That right guys, Im 16 years and i have my own web host business. << removed >> I use my own servers & program's which i got for a small price XD. I set it all up my self and I want to be able to be in competition with other local hosting companies.

Do you think its possible?

And am i too young to be doing this?

Age isn't generally an issue unless of course you aren't in the business for the long haul, and are just around for the fly by night, and as well I think your site needs some work. Your billing system for example, I definitely dont like it. How do people even request support?

Age isn't the biggest issue, more whether you can afford to pay for the upkeep of the company. I remember starting my first hosting company when I was about 15/16 and it started extremely well but ended up failing due to not being able to keep up with server costs etc.

All I will give you as guidance is Plan, plan and plan again your finances and you should be fine. Oh, and try and act as proffesional as you can :) That way, no one knows you're 16 =D

I can afford it, They dont use alot of energy, Ive worked out it costs about £55 for electrick, Anything else I can get for fee. And To contact me, When people sign up, The recieve an automated e-mail with 6 different ways to contact me. Mobible number, e-mail, skype ect. I dont show it publicly.

Ok, something to think about:

Offer an on site support ticket system or live support. This helps greatly when people are ordering from you as it says to them "Hey, this company offers support at least!"

You should at least have a sales e-mail public, otherwise how do people ask certain pre-sales questions?

Furthering on what Zachary said,

When I order hosting/VPSs which I do quite a lot, I ALWAYS talk to their support/sales staff first to see how a) prompt they are at responding b) how much technical knowledge they have on what they offer.

So I think offering at least a sales email is the minimum support requirement

I spose, Irl try and make a sales system on here now. I thought about the Live surport, but Im at collage 16 hours a week, so i cant do that. Thats why i provide other forms or contact. I know its a down-fall, but its only me doing it.

I spose, I try and make a sales system on here, I thought about the Live surport, but Im at collage 16 hours a week, so i cant do that. Thats why i provide other forms or contact. I know its a down-fall, but its only me doing it.

You can easily setup an e-mail system it does not have to be live support, even a simple ticket system would work, you can log onto via a mobile device or laptop.

Ok then, don't bother with Live support, there's nothing worse than seeing a company who has their live support offline most of the time!

But definitely consider the pre-sales email option :)

I have, and working on it right now. :) Thanks Guys, all the Feedback appriciated! Cheers

By "I use my own servers" you mean you're reselling with Heartinternet.co.uk right? Unless you already have 1500 sites hosted on your 13 day old host. Sorry to post this, but consider it a lesson that whatever you say in a public area when representing your company make it as truthful as possible because some people do fact checking when they are bored. ;)

Nope, i dont use their servers, I registered my domain with heart, but i have own servers. I didnt like the 1's they have at heart, their server specs are quite low.

I personally don't think it's wise to post how old you are or that it's just you manning the helm. As a brick and mortar business owner, I'd be hestitant about hosting with you - not because you may not be able to manage the account, but because of the elevated risk. Being truthful doesn't mean telling the entire world every detail of your business. It does mean being truthful about what you do say.

So, having my age revealed would put you off hosting with me?

You're site is definitely hosted at heartinternet and also shows as being in Nottingham.

A lot of successful entrepreneurs have started younger than you, and I've even had a 16 year old employee at a previous job who was brilliant. From what's been posted so far here, I'd have reservations. That's not to say that I don't wish you the best with your business - I do.

What? how can the be in Nottingham if they are next me?

So, having my age revealed would put you off hosting with me?

No, however using osCommerce as your billing system would. There are plenty of billing/support suites which are very affordable that you may want to look into (see: WHMCS).

I wish you the best of luck with your endeavor.

I'm just saying what I can see, and what a customer could see if they wanted to.

I'd keep small at first, just run from one server otherwise your break even will be huge. I agree with nerios, osCommerce will put any customer off, especially with the default theme.

Omg, your right, I've just looked it up on whois, but this isnt right. I have the servers right next me, I've been working on these servers for the last 6 weeks. I've even had to get-to-grips with redhat to put on them and everything.

And osCommerence is the only online shop-platform I could find that would work on these servers.

Check the image, Its all these... I cant work this 1 out, help?

It does not matter what age you have, a good management is very important in this industry.

Yes, your age would put me off.

It could also be a problem due to legality such as the ability to enter a contract depending on your countries laws, et cetera. I would like to deal business, as a customer, with people of age.

ya probably, when someone is paying for something, he/she would look out for well-established sites. when u state that u are 16, the customer would think, lol, i am buying hosting from a kid, i should better move on....

I see your point futts & artpar, And i see where you are coming from. I think i need to re-think this :(

Omg, your right, I've just looked it up on whois, but this isnt right. I have the servers right next me, I've been working on these servers for the last 6 weeks. I've even had to get-to-grips with redhat to put on them and everything.

And osCommerence is the only online shop-platform I could find that would work on these servers.

You have the servers at home? Running a web host from a broadband connection is going to cause you a lot of issues -- Network and environment redundancy will be non-existent.

I know, I thought that bit through, To cope with the work load of upload, download and cross-data trasfer, I signed to to Virgin-media with 5 Broadband connections. I cabled all 4 servers up to each other using Optic-cables, I have a 1 TB data-trasfer between them. For Web connectios tho, it works out i have about (on average) 4MB/s upload speed with the new network cards I brought.

But i now have a new problem which the guys have pointed out,

Why am i showing up as 2 servers instead of 4, in nottingham?

Do you have a static IP(s)?

Yes, I think the problem is lying within the IPs (All 4 of them). They are appearing properly on the Moniter-system, but i dont know if they are resolving properly =[

You need to change your domains DNS to point to your home servers. Have you setup your own name server?

No, They came prenamed, I got the servers off my uncle who works for Sun Microsystems. Irl have a look at the DNS setting again.

I would probably be more inclined too choose you if you had your servers in a DC with a tech team, what happens if Virgin Media Broadband goes down in your are and your at college?

I have 5 broadband Lines, 1 line into each of the servers, and 1 into my desktop.

If 1 Fails:
All theservers are interlaced with each other, so if 1 we're to fail, the others take over. Overall, there are about 46 cables connecting just the servers together.

