By Ron Jackson
Editor/Publisher

�So, how did you get started in this business?� It�s a common way to kick off an interview, but there was nothing common about Nick Master�s answer. �What ultimately brought me into this crazy business was a series of terrible things that happened in my life�. One of those tragedies put the 36-year-old Texan in a wheelchair, but it hasn�t kept him from racing past competitors in the crowded field that chases dropping domain names.

Nick Master

Though he entered the business just two years ago, Master has racked up over 200 sales by mining expired domain crevices that others have overlooked. He has mastered the time tested business strategy of finding a niche in the market and serving it better than anyone else. If there was ever a �natural� in the domain business Master is it, even though this industry is the last place he ever expected to be.

After a rigid Catholic grade school education in Dallas, Master found himself in the public school system when his family moved early in his teen years. �Talk about shocking!�, Master said. �I went from having Nuns as teachers to seeing things going on around me that I never imagined�.

Still he managed to stay out of trouble long enough to graduate in 1984 and go on to college. He spent two years at the University of Texas campus in Arlington, but could not suppress an urge to get out in the world and start his own business.

So Master put the text books aside and opened his own video game arcade. It was a hot industry at the time and the first couple of years were great. However, technology has a way of transforming fortunes in the blink if an eye. Home video game systems came along and as they became increasingly popular and sophisticated, the crowds in Master�s arcade evaporated.

He wound up selling out and spending the next decade in a variety of jobs. He was everything from a car sales manager to a collections supervisor for a major bank. But he was mostly a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. The domain business solved that � but not before things got much worse.

Two years ago, Master�s mother Julie died of cancer. She was only 57 years old.  �I still have my father Steven and my brothers, Timothy, R.B. and Neal, and we are very close, but we have never been the same since she died. I only hope to become one-tenth of the person she is. I say �is� and not �was� because though we lost her physical presence, she is still with me every day in every thing I do�, Master said.

There is nothing worse than seeing your mother die prematurely, but fate was still not through playing it�s cruel hand on Master. Shortly after his mother passed away, he was involved in a serious car accident that left him without the use of his legs. A drunk driver smashed a full-sized sedan into Master�s little two-seat sports car. Master barely survived the collision. The driver had no insurance and was driving on a suspended license. Master has never received a penny in compensation for his injuries.  

Many people would have just given up in that situation, but quitting is not part of Master�s make up. Timothy Master told DNJ  �My brother is a very strong person. He's never felt sorry for himself and never complained, despite the fact that he misses out on so many things that most people take for granted every day. He has also never doubted God and, if anything, his faith has only gotten stronger."

Timothy added, "Nick is the friendliest, funniest and most personable human being I have ever known. For what he lacks in physical ability, he makes up for 10 fold in heart and character. He has a gift, an intangible quality that few people possess. My brother may spend his time in a wheelchair, but he stands taller than any man I know.�

Master was now homebound with no choice but to look for a new way to make a living. He needed to find something he could pour his heart into, something that might fill a little bit of that emotional hole created by the loss of his mother and his own crippling injury. A stray cat helped some. Master says he was actually the �stray� and the cat, �his baby girl�,  found him and gave him a home.

Master�s computer became his primary connection with the outside world. A couple of his friends were involved in domain names during that brief era when people believed they all should sell for six figures. They told him to check out a site called Afternic. Master logged on and was immediately blown away. �There were all these people saying that names were worth $1,000,000 and I immediately thought that I found my goldmine. After all - I'm a smart guy. I can think up catchy names. I HAD IT MADE!�

It turned out to be a mirage of course. �I soon realized that most of those people were just stroking each other and their 'catchy' names, while possibly good for branding and developing, were not the way to go if you wanted to make money on a consistent basis as a reseller. So I let FriendlyPenis.com expire and started from scratch�. Master laughed.

Afternic wound up disintegrating and domainers fanned out across the Internet looking for a new place to call home. Master happened upon the Domain Name Forum, a site that was started in the spring of 2002 by a 16-year-old Virginia high school student, Dan Gessler. Shortly after Master joined, Gessler sold the site to a well-known domain dealer from Texas, Greg Ricks. Ricks needed a new staff and since Master was already spending so much time on the board he volunteered to be a moderator.

His new duties put Master, AKA Namepopper, in contact with sharp domain people almost every waking hour of the day. He listened and learned. �I also read every domain related article I could find on the Internet. I learned from my own registration mistakes, from Greg and from all of those great forum members�.

