Once in awhile I come across a little gem on the internet. Earlier this evening while perusing my regular haunts I happened across a post on Freelanceswitch called “Should you sell hosting?”.

Of course, given my experience in the industry I just had to jump into the pit & toss a few words around. I don’t regret entering the industry myself and I’ve been involved since 2003. It all hasn’t been fun and games though & takes a serious devotion to both your clients and servers.

Despite the thousands of hours sacrificed and countless sleepless nights, overall I’ve enjoyed just about every minute of it — well, minus a few harddrive crashes :)

I tossed my two cents in the ring over at Freelanceswitch, hopefully I’ve at least helped a few out:

To those of you considering entering the web hosting market because of this post: Stop and do some serious research before you jump into the pool.

First off, the hosting industry is quite saturated. There are companies out there paying up to $200 per sales lead — for a client whose annual revenue won’t even exceed half of that. Acquiring clients isn’t as easy as 1-2-3. While you may be able to convert your freelancing jobs & clients into some additional revenue you’ll also have an insane amount of additional responsibility to them.

Imagine having a design client who you need to respond to within 15 minutes at 4 AM when their e-mail becomes available or in the middle of Christmas vacation, dinner or while you’re stuck in traffic on the highway. It’s not all fun & games — and when clients rely on you for mission critical e-mail, data & security — and you fail? Your reputation has just got kicked down a couple of notches.

I’ll admit upfront that I myself got involved in the web hosting industry back in 2003 as a ‘hobby’ provider. For a few years I operated my own smaller <100 client "hobby shop" until going full-time as a support representative for another company in the industry. It's a cutthroat industry that requires attention to detail. I've worked for some of the largest out there -- HostGator & many more..

Again, it's not all fun and games. The industry is however black and white. You're either all in or you're just waiting to get out. There are some serious benefits to it though as it does offer some potential 'passive' income -- but you've got to ensure your servers are monitored 24/7, that you're available 24/7 and that you have some SERIOUS contingency plans in place in the event of a death in the family, your own death or other emergencies.

If you do enter the market, prepare to spend the next few years within inches of a blackberry or laptop. Here's a few valuable posts I would highly recommend reading -- both written by yours truly, of course:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=480474 -- reality check if you're about to start a web hosting provider.

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=480472 -- reality check if you're a web hosting client.

These days, as of earlier this year I went full-time with my own new web hosting company (started in Feb. of 2006). It's been fun but there has been thousands of hours sacrificed on behalf of clients. The margins? Mmm, not all that fantastic -- but I don't do it for the money. I do it to ensure my clients are satisfied & well fed with support.

If you like ramen, hop in. It's a fun ride where you'll spend more on capital gains than you will on yourself ;)

Freelanceswitch – Should you sell hosting?