Domaining MBA Monday: Make Sure You’re Getting Advice From The Right People

mentoring

It’s a lesson I’ve learned time and time again and I thought it would make a great topic for Domaining MBA Monday. Advice is a very powerful thing, in some cases it can be the catalyst that allows your business to take off like a rocket ship, in other cases it can be crippling, leading you down a losing path. Not getting advice is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in business, but getting bad advice can be much worse.

Nowhere have I seen this more true than in the Domaining space. The thing with Domaining is, whether you’d like to admit it or not, there’s a lot of smoke and mirrors and plenty of people who like to look like they’re more successful than they are. Of course this happens in just about every industry but when you’re talking about virtual assets, confidentiality agreements, etc. it can be very hard to tell who’s walking the walk and who’s talking the talk.

First before I go any further I don’t want anyone to read any deeper into this post than you need to. I’m not trying to single out one person, nor am I trying to say that you should trust nobody, what I am saying is that you need to make sure, like the title says, that you’re getting advice from the right people. In general I recommend getting advice from people who are where you want to be.

Make sure you stay focused in where you get your advice and know that people have different areas of expertise. Remember, there are many different models to make money in this business and you want to get good at one before you move onto the next, which means you’ll want to find a mentor who has already mastered what you’re trying to learn. If you want to make lots of little sales, don’t get advice from the guys who do just a few big sales a year. If you want to build hundreds of minisites, don’t get advice from someone who runs a handful of large full-scale websites.

Yes, there are many ways to be successful in the domain industry but make sure the person you are talking to is successful with the thing that you want to do to make money in the space. Of course this can evolve over time. When I started in Domaining my focus was development and monetization of many small sites, as my business has developed over time I layered in selling domains in the four-figure range, this meant that I had to look at a different mentor who had experience in this space. Now I’m focused on much larger sales but far less per year, and once again I’m making sure that I get advice from someone with a proven track record doing just this.

If you are doing Domaining as a part time thing, find a part time Domainer that has done what you want to do. Want to go full time? Talk to a full time Domainer that has gone through what you plan on going through and learn more about how they did it. Just make sure that every time you get advice you are getting advice from someone who has done what you want to do. Last but not least, beware of people claiming to be bigger or more successful than they are. People like this are all over the net and sometimes can be hard to spot, like a job interview, do a mentor interview and ask around if you think you might be talking to someone who is selling you a story. If you can’t find many people that will back up your “mentors” claims, move on and find someone you can trust because like I said above, getting bad advice can be much worse than getting no advice.

Do you have a story to tell about a mentor who helped you? Have you ever encountered a fake mentor who led you down the wrong path? As always I want to hear from you! Comment and let your voice be heard!

(Photo Credit)

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton