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Snap, you *ARE* very awesome! For making sites for people everywhere and most importantly for the Windstone site 🙂 And you worked ultra hard on this before you EVEN knew a single one of us.
And, even when you got to know us, youuuu staaaayyyyeeddd *says in happy sappy tone* 🙂I really appreciate all the hard work you’ve done for this forum. It is literally the first place I go on the web when I have any amount of time at all, and the last window I close before going to bed.
If I had some spare hours to donate so you could sleep and catch up, Snap, I’d do it in a heart-beat.But I know how you feel when you see beloved sites falling apart. My own site hasn’t had any decent content for maybe a few years, and I used to work on it like it was a job (all the time every day)
so in conclusion, THANK YOU SNAP!!
OK, I’m more awake now. I look back at all the things I’ve done in the last 12 years since I got out of high school, and I have to admit that the web hosting is the thing I enjoy the most. The problem is, it’s the most difficult task I’ve ever encountered.
I would say I’ve relied on self employment for about 70% of the last 12 years, I never stopped, even when working full time for someone else.
I have to admit that I’ve had thoughts lately of packing it all in, but even if I did, I’d still have to complete the back log of work, and then I’d be stuck paying off a bunch of expensive equipment myself, and I get really depressed when I think about all the work and money I’ve put in so far (basically over a year of my entire full time income from my last job).
I’m slowly getting things worked out, I mean, it’s hard when there is so much and you’re on your own. My GF wants to help but the reality is there really isn’t much she can do, if she takes care of the house and food and what not that is help enough but in her present state of hurting I spend most of my time telling her *not* to bend over and pick things up.. grr.. silly girl, I know she just wants to help and feels bad about it but c’mon, when you’re sporting a ruptured disc…
There’s lots of frustration in this house right now, and I just hope it doesn’t turn into something very ugly one day. If we can get through this year, get organized, get her all fixed up, then we can concentrate on buying a house and opening cafe #2 where I can move my office to, permanently! That’s been another big problem is being jerked around on my office space, I had to move three times in 2006 👿 Now it’s being done (quietly) through home but I know the landlord suspects something and it’s not allowed.. I’m just waiting to see if we get booted when our lease runs out in June… right when my baby needs to go for surgery.
But alas, don’t fear, I don’t plan on going anywhere. This is why I overspend on my equipment, it can handle whatever you guys want to throw at it and function without me.
Well, I am off to the cafe to build another server. 😉
Snapdragon wrote:OK, I’m more awake now. I look back at all the things I’ve done in the last 12 years since I got out of high school, and I have to admit that the web hosting is the thing I enjoy the most. The problem is, it’s the most difficult task I’ve ever encountered.
I would say I’ve relied on self employment for about 70% of the last 12 years, I never stopped, even when working full time for someone else.
I have to admit that I’ve had thoughts lately of packing it all in, but even if I did, I’d still have to complete the back log of work, and then I’d be stuck paying off a bunch of expensive equipment myself, and I get really depressed when I think about all the work and money I’ve put in so far (basically over a year of my entire full time income from my last job).
I’m slowly getting things worked out, I mean, it’s hard when there is so much and you’re on your own. My GF wants to help but the reality is there really isn’t much she can do, if she takes care of the house and food and what not that is help enough but in her present state of hurting I spend most of my time telling her *not* to bend over and pick things up.. grr.. silly girl, I know she just wants to help and feels bad about it but c’mon, when you’re sporting a ruptured disc…
There’s lots of frustration in this house right now, and I just hope it doesn’t turn into something very ugly one day. If we can get through this year, get organized, get her all fixed up, then we can concentrate on buying a house and opening cafe #2 where I can move my office to, permanently! That’s been another big problem is being jerked around on my office space, I had to move three times in 2006 👿 Now it’s being done (quietly) through home but I know the landlord suspects something and it’s not allowed.. I’m just waiting to see if we get booted when our lease runs out in June… right when my baby needs to go for surgery.
But alas, don’t fear, I don’t plan on going anywhere. This is why I overspend on my equipment, it can handle whatever you guys want to throw at it and function without me.
Well, I am off to the cafe to build another server. 😉 This sounds very very familiar. John and I, and almost every one of our many friends that have their own buisinesses ask this constantly “Why am I doing this to myself?? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a 9-5 job, come home and turn on the tv, like Homer Simpson…instead of working every freaking minute of the day???.. and loose money doing it!(when you are jealouse of Homer Simpson’s life style, you know you are in trouble)
Ah yes. John and I talk about this a lot.
