[FlyBoy73]

Very rarely will any forum owner not go into the hole (some times very deep) while starting their forum. I got into around $8k in debt (hosting) before my main forum finally started covering the hosting costs.

Rare is the situation where you do this as a living or even profit from the git-go. I've said this before, but you gotta love it.. Most of the people with Big-Boards today did not start out with money in mind and they busted their asses to build the community. That was early in the forum "game" and now I would image it would be even harder since most topics are covered and the leaders have emerged in each niche for the most part.