Hello, I am currently looking to start up a Minecraft Server Hosting Company. I have around $400 saved up which is why I need a financial investor or partner who can help pay and own half the company. I have experience working for hosting companies. I understand that I need to buy servers, web domain, and pay employees. i currently have person who would like to work for me when I get the Hosting Company started. If you would like to be a financial investor you will get 30/40% off the company. If you are interested please PM me and we can talk about this privately
$400 won't get you far you would more than likely close within 2 months of being open due to lack of money. If you are looking for investors maybe rethink how you look. When I look into investing in companies they must have a business plan, and a professsional look you have neither.
I'm not sure if you can start a hosting company with 400$, you would need to become a reseller which would mean your prices would be above the competition prices.
In my opinion $400 is more than enough to start a minecraft hosting company if you use it wisely and save money wherever possible. You just need the following essentialls:
WHMCS billing panel - $16 per month, preferable. Or a manual custom billing panel with paypal buy-now buttons (takes time to design but will save $16 per month. Also probably would not have automatic server setup)
A webserver and domain to host the billing panel (website) - $1 with 1and1.com for a year. After a year when profits are made, the domain can be transferred and renewed for $10/year and the webserver can be hosted on a dedicated server with the company. Or you can buy the domain from crazydomains for $4.50/year and run the webserver on a dedicated server with the company or use a free web hosting service such as hostinger.
A few dedicated servers to run the actual minecraft servers and panel on - $150 each for high quality hardware with 32-64GB RAM, SSDs and Intel E3 - E5 processors
Really the only thing you need to pay for are the dedicated servers, say one to start with then another if the first one sells out, a bit of time and effort in setting everything up, minimal cost for the domain and website and then either decide if you would rather pay $16 a month for WHMCS or code your own payment section and remember to send invoices to clients manually on time.
I would be able to help you with setting up the website and server administration panel as well as advertising if you really are serious about starting your own company. I could also work as a technical support officer answering support inquiries or manually setting up servers if you decide to not use WHMCS.
In my opinion, what makes a good hosting company is quality of the servers and transparency with clients. If you are open and honest to customers when providing quick and timely support and the quality of the servers are good, clients will be happy. That's why you should invest most of your money in server hardware instead of paying for software such as Multicraft or flashy websites. In the end clients want to pay for their server, not all these other overheads.
In my opinion $400 is more than enough to start a minecraft hosting company if you use it wisely and save money wherever possible. You just need the following essentialls:
WHMCS billing panel - $16 per month, preferable. Or a manual custom billing panel with paypal buy-now buttons (takes time to design but will save $16 per month. Also probably would not have automatic server setup)
A webserver and domain to host the billing panel (website) - $1 with 1and1.com for a year. After a year when profits are made, the domain can be transferred and renewed for $10/year and the webserver can be hosted on a dedicated server with the company. Or you can buy the domain from crazydomains for $4.50/year and run the webserver on a dedicated server with the company or use a free web hosting service such as hostinger.
A few dedicated servers to run the actual minecraft servers and panel on - $150 each for high quality hardware with 32-64GB RAM, SSDs and Intel E3 - E5 processors
Really the only thing you need to pay for are the dedicated servers, say one to start with then another if the first one sells out, a bit of time and effort in setting everything up, minimal cost for the domain and website and then either decide if you would rather pay $16 a month for WHMCS or code your own payment section and remember to send invoices to clients manually on time.
I would be able to help you with setting up the website and server administration panel as well as advertising if you really are serious about starting your own company. I could also work as a technical support officer answering support inquiries or manually setting up servers if you decide to not use WHMCS.
In my opinion, what makes a good hosting company is quality of the servers and transparency with clients. If you are open and honest to customers when providing quick and timely support and the quality of the servers are good, clients will be happy. That's why you should invest most of your money in server hardware instead of paying for software such as Multicraft or flashy websites. In the end clients want to pay for their server, not all these other overheads.
BoxBilling is also another panel to consider. It's only $6/month.
You should definitely use an automated billing and setup solution. It makes you look more professional, and saves you time. Is your time really worth less then the low cost of billing software?
Regarding web hosting and domains, I would not recommend 1and1. They require preauthorized debits, allowing them to automatically withdraw from your account. Google it. There are a lot of 'horror stories' about them.
