|
I know the economy is rough and a lot of people are
holding down two jobs, but Olea doesn't have
to do that. Bob has his reasons of course and, as I
suspected, there is a fascinating story behind
his decision to continue cultivating a domain business
he started in 2006 while continuing to fly people
around the world for United Airlines. It's a
story filled with more ups and downs than a hang
glider in a hurricane. From being forced out of his
childhood home by a bulldozer to having his life
upended by 9/11 to riding domains to redemption, Olea
has lived a life that would be full for someone
twice his age. If you don't know Bob, you should
- so allow me to introduce you.
|
Gloria
& Frank Olea - Bob's parents in
a photo
shot shortly before they were married in 1958. |
Bob Olea is a rare bird
on many levels. In addition to being the
only airline pilot/domainer that I
am aware of, Olea is living proof that
at least one creature previously thought to be
mythical actually exists - he is
a Los Angeles area resident who was
actually born in Los Angeles!
"Yes, I am one of the few LA
natives," Olea laughed. "My mother Gloria
was born in LA too! She met my father Frank
when they were both attending college classes
in the late 50s. He was a young banker at the
start of what would be a long career and she
was attending a local college deciding what to
do after graduating with highest honors from St.
Mary's Academy, a private LA Catholic prep
school that she'd attended on a full
scholarship."
After Olea's parents married in May 1958,
they began a family that would grow to six
children, Bob and his four brothers, plus
one sister. Frank and Gloria's decision to
raise their kids in |
| one particular
neighborhood would wind up having a huge
influence on Bob. "We grew up in Westchester,
a cozy suburb right next to Los Angeles
International Airport (LAX) -
literally a couple of blocks away
from the runways!," Olea exclaimed.
"I remember sneaking onto the airport
grounds with my brothers and the other
neighborhood kids via the sewer tunnels so
that we could watch the big jets land. Try
doing THAT today!," he laughed,
noting that it was a much simpler and safer
time back then. |
Bob
Olea (3rd from right) with his parents, sister and
four brothers in a shot snapped a year
before older brother Mark (at far right)
suggested they take flying lessons together.
"In
the summer of 1969 we heard that the very first 747
was finally going to fly into LAX. We all went
down to the end of the street to see it come in. It
was the marvel of the day and we were amazed at
how enormous it was! I had no idea then, but
living next to a big airport and seeing and hearing
the jets all day would later play a big role in my
life," Olea said.
|
Plane
landing at Los Angeles International Airport
Image
from Bigstock |
Even so, it took a while before
Bob knew exactly what he was meant to do,
partially because "progress" uprooted
his family from their home next to his
beloved runways. In the mid 70s the city of
Los Angeles starting buying and demolishing
older homes to make way for expansion. With
the growth of the airport and arrival of
bigger modern jets, a noise buffer zone
was needed and the neighborhood Olea grew up
in was literally bulldozed to the ground
to help provide it.
"We relocated to Hacienda Heights,
a very nice community that was about 40 miles
inland and way too quiet," Olea
recalled. "It was very strange not
hearing the jets anymore! I was the typically unfocused and carefree
teenager, but in my senior year of high
school |
| Mark, one of
my older brothers, suggested that we enroll in
a Private Pilot ground school class
being held at night. It sounded really
interesting so I happily agreed. I was
immediately hooked, and at the ages of 17 and
18 we started taking flying lessons as
well. I still vividly remember that first
flight lesson when I pulled back on the
controls and we lifted off I had my first 'lightbulb
moment', and the inspiration that I
needed to finally start making a plan for my
life. I looked right at the instructor and
said From now on, I'm going to be a
pilot! Olea declared. |
"I
immediately enrolled in extra classes so I could
graduate early, instead of wasting any more time in
high school. At 17 I enrolled at Mt SAC, a
local community college that offered an Associate of
Science degree in Commercial Flight. On a funny side
note Rick
Schwartz (AKA "The Domain King") and
I discovered a few years ago that we were both
attending Mt SAC at the same time! We probably
passed each other on the quad a few times. WAY before
the Internet unfortunately!," Olea laughed.
|
"I
felt like I was finally in my element.