And, Yes I'm at collage, I go to Oxford Cherwell Valley Collage, On the IT Practitioners Course (Level 3). :)

Im off out to get a new network Card, Irl try and fix this IP problem later. This problem is getting puzzled :(

Have you considered getting a job for an already existing hosting company, get some experience, see how clients react, observe the customer support routines etc?

It would give you lots of perspective for the future and then, why not, start your own thing.

To be honest, I think you're jumping into this far too quickly. I would take BluewaveHosted's advice of getting a job for a currently existing hosting company.

being responsible and reliable are what matter. if you can provide that too, you'll compete eventually.

You can think of taking BluewaveHosted's advice seriously. I wish you the best for your future.

Your age wouldn't necessarily put me off (though are you even allowed to enter into a contract at your age? have you registered as a sole trader yet? etc etc etc) but hosting your servers at home definitely would.

Whether you have 1 broadband connection or 6, you're single homed. If your direct upstream router goes out, you're dark.

You also have single-point-of-failure power, no fire suppression, if you're lucky you have climate control, and you almost certainly have nuts for security.

I have "servers" at home too but I wouldn't put paying customers on them. :( It's fine for learning, but anyone who buys from you if you're being honest is probably a fool :(

@jwebhost

Wow...Whatever happens this experience has nothing but gain for you...Just remember..failure is not making errors but giving up.

If I were buying web hosting I wouldn't have a problem with your age (im 15 btw), I would have a problem with how your servers are setup. With your current setup you have a few single points of failure. For the price of the internet connections you could probably colo those servers.

So, having my age revealed would put you off hosting with me?

Well for some people yes, reason being is lot's of kid's start off good or with a great motivation then just leave and client's possibly lose their data and now are stuck with trying to find a new host that's reliable, i know it sound's harsh but people really look at stuff like this also if your not providing any type of support where public can see that it exist can also scare them away. Well i understand your working on some type of support solution like email etc... but try to use osticket for your ticket support. I think that will benefit you alot. Please dont take this as a discouragement but just trying to help you out, Good luck with your hosting buisness.

Dustin

You keep putting Irl what does it mean?

Oh and you have a few typos on your website and 1 place where you substitute the word one for the number 1. It put me right off to be honest.


If I were buying web hosting I wouldn't have a problem with your age (im 15 btw), I would have a problem with how your servers are setup. With your current setup you have a few single points of failure. For the price of the internet connections you could probably colo those servers.

The ISP package are the cheap part, To have 6 seperate internet connections he will have to have 6 seperate phone lines that is a lot of money a quarter.

If your age was revealed, I think some people would not host with you. Not trying to say that you arent good...

For all I know, you could be as good as I am, or better, wouldnt be shocked. But when people say "I have 20 years experience, host with me", and you say "im 16, host with me".. what would you think if you were a customer?

I believe you can do it dude, shoot for the stars!

Omg, your right, I've just looked it up on whois, but this isnt right. I have the servers right next me, I've been working on these servers for the last 6 weeks. I've even had to get-to-grips with redhat to put on them and everything.

And osCommerence is the only online shop-platform I could find that would work on these servers.

Check the image, Its all these... I cant work this 1 out, help?

In all honesty I am not comfortable with the way those servers are stored, They appear to be sitting on a wooden box. I do have one question that I am sure has not been asked yet, Why dont you look into co-location?

Also I do not think that age is important. When I first started off I was 17, I had my parents registar the business name and sign up for the single reseller account that I used at the time (Of couse I gave them the money)

When I turned 18, I transfered everything to myself.

I am in my mid twenties now and have learned ALOT, Unlike some of the others in this forum, I would not be opposed to host with someone who is 16 as long as they are planning to be in for the long run and not Fly By Night. I too have 2 rack servers at home, but they are only used for stanging and development testing.

I'm not too worried about your age, but the location of your servers, hanging off a broadband connection, would seriously worry me.

You also need to take a long, hard look at your website, correct typo's & misinformation
(PHP stands for Personal Home Page in surport.html)

You've got appreciate the OP's enthusiasm. He's obviously over-looked some of the core fundamentals, but he's atleast tried to make the efforts. However, with that being said, his current business model is flawed and will need to be completely re-thought out.

@jwebhost: I can't agree with BluewaveHosted enough. Real knowledge is gained through experience, doing some work experience at an established web host will be a real eye-opener -- You should head on over to the employment requests forums to see if there's someone willing to take you on.

Having looked at your website I cant help feel it looks rather "Im a 16 year old wanting a quik buck" (Im not saying this is true).


The logo? :o



from: surport.html
ASP are extreemly secure


Surely it is ASP is....


PHP: Personal Home Page is a scripting language designed for producing dynamic web pages. PHP is free software that is released under the PHP License, however it is incompatible with the GNU - General Public License (GPL). It has a 'brother' script PHPBB is used to create online Bulletin Board or "Forum" as it now known as.


PHP and PHPBB are brother scripts?

Charging for WordPress, Joomla, PHPBB etc is silly. Your competitors will more than likely have some auto-installer too do this for free1


Im sorry but we could go through the site and pick errors on every page. Take some more time on design and content.

I like BluewaveHosted idea, I have looked around for places for work, but not much luck. I keep getting the same reply, "We thank-you for your interest, but you are too young to be under our IT management".

Irl try and fix all the listed problems you guys have presented. But i see where the concern is with my age.

And its not a wooden box btw, Its my wardrobe XD.

Do you mind if I ask what control panel you are using and what your uplink speed is?

Sure, I am using ensim Controll panel, and I have around 900 kb/s upload speed, and around about 1 TB tras. speed between the servers. But I've just installed 4 new network cards on my servers, so i need to do a check on their upload speeds. Why do you want to know may i ask?

Sure, I am using ensim Controll panel, and I have around 900 kb/s upload speed, and around about 1 TB tras. speed between the servers. But I've just installed 4 new network cards on my servers, so i need to do a check on their upload speeds. Why do you want to know may i ask?

900kbps is basically nothing if you want to do web hosting. I'm not one to judge based on age but the way you've come about with this hosting venture really doesn't generate much confidence and I highly recommend setting this idea aside for the future if you remain interested.

Ask for an internship. Look around on WHT's employment forums.

