Also small node operators have little chance of having incoming channels openened to them and must balance their outgoing channels by looping out sats which is not cheap either.
Even if my node isn't profitable, when coupled with Lnbits, if offers great LN experience (via Zeus) to friends and family🐸
This!.
For small node operators, there's very little chance of getting an incoming channel, but it might not even be necessary. If you're running your small node to use as a family server for payments, your outgoing channels will quickly be partially emptied by sent payments, allowing you to receive incoming payments. You don't need to get incoming channels from anywhere for that. It's enough to just use the Bitcoin Lightning Network and pay for goods and services. In the end, even if you don't want to pay for any goods and services, you can just transfer some satoshis to a custodial wallet to have a backup option to pay if something happens to your node's internet channel.
In fact, in the second paragraph, you indicate that you use it as a family node. Initially, when such a server is launched, if there are no incoming channels, payments won't go through. But by putting your bitcoins there, you can allow your family and yourself to make payments through the Lightning Network. And right after the first payments, you'll have incoming liquidity.
