I have a "catch 22" situation and I was hoping to get some feedback or suggestions.

I own a hosting company that leases space in an office building. I've signed a 5yr lease (to get the cheapest deal). This lease was signed in Spring of 2004. At that time I was working the company by myself full time. As of January 2005 I had to quit the full time of the hosting company to get an 8-5 job to support my family.

Now, I'm in a situation where clients are not happy with not having someone answer the phones during the day (and I can't risk losing my job to step out to call them from my cellphone).

I hear what your thinking - sell it. Well that is where I have a catch 22 situation. While working the company I accumulated about $33k in debt for hardware, advertising and payroll. I am also 2yrs into a 5yr lease that I can't break without paying the 3yr difference.

I've got plenty of bandwidth, a dedicated server room, I own all my hardware. I see huge potential with my company but I can't come up with a business plan that will bring in enough business to either A) pay down the debt and/or B) hire a staff person.

It's frustrating. The company is self-maintaing, but for how long?

Anyone have suggestions of either a way to provide more billable services without having to talk to the customers via phone?

I've tried to get business partners involved but I'm obviously talking to the wrong people.

Sorry if this is a sob story.

-A

Outsource your phone support 24/7, if you just started out your company at the time you bought your office, you should of done this anyways.

Is all the hardware being used? Or is some of it just sitting there....sell what your not using, or is not needed.

Also are you servers in a datacenter, or in your own personal space? If it's the latter, move them to a datacenter, and start renting out your office to another company to help pay off the debt.

Not meaning to be offensive, but why in the first place did you buy an office when you were the only staff member there?

The short answer - the company had been there for 3 years prior to my purchasing. It was in a small office suite and had issues with too much heat. When the lease was up, there was a 300sq ft raised floor room available with dedicated air conditioning. It was the easiest path to stay in the building.

I am in a 3yr contract with my bandwidth provider so I can't move to another datacenter. It would also cause havoc changing the IP address space.

I don't there is an easy cure for my woes. :(

In reality there isn't. I tried to send you a PM but you need more posts first.

Basically you need to find some form of outsourced support you can be happy with. Then you need to advertise.

The only way to get out of the situation you are in is to provide the support and grow. Otherwise it will become stagnant.