This is the kick off to any future posts on my adventures in bootstrapping.
I have read and I agree that companies that survive over time are the ones that stay hungry! (Steve Jobs to Standford 2005 Class | Text version). Bootstrapping is not only a policy for me right now it is a necessity.
I don’t have any money!
So does that have to limit an entrepreneur? Or does that actually empower one (when they have the right attitude toward the situation).
I’ve learned from Robert Kiyosaki (love him or hate him) to not say “I can’t afford …” Instead I say “I don’t have the money for X right now” (although I don’t know if that is much better)
I like not saying “I can’t afford X” because it leaves me with one of two choices:
namely,
1) Figure out HOW I CAN afford it
2) Figure out HOW I CAN get the same result using a different method (ex: Instead of spending a large sum on advertising can I get the same result from free publicity?)
Here’s what inspired me to write this post:
I have a couple of websites hosted by different companies. I want to consolidate all or most of my sites under one host. And I just recently found out about AN Hosting from an article on [[Upstart Blogger, Webhosting that doesn’t suck]]
They offer up to 10 domain names per hosting plan. Which is pretty great.
The only problem was that it costs $80 and, as pathetic as it is, I didn’t have the $80 to spare at the moment. (this is before I moved the blog off of blogspot, which was shortly after starting it)
I was itching (actually more like ripping my skin off) to get this blog rolling (and to start a few other web projects too). So I was really disappointed. But then I found a way. I saw a review of a site called 110MB.com on KillerStartups.com (which is a great site for entrepreneurial people to check out). 110MB offers free hosting. I am usually skeptical of any free hosting (I’ve been disappointed in the past). But these guys look pretty good.
So to start, without any budget at all, this is how I bootstrapped this blog.