It seems we have a variety of site owners here. There are some that work on their sites (and hang out at DP) full time, some have day jobs and do this on spare time, some have day jobs and work on their sites while their supposed to be working, and other are still getting going. What are you?
right now i am maintaining few sites in my spare time. Can't leave day job unless make some steady income from these sites. and google updates are scarey
My site is fully automated, so I don't need to do anything to it. I do occasionally spend time working on promotion and backlinks.
I work on my site when I get some time and yeah I work on my site when I'm supposed to be working on my day job. Oh well, as long as things get done, noone complains.
Not to rationalize productively goofing off..... but assuming your job is web related, you are learning SEO, SEM, HTML optimization, etc so it is better than playing solitare or talking with a co-worker about the Edmonton Oilers.
I spend a lot of time on the net during work researching things for my sites but all the updating and stuff is done after work. Packing in my job to do this full time would be a dream! A long way off at the moment but not out of the question.
Is your job web related? In other words the research you do, does it apply to your day job as well as your own sites?
I couldn't imagine having a day job and then coming home to work on my own projects. I tried it for a week before packing in the day job and doing what I do now full time. Of course, I'm a phenomenally lazy b*stard and I'll take whatever option allows me to earn a good living with a 20 second commute (bedroom to PC, zero traffic unless I meet my evil cat on the staircase).
Your missing an option in the poll! "I work on my sites so much I have no life" ie, I get up at about 8am, go to bed at about 3-3.30 am (siesta in the evening too for about 1.5 hours), and the entire time I'm always doing something on one of my sites. (ok well sometimes my computer is doing something on one of my sites)
I spend way too little time on my sites Hopefully I'll get a few hours tonight to add a RSS feed to one of them.