Follow My 20 dollar to a Baller Challenge

[Jelani Abdus-Salaam]

So, before I start I wanted to say thanks to everyone in the community who have welcomed me.

I know I am young to the domain game, but everyday I learn something new and I have been reading blogs nonstop. I know that doesn't make me an expert by any means, but I like a challenge, so I decided to to partake in Ali's 20 dollar to a baller challenge. I thought it would be cool if I started a thread following my journey.

I intend to post the domains I buy, the domains I sell, and my thought process throughout the challenge. This will not only give myself insight by sharing, but also give the community a chance to offer their input so not only I grow as an investor but those who read can grow as well.

Each day I will try to post, kind of like a micro blog. So please give insight, and any information you believe will be beneficial!

 

[Jelani Abdus-Salaam]

Here comes an update post! Expect it to be long and hopefully, helpful!

After I started this post I had no idea the journey I would be a part of selling my first domain! However, I am happy to say that tonight I closed the deal. This post will take you through the initial contact of the customer to the final sale. Lots of weeks and negotiating went into this one!

On Apr 16, I humbly messaged @tweetsgonewild. I asked him if he could help me with finding an end user and he agreed. I have to say, I can not thank them enough! They deserve as much credit as possible when it came to this sale.

Anyway, I researched companies on zfbot that had arizonafleet in their name. Most of the companies had either been parked or were dead, however, two companies seemed viable. I did some research on both companies by doing a simple google search, and a whois check. Unfortunately, one of the companies had their information on private so I could not get a direct email or person of contact. However, the second company I was able to get the owner's full name and personal email. I did a bit of research on the company and the owner and found out the company was a trucking service that was family owned. So I figured they may want to buy this domain name. Their current domain name was "arizonafleetservice".

I sent a simple email:

Hi xxxxxxx,

My name is Jelani, I found out about your company via GoDaddy, since I am the owner of arizonafleet.com.

I saw your company is a trucking service, with the URL arizonafleetservice.com so I wanted to contact you directly with the opportunity to purchase arizonafleet.com. I believe owning both domains could help your business profoundly.

If you are interested in purchasing this domain please let me know. I look forward to your response!

Best,
Jelani

I did not know if they would respond, but I added MailTrack on my email account just to track if they read the email and how many times if so. A few hours later he responded with "I may have interest". I messaged @tweetsgonewild and told him what the owner had said. He advised that I try this example from a Zandibot post: No 3: https://www.namepros.com/blog/daily-dose-outbound-techniques.863492/

So I wrote something up that would help him see the value in owning the domain "Arizonafleet.com"

He didn't care about the fluff and just wanted to know the numbers. I told him I would want to sell the domain for $400 USD. He did not respond to that initial offer. So I waited 4 days and responded with this:

Hi xxxxxxxx,

I'm really motivated to make this sale with you. So I decided to lower the price to $250. The domain name has one more year on it, so it would expire in 2017.

Also, the domain name will safely be put into your GoDaddy account by me switching over ownership to you. In terms of payment we can work through PayPal, or Escrow which is an easy and safe option.

Please let me know if you are still interested.

Best,

I wanted to convey to him the value of the domain name and that I am a serious seller willing to work with him.

He responded a day later and said "What is your bottom dollar on this"

I told him the final price I could do was $225. I wanted to be firm with my pricing strategy as I figured he was still interested, regardless of the price I quoted him earlier. He countered with $125. I told him the lowest I can do is $200.

He said that since he is not the final decision maker in this process, he would reach back to me. I waited a week and followed up. No response.

I waited 3 more days and let him know I would accept his counter offer of $125. I did not want to lose value on this transaction, so instead of losing the sale completely, I accepted. Since he used GoDaddy it was an easy transfer of the domain name. He paid via PayPal and the sale was complete.

The final sale was $125 and after PayPal took their cut I was left with 121.07. The final profit was around $104. Now, I intend to put my initial investment back into my account and use the rest to buy more domains.

I am so thankful for this first sale. Not only did it show me how to reach an end user, but it taught me patience. For the next domain I am going to be really specific and do way more research!

I hope to continue these updates as they come! Thanks for following and I hope this post finds you well.

