Portal Home > Knowledgebase > Articles Database > Who I picked and Why
Who I picked and Why
| Posted by KimberlyH, 09-04-2007, 07:26 AM |
| Good Morning,
I said after asking a ton of questions on hosting that I would say who I picked and why.
First I the founder and CEO/Pres of Moms Break Inc. which runs several sites including our main site www.MomsBreak.com free printables, our webmaster site www.easyfreecontent.com and a few other sites. Some of which are not open to the public yet. My company earns around $50,000 a year with me working in a home office, setting my own schedule plus I do not have to pay high gas costs on a daily bases nor do I have the expense of lunch and other office actives we all got pulled into.
I had been with Hostrocket for seven years however their support was getting very bad. I had a dedicated server and would call for days on end and not be able to get anyone. I had trouble tickets go days without answers.
I also found out at Hostrocket along with many other companies that on a shared server you are renting space on a managed host however when you get a dedicated server you are renting a server but it is your responsible to manage the backend of the hosting and pay hourly for help, which is by the hour with no idea of how many hours a fix will take.
Which brings me to why I picked Rackspace, even at the cost, it is worth every last penny to have my site watched and someone else who know what they are doing.
I know the basic outlook of most web hosting companies because 1) I called for days on end and spent a month doing research, 2) I heard it on the phone over and over again, “You need to hire an IT person” then I would says; “I don’t want an IT person here full time because I run my business out of a office in my home” which of course the person would immediately suggest shared hosting.
!! That is the minute the minute I would hang up and mark them off my list!!
Most hosting companies are like car dealerships. They want it to be an old boys club. I even ran into this attitude with IBM. However Rackspace was the only company whose salesman was even more interested when I explained I started my business at home to make some extra money when my son was a teenager and having a very horrible rebellious stage. And his little Mom a foot shorter then himself was the only person he was still scared of. I never meant to start a corporation which has grown to the point I have several other Moms working under me with their own web sites which I draw commission off of. I have H.R. Blocks doing my tax advisers, bookkeepers and some business advising. I about, in my pants, when HR Block National Company assigned me my own my Master Tax Adviser and told me to get a lawyer I need to become a corporation and make myself an employee of corporations.
Anyway I also used Reliable Penguin for my migration company. Which I love them because they give flat rates!! YYYYAAAAA - Now I can buy all those scripts I have always wanted but never could get installed myself and they can give me a flat fee to install them. Honestly, I didn’t even know there where companies that could be hired to install scripts then trouble shoot them later if needed. I am ticked to no end!!
Note: They only reason I did not use a host managing company is I wanted everyone under one roof. I want the hosting company managing my web page.
Other problems I found when interviewing hosting possibilities where:
1) First contact was often a kid who was more interested in his pocket video game than talking to me or could not use a full sentence. I wonder if the company was using a tele-service to field initial phone companies. Not a good sign.
2) If I gave them an example of something needing fixed could they give me a “ball park” idea of the hours it would take to fix it? Nearly no one could. I do not like the idea of something going wrong and the company no give me an idea of how to fit long to fix it. I did not want exact time, just 4 to 6 hours type of answer so I would have an idea.
3) Too many expected blind faith from me.
4) Most host web page did not have any type of agreement I could print and keep for future reference if something when wrong.
5) Most company had a very poor facts or knowledge base.
*** No I do not need shared hosting! If I wanted shared hosting then I would have asked for it. But I will save more of that venting for my women in internet business buddies.
Those are just off the top of my head but my biggest reason was I feel I should be treated with the same respect as any other company, I should not become a lesser person because I “work at home” and am a Mom/Women.
There are many more of us Moms with business web page than you programmers, hosting companies and IT people want to admit. Our numbers are growing in leaps due to more family’s wanting Mom to stay home to meet the kids after school and/or using home school or private school due to the horrible stand of public school system.
That why I picked rackspace, whether the salesman was playing along or not in his interest in my “home” business, he still showed me the respect I earned over nine years I have build me business. * The salesman listened to my needs.
Just my 2 cents
Kimberly
P.S. >> (added) Managed hosting like rackspace is not offering things people do not need in my opinion. Yes, we might not need all they give us however, they are smart enough to catering to a market that needs them. Like myself.
