JH> Considering the cost of running a bbs, How can one make money running
 JH> one?
Make money? I would be happy just to have it break even. There are a few 
different thoughts I have on this topic:
1) Make an extra special effort to make you callers feel at home. Call them 
voice if there are any questions about the use of the system. Call them to 
ask if they understood all the commands and prompts. Make the effort to 
explain if they didn't. Take the opportunity to explain that you do accept 
contributions (or have increased access available for a fee). Note: I, just 
this weekend, did that exact thing to a new user. As a result, was offered a 
486-DX2-50 CPU as a contribution.)
2) Be careful of your wording when welcoming a new user. Some seem to be put 
off with the pitch for fees. With the dozens of "toy BBSs" that are up and 
down all the time - people tend to be wary about promises for increased 
access for a fee.
3) Register your utilities, doors and games. If you register a few, and make 
announcements to that fact, people may be willing to help register others. 
Try to set up a "fund" to register a particular door or utility. $10 may not 
be a big deal to some, but when money is tight - it really can be an issue to 
others. I had 4 people help register LORD for me. It was only $15!
4) Attitude, attitude, attitude. Many callers can piss ya off. Many have a 
nice house - but no one is home upstairs. Take the time to help them 
understand what you are doing. Explain the expenses of the BBS. I have a 
bulletin that enables callers to see exactly what my expenses were for the 
month. ie:
                        Phone line:   $18.00
                   Internet Access:   $20.00
             Simtel for Windows CD:   $18.00
                       Ram Upgrade:   $80.00
5) Encourage people to call. Don't pretend that you are an alternative to the 
internet. Very few BBS systems are. If you are able to offer internet E-mail, 
great, but you are not the internet. Focus on what you are able to provide 
and make a big deal of that.
6) Position your BBS. That is, determine what the interest or focus of the 
BBS is - and build on there. Some sysops operate their BBS for their (sysops) 
interest. If people are interested in that topic - great - otherwise - great 
too.
7) It takes time and effort - plus expenses to operate a good board. 
Handwrite (type) your welcomes to new users. All my newuser questions and 
answers are confidential except the question asking about their interests. 
Look it over and address those interests in your welcome message. Don't use 
open ended questions. Ask questions in your welcome message that will require 
a written response besides .. NO or YES. This will encourage message writing.
8) I printed up some business cards that stated that the bearer was a member 
of the DBUG (Dialog Board Users Group). I try to find little "somethings" 
that might interest people if they present this card to a business. (Last 
month was a FREE car wash). I just ordered coffee mugs for callers that 
contribute $15 or more to the system. I am going to sponsor coffee breaks 
where I work, FREE coffee for people that use the mugs.
--- Bottom line is that you must offer something that is unique to your 
system. The addage that you can't make money without spending mney - is very 
true. Don't think that you can type install on a BBS software package, put a 
CD online .. and you will have people flocking to join your board and send 
you money. You have to work at it.
As it sits now, I have 21 CDs online, over 6 gigs of HD space for files, 
internet e-mail, dozens of registered doors ... and still flush $20 bills 
down the toilet. But I have fun, have some good users, active message bases, 
and have made a lot of friends.
Hope this gives you some things to think about. I have even thought of 
printing up - and offering to other sysops .. QSL cards. These are cards that 
are mailed to a caller as a result of their calling long-distance to another 
board. They are really nothing more than calling cards for your BBS (from the 
old days of CB radio). People would collect them, hang the nice ones on their 
wall - ... and provide a little something to do and put some zing back into 
surfing the AT&T long distance net. (: What do you think?
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          Michael Hughes
       Voice: 719.473.7808
        BBS: 719.473.7683
Internet: michael.hughes@dialog.org
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