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.

Glad to hear that it is going well!

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.