Hey guys, I'm thinking that soon (not now, but in the next year or two), I will open up a proxy web host. However, since I am completely new to this, I am asking for lots of input on different things. I am thinking that for startup, I will get a VPS with these resources: 75 GB Disk Space 3 TB Monthly Transfer 4 GB Guaranteed (8 GB Burst RAM) 1 CPU Core Guaranteed (Burst to 4 Cores) Hardware RAID 10 CentOS 5 Operating System 4 IP Addresses Unlimited Domains and User Accounts FREE Virtuozzo Power Panel FREE nightly backups FREE cPanel No set-up fee $199 monthly This will be a fully managed VPS by a very reputable company, and I will have root access, auto-reboot during failure, and 24/7 support. However, there will also be a lot of costs involved, and this is what I calculated (for the first month, it may increase): Server - $200 (At the beginning, this will increase). WHMCS License - $281.85 (I plan on using the renewable license for the first two months, and if I stick with it, then I'll buy a full license). Design - Free or $30 (I may make it myself, but if not, I can get a good design for fairly cheap). Logo - $20 (I can't make logos ) Advertising - $100 (I plan on doing a lot of free advertising, I may or may not participate in AdWords or other programs). Support - ??? (I'm leaving this for last because I honestly don't know how much it will cost. I want ticket support, as well as live support using a chat system and MSN and AIM. I can support for several hours a day, but I know that's not enough. If anybody can help me out with this, it would be great). Legal Fees - ??? (I am going to write my own TOS/AUP and Privacy Policy, but it would probably be wise to get it checked over by a lawyer). Miscellaneous Fees - ??? (When life gives you problems). So that leaves me with $431.85 + $200/month + ??? as the costs. Now, this server will has 3000GB of bandwidth. To play it safe, I will only offer 2000GB of bandwidth, so that other resources like CPU don't have issues during peak times. So, my largest plan (high bandwidth for less proportionally) will probably be 200GB. Now, if I only offering this, then it would be 10 customers/VPS. A good price for 200GB would probably be $29.95/month (correct me if I'm wrong). So in a worst case scenario (since the cheaper plans will cost slightly more/GB), I would be making $299.50 - 5% fees of PayPal (estimate) so that would be $284.52. After just server costs, that leaves me with $84 per month, and that's not a lot, especially since I still need to break even. The smallest plan, would probably be 50GB for $8.95. That means I can have 40 accounts, giving me a revenue of $358. After fees, that would be $340, leaving me with $140 for costs outside of the VPS, and I would break even a lot quicker. ----------------------------- Another thing, I really don't know about staff contracts and stuff. I know some hosts that have no contract for staff, and simply say 'You're hired' and pay them on a weekly basis via PayPal. I think I may need Terms of Agreement/Contract for my staff, what they can and can't do, and outlining payment agreements and that stuff. Although I'm not sure. And then I'm definitely not providing my staff with health benefits or anything, since it's a simple online part-time job. And this kind of ties with legal, in case something happens between me and staff, or possibly members. I'm also curious how it works if I end up going out of business. I can't just go offline with all of my clients, I would need to warn them ahead of time, right? How about the ones that pay in advance... Either way, I've kind of outlined my plans above, some of it may look very ignorant, and that is probably cause I am. I know somebody who really doesn't know too much about hosting, yet he's doing well with 'CreativHost.com'. I'm reading everything I can find about web hosts. I appreciate comments and lots of help
I would tend to agree with Fififa, if you get a dedicated server with a decent host you may be able to eliminate some of your overhead (especially at the beginning) if you can get into a plan where you pay for unmetered (unlimited) bandwidth by speed (per mBit). If you consider that *most* proxies will never be astoundingly huge, this may allow you hedge your bets more easily, though it would be up to you to cap your users bandwidth at a certain amount of transfer (probably have to) (GB).
Hey, I actually find Servint worth the cost, their VPS is as good as a server. And when I get bigger I'll upgrade. Also, I'm personally uncomfortable with unmetered/unlimited. Thanks for your comments though.
Well remember all the calculations above are startup. There is no way that I can afford atm, or buy, 10 servers at the beginning. I should make sure my host is stable on the first server before I move on to a second, and so on.
There are big problems with this idea. You're spending $2 to make $2.84 at worst, and $2 to make $3.40 at best. That expenditure versus income is decent, but it becomes absolutely useless if it is not scalable. Right now your plan is to net ~$100 per month while constantly marketing this site and dealing with issues from clients. Even 10 can put you through a lot of grief. Of that $100, probably $70 will be yours after taxes. Even if you scale this to 10 servers, that is still only $1000 a month, and likely more than 30% in taxes. $650ish per month is not livable. Scaling it up to 10 servers with 100 client spots that you need to fill to make your minimums will leave you with a lot of marketing to do as well as even more grief from customers. Proxies are not huge money makers. Your clientele will be people that are struggling themselves to make hosting fees. It isn't quite as glamorous as you think. Focus on something that is more scalable and will provide more returns with fewer hassles.