Ready for something new? Buy the domain name already

Give yourself some motivation to get started on a new project by buying it a domain name.

Why does it work? My best guess is that buying a domain name is a fast, risk-free, and relatively inexpensive way to commit to your vision. It's staking down a coming soon sign down on what'll become this project's face to the world.

Buying a domain name is a lot easier now than it used to be, thanks to all the non-.com domains. Many of them cost about $10/year, which is less expensive than pretty much any other part of building or sharing a project.

The last time I embarked on a truly new project was in 2016, when I had graduated from the University of Arizona with an MFA in creative writing. I couldn't find good work locally, and quickly tired of freelancing as a technical writer on Upwork.

I needed to make a transition from freelancer to consultant. The differences are vague, yes, but I felt like the best way to present myself as the owner of a professional writing consultancy was to roll out a website.

I spent a full week agonizing over my future business' name. I had a whiteboard overrun with options, derivates, failures.

The way I committed was buying nurse.media.

I still needed months to figure out what kind of consultant I wanted to be, transfer that into some copy, and build the website for it. But without the name—the domain name—I was never going to get there.

Yesterday, I bought domain name: present.games.

There's nothing there yet. I don't even know if I like the name, much less love it.

But I already wrote a 500-word manifesto about the kind of project I want to build. Who I want to help, why that matters to me so much. I'm already begging friends to give me feedback.

If you've been hesitating on jumping in: Buy the domain name already.

You'll find yourself committed in a new, exciting way. It's freeing. It'll be scary, but a different kind of scary. Less worrying about what the heck your building and more dreaming up what you should work on first.

Which should be sending me an email and telling me all about the domain you just bought.