Hosting works for me. I get to combine tech writing, teaching, and systems / information management.
I started out with the intent to farm some things out: accounting, for example. I do the day-to-day maintenance, but meet with an accountant every three months to go over things. (Brief meetings, usually - especially as I got better at recordkeeping. But the accountant knows all the deductions that can be taken. I leave that to them - they're the experts in that area.)
I head up support and general customer service, but have others who assist.
I do not head up sales. My marketing techniques are best described as "crude"
I do press releases, page optimization, site SEO, and thus; but have another person who handles long-range marketing planning and such.
I handle some server maintenance, but I will always be the "backup" person in that regard. I can do it, but it doesn't give me the same thrill (yeah...we're all a bit sick here) as does planning and writing the documentation.
I do keep records up to date, and handle A/P and A/R.
There are some minor bits here and there that I don't love...but there's always going to be something non-delightful.
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Originally Posted by Stephen
Since hosting demands a lot of time to run, I wanted to know if the rewards and outcomes from hosting actually make the owners of small to medium size hosting businesses happy.
Running any business takes a lot of time and effort, running a hosting business can demand even more than most. Since it is an online business people are looking for help 24/7 and most companies also have customers in many countries, including out of their time zone.
If you run a business based in the US and had customers in Australia for example, you would need to have support available for customers during the day time in Aus.
This can require a lot of planning to get the times worked out right to have other people manning your support.
Many companies can't provide to pay other people for support, which means they need to give even more of their own time to providing support.
Apart from support, you also have to do everything the normal business owner would, like go over the accounts to make sure all bills are being paid, that your records are up to date and a lot of other things.
Aside from that, you also have the marketing and promotion to do..I could go on with a very long list of the number of things a hosting biz owner has to do to keep on top of the game.
Do you think many hosts are happy with what their business brings them? Not just in terms of money, but all rewards of running a business. Do you think it is worth the effort required?
If you are a host, does running a hosting business make you happy? Or would you be happier working in some other capacity?
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