Ok, I'm only 15, untill Feb 4th, then I assume I will be 16 :).

Anyways, I've been lurking around on this forum for the longest time.. I can't even remember when I first started browsing around, I've learned TONS from you guys and have also been inspired to start my own web hosting business.

Anyways, my plan is to get a dedicated server through rackshack.net, and I figure I'll try and stick with some small plans at first, like 100MB (I've been considering bringing this upto 200MB) space 5GB bandwidth for $10 a month, and of course all the other goodies like PHP/MySQL/pop e-mail/e-mail forwards/ect.

As far as advertising goes I'll continue to browse this forum and then request forum, but mostly I'll be focusing on the gaming community, I've been running pretty popular gaming sites for the last 2 years and I've been asked for webhosting countless times, twice just yesterday by random ppl I don't even know, but in addition to that I'll advertise hosting on my gaming site.

Since I'm only 15, I don't need to get big fast, my mom has offered to pay the dedicated server monthly fee for 3 months and after that I'm on my own. Rackshack.net charges $99 a month, so if I stick with plans starting at $10 I just need to get about 10 customers in the first 3 months and I'll be ok, then grow from there.

Theres still a few things holding me back though, my Linux skills are extremely limited, so I plan on just hosting myself and friends for about the first month and mess around and learn ALL DAY untill I get everything down, before I even start offering hosting to the public.
One other thing is the laws of Washington state, I know I need a DBA, but the funny thing is I don't even know why, I was just told that a long time ago... So could anyone tell me about the DBA, TIN# (I think thats it) and I'm pretty sure I don't need a business license but I'm not 100% sure on that.

ANYWAYS, that's my long thoughtout plan, I know about dedication too, I have to be around to answer support e-mails ect.. That's fine, as I have no life :). Is there anything I'm not considering?

man sounds cool. I pray it All Works :-P i know a dude like u who seems to be doing aight :-P

That's encouraging to hear.. I was affraid someone would reply with something major I hadn't thought of :).

Originally posted by XDude
One other thing is the laws of Washington state, I know I need a DBA, but the funny thing is I don't even know why, I was just told that a long time ago... So could anyone tell me about the DBA, TIN# (I think thats it) and I'm pretty sure I don't need a business license but I'm not 100% sure on that.You'd need a dba if you're operating as a sole proprietor but not using your own name. So if you're not incorporating or forming an LLC -- which create a new legal entity so there's a legal record of the name you are using -- you need to file an assumed name certificate or "dba" to create a legal record of the name you're using. Usually you do that at the county level.

An EIN is an Employer Identification Number, which you'd get from the IRS. But you probably don't need one if you'll be a sole proprietor and won't have any employees. If you hire any employees you'll need one; if you incorporate you'll need one whether you have employees or not. In the case of a corporation or LLC the EIN is used just like an individual's social security number; it identifies you to the federal government for tax purposes.

Any requirement for a business license would be local; a requirement of your city or county. It's unlikely that you'd need one, but if you want to make sure contact the licensing division of your city or county government.

I suggest you get your pages all setup and ready to go before you get the dedicated server. That way you can accept orders right away and not waste time/money. Also save some money and be prepared, in case you don't get enough customers the first three months. Perhaps most importantly don't neglect school and spend "ALL DAY" playing with your server. :) I know from experience how hard it is to take a full course load and work full time. Unless you have someone helping you it will be a full time job. You can't leave your customers hanging when you're busy studying for exams. Think carefully and make sure you can juggle between all your responsibilities in the future because it will only increase. Otherwise good luck! :)

One thing you have to think about is Billing when you go public.... If you are using THIRD Party, use something with a good name, well trusted, etc... ReveCom or 2checkout.com

Make it clear that THEIR name will be on the clients statement... Also, get a good billing system up.. Ubersmith.com has it FREE for up to 30 clients (or so i was told) but you have to pay the 100$ setup fee....

What you could do is just get 3rdparty or merchant account, and then just have recurring billing, etc. I am still debating over Ubersmith or ModernBill... Because i am planning to switch my payment processors....


Sean

I think you may be better off starting with a reseller plan, if you are not very good with linux and sys admin. Save mom some money or wait till you have enough customers. Trust me - it takes 3-5 times longer than you think to get enough customers. If you plan for 3 months and another 3-6 months to it.

Anyway, that's my advice.

Alright, thanx for the help and advice guys.


wave: I plan on getting all the pages up and domain and get everything ready before I get a dedicated server... And I'm homeschooled so that's not a problem, I can do both of them easily, I seem to find plenty of time to play games and mess around :).

Gurudev: I do have some other money in case it takes longer, about $1,000 in my savings account.

Another thing I was thinking about is installing Linux on my other computer and playing with it remotely untill I learn most of the stuff, I might be able to do that too.

