Hum along to the tune we all know:
Domain Name Servers…
HTML Coding…
Snotty support guys I’m secretly loathing…
Building my own website, on a shoestring
These are my absolute LEAST favorite things!
Why is it that doing anything technical on my computer makes the muscles behind my rib cage tighten like nothing else? I am not a Luddite. I’ve been using PCs and Macs since they first came out. I was on the Internet before most people heard of the Internet. I was the first lawyer in my firm to use email to communicate with clients, and that was after we’d lost Netscape as a client. I took E*TRADE public!
NO ONE intimidates me. As an attorney, my clients included Malcolm Turnbull and Christos Cotsakos. My boss when I was an investment banker was Kim Fennebresque. These are people I regularly had to “speak truth” to, and I could. No problem.
And yet, the act of needing to set up a domain name I own on a server I pay for and point it to a blog I write can make me want to curl up in a ball under my desk.
So here’s how I handle it. I take deep breaths and force myself to just get started. Once you start, you can always force yourself to finish. Luckily, I chose a hosting service that has insane levels of customer support (thank you Site5!), so I can open a support chat as soon as I sign in, and just plow through.
Not that it worked that way. My first support guy was awful, but in the interest of full disclosure, I discovered that I had been going through the Sales department’s chat, so mea culpa. He probably wondered why I was asking about transfer codes when he just wanted to sell me programming services.
After a few tears and a much-needed break to watch March Madness, I started again, stayed calm, and got the help and the results I needed…for now. I was able to set up my own domain name – www.speakhappiness.com, point it at this blog, create two email addresses, and establish mail accounts for them on my Mac. I realize this can all be accomplished by your average 7-year-old, but I am super proud of it. Deeeeeep breaths…
Next, I have to build the SpeakHappiness website. Before the book launches. Yikes!
