Mike Berkens is “Ready for More”

On occasion, I have read comments that called early domain investors like Mike Berkens “lucky” for getting into the domain investment business at an early stage. Some people have even said that those early birds couldn’t replicate their business if they started today. Well, those people are wrong.

Mike Berkens famously sold the majority of his company’s domain portfolio to GoDaddy for tens of millions of dollars in 2015. Mike could retire and/or live a life of luxury, traveling the world with Judi and never buy or sell a single domain name again. Mike is still buying and selling domain names, and he is continuing to prove that he is one of the smartest people in the business who could start over today and still do better than 99.9% of everyone else in the business.

Case in point:

Mike acquired the domain name ReadyForMore.com a little over a year ago at a public auction on DropCatch.com. Anyone could have bid against Mike and beat his bids, but he prevailed in the auction and won the domain name for $255. According to Mike, he sold the domain name for $13,500. Based on a Whois search, it looks like a private acquisition company has acquired this domain name. I would imagine this three word domain name was acquired on behalf of a corporate buyer.

Buying great domain names like this is more of an art than a science. Experts like Mike could start with a small budget and quickly grow their bank account and domain portfolio.

No, Mike isn’t retired, and no, he didn’t get lucky because he was an early adopter. He struck it rich because he became an expert in this specialized business and he continues to use his expertise to acquire desirable domain names.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

26 COMMENTS

  1. sorry but someone with millions in the bank is not comparable to someone just starting out with very limited funds. He can hold out forever with no worries at all.

    • I am not comparing him to someone starting out with limited funds.

      Someone else could have outbid him (maybe he wouldn’t have paid more than $500 for example), and they would have made a great ROI.

      Point is, you don’t need to spend $xx,xxx on a domain name today to make money. Mike didn’t get rich by being early. Mike got rich by being smart and learning what kinds of names are worth buying.

    • True. Someone just starting out would be more likely to take a lesser amount though since they need the money for renewals or paying bills.

      Regardless, yes all it takes is the right domain and the right buyer to make a good sale the thing is..its hard to know what price level to hold out for. do you sell for 5k risking not getting any other offers possible for years or do you hold out not knowing they do have a bigger budget and end up getting 13k. Its largely a guessing game of risk and reward.

    • Sorry if you cant afford to buy a above average domain name for $255 you probably shouldn’t be buying domain name at all. Go save some money so you can start in the business and be successful.

    • Great article, and point proven, there are many domains available today that will appreciate beyond traditional investments in the near future.

  2. $255 was an ok price for readyformore.com

    If you’re paying $13,500 for it, you should have your head examined.

    Again, kiddies and folks. It’s 2017. Wise up. Wake up. Take control of your life not repeat the same dumb mistakes over and over and over again.

  3. Whatever happened to the premium priced GTLD domains that Berkens was buying left and right. He probably dropped well into the six figure mark on those. That would have been like him starting as a beginner, and unless GoDaddy bailed him out on those I’d say those were poor investments.

    Him buying/flipping a .com isn’t comparable to someone else who is starting out because Mike has 20 years of experience in .com. So 20 years of experience plus a big budget is not a comparison to the average Joe.

  4. It’s not rocket science. ReadyForMore.com was dropping so he did a basic trademark search and realized that Ready For More was just trademarked last year by Agco Corp which has 11 billion in revenue. Their middleman called Berkens, he probably told them 30k and they settled at $13,500. Done deal. The key to big sales is having enough money in the bank to ask for more hoping to get it. Most would have sold this for much less to keep the wheels moving.

  5. Not faulting the seller. He did good.

    The big fail in this situation is “ready for more” as an intrinsic value.

    Any domainer worth his weight will know that the term doesn’t score high on the “catchy” scale. It’s quite forgettable actually.

    And that is the last thing you want in a domain. The Big F. “F” for Forgettable. Fail. Flunk. Flockagoo.

    Again, it’s almost 2020. The big two ole. Get with the game already people. Do life right.

    If I ever retire from hustling in this domain business, I think I will start a domaining 101 college class.

  6. Don’t kid yourself that you could retire from this business.Domaining is addicting.

    Mike is an expert at choosing names and a great sales man.

  7. It isn’t a problem to find a sensible domain which has chances of re-sale. The question is how many times you need to spend such $255 to get $13,5k and finally what’s your ROI after 1Y, 2Y, 5Y, calculating honestly expenses and revenues. Everybody gets excited with sales, but few remember and try to calculate revenues minus expenses…

  8. “Mike got rich by being smart and learning what kinds of names are worth buying.”

