What to do next.....

[wonder_lander]

Well yesterday was quite a significant day for me as I handed my notice in after 12 years at my current work place!

I've decided that 2017 is a year for change and I need to become more a master of my own destiny! I've unfortunately got a 3 month notice period so haven't looked for a new role yet but am confident I'll be able to pick up a contracting role as we head towards April!

I do look at domain names and contracting in a similar light, could I earn £x per day flipping domains or is a day job the right choice? Maybe contracting could give me the cash to invest in domain names to make that my primary source of income?

If you're living full time off domain names how do you manage your work to ensure a steadyish stream of income? I guess as with contracting their would be periods of not earning but you build a buffer and ride it out. Maybe dove tailing contracting and domaining is a solution? Down town between contracts hit up the domain sales?

 

[Murray]

If you're living full time off domain names how do you manage your work to ensure a steadyish stream of income?

Having sites, passive adsense/affiliate money

Domains have made up around 50% of my income over the past 3 years

If you just wanted to make money from domains alone I think you would have to be pretty pro-active with buying/selling

I've not been particularly proactive I must say

ps. When I say domains, I mean exclusively .uk's as that's all I deal in

 

[ian]

Tough call, making money from domains (uk specific here too) is getting harder and I suspect the majority of the full-timers have been around for many years building up a nice portfolio.

If you do find yourself in a position of holding a few domains, maybe target profiting only what you need per month and hold the rest for a less successful month.

 

[martin-s]

Focus on turning one of the names you are passionate about into something impressive

 

[bonusmedia]

Well yesterday was quite a significant day for me as I handed my notice in after 12 years at my current work place!

I've decided that 2017 is a year for change and I need to become more a master of my own destiny! I've unfortunately got a 3 month notice period so haven't looked for a new role yet but am confident I'll be able to pick up a contracting role as we head towards April!

I do look at domain names and contracting in a similar light, could I earn £x per day flipping domains or is a day job the right choice? Maybe contracting could give me the cash to invest in domain names to make that my primary source of income?

If you're living full time off domain names how do you manage your work to ensure a steadyish stream of income? I guess as with contracting their would be periods of not earning but you build a buffer and ride it out. Maybe dove tailing contracting and domaining is a solution? Down town between contracts hit up the domain sales?

Congratulations. Most people aspire to that freedom but few are willing to take the risks...

I agree with the comments above - get the best domain you can afford and build something.

Maybe you can make a living in domaining, but starting now it's pretty unlikely you'll make big bucks. Most people fail. You are competing with a large number of experienced people, many of whom have serious resources. Unless you have some unique insight, it's difficult to create value. Anything really worth having was registered 20 years ago. Drop catching involves a large investment of time - many ignore the opportunity cost. There's a high degree of risk in speculating and the market is highly illiquid.

I think the big attraction of domaining is it appears relatively passive - but that only works if you have a large portfolio of valuable names. Drop catchers and hand reggers work hard for their money.

I don't know what you do, but I'd suggest the best way to establish yourself and create a solid income stream would be using the skills you already have to build a business. You're likely to be able to create much more value that way. If you want a change, it's never been easier/cheaper to gain new design/dev/data skills, yet the demand is still growing far faster than the supply.

The 'easy' money tends to come after a lot of hard work The great thing about building online is that the opportunities of scale are enormous.

Best wishes

PS what kind of contracting?

 

[wonder_lander]

Thanks for all the great comments so far. My day job title is "Lead Solution Designer". Effectively I lead a team of solution designers/business analysts/systems analysts and testers. I work in the industry of accountancy and contractor accounting (umbrella companies).

Alongside this I run a website for our local town alittlebitofstone.com which we're incredibly proud of. That has a decent income stream but is very time heavy in sourcing news and writing it up. We have some volunteers but these still management!

 

[ian]

Alongside this I run a website for our local town alittlebitofstone.com which we're incredibly proud of. That has a decent income stream but is very time heavy in sourcing news and writing it up. We have some volunteers but these still management!

Great website, loads of information, though interestingly I couldn't find the first thing I looked for, a map of Stone and where in the country it is, as I wanted to see if it is the Stone near me (which it is).

 

[wonder_lander]

Great website, loads of information, though interestingly I couldn't find the first thing I looked for, a map of Stone and where in the country it is, as I wanted to see if it is the Stone near me (which it is).

Good point, it's aimed at people of the area, not really a visitors resource.

We do have a woeful "getting here" page which I'll add to our work board (we use Trello btw, fantastic for task management).

 

[monaghan]

Contracting can be a pain, if you have the skills could you get clients / work directly and run your own company?

If you can have multiple revenue streams this adds a little bit of security, with a traditional contracting model you have quiet periods that you have little control over (unless you are fortunate enough to walk from contract to contract with no gaps, but that was rare in my experience)

Working for yourself is exciting and scary all at the same time

Whatever route you take, build a buffer in the bank to cover your essential payments for the quiet periods.

