As most of you probably know by now, I'm no longer making enough off of the site to live off of anymore which means I can no longer justify working on it full time. I recently got a full time job and I thought I'd be able to work a job full time and also invest a lot of time into the site as well. I'm sure I'll eventually be able to pull that off just fine but I've been incredibly overwhelmed lately and it's kinda thrown me into a depression.

I sacrificed a lot to try and keep this site financially stable over the past few years (including draining all of my savings accounts, draining my 401K, selling $1000s worth of my game collect, etc) and unfortunately one of the sacrifices that hurts the most included spending way less time with my wife and kids than I should have (I've been investing 50-80 hours into the site a week for a few years now). Now that I'm working in a factory full time, it's so much harder to work on the site. Before, I was home with them all day so it didn't feel as bad that I was missing out on time with them since I was still seeing them throughout the day but while at work, the only thing I was looking forward to was spending time with my wife and kids but then I got home and realized I had a ton of stuff to work on with the website.

I'm being spread too thin and the guilt of all my sacrifices are starting to build up. For this reason, I'm going to be spending less time on the site than I expected. Some days I might spend a few hours on the site working on things, other days I might not do anything at all except check up on a few things and reply to a few things. I'm not sure how long this will go on for but I'll make an update once I have more control over things.

I really hope that working in a factory full time is only temporary and that the site's traffic and revenue pick up again for me to justify working on the site full time again. I also hope that my Patreon page can make enough so that I can live off of that so please be sure to spread the word of that to anyone interested and a huge thanks to everyone who has supported me and the site through Patreon so far.

Thank you all for your loyalty and support.


EDIT (10/17/2016): I'm switching to 5th shift now and I feel like I'll have a little more organization to my schedule and development time. I'll be setting aside 2 days a week to work on the site starting this week which means I should be able to get 15-20 hours into the site a week (maybe 20-25 some weeks).

So I guess that means I'm back from my break. I obviously wont be nearly as active as I once was but I'll be around a little more again. Once Vizzed picks up again or once I reach my 1st milestone with my Patreon page, then I'll be able to quit my job and work on the site like I did before but until then, I'll have to be as efficient as I can with the time I have with the site.

Anyways, thanks again for all the support everyone

Things started going bad for us in latter half of 2007 and gradually went
downhill until we hit bottom in August of 2010 when we were evicted from
our apartment with no money, no jobs and no transportation. We were
effectively homeless, even though we were staying at my grandmother's
house. After about a year, she went to go live with my aunt and uncle
and we had the house to ourselves. My parents went through a couple jobs because of things they didn't have any control over, but managed to find enough work to keep us afloat. We made a little progress, but we've been stuck in a hole we haven't been able to dig out of for several years. I see it like this: if we've been fighting the financial battle for almost a decade, we've got to be coming up on the end of it pretty soon. As far as I can tell, these things are cyclical, so things have to pick up eventually. Take whatever time you need and take care of your family. At least you have your priorities straight, unlike so many people that I know.

Even though you said you'd still check up on the place, is there any way we might be able to contact you in the event of a site emergency, or do you not think that will be necessary?

m0ssb3rg935 : The globals+ know how to reach David in case of such an emergency. Just let one of us know.

David,
We all appreciate all the work you put into the site and hope the best for you.
If there is anything you need, I am more than willing to help.

I just wanna say that all of this is understandable.

You've worked on this website for probably hundreds if not thousands of hours, so you deserve a break.

I'll try my best to do my part in making this place more active than it is right now, but it requires more people (including newbies) to make that happen. And I hope that more people decide to patron as well.

Hopefully the site doesn't get screwed while you're gone though. It'll just be our luck now wouldn't it?

Those of us who knew about your new job already imagined something like this.

It's all okay, David, You've invested literally everything you had in this site, and all of us have a time when we just can't keep going. At least you were able to quickly find a job so as to not make things even worse.

You said you'd be investing something like 15 hours into the site every week, which means a bit more than 2 hours every day. With a working schedule like yours, even this is too much. Vizzed can do with much less than 10 hours every week if needed be, so use your time in any way you want.

