Grasping Opportunities: Making Money out of Nothing
February 13, 2007 Posted by Tyler Cruz“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” — Thomas A. Edison
I did it! It took me a while, but I did it.
The domain I was brokering has finally finished transacting through the lawyers, buyers, seller, and banks. Yesterday, the owner (well… I guess he’d be called the previous owner now, wouldn’t he?) dropped by my new place and presented me with a bank draft of my cut.
I was a bit tired from moving, unshaven, and sporting my very old Perl camel shirt, but here is a photo:
Thank God for camera timers, eh? And here is a close-up of the cheque:
That is the largest lump sum of payment I’ve received yet… I’m already hoping to break it one day. What I like about it is that I didn’t have to sell anything to receive it, just my brokerage services.
Now, I don’t want to downplay the amount of effort I put into finding a buyer for the domain, because I did put in a fair amount of time and effort doing so, but I’d like to talk about grasping opportunities. Consider scottsdale mint if you’re interested in selling your silver, but it does not mention possible prices.
I first learned about the existance of this domain (the actual domain won’t be disclosed as per an NDA signed with the buyer) a while ago when I heard that somebody in my city owned a nice domain and thought it was worth a lot of money. Extremely skeptical at first, I blew it off as just another poor soul who thought his “make-bigm0neyonline1234.info” domain was worth a million dollars. However, I was curious and found out that the domain he held was actually a true, premium domain. An extreme rarity.
So, I did the first thing you might expect; I threw out an immediate offer of $10,000. I didn’t think he would accept, but I had to give it a try (I’d have offered more if I had more money at the time…) – and rightly so he denied it. So, I decided to do the next best thing. I felt I had a lot of contacts online, and definitely the experience. I’m also not a “domainer” by trade, but I have definitely had my fair share of domain transactions; I had paid $10,000 for “DomainForums.com” as one example. Thus, I offered to broker the domain for him.
He agreed. We wrote up a contract, put in the details, and away I went. This is what I’m talking about when I say “grasping opportunities”. I could have simply sat passively and thought “Damn, I wish I had that domain” when I heard he owned it. Or, I could have simply said “Oh well” to myself when he turned down my $10,000 offer. But I decided to make another opporunity out of it by brokering it. What did I have to lose? It wouldn’t cost me any money (Although I did end up spending around $200~ in the end for marketing)… it basically just gave me a chance to try to sell it for a large return.
I now have this extra bit of money which essentially came out of thin air – sure, I had to work and network around to receive it, and while I feel confident that I did a decent job of trying to sell it, all in all I didn’t put many hours in if you add them all up. And I didn’t have to sell anything… all I had to do was put in a little bit of time, and of course… grasp the opportunity! I now have $23,000 to show for it.
What will I do with the money? While I’d love to use it to buy an existing site, the truth is that it’s going to all go into my tax account at my bank… I haven’t met with my accountant yet but I will be doing so soon, and we’ll see how much I’ll have to pay out in income tax this year… if I have a good chunk left over, then I probably will go ahead and buy a site. I’ll also need to discuss with my financial advisor some investment opportunities that will help diversify my portfolio. My goal is to have enough money to buy gold bars near me in Brisbane. American Hartford gold earns top rankings among gold ira companies; learn more about hartford gold here. For now, the money is going to go towards taxes, mortgage, etc. Sorry to disappoint… 😛 Those who are working on their taxes, make sure that you take advantage of refunds or credits such as the disability tax credit if you qualify.
As a result of my blogging about the pending sale of the domain in previous blog entries, I had somebody else with a premium domain ask me to broker it for them as well. I’ve had no time to really think about it due to moving out and everything, but shortly after receiving the offer, I found a potential buyer for 6-digits. If the sale goes through, that’ll be another 5-digits to moi! I don’t know the status of it yet though.
Also as a result, I’ve made a few great contacts in industry.. bigtime guys with deep pockets. That is invaluable in itself.
Update: I am no longer providing any domain brokering services due to being far too busy. My best recommendation would be to list your domain(s) for sale at DNForum.com and NamePros.com and do any large transactions through Escrow.com. Good luck!
That’s all for now. Enough computer this for this morning.. it’s already 10a.m.. I need to get back to unpacking 🙁
Good luck and good earnings!
Can you send me some Lindt choclit balls from your earnings? Pigsnie wont give me any. 🙁
Nice job mate! Do you still own domainforums.com?
PS. You really should buy a decent couch & coffee table wid that money. Do you want potential clients to sit on a dingy flowery (or hideous burnt orange) couch? Where did that guy put his chequebook since you dont have a coffee table? There is a Weason for my Decorating Suggestions, you know.
Damn.. I just posted this like 2 minutes before you replied! You must be checking this non-stop 😛
You should register on the blog so you don’t have to keep entering your name each time, and so that I know it’s really you and not somebody pretending to be you.
Ah, yeah.. I was surprised he wanted to do it on the couch.. I offered that we could do it in the livingroom by the table or something but he liked my orange couch…
He was drawn to it.. like a moth! It’s so beautiful see?!?
How can anyone pretend to be me when my writing style is INCOMPARABLE? Hahaha!
