Did you have a business plan when you started your business?

I

imported_Stephen

New member
Hello
Did you have a business plan when you started your online business?
What did you include in it?
How much research did you do?

It seems a lot of newbies coming onto the scene think that they can start up a full business by getting a reseller plan, charging $1 for unlimitied that and that, upgrading to a dedicated after a few months when they have hundreds of clients and loads of money, without having to do any work or knowing how to use their control panel, nevermind support clients.... :rolleyes:

I think people have to wise up and think about things before them jump into the deep end of starting a business and having people rely on them, even to keep their own business online.

Im sure we can have the right to flame a member that replies saying they didnt have a biz plan and expected to start getting customers to run a business :beathim:

Well....
Add your input :D
 
Stephen said:

Im sure we can have the right to flame a member that replies saying they didnt have a biz plan and expected to start getting customers to run a business :beathim:
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So why would somebody want to post they didn't have a plan and explain why(and what they learned)? So you can flame them? That would sure make me want to post.
 
Well, to be honest I do not have a business plan or plan to write one. For 2 years now I have been hosting and built up some good clients.

As far as support, I do it all. I know the control panel backwards and forwards. I learn by trial and error and it did not take me very long to learn.

It also helps that I have a background in hosting dated in 1998 when some of my friends at work got together a started a hosting service.

Back then there was no control panel or at least none that we could afford. Users, websites, emails were all setup by us the admins from shell. We did have one Linux expert at the time so made it better.

So, I know I should have a business plan but I just go with the flow. I work a full time job also so the hosting is a good extra income source.
 
So why would somebody want to post they didn't have a plan and explain why(and what they learned)? So you can flame them? That would sure make me want to post.
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That was a joke ;)
I know a lot of people started hosting without a business plan.

Robert, doyou not think if you had a business plan you could be a lot bigger now as you have been hosting for 2 years?
You could be doing hosting as your full time business/work if you had a business plan to go along with.

You could set a time when you have a certain amount of customers/getting a set amount of income when you could dedicate to hosting as your full time work and even follow up your local market, advertise, expand etc. etc. and take your hosting business to the next level?
 
I did have a business plan and I got help from someone to do my business plan.
Im still in the very early stages of starting a hosting business though and Im taking my time and going slowly.
I own a lot of sites and a reseller plan was my starting point.
I started my business plan after getting the reseller account and reading around for a good while to see what was involved in running a hosting business, when I read and decided I was interested in following it up, I then got help to write a business plan which Im hoping will help me now, in the near future, and down the road.

I think a business plan is a great idea and needed if you want to expand and grow with hosting being your full time job, as you said Stephen
 
Didn't have one when I started. But, I learned that's a bad idea. A few days ago I sat down with my co-owner and we talked about that, we did sales goals, software stuff, and budget for this year. But, never again will I not go without one, very important. But, I never did unlimited for a buck, what's the point? Your not getting a cent out of that. No profit.
 
Did you have a business plan when you started your online business?

Yes, I did. My company offers various services, and for each service I wrote up a business plan - it's vital if you want your company to be there in the future.

It is true, many people start up "companies" with no business plan, no nothing, yet think they'll end up with a lot of profit in the end - it just isn't the case. You need to firstly make a business plan, it'll help your company become more solid and help it keep on its feet. However, if you don't have a business plan, it isn't the end of the world - but there are very few whom have succeeded.
 
Stephen,

Well, I might one day site down and write one. But, I think my focus will be changing very soon to mainly programming. I like the level where I am with the hosting. It is very low maint right now and does not take up a lot of time.
 
Did you just have the ideas written down or did you have it all together in a business plan?
I think even just having everything you are thinking written down would also help.
Do you think it helped you much Mark?
 
A business plan is not a guarantee that you will be successful. Not having a business plan is also not necessarily saying that your business will fail. There is no one single route to start and plan a new business. A business plan however helps those who need something like a roadmap. It also helps those who like to go back and look at their expectations and re-adjust them. It often helps to make better business decisions.

Chris
 
I am a reseller planning to go with my own server in a few weeks, but when I started I did my research and I did have a business plan. I took my time and after a few months of research and planning, I opened up for business and I am very successful.
 
I'm glad to hear your plan has worked for you gglobehosting. It seems a lot of new hosts are having trouble getting going due to the amount of contest.
 
gooooogle said:
It seems a lot of new hosts are having trouble getting going due to the amount of contest.
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I have some opinions everytime I see a statemenet like this one goooogle.

Many hosts that are failing whether they have a business plan or not, figure they can get in and make a quick profit and when that doesn't happen and 6 months or so later they are still not making a profit and so they either ditch the business or sell it. Many just don't realize that it is work, you have to treat it as a business and invest in it constantly whether it be time or money it is ongoing. If you look at some business plans that are done all you see if earn this by this date, earn this by this date. It makes me laugh.

It doesn't matter really what the competition is doing as long as you have a solid foundation for your business and you work it over and over and don't worry about how much you are making from it every day or every month, before you know it the business will start making money for you. Of course some business will never make money and those are usually companies that don't try something different when what they are doing isn't working so the business plan should have been rewritten whether is was written on paper or in their minds.
 
I don't run any businesses myself online or otherwise (at the moment). I think it just takes a lot of common sense as well as a business plan.

You are not going to run a business offering someone 1gb space, 30gb bandwidth, unlimited databases, control panel, etc for $3 a month or less. Sure its going to run fine for a few weeks, but then you will get more and more clients biting your hands off and then you'll run into trouble.

I think the only way you can survive in this market is to offer great customer service. Sure you might not be competitive on price but if you treat your clients like kings and queens and try to bend over backwards for them then they are more likely to stay.

I have read so many posts on these types of forums where people rush into the business trying to make a quick buck and as soon as they've made their money they leave their clients high and dry.

The problem with this industry is too many "high school" kids are trying to get a slice of the pie and don't really know what they are getting themselves into, as soon as the going gets tough they bail.

So the key is:

Be realistic
Put your clients interests first and your own monetary gain second.

Sorry for taking this slightly OT.
 
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