Fat Free Cart
February 1, 2007 in 4 out of 5 stars, e-Commerce Solutions, Hosted softwareFat Free Cart: The Fat Free Cart is a simple low-cost shopping cart solution that integrates with PayPal, GoogleCheckout, ClickBank and 2Checkout. It offers secure digital downloads, in addition to offering standard shopping-cart checkout for physical goods including shipping calculation. E-Junkie (they have other great ecommerce offerings too) It's an economical and slick way to integrate a checkout into your site. To get started, you simply register, then drop some HTML code into your site where you want the "add to cart" and the "view cart" buttons -- and it works. The whole thing is very smoothly integrated into your site and your customers don't have to leave until they go to check out. Robin K. the lead developer seems to handle most support requests and is insanely timely and helpful. Including help with getting PayPal and Google Checkout set up properly for easy integration if you need a hand. The Administration interface is very easy to use as well. They layout is clean and everything is intuitive. Even novices can maintain their own shopping cart. In summary: It's an affordable, configurable shopping cart system from a company with a solid reputation of customer support (I had several email to share their positive experiences) and it offers the ability to
sell both digital and physical goods including calculating shipping. If you need a quick, easy, affordable way to sell something off your existing site - this might be the solution for you. Plans start at $5 per month Reviewed by Carson McComasWhat is it?
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Happy Quote
January 29, 2007 in Happy Quotes“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
WorkHappy One Month Challenge: Cheaters Post
January 19, 2007
Ok Cheaters (those of you who launched before Dec 2006) - as promised, now's the chance to tell us about your venture. Comments are open.
Only one rule: it has to be educational for those of us reading, so I'm requiring more details.
Here's the format (all fields required - copy, paste fill in values to right):
Project Name:
URL:
Date it was launched:
How many signups/customers so far:
Your most effective means of getting them:
If you didn't make the 1/15 cutoff for your new app, I'm extending the deadline 1 month. Finish up then get back and post here, comments close 2/16.
Ok - this is the final post about the WHOMC, back to more signal and less noise after this.
Happy Quote
January 16, 2007 in Happy QuotesI get asked this a lot and I have a pretty standard answer which is, a lot of people come to me and say "I want to be an entrepreneur". And I go "Oh that's great, what's your idea?". And they say "I don't have one yet". And I say "I think you should go get a job as a busboy or something until you find something you're really passionate about because it's a lot of work". I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. It is so hard. You put so much of your life into this thing. There are such rough moments in time that I think most people give up. I don't blame them. Its really tough and it consumes your life. If you've got a family and you're in the early days of a company, I can't imagine how one could do it. I'm sure its been done but its rough. Its pretty much an eighteen hour day job, seven days a week for awhile. Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you're not going to survive. You're going to give it up. So you've got to have an idea, or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you're passionate about otherwise you're not going to have the perseverance to stick it through. I think that's half the battle right there.
- Steve Jobs in 1995 (whole interview here). (via)
WorkHappy One Month Challenge: Results Show!
January 15, 2007
Today marks the conclusion of the WorkHappy One Month Challenge, issued (not surprisingly) one month ago. The idea of course was to kick us all in the collective backside and use the turning of the new year (and a free advertising offer from MSN) to motivate us into finally getting our entrepreneurial venture out there. The MSN advertising offer provided some challenges, but nothing we couldn't handle.
Did you make it? If so, the comments are open, let's hear about it!
Here's the format (copy, paste, fill in the values to the right):
Project Name:
URL*:
Date it was launched:
Brief launch story:
If you have a project that was launched before the last month, or you didn't make it by today - hold off posting - I'll put up a cheaters post later where you can come clean and/or flog your existing stuff.
Hope this launches you all toward a prosperous and successful 2007!
*Your links will be auto-linked, no HTML required (or allowed).
Update on the WorkHappy One Month Challenge
December 29, 2006Short version:
In spite of assurances from Microsoft (before I posted) that this deal wouldn't expire before Jan 15, the deal for $200 is now expired (even though this page doesn't say so yet). However, this deal is still working as of today (12/29) and gets you $100 in clicks so you can still get some love.
Long version:
Continue reading "Update on the WorkHappy One Month Challenge"
Tubetorial
December 20, 2006 in 4 out of 5 stars, A website, Free, ScreencastingTubetorial: A site featuring polished, well-done video/screencast tutorials. Brian Clark and Chris Pearson Free videos with excellent instruction focused mostly on online ventures including online marketing, Adsense, blogging and various other money-making stuffs. They even have some beginner HTML tutorial bits.
