Frank Schilling: Domain deals are coming
August 26th, 2009 | 
Author: I first met Frank Schilling at a Traffic conference in Delray Beach, Florida in the fall of 2005. He was the longhaired guy who everyone said I should talk to. Frank didn’t want to talk. Then, after a long few days, he came up to me in the hotel lobby and said, “What do you want to know?”
“Um, everything,” I said.
“Okay,” he said.
My conversations with him that week and the weeks after helped shape Masters of Their Domains, the article I wrote for the former Business 2.0 that ignited the domain world. Richard Rosenblatt, of Demand Media, credited my story with turning him onto domains and their potential, although, sadly, he took my request for payment as a joke.
Frank was nervous about speaking publicly, but when the article came out, nothing terrible happened. Then he started opening up in the press and on his now-dormant blog, Seven Mile. He has always been a good voice for an industry that gets—how shall I put this?—its share of criticism, some of it justified, some of it not.
I always like talking to Frank, and I know others like hearing from him. He wasn’t early to the domain party; he built the bulk of his portfolio amid the dot-com rubble of the early part of this decade. But now he stands tall, with mind-boggling 370,00 names generating 25 to 30 million unique visitors a month.
Like everyone making his living from advertising, Frank’s taken a hit in the past year. A couple of years ago, Frank said publicly that his portfolio was bringing in $20 million a year. It’s not now. Far from it. How much it’s down, though, he won’t say.
For a bunch of reasons, I thought Frank would be the perfect first interview for Playing The Angles, which promises to bring you all kinds of insight into how entrepreneurs do their thing.
Let us know what you think.
http://www.playingtheangles.com/interviews/frank-schilling/
Want to comment on the interview? Please click the comment link below:
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=ed59f9ec-8cd8-4b3e-8eab-99e4dd52d9d9)
Good read!
Frank’s story of how he began has been very motivational to me.
Great interview Paul. Some good insights shared here.
looking forward to more to come.
Cheers,
from delicious Mauritius,
Ritz.
Excellent interview. Our industry is a lot stronger because of people like Frank Schilling. My brother Michael and I enjoyed dinner with Frank last week in Newport Beach and you’ll never meet a nicer person.
Great interview. I’m new to this game (about 1 year in) and enjoying it completely. There are still opportunities! I can feel it.
Thanks a lot for the great interview and the insights shared.
All the best,
Jeroen
Great interview. I would have like to heard him say he was going to return blogging on a semi-regular basis.
Frank’s insight is obvious and he’s able to capture attention with interesting, rare details. I enjoy hearing a seasoned pro disclose personal lessons. There’s a special depth of understanding that comes from analytical minds. And one doesn’t come across this very often.
Excellent first interview for Playing The Angles. Congrats.
Excellent read, thank you.
Wow, great read from a real pioneer. Frank is an inspiration to anyone in the domain world.
What a great way to launch your new site with this outstanding interview. Thank you!
Great questions AND answers.
Very well done Paul. Hope to read more interviews.
Great format.
Frank, thanks for the time and motivation.
Great read… Thank you Paul.
Frank… I hope you’ll consider blogging again. I still go to your blog once a week or so hoping to see an update. I know it’s pathetic… lol
Frank has a special way of taking everything that we are thinking in our heads (at least in my head) and he goes and says it out-loud and it magically validates our thoughts, simply because he said them. I think thats a pretty cool ability to have.
Frank is alive and kicking and still domaining…wow!!!
We would love to see you Frank speak live at any one of the upcoming live tradeshows!
Thank you both for the time taken to do this interview. The simple and brilliant logic applied and described is beautiful.
Like his last blog post, I’ll be re-reading this interview again and again. Thank you!
Excellent read Paul and very timely too. I was just discussing these things with a partner today and this was able to communicate everything I was trying to explain in much more detail. I hope to see both of you again at one of the upcoming shows. Thanks again Paul and Frank!
Thanks for the great interview, Paul and David. What a great start for your first content. Stuff like this will certainly keep us coming back for more. I always appreciate Frank’s honesty and insights, and am also sad that he has stopped blogging.
Anyhow, best of luck with the new site!
Frank is Jesus of domain world !
Nice article and great interview…although too short for me!
Frank’s position and insight always makes me feel better about my domaining choices and truly inspires me to keep moving forward with my business plan.
So thanks Frank, Paul & David for today’s inspiration.
Paul Kapschock
I love that someone found 4,000 words on a Website short. Thanks for reading. Paul
very well done Paul and David – many thanks
and thank you Frank for sharing your thoughts again after such a long drought… I’m delighted!
– Eric
The Warren Buffett of domains.
Buy Low /Sell high = Value Investing.
