Posted by
ryuzaki0
on from the but-the-megacorps-punch-back dept.
Krimsen writes: "It's nice to see we still have some stories like we used to hear all the time in the mid-late 90's of the little guy beating the mega-corporations to the punch."
Wireless access.
by
Night0wl
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I'm glad to hear this as well.
When people say that wireless is a bust I look at them a bit funny and point at the Atenna on my roof.
It's quite a spectacular antenna sence my ISP up-graded it to a highly directional antenna, I was having connection problems which turned out to be software, so now I've got this wicked looking dish.
The only downside to the wireless in my area (Omak, Washington) is it isn't really a mobile solution. And I don't feal left out either, I would perhaps if I was in a larger town, Seattle for example.
There is no point at citysearch'ing for Omak, there's nothing to do any way. Bowling, WalMart? And one theater which often times is beat by the rental company for new movies sad isn't it?
Our wireless is provided by the local radiostation. It's a small 4-5 man operation. Rather pitiful. But I live.:)
-- Computational Madness in a round package.
Beating mega corporations to the punch?
by
vanguard
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I don't know if this guy really beat Paul Allen to the punch. He just runs a small business with low overhead. Good for him.
However, let's not pretend he and his 70 customers are the reason these larger companies went bankrupt. They went under because their customer base was too small to support their cost structure.
They'll be back in any market where wireless is the best option for broadband. Broadband really will be everywhere at some point. People really do want it and eventually they'll pay for it.
-- That which does not kill me only makes me whinier
The Dynamics of Starting an ISP
by
Renraku
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Starting an ISP is almost like trying to start a town. You can't just say, "This is an ISP" and people magically start to dial in or connect to your service. First, you have to have something that can support the connections. The hardware to support the data transfer, and the users. That's where your routers, servers, landlines/WAP's come in. Second, you actually have to have a connection to the Internet yourself. This, along with IP ranges, would come from something like UUnet. If all goes well, you'll have a nice background for an ISP set up. For the most part, setting up an ISP requires money. And lots of it. Pay a bit of attention to being efficient, and you'll save a lot. Now that you have your ISP, what next? You'll need a team to take care of charging people (Billing), a tech support group, an advertising group, an IT group, a legal department, and last but not least, facilities and logistics to support everything. Now we can see why the 'little guy' has more of a chance of launching himself to the moon than trying to start an ISP that is the least bit competitive. If anyone wants to start one, best of luck!
-- Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
Just a bit of math...
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
The article says Schafer gets $50/month from 70 customers. Per year, that's $3500 * 12 = $42000.
How many MBA's can you support on that, even if you minimize your expenses to near zero?
Prime Directive has 12 employees and 400 customers.If each customer spends $50/m, that's $240,000 revenue per year. Even without expenses, the average salary is $12,000 max.
The only way a high-flying CEO would be able afford to live in this industry would be to consolidate all the companies, jack up the prices a bit, and push down the salaries too. After paying all the lawyers and bankers and consultants, and crushing all the little businesses across America, he might be able to scrounge up enough to live on. (Probably $500k/year maybe)
Nice Business Plan...
by
po8
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
The poster child in this story cracks me
up. He's found a way to parlay a bank loan
of $10,000 into a business that rakes in a cool
$3,500/month (70 customers @ $50/month). That's
$42,000/year, folks, before taxes and costs
of doing business.
In other words, if he is
working the business entirely by himself, Marlon
Schafer has payed $10,000 for the privilege of
having a mediocre-paying tech job. Better yet,
both he and the authors of this article are apparently highly impressed by this shrewd move: no regrets here!
I think it is terrific that he is helping out
his rural customers in this way, but if Mr. Schafer wants to make any reasonable amount
of money, he should
really consider changing his pricing structure
or expanding his customer base.
Re:The little guy is only going to get bigger.
by
Elwood+P+Dowd
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Absolutely. I'm a senior CS undergraduate. When I was a freshman, we were in the thick of the moronic dot com business models. "We'll revolutionize online toilet paper delivery!"
