Matt Wegrzyn Interview

Interview with Matt Wegrzyn of Bodis.com - a very young and very successful domainer. (Domain Name Investor)
If you ever wondered how to make money buying and selling domains then this interview with Matt will inspire.

Thanks for agreeing to this interview Matt. I have been following you for sometime now and I have to say I have been very impressed.

Tell me - How did you start out domaining? (age, costs, first domains etc)

I first started developing HTML templates back in the day, when I was
really young. Then when I was around 15 years old, I started programming
in ColdFusion, and that's basically when I started gaining a lot of
knowledge about the web, domain names, and that sort of stuff.

I believe I got into domaining when I was 17 years old, which is not too
long ago. The first domain name that I bought and quickly sold for profit
was Htmltalk.com. I borrowed $120 or so from my dad's Paypal account to
buy this domain, and before I knew it, it was sold for $500. This was when
I first got into the domaining business.

But it was funny how this all came about. Before I did the flip, I
actually already knew a little about the market by studying it myself. I
first borrowed $3000 from my mom in order to build 3 separate forums. I
was actually going to develop a network of forums. They were like SQL
forum, Xbox 360 forum, and Html forum. But anyway, it cost $1000 to design
each, and this designer was really impressive. So what happened is that he
actually took the money for the first design, but took over 3 months and
then ended up giving me some very general design that he probably got
somewhere on the web for free. So I got a refund, and then I said - forget
this business. I gave back my mom the $3000 and started researching domain
names that were related to the subject of "forums". So basically, that's
why I ended up buying HtmlTalk.com, since this was a forum related domain.
And once I sold the HtmlTalk.com, I was starting to learn how to value
forum-related domain names.

And before I knew it, I was buying up all the forum domain names.
Geekforums.com, Lawforums.com, Mysqlforums.com, etc etc. And I later
resold these. This is how I earned my first big cash in domaining (at
least for that time it was big for myself).


You have sold so many great domains lately, tell us about them. (Price,
Domains etc)

JF.com - Six figure
Redo.com
Gary.com
Valerie.com
XD.com - Six figure
VD.com - Six figure
Oy.com
Stern.com
Occasion.com

What advice would you give someone who wants to make money online Domaining?

Well I think the important part here is to first pick out a niche that the
domainer is interested in. I was interested in the forum niche, since I
was going to actually build forum websites.

Then after you pick out your niche, study recent sales of domain names in
that niche. They don't have to be something like "games.com" if your niche
is "Video Games". But maybe something like AvidGamer.com, or
Xbox360Gaming.com, etc. And then once you figure out the value of these
types of domain names, it is time to find good deals out there for them.
You can find perfect deals on the forums such as Namepros.com and
Dnforum.com, or even on Ebay.com or Sedo.com.

Then when you get it, post it for sale everywhere - TalkFreelance.com,
SitePoint, NamePros, DigitalPoint forums, Dnforum, etc. And keep bumping
the thread, or creating a new one once every maybe 5 days to keep it
fresh. Try different time of day. Some users only go on in the evening
after work, while other users may go on only during work. Many times users
such as developers, gamers, and geeks may search these forums for domains
to buy at night since that's when they are active. ;) So really - try
everything.

And what I noticed once was, the domains that are hard to sell, never sold
in day time. But at night, sometimes I got the sales for my BIN price.

That's another thing, it's good to post a BIN price if your domain is weak.

And if your idea is to always buy/sell for quick cash, then never over
price your domain names. If you buy it for $20, don't let the ego get to
you. Don't post for $500 if you know you won't sell for more than $80. $20
to $80 is good. Some people work an entire day for that amount, and you
can probably do a quick sale with just a few bumps of your thread which
usually takes no more than 3 minutes total.

So 3 minutes behind keyboard vs 12 hours at Burger King. Your pick.


If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were just
getting started. What business related advice would you give yourself?

