Interview with Chris Houg

1) How and when did your online business get started?

I discovered traffic exchanges back around 2001/2002. I liked the idea and decided that I wanted to run my own. I opened the doors in June of 2003.

2) Which exchange(s) do you own or co-own?

LotsMoreHits.com

3) Do you currently work exclusively online?

Yes, for about 5 or 6 years now. Along the line of thinking with LotsMoreHits, I had a hosting account and decided I wanted to run my own hosting company. I got my first dedicated server back in Dec of 2003.

Running a traffic exchange meant getting to know how your script works and thats when I started learning php. Currently I have the traffic exchange, hosting, lease dedicated servers, program/troubleshoot/modify scripts, a little design, some consulting.

I’m also going to college part time, which gives you some fantastic discounts on software. I’ll be hitting the big 50 this year, never too old to go back to school to learn new things and ‘try’ to keep up with technology.

4) How many hours per day do you spend on your exchange(s)?

I probably average 1-2 hours

5) Do you do support yourself, or do you outsource support?

I do all my own support

6) How fluent are you with HTML, javascript, and PHP?

not so much javascript, but, pretty fluent with html and php

7) Approximately how many members join your exchange a month?

200-300

8) Does most of your advertising come from members referring, or you?

I’m the biggest referral, but, overall most of the referrals come from other members

9) Are you subscribed to any blogs? Which is your favorite?

no

10) What would be the biggest tip you could give to readers?

Stop going for the fast buck. You want to be in charge. Come up with an idea/product/service and you be the one in charge with a fleet of salespeople selling the product for you.