All of the ideas coming out of my classmates were equally moronic. Or moreso. (even my older classmates:) Now that no one is *looking* for businesses to start, and no one is hiring, they're just finding ways to make money. And it's working. They're not incorporating, they're not talking about venture capital, and they're thinking smaller.
People realized that they're not going to be millionaires, and they're making money. The internet can still make you money. Small businesses rule.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm glad to hear this as well.
:)
When people say that wireless is a bust I look at them a bit funny and point at the Atenna on my roof.
It's quite a spectacular antenna sence my ISP up-graded it to a highly directional antenna, I was having connection problems which turned out to be software, so now I've got this wicked looking dish.
The only downside to the wireless in my area (Omak, Washington) is it isn't really a mobile solution. And I don't feal left out either, I would perhaps if I was in a larger town, Seattle for example.
There is no point at citysearch'ing for Omak, there's nothing to do any way. Bowling, WalMart? And one theater which often times is beat by the rental company for new movies sad isn't it?
Our wireless is provided by the local radiostation. It's a small 4-5 man operation. Rather pitiful. But I live.
Computational Madness in a round package.
I don't know if this guy really beat Paul Allen to the punch. He just runs a small business with low overhead. Good for him.
However, let's not pretend he and his 70 customers are the reason these larger companies went bankrupt. They went under because their customer base was too small to support their cost structure.
They'll be back in any market where wireless is the best option for broadband. Broadband really will be everywhere at some point. People really do want it and eventually they'll pay for it.
That which does not kill me only makes me whinier
Starting an ISP is almost like trying to start a town. You can't just say, "This is an ISP" and people magically start to dial in or connect to your service. First, you have to have something that can support the connections. The hardware to support the data transfer, and the users. That's where your routers, servers, landlines/WAP's come in. Second, you actually have to have a connection to the Internet yourself. This, along with IP ranges, would come from something like UUnet. If all goes well, you'll have a nice background for an ISP set up. For the most part, setting up an ISP requires money. And lots of it. Pay a bit of attention to being efficient, and you'll save a lot. Now that you have your ISP, what next? You'll need a team to take care of charging people (Billing), a tech support group, an advertising group, an IT group, a legal department, and last but not least, facilities and logistics to support everything. Now we can see why the 'little guy' has more of a chance of launching himself to the moon than trying to start an ISP that is the least bit competitive. If anyone wants to start one, best of luck!
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
The article says Schafer gets $50/month from 70 customers. Per year, that's $3500 * 12 = $42000.
How many MBA's can you support on that, even if you minimize your expenses to near zero?
Prime Directive has 12 employees and 400 customers.If each customer spends $50/m, that's $240,000 revenue per year. Even without expenses, the average salary is $12,000 max.
The only way a high-flying CEO would be able afford to live in this industry would be to consolidate all the companies, jack up the prices a bit, and push down the salaries too. After paying all the lawyers and bankers and consultants, and crushing all the little businesses across America, he might be able to scrounge up enough to live on. (Probably $500k/year maybe)
The poster child in this story cracks me up. He's found a way to parlay a bank loan of $10,000 into a business that rakes in a cool $3,500/month (70 customers @ $50/month). That's $42,000/year, folks, before taxes and costs of doing business.
In other words, if he is working the business entirely by himself, Marlon Schafer has payed $10,000 for the privilege of having a mediocre-paying tech job. Better yet, both he and the authors of this article are apparently highly impressed by this shrewd move: no regrets here!
I think it is terrific that he is helping out his rural customers in this way, but if Mr. Schafer wants to make any reasonable amount of money, he should really consider changing his pricing structure or expanding his customer base.
Absolutely. I'm a senior CS undergraduate. When I was a freshman, we were in the thick of the moronic dot com business models. "We'll revolutionize online toilet paper delivery!"
:) Now that no one is *looking* for businesses to start, and no one is hiring, they're just finding ways to make money. And it's working. They're not incorporating, they're not talking about venture capital, and they're thinking smaller.
All of the ideas coming out of my classmates were equally moronic. Or moreso. (even my older classmates
People realized that they're not going to be millionaires, and they're making money. The internet can still make you money. Small businesses rule.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.