I'm not entirely sure where to begin. Ok, I'll start off with the first thing I saw. Which was your design. You really need to rethink your design and the methods you use in your site. Marquee (moving text) is not a good thing to have in a web page. I suggest you check out some templates available for hosting companies and get some ideas from them.

The second thing is the amount of spelling, punctuation and general mistakes you have. PHP stands for Hypertext Pre-Processor, not Personal Home Page. phpBB itself is not a programming language, but rather a piece of software developed in the PHP language. These are two rather key differences.

The third and probably the most important thing in the web hosting business, is never do it from home. Ever. If you want to be a professional company, invest in quality hardware and hosting. You do not have the facilities in your bedroom that a data centre has. Things like redundant cooling, backup generators and multiple backbone fibre connections. Your servers are at 4mb/s? You will find most web hosts have servers at 100mb/s to 1gb/s. Data centres themselves can have huge internet connections compared to a home connection.

My main point is this: Research, learn, then do. I can't help but echo earlier suggestions for you to get an apprenticeship at a currently working web host and learn the ropes that way. It's not your age that would stop me from signing up with you, it's your presentation. Even if you were a web host for 10 years and you had a site like that, I would immediately leave and never return. Sorry, but I feel it's necessary for you to be given an honest reply rather than me talking rubbish and you believing all is good.

You keep putting Irl what does it mean?

Oh and you have a few typos on your website and 1 place where you substitute the word one for the number 1. It put me right off to be honest.




The ISP package are the cheap part, To have 6 seperate internet connections he will have to have 6 seperate phone lines that is a lot of money a quarter.

He's fortunate enough to have cable. If he didn't, he could have 6 lines and still not get 4mbit upload. ;)

For cable though, you don't need multiple lines to have multiple connections.

I have 5 broadband Lines, 1 line into each of the servers, and 1 into my desktop.

Which means you have no redundancy. You may have 5 lines but they all tie into the same cable just outside your house and travel along a single point of failure all the way to your ISP.

Zero redundancy is still zero redundancy.

If 1 Fails:
All theservers are interlaced with each other, so if 1 we're to fail, the others take over. Overall, there are about 46 cables connecting just the servers together.

You still have zero redundancy, even if you had 47000 cables connecting the servers together.

How about power? Do you have a UPS for each of those machines and a backup generator in case a power outage lasts longer than the UPS battery time?

How about cooling? Is the room air conditioned? Heat is a hardware killer.

How about basic air circulation? With those servers stacked on top of each other it doesn't look like there's any possibility of circulation.

You may not be concerned, but how about insurance? Not just business insurance, but insurance for the servers themselves in case there is a fire, water damage or theft. Will your home insurance cover those servers? Probably not because most home insurance policies specifically exclude business assets.

How about physical security? You say you're away at college so those servers are sitting there and anyone could do anything they want. That should be a big concern.

We don't need to go even further into business licensing, taxes, liability etc etc etc.

Seriously, I'm not trying to trash you because of your age, it's because of the way you have decided to run your business. I think you would be better off to get it all setup at home, and then go rent a half rack somewhere and have them host it for you.

So, having my age revealed would put you off hosting with me?

Just for the WHT community, we have seen WAY too many young "entrepreneurs" that burned copious amounts of customers, not intentionally, but just from not understanding general business best practices, both from a technical aspect and CSR.

Anything is possible, but just keep it real. Use quality equipment, have a tested DR system that measures in hours, not days (or weeks).
Do what you say you will do, integrity is a must when someone is buying service from someone that is younger than both of MY sons.

When problems do arise, handle it professionally, be up front about everything that is not a security risk to divulge...keep your customers honestly informed.
They would rather hear "I'll have you back online in 12 hours" and it actually happens, rather than silence or "I'll have you back in 2 hours" and it takes 10 (or more).

From some other similar-aged hosts that have bombed quite publicly, I just say:
- Raid 1 is *not* a backup solution.
- Overloaded servers are overloaded servers, not matter how you try to explain it.
- Keep confidential data safe and secure, no matter what. Guard your customers payment data just like is was your own.
- Don't get in shouting matches with customers, especially on a public PERMANENT forum. This will do you more damage than any right you may thing you are entitled to.

You may be 16, but you need to act with a business head at least twice that age to give customers what they need.

Great loads of luck to you. I wish more young men your age would think like this, rather than "oh, i got a hundred bucks, I think i'll go buy a new X-box game. huh huh. huh huh."

Okay. This thread has made me lol..

Someone has been reading way to much dslwebserver.com.

Get some proper colo before your headaches start.

This thread isn't serious right? Did I really just see 4 servers stacked on top of each other in a closet without a door?

This thread isn't serious right? Did I really just see 4 servers stacked on top of each other in a closet without a door?

...and they appear to be some older Cobalt Raqs.....oh oh....

Well I started my hosting business when I was younger than 16 but you just have to be more realistic and start off with a hosting reseller then work your way up to Dedicated or Colo if you get there. There is no way your going to be able to have a stable company or network when you are trying to host your clients on your DSL/Cable internet connection. If you have enough money saved up right now I would recommend finding a colocation solution with an established datacenter so that you can offer your clients a stable network connection and better power supply to the servers, also there will be proper cooling for those servers.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do!

You can think of taking BluewaveHosted's advice seriously. I wish you the best for your future.

If you need to practice, we can offer you a position in the sales/customer support (Level 0-1) dept. so you can see first hand what possible customers ask, how do they approach a hosting company, what are the main questions they need answered etc

It would be a fair start for you to directly get in touch with your future customers. And it would not be a non-paid position. PM me if interested.

So, having my age revealed would put you off hosting with me?

Your spelling and grammar would prevent many from wanting to purchases hosting services from you.

I'm not nitpicking, I am deadly serious. Appearances mean a lot. Sloppy on the simple stuff suggests sloppy elsewhere too.

You've got loads of enthusiasm and that, at your age, can only build as you learn more. Take some of the wise advice being offered here; intern with an established provider - you'll learn lots. Temper any thoughts you have about somehow "missing out" if you don't get going right away, because it is better to start a journey a year or two from now on the right path than straight away on the wrong trail. You are currently on the wrong trail my friend.

