Escape The Rat Race incorporating entrepreneur.co.uk |
Plan A. Work hard at school, secure good job, set your
sights on promotion, climb the corporate ladder, live happily ever
after.
Reality
check for Plan A. Work longer and longer hours
just to make ends meet, condemned to a life of wage slavery, drowning in sea of
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"My Web sites are modeled after oil wells. They pump out cash 24 hours a day."
Rick Schwarz
Rick Schwarz is an American into real estate in a big way.
In less than ten years he has made himself millions of dollars buying and selling property.
The interesting thing is Rick Schwarz isn't interested in plots of land or bricks and mortar.
He deals in virtual property. He buys and sells domain names.
Rick Schwarz is known as the Domain King because he was one of the very first people to realise the incredible value of premium domain names. Names that can change hands for millions of pounds.
When it comes to property, the three key ingredients to value are location, location, location. Any estate agent will tell you that. And it's as true in the virtual world of the internet as it is in the real world of Manhattan, Mayfair and Madrid.
In early 1996, Rick realised something that few others had. A domain name was a claim to virtual land on the internet. And the better the name, the more valuable the territory that went with it.
Rick understood that a good domain name represented instant market share in any industry you can name. It was a "eureka" moment for the Florida based entrepreneur and he borders on the evangelical when it comes to telling people about his discovery.
By November 1996, he had registered several hundred domains and was soon paying thousands of dollars for premium names - all in the belief that they were worth far more than what he paid for them.
His first big buy was $42,000 paid for porno.com - barely a week after the seller had bought it for $5,000. Within 60 days, the traffic generated by porno.com had paid back every cent of his $42,000 investment.
In 1997 he paid $15,000 for men.com, a name that he has just sold for US$1.3 million.
Wow!
US$1.3 million for a domain name.
Rick Schwarz is not a computer expert or anything close.
Back in 1996, he didn't know how to write code in computer languages. He wasn't at the cutting edge of website design.
He didn't know the first thing about anything internet related, but he did know how to register a domain name. And the foresight he demonstrated back then has since paid dividends day after day after day.
Like he says himself, he has no office, no employees, no nothing. Just a collection of 4,000 domain names that he can carry around on a floppy disc in his back pocket if he chooses to.
GOWYC MEMBERS - keep reading All Hail The Domain King here
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