How entrepreneurs can easily set up an online store on a budget!
Easily create an online store:
I’ve always been interested in E-commerce and internet retail due to the fact you can sell 24/7 and keep your overhead low. Over the last 5 years I’ve tried many different shopping carts. While I am pretty computer savvy, I’m not into coding and so setting up a good looking website with a shopping cart must be easy. Below is a video I created to show the basics of getting your website up and running using Big Commerce.
Below is a screenshot of a store I built using BigCommerce.
In this article, I’ll give a review of my experience with shopping carts, what I currently use, and how to go about getting set up with the cart.
Here are a few carts I’ve tried in the past. They have all been very affordable, or free in some cases.
1. Zen Cart – I installed this on a Godaddy hosted site. It is an open source cart, but I didn’t have the coding knowledge to customize it the way I wanted to.
2. Pinnacle Cart – I installed Pinnacle cart and used it for a 2 years. It is a powerful cart and very easy to use. It is also easy to customize, and you can change the colors of any template easily. One major downside I had with Pinnacle cart was their service. While it may be better now (haven’t used for a year and a half), I dropped the service because of it. They are pretty good about coming out with updates and improving the cart. The cart has a monthly fee starting at $30.00.
3. Shopify – Shopify is a good shopping cart and I was very happy with their service. They even called a few times to check in on things. Shopify makes it easy to set up a cart, but I found it was lacking a few features I was looking for. Shopify starts at just $29 / month.
4. Big Commerce – In my experience thus far, Big Commerce has hands down been my favorite shopping cart. Big commerce is powerful, has lots of features, is innovative, and the service is great. They have a huge library of videos explaining how to set up the website and modify items. Big Commerce is always coming out with new features, integrations, and ways to improve Continue reading
Young Entrepreneur Profile – Think Entrepreneurship interview with CEO of “grapevine pr”
Steven Le Vine is a young and motivated entrepreneur working hard for his success. At only 30 years old, Steven has already built a very successful PR company that represents celebrities, businesses, and large organizations from it’s offices in Hollywood, California. Steven was recently inducted into the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) – an invitation only organization comprised of the country’s most promising entrepreneurs under the age of 35. The Apex Society also awarded Steven the “Power 30 Under 30 Award” which is a big accomplishment for any entrepreneur. Steven has been written up in numerous publications including Entrepreneur, Under 30 CEO, PRWeek, and the NBC Today Show website. He’s also been in contact with Forbes magazine about potential write-ups. Steven has already signed on over 100 clients and represents celebrities including Danny Pintauro (From Who’s the Boss), and Project Runway’s Jack Mackenroth and American rock artist and Madonna’s guitarist Monte Pittman. Steven is extremely passionate about entrepreneurship and enjoys sharing what he’s learned with others. Continue reading
Think Entrepreneurship article “Follow Your Passion…” in Bozeman Magazine
I had the opportunity to write an article for a local publication named Bozeman Magazine. The article can be found in the November issue or online by clicking here. Thank you to Bozeman Magazine for the opportunity and I look forward to contributing to your future issues.
Oracle buys out RightNow Technologies – Bozeman, Montana – Entrepreneur Interview
In 2008 I had the chance to interview the founder of RightNow Technologies in Bozeman, Montana. Greg Gianforte (CEO and Founder) is a very down to earth person with a true passion for his business. RightNow technologies was bought out October 24, 2011 for 1.5 billion dollars by software giant Oracle.
In addition to building and running very successful companies, Greg loves the outdoors and working on wood projects in his shop.
The interview was one of my first for the Think Entrepreneurship site. I apologize in advance for the poor sound quality and my nervousness in the interview!
Entrepreneur Interview with RoughStock Distillery in Bozeman, Montana
This past week I had the opportunity to interview the co-founder of RoughStock Distillery in Bozeman, Montana. Bryan Schultz and his wife Kari started the whiskey distillery in 2008 and have since been working hard to grow the business. RoughStock Distillery is the only legal whiskey distillery in the state of Montana. It is a craft distillery that still does everything by hand. They started out in a small warehouse on the east side of Bozeman, MT and eventually moved to a large facility on highway 191 between Bozeman and Big Sky, Montana. Bryan and Kari are both extremely passionate about their company and about growing the business.
The two entrepreneurs pooled their personal money together to start the venture and have since Continue reading
