How It Works

For Student Entrepreneurs:  If your school is not participating in the Inspire Entrepreneurship Program simply click on the 'Join our business community' button below.  Once you've done that and requested access to the FirstPivot.store one of our Marketplace Managers will get in touch with you. And then you can open up your own digital shop and start listing the products or services that you would like to sell. You will be able to upload photos, write product descriptions and create digital flyers to promote your shop! There's no upfront costs associated and you can list as many products or services as you want. To keep the price accessible and open to everyone we do charge an honest transaction fee of 10%. 3% of that goes to our payments partner who allows you to take online orders. They also charge $0.30 for every order processed. The rest goes to keeping the site up and running. 
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For Shoppers:  Thank You for supporting our local student entrepreneurs! Where you shop matters and the global pandemic has reminded us of the human element behind every business. Our students are our largest untapped natural resource and let's help them by supporting their entrepreneurial efforts. Your payments are securely handled by Stripe, one of the largest e-commerce processors in the world, and a great startup story that was founded by two entrepreneurial brothers back in 2009.

For Wholesalers:  If you have an existing product that you are either making or have access to at a great price and would like to give our Student Entrepreneurs the opportunity to sell it in their shops, let us know! We can set you up with a page that promotes your products to our community. Email us at [email protected] and one of our site managers will contact you.

For Schools: If you would like to establish a student entrepreneur marketplace for your school and community, like the Daintree but tethered to your school, please contact us at [email protected] Your student shops can help build connective tissue into your community. It's a great way for parents and local businesses to create special offers for the school community. You can even use it to raise funds for your school!

How To

Create Your Logo:  We are big fans of Canva for all things design. They are a great Australian startup that has a huge catalogue of templates that you can choose from to help you get started. Simply go to Canva.com and start designing. Download your design and then upload it to your shop profile.

Start A Candle Business:  With our new "Business In A Box" offer we provide you with candles, labels, 'How To' guides, and E-commerce capability to start taking orders. Sounds good? It's even better because we have partnered with a 12 year old girl boss who is pouring some of the finest candles in Australia so you have a great product that's easy to move. You'll need to come up with a name, design your logo, and then you can open up your shop and start taking orders.
Watch this video that walks you through how to start your business.

Sell Custom T-Shirts 
  • Step 1 - Find a local t-shirt printing shop that has good pricing and online design. 
  • Step 2 - Come up with your design(s). We highly recommend you do some simple market research and create a survey to get feedback on your design. Don't forget to include a section in your survey that asks for users to provide suggestions. Make your survey's here:  https://surveys.google.com/
  • Step 3 - Come up with a price for your T-shirt. Do some more market research and interview your potential customers to find out what they would pay for your custom designed T-shirt. As part of your interview process make you you have a picture of your design so you can share it with them. Do not be afraid to ask them to pre-order one. 
  • Step 4 - Once you have the best design simply take a screen shot of it and add it to your shop under the Products category. You can add the price, the sizes you want to offer, and delivery options. Then begin to take orders for the shirts. 
  • Step 5 - Monitor your shop and orders coming in by reviewing the Commerce section and checking your emails for order notifications. You will then have to place the orders and manage the delivery process. 

Promote Your Shop
  • Step 1 - The easiest way to get visitors to your shop is to ask your Friends and Family to visit it. Make it easy for them by sending them an email with a story that shares why you are raising funds - pocket money, for a cause, to buy a new bike - and your business idea. Ask them to share it with their friends and to share the link with their social media networks. 
  • Step 2 - If you are on social media, create some catchy advertising. Target it for your specific market. 
  • Step 3 - Make flyers and hang them around your neighbourhood in high traffic locations. Most IGA's have a community board that you can hang a flyer advertising your shop. Include a QR code that takes interested shoppers straight to your shop. Don't forget to ask the local stores and shops if they can support your entrepreneurial efforts and promote your flyer.