I mentioned it in this thread (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=28146) and i will mention it here. Starting a business is easy; keeping it running needs long-time planning. Even if you just started your business, this is pretty much how your business plan should look:

1. Executive Summary

2. Corporate Overview
a. Business History
b. Vision, Mission and Core Values
c. Key Business Goals
d. Key to Success

3. Market Overview
a. Global Market Need
b. Local Market Need

4. Products and Services
a. Product Overview
b. Products and Pricing
c. Hosting Capacity
d. Protection Policies and Processes
e. Product DIfferentiation

5. Competitive Analysis
a. Global Competitors
b. Local Competitors
c. Competitive Positioning

6. Customer Analysis
a. Global Customer Base
b. Motivation for choosing Your Company
c. Overall Satisfaction
d. Key Benefits Sought
e. Customer Buying Process
f. Customer Loyalty
g. Customer Positioning

7. Marketing and Sales Strategy
a. Target Market
b. Competitive Pricing Strategy
c. Marketing Communications and Promotions Strategy
d. Sales Strategy
e. Loyalty Strategy

8. Management and Organization
a. Current Organizational Design
b. Board of Directors
c. External Advisors
d. Target Organizational Structure
e. Key Human Resources Strategies

9. Financial Strategy
a. Ownership Structure
b. Projected Customers by Year
c. Projected Income Statements
d. Cast Investment
e. Statement of Net Worth

10. Economic Impact and Risk Management
a. Economic Impact
b. Managing Key Risks

Good Luck :)

XDude:

Good going. My son Joe (also 15) and I are also starting a hosting business. We live in Bellevue. Let us know how you're doing.

Joe & Dad
sayu8@msn.com

I'm doing ok, I registered www.smartpenguin.com the other day, right now it just forwards to my other site and I don't yet have my own dedicated server, but I'm getting there..

Heres what I've done:

got a P.O. box
registered domain
most of the website and TOS is up

I still have to do this:
get DBA
get EIN
incorperate
get bank account
get dedicated server

The only thing that really troubles me now is billing, I can't find good billing software or some kind of 3rd party website.

I'm not so sure about rackshack.net. $99 a month for 300 gigs of transfer and a kick ass server? Something doesn't sound right. I'd be wary when signing up with them. Espically if you're new and something goes wrong, don't expect to get any support.

Theres about 300 of these threads on this forum, find the one by HeadSurfer, the owner of Rackshack. I also know a few people who have rackshack servers.

Xdude your a TF2Central Guy?
/me wants TF2 - moan at Valve for me :)

Yes, I run TF2Central :).

... Valve has been silent for over a year, the majority of waiting MUST be over, right?

You would think so!
:bawling: I wan't TF2
Oh well...
*goes to play TFC*

Sign me in as TFC addict. (see my site )

Take a look at www.revecom.com for billing.

They do recurring billling, shopping carts, etc. The service is designed for doing recurring billing such as a hosting company. It also has excellent reporting functions. You can get a demo account by e-mailing them, I suggest doing it and if you decide to go with them you can use the demo account to create links to put into your site to test. Then when you have everything working you can order their service.

Next major issue is domain registration. The trick here is integrating it with billing. I am thinking about going with www.bulkregister.com, which gives you an API to integrate into your site and then when ever an order is done on your site they charge your credit card or bank account, and then you bill them. By integrating this with the shopping cart feature of www.revecom.com you can make a system that will do everything you need. But it isn't exactly easy. Consider elements such as people wanting more then one account or more then one domain. I've come up with a flow diagram and am going to write some scripts to do this. You may want to do the same.

Also dont forget about other issues, such as ticket systems, online invoice, FAQ, etc. All of these last things can be found for free though on www.hotscripts.com or www.freshmeat.net.

Neofree

Your business plan sounds pretty good to me. You should follow Kiwi's business plan outline. You do not have to file a DBA if you use your name in the business name, but I do not think you want to do that. All I have to say is good luck!

You need to examine whether your provider will issue IP addresses. For instance, many of RackShack's servers (though well supported) are designed for limited IP's - principally name-based hosting. This could have an impact on your business depending upon how your customers are to be administered and their DNS set-ups.

Regards,

I'm envious of people like you. I just turned 15, but I hope to be where you are when I'm 16. It just amazes me what kids now a days are doing, myself included.

Amazing what the ppl voted least likely to succeed just because they make alot of jokes really end up doing :).

hehe... i'm 14 and ding the same thing as you are... but i'm australian so its heaps harder for me... if you work it all out tell me what 3rd party compaies you're using and how much money you're making

all we care about is the money these days.

Well I know thats all I care about!

I'd do it for the experience and learning how these things work. Money is an extra.

I am 14 and I am planning to do the same thing. Me and XDude are good friends. :)

Quick question(s):
1. Why not just use pay pal for all your payment inqueries?
2. Why does everyone distrust raqshack? If you read their "About Us", you learn that it's just a subside of a big giant web ISP

Because they don't

guarantee 99.999% uptime
provide 24/7 support
(if you want support it better be before 7pm m-sat and not on sundays!)


Unlike rackspace.com
Brian

hmmm... a friend of mine (also starting a hosting biz ) has heard horror stories about paypal payments... due to the fact if you begin making alot of money it looks suspicious

paypal is annoying for some because you have to create an account before you can pay

also like you said it's not too professional...
It will work as a secondary payment option, but use 2checkout or something else for your primary.

Can you please link me to 2checkout?
Oh yeah, how hard would it be to program your own secure payment system in Perl or php?

http://www.2checkout.com

You really can't program your own credit card processing system, but you can get a merchant account which allow more flexibility, (such as your customer's cards are billed under your companies name, etc...) But they do cost a lot more.

Another 3rd party billing system like 2checkout is Revecom, http://www.revecom.com

Hope this helped!:)

Thanks a lot for linking me to 2checkout. Now all I gotta do is refine my layout and add content...::Sigh::

good luck!