If you need a domain, namecheap.com (about $10/year) has a much better reputation, and I've personally had a good experience with them before.
For web hosting, there are a lot of cheap 'unlimited' providers. A lot of these use outdated software, impose caps, and their servers are often oversold resulting in slow speeds. Those cheap prices are usually only temporary and are increased, sometimes, greatly, after the initial billing period. You can get decent webhosting elsewhere for around $5/month. I've used CrocWeb, and they were pretty good. I've also heard good things about StableHost, and HawkHost. These prices, cost a few more $/month, but its worth it, especially if you factor in the grief other hosts could cause.
Still, you have to admit $1 for a .com, .net or .org domain and web hosting with 1and1 for a year is quite a bargain you won't see anywhere else. The only disadvantage is that the price of the domain increases to $15 a year every year after the first, and the webhosting will also be $5/month after the first initial year. I would just transfer the domain and then get a different web hosting provider after the year is up.
As for 1and1's automatic withdrawals, I would just use paypal and cancel the subscription after the first payment is withdrawn, because I wouldn't plan on spending anymore after the first initial year for $1.
I also suggested that crazydomains.co.uk was another very cheap domain registrar with as low as GBP£2.80 or USD$4.50 for a .com domain and GBP£2.23 or USD$3.70 for a .net domain per year. They have quarterly specials on domains, I even got a .co.uk domain from them once for £1.00 per year and for 3 years so £3. I now wish I had got 10 years and payed the £10 up front because that was probably the best bargain I ever got. Unfortunately the special ended and I now need to pay £9 to renew the domain for a year...
As for automatic billing, I guess you're right, I wouldn't mind spending $6 a month for BoxBilling as it would save me time and my time is worth more.
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Hi, I own a new minecraft server hosting company, entirehost.net and currently have the site and the servers however, if you would like to partner with us you can. We can be partners. By partners I will take care of all the servers and support, and you can help us by paying for the billing panel and you cN also help us with support chat. Contact me at [email protected]
Hi, I own a new minecraft server hosting company, entirehost.net and currently have the site and the servers however, if you would like to partner with us you can. We can be partners. By partners I will take care of all the servers and support, and you can help us by paying for the billing panel and you cN also help us with support chat. Contact me at [email protected]
Honestly http://entirehost.net/ is not even a real host and will more than likely scam you for your $400
Not a real host? We offer minecraft servers. How are we not real?
Hmm, offering minecrfat servers does not mean you are a business. For one you do not have a billing system and you have people send yo umoney with paypal from paypal, 2) you don't have a PP or TOS) You are not llced or registered (not needed in some places) nor are you trade marked. All you did was buy a template and say you have minecraft servers and have people send you money on paypal (not in a billing system) (that is not a business just some kid with a website and a paypal).
Hmm, offering minecrfat servers does not mean you are a business. For one you do not have a billing system and you have people send yo umoney with paypal from paypal, 2) you don't have a PP or TOS) You are not llced or registered (not needed in some places) nor are you trade marked. All you did was buy a template and say you have minecraft servers and have people send you money on paypal (not in a billing system) (that is not a business just some kid with a website and a paypal).
Firstly, a business is defined by whether it is engaged in commercial activity, or the buying and selling of products and/or services. You don't need to go through all that corporate crap such as registering, tradmarks, Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, purchasing expensive billing software, etc, etc. to be considered a business.
The only thing you need to be considered a business is a product to sell and place where you can sell it, such as a website. I don't know if Entirehost has services or if they are a scam or not, but you shouldn't be judging them just based on their website and the way in which they sell their services. Sure, they may not look very reliable because they don't pay for expensive billing software but that doesn't mean they don't have servers to sell.
For all you know they could have many happy and satisfied customers receiving a high quality of service. Proof of that can only come from testimonials by people who have used their service before.
No it doesn't, if you aren't registered, aren't pay tax, social charges etc... You are operating illegally and depending on where you live can face jail time and fines.
Yes, but even businesses that aren't registered are still considered to be businesses. What else would you call them?
