Day 18 – Can reading a book make you a better domainer?
The end is near. Day 18 of 21 days to becoming a better domainer. Let me take your back a bit. When I was in school, I HATED reading. Alright, hate is a strong word and I would actually have had to do some reading to be able to hate it. I guess I did read a little. The ingredients of the cereal box in the morning, the back cover of the book I was doing my report on, the answer key floating around for the literature test coming up in 9th hour. But that was it.
My first summer out of high school, I actually bought a book one of my friends recommended. No, it wasn’t a self-help book, just a fictional book and I actually enjoyed it. I mean, I read the whole thing and I didn’t even HAVE to. That was pretty much my slow climb to the point I’m at today where I really enjoy reading. Mostly non-fiction, business related books.
There is a lot off information online and you might be thinking, “there’s no need to read books, that’s old school.” I beg to differ. When I first started domaining, I couldn’t find enough information. It was all available on the internet, but in 10,000 different places. I wanted to know the history. I mean, I wanted to know why in the 90’s it cost $70 to register a domain. Who were the pioneers? Then I came across a book. The Domain Game.
It’s full title is The Domain Game: How People Get Rich From Internet Domain Names, which I feel is very misleading. Maybe good for sales, but it’s really more of a well written history of domaining. You can read my review, but I learned a ton. Foundational stuff. Not how to sell, but how it got to where it is today. You’ll likely even recognize some names in there. But this is info that hadn’t all been gathered in one place for me to read online. It took David Kesmodel’s time and effort to research and interview people to put this together. Many other books are just like that. They collect great related ideas, concepts and information all in one place.
Since then, I have read dozens of books on domains, website development, marketing, sales, business principles. Some have been great and well worth the time while others have completely sucked and were a waste of time. But you won’t know until you start digging in, asking for recommendations, or just taking a chance. I’ve learned more from reading and trying then I learned in college, which makes sense.
As I mentioned in a prior post, podcasts and audiobooks are great, but reading a book is an experience of it’s own.