Charge more.ack homer too?
okay i cant’ stand that show i guess i got too old
snap hang in there
9-5 ?!?! people still do that ??????
if you are lucky enough to do something you enjoy and get paid for it if you can stay ahead doing it you are far better off than most. Good luck:) i never had 9-5 scheduals. i’ve done overnights back to back early ams and about anything but !
snap but your work makes you smile still, and it makes others smile, and payment in the end will always come back to you in some form big or small you will know it when it comes it just may take a while3 days i’m 2pm -11pm 2 days i’m 3pm -12am this is current norm
at w/m i have done overnighter and worked set 12-9 ectAll I can say is that I love you guys, Snap, Miss Melody, and the rest of you all! Keep your butt spirits up and just let us love you in any way we can!
I can’t take a 9-5. I’ve never done it, but given how badly I’ve dealt with my part time jobs, and the fact that only once was I able to actually work the same job for more than a year, I don’t think I could.
I’m self-employed because I’m just not suited for the “Homer Simpson” lifestye. *grins*
Of course ideally I want to marry a rich man and never have to work again, but if I do work, I have to do it my own way, and answer to no one else, otherwise I just can’t stick with it.
Melody wrote:This sounds very very familiar. John and I, and almost every one of our many friends that have their own buisinesses ask this constantly “Why am I doing this to myself?? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a 9-5 job, come home and turn on the tv, like Homer Simpson…instead of working every freaking minute of the day???.. and loose money doing it!(when you are jealouse of Homer Simpson’s life style, you know you are in trouble)
Ah yes. John and I talk about this a lot.
Charge more.9-5? 6-10? 7-4? ANY normal 8-10 hours shift?? Oh how lovely it would be! To plunk down and relax at any point of the day. As it stands I work 12… 15… sometimes 18 hours a day when I have a deadline, no ‘days off’. When I’m nor working, I’m cleaning up after the critters (4 parrots, 3 fishtanks, one of which needs daily water changes and testing. And that’s nowhere near your zoo!) or just doing housework. I pop onto the forum here on my ‘lunch break’ and while I’m waiting for layers of paint to dry. I’ll be up until at least 2am tonight trying to pull off a deadline for a magazine article. Why on earth do I do this for what equates to an income well below the poverty line?! It’s the love of what I do, and knowing that if I don’t work this hard now then I’ll never be successful with it. Though there are days when I wish I could stop loosing money on this sort of thing. 😉
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comMelody wrote:Charge more.
OK. Check your email. 😈
As I shift more and more into business hosting, then I will be able to. In 2006 I went from 98 sites to 65, but I increased the amount of traffic generated. I like that model very much because it allows me to concentrate on less customers but still make an attempt at an income.
I have one guy who is an absolute genius at programming php sites. He’s put together a auto parts vendor network, and he’s working on a rival “myspace / cardomain” hybrid site right now. If it flies, it’s going to mean a very large increase in traffic, possibly even a dedicated machine just for him.
Right now, if Windstone continues to grow at the rate they have since we brought the site here, within a year you will be my largest client!
Out of those 65 right now, there are six clients that build the base business. Without them, traffic would plummet, costs would rise and income would drop all at once, and I’d probably be toast. It’s not a good feeling, so much uncertainty.
The Internet isn’t going away, and people need connectivity, but like most things in life, there is “doing it” and “doing it right”. I prefer to “do it right and add pickles to the side”, but most people aren’t looking to pay that price, or the service simply doesn’t suit them. I’m slowly learning to say “I’m sorry, my services aren’t appropriate for your needs”. It’s just hard to turn away business of any kind, but I have to remember that time costs more than anything.
The biggest factor in all of this is when I look back at how much time I spent with my girl before I went into business, and I feel like I’m cheating her out of something, now that we live together and I have no time for her.
Every young business requires a lot of time and dedication. I’m sure your gf understands that and appreciates you wanting to do things the right way. That kind of care and dedication must carry over into your personal life as well. Your gf is very lucky. 😀
Snapdragon wrote:[
The biggest factor in all of this is when I look back at how much time I spent with my girl before I went into business, and I feel like I’m cheating her out of something, now that we live together and I have no time for her.My (now husband) works in hospital IT for 5 of the largest Atlanta area hospitals- he is on call 24/7 and very often is indeed called in. In healthcare these days, when something breaks, lives or at least patient health can be on the line. He is very dedicated and very busy, and I don’t get a lot of time with him since he started this job. But I realize that he’s busting his rump now to help make sure that we have some sort of a financial future- it’s hard in the beginning- sometimes I do get irritated with his work when he is working long hours and not always being paid/compensated for those nights we’re up till 5am fixing a Pixis machine or something. But, if she’s anything like me, I think that she probably understands what you are doing, and if she is supportive of you then you can be pretty sure she does.:)
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.com
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