Patrick Ruddell a.k.a. Chef Patrick: The Top Chef in the Domainer World is Building ScienceFiction.com
Being in the domainer world and not having heard of Patrick Ruddell (a.k.a. Chef Patrick) is akin to being in Hollywood and not having heard of Jack Black. Always the showman, Ruddell is recognized as one of the most influential domainers in the industry, as well as the owner of Chefpatrick.com and ScienceFiction.com, which he aims to turn into one of the primary news sources for science fiction.
He also organized the first DNCruise conference that participants (including a part of the .ME team located to my left) are still raving about. We’ve had the chance to touch base with him and ask a few questions about the ups and downs of the business, as well as his current and upcoming projects:
The “domainer NASCAR shirt” you wore at DomainFest 2010 was a HUGE hit. What’s next in terms of original advertising, building your personal brand, or in terms of your web properties in general?
For me it has always been about doing things BIG, getting noticed. A great example of this is standing in a dark room with a bunch of people, how do you get noticed?, with flashing glasses. People tend to gravitate to where the action is so think outside the box and be different. As for where my personal brand goes from here, I think I’ve done enough crazy stunts to make myself known. Now it is about the business that needs to speak for itself. With this we bring ScienceFiction.com, a $175,000 acquisition I made in 2010. In just over a year we have taken it to nearly 500,000 visits per month.
What was the best part about developing ScienceFiction.com? Did not being a part of this community help or hurt you along the way, or perhaps both?
The fulfilling part about developing ScienceFiction.com was showing the industry that each domain name is a separate business. A businessman and domainer are two different thing, not all domainers can be businessmen. I would definitely say not being a party of the sci-fi community was an advantage. A lot of the people in this niche are fans first then businessmen, which I’m the opposite, business first then fan. I can attend an event or meet a celebrity and not get star-struck, they’re doing business too.
What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made over the years that you have learned from?
Mistakes, what are mistakes? Kidding! Wow, I have made so many. I always tend to jump into things head first, ignoring any risk. Of course this can be bad or good depending on how you look at it. I would rather say I tried then to let fear stand in my way of trying.
To be domain specific my biggest mistake was registering THOUSANDS of domain names when I first started. Like many others we register domain names that we may think are good until we learn they are very low quality and will never sell. Instead, buy a handfull of quality domain names and focus on flipping those for a profit instead of registering in bulk in hopes some will sell.
My proudest moment in this business was my first DNCruise conference. I remember standing in front of my guests welcoming everyone, introducing my wife and kids. It was such an honor to have fellow domainers attend a conference I was throwing and being able to share with my family. Needless to say I was choked up with emotions and needed a few minutes to compose myself.
Could you give us some predictions on the current .ME SEDO auction? Which domains do you think will do best? (sedo.com/me)
From the looks of it the auction is already off to a tremendous start. No reason with the current momentum and success of .ME that this auction doesn’t close with at least $60,000 in sales. My favorites are NewYork.me (city/state), Who.me, Singles.me, Hotel.me, WebHosting.me, College.me and Pet.me. Honestly there are too many great names to list.
One thing’s for sure though: in the domainer and business industry, Chef Patrick has the recipe for success. I am very much looking forward to seeing what comes out of his kitchen next! If you, too, would like to keep in touch with his many endeavours, read his blog, follow him on Twitter or show up to a domainer conference wearing flashing glasses – it’s bound to get you noticed!
