Are we less of a night owl industry these days?
 

When I first got into the industry almost everybody I knew worked overnight into the wee hours. Now, most of those same people are attempting to work 'normal' hours. Possibly, this is because we are all much older now and need our naps.

The boards used to be be thriving at the after midnight hours and now they die down until mid afternoon.

Are we less of a night owl industry now?

We are all old now. Eating at the Old Country Buffet at 4 to get the early bird special and in bed by 8:30 ;)

lol yeah. when i started the night was the only time i actually did work. that was when i was 21...now ten years later im up at 7am...

It's useless to put too much effort...

I'm a night owl but family circumstances (my little girl) this year have forced me to be up early 3 days a week, so it's kinda shifted me... I wake up at 8am even when I don't WANT to. :-\

Would it not matter where you lived whether business has to be done in the midnight hours?

If your in the UK or Europe trying to do business with someone in the US, one of you has to compromise :thumbsup

Yeap, my kids forced me to go to bed or pay dearly when they wake up.

Exactly right.

When I started back in 1997, I was working in telco full time still. So I worked on my sites before work, and after. It was typical for me to work 18 hour days during the week, and 12 on the weekends. Most of it night and weekends.

When I left telco and went into this full time. I initially was working 7 days a week, 18 hour days for the first year or two. That including doing photo shoots, compressing video, pay sites, clip stores, promoting and all the rest. It would take a full day's work and then some.

Over the years however, I have found more efficient ways to work. Programs have gotten better. I invested in programming and automation. Hired a few part timers to do mundane tasks and over time my hours became less and less.

So now I can get all my actual "work" done in 2-4 hours a day, M-F. Usually in the morning. Unless.... I am working on a new project. So when launching a new site, or developing something I will be back to working 8-12 hours M-F.

Lastly, my hours also depend on season. In the winter, I will work more sporadic hours. In the summer, I prefer to be up early and out jet skiing or golfing. by early afternoon.

It used to be that pretty much everybody I knew in the industry worked in wherever their middle of the night was. I used to get to know a lot of the American west coasters simply because one of our going to bed time was the others waking up.

Its an age thing for sure.

More or less... :)

It's also a time thing...

Those of us that work full time jobs and work in adult on the side trying to get something going... are doomed to put in the late hours for a while until the revenue can serve as a replacement rather than a supplement :P

I'd still rather work at night but I am older now. I'm married and have a baby. I don't go close down bars and then go out for breakfast anymore. I usually go to bed by 1-2 am rather than 6-8 am like I used to.

same here actually, we are all getting old :(

could go on days without much sleep, now I'm in bed by 1-2 am

So do I, just wish I could be awake at that time. It's 3pm here and I'm nearly dozing off. I won't have any peace and quiet until 9pm.

I think a lot of people who used to do this as a hobby and had to work a day job... those numbers have been thinning over the years.

"what the thinker thinks the prover proves"

A lot of people have left the biz. :)

50% of the business have gone out of business
25% Actually have to WORK for it now
20% have old bro networks
5% are good at business so do not have to work past 6PM

I just added an early morning shift to the late hour work as well. It is an age thing though, the older I get the earlier I want to be up.

i work to 4am every day...

More often than not that's my routine as well.

I crash out between 4-7am, everyday and get up between noon and 3pm. Been this way every summer in school, now I'm 33 and still got the same schedule. It's I'm my genes I guess.

I get more work done in the late night hours when the world is asleep and not distracting me from the daily maintaince stuff.

I tend to go into the later hours myself.

it is always late night yea, switch day for night

We quit using drugs.

and more will leave:)

When do you start?

True dat.
:)

that sounds about right

Nice summation.

You already know where I stand on how the industry breaks down. It goes something like this. While it could vary a bit from 'the industry' and the visible industry, i.e. forums, this is about right.

50% of the industry can't afford anything over $100.00
75% of the industry can't afford anything over $250-500.00
93% of the industry can't afford anything over $1000.00
Most of these I would bet do not clear $35k a year in adult business revenue.

Out of that 7%, maybe 2-3% are actually proactively buying.

That means all of the domaineers, empires for sale, fire sale, content deals, established site sales, advertisers and traffic brokers, as well as the big ticket item sellers are actually chasing that 2-3% of the industry.

Despite the board lore, I can assure you that the vast majority of this industry. Especially on the forums. Is not clearing $35,000.00 a year in revenue from adult. Most are hobbyists and part timers if they are even in the industry at all.

My opinion is not mine alone, but comes from conversations with those I work with. High end script and content guys who also run into the exact same things I do. When you are selling higher ticket value items. You tend to see the underbelly.

:2 cents:

I basically work average daytime hours now, but I still check my e-mail every couple of hours for clients and customer service. In the "old days", I would be up quite late working on my site and handling correspondence. I take it much easier now :)