So last week Rick Schwartz posted a semi – cryptic blog post. Some see it as a potential return to blogging. I thought either blogging or starting up a new forum, or conference.
I had mentioned it in conversation to a few people over the weekend. One person asked me why I thought that was news and if Rick Schwartz is even relevant anymore.
This person went on that they were only 26 and their heroes in domaining were Ali Zandi, the Booth brothers and anyone else who made it when domains weren’t just sitting there ripe for the picking.
I disagreed and the conversation while respectful got a tad heated, the notion that names were just sitting there is just too simplistic.
I personally see Rick’s vision as his key to success, plenty of people bought and sold names, but Rick held on to his best names, he talked about his 20 year plan often.
There are discussions where people wonder if the old timers still get it? In a thread titled, “Where have all the good guys gone?” Hookbox said the following:
The old guys don’t know how to answer domain questions in 2018 so they don’t participate. Everyone knows what makes a great domain name and that is the only info that an old domainer can provide. These old guys are clueless to what makes a good domain name that can be handregged today. Anyone would know that redfox.com, yellowfish.com, arizonahomes.com etc….has value. The majority of new domainers can’t afford those type of names so they go the handreg route which most don’t have the ability or know how to answer those questions correctly.
A perfect example is the brandable market which I know pretty well. When I see the names these old guys own that they think are good brandables just makes me laugh. Huge difference knowing what you’re talking about now compared to 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. They keep their mouth shut because they are clueless.
On the flipside a commenter at Rick’s Blog wrote:
But I am curious if younger domain investors, or doesn’t just have to be based on age but when you came into the business. Do they see Rick and other older domainers as irrelevant?
I thought the comments on Rick’s post were truly sad. Do these people have no lives? Rick is not going to make them successful.
I agree there is a lot of hero worship in domaining.
I have always seen domaining as an individual sport and not a team sport.
There are plenty of people who deal in domains that don’t participate on forums or blogs.
I do know when you get outside the domaining bubble there is nobody of any real fame.
I was hanging with some guys a couple years ago who worked in Silicon Valley and mentioned Frank Schilling’s name, they were like who is that? I was like he is one of the bigger players in the domain industry. The one guy was looking at me weird and went “Oh sure, is that a big industry?”
NO!!!
Neither schwartz, berkens or schilling ever put a dime in my pocket.
Good point lol.
Rick is not breathing anything into the industry nor will he rebirth it.
Domains are boring, the industry looks like shit and that ain’t changing.
That’s all folks.
We are ALL Relevant…
No one can make another person successful…
Domaining is HARD work… Keeping your eyes and ears open at ALL TIMES… moving fast…
holding the ultra…
Todays domainers are spoiled rotten with so much info out there. When Rick and guys like him started there was nothing. No drop lists, no “industry” to speak of. Do they understand what younger domainers have to go through? Probably not but they paved the road.
Ricks posts are not just about domains. They are about marketing , business and deeply rooted trends when it comes to emotional buying and selling.
If the new 5-10 year domainers teach you what relavant the vets like Rick will teach you wisdom, patience and longevity in business and domain investing.
Rick came off a bit kooky with all his Trumpism to be honest, I think he got lost in translation somwhere between 1999, and 2018. He got the right names back then, and they served him well, he has stuck to .com, even after registering pigeon shit gtlds, but it’s his 1990’s thought process that has carried him, and will continue to do so, as long as he keeps selling his .com’s he is relevant.
kinda rigged question, of course old guys like Kara will champion Rick and young guys will see it differently.
You make your own way in domaining, I agree it’s not a team sport.
I lost a lot of respect with F S with his AM dial in .com, and new gtld spiel, albeit his company is hoarding hundreds of thousands of .com’s, and spending millions more bidding on .com’s at auctions in the meantime.
That is not the type of leadership, or old school thought leaders you need, leading people off the cliff.
I think Rick coming back to talk about the domain Industry is great. The domain Industry could use it.
Although, I feel like he kind of threw the domain Industry under the bus last summer. I was disappointed that he did that.
He seemed more favorable of Bitcoin than domains at one point.
But then Rick sold a portfolio of number domains for 7 figures and he was back on the domain Industry side.
Glad he came back and is still here.
Some are, some aren’t. Still hand reg stuff out there. It’s virtual real estate.
Rick may have bought most his names way back in the day but he negotiated their sale today.
That means a lot. Selling for the prices and deals he gets is not an easy task. Yes if you have Candy.com is going to sell. But at what price? 100k or 3M+. The delta is huge and I’d rather learn from someone that sells his own good rather than a middleman.
I would never ignore the experience of RS or MM or the Booths. These individuals have reached levels of success in the domain name industry most dream of but will never achieve.
Certainly the industry has evolved and trends are always changing, but there is so much to learn.
I don’t idolize these individuals but I do have enormous respect for what they accomplished buying and selling domain names.
I would love to have more 1 on 1 guidance from these individuals. That guidance is gold in my book.
Much respect!
LOL!! Did you really just mention the “Booths” being in level with RS and MM?? Sorry dude, you’re either associated with those douche bags, or one of them shilling themselves. They are bottom feeders, And have accomplished very little in this industry. Unless you’re impressed with a constant flow of spam from various aliases. In that they ARE legends.
Old domainers are legends.
They are untouchable in my opinion.
Big respect to Rick and all old school domainers.
No one is untouchable and these people are far from being great humanitarians.
Rick is a person like the others, like others of his generation were lucky to be the pioneers of the Domaining.
I personally see in them a great domainer never go out of style, times change, but for whom now returns again in summer to write on his blog I very much want to see what he writes in his post.
During this inactive time to write on his blog give interviews that as time goes by he knows better than anyone the current market of domains new trends and even have approximately more than 5000 domains that he has valued at about $ 500 million USD this link is from 2017 see https://onlinedomain.com/2017/04/24/domain-name-news/rick-schwartz-values-domain-name-portfolio-500-million-dollars/ and then write if a old domainer as Rick returns I admire him even from the first day I met him and he always responds to emails or tweets to write so they will raise the $ figures with one more year or sell cheaply, get a profit.
Finally I learn a lot from Rick Schwartz, he taught me not to renew domains and buy others for best.
Personally, I’m interested in hearing Rick’s thoughts. I don’t always agree with him but I love the guys energy and passion.
I’m on Sherpa from time to time so I guess I’m one of these “clowns” but I’ve been around and thankfully met Rick a long time ago and gleaned a world of knowledge from him. I think that the majority of people that are looked up to in the industry are the ones who are the most vocal. There’s a lot more going on behind the scenes with new and “old school” domain investors alike.
I think you can admire both Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckberberg at the same time. You can also despise both at the same time 😉
Im always interested in hearing other people points of view. Personally I enjoy ricks posts. I dont always agree with him but he has my respect like a lot others in the industry. Times change I think lots old timers just get on with it they all know each other that what happens after 20 years. Would say I like talking to newbies as you get the buzz from them just sometimes even the old timers can learn a trick or two. To me its not all about domains you now have to also have the social structure to enhance the domain as a package. like twitter account, facebook page, linkedin account, ect ect.
I remember last year a local webdesigner in Glasgow came up to me and said How do you expect me to get a good domain when your domain was registered in 1999. he was 3 years old then. lol that did make me laugh that I was the old timer. When I look guys who got in 94,95, 96, 97, 98 as being old timers. lol