 

[Manik]

I believe the first step states to keep a fixed price of $100 here at Namepros and sell it for $40 after negotiating. Now that you have revealed that you have bought the domain name, the value of the domain name and how an expert domainer like Abdul Basit thinks that the domain name is a "low quality domain", you have made a huge mistake. You have eliminated Namepros users and have narrowed it down to just business owners.
Don't worry, that is where the big bucks come in but it is a time consuming process.

Go to Zfbot.com

Step 1: Type in "ArizonaFleet".
Step 2: Encircle the "or" option that indicates starts with "or" ends with.
Step 3: Find the best 25-30 established businesses.
Step 4: Whois their email.
Step 5: Send Emails and personalize them. Don't spam.
Step 6: Wait for reply "How much"
Step 7: Don't be greedy or fall in love with the domain. Quot a price around 350 and agree if they're paying even 150.
Step 8: Collect the funds via paypal or escrow and then only post it here. No deal is ever completed without money in your hand.
Step 9: Buy me a Beer.

Remember this is a time consuming process but totally worth it. Next time don't post the name you buy until you have sold it. What if somebody Googles A/R/I/Z/O/N/A/Fleet.com and find this thread and the fact that you bought it for $20 and are asking 400 for it?

Don't worry. We all make mistakes. I still make them every now and then. Just don't give up. Domaining is not all kittens and rainbows.

Best of luck!

 

[Recons.Com]

Day 4000:

After still not being able to find a customer for ArizonaFleet domain, Jelani found a company for naval transportation, named it Arizona Fleet and became one of richest ship owners in the world.

 

[Ali]

I might sound jealous or something saying this, but what are the chances someone can flip their way to $5k in 60 days on their first try? There are so many variables involved.. but good luck to anyone who follows all the steps to the letter anyway. People trash get rich quick schemes because they're bullsh*t, but turning 20 dollars into 5,000 in your first few months of domaining sounds completely doable, doesn't it? Maybe I'm just being too much of a downer and ought to try it myself though

Nah, you don't sound jealous. It's totally reasonable to think that, why? Because it's incredibly hard, and no one, not even myself could follow it exactly to the tee. Because everything is about variables.

The idea is, however, that the process can work if you go about it correctly. Wether it's 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, or five years. For me it was mid xxx -> high x,xxx in 30 days as my "boost career" sale, for you it might be xx -> xxx,xxx in 120 days, for someone else it might be x -> xxx in 53 days. The point is, if you focus hard enough, and understand your goals, and learn how to valuate domain names properly, you can value invest/flip domains and continue increasing your bankroll.

But there is no get rich quick process, not even close. I worked myself into grey hairs and damn near burnt myself out to climb up the domaining mountain, and i'm still climbing this beast!

I share my thoughts, experiences and whatever else I feel like that day. Maybe someone will find something that works for them, maybe not. Maybe it will spark a lightbulb, or maybe not. Just the perspective of one guy in the industry.

Everything is about personal experience, especially in our line of work, but at the end of the day, the fundamentals are always the same: you make money on the buy.

Anyway, I'm going to tangent like 600 different directions if I don't stop here

 

[Ali]

Here comes an update post! Expect it to be long and hopefully, helpful!

After I started this post I had no idea the journey I would be a part of selling my first domain! However, I am happy to say that tonight I closed the deal. This post will take you through the initial contact of the customer to the final sale. Lots of weeks and negotiating went into this one!

On Apr 16, I humbly messaged @tweetsgonewild. I asked him if he could help me with finding an end user and he agreed. I have to say, I can not thank them enough! They deserve as much credit as possible when it came to this sale.

Anyway, I researched companies on zfbot that had arizonafleet in their name. Most of the companies had either been parked or were dead, however, two companies seemed viable. I did some research on both companies by doing a simple google search, and a whois check. Unfortunately, one of the companies had their information on private so I could not get a direct email or person of contact. However, the second company I was able to get the owner's full name and personal email. I did a bit of research on the company and the owner and found out the company was a trucking service that was family owned. So I figured they may want to buy this domain name. Their current domain name was "arizonafleetservice".