Thanks for all these years of sacrifice and hard work, but after tenths of thousands of hours even you need a break. Take as much time as you need to get everything going again.

Go and take a break you've earned it. We all understand. This may be your site but the owner needs his rest when needed. We'll contact you if only something emergency wise has happened. Enjoy the break David because you deserve it. 

David, only working on Vizzed 24/7 if not most of the day isn't quite the best thing to do. Sure, this site needs its changes, but as the others said: You need rest too. So this is a good decision. Thank you, David, for making, managing and updating this site. And thank you for being a great owner, from the start until now.


"Thank you all for your loyalty and support"

No, thank you, David. You made a great site we love to use. You're always a great person around (Though i haven't contacted you much, but i understand that) and you keep the site up-to-date.

Davideo7 :
In the relatively short time that I've been a member here, I've been amazed by the amount of time that you spend here.

You've more than earned a break, and I hope you enjoy the downtime.

Davideo7 : just wanted to say thank you so much for the many hours and sacrifices that you have made to keep this great website going throughout the years,you certainly deserve a break for all the hard work that you have done it will always be greatly appreciated,it,s also nice to see that you have your priorities straight when it comes to putting your family and personnel life ahead of viz,good luck with your new factory job,I hope all goes well for you

Family should always come first, and I'm really happy you realized this sooner than later.

I'm also reminded of a saying - you can't pour from an empty cup. In order to take care of others, we have to take care of ourselves first.  I admire the effort you've put in to keep vizzed going, but in order to take care of vizzed you first need to care for yourself.

You've been good to us David. Maybe a little too good some times lol.

All of us are praying everything works out for the best, and that hopefully you never have to face a struggle like this again. Just to throw another perspective of how you've helped countless people in their lives, I can honestly say this site has helped keep me sober. From the joy of gaming, the support and people met on the forums, the responsibility as Staff, to the fun competitions you host, it all means a great deal. Not only to me, but all the users who go out of their way to tell you.

I really hope all the praise and encouragement you receive lifts you up in spirit now as much as it did in the beginning. It's the least we can do, and you deserve every bit of it for your efforts, accomplishments, and for being the person you are. We all wish you the best, for not just the site, but for your self and your loved ones.

Godspeed.

I hate typing on my phone, but I was so moved by this that I wanted to at least offer some support. I want to send you a virtual hug.... I know the stress and guilt you are referring to all too well. It's probably one of the worst feelings to have. I've spent every year as a teacher doing way too much and sacrificing time with family.  Guilt? Heck yes. Every year I tell myself that I will do less for my job at the price of my convictions on how to do it right. I have not yet succeeded and feel horrible about it every year.  I struggle to cut down on the amount of time I spend on work-related tasks.
 I sincerely wish you better luck than I have experienced. I'm hoping that once I get off this maternity leave, I'll finally be able to back off of my work load and focus more on my family as well. I'll be praying for you!

Don't worry about us, focus on what truly matters. We might be a cyber family, but that only goes so far. If you need to take care of life, it's only natural that you would do so.

I'm glad you did let us know in advance though, so there isn't any confusion as to where you went. That's definitely a good idea.

Anyways, I'm hoping everything goes well for you. I know all of this is hard, but it'll probably be solved in the end.

m0ssb3rg935 : Yeah my life has been kind of a roller coaster, similar to your experience. I had a good job up until my wife and I got married and within 7 months of us getting our own apartment, I got laid off and then we ended up having to live in her parent's basement for around 3 years. Things started taking off with the website financially and we moved out into our own house and around 3 years later, that took a huge drop. So if that 3 year pattern continues, we've been struggling for I believe 2 years now so so maybe a year from now things will turn around again.

Like Vanelan pointed out, Globals and Admins do have my cell phone number that they can use to contact me in case of emergency.



Sanspai : Believe it or not, I've probably invested not 100s of hours, not 1000s or hours but 10,000s of hours into this site. There's not a lot of people who can say that they've invested more than 10,000 hours into something but I have at least 30,000 hours invested into this site since it started.