Cheers

Im glad you are nitpicking. Someone has to be brutally hounest about it, and tell me whats wrong with it. Now i know whats wrong, what needs to be improved and checked. I have some idea now how become better, more presentable and everything else that follows. Thanks mwatkins

I can sure say "Bravo!" for your honesty and desire to learn.

=] Thanks. If you give me about 2 weeks, you'll see how much of an improvement there is and tell me if its any better.

Just to share my story.


I'm 17. and I'm planning to start my hosting company.

I have a total of $3000 for my initial investment.

I currently have 3 VPS Servers. Purchased from Wiredtree, Linode and SolarVPS. 2 Linux & 1 Win Server 2003. Which has Cpanel and Plesk Panels.

for my billing system, I have already signed up for WHMCS and for the addons of Cpanel, I also got Fantastico.

I'm now in the process of applying to be a domain reseller. ENOM and Directi Reseller Club are my choices but I need to add additional investments.

for the support, I can manage to give phone support, online chat and mobile messages.

also, to make my webhosting site to have a professional look. I'll be hiring a designer to customize the looks and feel of my site & customization of WHMCS.

I'm planning to launch this company to be live on December since I'm still fixing things up. :)


Good luck to us Jwebhost! :)

Yea, good luck to you too bud, Irl add you, so if you need help or i need help, swap tips and tricks?

Just to share my story.


I'm 17. and I'm planning to start my hosting company.

I have a total of $3000 for my initial investment.

I currently have 3 VPS Servers. Purchased from Wiredtree, Linode and SolarVPS. 2 Linux & 1 Win Server 2003. Which has Cpanel and Plesk Panels.

for my billing system, I have already signed up for WHMCS and for the addons of Cpanel, I also got Fantastico.

I'm now in the process of applying to be a domain reseller. ENOM and Directi Reseller Club are my choices but I need to add additional investments.

for the support, I can manage to give phone support, online chat and mobile messages.

also, to make my webhosting site to have a professional look. I'll be hiring a designer to customize the looks and feel of my site & customization of WHMCS.

I'm planning to launch this company to be live on December since I'm still fixing things up. :)


Good luck to us Jwebhost! :)

So you can start with a "Merry Hosting Christmas Opening Deal Sale" :)

@Bluewavehosted.

Yes. Exactly.


Web hosting companies here in the Philippines are really expensive and unreliable. I'm planning to make a change.

You say that you're using multiple Virgin Media broadband connections, which might seem like a decent idea. What is going to happen though when Virgin announce an "Unplanned Outage" in the Oxford area? That will leave you with no internet connection at all for a few hours. Or what happens when your parents are doing the garden and accidentally put a shovel through the incoming cable (Now that might sound silly but I used to work for Virgin and you'd be surprised how often it happens, the cables are usually only 4-6 inches deep or so).. that would require a "repull" which is likely to leave you with no internet for up to 2 weeks. Virgin will not give 2 hoots that you have 50 customers relying on that internet connection as it's a residential service.

There's nothing wrong with your desire to set up your own business, I think you just need to give it a little more thought. :)

Lol, I agree, The cables are just like every telephone / broadband cable, except from our house there are 6 cables going to the terminal.

And Internet Outages I doubt, but there is still a possiblity. My reason is because Richard Brandson has a house here in Oxford, also Virgin has the strongest Internet connection and is the most used tele-coms company in Oxford.

I would suggest you get a vps though.

first, It will give you much power with less expenses

Ah okey, I can see your point, I'll think about it.

Security, Performance, Redundancy. A data center has all 3, a home network might have 1 of the 3 at best.

Just to share my story,

I'm only 18, I started when I was 14 years old. I've just got my own office space, currently employing 2 people, but now holding interviews to employ another 2-4 people, I'm also in talks with the Welsh Assembly Government to bring a 40-60gbit cable into Wales which 20gbit would go to our own Datacentre, but hosting welsh companies and operations etc and the other 20-40gbit would goto schools etc.

Just because your 16, don't let other people put you down, i didn't and look where i am now. If people are going to put you down, don't do business with them, because trust me, they want to see you fail and will put extra pressure on you. If you put your mind to it, you will succeed.

All the best,
Nathaniel

Thanks Nathaniel, you too, all the best of luck for your business. :)

Hi!
Ok..I can't stay silent about this. Hosting at home cannot work..period. Does your broadband provider know you're doing this? THe answer is no, right? One spammer is all it's going to take and your hosting "business" is toast. No..wait..not even that..broadband companies monitor usage patterns. I suspect you'll get a letter before you have your first spammer.

Don't do this. Please. DO a search on previous young people who have tried and failed most miserably. In recent memory:

Crissic and Skylar
Vaguhost and Jeffrey

Many others I don't know about..please..stop.

Bryon

Hi!
Ok..I can't stay silent about this. Hosting at home cannot work..period. Does your broadband provider know you're doing this? THe answer is no, right? One spammer is all it's going to take and your hosting "business" is toast. No..wait..not even that..broadband companies monitor usage patterns. I suspect you'll get a letter before you have your first spammer.

Don't do this. Please. DO a search on previous young people who have tried and failed most miserably. In recent memory:

Crissic and Skylar
Vaguhost and Jeffrey

Many others I don't know about..please..stop.

Bryon

Agree, Dont use your home ISP as your interweb connection. Your upload bandwidth is never your download bandwidth, probally only about 5%. I myself at home is on a 20mbit connection so i download at about 2mb/secs, but i will only ever really upload between 70-90kb/s.

Also what happens if you have a power cut?

At home hosting is just a big joke, DONT DO IT!

Hi!
I've been thinking (dangerous!) about this further. I think you need to think outside the box on this. Hosts need things..why not make something they can use? I could care less in my control panel software is solid and supported but the code was written and maintained by a 5 year old sea urchin! Well..that's a bit much but hey..you get the point.