Sole proprietorships don't always need to be registered, especially if you are operating under "Your Legal Name's Minecraft Servers" or something like that. Operating under a different name other than your own, is something that usually requires some form of registration; failure to do this can result in fines. In some jurisdictions, unless you are making a $xxxx+/year don't require payment of taxes.
Firstly, a business is defined by whether it is engaged in commercial activity, . You don't need to go through all that corporate crap such as registering, tradmarks, Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, purchasing expensive billing software, etc, etc. to be considered a business.
The only thing you need to be considered a business is a product to sell and place where you can sell it, such as a website. I don't know if Entirehost has services or if they are a scam or not, but you shouldn't be judging them just based on their website and the way in which they sell their services. Sure, they may not look very reliable because they don't pay for expensive billing software but that doesn't mean they don't have servers to sell.
For all you know they could have many happy and satisfied customers receiving a high quality of service. Proof of that can only come from testimonials by people who have used their service before.
As you said " engaged in commercial activity" however you cannot engage in comercial activity unless you are a comercial business. By your logic of "or the buying and selling of products and/or services" you are stating that if you are selling a product you are a business, yet no one considerers a garage sale a business and yet they sell products and with this quote "The only thing you need to be considered a business is a product to sell and place where you can sell it, such as a website." a garage sale has a place (the home of the owner) therefore every garage sale is now a business. Now if that were true a garage sale would need to charge tax based on the state tax where they are located (yet the don't). Futhermore EVERY business must pay taxes the only expetion is if you can consider it a hobby such as you sell photos (it is and canbe a hobby).
As you said " engaged in commercial activity" however you cannot engage in comercial activity unless you are a comercial business. By your logic of "or the buying and selling of products and/or services" you are stating that if you are selling a product you are a business, yet no one considerers a garage sale a business and yet they sell products and with this quote "The only thing you need to be considered a business is a product to sell and place where you can sell it, such as a website." a garage sale has a place (the home of the owner) therefore every garage sale is now a business. Now if that were true a garage sale would need to charge tax based on the state tax where they are located (yet the don't). Futhermore EVERY business must pay taxes the only expetion is if you can consider it a hobby such as you sell photos (it is and canbe a hobby).
A garage sale isn't considered to be a business because it is only a one-off thing, selling products or services for one time only wouldn't be considered a business because there is no new stock coming in to be sold. Essentially what I meant by a business selling something such as an item or service is that they would continue to sell that same item/service or range of items and services.
That's why there's no tax on garage sales and the don't need to register, because a garage sale, as the name implies, is just a one-off sale. However, a garage sale could become a business if more stock kept arriving, meaning it would no longer be a single sale and rather a stream of sales, or effectively a garage business.
Also, not all businesses need to pay taxes. If a business earns under a certain level of profit they are exempt from taxation.
Hmm I would call them an illigal place of sale and the owners can be fined for the failure to pay income taxes.
So, in that case a garage sale is an 'illegal place of sale' then? If not being registered is what defines an illegal place of sale, that would mean all places of sale would need to be registered to make them legal including a garage during a garage sale. This is clearly not the case, and contradictory to what you said previously about garage sales not needing to be registered.
Partner: Help pay half the costs, own half the company, and help work
Financial Investor: Pay the rest of the money that we need to help the business get started and get 30/40% of the companies earnings
Spending $400 to start a company isn't wise.
To OP:
Save up your own money. Investing in a hosting company these days is like investing in a monkey. It's very unlikely it's going to make a lot of money.
I would be able to help you with setting up the website and server administration panel as well as advertising if you really are serious about starting your own company. I could also work as a technical support officer answering support inquiries or manually setting up servers if you decide to not use WHMCS.
In my opinion, what makes a good hosting company is quality of the servers and transparency with clients. If you are open and honest to customers when providing quick and timely support and the quality of the servers are good, clients will be happy. That's why you should invest most of your money in server hardware instead of paying for software such as Multicraft or flashy websites. In the end clients want to pay for their server, not all these other overheads.
BoxBilling is also another panel to consider. It's only $6/month.
You should definitely use an automated billing and setup solution. It makes you look more professional, and saves you time. Is your time really worth less then the low cost of billing software?
Regarding web hosting and domains, I would not recommend 1and1. They require preauthorized debits, allowing them to automatically withdraw from your account. Google it. There are a lot of 'horror stories' about them.