I went from lackluster grades in high school
to actually making it to the top of the Dean's
List! I had recently read Napolean Hill's
classic book Think
And Grow Rich, an
inspirational classic that I would recommend
to anyone. I applied some of his timeless
ideas to my newfound career path. For me it
was more like 'Think And Be A Pilot'!"
Just
as Olea's life took that exhilarating turn,
fate would deal him another card and this was
not a good one. "Tragically, my
closest brother and best friend Mark,
the one that had sparked my initial interest
in flying, was unable to stay enrolled in
college or keep flying due to the onset of a debilitating
lifelong illness. So I abruptly lost my
best friend and wingman," Olea ruefully remembered.
Olea
decided to press on alone but his
close relationship with Mark taught him
a lesson that would pay dividends for the rest
of his life. "I learned that if you want
to be successful in any area of endeavor, you
need to be around |
Mark
Olea |
| like minded and
successful people in that field. That concept
is also very true in the domain
business," he observed. "Some people
don't understand the value of going to domain
conferences like T.R.A.F.F.I.C.,
but the domain business, like many businesses,
is a PEOPLE business. In this business,
your network is much more important
than some people may realize. One of the best
ways to start or grow your network is to go to
a domain conference," Olea said. |
Through
the early and mid 80's the airlines were going through
a major downturn but Olea refused to sit still,
knowing the tide would eventually turn and we wanted
to be ready when it did. "It's a very
cyclical business, so I spent most of those years
working on my various flying licenses and ratings,
while finishing my college degrees," Olea said
"I worked at the usual assortment of night,
weekend and summer jobs. Anything to get an
extra hour or two in the air! Flight training has
always been a big financial commitment, and I looked
at every expense in terms of 'flying units'. I was
really struggling to keep my momentum when something
very unexpected happened."
|
|
"I had the good
fortune to work at Mt SAC with a very classy
lady from the South, Henrietta Gregory.
Her husband had actually been a World war II fighter
pilot! Although we were almost 40 years
apart in age we instantly became lifelong
friends," Olea related. "Out
of that friendship she altruistically offered me
a private scholarship with no strings
attached! I was completely overwhelmed by her
generosity and when I told her that I had no
idea how I could ever pay her back she told me
that it was a gift. I was floored and humbled!
She only asked that I consider doing something
similar for somebody else one day. She asked me
to 'Pay It Forward' light years before it
was trendy!," Olea said. |
|
Image
from Bigstock |
That
has something Bob has done many times time then,
including one instance that drew a lot of media
attention when Olea purchased JeffBezos.com
in an aftermarket auction and turned the domain over
to the founder of Amazon.com at no charge - an
unexpected gesture that was highly appreciated by the
legendary Internet entrepreneur.
| He is currently working on
something dramatically bigger with PPX
International Chairman Gregg
McNair - a planned charter flight
to Africa some time in 2013 to raise
funds and awareness for The
Water School, a charitable
organization that has been strongly supported
by the domain industry. Their goal is to fill
a large jet with people from the domain
and entertainment industries who want to help
change thousands of lives for the
better. |
|
With
the generous help Olea got from Henrietta Gregory he
was able to finish up the requirements for his Commercial
Pilot License and his Associate's Degree in
Commercial Flight in 1980. However with the
industry going through the downturn at that time his
new credentials sat unused while Olea waited for the
cycle to shift. "I never let go of the dream,"
Olea said. "I had already seen the path and built
a mental road backwards to where I was, and nothing
was going to stop me in my quest! In the meantime I
just kept going to classes, and kept working on
finishing my college degrees. At that time a Bachelor's
Degree was a standard requirement for any
aspiring airline pilot."
"I
finally finished up my Bachelor's Degree at Cal
State LA in 1985 and started looking for ANY
flying job. The airlines were just starting to do some
limited hiring, so it was really important to
just get a toe in the water. I answered an ad
in a local aviation paper, the Pacific Flyer,
for a job towing banners. I had my first flying
job for a whopping $7 an hour! It was
fun for a couple of months, but I ended up doing it
for almost an entire grueling year," Olea said.
|
A
Convair 440 in flight (public
domain image) |
"Fortunately
that job allowed me to meet another pilot
that helped me get a job flying Convair
440s a great classic 50-seat radial
engine plane from the 1950's airline era. It
was the perfect plane to really cut
your teeth on. An amazing amount of dials and
switches, all manual cables and analog
instruments, and no autopilot or fancy
navigation gear!," Olea recalled with so
much enthusiasm you would have thought he had
just gotten Airplanes.com for $50.