Bryon

You must remember if you do gain customers, you could be hosting someones business and life/income depends on their website. Any downtime would cost them, and you ! They would soon be on the phone to you saying where is my site, its been down for 10 mins and cost me $$$$.
If it was possiable to host 1000's of websites from home on a broadband connection, there would be no multi-million pound data centers, and everyone one would be doing it. I think you have read somewhere that you can host a website from home. Yes you can, maybe one that just has a plain html homepage with a picture of their dog. No real company could use you for hosting.
If they find it is hosted at home and by a 16 year old would make them move to another host, if you were lucky to get a customer in the first place. Their is so many reason not to use broadband. Even if you do get 100Mb MIA WES fibre to your house, it still would not work as a business.
The power and air temp will be a problem when you get more and more customers. Not forgetting the noise.
Starting a business at 16 for web hosting is not a bad idea. Go for it. But do it correctly to be sucessful. Use a datacenter and locate your servers in there.

Russ

Personally, I've got nothing against your age, but I hate to see people with so little experience getting into business for themselves. I've been in this industry for over 10 years and I'm just beginning to think about being in business for myself. I still freak out when I come across a server log message that I haven't seen before. The world of hosting has changed dramatically since I started, and now any monkey--please note, I'm not calling you a monkey, just referring to the simplicity of web hosting software these days--can get up and running with a few thousand (or hundreds) of dollars.

What ease-of-use in software doesn't give you is the experience needed to really understand your network inside and out, troubleshoot problems, and deal with clients in a professional manner.

I have no doubt that you're a talented individual, and you've certainly got ambition. What I'd like to see you learn is judgment. Unfortunately, errors in judgment in your own company can be disastrous. You should try to apprentice somewhere first. I'd recommend a small company where you will be more exposed to the day-to-day decisions that are made by the business owner. Every day that you go into work, you should be thinking, "how would I run this company?" When your judgment differs from the managers or business owners, try to understand why. Spend some time seeing a business through their eyes.

Finally, you don't necessary need a degree to run a business, but I would at least take some courses in network engineering and business management. If you get in with the right company, they may even pay for part of the tuition.

If you're wise, $x,xxx now can be $xx,xxx in five years. Then you'll have experience, leadership and much better financial footing to launch your own business. And, at 22, you'll still be way ahead of the game for starting a business.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but I hope you are keeping an open mind. Remember, it's all about the end game--what's best for your business/life in the long run. Anything worth doing is worth doing right, beware of instant gratification, and add your own cliche here...

Hi!
One more thing I would like to add..and it is a biggie:

1. In my opinion..you need to be a web hosting customer for quite a few months before even considering becoming a web host yourself.

Sign up for a few shared accounts..maybe even a reseller or two. What do they do right? What would you chamge? How would you do it better?

Bryon

Could this post get the longest for this week-end I wonder? :)

Personally, I've got nothing against your age, but I hate to see people with so little experience getting into business for themselves. I've been in this industry for over 10 years and I'm just beginning to think about being in business for myself. I still freak out when I come across a server log message that I haven't seen before. The world of hosting has changed dramatically since I started, and now any monkey--please note, I'm not calling you a monkey, just referring to the simplicity of web hosting software these days--can get up and running with a few thousand (or hundreds) of dollars.

What ease-of-use in software doesn't give you is the experience needed to really understand your network inside and out, troubleshoot problems, and deal with clients in a professional manner.

I have no doubt that you're a talented individual, and you've certainly got ambition. What I'd like to see you learn is judgment. Unfortunately, errors in judgment in your own company can be disastrous. You should try to apprentice somewhere first. I'd recommend a small company where you will be more exposed to the day-to-day decisions that are made by the business owner. Every day that you go into work, you should be thinking, "how would I run this company?" When your judgment differs from the managers or business owners, try to understand why. Spend some time seeing a business through their eyes.

Finally, you don't necessary need a degree to run a business, but I would at least take some courses in network engineering and business management. If you get in with the right company, they may even pay for part of the tuition.

If you're wise, $x,xxx now can be $xx,xxx in five years. Then you'll have experience, leadership and much better financial footing to launch your own business. And, at 22, you'll still be way ahead of the game for starting a business.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but I hope you are keeping an open mind. Remember, it's all about the end game--what's best for your business/life in the long run. Anything worth doing is worth doing right, beware of instant gratification, and add your own cliche here...

Great Advice. :)

The key to this business is planning and managing your business right.
you must invest a lot of effort, time and patience to be sucessful.

and you should always treat your customers as valuable as a diamond.

Investment is a must too, you might want to consider getting or even renting a dedicated or vps server instead of using your home servers as it will be more reliable, more powerful and best of all, you can save electricity, data&phone costs, plus you will be getting T1 connections from different providers.

also, I would like to suggest to make your site look more professional. Having a great site attracts clients as they will see how professional you are thru your site's design.

You must also provide affordable prices but make sure your customers/clients are getting 100% satisfaction. If you give them that, they will recommend you to their friends, family & colleagues. by "word-of-mouth" for me, this is the greatest form of advertising you can get as they are free and surely, you will get clients based on your present client's recommendation.

for the support, you must provide a 24/7 fast response support team. You can hire someone to do it for you if you can't. :)

Don't be afraid to invest thousands of dollars. Yes, there might be possibilities you loose that money but hey, the experience is what really matters.

also, I would suggest you get Cpanel & Plesk for your Panels. as for the Billing get WHMCS.

Cpanel will cost you around $15/month and WHMCS @ $15-20 /month lease.

---

I can see what you mean by any old-bean can just do web-hosting these days, It is simple if you go for a reseller, but I want to learn and have the stuggel of starting from scratch.

And I already have 4 customers. So far, my only complaint is my bad grammar through-out, writing is not my strong point, as most of you noticed. But they are happy with the upload speed, access speed & customer servcie.

My broadband lines are working perfectly, no back-log and Yes, Virgin do know I am a home ‘business’, which is why it cost me £40 for them to upgrade the phone line terminal for me in those green metal box’s in the street.

I'll be blunt here and then tell you what you need to do to become successful at this.


The blunt part:

Professional webhosts find it insulting when new and inexperienced people form "web hosting companies" overnight. Your infrastructure is poor and has serious points of failure at the moment. Professional hosts use datacenters with multiple internet service providers, failover power supplies, offsite backups, massive cooling systems, and other high grade services to ensure their customers data is safe and reliable. Hosting servers from your house is absolutely unacceptable. Having said that, let me point you in the right direction.


