allsop8184

I think the best piece of advice for ecommerce entrepreneurs is: "My apartment doubles as our office. Keep your costs as low as possible." I've seen a lot of new online store owners see a big jump in success early on due to the excitement of a new product launch or kickstarter campaign (or PR, viral on Reddit, HN..etc...) and they assume that success will continue so they double down on infrastructure. 2 weeks later, or a few months later things die down and they're locked into an office lease of 3 years.

"even successful companies don't know the secret to their success" - so true. I speak to successful online entrepreneurs almost every day and am constantly surprised by the lack of strategy used and the lack of awareness of what actuallY moved the needle for them. Sometimes the cherry picked 'best practical advice' is just a shot in the dark (though still very helpful).

Great to see another awesome Canadian company w/ exciting news today. Congratulations from all of us @shopify.

Shopify HQ is in Ottawa w/ about 240 people. Shopify's Toronto team (about 15 people) will be moving into Jet Cooper's office. This will grow Shopify Toronto to ~40 people.

Looks great. Not sure how they 'guarantee a $60k job offer or we'll refund your tuition' but either way, it's nice to see an iOS bootcamp in Seattle like this.

Really good feedback, thank you. We will add a quick definition in the introduction page.

I'll have to let Andrew, my co-author, speak on why he left the corporate world to start his ecommerce blog.

But I can share why I decided to write this. I noticed that most, if not all of the information on drop shipping is bullshit. The topic is riddled with scammers looking to rip you off.

A few months ago I published a guest post about drop shipping on my company blog. It was written by my co-author. It was very well received... seemed there were people out there starving for good information on getting a drop shipping business up and running.

I bought every print and ebook on the subject, read most articles I found online on the topic, and quickly realized that we could probably write something way better. So we did. I hope! :P Anwyays, that's it... just published it today and can't wait to get feedback on how to improve it. Once we polish it up a bit, I plan on releasing an eBook so people can read it on their Kindles and what not. If you read it Kitcar, I hope you enjoy!

Haha drop hipping sounds awesome. I think I'll just keep that there as an easter egg. :-)

I just launched the online version today so I haven't had time to make a PDF yet. But yes, I'll definitely get on that ASAP. Glad to hear you think that would be useful mrchess.

Thanks so much. Part of the reason I decided to write this guide with my co-author Andrew is there's so much bullshit out there regarding drop shipping. It's really bad.... and if you go to Google to learn more about the topic I'm afraid most results are scams. I wanted to change that. Shopify was gracious enough to give me the time out of my regular duties to pursue this project and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Tell your wife Cheergram is awesome, and a huge congratulations for getting her drop shipping business up and running! Happy reading callmeed - I really hope you enjoy the rest of my guide! :)

There's a measuring cup underneath that catches the water which then goes into a pot to boil. No water wasted.

Its called 'hyper decanting' - check out this video on it: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2011/12/18/hyperdecanti...

This is just terrifying.

So I was the receiving end of this stalking (my name is Mark and I work at Shopify). I just want to point out how effective his tactics were. At no point did I have ANY idea what was going on behind the scenes. I simply thought, "oh - he's a cool guy, he likes my blog, and seems to enjoy Tweeting / commenting a lot." To learn about his wildly elaborate strategy now is not just amusing, but it's impressive as hell. If any of you guys are having trouble finding quality blogs to write for, or are simply looking for another way to get traffic to your site - give this a read.

Undoubtedly one of the coolest things I've seen in 2012.

Definitely vaults google to one of the best offices in Canada. The company I work at (Shopify) has got to be in the rankings as well. It's so nice to see companies investing in corporate culture and creative work spaces. We spend a huge part of our lives at the office... why not make it as enjoyable as possible?

"Unfortunately, this idea, which has been around in some form since the 1960s, wouldn't work." :-(

That's a really good point, and I guess IKEA often uses their low prices in their advertising. Wal-Mart does the same.

Who doesn't like free money? I just didn't want to come across like that was the only reason I was posting the link.

Yeah - I've read that. EXCELLENT book. You can get it here... http://www.amazon.com/Neuro-Web-Design-Makes-Click/dp/032160... (No I didn't put an Amazon affiliate code at the end) ;)

News to me - thanks for sharing that!

I can't add much further to their TED Talks - some of these guys are the best at what they do. I simply add a quick summary, show the video, and link to further content (their books, podcasts, websites) if people want to learn more.

It's "linkbait garbage" - it's a list of lectures I think are valuable for small / medium sized businesses to watch. There's a big difference.

What are you talking about linkbait garbage?!?! I work at Shopify and just spent the last 2 days watching TED Talks and writing that article.

David Rose's talk is awesome - you're right, it should be on the list!

Thanks! :-)

Very thorough. Nice to see that +10 Kickstarter campaigns contributed and helped put this together.

You'd be surprised how little some people know as they begin preparation for their first fundraise.

As I mentioned in the title - this is for people looking to raise capital for the 1st time. A beginners 'tip list' sort of thing.

Sorry it didn't provide value for you...

That's awesome!

nice