehensive review of the entire Bitcoin and cryptocurrency space, identifying all the major companies and players. It took me over a month, but I compiled a target list (that included the Winklevoss twins — I even got a response from their Personal Assistant) of 100’s of companies, investors and individuals to market the domain to. Naturally there was a lot of interest, however a lot of offers fell well short of my client’s price expectations. A few weeks into marketing I sold BTC.com for a million dollars, my first 7-figure domain sale.
Although I never fully appreciated or celebrated these deals at the time, I recognize how instrumental they have been to my success. Each of these domain name sales and acquisitions taught me something different:
eSignature.com — you have to start somewhere.
Curious.com — persistence pays off.
Rev.com — always conduct yourself in a professional manner, word-of-mouth can be the best marketing tool.
Strong.com — what looks like the unachievable, can be achieved.
BTC.com — leverage all resources you have available to you. Also, you will be rewarded for your hard work.
There have been many more domain sales and acquisitions over the years, but these are sales that established the foundations to my ongoing success in the industry. 2022 will mark 20 years working in the domain name industry, something I will definitely be taking the time to celebrate.