What you should do:

Since you have a stack of servers, you can easily rent rack space from a datacenter. They will provide the right environment for your machines to be safely stored. Take some time to learn about DNS and linux server administration. Don't jump in until you're confident that you know what you're doing. Getting domains setup, solving email problems, and fixing unexpected server issues is typical everyday behavior for webhosts.


Don't take any of this personally, I'm just being straight forward here. With your passion, I think you would make a great webhost once you figure the ins and outs of it.


Andrew

You have a good point about renting out a server rack in a data center, I might take-up that idea, Thanks :)

And i can see how they can get annoyed at people like me, but im just a kid who wants to try things. If this hosting fails then it fails and irl pay the bills, but if it works, irl Make it work better. But i like that idea of rent a server race, might work out better.

And i can see how they can get annoyed at people like me, but im just a kid who wants to try things. If this hosting fails then it fails and irl pay the bills, but if it works, irl Make it work better.

When your servers go offline, you're not just damaging your business but you're damaging your customers business as well. This industry is polluted enough with careless hosts and we are all not interested in anymore.

I think I speak for the majority when I say that if you're serious, then welcome to the hosting industry and we'll be glad to show you around. But if you're not serious then just don't do this. It's not worth the headache.

I am serious about this. I've given it some thought, and I've done some re-search and looked around at products, and I have come up with a plan. once i have enough money (around £1,500) Im going to invest in a "Eaton 9130i 2kVA T-XL" UPS which can surport all my servers and a better cooling system, OR more my servers into a data centre.

I stared my hosting business when i was 13 and had no problems ^^ . If you are dedicated things always seem to work out

I try my best :) And i agree, if you are dedicated to something, it does work out.

I don't think the issue here is age its redundancy, if Virgin face an issue in your area you will have a big problem (assuming all the lines are Virgin). Also what happens if you have a power cut?

I don't think the issue here is age its redundancy, if Virgin face an issue in your area you will have a big problem (assuming all the lines are Virgin). Also what happens if you have a power cut?

You quickly empty your paypal account and hide in your mom's basement duh ^^

C'mon. Let's just wish him all the best for his business.

If he is really dedicated with his company, he will soon realize his needs and colocate or rent servers.

for the meantime, Let's just appreciate his efforts to be in this business.

no other kid can pay 5 phone lines and Electricity bills monthly for running servers in his closet. :)

C'mon. Let's just wish him all the best for his business.
I quite agree :)

I can understand people getting annoyed at a child (hate using that word in this context; you can get awful adult businessmen/woman too) who is a fly-by-night operator, hasn't registered for self employment/business etc.

However the OP has built the servers himself, is paying for a relatively expensive (for a home user) internet connection set-up, and is making a loss at the moment - that's better than 99% of hosting start-ups out there by 'children' (again, don't like using that word; when I was 15/16 I had a major, <100,000 Alexa ranked website)

I quite agree :)

I can understand people getting annoyed at a child (hate using that word in this context; you can get awful adult businessmen/woman too) who is a fly-by-night operator, hasn't registered for self employment/business etc.

However the OP has built the servers himself, is paying for a relatively expensive (for a home user) internet connection set-up, and is making a loss at the moment - that's better than 99% of hosting start-ups out there by 'children' (again, don't like using that word; when I was 15/16 I had a major, <100,000 Alexa ranked website)

I agree as well, On this term the word "Children" is not always used to discribe physical age, it is often use to describe maturity. I do think that the OP is slightly beyond his phisical age in the matrity contest. I defintely would wish him well, he has great potential.

However If I were him, I would look into co-location. Looking at the money that you are planning to put into your business, it could actually SAVE you money. Co-Location normally comes with HV/AC, Redundant Power and multiple connections. Most Co-Location locations give you access to your servers by appointment (and some on a walk in basis)

Just remember jwebhost. There is not one man or woman here in this forum including myself that literally popped out of our mothers womb, jumped off the table and headed to the nearest data center to take control of a server array.

We all started somewhere. We all recall the early days of mastering our craft and some sleepless nights it brings. You have an entrepreneurial sprit and that is what counts. Desire and dedication are the fuel for the long days and nights.

Also do follow the messages you are seeing here about professionalism, infrastructure etc. WHT is a great place for mentoring and a good mentor is what will get you past the rough spots. It is quite true anyone can get into this business. The barriers for entry are very low so it can promote some very unprofessional behavior overall with all sorts of people becoming web hosts and burning clients like a wildfire in California.

Your clients depend on you. Don't fail them.

Just remember jwebhost. There is not one man or woman here in this forum including myself that literally popped out of our mothers womb, jumped off the table and headed to the nearest data center to take control of a server array.

Well thats the story my mother tells me about my birth. :)

Jokes aside, I completely agree with you on that one

C'mon. Let's just wish him all the best for his business.

If he is really dedicated with his company, he will soon realize his needs and colocate or rent servers.

for the meantime, Let's just appreciate his efforts to be in this business.

no other kid can pay 5 phone lines and Electricity bills monthly for running servers in his closet. :)

Funny...I'm pretty sure he came here for tough advice, not a love-fest. I haven't read any criticism/opinion here that wasn't looking out for his best interests. You don't do anyone any favors by looking at a system that--as was pointed out earlier--has a "number of failure points" and saying, "Hey good for you! Good luck!"

@j--You've taken some tough criticism here, and you've taken it well. We all DO wish you luck, and I hope you realize the warnings, etc. are all because no one here wants to see you get burned.

Funny...I'm pretty sure he came here for tough advice, not a love-fest. I haven't read any criticism/opinion here that wasn't looking out for his best interests. You don't do anyone any favors by looking at a system that--as was pointed out earlier--has a "number of failure points" and saying, "Hey good for you! Good luck!"

@j--You've taken some tough criticism here, and you've taken it well. We all DO wish you luck, and I hope you realize the warnings, etc. are all because no one here wants to see you get burned.

PCP sir PCP

I spose, Irl try and make a sales system on here now. I thought about the Live surport, but Im at collage 16 hours a week, so i cant do that. Thats why i provide other forms or contact. I know its a down-fall, but its only me doing it.

You can easly do 2 things.

Thing 1. Set up a email make it public
Thing 2. Pay someone if you got the money.

Ahh sometime ago i found a company that outsourced support for cheap, but i cant remember the website. I'm sure if you try to search for that you can find a nice alternative.