Back to Fundamentals/Quality.
Many of us have taken his stance on selling… carefully studying every single offer , the premise is that perhaps you can reinvest in a much better domain (more productive) or even just plain
“cashing in some chips” (perhaps diversifying away from domains) …
The worst for Sellers/best for buyers is yet to come.
Definitively a “buyer’s market” more so with each passing day .
What I find refreshing is his Faith in the future…
Note to Frank:
If you can’t blog…Twitt a few times a day/week.
I foresee instant success. (hundreds of followers)
(Don’t be a stranger at domainstate)
Fantastic interview!
Lots of great insights and tips. I love the part where Frank said that domain valuation is really about gut instincts and common sense.
” A lot of this is gut instinct and common sense. You have to look at the meaning of the name, the products one can sell there, the size of the product’s market, the value of the product, the permanence of the product or service in commerce – A host of other parameters.”
”Seeing this stuff is second nature to some people”.
I would love to Frank resume blogging, but I totally agree with him about losing the competitive edge!
One of the best (if not the best) domain industry articles I have ever read, offering excellent insight and thoughts. Thanks.
Great article.
Frank is very smart and a gentleman. If you ever get a chance to spend time with him, make the most of it!
- Richard
Interesting discussion. Thank you for citing to it.
I have a “thought experiment” for any readers who like to think for the fun of it. I did this experiment myself and it produced some interesting thoughts.
Do you differentiate “The Greater Fool” concept from other concepts that involve sales where no empirical evidence of past or present income generation is required before sale, as in multi-level marketing schemes, Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, or perhaps some sales of antiques, other collectibles, etc.
And if you do differentiate, how?
“The Greater Fool” by its name alone seems to suggest all people who engage in buying and selling are fools, albeit to lesser or greater degress.
Interesting..
However, it can be a win win for both parties and the greater fool is the competitor who didn’t get money or the better domain name..Just like a company who spins off the computer unit to another group who specializes in computers and the new company takes the cash and uses it to improve their core competencies..both parties win through specializaion of labor as goods transfer appropriately..society wins because more goods and services are produced per person…the loser is once again a competing company who could have been in the deal..but here 1 + 1 = 3..
conclusion..greater fool is for ponzi schemes but when real value goods are exchanges..both parties can win
Thank you both.
Always great info and insight, Frank … and great writing as usual Paul.
I know. I know. You guys just can’t help it.
i still have the old business2 issues rolled up in my closet.
Business2 got me into domaining and helping me quit my taxi job thank god.
Thanks alot for coming back sloan – you wrote and still approach the domaining industry with a kick ass mindset.
Cheers.
Very interesting piece, but I found this Frank’s statement funny that: “if you ask a man on the street who they’d like their daughter to marry, they would place Domainers well above Personal injury lawyers, Politicians and Used car salespeople,” …lol, that would hit some nerves.
Thanks for the interview. It made us realize how much we all miss Frank’s blog. Hopefully he’ll find the time to take it up again someday.
Your Business 2.0 story drew me into this “sport”.(Jan.’06)…I play ferociously. Thank you Paul.
Kudos.
*The* domain article of 2009, thus far.
Thanks for the interesting interview!
I think you should do an interview with Frank once per month!
It was a sad day when my absolute favorite business magazine of all time – Business 2.0 – folded! So it’s great to see you writing in this space again. Excellent interview with Frank out of the gate!
Best of luck in your new online venture!- looking forward to seeing what’s coming next on your site….
Why is Franks blog shut down? I would like to keep up with his exploits.
Funny, your webpage is generated beautifuly on my new iPhone, didnt look quite right on my old peice of junk.
I think Frank has a very interesting way to tell about his youth and upbringing. I just have to shake my head. Anything for a buck I guess. Shame on you Frank!
Im no expert, but I feel you just manufactured an incredibly great place stage. You of course know what youre talking about, and I can absolutely get behind that. Thanks for getting so upfront and so truthful.
Excellent write-up, I’m a huge believer in commenting on blogs and forums to assist the webpage authors know that they have extra a thing of value for the internet!
2sTafx gokphzgjdtvk, [url=http://gzbpjqcetmzx.com/]gzbpjqcetmzx[/url], [link=http://iqruyrnmglmo.com/]iqruyrnmglmo[/link], http://vrhxtccxctxr.com/
Aw, this was a definitely high quality submit. In theory I’d prefer to produce like this also – getting time and authentic work to produce a nice page… but what can I say..
. I procrastinate alot and never appear to obtain something carried out.
Im no expert, but I feel you just built an incredibly nice point stage. You naturally know what youre talking about, and I can definitely get behind that. Thanks for getting so upfront and so sincere.