"About
a year later, with the help of another friend
I was able to land my first job flying big
jets, as a DC-8 copilot. I spent
the next couple of years flying all over the
world, with |
| a succession of
different airlines, but I still always kept
my eyes on the prize. I would spend a
Saturday every month or so typing out pilot
applications and sending updates to
airlines. I think when I finally threw those
copies away it was a stack about 2 feet
high!," Olea said. |
"The
travel and experience I gained in those years was
amazing, but I sure wouldn't want to do it again. I
also wouldn't trade that time and experience for
anything either! Seeing the world like that is a great
teacher, and it really makes you appreciate
where you live and your family," Olea observed.
|
Bob
Olea getting ready to take off on his
1st flight as a United Airlines Captain
in 1997. |
Olea's perseverance finally
paid off and big things started coming his
way. "In 1989, after living in Texas,
Michigan, Florida, and South America for about
four years, I was hired for my dream
job as a pilot for United Airlines.
The following year I had the good fortune to
meet the love of my life and soon
to be my wife, Trudie, on a blind
date.
In love, it's always better to be lucky!"
"One of the real highlights of my life was the
day in 1997 when Trudie came to Orange County
Airport with our young children to
surprise me at the gate when I arrived on my
very first flight as a brand new
A-320 Captain. It had taken me
exactly 19 years to the day to go from
my first solo in a Cessna 150 to my
first Captain flight in an A-320! Flying from
Denver to Orange County airport, with my
family at the gate meeting me with smiles and
balloons - BIG box FINALLY checked!!,"
Olea said, still smiling broadly at the
memory.
|
|
Trudie
Olea paying a visit to Bob's "offfice" |
Unfortunately,
just as the the airline business is cyclical, so is
life. It would have been nice to end this story
with "...and they live happily ever after"
following the day Olea donned his Captain's hat. Over
the next decade Olea did enjoy mostly blue skies and a
growing family (he and Trudie have three children) but
then one historic event changed his world
and just about everyone else's in America - 9/11
- the terrorist attacks that brought down the Twin
Towers in New York.
|
"We
were all blindsided and in a few
spellbinding hours everything that we had all
worked years for was in jeopardy," Olea
remembered. "I was actually in downtown New
York City on the night of 9/10/11.
We had mechanical delays that night on the
last leg of a multi day trip and we almost
cancelled our flight home from Newark to LAX.
I was an A-320 Captain for a major airline, livin'
the dream, and just starting to enjoy the
sweet spot of my airline career. I was happily
married to a beautiful woman, and together we
were growing a family of our own. Suddenly,
in a day, everything had
changed!"
Still,
as Alexander Graham Bell famously said,
""When one door
closes another door opens." Olea recalls his
doors very well today. "Sometimes
when people ask me how I became a domainer
I tell them that Terrorism caused it!,
Olea said. "An odd twist but actually
very true. After the disastrous events of
9/11 I realized that I was a single skill set,
single employer and single income source
person. Not a good place to be in
today's world! With the future of United in bankruptcy
court and now doubtful, we were facing massive
pay cuts and trashed pensions. With
a family of five to care for by now, I felt
that I needed a backup plan real quick!
After some |
New
York City - 9/11/2001
Image
from Bigstock |
| research I decided
that a good option would be to become a real
estate appraiser. It fit well with my
flight schedule, and it would allow me to put
food on the table if United dissolved,"
Olea said. |
"I
also decided to obtain my real estate broker
license so that I would be able to do pretty much
anything that I wanted to do in the real estate field.
After working part time for a few different companies
I decided to become an independent broker. The
airlines were stabilizing and I didn't want or
need another job anymore. It was now 2006, and
I had already been looking around for some domain
names for my real estate business. I kept bumping
into the same owners and after a few more weeks of
research I made the all important intuitive leap that domains
are virtual real estate! I decided to switch my
business activities to the domain business and I've
never looked back!," Olea declared.
