I run a small company doing mining and renting time on our rigs to other miners.

A couple of things to successful mine Bitcoin:

1. Get used to reading Bitcoin talk daily and other outlets, always keep your thumb on the market but realize Bitcoin is similar to other markets in that its best to ride out the minor fluxes in price.
2. Invest in the fastest miner you can afford, but do the projections for ROI, etc. no matter what you get it will be outdated in 3 months or less.
3. Research completely the miner you decide on before you buy and also research the company. Read reviews on this site of the miner and the company, etc. Do not buy anything thru skype and deal directly with the manufacture or trusted reseller.
4. Plan out all the details for your miner/mining rig. Where it will be located, its temperature needs, its electrical needs, its heat output, etc. Most likely you just brought a brand new heater for Winter (miners produce tons of heat in other words).
5. Any electrical work you have done make sure its by a licensed professional and that the final results are up to code.
6. Work on your computer(s) and network security. Every computer and device that connects to your network must be secured with strong passwords, antivirus, etc. It only takes one worm or virus to lose Bitcoins.
7. The accounts you do have on websites that store your Bitcoins always enable 2FA (Two factor authentication) if the website offers it, if it doesnt find a new site to store Bitcoins or trade on.

Those are the rules that have helped me make about 1.5 BTC a month so far. Hoping for an equipment upgrade soon.
Hope this helps.

Hello, I'm the CEO of a small startup company.
I'm looking for a Developer who would be willing to produce the following:

- Coin programmed with our settings.
- Source Code
- Windows Executable
- Windows Installer
- Merkel HASH
- Genesis block.  
- Our own network ID.
- We/you choose the RPC and UDP ports.
- Coin based on SHA256 or Litecoin.
- I will provide the server to seed the new coin but you must remotely configure it.

I'm offering a  of 0.5 BTC per coin you program and related documents you produce
with another 0.1 BTC per month per coin paid regularly for you to maintain the coin(s) you create.
We can use a trusted escrow service before work begins. 

If the first one works out well there will certainly be others as we have several ideas being developed.

Please send me a message if you're interested.

Thanks

I had a similar idea but to answer some of your questions what I found to be the problem with cloudmining services is the btc to performance price and the lack of control of where the mining power that supposed to be your's is directed.

The most efficient miner for the money depends on a lot of factors. Its' not just speed alone that will determine the right miner for you. You have to consider electrical- what you have in place, what you're willing to have installed, what you can install and be compliant with your local housing codes in case you ever want to get insurance, or go rogue.
The cooling capacity of the space you're considering using, is there air conditioning; can one be installed, or you willing to have that done; etc. and the last one that got me was how are you going to live with the miners- will they be in a space you use for living; can you stand their noise; what about their heat output; do you have small animals or kids that will have to be protected from the miners (since they do run hot and many are not that wonderfully well wired)?

Hope this helps