    Exactly. How much money he had in the bank is secondary to the above.

    The key factor is knowing the answer to this question: “Which generic (non-trademark infringing) domain names are most desired by and therefore marketable to multi-billion dollar corporations?”

    All the others — I estimate 97% of all domain names — are not worth owning at all. Per Rick Schwarz, they are “pigeon shit.”

    That’s why domain names as an asset class are not very good investments at all — it’s only a very few number of domain names that are extremely valuable to large corporations and therefore worth buying and holding for the long term. All the other domain names are $10 per year liabilities burning holes in pockets.

    Until you succeed in selling multiple domain names for, say, $5,000+ each in a 12-month period, you do have to have a primary income from another source to fund your patience as you wait for the right buyer to come along and ask to buy your very valuable domain name.

    I filmed a DomainSherpa interview recently with Mike Cyger that should be released soon where I expand on some of the above. Keep an eye out!

  9. Mike’s had success in other ventures as well, he’s a saavy entrepreneur, willing to take risks and work maniacally to make it happen. It’s more than luck when you’re able to adapt and repeat.

  10. Yes, this is certainly an oversimplification and numerous valid points here.

    I will now point out the 800 pound gorilla in the room that apparently no one sees yet:

    You can’t have your cake and eat it too about the related topic of good long domains vs. short domains. I.e., you can’t refuse to ever acknowledge or admit that the best long domains are valuable, often extremely valuable, or even say the exact opposite, and then make a blog post like this. 😉

    And while technically one “can” make such a blog post, it is highly problematic when one does. 🙂

    I guess now it will be back to business as usual referring to “long tail” and writing as if only short domains have any value though…

  11. Mike also took a risk in the beginning when registrations were $70 apiece. I have made a lot of mkney from names I regged in 1997… But I don’t share sales. You can still make it today if you don’t reg names that are nonsense and only .com.

  12. Oh let’s just call it what it is – you can get rich in any industry with a limited budget if you’re willing to sit down, read, speak with other successful people in that business and put in the hours of work. This post applies to people in the stock market, real estate market or any market, most people simply aren’t willing to put in the hours.

  13. Thanks for the post Elliot love the title

    Thought I would let everyone have their say before responding

    From the top JZ:

    “”Sorry but someone with millions in the bank is not comparable to someone just starting out with very limited funds. He can hold out forever with no worries at all.”

    Well when I was just “starting out” in 1997 domain registrations were $70 a pop & I didn’t have millions in the bank.

    So I bought domain names just like this one over the years, domains that meant something. These are the types of domain names I sold for until my bulk sale in the $25K-$50K range.

    I sold this domain for less because it was a repeat buyer and someone I have known for about 10 years who represents end users.

    Anticareer:

    We will see about them, I bought what I bought sold stock.photo & stock.photos for $60K learn.wine for $10K a couple for $5K. i bought them knowing it would be a 5 year hold at the minimum, so we will see

    • Pt 2:

      Todd good theory but didn’t do any of that. Simply saw the domain at dropcatch and knew its a 5 figure domain name.

      AW

      I did the same thing for 16 years you are right many of the .com’s like this I held for 5-10 years but I always covered my cost and made substantially more from sales.

      I’m not nor ever was a “flipper” I expect to hold a domain for a while before someone comes along to buy it. If that happens quickly it is unexpected

      Logan, John, Bruce & Bob thank you

  14. 1) I never thought Mike would completely quit. If it’s in your blood, you can’t just turn it off. 🙂
    2) Congrats, Mike. Keep it coming.
    3) Don’t write off your future because you have a small mind or make excuses. There are plenty of opportunities still today for domain investment, and you don’t need a bazillion $ to do it.
    4) If you buy a field at the edge of town, because you foresee city growth, you have to hold until the time is right and everybody else sees the value you foresaw. Well, not everybody. You only need one buyer, who gets it.
    5) If you read, and keep up with emerging things, there are opportunities all over the place, even for new regs. Sample of Recent Hand Registrations: FedUpAndMovingOn.com, CorporationIDs.com, PuppyHats.com, BurningItchyEyes.com, ChronicPeriodontitis.com, SueMyAirline.com, PullWisdomTeeth.com, FootballTeamJerseys.com, VRVideoStorage.com (virtual reality is driving need for video storage), AdvancedNASH.com (a liver disease), GraduateNursingDegree.com, Top10NursingSchools.com, etc. The opportunities are out there, but you have to think like a business person who spots trends and market needs, rather than a domainer, who just looks at auto appraisals. Stay curious, watch trends, and then invest.
    ~ Tasha Kidd, CorporationDomains.com

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