Wow I would just like to thank everyone for replying in this post with some good advice really helped me even though I'm not the OP wish you the best of luck dude with your company

I'm off to get some server from kimsufi need to practise and learn

The OP has been provided with a huge amount of very useful & serious advise,
it's been given free, please do not not consider it as worthless, but priceless.

Now, a few comments of my own:
Your trading based in the UK, so firstly, you'll need to set up an adult to enter into any legal contract on your behalf.
You MUST familiarise yourself with tax & business laws, one that screams out is the lack of an address on your website, this is a legal requirement when you are 'distance selling'.

Others have recommended some 'hosting workplace training', I agree with that, but I'd rather see you undertake some 'business training' first.

I think you'll need to undertake a few reality checks before you go much further, you have tons of optimism, enthusiasm etc. but you do come across as having 'narrow' technical skills, no hosting experience, no business experience and, with respect, limited life experience.

If that sounds harsh, I'm only trying to react to what I can see on your site & in this thread.

A peice of wordly wisdom which I would ask you to take on board:

We are created[evolved if you prefer] with only 1 mouth, but with 2 ears,
because it's twice as important to listern as it is to talk.

Good Luck with your life.

oh and one more thing, perhaps you should invest in a custom template, or a pre-made one that isn't free

To be honest, if those are Cobalt RaQ servers then I'd spend that £1500 on new machine or two than a UPS.

Unless I'm wrong, those things only go up to around 1.2ghz (at which point they stopped making them).

Some of the cable claims seems a bit iffy (not to mention the 1TB between servers), and if what you say is true, would it not be better to balance one or two connections with a higher upload speed between all four machines? It's not like you have redundancy anyway, especially since I can't imagine you actually having six cable lines.

Isn't business cable a 20mbit download with a 1mbit download at around £25 a month? Perhaps I'm wrong there, but if so then it'd be cheaper to colocate?

To be honest, if those are Cobalt RaQ servers then I'd spend that £1500 on new machine or two than a UPS.

Unless I'm wrong, those things only go up to around 1.2ghz (at which point they stopped making them).

Some of the cable claims seems a bit iffy (not to mention the 1TB between servers), and if what you say is true, would it not be better to balance one or two connections with a higher upload speed between all four machines? It's not like you have redundancy anyway, especially since I can't imagine you actually having six cable lines.

Isn't business cable a 20mbit download with a 1mbit download at around £25 a month? Perhaps I'm wrong there, but if so then it'd be cheaper to colocate?

He mentioned those being from Sun Microsystems and they do indeed look like older Sun servers which would make them SPARC. So I do question the legitimacy of his claims unless he has OpenBSD or something installed. Solaris 8/9 maybe 10 if he upgraded isn't just something you wake-up and decide to configure without prior knowledge. His website name has been removed but I'd love to get a web server version check to see if they are really running from home or at the ISP which previous posts revealed a local hosting company serving the website and not a cable connection.

Even with 6 "cable" lines, the reality is they are probably all from the same provider. Same line, same fiber node, feeding the RG-56 into the house. If a tree falls, fiber breaks, you still have an outage. No redundancy.

I hate to be skeptical but we've seen this so many times before... some kid saying that he's only 16 - and claiming to host hundreds of sites! And the reality is they have no paying customers and the ones they pick-up by posting and lying on forums, such as these, end up losing their data and money because the kid lost interest.

I started in this business when I was 18 years old. It was fun starting out and being able to learn lots of stuff. It helped me grow up which was a good thing. I was earning money while all my friends were looking for jobs. Provide a quality service and treat the clients right and you are good to go.

Wow!

Thats pretty impressive. Keep up the good work dude!

I started in the hosting business at 15, I'm now 18 and own and operate my fully redundant wireless / fiber (lease) network.

My friend manages all our servers, as i give him free internet, so that's a pretty good score.

We use Mikrotik and Ubiquiti products. And Host our own servers in a shipping container with cooling and UPS behind our building, its secure.

As for our network, we have multihomed peering. All connected via 80mbit full duplex wireless with some clients using fibre.

Maybe you could buy up the left over lines or get virgin to put in fibre for you, and run it into a proper minicabin / garden shed.

"weres you servers hosted?, Yes in my fully redudant garden shed" nows thats inovation.

Keep it up, this is the best thing ive read all week.

Sam

So, having my age revealed would put you off hosting with me?

It probably would put people off hosting with you. Although you probably know quite a bit, it will be hard to let people know they can trust you running a business by yourself.

For example, if someone had the choice to go with a business such as HostGator, they would probably go to them instead of you as HG are a well known and respected company.

IMO your background image is huge and you should go with a pattern
http://www.jwebhost.co.uk/images/background.JPG

IMO your background image is huge and you should go with a pattern
http://www.jwebhost.co.uk/images/background.JPG

Is that the Winblows 7 background image?

I believe it is.

Is this really hosted on a home server?

It loaded just 3 seconds! and I'm from the Philippines. wow.

wow, well i couldn't even tell you. Im on a mac.

I believe it is.

Is this really hosted on a home server?

It loaded just 3 seconds! and I'm from the Philippines. wow.

He does claim to have an impressive connection, If he has not decided to colo it by now (this post is a bit old), then he might actually pull off a sucessful business.

His website is hosted on web107.extendcp.co.uk, a shared server.

His website is hosted on web107.extendcp.co.uk, a shared server.

If your right, then he moved it to a standard reseller account. I believe that server belogns to Heart?

Didn't he mention earlier on page 1-2 about him not being on heart? And him actually having his own servers?

You will be fine at age 16 as long as you act professional and never tell people your age outright. I started when I was 16 and was able to make a very successful business.

I will warn you though - right now this young you are probably telling yourself that you can easily stick with it.

However, when you get around 18-20 is when you will start to have conflicts of interest. You will want to get out of the house, spend time with friends, go to parties, etc. While you are in school now, it is easy because you have plenty of time to work on your business.

This happened to me when I first started.

I came out of the gate real strong and made a really big hosting company. However around age 20 I started to want to get out of the house and hang out with my friends and go to parties and what not. So my interest in my hosting business began to shrink as I went out more and more.

