I have Nothing To Say
I’ve got nothing to say, so what should I do?
I feel guilty for not writing anything on the blog for the past few weeks, but without anything of value to write about, I’m stuck.
I’ve had a few JV offers that I may or may not talk about in the future (have any loyal readers or mailing list subscribers noticed how long it’s been since I promoted anything to you?), but nothing that really warrants me spending an hour putting together a blog post containing silly pictures with even sillier captions.
So what I’m going to do is use this blog as the WordPress gods originally intended, I’m going to just randomly jot down a few things as they come into my head about life as a full time marketer and a 25 year old (it was my birthday last week, where were my presents?) company director.
As you will probably already know, I run D9 Hosting with my business partner Paula Brett, and back at the start of the year we had a big meeting to discuss some changes that we’d been mulling over for a while.
One was to look at getting some technical support help in, as I was getting somewhat over run with support tickets, and the 2nd was to look at our entire network infrastructure. Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the existing network, as I’m sure customers reading this can confirm, but there were a couple of nagging issues that could have caused problems in the future had we left things as they were.
So we decided to go ahead and hire some technical support staff, and also started to research options to improve our network.
To cut a long (boring) story short, we ended up moving to a new datacenter in Florida that should (fingers crossed!) allow us to offer more services and provide us with a more stable network – if you are a D9 VPS or Hybrid customer, keep an eye on your mailbox in the next 10 days or so for a cool new feature we are bringing to you at no extra cost!
We first hired our new staff in June, and spent the next couple of months training them, and we also completed the DC migration at the end of July/start of August, but during that time both me and Paula were incredibly busy, and worked stupid hours. I think for a few weeks my shift hours were 9am – midnight!
But I didn’t mind, and I think this is quite an important point.
I actually enjoyed working those hours, because I was working at something I enjoyed doing.
Since the staff training and migration has been completed, the work load has gone down again. The staff are answering support tickets, and the servers are now running smoothly in the new DC, and payments from the 6,000 websites we host are coming in daily, so basically you can say that I’m “living the marketing dream”.
I have a profitable business running on just about auto-pilot.
It’s the thing people dream about, well, I’ve lived the dream and I’m now going to shatter it for you.
No Matter How Much Money You Make On Auto-Pilot, Doing Nothing Is Soul Destroying!
Of course, just my opinion, but for the past couple of weeks my workload hasn’t been enough. The money has been coming in from both D9 and my other marketing stuff, but I’ve been well and truly bored out of my skull – it hasn’t helped that I’ve torn my groin so can’t play football for 2 – 3 months, but that aside, I need to work!!
I was actually so bored yesterday that I went on an 8 hour wagon trip down to Sheffield and back….and noticed that a lot of new wagon (lorry) trailers now have curved rooves to streamline them in an attempt to save fuel, which I thought was a somewhat ingenious idea.
Whilst writing this I’ve remembered a saying my Grandad always used to say, I used to think he was crazy, but he’s right:
Busy Days Are Happy Days
No matter how much money you have, you still need to do something to occupy your time. Look at all the millionaires in the world, if they wanted to they could sit back and do nothing all day whilst they continue to make money on auto-pilot, but they don’t, they prefer working.
I appreciate I may be coming across as a bit of a jerk, I know there will be a lot of you reading this who’d love to be in my shoes but as I’ve said before, it’s just my opinion and I’m standing by it, having everything run on auto-pilot whilst you sit back and relax is a really soul destroying way to live your life, the brain needs some sort of stimulation every now and again!
Luckily I’ve snapped out of “bored” mode now, and am working on setting up a VM master and then converting some existing nodes into slaves as part of our new VPS/Hybrid ideas, so that should keep me busy for the next couple of days. After that I’ve got an eCommerce website to do for a regular web design client of mine, then I may even pull my finger out and create a couple of new sites of my own.
So thankfully the quiet time hasn’t lasted too long, THANKFULLY!
What do you reckon, is the “make money on auto-pilot” dream as good as it sounds when it becomes a reality?
….Or have I just won an A* for writing a load of old bollocks 🙂
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‘Twould seem to me that for someone with nothing to say, you’ve said quite a lot [chortle /].
Now, as to being in your shoes, I’d first have to know what size they are – I’m particular about my feet [giggle /].
While it would be pleasant, at least for a bit, to be in your financial comfort zone, I’ve always been somewhat dubious of the IMers who proclaim their two (2) to four (4) hour workdays from the beach.
First of all, I don’t know of that many beaches, at least the ones worthwhile, that have cell towers within reach, or that provide wi-fi hotspots. Second, and much more important, methinks, I cannot imagine how anyone could survive an indolent life style.
I’m retired – not rich, but well enough off to diminish the need to work – however I still spend anywhere from ten (10) to sixteen (16) hours a day working with databases, Web sites, and site back-end scripting. That’s not because I have to survive, it’s because I enjoy doing it, and doing it for others sometimes puts me into a time/deadline crunch that, while worrisome, is quite healthy and exciting.
Something the IM community seems to overlook, and that you have discovered, is that while it is important to have a goal, you still need something to do after having achieved that goal. And from a mental health aspect, it’s all the more important that there be some degree of pressure, whether time or something else, in the doing of it.
