16 years old. Too Young?

[Decker]

Age does not matter in a business.

What a nice world you must live in - that is completely incorrect in the real world though.

For all it is a good thing for someone to get experience, they are doing so at others expense.

To be in business you need to be able to react to times when it goes wrong, those under the age of being able to secure finance/insurance/etc. cannot actually be in business.

Case 1 - you host with someone who is 14, your site is down for 3 days and you lose 10k worth of business. That's it - it's lost. On the other hand you host with a business that has insurance (a 14 year old will not get business insurance - if an adult gets it for them the insurance company and the world regards that adult as being the business owner and the 14 year old just an operator - this will reflect badly on the adult in the future) to cover losses by clients then you stand a chance to recoup some of that loss.

Now which is the better option I wonder?

 

[david432111]

Age does not matter in a business.

What a nice world you must live in - that is completely incorrect in the real world though.

For all it is a good thing for someone to get experience, they are doing so at others expense.

To be in business you need to be able to react to times when it goes wrong, those under the age of being able to secure finance/insurance/etc. cannot actually be in business.

Case 1 - you host with someone who is 14, your site is down for 3 days and you lose 10k worth of business. That's it - it's lost. On the other hand you host with a business that has insurance (a 14 year old will not get business insurance - if an adult gets it for them the insurance company and the world regards that adult as being the business owner and the 14 year old just an operator - this will reflect badly on the adult in the future) to cover losses by clients then you stand a chance to recoup some of that loss.

Now which is the better option I wonder?

How else do you think you get experience?

 

[Decker]

Obviously the way you are doing it - stumbling around.

You learn some things then you work for others who already know what they're doing, then you work out if you can sucessfully run a business yourself, then you think about it some more.

Then you start to consider it, and only when you are sure you can lose everything your prepared to put in to start with then you start up.

Have you kissed your first 50 grand goodbye yet? Nope, didn't think so.

 

[Richard]

Simple answer;

No, you are WAY too young, and if you do, you will be breaking the law, like most hosts on this forum.

 

[Decker]

Simple and blunt Richard :lol:

True though - if you (the host) were to get taken to court who would face the charges, not you but your parents.

Unfortunate facts of business number 84

God I feel old!

 

[Meksilon]

Actually, in most cases you probably wouldn't be able to bring a case against a minor, Dek - which is another reason not to host with minors, the law may not be enforceable against them.

You've raised good points though, coming at the issue from a different angle to me (cause, well, your in the biz), and I think that compliments what each of us has had to say on the subject - but at any rate I think your comments are valuable to anyone thinking about entering the hosting business!

 

[Richard]

Actually, in most cases you probably wouldn't be able to bring a case against a minor, Dek - which is another reason not to host with minors, the law may not be enforceable against them.

You've raised good points though, coming at the issue from a different angle to me (cause, well, your in the biz), and I think that compliments what each of us has had to say on the subject - but at any rate I think your comments are valuable to anyone thinking about entering the hosting business!

That is what Decker was saying, the minor would not be in the case - But the parents of the minor would.

If you open up a host, and start taking money for services and your are underage, then your parents are liable for all damages.

 

[JonnyH]

That is what Decker was saying, the minor would not be in the case - But the parents of the minor would.

If you open up a host, and start taking money for services and your are underage, then your parents are liable for all damages.

I'm sure that's a risk most people on here are willing to take. I still think though, if you've got the skills, time and knowledge. Age isn't a problem. Why should it be?

 

[Meksilon]

That is what Decker was saying, the minor would not be in the case - But the parents of the minor would.

If you open up a host, and start taking money for services and your are underage, then your parents are liable for all damages.

Not always, that why I mentioned it. Some things the parents may be liable for, but certainly not everything.

 

[Richard]

Not always, that why I mentioned it. Some things the parents may be liable for, but certainly not everything.

In this case. They are.

 

[Paul]

Everyone does start from somewhere, even if these people close down after a few weeks they have hopefully learnt by the mistakes that they have made.

I know of many people that have started their business as a bedroom based business for it to expand into a multi-million dollar enterprise. All at the age of 16-18.

It depends on many things if to decided if they are too young. Overall the only rule stopping them is PayPal, as if thats not easy to break.