I sent a simple email:

Hi xxxxxxx,

My name is Jelani, I found out about your company via GoDaddy, since I am the owner of arizonafleet.com.

I saw your company is a trucking service, with the URL arizonafleetservice.com so I wanted to contact you directly with the opportunity to purchase arizonafleet.com. I believe owning both domains could help your business profoundly.

If you are interested in purchasing this domain please let me know. I look forward to your response!

Best,
Jelani

I did not know if they would respond, but I added MailTrack on my email account just to track if they read the email and how many times if so. A few hours later he responded with "I may have interest". I messaged @tweetsgonewild and told him what the owner had said. He advised that I try this example from a Zandibot post: No 3: https://www.namepros.com/blog/daily-dose-outbound-techniques.863492/

So I wrote something up that would help him see the value in owning the domain "Arizonafleet.com"

He didn't care about the fluff and just wanted to know the numbers. I told him I would want to sell the domain for $400 USD. He did not respond to that initial offer. So I waited 4 days and responded with this:

Hi xxxxxxxx,

I'm really motivated to make this sale with you. So I decided to lower the price to $250. The domain name has one more year on it, so it would expire in 2017.

Also, the domain name will safely be put into your GoDaddy account by me switching over ownership to you. In terms of payment we can work through PayPal, or Escrow which is an easy and safe option.

Please let me know if you are still interested.

Best,

I wanted to convey to him the value of the domain name and that I am a serious seller willing to work with him.

He responded a day later and said "What is your bottom dollar on this"

I told him the final price I could do was $225. I wanted to be firm with my pricing strategy as I figured he was still interested, regardless of the price I quoted him earlier. He countered with $125. I told him the lowest I can do is $200.

He said that since he is not the final decision maker in this process, he would reach back to me. I waited a week and followed up. No response.

I waited 3 more days and let him know I would accept his counter offer of $125. I did not want to lose value on this transaction, so instead of losing the sale completely, I accepted. Since he used GoDaddy it was an easy transfer of the domain name. He paid via PayPal and the sale was complete.

The final sale was $125 and after PayPal took their cut I was left with 121.07. The final profit was around $104. Now, I intend to put my initial investment back into my account and use the rest to buy more domains.

I am so thankful for this first sale. Not only did it show me how to reach an end user, but it taught me patience. For the next domain I am going to be really specific and do way more research!

I hope to continue these updates as they come! Thanks for following and I hope this post finds you well.

Congrats! The journey is only beginning

 

[Michael Seatory]

I think this is the best thread I have come across so far in my time on NP.
Incredibly informative. Thank you.
Congratulations to you on your first sale. All the best for the future.

 

[AndyM]

Well done @Jelani Abdus-Salaam You've had better success than me and many other domainers when they first start out. You've read, sought advice and took your time. I wasted loads of money in the beginning being to eager and trusting free valuation services. If only more newbies were as smart and as patient as you are being.

Well done!

 

[usernamex]

Wonderful journey and thanks for sharing @Jelani Abdus-Salaam : smile :

This thread should be required reading before anyone registers their first domain, I think I will bookmark it and suggest it to new members early and often

@tweetsgonewild and @Zandibot - You Rock!

 

[Serengeti]

@Jelani Abdus-Salaam Congrats Bro.. now rinse and repeat ... and for tweetsgonewild Big Thumb up..

 

[Casey L]

It's so awesome to see people have success like this. It didn't matter that you were new to domain investing, because you took advice from experienced people and followed the proven process of selling domain names, and you killed it. You're already leaps and bounds ahead of other people on this thread because you weren't afraid to take advice. Best of luck in the future man, not that you need it

 

[Chris Hydrick]

So, before I start I wanted to say thanks to everyone in the community who have welcomed me.

I know I am young to the domain game, but everyday I learn something new and I have been reading blogs nonstop. I know that doesn't make me an expert by any means, but I like a challenge, so I decided to to partake in Ali's 20 dollar to a baller challenge. I thought it would be cool if I started a thread following my journey.

I intend to post the domains I buy, the domains I sell, and my thought process throughout the challenge. This will not only give myself insight by sharing, but also give the community a chance to offer their input so not only I grow as an investor but those who read can grow as well.

