I started my business in 1994, which was essentially pre-Internet days (at least before it became the commercial entity we know it as today).  I was writing software programs and needed a way to take orders easily.  At the time, it was customary for software developers to put an address in their documents and ask for donations.  Of course, if they ever moved, the address they had would quickly become outdated.  The whole process of having to mail in checks and wait/hope for a reply was clumsy.  So I decided to set up an 800 number and get a merchant account to accept credit card orders telephonically.  As it turned out, a lot of other independent software developers needed the same services, so the process was quickly expanded as an order call center.  Before long, it was a very busy phone line, and I had to hire some help to answer phones and take orders.  

A couple of years later, I decided to give the "Internet Concept" a try, and expanded the process to accept orders via the Internet.  At first the phone-in orders outnumbered Internet orders due to so many people being concerned about the security of e-commerce.  Over the next couple of years, however, the phone began to ring less and less, and Internet orders were the most common type of orders received.  Each month, I saw more Internet orders and less phone order.  The efficiencies of automation that the Internet provided came at a perfect time and helped me keep up with the demand of more orders coming in each month.  As people became more comfortable with placing orders via the Internet, the part-time college students I had answering the phones were sitting around in silence, so I shut down the phone operations and concentrated on adding more features to the Internet system.  Although, I had less staff, business was booming and profits were better than ever.

 
Of course, my business survived the infamous "Bubble Burst" or I would not be writing this today.  It survived because unlike some other businesses at the time, we had a viable business model that even today still makes sense.  Now, I run a full-featured e-commerce business wherein our clients maintain their own Web pages, but at the point of needing an order-processing system, they outsource that part to us since that is what we specialize in.  It enables them to focus on the core business, knowing the e-commerce end of things is easily taken care of by our system.

It was a matter of having the right idea at the right time, combined with a lot of long hours of work to get the infrastructure built.  We continually make improvements, and I am having as much fun as ever.  About one year ago, I switched our hosting services to a more robust VPS system with Network Solutions, and I have been extremely pleased with that decision.  Before, customer service was "hit and miss" at best, and our web pages were loading slow as more and more demand (by customers as well as with the technology we were using) was being put on the system.  With the new solution we have with Network Solutions, our Web pages load fast, and things are working as good as ever.  Also, if I ever need assistance (such as installing a new SSL Certificate), I can pick up the phone and get professional, expert help from a friendly customer support person.

It's been a great ride, and the trip is far from over!