If you can control yourself, you will do fine. Just act professional, offer a really good service, and stick with it and you will make bank.

As for the local side of things, because of your age, I recommend you stay online. You will scare a lot of people off in person only because you are young and they wont take you seriously.

I started my web design business when I was 15, and since then have never looked back. I'm in college now, and my business has grown exponentially - my company just recently hit 150 clients (many of which have used us for multiple projects). We're actually looking into starting a web hosting business in partnership with Rackspace, who we've used for years to host our web design clients. My advice to you would be, as others have said, act professional, and dedicate yourself to your business. It's never easy to start up a company, let alone when you're a teenager, but once you start getting some clients, your business will really take off (assuming all is well). However, if you're not going to provide quality services, then you won't get very far. Personally, I don't believe it's very possible to run a successful hosting business off of a home server - particularly due to stability/uptime reasons - but maybe that's just me. Best of luck to you!

Nope, i dont use their servers, I registered my domain with heart, but i have own servers. I didnt like the 1's they have at heart, their server specs are quite low.

As a UK host with 10 years experience, a UK web host must have contact details on their site (company name, Company Address, Phone number, email address)you can check with with the OFT, trading Standards or even business link.
also if you are serious about web hosting get rid of the OSC template you are using for your order page and get something like Clientexec or WHMCS.

Yes, your age would put me off.

It could also be a problem due to legality such as the ability to enter a contract depending on your countries laws, et cetera. I would like to deal business, as a customer, with people of age.

In the UK anyone under 18 years of age cannot enter into any contract.

In the UK anyone under 18 years of age cannot enter into any contract.

That is not correct; see this thread (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=874079) for details of why.

That is not correct; see this thread (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=874079) for details of why.
mind saying? Im going to sleep and cant really read through 8 pages :-)

8 pages? That's a one page thread for me. ;)

Some of the more informative posts from that thread (oldest first):
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showpost.php?p=6275159&postcount=16
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showpost.php?p=6276757&postcount=25
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showpost.php?p=6279491&postcount=32

IANAL. Contact your legal council for any serious advice.

8 pages? That's a one page thread for me. ;)

Some of the more informative posts from that thread (oldest first):
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showpost.php?p=6275159&postcount=16
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showpost.php?p=6276757&postcount=25
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showpost.php?p=6279491&postcount=32

IANAL. Contact your legal council for any serious advice.

odd its telling me 8 but the rest are just blank... thanks lol I have always wanted to know to although I dont really mind going with a host thats legal or not as long as they can provide what they offer with uptime

I dont really mind going with a host thats legal or not as long as they can provide what they offer with uptime

:eek:

That's a whole other discussion.

:eek:

That's a whole other discussion.

yep.... time to go to sleep or bring other things into the topic for no reason.


Although if your 15 or under * from the uk contract link* could a contract be enforced if the parent agrees to it?

yep.... time to go to sleep or bring other things into the topic for no reason.


Although if your 15 or under * from the uk contract link* could a contract be enforced if the parent agrees to it?
Please contact your legal council for professional advice, as IANAL. ;)

Again, information provided on this forum is in no way professional legal advice; when you need advice, your best bet is to always go to your local legal services or council, and ask them.

That is not correct; see this thread (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=874079) for details of why.

you tell me to look at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=874079 which states

It's illegal because in the UK you have to be 18 to legally bind to a contract with another person/party.

if you contact trading standards, OFT or any solicitor in the UK they will all tell you that unless you are 18 years of age you CANNOT enter into any contract. this is a legal fact.

Well, as long as its legal I see no problem with that.

P.S. Keep professional, you've got a few spelling mistakes on your site. (support not surpport)

Well, as long as its legal I see no problem with that.

P.S. Keep professional, you've got a few spelling mistakes on your site. (support not surpport)

who says its legal?

It is ILLEGAL for anyone under 18 years of age in the UK and USA to enter into any contract see

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/At_what_age_can_one_enter_into_a_legal_contract

"The age of majority in most states is 18. Legally, unless they have been emancipated, anyone below the age of 18 cannot enter into a contract."

As far as Im aware in the UK you can enter into a contract from any age... However you need parental consent and for them to act on your behalf to make it legally binding and enforceable. As soon as your turn 18 you can enter into contracts yourself.

The only acception to this is when you reach the age of employment at 16. Some contracts which link into the Consumer Credit Act EG: Phone contracts state you MUST be over 18 / an incorporated company.

The other way would be to incorporate a company legally using companies house and use the company name as the contract signer.

http://www.gillhams.com/dictionary/444.cfm

As far as Im aware in the UK you can enter into a contract from any age... However you need parental consent and for them to act on your behalf to make it legally binding and enforceable. As soon as your turn 18 you can enter into contracts yourself.

The only acception to this is when you reach the age of employment at 16. Some contracts which link into the Consumer Credit Act EG: Phone contracts state you MUST be over 18 / an incorporated company.

The other way would be to incorporate a company legally using companies house and use the company name as the contract signer.

http://www.gillhams.com/dictionary/444.cfm

Yes but from 7 to 17 your parents/guardian has to sign the contract to make it legally binding, so in effect it is your parents/guardian entering into the contract and not you. a contract that is not legally binding is worthless

http://www.gillhams.com/dictionary/444.cfm states

The general law states that contracts entered into by children that are for 'necessaries' are binding on children, as are those for apprenticeship, employment, education and service where they are rightly said to be for the benefit of the child. Contracts for necessaries are for the supply of food, medicines, accommodation, clothing, amongst other things but generally excludes conveniences, and products and services for comfort or pleasure. Commercial or 'trading' contracts are excluded. These latter contracts are voidable at the option of the minor, and whether the minor may avoid the contract depends on the nature of the contract

as hosting falls into the latter then it is ILLEGAL for a minor (under 18) to enter into a business/service contract

easyhost1,

The thread I pointed out to you had some incorrect posts, the posts that I linked directly to (unless I hit the wrong ones) tried to clear up those issues. A minor can enter into certain contracts, even without consent of their parents or guardian; minor contract law is for the benefit of the minor, and not the other party. If you need specific legal advice over whether to do business with a minor, contact your legal professional.

Just because a minor can VOID the contract, does not make it illegal. You might want to read the paragraph you quoted again. ;)