This one is not fair for me to answer, we started hosting to support our advertising company! I used to work in the family business of print / direct mail ads (Similar to The Clipper if you get that, it is a more national company).

Since we had the servers and a way to advertise real cheap, we got into the hosting business too. Was a good way to get off the ground. Don't know if I was paying retail prices for the same ads if it would have been worth it.