Find Motive

Money isn’t everything of course, but I would like to try and see you live without it. Time and time again I’ve heard it said that money should not be your motivation in starting a business. I agree and disagree with that statement. I think it should be said that money shouldn’t be your ONLY motivation in starting a business. Like it or not we live in a capitalistic nation and money talks, loudly.

Its also been said that having money as a motivator will cause your business and/or product to suffer in quality. Once again another agree/disagree. If your out to make a quick buck, yes then it will probably suffer, but if you are smart then you know that making a great product or service will yield the best return.

Like I said money isn’t everything, but it sure is nice to have. Also when a person can wear their wealth well and not let it control them, to me that shows great character.

Usually when I hear the word shopping cart I cringe because I’m expecting an ugly, hard to use beast of a shopping cart that makes shopping on the internet a chore. Say hello to Shopify, the new Web 2.0 startup which plans to change all that. Shopify is a clean, simple, and easy to use shopping cart that lets anyone, not just the tech-savvy, have their own ecommerce website. Shopify takes the bloat out of the online shopping experience and makes it look sexy. Comparing shopify to the usual ecommerce solution is like comparing Natalie Portman(my future wife) to Rosie O`Donnell.

The pricing plan is also attractive. There are no monthly fees or signup costs and you are only charged when you make a sale. A 3% commission is charged on sales and a lower rate applies to carts that do $10,000 or more in sales.

I think shopify is going to change the face of eCommerce and the way we think about shopping carts.

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I got the idea for What Do You Do All Day from Noah Kagan & Devin Reams. Check em out!

08:00am Hit the snooze button
08:10am Fall out of bed, get a shower and try to wear something that matches
08:35am Start my 25 minute commute to work.
09:15am Arrive at work 15 minutes late because I really didn’t leave the house at 8:35 like planned
12:30pm Go to the bookstore on my lunch break, read something interesting, and stare at the hott girls
06:00pm Leave work and head home
06:30pm Strip off the work clothes and throw them on the floor, put on gym clothes and head to the gym
07:45pm Head home, eat dinner, take a shower and work on side projects
09:30pm Go hang out with friends and relax
12:15am Go to bed
01:00am Actually fall asleep

Go to the gym and work out like the beast you are.

And I’m being nice when I say that. I ride to work sometimes on my Yamaha R6 and I can’t count how many times people have almost hit me.

News flash for Oklahoma drivers:
- Don’t tailgate motorcycles…we will most likely die if you rear end us.
- Double check your mirrors and blind spots when you merge into a lane.
- Don’t cut a motorcycle off…we can’t stop as gracefully as you can in a car.

I’ve already pulled a stoppie in a parking lot when a woman pulled out in front of me because she was cutting through to save time. Then she took off. Good thing I didn’t have a gun that day. I have a lot of health insurance for these reasons. If someone hits me or causes me to crash because of their negligence and I can stand up after the crash…oh its on. Yes I understand its dangerous to ride motorcycles. All I’m asking is that drivers be better drivers and pay more attention.

And now after saying that. I’m sorry for being mean =).

BillQ is a new web-based service that will remind you when your bills are due. This way you know exactly what you have to pay when you have to pay it. BillQ’s easy to use interface makes it a no brainer to add new reminders and you can also set up groups. This is useful if you have related bills or if you have multiple people paying a bill. A good example would be setting up a group so all of your roommates can split rent. BillQ can send reminders to an email address or your mobile phone.

You can use BillQ To:
# Keep all your bills organized in one place.
# Receive reminders when bills are due.
# Set up a group for all your similar bills.
# Invite people to any of your groups.

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Get into a better mood.

Web browsers haven’t changed must in the past 5 years, but now that has all changed with Flock. Flock web browser is based on the mozilla Firefox code base, but has many extra goodies that make it my new browser of choice. I’ve been using the Beta 1 release for almost a month and unless something really bad happens about its functionality in future releases, I don’t see myself using anything else as my browser. As I mentioned earlier, Flock is based on the Firefox code base so when it comes to rendering web pages, you will see no difference between the two.

Posting to your blog or uploading photos to Flickr directly from Flock are just a couple of its flagship features. Plus it’s GUI is much better in my opinion. My only complaint is that it is a memory hog, but Firefox was no better in this area either. I think Flock brings the browser market a much needed face-lift in our internet addicted lives.

Also I was surprised by the number of plugins that have already been ported from Firefox to be compatible with Flock. If by chance you can’t find the plugin you want on Flock’s website, go to http://outraged-artists.com/flockd/ to convert a plugin to be compatible.

Try it out! and if you like it, tell your friends about it.

TxtDrop has launched a SMS widget for MySpace profiles(or any website) to allow readers to send text messages VIA a simple form to the pages owner. TxtDrop stores numbers securely and will keep the number private, so it cannot be seen by readers. The service is free and does not require you to signup. Currently this service is only available in the US and Canada.

Try it out below

Google Checkout ,which was released in June, is now on the list of payment services not permitted on Ebay:

Payment Services not permitted on eBay: AlertPay.com, anypay.com, AuctionChex.com, AuctionPix.com, BillPay.ie, ecount.com, cardserviceinternational.com, CCAvenue, ecount, e-gold, eHotPay.com, ePassporte.com, EuroGiro, FastCash.com, Google Checkout, gcash, GearPay, Goldmoney.com, graphcard.com, greenzap.com, ikobo.com, Liberty Dollars, Moneygram.com, neteller.com, Netpay.com, Nochex.com, paychest.com, payingfast.com, paypay, Postepay, Qchex.com, rupay.com, scripophily.com, sendmoneyorder.com, stamps, Stormpay, wmtransfer.com, xcoin.com

Could it be eBay(PayPal) does not want to share the pie with Google or does eBay not yet trust the new service? To be honest I have no idea. At first it seems obvious: Google is a competitor so don’t let them in, but that’s too easy. There is a catch somewhere. I would have never signed up for a PayPal account if it weren’t for eBay shoving it in my face, but if I had a choice between PayPal and Google Checkout, I would probably go with Google.