He soon realized that he could not compete with the big guns in the business. Landing highly trafficked or popular keyword .com domains takes major money and more than a little luck because so many people are shooting for the same prizes. Master started looking for a niche the major players might have missed. He noticed that many domainers had a long list of names that sat and collected dust while they waited for four figure sales that often never arrived. He decided to set his sights a little lower � on names and extensions that, though not top tier, were still very marketable if the price was right.

Other dealers could treat the domain business like the jewelry business and view all of their names as invaluable gems. Master decided he would rather be Henry Ford and keep that production line moving. �Some people say that I sell my names too cheap and should hold out, but why?�, Master asked. �What else can I buy on Monday for $7 to $50 and then sell on Tuesday for a 100%-1000% profit and all from the comfort of my own home!� 

You soon learn there is no stopping Master when he is on a verbal roll. Best just to step aside and let the fire burn itself out.  �If this business was like the board game Monopoly, there would be guys fighting over Boardwalk and Park Place and I'm not one of those guys. I'm the dude who owns the railroads and the utilities,� Master said. �I'm not pulling off the huge blockbuster deals or making headlines. I'm just keeping a steady stream of quality commodities flowing to the masses. At the end of the day those consistent sales add up to my own personal blockbuster�.  

Obviously Master has found the medicine to make some of the pain from his personal tragedies go away. �It tickles me pink every time I make a sale. Whether I make a $10 profit or $1000, the thrill is the greatest thing I've ever experienced!�  Despite previous setbacks, Master doesn�t think this well will run dry any time soon. �I never doubt that I can find a new batch of names through drops and bargain hunting once the current batch is sold. Thanks to all the stuff that I've learned  and my own natural ability, I just keep finding those needles in the haystack�. 

Master is moving forward so fast he rarely looks back. �Sure, if I had back all the best names that I've sold and put them on a list it would look pretty impressive. But I bought them to sell and I sold them, so where's the problem?� He currently has over 300 domains in his inventory and if history is any indicator, they won�t be there for long. 

Master does have special plans for one domain though. �I am currently working on a site for GIF.ORG and hope to have it launched within the next couple of weeks. The goal is to become the number 1 graphics information source on the web.� Master said. �Whether you need to find 'ready made' graphics like clip art, fonts, wallpaper, screensavers or templates, or you need help making your own graphics with your favorite art program you will find it on GIF.ORG.�  

 �There will be tips and tricks for getting the most out of your designs. We will have articles from experienced and respected design pros and cover the latest graphic news and updates to popular programs like Photoshop and Flash. It�s coming soon and it's going to be a great site!� Master exclaimed. 

Master plans to develop additional sites in the future and he will now have time to do it since he has resigned at Domain Name Forum. Ricks sold the business last month and Master wasn�t comfortable with the direction the new owner is taking. Master shrugs it off with the kind of class he is known for, "These things happen all the time when a site or business changes hands. Let's just leave it at that." 

So instead of listening to him sound off at DNF, you can plan on visiting BigMouth.us in the near future. �I plan to make it into a forum where we keep track of the latest news and events and then allow our readers to sound off about them,� Master said. �I love this name and idea and a friend from DNF, Australian Chris Beach will be my partner in developing it. He's already designed the logo which was inspired by my own big mouth! This will also be my first .US name to develop and I'm very excited about that. I see good things in the future for that extension.�  

Master attributes much of his success to his willingness to get off the beaten .COM path and look for bargains on the back streets of the domain business. �Obviously everybody wants a great .COM address, but the reality is that unless you have a lot of money and extremely good luck, you are not going to be able to get the names you want.�  

�When it comes to the 'next best thing', there are many different ways to go�, Master observed. �I personally am very fond of the .ORG extension. Worldwide it's second only to .COM in exposure and popularity. I don't really like .NET that much, unless it's for a hosting company or related Internet services."

Master continued, "As for the new kids on the block, I think .US has a great future - at least in this country. I think .INFO is destined to become the little sister of .ORG, which is not a bad thing by any means.� Master added, �I am honestly not sure about .BIZ yet, though the extension has grown on me lately and I've even registered a few.�  

Master says he has also been buying some great bot/robot/robotics domains that he is very proud of. �These will remain in my secret domain vault for a little while longer though.�  

If you would like to comment on Ron Jackson�s article, write [email protected].  

If you missed our previous Cover Story Click Below: 
King Leads A Revolution to Make Acquiring Deleted Domains a Snap 

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