OK..Is this really a viable means of income?

[tmanners]

Ok, question...at what point, if any, should a reseller consider going to a dedicated server. Does this make sense? I mean I just talked to someone and they said that is where the money is, but I don't see how unless you are doing serious (*100+ clients) business.

This person also said that he knew of NO ONE that was making a full time living doing reselling. They all were doing their own hosting through a dedicated server. To my comfort, he did say they all started in reselling and you have to start somewhere....

Any thoughts...I am worried that I am wasting my time doing this becuase I really do want to do this full time, not just a secondary income.

[logic404]

It's something my partner and I have discussed in our "pipe dreams" of "when business gets big". And at the moment, my feel would be to stay with reselling. We have a very good business partner in Matrix, and frankly, I feel that they are much better at keeping the servers going than I am! Then there's also the software and maintenance costs of your own servers. Sure, you see the "$99 server" offered at places - but factor in the cost (my figures are all based on windows) of something like H-Sphere, a virus checker, Site Studio, etc. etc. Plus, *you* are responsible for making sure every single patch you need is applied, that it works with your configuration, that you have adequate back-up procedures (tape drives aren't cheap!), etc.

And then it suddenly looks very attractive to just pay a fee for space/bandwidth and get all of that included.

That's just my 2c.

[Silverbug]

yes i agree. It really depends on where you want to take your company too. If you are specifically going to focus on hosting alone this is where you should aim for, however like you said you have to start somewhere and that is, as a reseller.