I spent the entire summer procrastinating on my website. I knew it had to be done. I could even ask ChatGPT (my ever patient AI co pilot in this whole adventure) to build the whole thing, yet I just couldn’t make myself start. Besides, summer is the absolute worst season for finding new clients. I’ve worked on projects that involved cold calling CEOs, and their replies were always some version of, “Sounds great, call me in September.” Deep down, I knew sending pitch emails now would be like shouting into the void. Effort with no echo.
The Beginning: Naive Optimism
October rolled in, and suddenly, it was showtime.
I opened ChatGPT like it was no big deal and typed, “I just want a really cheap website, I already have my domain.” Famous last words. That innocent sentence launched me into a mental rollercoaster of tech jargon, domain purgatory, and emotional resilience training I never signed up for.
“Sure, we can build your site on Netlify. It won’t cost you anything.” (Well, except maybe my mental health.)
So we began. I followed the step by step instructions like an obedient student, and before I knew it, I had an account, a rough draft of HTML code, and my old domain connected to Netlify. It felt incredible for about five minutes, and then everything started going downhill fast.
Problem One: The Mysterious .HTML
Netlify refused to recognize my index.html file. I had named it perfectly, or so I thought. Even when I showed ChatGPT a screenshot, it confirmed everything looked fine. I kept fighting with it for a good 30 minutes until I shared the file properties. Then came the revelation: “Your file is named index.html.html. You need to remove one extra .html.” Excuse me, what do you mean?! You said it looked fine! I did exactly what you told me! Apparently, all that chaos could’ve been solved by simply naming the file “index.”
Problem Two: The Whack a Mole Loop
Reviewing my website filled me with exhaustion. Every time I asked ChatGPT to rewrite the code, uploaded the file, and reviewed it, a new issue popped up like a digital game of whack a mole. This led to a never ending review, command, upload loop that I repeated about fifty times before I could call it “done.” Dolly Parton once said:
“It takes a lot of money to look this cheap.”
And now I can confidently say:
It takes endless revisions to look this simple.
Just maybe… hire that professional before trying this at home with zero skill set.
Why did my footer suddenly vanish from existence? No one knows. Please, just rewrite the entire code. Thank you very much.
Problem Three: DNS, My New Arch Nemesis
The mystical DNS record refused to leave me alone. I created my DNS records, followed every single step, and still faced an endless sea of error messages: “You are not hosted by Netlify.” Yet every online tool insisted my setup was flawless. We cleaned the records, retried everything, and I kept hammering the “renew certificate” button until both my finger and soul went numb. Then, out of nowhere, it just… worked. Why? No idea. All I know is that it was 7 a.m., and I had accidentally pulled an all nighter with this cursed website project. When I started, I was delusional enough to think it would take me an hour at most. I wasn’t even trying to learn to code; I was just copy pasting like an underpaid intern on their first day.
Problem Four: DNS, Again
A few days later, I logged in to check my website, ready to finally start pitching myself to potential clients, only to be greeted by the same cursed error message I had already battled multiple times. Netlify was, once again, spectacularly unhelpful. The “renew certificate” button had mysteriously vanished from the dashboard, and the familiar “You are not hosted by Netlify” message was back to mock me.
At that point, I began seriously calculating how much my sanity was worth compared to simply paying for proper hosting. ChatGPT suggested we “force check records,” and when I did, a brand new screen appeared: “Update your domain’s name servers.” Wait, what? Do I actually have to do this? Apparently, yes. I had to move my domain’s DNS management to Netlify. You’re kidding me. Had we just… skipped a crucial step before? Was setting A records never enough? And how on earth had my website worked perfectly for one happy day, only to stop the next? I will never know.
I was dying inside. My “simple little project” had now consumed eight full hours of my life, along with most of my will to live. But when I finally followed the new instructions, my dashboard transformed into a happy sea of verified checkmarks. Sweet, victorious relief at last.
What I Learned
I absolutely hate building websites. Front end, back end, all of it. So no, I won’t be changing careers to become a freelance website builder anytime soon. I’m staying safely in my copywriting lane.
I also learned that yes, you can absolutely pick up new skills with ChatGPT, but if you don’t have prior experience in the field, the guidance can turn into a bit of a maze. Helpful, but sometimes hilariously confusing, and before you know it, you’re in a feedback loop, second guessing whether you or the AI actually know what’s going on.
Just maybe… hire that professional before trying this at home with zero skill set.
The Result
So how’s my site now? The laptop version looks fantastic, the mobile one… a little off. But honestly? I have zero desire to tweak it. I’ll just let it live in its imperfect glory and wait for that inevitable email titled, “I visited your website. The mobile version could look sharper.”
Oh, trust me, I know.
Footnote
After publishing this essay and finally starting to pitch my services, my email suddenly stopped working. It was tied to Office 365, and after I updated my domain name servers, I didn’t realize that everything had shifted to Netlify. It seems like my email was also connected to my domain somehow. I am not an IT person, so I had no idea this was even possible.
I sent pitches and got no replies. After a week, I realized something had to be wrong. That is when I discovered I was neither receiving nor sending any emails. I didn’t get error messages either. They simply vanished into somewhere, and I still don’t know where.
So I had to fix that. Now my email address is also hosted by Netlify, and I no longer get invoices from Microsoft for my mailbox, which is great. But the whole situation was an unnecessary step that slipped through the cracks and perfectly highlights how AI only answers the questions you ask. It does not give you the full picture. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s like driving blindfolded while someone tells you when to turn. Absolutely dangerous.
Do this at your own risk. I am a cautionary tale of being reckless with my website and my mailbox.
Thank you @fullcoverbetting for unexpectedly reminding me of this essay
It indeed does start with giving the AI tool they good requirements, start from there and keep on evolving the code and requirements.
What did help me was to say each time update in the latest version, don't start over again.
Now I am curious what the end result is. Do you mind sharing the link?
Yeah, it does get confused if it creates the same thing over and over, some sort of working memory problem? Sure, you can check it: www.pauliinasoilu.com