Last edited by KimberlyH; 09-04-2007 at 07:30 AM.
|
| Posted by David, 09-04-2007, 01:34 PM |
| Kimberly,
Excellent little explanation of the decision making process. Rackspace certainly isn't the only one out there offering quality services that care about your business -- after all, when you flourish so does your host
They're definitely one of the few that trains their people properly though & has excellent hiring standards. It makes a difference
Be sure to return here in a few months with a review of their services!
|
| Posted by Frimon86, 09-04-2007, 02:17 PM |
| I've been waiting to hear this from you, I almost though you'd never be back for your explanation. Good one, very detailed!
|
| Posted by KimberlyH, 09-04-2007, 02:45 PM |
| So many companies these days don't get people will pay more for good customer service. Whether the guy cared or not about my business, he show the service level I expect, so they got my business.
|
| Posted by KimberlyH, 09-04-2007, 02:48 PM |
| My husband took a two week vacation so I took one also. One of the joys of work at home
|
| Posted by pmabraham, 09-05-2007, 09:58 PM |
| Greetings Kimberly:
Thank you for sharing.
|
| Posted by portalplanet, 09-05-2007, 10:18 PM |
| Rackspace is awesome. Yeah, you pay for it but you can't beat the ticket at 3 AM saying they noticed httpd was down so they went in and figured out the problem and httpd it up and running. Lets ya sleep better. My only thing to watch is your managed backup usage if you have that. Don't want to go over.
|
| Posted by (Stephen), 09-05-2007, 10:39 PM |
| I think you are tickled(happy) to no end about reliable penguin :d i can tell from the tone. but it says ticked which is a different meaning.
Just bringing some humor here,, very glad you are happy, and I know for the most part you will be happy with rackspace, they WILL be there when you need them. they may even call you up if they notice a problem.
|
| Posted by KimberlyH, 09-06-2007, 04:52 AM |
| SLEEP!! That a big part of why I wanted to pay for managed hosting. I don't know how many times over the past years I have gotten up in the middle of the night just to check if my site is up or sleep with my laptop on my bed table so I could check off and on all night.
|
| Posted by valentin_nils, 09-06-2007, 04:53 AM |
| Hi Kimberly,
overall nice report. I can feel the frusttration you run through. I have been there too. The main issue is to find business partners that can think a bit out of the box, listen sincerely and are not so stereotypes.
I am always pleased when I am talking to a business partner on the other end who knows what (s)he is talking about, independent if that is a man or women.
Some time ago there was a threat here on WHT about women owned hosting companies. If you havent read it I am sure you will find that an interesting read.
Best regards
|
| Posted by KimberlyH, 09-06-2007, 07:19 AM |
| Any idea what to search for to find the thread? I would love to read that.
|
| Posted by RossMAN, 09-06-2007, 09:03 AM |
| Is this the thread you're referrring to?
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=388612
|
| Posted by KimberlyH, 09-06-2007, 09:21 AM |
| OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My blood pressure way up reading the posting. But it is true, most all the women I know have 15 to 30 shared server accounts and will not switch to a dedicated server. The main reason is because no one advertise to us. I will post more on that thread instead of starting a new one.
|
| Posted by KimberlyH, 09-06-2007, 09:51 AM |
| Thanks for posting about it and to who posted the link. I am going to print that thread to take to my women in internet lunch this afternoon in the city.
My kid are grown and out of the house but most them have two or three children, 10 plus shared hosting web sites with who ever provides their internet service plus do all the house cleaning, cooking, car pooling, recording all the tv show for the kids and husband, do the online banking, shopping and help at their kids schools while running a full time home business.
We even had to take a laptop to one of my them so she could check business email while in labor with her second baby. {that is not a joke}
- Yet we are less technical. OMG
|
| Posted by drgeorgep, 09-17-2007, 01:34 AM |
| Hi Kimberly ... absolutely fabulous review. I checked out rackspace, but it's a bit more than I need, right now; reliable penguin is often usable. Thanks, again, and good luck.
|
Add to Favourites 
Print this Article
Also Read
Shared Hosting
Shared Hosting
