As an internet marketer its very tempting to try and do everything yourself. This is especially so in the early days when funds are tight and you simply dont have the money to pay someone else to do stuff for you.
But its easy for the workload from your internet business to completely spiral out of control
Writing articles, writing ebooks, answering customer emails, making blog posts, writing on forums, creating sales letters, graphics. Doing all of these things takes up a considerable amount of time and effort; not to mention skill!
Before you know where you are, youre working 12 hour days and you are spending FAR more time working in front of the computer than you EVER did as an employee.
and you thought starting an online business was the key to a better lifestyle, eh?

Once your business reaches a certain size you could easily end up spending 5 hours a day JUST answering customer emails.
Of course you cant let customer emails go unanswered BUT it would maybe make far more sense to outsource it to someone else.
I wouldnt necessarily recommend outsourcing ALL your customer support btw. Some of it might need to come from you but things like TECHNICAL support etc could definitely be outsourced to a virtual assistant.