Back in 2005, a Canadian blogger named Kyle MacDonald wanted to see what he could get for a single red paperclip. His plan was to trade the paperclip for something of value and keep trading up until he had a house.
A house???
As crazy as it seems, he was desperate and was unable to find a job. Kyle started by listing his red paperclip on the Internet for trade. Two young women immediately responded offering to trade a fish pen. He continued to trade to bigger items until he finally reached his goal of owning a house in 2006, a year later.
It took a total 14 trades to get to his goal:
- Paperclip for fish-shaped pen
- Fish-shaped pen for hand-sculpted doorknob
- Hand-sculpted doorknob for Coleman Camp stove
- Coleman Camp stove for a Honda Generator
- Honda Generator for an empty keg with an IOU for filling the keg with beer and a Budweiser Neon Sign
- Keg, IOU, and neon sign for a Ski-Doo Snowmobile
- Snowmobile for a two-person trip to Yahk, British Columbia
- 2nd spot on the trip for a box truck
- Box truck for a recording contract with Metalworks
- Recording contract for a years rent
- Years rent for one afternoon with Alice Cooper
- One afternoon with Alice Cooper for a KISS motorized snowglobe
- Snowglobe for a movie role in Donna on Demand
- Movie role for a two-story farmhouse in Kipling, Saskatchewan
It took him a total of 14 trades over the course of a year to reach his goal to own a house.
A few of the trades are interesting, a snowglobe for a role in the movie? Corbin Bernsen is considered one of the largest snowglobe collectors in the world, and it was one he had to have in his collection.
A few of the trades were made possible only because of the popularity his challenge received. The keg, beer IOU, and neon sign were traded to a radio host for the snowmobile.
I always found this story fascinating and shows almost anything is possible if you put your mind to it.
Kyle later presented a TED Talks about his experience.
I highly recommend checking it out.
My recent popular posts
- How curation rewards work and how to be a kick ass curator
- Markdown 101 - How to make kick ass posts on Steemit
- Work ON your business, not in your business! - How to succeed as a small business
- You are not entitled to an audience, you need to earn it!
- UFC Fight Pass and Steem Witness caught secretly mining cryptocurrency on their paid service
- Building a Portable Game Console
)
The point is we all have the ingenuity to creat so much more than we currently create or possess. We are surround by a wealth of opportunity, assets, networks, possibilities and it's for us to put the pieces together or align them in the proper order for our plans and visions to be realized.
This is genius from a paperclip to a house .Power of social media at work.
I wonder if he trades crypto
I bet that guy could trade a RedCoin for a Bitcoin!
love u
Hi friend, I share post about 90s time: commercial,magazine,movies,tv ...if you like it, follow me please! https://steemit.com/@master90z
What a great story.
Mind = Blown.
This has to be one of the wildest stories I've ever heard.
The TED Talk video is fantastic to really understand the depth of it.
wow nefis bir hikaye ! gerçekten buna inanabildiğimizde hayat farklı olacaktır bence de ..paylaştığın için teşekkürler .
Great story. Kyle is absolutely a great trader. And he was focused on his goal of getting house.
DREAM..BELIEVE..ACHIEVE!
Law of attraction! This is a great motivation @themarkymark, thank you very much for sharing this. Resteemed.
An interesting read! Watched the video too... Fortune favours the brave!
Amazing story!
I remember hearing about this. One of our local radio stations decided to do one of there own, I can't remember how it ended but last I heard of it they had a car that didn't run. 14 trades doesn't sound like very many to go from a paperclip to a house. Good on him.
Wow, I had heard this story but I never seen a list of trades he made. Only 14! I wonder if it could be replicated...
Just think what he could have gotten for a blue paperclip :-)
I remember watching the documentary and showing it to my highshool students. Such an awesome idea, thank you for reminding me of this super awesome trade story!
Paylaşımların gayet güzel takdir ediyorum seni.
The internet is sometimes a magical place where incredible things are possible.
This story is another proof of it.
Lucky guy for achieving that insane goal of exchanging a paperclip for a House!! (14 trades later but still!!)
I was about to ask if this was a TED talk when I first started reading because it sounded familiar. Loved the story and it's really inspiring if you put your mind to something you can make it possible.
Bagus saya suka
Not heard about this before. Great example of the possibilities when you embrace positivity and chance.
My favourite part of this story, was that he finally got his hands on the original paperclip again, and twisted into a little wire ring that he used to propose to his girlfriend.
Woah! Anything is possible! Inspiring story. Thanks for sharing!
anyone have an extra red paper clip I can borrow!
lol. is that the same kyle as in the last man standing?
hi @themarkymark nice
i like you @themarkymark
i seen your daily post @themarkymark i like it @themarkymark
i follow you @themarkymark