"Probably
the one event that finally made me pause and take a
closer look at domains as a business was the now well
known article in the December 2005 issue of Business
2.0 titled 'Masters
of Their Domain' by Paul Sloan. It
hit my mailbox right when I was looking for some
domain names for my real estate business. It reinforced
what I was already feeling and it gave me a deeper
insight into the depth of the market and the
possibilities in domaining. By the time that the
magazine's closing issue with Kevin
Ham on the cover was delivered (featuring
another Sloan article, 'The
Man Who Owns the Internet') I was already
smitten," Olea said.
|
"I
started devouring anything that I could
find online about domains. Reading DN
Journal's Wednesday sales
report is absolutely mandatory for
anybody serious about the business of
domaining! I found out about the
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference and figured out Rick
Schwartz's email. After a few exchanges he
invited me to attend. I didn't know a soul,
and I arrived late to one of the evening
parties. At the time I didn't know even one
other domainer, so I must've stuck out like a
sore thumb, or at least a party crasher! As I
wandered around Barbara Neu (wife of
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founder Howard
Neu) noticed me and asked her son Ray
to go over and talk to me. After discovering
that I actually had paid to come to the show
Ray and I ended up talking more and discovered
our mutual love of airplanes. We've
been the best of friends ever
since!," Olea said.
"The
names that I flew in to try to bid on at
the show's auction ended up going for way more
money than I wanted to spend, but I did end up
buying a few nice lending names anyway. I
still own them, and I'm (still!) planning on
developing them," Olea added. |
Pals
Ray Neu and Bob Olea at the
2009
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Silicon Valley Conference |
The
opportunity Olea has had to travel the world has given
him a lot of insight into how domains are used in
places outside the United States. "In Germany
and some other parts of Europe you see domains with
dashes," Olea noted. "In Australia you
see a lot of .com.au names but very few .coms.
In Japan you don't see domains used as heavily
in visible advertising as in some other parts
of the world. There are many other good examples that
others could speak to better than me, but overall I'd
have to say that in many countries ccTLDs are
preferred for local business, but for big
business .com is still the king."
|
Image
from Bigstock |
At the top of this article I
mentioned the constant changes that roil this
industry. Perhaps the biggest ever, the
introduction of hundreds or even thousands
of new gTLDs, is expect to start happening
in next year or two. Obviously, those have not
escaped Olea's attention. "I have some
mixed feelings about the coming launch of all
the new gTLD's," Olea said. "On one
hand it may be one of the biggest opportunities
in years. In the same way that a rising tide
floats all boats. On the other hand, it
may partially deflate the established
gTLD marketplace, as money that would normally
have gone into the current name space is
diverted into the flood of new strings. Simple
supply/demand economics. I think that it's
really going to depend on public acceptance
and the level of execution by the new
registries. There will likely be some solid
winners, and possibly a few losers," Olea
opined. |
"Like
any inflection point there's going to be some very
unexpected outcomes," Olea continued.
"Mostly because 'The Law of Unintended
Consequences' usually reveals itself in very
unexpected ways, and almost always after the fact.
From the inevitable changes there's going to be some
people and a few companies that will seize the moment
in a large and very successful way. It's been that way
for hundreds of years. You can't change the wind but
you can adjust your sails. I'll be watching
the leaders and following the money.
Regardless, the sky won't fall, and there will
continue to be demand for good generic names,
especially memorable names with traffic. That won't
change until the Internet as we currently know it
radically changes or ceases to exist," Olea
concluded.
One thing Olea won't do is sit around and wait
to see what happens. Just as he did while rising
through the aviation ranks, he is taking a proactive
approach to domains. "I'm active in the domain
business every day," Olea affirmed.
"I still look at and scan the drop lists almost
every day that I can. I consider myself to be a
'working' domainer, but most days I enjoy what I do so
it doesn't really feel like it's work. We
recently went live with our own brokerage
website DomainSalesPlus.com.
We're a very lean operation, just five of us right
now."
|
"One
of the highlights of my domain career was last
year, when Frank
Schilling asked me if I wanted to
be an affiliated broker on his DomainNameSales.com
platform. I happily accepted, and I've enjoyed
working directly with clients on their world
class sales platform since then. The platform
is beautifully designed to provide the
right tools to interact with and properly
identify buyers. It also adds instant
credibility when working with uneducated
buyers or large companies," Olea noted.
