SCORE SUCCESS STORY FOR LNH INC., BETTER KNOWN AS HOSTMYSITE.COM

HostMySite.com is a rapidly growing Internet web hosting business located in Newark, Delaware. Incorporating in August, 1997, this highly competitive business of leasing computer space for websites on equipment owned and serviced by HostMySite has expanded under the leadership of the owners, Lou Honick and Neil Heuer.

It’s no surprise that together, these two "twenty-something” friends have cooperatively built a successful business in less than four years. They have been friends since kindergarten, where they both loved building “blocks”. Now, their “block-building” teamwork has produced a company of over 40 employees and growing daily. Computer technology is not new to Lou and Neil. They were programming together in grade school and both have degrees in computer science. Lou and Neil knew they wanted to work together so, while they both retained full-time jobs, they started out of Lou’s home with their first client, the Port of Wilmington, designing their website. When it came time to host the Port's website, Lou and Neil identified a real need for quality service in the hosting industry. At the time there were hundreds of companies providing web hosting services, but few, if any, had a real grasp of what defined great customer service. 

Lou and Neil invested in one server and rented space with a local ISP to get their hosting service started. Through tireless service, even while holding down full-time "day jobs," Neil and Lou used pagers, cell phones, and home offices to service, support, and grow their business. Within two years their growth in clients, servers and employees necessitated moving to their present location which consisted of an 800 square foot office to house 10 servers and 3 employees. The facility has since been greatly expanded to 4000 square feet and houses over 200 servers with high speed fiber optic connections to the Internet, a diesel powered backup generator, and a special 20 ton air conditioning system installed to keep the equipment at proper temperatures. Their office is staffed 24x7x365 and they strive to provide the same quality service at all hours of the day or night. 

Another reason for a profitable success is the fact that they started the business with the small revenue they had from the first website project and have continued to be entirely self-funded with no outstanding loans. 

It wasn’t long before Lou and Neil realized that even though the business had grown so successfully, they could see the need for some outside consulting to help them reach the next levels in their business. As they added to their number of employees, managing and supervising had also become an issue of concern. One of their managers suggested asking for help from the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) counselors. They have met with SCORE counselors for over a year, initially with counselors, Ray Smith, Tom Doughty, and Randy Murrill. 

Even though Neil and Lou's main reason for counseling was the employee issue, the first plan of action from SCORE counselors was to give them a list of accountants—Professionals who would be year-round advisors as well as tax preparers. Then, long-range planning goals and real estate issues were discussed to include further expansion plans for a second location. To help with the first line supervision, Lou and Neal were advised to hire a professional. Now on staff as a Director, Bill Speg, who had over 28 years experience with DuPont, helps with the development of employee supervision as well as strategic planning and SCORE counselor, Dick Ulak, now meets periodically with Bill and four supervisors. 

Lou and Neil speak highly of all their SCORE counselors. Neil says, “The expertise and experience SCORE offers is exceptional.” “We appreciate the opportunity to ‘just talk’ to professionals who understand us at our level,” explains Neil. They both look forward to a continued relationship with their SCORE counselors and highly recommend them to others.