Today I am running with an open source billing system called phpCOIN. This software allows me to set up recurring invoices that automatically get sent as they roll around. The new version to be released this year will actually deliver a PDF email which I'm sure my customers will like even more. This filled a huge void.

The final part in making all of this work was learning all about DNS. When I started this business I understood the concepts but had never actually made it work. I know what a DNS server did, but not really how. This is the one thing that can really screw you around if you get it wrong, because your customers are the first people on the phone when their website is down or the email is broken.

I would recommend a great deal of research in this area to ensure you are not in over your head. Once you learn about A records and MX records however, it really quite simple. There are many sites offering advice in this area, and I would head to some forums to get your questions answered quickly.

So am I happy to doing this? To be honest I love it! Running this system gives me the power to built websites on the fly, not only for my customers but for myself and my family also. And I know that the only person I need to rely on is me.