When I got my very first domain name in 2003 what I really wanted to do was be able to host other people. It seemed like such a cool thing to do, host someone’s site. At the time I couldn’t because the space I purchased didn’t even have cPanel and was so basic. I was disappointed, but carried on with my site hoping one day I could host others.
In 2005 when I was finally able to purchase a reseller, I was so excited to have more space and control, but I was mainly so thrilled that I could now host other people. It wasn’t until I think 2006ish that I opened a site to host people ‘officially’ that was called Tehlove. I had a huge amount of fun on the website and got a dedicated server for the first time which was so marvelous. Everything seemed to be going so well I decided to offer paid hosting. But then things kind of fell apart a bit and I couldn’t afford to pay for the server, so had to cancel it.
After getting back on my feet in 2008 I really missed hosting other people and wanted to try again. I first opened a site to host fansites and fanlistings called fanmagic. But, realising that I did want to host other sites as well decided to open a main hosting site for everyone, which was Bubble or Bubble Hosting.
Bubble was such a great achievement I am proud of. I really put my heart and soul into trying to make everyone happy, offer lots of prizes and really provide amazing space for free. Because Bubble grew to a base of over 400 members I had to once again upgrade to a dedicated server. I will admit there were times when I could have been more persistent and did become slack sometimes, however from 2008 till present day there has been a lot of stresses in my life.
After running Bubble for 4 years, in 2012 I made the decision to open a business. The business was called Klue and offered paid hosting, as well as keeping all previous members of Bubble still there for free. It was kind of a rocky road mentally and emotionally, because my grandfather passed away and trying to focus was difficult (as well as some other health issues).
I tried to run Klue, but it just didn’t work the way I planned. In January 2013 I placed it on hiatus. In June 2013 I notified the majority of members that I would no longer be offering free hosting, except to a few friends and in July 2013 I cancelled the dedicated server and migrated to a reseller account.
It was rather difficult to have to stop hosting again. I really loved sharing the space and didn’t want to give up the dedicated server because it worked so well, but the cost was just too much when I couldn’t get everything going as planned.
I guess I seem to run into bad luck with hosting when I start charging people, or asking for payment. Probably because when I do, I feel guilty about it and makes it suddenly very serious. In reality I know if you have space you have to pay and if you have a big server then you need some money towards it. I just felt silly about it.
I would love to try and host again in the future, but I don’t want to let other people down. I have tried twice in the past and had to cancel both times. Maybe if I just had an unlimited income that would be fine haha.
I am lucky to have hosted the people I did, made new friends and communicated with a whole lot of awesome people. I have learned a lot of lessons and tried my best.
6 Responses
I have a similar problem when doing things for people these days; I often feel guilty about the fact that I have to “charge” someone for money, but the truth is, it is reality and you do need the money to live. I have realised that I can’t be shy about things money wise these days and that if I work on anything, it is my hours I am sacrificing and I do need the money because I put my hours into it.
It is the same with hosting, you’re paying for space but people often want “free things” in life, but they forget that the person offering it also needs to live. 🙁
I have seen you since 2003 (or maybe 2004), since the fanlistings, and I have seen you with the business and everything! It is hard work; I used to have a reseller and offered free hosting but I found myself worried so much about people taking advantage that I can’t host anyone unless I personally know them!
I felt like I was reading a blog post from myself. I started blogging in 2003 and was aching so badly to host other people. But like you, the costs got to be too much and I had to cancel twice. And… I’m horrible with accepting money from people. It just weirds me out! lol.
You were one of the best hosts I have ever had and I’m sure that if you decided to host again that it would be an amazing experience for everyone! I’m here to help for whenever you need it!
I tried to do paid hosting in 2009 mainly because lard decided I should offer hosting rather than just buying a domain and using free hosting. o.- Thus, I was then drug into it. After a month of not selling anything, Host Gator (who he had set me up with) needed $45 for me to continue hosting. Unfortunately, I didn’t have this, and so I lost both the domain name and the hosting. And my hosting. And then I opened another hosting account, and that became a mess as well.
Anyway, in present day times, I offer free hosting to various people (mostly TCG-related sites) but to those who are skilled. I think it’s much more pleasant to offer it for free rather than to have to figure out how to set prices nice enough for people to want to buy the hosting and to also have to figure out a budget that works well enough with the necessary server space. Is this the same reason you let go of your many domains?
I just want to extend my endless gratitude to you Kya for all the time and space you’ve shared with me. It’s been 4 years for me and you’re still giving me a home in this cyberworld. I’m really lucky to have met such a nice person. Thanks for being my friend and for helping me learn a lot of things in making a blog. 😉
Yayyyy *hugs* You were a great host Kya :)) I think you were really inspiring – not just to me, but to tons of people! – and your enthusiasm and dedication and just love made everyone happy <3
It’s like I was looking myself at the mirror. I messed up with paid hosting too. And I was not blessed (bad luck as some may call it) with the hosts I’ve signed up with, so my sites then (and my hostees) had downtimes and I felt sorry for them. I was setup too and when I had too much problem with my work and I couldnt spare time to hosting (then it came a point too where I could no longer pay for server), the sites were plugged off and my hostees / paid customers plus my websites were gone with a poof.
Now after 4 years of not hosting and a major hiatus from the internet (I even stayed away from social media sites), I am trying to pick up the pieces again. I am slowly returning to blogging and hosting. I purchased quite a few reseller accounts and start with it. I think I will not return to dedicated server in the near future because I may not be able to sustain it. I learned the hard way – I must start small but choose a host wisely.