Core memory unlocked
Not enough allowance to fund a .com domain, had to use freenom / tk + cloudflare for my first years of self hosting
In my case, ignorance unlocked. I never heard of tk and I remember 36k modems so old enough.
I think reason is I went to work, slung .NET and didn't think much about computers otherwise except occasional reading some C++ books for "fun".
Double unlock.
In the mid 2000’s, I moderated a domain name discussion forum in exchange for free hosting. “X forum posts per month = x gb of bandwidth”
My goal was to post enough for them to give me WHM access so I could try to resell it.
Those were the days.