I developed my first website under the domain www.himbeer.net in 2020 in a highly cost-efficient manner using my Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer. I hosted the website from home using a DynDNS connection to ensure reliable hostname resolution despite a changing IP address.
In addition to my web portfolio, I also ran a temperature and humidity sensor on the small device to display my indoor climate in real time, as well as a complete data management system for the centralized storage of documents for which broad yet secure access was desirable.
When my father asked me one day whether I could create a website for his company, I was able to confidently answer: "Yes, I'd be happy to." After a week of development, I was ready to present him with the finished website. His generous appreciation in the form of €500 in cash made it clear to me that I had far exceeded his expectations.
This was likely due in large part to the fact that he did not have to worry about any of the technical details. From registering the domain and installing the web server to getting the website indexed by Google, I handled all of the technical tasks independently.
Word of my skills quickly spread, and before long, one of my father's business partners contacted me about the same matter. In order to offer him a hosting contract in addition to the development work, I subsequently founded my first business as a hosting broker, web developer, and IT service provider.