Female Friday interview: Andrea Martin and her job as domain broker for Domain Name Sales

It’s not a secret that Domain Name Sales is always looking to recruit professionals with passion and knowledge about the domain industry.

Andrea Martin, recently became a domain broker for Frank Schilling’s elite team, and she took a break from her busy schedule to give us an insight on her professional stance in life.

DomainGang: Andrea, tell us a little bit about yourself, who is your current employer and function.

Andrea Martin: I’m currently transitioning to a brokering position at DomainNameSales.com. I’m extremely excited to work with Frank Schilling and Jeff Gabriel and gain more industry knowledge, while being able to do what I love. The future of the domain industry is booming right now.

DomainGang: What is your driving force and motivational strength that allows you to continue investing, monetizing and/or developing domain names? How important is money?

Andrea Martin: My motivation is being good at what I do and to be better every day.

Come on, I think money is a common thing to us all, but passion and desire for something brings on an entire other level.

While I gave up development to put my best foot forward brokering I can continue on a daily basis because I’m excited for what I do.

I’ll jump out of bed at 4am to take a brokerage call from Canada. It’s my passion to help businesses get the right domain name asset to monetize and develop.

I believe my knowledge and past experience in investing, developing and monetizing has given me a step up when it comes to understanding what a business needs, when it comes to placing them with a domain name that will truly help shape the outcome of their success.

DomainGang: Is it hard being a female domain investor, in what appears to be male-dominated industry? Have you witnessed any inequality in the offered opportunities?

Andrea Martin: I don’t think it’s difficult being a female in the domain industry. I think the opportunities are equal. It’s all about self presence. If you think you can, well, you can!

To broker domains you really have to have a go get them attitude no matter the size of the sale is. You have to be willing to do what it takes. Consistent hours of emails, follow ups, phone calls, research.

With the right resources, a great company behind you and will power to do the endless you can really take yourself anywhere, no matter your gender is. There’s always more to learn because everything is always evolving. The Internet doesn’t sleep. So I try not to either!

I enjoy being able to match a company from start-up to Fortune 500 with a keyword domain that will be an asset; cut the company’s advertising budget by a quarter to half while raising revenue and consumer interaction.

A premium domain really does give a company instant consumer trust and credibility.  It will most likely pay for itself in the first few years.

Premiums hold organic SEO traffic value and you’re also pulling customers from your competitors platform. I believe gender equality in this industry means “you get” the scope of the business.

DomainGang: What was a turning point during your domain investing tenure? Did you have a mentor, or was it an epiphany?

Andrea Martin: I’ve worked together with a lot of the top domain industry brokers. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge through those experiences. If you know my name then for years I’ve most likely been frequenting your blog, newsletter or any other subject that touches on the industry.

People who don’t even know me, have mentored me through the years by sharing industry knowledge.

I think others would say the same about growing by these other domain professionals sharing what they know.  Seasoned or just starting, you have to keep up, we move fast.

I’d say my largest turning point through my domain adventures would be dropping everything such as my developments so I could focus solely on brokering.

I’m really interested in sales and marketing and domain brokering really is a passion. You have to have a fire for it! You know, the kind you get from that crazy sports announcer that’s rushing your adrenaline because they’re so passionate about it.

DomainGang: Do you attend domain conferences? How do you benefit from that interaction with other industry professionals?

Andrea Martin: I did start attending domain conferences.  Aside from the fun, the networking is outstanding, getting to know the faces of the industry and mingling with extremely knowledgeable people I’ve looked up to over the past years.

People are willing to share and it’s very beneficial if you put yourself out there and soak up what everyone has to say, then step back and put it all together to challenge yourself to go further.

I’m finding myself closing several domain deals off each event I’ve attended. I really do value the friendliness of everyone in the industry.

If anyone needs help you know someone would turn to do it or give advice at the drop of a dime. No one sets anyone aside from anyone else no matter who you work for or who you are.

I would recommend to anyone they attend what they can because you do walk away with benefits; friendship, knowledge and maybe a business deal or connection.

DomainGang: How do you define the future of domain investments? New gTLDs, improved domain selling platforms, or educating the tech, education and finance industries about the value of domain names?

Andrea Martin: I believe the new gTLDs will become a normality, and in time will blend with any other extensions. There will be little hype left after the “grand opening”, just as people welcomed .co or .biz, etc.

At the time it was a big deal – now it’s a normality. So yes I do think the new gTLDs will be a large part of the domain industry future.

I believe .com, .sexy, .whatever will continue to thrive together and blend as all these new gTLDs start being used. I think it will be the same with most domain selling platforms and domain aftermarkets as well.

As time passes they will add new gTLDs to their domain inventory and allow for the reselling of such domain names. Marketing efforts? We don’t know just yet, as the future is unfolding before our eyes right now.  When enough time on the market has passed, the new gTLDs can then be analyzed with studies on performance.

Either way they’re here and they’re not going away.  It’s a new opportunity for the future.

Thank you, Andrea, for the opportunity to let us pick your brain on domain investments and domain brokering; our best wishes for lots of success at your exciting new career as a domain broker at Domain Name Sales.

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