Ronny Fang is a 21 year old Internet entrepreneur who got started making money on the Internet at the age of 14. He is the owner of a web hosting company. Currently he is making six-figures per year.

AmpedAsia.com: How did you get started making money on the Internet?

Ronny Fang: It started when I was 14, a few friends and I wanted to make a portfolio style site to show off our creations on a web page… I invested $36 in a hosting account, a fortune to me at the time. My friends bailed, leaving me with the bill. Having nothing else to do I split the account up and sold pieces of it… That’s what got me started as a web host back in 2001. In just a few days I had made 300+ in sales from that $36 account.

AmpedAsia.com: How did you get that 300+ in sales?

Ronny Fang: I was in the industry at exactly the right time. The era of “mom and pop” web hosts were emerging due to falling prices of bandwidth and consequently servers. I advertised on cheap pay per click websites, but mostly click exchanges. Customers in click exchanges all had their own websites and wanted to promote them… however most of them were paying a premium for web hosting while I was offering mine for $10/year for 10mb

AmpedAsia.com: Were there any rough patches along the way to your success now or was it just smooth sailing?

Ronny Fang: There were quite a lot of rough patches. Starting off not even in high school yet, it was definitely a journey. Especially due to growth. We faced staffing problems (bigger companies in this industry were expected to have 24×7 support). Everything we learned we had to learn on our own. There were no classes for web hosting, or for Linux administration which was the platform we operated on, or business strategy. I remember specifically some instances, formatting one of our main servers, not knowing how to respond when asked about our age, getting all the legal issues sorted out. Financially we were always well off. We were lucrative in the second month of operations.

AmpedAsia.com: How did you respond when asked about your age?

Ronny Fang : We always told the truth in the hopes that our customers would view our accomplishments and our maturity rather than be shocked at our age. This hope held true for most of our clients. I’m sure there were a minority that were put off and we lost them, but it was rare. The truth even 1 year into our company we had already established a name for ourselves. So taking that into perspective most people gave us the credit of mature young entrepreneurs.

AmpedAsia.com: So now as a college student, how do you balance your business with your studying?

Ronny Fang: I’m a self learner. So, I generally don’t attend class, but I’ve still been able to maintain A’s an B’s in my courses. I won’t be able to continue skipping all my classes down the road, so I’m having to make a decision soon of whether to continue college or take a few more years off.

AmpedAsia.com: What are some key skills to being a successful entrepreneur in your opinion?

Ronny Fang: You must be willing to work 80 hour weeks, and you have to be persistent and headstrong. You’re always going to hit rough patches, but don’t give up. Keep at it. And a passion for business is a must.

AmpedAsia.com: If you could give a tip to a budding entrepreneur right now what would it be?

Ronny Fang: I would say that entrepreneurship is a passion, and in order to succeed, don’t give up. Sounds cliche, but, as an entrepreneur you’re going to have to push yourself through so much more, and much more let downs than any other job there is. If you’re able to push through all that, than you’re definitely entrepreneur material.

AmpedAsia.com: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Ronny Fang: 10 years.. I’ll be 31. I see myself on a boat. Working. Although I’m in IT, I’m interested in starting a restaurant and car dealership. Those are my two current goals, in addition to expanding my new company to a 300+ size firm.

AmpedAsia.com: Do you personally think money makes your dating life better?

Ronny Fang: Kind of an odd question, but after being down here I’d have to say that success is an attractive trait. I’ve yet to experience the money factor coming into play with the girls I date though.

AmpedAsia.com: Is there anything that you want to achieve within your lifetime?

Ronny Fang: My goal within 15 years would be to own a car dealership, a few successful restaurants, and to be a leader in the IT services industry. My passion is not only for starting things, but for perfecting things. So I’m sure along the way I’ll pick up a lot of different businesses with the purpose of making them more efficient. Ill-managed businesses has always made me uneasy, and I always have the urge to buy them out and change the way they do business. That would be my goal, to make businesses more effective, efficient, and more honest, and more lucrative. Those 4 all come hand in hand in businesses

AmpedAsia.com: How much did Acunett and your other businesses get hit once the recession started this year?

Ronny Fang: There will never be a decrease in demand for IT services. We got hit a little more in our industry as compared to IT infracstructure sales… however for the most part we did not feel much. Perhaps ~ 5% – 10% if we had to second guess lower profit margins. Most of this however i will attritbute to the time I spent on school the first few months of class as I had no time to dedicate towards overseeing the company.

AmpedAsia.com: What drew you to college despite having financial freedom?

Ronny Fang: My grandparents. No matter how much money I make they wanted me to get a degree. Seems like a traditional thing. If it were a practical decision, they would want me to stay out of college. My parents support me withdrawing from college.

Thanks a lot Ronny for the interview!

Written by kevinhype