First off, let’s not equate in achievement those of America’s founding fathers with that of your average garden-variety house domainer. Those men were singular in duty, spirit and sacrifice.

But there is something about the fathers that fits into domaining. Mainly, they were there at the beginning too, when land was beautiful and plentiful. In fact, many thought it would be of great demand…in but a few years.

They, like domainers, gathered as much land as they could and waited…and waited…and died.

Most people don’t know but a healthy chunk of the first US statesman were broke or deeply in debt when they passed on to posterity. Even the architect of the financial system, Alexander Hamilton, was over $100,000 in debt when Aaron Burr shot him in a duel.

Like others of their time, they fell victim  in 1792 to the first bubble and crash of the newbie country: land speculation. The fathers scooped up as much land as they could after Washington was sworn in, launching an age where land prices skyrocketed even though there was way too much free space to speculate.

Problem for domainers: the fathers were right after all. They bought and overbought and died in debt but they were right. The value of the land did go up as they had speculated, it just happened posthumously, when they could no longer enjoy the success.

Remember, the inventor and founder of Coca Cola died insane and penniless, Howard Hughes wearing Kleenex boxes on his feet.

For domainers, this is the paradox of timing a sale, cashing in. Sometimes it might not be the best price but it may be the best time, for varying reasons. From laddering to diversifying to paying taxes, there are many ’causes’ to sell – always in flux and resultant on the desired ‘effect’ of said sale.

I like to believe the ‘domainers’ of the founding fathers day were the ones who came along and bought that land before the ink on the Constitution was dry, in order to take advantage of the coming rush once it was all complete. They were the ones who sold it to Jefferson and Adams and the like.

In the end, it fits the old domain adage, ‘you might get a better offer, yes, but you might have to wait a lifetime to get it,’ a simple concept perhaps even the greatest, brightest and strongest men of our history failed to grasp.

So don’t make the same mistake, consider timing and patience a virtue…not a roadblock. Look at the landscape and the availability versus demand and decide if you can wait and if so, how long?

Just make sure it’s not too long, like the guys who, ironically, now adorn our money.

This is the first in a series of articles that discuss the domainer and the behaviors, psychology and character that generally define them. This is not scientific in nature and no animals were harmed too badly in the writing of this ’study.’

Here are some general observations and notes from years of dealing with and hanging with and partying with domainers from all over the globe, from all stripes and of varying degrees of success.

- Domainers would never pay their own asking prices.

- Because they spend so much time in front of screens, they are the worst ‘business cock-blockers’ on the planet. They will interrupt any convo.

- Domainers are night owls. Rarely do I get an email before 11am CST.

- Domainers come in chunks. The first group of real domainers were comprised of two very distinct groups: males in their mid/upper 20’s and mid-40’s.

- We introduced a female outreach program many years ago calling for ”Domainettes”. It failed.

- “Domain Conferences” should be the little example in the dictionary under “sausage fest.”

- Domain business happens below the surface. It happens in hotels and bars and clubs.

- Domainers are a very tolerant group, likely because so much of its base is global.

- Domainers party very hard, yes. But they work just as hard.

- Not all who got in on the ground floor were successful but the current core of most successful domainers can almost all be traced back to a small conference held in Beverly Hills by Dark Blue Sea and promoted by the King. I was so broke I had to sell a really good domain cheap to get there.

- BTW, domainers owe a lot to Rick Schwartz.

- Domainers love two words, “open bar.”

- A real domainer would now go check ‘openbar.com’

Again, this will be a series of observations and notes with perhaps some historical footnotes to boot. Stay tuned and feel free to submit your own.

Cheers…