2
0 Comments

After a domain hiccup, I finally launched my site.

I recently left my day-to-day developer job to take a 3-month “sabbatical” with the goal of launching and building out my weather app, TrekWeather. Prior to leaving my job, I used Google Domains to purchase my domain - trekweather.com. Sometimes with google, it can be quite difficult to see what email you are logged in under. Of course, I was logged in with my work email, and of course, I purchased my domain with my work email… and of course, I realized ALL OF THIS on my last day of work.

Having no time, I wasn’t able to transfer the domain. I could have granted an admin role to my personal email, but the owner role was still tied to work email. Slowly the realization came to me that my only choice was to DELETE my domain. I had to give up my rights to my domain name.

When the dust settled, I learned that with Google Domains you have 30 day grace period to “recover” a deleted domain. I called Google to recover my domain, using my personal email instead of my work email. They said ok, but it would cost $100.

Bootstrapping it all the way, I took my chances, and decided to let trekweather.com go back on the open market, hoping desperately that when the time came, someone wouldn’t purchase it before me.

37 days of waiting later, trekweather.com was finally available for purchase, and I was able to launch!

What did I learn: The simple things are where you make your mistakes. Move slowly when making small mouse clicks with big consequences.

Trending on Indie Hackers
How I grew a side project to 100k Unique Visitors in 7 days with 0 audience 47 comments Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 27 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments How I Launched FrontendEase 13 comments