Whilst all the prelim stuff ("stuff" being a technical term for legal things) was being organised, I was doing research into building my own website (i.e. playing at being a web designer), who I might get to host it, and all the things that seemed to go along with that.
There are a lot of places where you can have fun building a website for free, so the 'research' was taking a while. What I discovered during that time was, when you see the words "no hidden costs", step away from your computer. Trust me, they're there. I saw this phrase so often that I began to look for it, just so I could begin the hunt for the 'no hidden costs'! Hmm, I might have spent more time on that than I possibly needed to, now that I think about it. But it seemed like a bit of a game at the time - "come out come out wherever you are".
Finally I came across a large, well known hosting company who, despite telling me they had no hidden costs, actually didn't seem to have any. I thought I must have missed them - so I looked again (not much of a fun game this time. I nearly went blind reading the terms and conditions twice, and dying of boredom seemed a distinct possibility).
All looks good - I can load my own website, register my domain name and it will be all systems go. So there I am, filling in yet another round of details (except this time I get to include my wonderful name where required). Excellent - two domain names now registered.
New form, select the hosting package I want - next screen, fill in payment details - next screen. Great, I'm at the confirm payment screen, and this has been sooo easy.
Hang on! What the hell's that? It looks like No Hidden Costs - on the last page, in tiny weeny font at the bottom, and not next to the confirm button where my eyes are naturally looking. Technically, I suppose it's not actually hidden, but...
To say I wasn't thrilled with this would be an understatement. (I believe a rude word or two may have passed my lips!). To have a website hosted can be quite economical, until you want a shopping cart included - and then it just isn't. Every piece of information on this site up to this point had said that a shopping cart was included in the price. This final, last moment, sneaky sentence altered the hosting from "shopping cart included" and mere pocket money, to "shopping cart not included" get a second mortgage.
I have wondered since how many people got a very nasty surprise on their next credit card statement because they didn't actually see this "completely out in the open, totally transparent" No Hidden Cost.
So, back to the drawing board in the search for someone to play host to my fantastic, but as yet not built, site (I have a good imagination, that's how I know it was fantastic at this stage). And now I have the added pleasure of having to move my domain name away from the sneaky people to wherever I end up. Another thing to put on the to-do list. (The actual entry was: DNS thingies! Thingies is another technical term, like 'stuff' - you have to learn the lingo if you want to be in business).
Just as an aside, have you noticed when you start a business how the to-do list grows faster than the items being crossed off? That's when "make lunch" seems vitally important to put on the list, just for the sheer pleasure of being able to say "whew, one thing less to do now" as you put a lovely thick line through it.
Anyway, just about the time I decided that more big dollars were going to have to be spent (that cute little shopping cart was looking more like one with a wonky wheel), I found it. A hosting company that didn't mention the dreaded words, was reasonably priced, answered my emails quickly and - bonus - included a website in the price too. Call me suspicious, but until it was all done I was still waiting for the hidden costs to make an ugly appearance. I am pleased to report there weren't any, and my wonderful hosting company is Avant Marketing.
There has been only one annoying thing about finally unearthing Avant Marketing (although I suspect they didn't know they were buried anywhere), and that was discovering the price also included a free domain name, which of course I had already paid sneaky company to register. Rats!
Things moved rather quickly from this point onwards. As I had played at being a designer so much beforehand, I knew the basic "feel" I wanted for my website. Two weeks later, I was a business owner, with a Real Certificate and now a Real Website!
Point the dot com at the dot com dot au site, set up emails, photograph beads and charms and bracelets, cut out said photos with imaging software (right after learning how to actually do that), figure out how to get an actual product on the website, think up enticing descriptions for each product ...
But that's a story for next time.
Min
Owner
MinzBeadz
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