

Build a Business, win $100,000 - xal
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/12/08/no-more-excuses-how-to-make-an-extra-100000-in-the-next-6-months/

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patio11
The winner will be an info product which bids their 97% margins down to 0% or
negative margins by buying AdWords ads to juice volume.

What do I win?

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Psyonic
Pretty good idea. To go full circle, the info product should be "How to Win
the $100k shopify contest!"

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dylanz
It should be noted that you "must" be selling something through a Shopify
store in order to be eligible.

Perhaps the title of this post should be "Build a Business using Shopify, win
$100,000".

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alaskamiller
Sell the most, based on your 2 best revenue-generating months, using Shopify
in 6 months and win $100k.

To get started, maybe start by going through eBay auctions and buying
warehouse and manufacturer contact lists that will send you demo items for
free!

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cmos
Actually, I think it's called 'let's put together a promotion that includes
both shopify and 4hourworkweek and create a lot of talk about both'.

That being said, $125k is a lot of money, and kudos to them for encouraging
startups. Sparkfun is dolling out $100k in a couple weeks. Perhaps this is the
new marketing engine of web 3.14159?

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breck
Finally, a business contest that chooses a winner based on revenue!

I'm amazed other contests don't use this simplest of objective measures to
pick a winner.

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Psyonic
Note comment above (using adwords to churn with 0% margin, but winning the
contest for the $100k). Profit might be a better indicator, but obviously much
harder to measure.

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JoeyS1980
Did some computation here... In order for Shopify to break-even with his
$100K, they need 4,167 ($100,000 / $24 per month membership fee ) new
registered paid stores.

After that 2 months contest, MAYBE some of them will bail out with the
membership.

At the end, this contest is a very good marketing strategy to pull-in new
customer.

Nice job Shopify.

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ibsulon
divide by 6 (the contest is six months, not 2). That means 833 people for six
months, some of whom will become successful and keep doing it. Then there's a
2% transaction fee for the entry level shop. Then, some will choose premium
plans.

If they even get 100 successful new businesses (that last two years and end up
on the 60/month plan), they've paid it back with interest - the unsuccessful
startups are just a little extra. (And, they get people who will use the
service as customers and tell their friends!)

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windsurfer
US only, of course.

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xal
I'll repost here what I wrote for Tim's blog:

When putting together the contest we really wanted to make it a contest for
anyone, anywhere in the world. Throughout the planning I spent more hours on
the phone with lawyers than I’d care to admit to anyone. Unfortunately, as
time when on, it became clear that it would be impossible to hold the contest
anywhere outside the US without fundamentally altering the original concept.

Without going into too much detail, the crux of the matter is the
classification of the contest as a game of chance versus a game of skill.
Apparently, being good at selling stuff online is considered chance by many
agencies and therefore would be governed by Lottery laws, as silly as this
sounds.

That being said, you can still participate in this contest wherever you are.
The prize money is significant, but don’t forget the spirit of the contest: to
give a kick in the pants to all those people who have wanted to start
businesses but haven’t. The real prize is having a business of your own at the
end of the six months. You’ll still have all the same resources and guides as
everyone else: support from the Shopify team, help and guidance from Tim and
other experts, and more control over your financial independence.

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dazzla
I'd love to start a store but I'm drawing a blank on what to sell or
especially where to find it. Looks like the drop shipping and importing world
is a mine field.

Anyone have any pointers to get a rookie started?

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dabent
Really a great way to promote Shopify. I wonder how much they paid for this
(prize money aside). I'll hand Ferriss one thing, the man knows how to get
eyeballs on a product and get people excited about it.

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slapshot
I'm currently building a business. I wouldn't do it for just a chance at
$100,000. It takes a lot more to get real entrepreneurs to build a real
business.

