One of the interesting things about running a small business where you sell software on the internet is that people can buy what you’re selling without you having to do anything. In my case, they go to my web site, click a couple links, and make the purchase entirely online. When they do that, I get an email and a piece of paper comes out of my printer.
Lately, for some reason, the vast majority of my customers have been in Europe. So most of these transactions happen while I’m asleep. My routine in the morning is to get up, turn on lights, and glance at the printer to see if there are any invoices on the printer. Of course, with the number of “overnight” customers I’ve been getting lately, there has been paper on the printer nearly every morning.
While I know that it doesn’t really amount to money for nothing, I am slightly amused at the thought of making money while I sleep. It’s always nice to go to bed and wake up in the morning with just a little more in the bank than there was last night.
Of course, that’s not quite as nice as when Marcia comes to town in the morning and I get to see her first thing in the day and make her breakfast… That really is the best part of waking up.