 

[Decker]

I'm sure that's a risk most people on here are willing to take. I still think though, if you've got the skills, time and knowledge. Age isn't a problem. Why should it be?

That's a problem in itself Jonny, the person who is prepared to take the risk is usually not the person who will be held responsible for it.

So in short if offering free hosting with no guarentee then fine, the second payment comes into it they are taking risks they shouldn't.

 

[karimali831]

There's really no risk, otherwise just a minor. I've started at the age of 15, now 16 been in business for 7 months & no hassle at all!

 

[karimali831]

Everyone does start from somewhere, even if these people close down after a few weeks they have hopefully learnt by the mistakes that they have made.

I know of many people that have started their business as a bedroom based business for it to expand into a multi-million dollar enterprise. All at the age of 16-18.

It depends on many things if to decided if they are too young. Overall the only rule stopping them is PayPal, as if thats not easy to break.

I won't use Paypal as a payment method anymore until I'm the age of 18. A lot of the times my account was limited because they claim that a third party has accessed my account and when it comes to faxing a document to them, I am unable to do so because I have no drivers license, maybe photo ID but it shows my date of birth which is below 18.

That means I am forced to get a new card!

 

[Meksilon]

but it shows my date of birth which is below 18.

So you're admitting to deliberately attempting fraud? :tired2:

 

[JonnyH]

That's a problem in itself Jonny, the person who is prepared to take the risk is usually not the person who will be held responsible for it.

So in short if offering free hosting with no guarentee then fine, the second payment comes into it they are taking risks they shouldn't.

I see that exactly. My parents know I'm doing this and know the dangers in this sort of thing. I always have that little doubt in my mind while offering paid hosting. In conclusion, that's the only way I can stay up.

 

[Chris L.]

Meksilon,
Please relax. You are making this forum discussion unpleaent. You only point out problems with-out offering soultions (i.e. Well it is fraud to do "x", so try to do "y" instead). Try not to be so attacking. I edited your message in the following quote.

Have you read his Terms of Service?

The only pornography allowed is legal/un-copyrighted material

Who legally checks this? You may want to try to just disallow it or pay somebody to check it for you.

No Movies or any type of film are allowed on the server.

Prohibited Files: Movies - Underage Porn - Shoutcast/CastControl - Bare MP3s - Software - Keygens - Proxy Scripts

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Pakages: 1. Starter - 1GB space/5GB BW. 2. Medium - 5GB/20GB. 3. Super - 10GB/25GB.

Bolt Ons - Extra Resources
These can be added to any package
---------------------
• 1GB Diskspace - £1 per month ( $2.00 )
• 1GB Bandwidth - £1 per month ( $2.00 )

Back to TOS now:

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--

Just because you know something about hosting doesn't mean you know anything about business. I recommend you do not go into the paid hosting business at 16 for yourself - work for someone else; this will give you the experience you'll need to do it yourself in the future.

 

[KozyMike]

I've seen kids 14 and 15 that could manage a server better then some of these server managing co. THe main thing is Do you have time ? Effort? and willingness to do whatever it takes to #1 make your customers happy #2 24/7 support everythings gotta be considered and ya its a huge responsibility..... i started we hosting and webdesign 12 years ago @ the age of 14....... Its no walk in the park at first but dedication and time it will take off... Anyways good luck if you ever need anything let me know ill help ya out

 

[hostfad]

The only problem with your age being 16 is that people just THINK you don't have enough experience, I know that 16 year olds can run hosting companies, I knew a guy that made his hosting from scratch (even coded his user control panel) on his home server, that was over the period of 2 years so he is 18 now.

You probably know some or all of this already... But here are a few things you need:

- Capital, you will have down times, where you have extra expenses, make sure you have enough money put away to cover it.
- Time, you need loads of it, especially if you have a lot of members
- Like KozyMike said, you need to have dedication and you have to take responsibility
- Know-how, I don't just mean what you already know, but do you know how to find out about stuff to help your customers/yourself (certain forums/google/other websites) and are you willing to learn the many things that you need to learn...
- Be persistent, you will have up times and down times, but you will always end up better off if you persist and do things right

 

[hamster]

I'm All For 16 Years Old Not Being Discriminated By The Hosting Industry!