Each day I will try to post, kind of like a micro blog. So please give insight, and any information you believe will be beneficial!

Dude, welcome to NamePros and congrats for starting off by finding a great mentor!

Feel feel to reach out if you ever have any brandable or geo service questions. According to BB, I'm pretty bad at keyword domains, but I'm more than happy to help with the made up brandables or geo services if you decide to go that route.

Being a new domainer, there are two things I word like to leave you with:

(1) Listen with an open mind to everything you hear and learn through out your domaining career. Question it. And, then decide for yourself what type of domainer you want to be. I'm sure @Zandibot appreciates to some extent when even he is questioned, because it is additional data that may help his growth as a domainer. I've often wondered why @Zandibot does what he does, and relseases such valuable data for free, and I can only assume he's paying back the community for all he has learned in return. I'm sure he knows that he's releasing it to a lot of people who combine that data with their own skill sets, he runs the risk of the student becoming better then the teacher. This notion of hidden data is combated by domaining superhero's like @Zandibot who team up with other once student domainers, now domaining superhero's to combat those student who become villians by not sharing what they know.

(2) It will be a long run. You will think you've learned exactly how domaining works nearly every month. Every month spent on NamePros is another step investing in your knowledge and growth as a domainer. Sales = Succes, this is true, But Knowledge = Success too. I would try and stay away from made up brandable domains unless you can get them on coupon days if you're handregging. When it's not coupon day, only get domains you feel either won't be around much longer (if just dropped) or if you're dropcatching and/or buying expired domains. The best thing you could do to learn is follow the drop catching section of ExpiredDomains.net, and just watch at the type of domains that get dropcaught. They will not all be good, but they were good enough for some domainer to see if dropping, and say hey I'm going to prepurchase this domain before any other domainer can. If you're doing brandable's, keep an eye out for @Dnbolt, and the brandable domains they report sold from brandable marketplaces.

P.S. Welcome to NamePros x 2!

 

[Ali]

Thank you!

Keep it up bro. #Baller in no time

 

[Manik]

Really, villains? lol. Is every business that has a special formula for making money in their field a villain because they don't give away the lessons they've learned from years of experience? Besides, many things can't just be told to you. You have to figure them out through consistent practice, learning, and searching.
I definitely agree that people should share some of their knowledge so we can build off of each other's experiences..that's exactly why we are on a forum discussing things. But not everything needs to be shared, and people aren't villains to be defeated if they choose not to give away all the things they've spent time learning in a couple blog posts Plus, I kind of doubt people that have blogs like that are giving away very much..they're mostly consolidating the fundamentals so everyone doesn't fall in the same traps over and over again.
Maybe there isn't that much to give away in domaining anyway. You learn over time what makes a good domain, how to buy low and sell high, and what selling methods work best for you. What information are people going to be holding back? And if they do have some special method for making money (e.g. finding great domains using fine-tuned tools they created or using tools to analyze sales data), should they just give away the code or the results for free?
I might sound jealous or something saying this, but what are the chances someone can flip their way to $5k in 60 days on their first try? There are so many variables involved.. but good luck to anyone who follows all the steps to the letter anyway. People trash get rich quick schemes because they're bullsh*t, but turning 20 dollars into 5,000 in your first few months of domaining sounds completely doable, doesn't it? Maybe I'm just being too much of a downer and ought to try it myself though

Nah, you don't sound jealous. It's totally reasonable to think that, why? Because it's incredibly hard, and no one, not even myself could follow it exactly to the tee. Because everything is about variables.

The idea is, however, that the process can work if you go about it correctly. Wether it's 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, or five years. For me it was mid xxx -> high x,xxx in 30 days as my "boost career" sale, for you it might be xx -> xxx,xxx in 120 days, for someone else it might be x -> xxx in 53 days. The point is, if you focus hard enough, and understand your goals, and learn how to valuate domain names properly, you can value invest/flip domains and continue increasing your bankroll.

But there is no get rich quick process, not even close. I worked myself into grey hairs and damn near burnt myself out to climb up the domaining mountain, and i'm still climbing this beast!

I share my thoughts, experiences and whatever else I feel like that day. Maybe someone will find something that works for them, maybe not. Maybe it will spark a lightbulb, or maybe not. Just the perspective of one guy in the industry.

