Founder & CEO — Domain Success
Twitter | LinkedIn | Amazing Domains
FAST FACTS
Session Name: The Cart Before the Horse: Building Your Domain Name into Big Business
Location: Long Island, NY
Number of years in the domain industry: 18 years
Favourite extension: .com
Domain name you wished you owned: bobbleheads.com
Now reading: The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan S. Kennedy
Now watching: Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru
Best city for conferences: New York City, NY
Your mentor: T. Harv Eker
Q&A
Describe your company and how long you have been there?
Domain Success provides the resources to learn to earn with domain names. We inspire, inform and celebrate domainers.
What can attendees look forward to during your session?
Attendees can look forward to learning firsthand how to build a business from domain names like I have with bobbleboss.com, bagelofthemonth.com, coupons.info and more. We will also discuss various ways to drive traffic and sales to your domain names. Strategic relationships can be vital when leveraging domain names.
What can attendees do in order to prepare for your session? Are there any questions or scenarios they should consider in advance?
Attendees should consider industries and categories that interest them as an opportunity to explore launching an online business. Also think about relationships you can leverage to go into business with a strategic partner.
What would you like attendees to learn or take away from your session?
I want attendees to learn that businesses can be built on domain names and those names can be acquired for a reasonable and realistic cost. There are also many ways to drive traffic and sales to your domain name. This will be explored as well. A majority of online marketing is trackable, which means that accountability and testing is key to success. E-mail marketing is still extremely effective but not used often enough.
Can you tell us about how your service or product helps deliver value to your customers?
Domain Success inspires, informs and celebrates domainers. Our readers get a tremendous amount of insight and information about the domaining industry.
What are you most looking forward to at the upcoming NamesCon?
I look forward to meeting many new domainers and connecting with those who I have conversed with over the years.
What industry trends or topics do you think will be at the forefront of panel and keynote discussions this year?
New TLDs.
Who are you excited to hear speak at NamesCon? Why?
Frank Schillings — I’m curious to learn why he is so enthusiastic about the new TLDs.
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
Most people don’t know that I am an attorney and also a vegetarian.
How did you get your start in the industry?
I started buying domain names when I was in law school in 1998. I equated domain names to vanity phone numbers and began registering many domain names that started with 1800 (.com).
What advice can you offer those who are just getting their start in the domain industry?
Learn from experienced domainers who have “been there and done that” — the industry is tight and many great interviews are out there where successful domainers share their stories, failures, lessons learned and successes.
What was one of your biggest “Aha!” moments in life?
In 1998, I realized I could get websites to rank on the first page of search engines (this is before Google and what we now call SEO). I knew at that moment that I wouldn’t practice law but instead launch an Internet marketing company, which I did and then sold.
How does your career compare to what you envisioned in your youth?
In grade school, I wanted to be a dentist and drive a Porsche convertible. By the time High School came around, I no longer wanted to be a dentist but instead a lawyer. Let’s just say I never became a dentist and only practiced law for about 10 weeks…but I did get the car. 🙂
How would you describe what you do in a single sentence to a stranger?
I build businesses from domain names.
If you had fifteen extra minutes each day, what would you do with them?
Spend more time with my wife and three boys (and then go through more domain name drop lists).
Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did that person teach you?
I have learned a lot from reading T. Harv Eker, Michael Gerber and Tony Robbins. I have been working since I was very young and I have had some extraordinary mentors in my life like Adam Rosner who owns Bagel Boss which has 13 locations. Adam has taught me about customer service and “doing the right thing.” I also learned a tremendous amount from Steve Rosenberg who is the NBC executive who first bought my company (I sold it twice) and taught me about leadership.
Latest and greatest accomplishment in your career?
Making the Inc List of Fastest Growing Companies for the third time in 2015, ranking #72 in the U.S. and #4 in New York.
Describe a recent challenge, at work or in your personal life, that you overcame.
I lost nearly 50 pounds after becoming a vegetarian and cycling almost everyday.
Where is your favourite place to escape?
Anywhere with my wife and three boys.
What was the best advice you were ever given?
Let your life proceed by its own design.
What object would you put in a time capsule that best represents who you are today?
A bobblehead.
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