Check out killer stuff like:
They also offer a handy RSS feed so you can keep up to date on the latest additions. Plus they're looking for suggestions and additional videocasting talent. Browsing the content felt a little clunky. Free like fruitcake from Aunt Betty (only much tastier) Reviewed by Carson McComasWhat is it?
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The WorkHappy One Month Challenge
December 12, 2006Here's the deal: Microsoft adCenter is MSN's answer to AdWords and works essentially the same way. It's Microsoft's pay per click offering. You bid on keywords, adCenter charges you when people click your ad.
It's new, and Microsoft is trying to promote it. So much in fact, that they're giving away $200 in free advertising.
So here's the challenge:
If you're anything like me, you've got plans for world domination brewing. But no one ever conquered the world by brewing. So the challenge is to get off your backside and get your latest venture launched before January 15th (that's when the free advertising offer ends). Maybe not completely, maybe not perfect, but out there. And you've got $200 of Microsoft's money to build your initial audience.
Here's how we'll do it:
Decide now what you're going to launch. Hopefully it's that venture you promised yourself in January that you would finish this year. At the very least, get a promo page up (a sneak peek?) and start collecting email addresses of people to be notified when you launch the full dealio. If you need some accountability, post your name and commitment in the comments here and we'll follow up with you on the 15th. On January 15th I'll make another post where you'll be invited to share
your story with everyone else.
Aside from the free traffic, this will serve as a nice all-expense paid hands-on education lab on pay-per-click advertising. Don't pass this up.
For those of you already launched - congratulations! You make us look bad. Make sure you goose your traffic with the free ad money and come back on the 15th to share your experience as well.
Every great journey starts with a first step - make this yours. Go!
A few "just so we're all clear" notes:
- You have to spend $5 to get the $200. That's the signup fee paid to adCenter.
- If you continue to use adCenter after you burn through your $200 - it will cost you real live money.
- If you don't take advantage of the offer before Jan 15th 2007, it'll be gone. You've got one month.
- You have to use up your $200 in the first 90 days or the balance is gone. So for you wimps, you can sign up by the 15th to get the deal, and then procrastinate using the money for 89 days and try to blow it all in one glorious last day of opportunity (note: this won't work).
- Some reports indicate that adCenter will bring you less traffic that AdWords, but the price is right for a trial. It will vary wildly, I'm sure, depending on your niche.
- This will work for any sort of business, not just a web application. Anything you'll promote through a website is a great candidate.
- This is, unfortunately, only available in the U.S.
- I've emailed Microsoft about this and it's (a) legit (b) open for us to use and (c) not going to go anywhere (until it expires). That said: here's the promo in case it does: "Sign up today and get up to $200 of free ad clicks. Just use promo code DM-2-1106 before 1/15/07."
The Bootstrapper's Bible
November 22, 2006 in 5 out of 5 stars, A book, FreeThe Bootstrapper's Bible: An ebook full of wisdom, ideas and inspiration for startups/bootstrappers/entrepreneurs.
I originally bought this book back in June of 2003 (it's free now). I was a struggling entrepreneur of just a few years and in my quest to read everything Seth had written, I purchased this ebook from Amazon. I devoured every word like a starving hyena on the fresh carcass of a Wildebeest. Seth Godin Bootstrapper's Bible might be an immodest title, but it's right on. This book is well written, well thought-out, and perfectly targeted at those of you who would read this blog. It includes sound principles for startups, pitfalls, case studies (including one of id software who was last decade's 37signals), and practical steps for getting it right. If you want to get re-energized, re-motivated and re-educated about your venture, this book is a must-read. Free! Reviewed by Carson McComasWhat is it?
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Happy Links
November 13, 2006 in Happy LinksWeb App Edition:
- Why Your Web App Sucks
Paul "Scrivs" Scrivens of 9rules offers some solid advice with biting observations. Great stuff. - 10 Things That Will Make Or Break Your Website
A recap of of the "Future of Web Apps Conference 2006" held in September. Some of the brightest minds shared their ideas. This summarizes the juicy bits. - 10 Tips for Moving From Programmer to Entrepreneur
One programmers experience. Outlines the attitude and workday changes required. - How to Be a Great Host
John Gladding drops by ALA to offer this comprehensive (and killer) advice for anyone considering launching a forum on their website.