I do check up on it sometimes during break from work but I do that from a cell phone and my breaks are short so I wouldn't really be able to do anything about most serious problem if one did come back. Once I get to 5th shift though, since those are 12 hour shifts instead of 8, it means I'd get an extra 15 minutes worth of break so worst case scenerio, I ask a supervisor about merging my breaks and then drive home quick and see what I can do. I only live about 5 minutes away from work.


EX Palen : I was able to find a job quickly for 3 reasons:
1. I had a referral from someone.
2. I've got a lot of experience and college education always looks good.
3. I took what I could get.

The 3rd reason is the biggest. Instead of being picky like a lot of people, instead of waiting around for months to find that perfect job, I grabbed something quick so that I could start bringing in money ASAP. I can continue to looking for something better that utilizes my skills in the mean time and quit my current job once I find something that I have the qualified skills for but it's great to have a decent paying job until then or until Vizzed picks up again.


Deacon DeMan : Vizzed and its community has always been something I've cared a lot about and it's been part of my life for around 14 years now. I really don't have any real life friends so besides my family, Vizzed is kind of all I have.


Mynamescox44 : That's great to hear and I'm hoping that others can say the same or at least similar things.


Singelli : I figured you'd know where I was coming from. The older your kids get, the more you start to regret as they slowly move away from the baby/toddler/child that they once were and you try to remember how much of that process you were involved in. I know for sure I've been a bigger part of the life of my kids than some parents are but some parents just don't care, plus I struggle with guilt and regret a lot. My Mom worked a ton throughout my entire childhood, even weekends and most holidays, so I have far more memories spending time with my Dad than I do with my Mom and I think that may have made me a little bitter toward her, even if she was doing what was best for my siblings and I.

I don't think kids fully comprehend the sacrifices their parents make for them but they do comprehend the time that their parents invest with them and that's what they'll cherish and remember the rest of their lives.

I hope that this will be a short phase for you! I know things can get tough really fast, and I do pray that this will be over fast. You and your family are in my prayers! And as you already know, I fully support you and your endeavors! 
  
You already know this, but Vizzed will always back you up! Don't get down about this time of hardship! 
  
I am glad you were able to find a job quickly, and I do pray you at least get good hours to work, not graveyard shifts and stuff like that! My brother-in-law works those, it's hard for him sometimes... Any break you take is always necessary! And, I already know that this website is left in the best hands in your absence!

darthyoda : I've got a great staff and community backing me up and keeping the site going during my down time so I know that Vizzed is in safe hands

I know I'm late to this thread, but I'd just like to wish you the best in the coming months with your new job.

With your last few weeks of full work on the site (until hopefully in a few months when site revenue picks up), you made some pretty amazing updates that I'm really impressed with. You put so much work into these awesome features even with the stresses of running out of money. That's impressive and I respect you for that.

Hopefully your job isn't that awful compared to working on the site and hopefully you still will have enough time to spend with your wife and kids and still work on the site.

I'll be sure to help as much as possible when the opportunity arises for me to help more financially.

Good luck

I'm switching to 5th shift now and I feel like I'll have a little more organization to my schedule and development time. I'll be setting aside 2 days a week to work on the site starting this week which means I should be able to get 15-20 hours into the site a week (maybe 20-25 some weeks).

So I guess that means I'm back from my break. I obviously wont be nearly as active as I once was but I'll be around a little more again. Once Vizzed picks up again or once I reach my 1st milestone with my Patreon page, then I'll be able to quit my job and work on the site like I did before but until then, I'll have to be as efficient as I can with the time I have with the site.

Anyways, thanks again for all the support everyone


EDIT: For those wondering, I'll be most likely working on the site each week on Tuesday and Wednesday. This week I'm doing Monday and Tuesday only because I had this weekend off. Being on 5th shift means I'll not invest any time on the site on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays except to just check up on the site. I'll be checking up on the site during my breaks during the weekend but that's about it.

Wow, and I thought I had a lot going on. I hope everyone understands what's going on, and I think everything will be fine. I'm sure your wife and kids need you way more than we do. Take all the time you need, and I hope all is well.