 

[WalkinDude]

I think unless you got a bonafide star domain name and even one will do. Anything from Sofas.co.uk to Sausages.co.uk. So something that you know with work and dedication would bring anyone a return. But to depend on trading domains as a reliable source of income without a domain name and website already bringing in some passive income seems a tad risky in this current climate. But if you do have such a domain then yeah defo go for it. Entire purpose of being a domainer is to get out of the 9to5 endless slog imho.

 

[RobM]

You usually find that once you've got out of the 9to5 you actually end up working far more hours.... much nicer though when it's for your own bank balance

 

[scottmccloud]

You usually find that once you've got out of the 9to5 you actually end up working far more hours.... much nicer though when it's for your own bank balance

Very true.

Can't remember who said it but "Entrepreneurs are people who are willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40"

 

[WalkinDude]

If you work twice as hard as those around you after a period of time you'll end up with 10x as much.

 

[Adam H]

You usually find that once you've got out of the 9to5 you actually end up working far more hours.... much nicer though when it's for your own bank balance

Couldnt agree more.

Well yesterday was quite a significant day for me as I handed my notice in after 12 years at my current work place!

Brave man doing it before building something to live off, I guess its dependant on what your cost of living is. I wasnt prepared to sacrifice my way of living and live off nothing to get things started. When I first went solo I had been working for a couple of years, every evening and weekends after work building a small network of recurring income, building a client base until I knew I could live comfortably without a wage packet. That was 10 years ago, not sure id have the balls even today to jack it in before there is a sustainable income coming in unless I had significant savings to roll the dice with.

That said, I love it.... I work longer hours now than I ever have, It's rare I ever switch off and relax,.......but I also have the freedom to nip to the shops, spend time with my little girl growing up. There are obviously a lot more benefits and drawbacks, but overall if you are self-motivated, hard working, are strong mentally and have a bit of common sense you'll be fine.

Make sure you put enough money away to cover unavoidable expenses ( Tax ) and unexpected payments, always have more than a couple streams of revenue ( don't put all your eggs in one basket ) .

Good luck, Keep us all updated how you get on.

 

[ian]

Couldnt agree more.



Brave man doing it before building something to live off, I guess its dependant on what your cost of living is. I wasnt prepared to sacrifice my way of living and live off nothing to get things started. When I first went solo I had been working for a couple of years, every evening and weekends after work building a small network of recurring income, building a client base until I knew I could live comfortably without a wage packet. That was 10 years ago, not sure id have the balls even today to jack it in before there is a sustainable income coming in unless I had significant savings to roll the dice with.

That said, I love it.... I work longer hours now than I ever have, It's rare I ever switch off and relax,.......but I also have the freedom to nip to the shops, spend time with my little girl growing up. There are obviously a lot more benefits and drawbacks, but overall if you are self-motivated, hard working, are strong mentally and have a bit of common sense you'll be fine.

Make sure you put enough money away to cover unavoidable expenses ( Tax ) and unexpected payments, always have more than a couple streams of revenue ( don't put all your eggs in one basket ) .

Good luck, Keep us all updated how you get on.

Very similar to me, built a business up over the space of 2 years whilst working for a large blue chip getting away with murder before I decided to take the gamble. That was 10 years ago and haven't regretted it for a single moment and similar to you, have the wonderful opportunity to be around to watch my son grow up in the important early years (before school etc), whilst still working all the hours, never switching off and watching the weeks vanish in a flash.

 

[wonder_lander]

For you guys who are self employed are you talking domaining or other services?

Having 2 small boys (aged 2 and 5) then knocking off my 3 hours a day 100 mile round trip commute that I've done for 12 years is going to be a great relief!

 

[ian]

For you guys who are self employed are you talking domaining or other services?

Employee of unrelated businesses I own; domaining is a very enjoyable side project that I wish I had been involved in years ago!

 

[Adam H]

For you guys who are self employed are you talking domaining or other services?

Domains are nothing more than a nice bit of pocket money when a sale comes to me, I do no/little outreach so certainly not a business model I believe in

 

[davedevelopment]

Having 2 small boys (aged 2 and 5) then knocking off my 3 hours a day 100 mile round trip commute that I've done for 12 years is going to be a great relief!

Can't beat it!

I was lucky enough to meet @richardc here on Acorn and have now been working with him for 5 years, working from home full time with fully flexible hours. My kids are aged (nearly) 4 and 6, and all the little things really add up over that time. I've done as many school runs as I have not, picked them up from nursery for Daddy Daughter/Son afternoons just because, picked them up from school within minutes of getting the call that they're ill, been around to eat at the table for 3 meals a day, the list goes on

 

[wonder_lander]

My current job means I work from home on a Friday and the school run is one of the highlights for me