"The
happiest change this year though is the
addition of my oldest son Brian to the
family business. Along with his very talented
girlfriend Caitlin Carpenter, he's been
working on some local initiatives, SEO,
web |
Bob
Olea and son Brian |
| design, and domain
sales as well. It's great to finally have one
of my kids in the family business! We also
have a sales assistant and a web designer to
round out the mix. Our office is in San
Clemente, California, just a few miles
from home." |
"We're
working on developing some of our own inventory right
now, names like Oceanside.com, HomeRefinance.com
and WirelessHeadphones.com. We plan to keep
developing good and underutilized names for ourselves
and others. It's always good to have multiple sources
of revenue," Olea noted. "Our income is
a mix of direct sales of our names, commissions, lease
income, and parking. Affiliate and lead gen income
will be a big focus for us going forward. We own some
great lending names that will do well once developed,
and we also have some legal names to work with. I feel
that there's still a big disconnect between the
affiliate/lead gen space and the domainer space. LOTS
of opportunities there! Any domainer that has gone
to a lead gen or affiliate conference would probably
agree, although I've only ever seen a few at any of
the ones that I've been to."
"One
of the advantages of being lean is that you can
quickly adjust as needed to take advantage of good
opportunities. But for now it's an interesting time
and I'm trying to just enjoy the moment. Life
seems to move faster as you get older, and it's easy
to lose sight of what's really important. For me -
what drives it all though is my family, my only
really good names - Trudie, Brian, Shelby
and Alexander. Without them it just wouldn't be
the same. And without Trudie holding down the fort I
wouldn't be able to do even a fraction of what
I do. Anybody with a loving and supportive wife
understands this. It truly is one of the most
important keys to success!," Olea declared.
The
Olea family (L to R): Shelby, Alexander, Trudie,
Brian and Bob
When
asked to share some tips from his experience that
might help others reach new heights in the
domain business Olea came up with this list:
-
"Try
to get involved and interact on a few domain
forums. The only one that I'm active on right
now is the private forum DomainBoardroom.com,
run by long time domainer Donna Mahony.
Loads of talent and respect over there - a great
and fun group! Another forum that I would highly
recommend is DNForum.com,
run by Adam Dicker."
-
"Watch
the auctions and sales reports religiously!
Real world current market intel creates a
strong foundational knowledge of the domain space.
And sometimes - when it feels 'right' - jump
in! Some of my best domain decisions were made
in a moment, based on a gut feeling. But they were
(usually) backed up with a bit of knowledge and
some experience."
-
"Read
EVERYTHING that you can before
investing any significant amount of money. Like
most things in life, there's a bit of a learning
curve, and most domainers have tripped a few
times before they figure out what works."
-
"Above
all try to have a little bit of fun
with it! Life is short, and it shouldn't
feel so much like 'work'! If it does - you might
be in the wrong business! Domainers are
typically a fun and very talented group of
entrepreneurs. So many stories and interesting
connections! Reach out and try connecting with
a few people in the space. I promise that if
you go out of your comfort zone you'll usually
find a few unexpected connections!"
|
While Olea would be considered
a major success by anyone's standards he said,
"I still don't consider myself to
be a big success yet - at least not on the
same level as some of the other brilliant
people that have graced your stories over the
years. But I've never really measured success
by the thickness of my wallet either. I'd
rather be happy and live an interesting
life. So I guess that I'm successful in
that way more than any other."
"I'm happy just to be
in the game, steadily working in my small
corner of the domain sandbox. I work at it
every day, and I feel like I get better at
'The Domain Game' every year. |
Bob
& Trudie Olea |
| I hear that same
comment from other domainers that steadily
keep at it as well. It's a process
and some 'Get It' sooner than others,"
Olea noted before closing with this final
bit of good advice - "I always try to help
people in the business when I can, fully
realizing that others have helped me along
the way. It's a good thing to give back
to the community when you can.
That kind of help creates unexpected and
interesting opportunities as well!" |
|
