Trade you my paperclip for your house?

With property prices shooting through the roof, you need to be creative these days if you want to own your own home. To give you an idea of the madness: a car parking space in London was going for over £30,000 a little while back - it's probably worth a lot more now. And it's not just in the UK - it's happening all over the world.

 

Kyle Macdonald, a young Canadian, has found the answer. Since July last year, he has been bartering his way up to housing ladder. He started with one red paper clip. He has literally traded up via various better and better items - including a doorknob, a generator and a van. Today, 27 April 2006, he is offering a trade on an afternoon with rock legend Alice Cooper. Now what's that worth to you and what will you trade him for it?

 

Check out his website at www.oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com and see for yourself.

 

In an interview on a Canadian website (www.onedegree.ca), he explains how the success of his project is almost entirely dependent on his free blogspot website and other free web tools eg for displaying photos and videos and emailing. He says he has "never made a single outgoing call to a media outlet or solicited a trade from a single person" - the people he has traded with have all come to him via the website.

 

From how far he has progressed in the last 9 months, It looks like he will be the proud owner of his own home very soon!

 

I am sure many people will be inspired by his project to try out bartering as a way to trade their way up to their dream. We all do each other favours every day and in the business world, from small enterprisese and solo professionals to big companies, it's common to exchange expertise, services, products and goodwill. I guess what he's doing is not that different - just more focused!

 

So what will I be trading in the next little while to take me closer to my dream? Well, my dream is for this blog to reach 500 subscribers by May Day (1 May) 2007. So this month, I'm putting up three free copies of my novel to be won in exchange for readers subscribing to this blog. Since its launch about 10 days ago, I've had 20 subscribers so it's a great start - but still a long way to go. I hope you can help me reach my goal by telling your friends about this blog.

 

What would you like to trade in the coming few weeks to take you closer to your dream? Why not tell me about it by leaving a comment? Maybe I, or the other readers of this blog, could help you towards your goal in some small way.

 

 

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