Let me tell you a story…
In July 2012 Austcom’s committee members faced each other at Austcom’s premises in Church St, Bega. The mood was grim. Turnover was down, motivation was flat and committee members were burnt out from working other jobs to keep Austcom running. The organisation had been surviving on the staff’s volunteer time but resources had run dry.
A decision was made to wind the network down.
It seemed a shame. All the dreams, effort and even websites were to be lost. So I took a decision. I took over the network and committed to updating it and saving people’s websites. But that meant putting Austcom on a business footing.
I have a responsibility to protect your websites because you’ve invested time and money in them. In some cases your businesses rely on them. In order to do this I have to make a living from the network. I also have to pay for server colocation fees, phone, electricity, marketing and the rest…
There are other reasons too. I spent three years obtaining a first class honours degree in Computer Science, and 25 years gathering experience in IT, marketing and writing. Last year I spent $2,000 on a specialist online marketing course, to ensure that my skills are up-to-date in this fast-moving field. I am constantly watching webinars and reading blogs, and that’s to your benefit.
You may prefer to move your site to a free service. That’s fine. But if you’d rather support a Narooma local who sends her kids to the local school and genuinely cares about you and your business, these prices are what it takes to keep Austcom going.
Thank you for reading!
Jackie Stallard