Well, one important advice in the business world is probably to start out
small, or slow, and then grow. And this is not in the domaining world, but
in general - at least for myself. Here is what I mean:

When I was a developer at the age of 15, I noticed that there were no good
Coldfusion forum software out there. We had/have a great PHP forum
software, but not Coldfusion. Not even CLOSE to great. The best Coldfusion
forum software was an embarrassment to the community (and I think it still
is). And since I was a Coldfusion developer, I was going to develop this
greatest forum software of all time. So I was developing it, FOR A YEAR! A
year I put into development, every single day without any income and
barely any inspiration along the way. So it got so advanced (as advanced
as Vbulletin in some areas), that I never actually ended up finishing
because it started becoming way too complex. I just wanted to get ahead of
myself way too much. So, this applies for many areas of business:

Don't go out and not release your website because you are trying to make
it so perfect for the launch day. Don't buy 10 domains at $7 per
registration that are all related, first try 1, then if it works out, get
the other ones. Don't try to get ahead of yourself. Remember, you can
always build on top of what you have. And that's really the healthiest way
in my opinion to start out any business. Make it simple, but make it work
well.


Do you think that entrepreneurialism is something that is in your blood?
Or is it something that can be learned?

It is definitely something one has to be born with. It is impossible to
learn it. I guess I have to admit that I cheated in order to answer this
question. ;-)  I read a few articles months ago that said something about
psychologists testing this out, and it is something you cannot learn or
teach. So there to you go, you have your answer. ;-)


Is there anyone that you look up to and model yourself on?

When I was 10 years old, my brother used to mainly be my model for web
development. He was the one that first brought home an HTML book (he was
like 19 or 20 years old at that time), and I was so bored that I started
coding HTML with him. It was fun, HTML 3.0. Remember those <marquee> tags?
=)

Now it is a bit different. My models are no longer people. It is more of
feeling of accomplishment, respect, how I want to live my life after
getting to the point where I want to get, etc.

Honestly, most people always aim higher in business, which in my belief is
why there is always a rise and fall in almost every business. I think to
get to the top and stay on top is to alternate. To have a finishing point
for a business, and then maybe moving to a different business. But that's
a very complex story and may not be what many others think. But back to
"model" - feeling of accomplishment. I know the point in my businesses
that I want to reach. Once I reach that point, I can probably feel
accomplished and can sell the business off.

Sometimes enough is enough.


What advice would you give to a Young Entrepreneur setting up their first
business?

There are two advices. The first one is what everyone will tell you -
never give up. And it's true. Your business doesn't work out, keep trying.
It doesn't have to be the same type of business or niche, but keep trying
until something works out for you. Honestly, everyone that I know that has
failed at the beginning, but kept trying hard, has ended up a winner at
the end. I mean it, a real "winner" - with money.

Now the second advice is my advice that I really haven't heard much so I
might as well say it. If you are starting a business, and somebody is
coming to you for a possible deal with their company, and you are a nice
or shy person - don't let them have the upper hand. Don't get suckered
into their deals. Sometimes the deals will be great, but many times they
aren't. And when I first started I didn't really have much people-speaking
skills with other CEOs for instance, and well.many times I was like "yes
yes, sure - we have a deal". Now it's more like, "Yeah, I will think about
this as a solution for our company, and if we decide on it, then we'll let
you know.". They'll keep following-up, so just keep saying that.

Be careful also not to blow them off completely. Don't say you are "not
interested". Because sometimes PLAN A may not work out, and you are stuck
with their plan or no plan. So always keep everything "under
consideration".



Tell us about your main project Bodis.com, a domain parking service?

Well it is a domain parking service, first off.

We are trying to be different from other parking companies by keeping
things fresh and being innovative. Always trying to introduce something
new that no one really heard of, thought of, and/or expected. Remember,
clients don't always go to your service just because you are selling
products or services at best price. Maybe they like your website because
it is easy to use, or your service because it has a friendly staff? Think
about it. I know I use some services more than others and it's because how
they excel in these little details.


What are your plans for the future?

I think in the future I'd like to grow Bodis.com to a level where I don't
need to show up for work anymore. We also launched a gaming website,
GamingAhead.com, that I'd love to see that rise to the top.

Thank you Matt - you have gave some very real / practical advice - we appreciate your generosity. Keep an eye on Matt folks, I have no doubt we will be hearing a lot more of him in future.