Happily ever after works only if you have new goals, new tasks to accomplish, and time frames for the accomplishment.
I’d say you’re quite lucky in realizing that early enough to do something about it – and even luckier (OK, prolly not luck) to be able to put that need into words – hopefully guiding others, those who follow you and your posts.
Consider yourself fortunate that your next goal doesn’t have to be about putting bread on the table, that it can be something really important. But don’t feel badly about ditching such a new goal for another one if the first one starts to feel unsatisfying.
Just a few(?) words from an old fart who’s been there … hope you enjoy your new projects … if you’re lucky, they’ll never end.
You are more than welcome to borrow my new shoes, they are incredibly comfy and only cost £25 in the sportsshoes.com sale (can you tell I’m from Yorkshire?), your feet would be well looked after!
Glad to hear it’s not just me who suffers from the “hating doing nothing” thing, maybe it’s just one of the pitfalls of being a geek, we can’t settle unless we are fixing something….
Another scary thought, what if all computers, servers and scripts just “worked”, there’d be nothing for us to do, thank god we still have microsoft and sub-standard programmers to keep us busy 😀
Dan, Here’s my tuppence worth from another old fart.
I used to wonder why Paul McCartney continued to make albums, or the Rolling Stones kept touring the world, (now THEIR band was well named). They obviously don’t need the money. But music is their passion, so producing it isn’t work.
I like to tell everyone that I’m lazy, but I’m busy all day, and the nights when I’m not drinking. The difference in my life is that I will only do things that I’m interested in. Getting paid would be a bonus, but it’s not the driving force.
That’s one advantage of being an old fart. I have a small pension that’s enough to live on. I’m only worried about my drinking money running out.
What is the definition of work? Does it mean you have to be paid for your efforts? Or does it mean you are busy all day? If it’s the later, then I’m a VERY hard worker!
John
Dan,
I’m a new member and can only say WOW, a young person who knows and understand that life doesn’t give you things for free, you need to work on the opportunities that life gives. In your intro email about your self you forgot to say that you had a great sense of humor. I love every thing, thanks for letting me join in and have some fun and learn too.
Thanks
Carolyn
Happy to be of service 😀
Hi Dan,
“Busy Days Are Happy Days” wise saying!
I have an idea for you.
How about writing a course for people that want to have their own reseller account and how to actually set it all up properly so they can then go around to people and businesses offline and sell a website design and hosting service using D9.
Eg How to set up the reseller account. Lets assume the person is a complete newbie and does not have a lot of design and technical skills so their for how to use wordpress templates to create any type of websites for clients such as ecommerce/shops, normal business information websites to creating an actual directory service to your normal salespage type website.
Advice on setting up a good payment system etc etc etc.
Do you see a product here??? I do!!! And I know if you did I would buy it as they are all the questions I have.
That should keep you busy! 😆
Cheers
Jacinta 😀
You must have been reading my mind Jacinta, I am just preparing a Web Design service, which will be live in a few days. 8)
John
Never mind all the skiving and getting bored of it mate……
Go and do some studying of English before Paula gets here!!!
“but during that time both me and Paula were incredibly busy, and worked stupid hours”
ME and Paula !! tch tch – she’ll have your guts for garters young man….hehe
—
On the busy note – where do you all find the time to work ?
From someone who once did a 80 – 100 hour week, I struggle to fit in more than a few hours a day for work now!!
There just so much more to life than work and football (yeah – I was never any good at kicking a ball, so I never really did like footy much…lol)
You’re as bad a Pete (My techy partner on WizardResponderPro.com for those who might not have known) – He’s always wanting to fix thing sand write new plugins and add ons… In fact I swear he’s not happy if I say everything is fine and we don’t need a thing sorting!!
Don’t tell him – but sometimes I have to make things up or he’d have no choice but to sleep at night…lol
So if you get bored again Dan – Just give Pete a shout and the two of you can sit up all night and create something nice for the rest of us to play with 😉
Randy
http://www.RandolfSmith.com
P.S. TWENTY FIVE QUID for a pair of shoes!!! – Didn’t you haggle???
Bl**dy Rich marketers letting your county down like that! 😉
@Randy – Indeed, I would’ve said “Paula and I” lol!
I’ve beat your challenge, Dan. I’m ashamed to say I haven’t blogged or sent out a promo since October last year, so nigh on a year [blush, slap]. See folks, that’s how busy we’ve been!!!!
Hey Birthday Boy, hope you had a fab time.
That was a big blog post wasn’t it!
I did read it all though, no skim reading for a change.
I don’t really have the choice of doing nothing, right now I never seem to have enough hours in the day to get everything I want.
But I totally see your point and doing nothing all day would, well do my head in!
Glad your getting more support / help, I hate support desks don’t know how you managed to do it so long.
Hope everything is well on the farm, always remember your lil story about the lambs.
Speak soon, Sally 🙂
I like your approach, Dan! It’s always good to be an honest marketer. I usually make a point of posting daily because I have so so much to say and sometimes 2 posts a day, but that’s just me, I’m very garrulous in real life too 😉