Everything is about personal experience, especially in our line of work, but at the end of the day, the fundamentals are always the same: you make money on the buy.

Anyway, I'm going to tangent like 600 different directions if I don't stop here

Personally I like the domain challenge apart from the time constraint since it takes like 7-8 days for Godaddy to hand me Bargain Bin domains. So don't consider the time factor a hard and fast rule.

But apart from that, Domaining has a huge learning curve and I wish every darn day of my life that Ali wrote the baller challenge post a year ago because I would have saved a lot of money.

Today Jelani has $100 spare money that he made from domaining that he can invest rather than using his own. At least we know that first 3-4 steps work.

 

[vivaldi]

Nice with a down to earth thread and not just fairy tales and best case scenarios. Good luck on your journey to the big $.

 

[wormfood]

now domaining superhero's to combat those student who become villains by not sharing what they know.

Really, villains? lol. Is every business that has a special formula for making money in their field a villain because they don't give away the lessons they've learned from years of experience? Besides, many things can't just be told to you. You have to figure them out through consistent practice, learning, and searching.
I definitely agree that people should share some of their knowledge so we can build off of each other's experiences..that's exactly why we are on a forum discussing things. But not everything needs to be shared, and people aren't villains to be defeated if they choose not to give away all the things they've spent time learning in a couple blog posts Plus, I kind of doubt people that have blogs like that are giving away very much..they're mostly consolidating the fundamentals so everyone doesn't fall in the same traps over and over again.
Maybe there isn't that much to give away in domaining anyway. You learn over time what makes a good domain, how to buy low and sell high, and what selling methods work best for you. What information are people going to be holding back? And if they do have some special method for making money (e.g. finding great domains using fine-tuned tools they created or using tools to analyze sales data), should they just give away the code or the results for free?
I might sound jealous or something saying this, but what are the chances someone can flip their way to $5k in 60 days on their first try? There are so many variables involved.. but good luck to anyone who follows all the steps to the letter anyway. People trash get rich quick schemes because they're bullshit, but turning 20 dollars into 5,000 in your first few months of domaining sounds completely doable, doesn't it? Maybe I'm just being too much of a downer and ought to try it myself though

 

[Stonebanks]

Maybe he's coming back with a bang? I really hope so!
I only just discovered this thread and it's by far one of my favorite reads thus far on NP's,
most of us newbies love to see a fellow domainer and their journey that we can relate to,
especially with seeing him getting such great support form the community
and the amazing help down the right path by some of the experienced folks.
But then again, I don't know his reasons, personal or otherwise, so for now I'll sit back and watch this thread, while keeping on learning what I can from all the other solid info all around NP.
Looking forward to hearing more from him and everyone who've shared opinions during the coarse of this thread so far. Absolutely love the vibe he puts out there!
Hope we get to hear from him in time.

I have to say thank you to @Jelani Abdus-Salaam , @tweetsgonewild , @Ali , @Grilled , @wormfood ,
you guys just gave me that beautiful "ahaa" moment and I'm already adapting from what I was planning for this week. This right here is why I love domaining and this community!

Have a great/productive week everybody!

 

[Jelani Abdus-Salaam]

Day 1:

I bought my first domain - arizonafleet.com via GD Auction

Waiting for GoDaddy to put the domain in my account so I can begin my selling. I picked this domain name after speaking with AbdulBasit who believed it was a low quality domain but not the worst one to buy. I bought the domain for 21 USD, after entering a discount code CJCRMN35. It took off some money so I did not pay full price for it.

Estibot valuation: 260 USD

 

[Jelani Abdus-Salaam]

@Jelani Abdus-Salaam Congrats Bro.. now rinse and repeat ... and for tweetsgonewild Big Thumb up..

Yeah man! Once I graduate from college (2 weeks left!!!) gonna really dig deeper and finish the challenge

 

[Candace]

This is great stuff, @Zandibot . Congrats to you Jelani!

 

[GangDoan]

congrats to your sale @Jelani Abdus-Salaam .
Inspiring!

 

[Manik]

Here comes an update post! Expect it to be long and hopefully, helpful!

