🙋‍♂️ MY STORY: Getting started got me featured in 👉 NY Times, CNN, WSJ, Wired and more!

(2 minute read)

Hello! 🙋‍♂️

Here’s my personal story of how ‘jumping in’ paid off.

👀 In today's newsletter:

 🚗 I want to encourage you to get moving in an industry that you like.

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🚀 20 Years Ago, Something Cool Happened and it changed everything for me.

I’ll make this as quick as possible.

20 years ago, I dabbled in online businesses. I found products I liked, I imported them, created websites and started selling. My early websites were pretty ugly, but I was happy to be an entrepreneur, doing cool things.

BUT.

I noticed something.

Every time I started something new, I tried to register a good domain name… and… It seemed like all good domain names were already registered (and this was in the year 2000).

🤔 A few questions kept creeping up:

1. Can you buy an already registered domain name from the current owner?

2. Is there an aftermarket for this type of thing?

🕵️‍♂️ The more I researched, the more I realized:

A lot of people were feeling this same frustration (good domain names are already taken) and there was increasing demand for good domains.

LIGHTBULB! 💡

What if:

I spent my time tracking down the owners of good domain names?

What if:

I offer them cash for their names, and they transfer them to me?

What if:

I resell these domain names to other entrepreneurs looking for amazing .com domains for their businesses?

Well, I jumped in, and it absolutely took off. 🚀

🕗 Here’s what happened next…

• I started reading all I could about domain names.

• I started meeting people on domain forums, and I added these people to my network.
  

• Domain conferences started to appear (you can imagine the wild times, right). 😉 And I further built my network by attending them.
  

• I started blogging about domain names and I participated in domain discussions on other blogs.
  

• I shared my expertise, and it didn’t take long for people to see me as an authority in the domain name market (which was rapidly growing in size).
  

• 🚀 Along the way, I acquired the very first .com ever registered on the Internet: Symbolics.com 😲 (1985 registration date)
  

• 🚀 🚀 Symbolics.com has since been covered in major media like CNN, NY Times, Wired, Mashable, Tech Crunch, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and many more. This further solidified my position as an authority in the industry. 👇 👇 👇

• Then, all the press just lifted everything higher.
  

• ✍ A big auction house hired me to hold live domain auctions, and we had a blast doing it!
  

• All of this led to more press and more attention on the domain name industry (and me).
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  

• 🔍 Then, people started to seek me out (as opposed to me putting myself out there for the world to discover). They wanted my help in acquiring top tier domain names — so I started a business where I consulted clients and brokered high end domain names and intellectual property.

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

😁 Ok you get the point.

☝ The point is:

1️⃣ Just get started in an industry you are curious about.

2️⃣ Or, start in an industry you know a lot about.

3️⃣ Just get moving.

4️⃣ Put yourself out there as an expert.

5️⃣ Engage with others in the industry and make yourself known.

🚶‍♀️ This is a JOURNEY. It takes time. You have to begin by taking a single step forward.

😎 This is the cool part about all of this:

✅ You have absolutely NO IDEA where this might lead.

I had no idea that my sideline businesses of selling things online would lead to domain names.

And that would lead to a really cool acquisition (the first .com ever).

And that would lead to a job with an auction house.

And that would lead to press that put my name out there even more.

✅ And, once you start building your network, you can launch ANY business related to your industry… and you’ll have a solid base of early customers ready to go.

Just please get started! And enjoy where the process takes you.

That’s it for today. I hope this motivate you to get moving.

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