If you need a domain, namecheap.com (about $10/year) has a much better reputation, and I've personally had a good experience with them before.
For web hosting, there are a lot of cheap 'unlimited' providers. A lot of these use outdated software, impose caps, and their servers are often oversold resulting in slow speeds. Those cheap prices are usually only temporary and are increased, sometimes, greatly, after the initial billing period. You can get decent webhosting elsewhere for around $5/month. I've used CrocWeb, and they were pretty good. I've also heard good things about StableHost, and HawkHost. These prices, cost a few more $/month, but its worth it, especially if you factor in the grief other hosts could cause.
As for 1and1's automatic withdrawals, I would just use paypal and cancel the subscription after the first payment is withdrawn, because I wouldn't plan on spending anymore after the first initial year for $1.
I also suggested that crazydomains.co.uk was another very cheap domain registrar with as low as GBP£2.80 or USD$4.50 for a .com domain and GBP£2.23 or USD$3.70 for a .net domain per year. They have quarterly specials on domains, I even got a .co.uk domain from them once for £1.00 per year and for 3 years so £3. I now wish I had got 10 years and payed the £10 up front because that was probably the best bargain I ever got. Unfortunately the special ended and I now need to pay £9 to renew the domain for a year...
As for automatic billing, I guess you're right, I wouldn't mind spending $6 a month for BoxBilling as it would save me time and my time is worth more.
Honestly http://entirehost.net/ is not even a real host and will more than likely scam you for your $400
Hmm, offering minecrfat servers does not mean you are a business. For one you do not have a billing system and you have people send yo umoney with paypal from paypal, 2) you don't have a PP or TOS) You are not llced or registered (not needed in some places) nor are you trade marked. All you did was buy a template and say you have minecraft servers and have people send you money on paypal (not in a billing system) (that is not a business just some kid with a website and a paypal).
Firstly, a business is defined by whether it is engaged in commercial activity, or the buying and selling of products and/or services. You don't need to go through all that corporate crap such as registering, tradmarks, Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, purchasing expensive billing software, etc, etc. to be considered a business.
The only thing you need to be considered a business is a product to sell and place where you can sell it, such as a website. I don't know if Entirehost has services or if they are a scam or not, but you shouldn't be judging them just based on their website and the way in which they sell their services. Sure, they may not look very reliable because they don't pay for expensive billing software but that doesn't mean they don't have servers to sell.
For all you know they could have many happy and satisfied customers receiving a high quality of service. Proof of that can only come from testimonials by people who have used their service before.
Yes, but even businesses that aren't registered are still considered to be businesses. What else would you call them?
As you said " engaged in commercial activity" however you cannot engage in comercial activity unless you are a comercial business. By your logic of "or the buying and selling of products and/or services" you are stating that if you are selling a product you are a business, yet no one considerers a garage sale a business and yet they sell products and with this quote "The only thing you need to be considered a business is a product to sell and place where you can sell it, such as a website." a garage sale has a place (the home of the owner) therefore every garage sale is now a business. Now if that were true a garage sale would need to charge tax based on the state tax where they are located (yet the don't). Futhermore EVERY business must pay taxes the only expetion is if you can consider it a hobby such as you sell photos (it is and canbe a hobby).
Hmm I would call them an illigal place of sale and the owners can be fined for the failure to pay income taxes.
A garage sale isn't considered to be a business because it is only a one-off thing, selling products or services for one time only wouldn't be considered a business because there is no new stock coming in to be sold. Essentially what I meant by a business selling something such as an item or service is that they would continue to sell that same item/service or range of items and services.
That's why there's no tax on garage sales and the don't need to register, because a garage sale, as the name implies, is just a one-off sale. However, a garage sale could become a business if more stock kept arriving, meaning it would no longer be a single sale and rather a stream of sales, or effectively a garage business.
Also, not all businesses need to pay taxes. If a business earns under a certain level of profit they are exempt from taxation.
So, in that case a garage sale is an 'illegal place of sale' then? If not being registered is what defines an illegal place of sale, that would mean all places of sale would need to be registered to make them legal including a garage during a garage sale. This is clearly not the case, and contradictory to what you said previously about garage sales not needing to be registered.