After I started this post I had no idea the journey I would be a part of selling my first domain! However, I am happy to say that tonight I closed the deal. This post will take you through the initial contact of the customer to the final sale. Lots of weeks and negotiating went into this one!

On Apr 16, I humbly messaged @tweetsgonewild. I asked him if he could help me with finding an end user and he agreed. I have to say, I can not thank them enough! They deserve as much credit as possible when it came to this sale.

Anyway, I researched companies on zfbot that had arizonafleet in their name. Most of the companies had either been parked or were dead, however, two companies seemed viable. I did some research on both companies by doing a simple google search, and a whois check. Unfortunately, one of the companies had their information on private so I could not get a direct email or person of contact. However, the second company I was able to get the owner's full name and personal email. I did a bit of research on the company and the owner and found out the company was a trucking service that was family owned. So I figured they may want to buy this domain name. Their current domain name was "arizonafleetservice".

I sent a simple email:

Hi xxxxxxx,

My name is Jelani, I found out about your company via GoDaddy, since I am the owner of arizonafleet.com.

I saw your company is a trucking service, with the URL arizonafleetservice.com so I wanted to contact you directly with the opportunity to purchase arizonafleet.com. I believe owning both domains could help your business profoundly.

If you are interested in purchasing this domain please let me know. I look forward to your response!

Best,
Jelani

I did not know if they would respond, but I added MailTrack on my email account just to track if they read the email and how many times if so. A few hours later he responded with "I may have interest". I messaged @tweetsgonewild and told him what the owner had said. He advised that I try this example from a Zandibot post: No 3: https://www.namepros.com/blog/daily-dose-outbound-techniques.863492/

So I wrote something up that would help him see the value in owning the domain "Arizonafleet.com"

He didn't care about the fluff and just wanted to know the numbers. I told him I would want to sell the domain for $400 USD. He did not respond to that initial offer. So I waited 4 days and responded with this:

Hi xxxxxxxx,

I'm really motivated to make this sale with you. So I decided to lower the price to $250. The domain name has one more year on it, so it would expire in 2017.

Also, the domain name will safely be put into your GoDaddy account by me switching over ownership to you. In terms of payment we can work through PayPal, or Escrow which is an easy and safe option.

Please let me know if you are still interested.

Best,

I wanted to convey to him the value of the domain name and that I am a serious seller willing to work with him.

He responded a day later and said "What is your bottom dollar on this"

I told him the final price I could do was $225. I wanted to be firm with my pricing strategy as I figured he was still interested, regardless of the price I quoted him earlier. He countered with $125. I told him the lowest I can do is $200.

He said that since he is not the final decision maker in this process, he would reach back to me. I waited a week and followed up. No response.

I waited 3 more days and let him know I would accept his counter offer of $125. I did not want to lose value on this transaction, so instead of losing the sale completely, I accepted. Since he used GoDaddy it was an easy transfer of the domain name. He paid via PayPal and the sale was complete.

The final sale was $125 and after PayPal took their cut I was left with 121.07. The final profit was around $104. Now, I intend to put my initial investment back into my account and use the rest to buy more domains.

I am so thankful for this first sale. Not only did it show me how to reach an end user, but it taught me patience. For the next domain I am going to be really specific and do way more research!

I hope to continue these updates as they come! Thanks for following and I hope this post finds you well.

@Jelani Abdus-Salaam Congrats Bro.. now rinse and repeat ... and for tweetsgonewild Big Thumb up..

Wonderful journey and thanks for sharing @Jelani Abdus-Salaam : smile :

This thread should be required reading before anyone registers their first domain, I think I will bookmark it and suggest it to new members early and often

@tweetsgonewild and @Zandibot - You Rock!

Thanks! I didn't invent the wheel or discover the fire here. I think all of the details are already present at Namepros, I just compiled it into one post.

As for @Jelani Abdus-Salaam, if you refer Step 9, it clearly states that you have to buy me a Beer!

 

[kandyan]

Congrats.. Journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step..

 

[DomainVP]

Don't forget to share your perils and pitfalls, and not just positive results.

If your keeping it honest, there will be quite a few.

 

[tupungato]

I'm waiting for the bang!