GAhhh, I hope you vacuumed that *beautiful* thing. You dont want your clients getting up wid cooties. And Pigsnie also says you really should buy a decent living room suite since your business is getting world-class!
Hey tyler,
that guy you did the deal with looks simmilar to Richard Branson, why do all those rich guys look simmilar? Heh, you will probally look like him in the future 😛 jokes..
Congratulations, Tyler! I own around 160 domains and I am looking to sell a few of the premium ones too. Good luck in your future enterprises!
Wasn’t the NDA so that you wouldn’t discuss the money involved (given that you made 23K and your cut was along the lines of 10% that means it sold for 230K?)?
You’ve mentioned the domain before as well I think (if it’s that domain it now consists of what appear to be porn affiliate links).
Yes BM.com (real domain shortened) now contains porn links… nice
I could think of at least 1 great web 2.0 project for the domain name…
I’m sorry Tyler, but your comment made me laugh #4:
“Ah, yeah.. I was surprised he wanted to do it on the couch.. I offered that we could do it in the livingroom by the table or something but he liked my orange couch…”
LOL… what can I say?
To Almighty Vince, Netrepreneur Hater & Mortgage Expert who still lives in his Mummys Outdoor Privy at 24.
Were your sides hurting when you deleted my post from your pathetic blog the other day, Oh Mighty Vince? Why don’t you open the smallest part of your skull for half a sec, so 2 brain cells can rush in & lay a halfway intelligent thought? You are the saddest loser I know and I weep for your parents, your toilet paper and your little dog. May God bless you & keep you & confine your Almighty DNA to a cold & distant crag in the Himalayas, watched over by a woolly sheep.
Oh yeah, I realize that most of the people here have no idea whut I’m talking about, but Tyler knows, and I just wanted to record for posterity whut I think of this palsied excuse of a blithering imbecile.
Archie
Congratulations!
How about posting us some tips and tricks of brokering a domain name? I mean, obviously you need a decent name and all, but how would you go about making it desirable, large traffic?
~ http://www.imod.co.za ~
Good Job Tyler!
Wish I had some premium domains for sale, I could use that type of money.. hell I could us a 10th of that!
Can I suggest… unless you need it immediately and urgently… put it in the bank. Save such large lumps of cash, and pay your regular bills from regular income. Such large lumps of cash aren’t easy or frequent enough to throw away.
Just my 2c.
[…] Jane and I had an interesting discussion yesterday about finding opportunities and why some people have a nack for them and others don’t. I think it comes down to thinking outside-the-box and persistence. A great example of finding opportunities where none seem to exist can be found in a recent post by entrepreneur Tyler Cruz. He is a web publisher in constant search of opportunities online. […]
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That’s really amazing. I may have a premium domain that I may wish to sell one day but I have to wait some time to decide what to do.
That is the great thing about brokering things for sale. You aren’t paid for the hours you work but for your expertise and contacts.
Hi Tyler,
Well done. I know I saw your name somewhere recently, however I can’t remember where.
Would like to read more about how you marketed the domain. Anyways, nice job.
What I meant by that was that I had assumed that he only had a worthless ($10-$20) domain, and didn’t think that he actually owned a premium domain.
I knew the second I heard what it was that it was worth a lot of money.
Unfortunately, I do not believe the domain http://www.youbidyouwin.com to be worth much.. perhaps in the $15-$30 range…
thanks for your thoughts tyler!
What about http://www.ModelFreelancer.com ? consider premium? having more than 2,000 members now! Do contact me if any buyer 🙂
can you find one for my domain facehistory.com and realestatezoom.com 🙂
How does one determine a premium domain, how can you know if you have one
Hi TylerCruz, I’m new to the blogging world. Wow, this brokering venture of yours really provides you a huge income!
[…] websites. He had successfully bought a condo when he received his largest lump sum payment of US$ 22,984 by brokering a domain for […]
Interesting read.
Any rough estimate on what I can get for the following domains:
StrikeProfit.com and BlackHatZone.com
Thank you!
Hi Tyler do you think any of these domains is premium?
soccerwires.com
designwires.com
spytwo.com
younggig.com
blackpair.com
If so, would welcome your assistance in selling them.
[…] Cruz did exactly that 2 years ago and netted over $23k just for his brokering services – and that was just on one domain name which he helped sell. Not […]
This is a great business advice article. It covers all the aspects, I am thinking to relocate my business soon using a professional company and seeking new challenges for better success.
Regards/-
Jason Webb
That was very clever Tyler. Since you are out of the domain brokering business (unfortunately for me :(!), is there any of your contacts who can help me out selling 12 generic .com domains (including TipsBible.com and BlogAvalanche.com). You can see all the details of my partnership opportunity here:
http://happyhh70.webs.com/partnershipopportunity.htm
Unfortunately, those are not generic .com domains at all… quite the opposite in fact. A generic .com domain is closer to something like “Soda.com” or “Speed.com”.
[…] find the hidden opportunities sitting just below the surface. You’ll be amazed at what can pop up. « Know Your Audience: Targeting Middle Aged Women for a Web 2.0 App? To Lawyer or Not to […]
Wow, I never realised domains could go for so much. I guess you really could have struck gold in the early days of the internet with a few good buys!