For some time now I have raved about oneredpaperclip, the 2005 project by Kyle McDonald who traded a paperclip to a house over the course of 12 months. Now, six years later, we have Project1p!
Kyle McDonald launched a website and, essentially, said to the world, ‘what will you trade for my oneredpaperclip?’ Luke Seall has done the same with 1penny. Luke has explained on his site his dad often gives him a few choice pearls of wisdom, ‘Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.’ So, Luke has chosen to look after his penny, by giving it away! Over the course of the year Luke hopes to leave the project with something, will closer to a pound or few.
The most interesting aspect of this project, to me, is that I have harped on about oneredpaperclip for years and so, in my mind, this project was done and dusted, couldn’t be done again. I failed to realise that there is a whole generation of young people who have no idea what oneredpaperclip is, and, in this current financial climate it is also an interesting story – he has certainly started to get some PR coverage!
I certainly wish Luke all the best, will be following with interest, and, well, let’s see what he ends up with! If you have something to trade, give it a shot! Perhaps, Kyle, the god-father of trading, could give Luke some advice on taking his penny and chasing the stars!
A few years ago I came up with what I thought was a pretty amazing idea. The incredible awesome amazing idea was to try to convince Channel Five to hand over an hour of prime time programming to one member of the British public.
When I first came up with this idea, Hijack Five, Channel Five was being run by Dawn Airey, (as opposed to Five’s new owner Richard Desmond). Dawn had announced that she wanted all prime time programmes to gain an audience of 1million and my mission was to see whether the British public could make this happen!
My request was that members of the public uploaded a video to YouTube stating why they should Hijack Five, this could have been for any reason – for a chat show, to follow the story of a goal or a dream, to raise awareness of a personal story to to rally a cause for a charity. When Dawn Airey heard about this story through an article in a London newspaper her response was, ‘Cheeky sod! I love it’. I had a number of meetings with Channel Five but we did not really get much further. I had numerous meetings with TV production companies, including Endemol and I had a few meetings with Channel Five. Although Five loved the idea there was just not enough money going around in the TV world. So, Hijack Five had to be cancelled.
Move on to 2011 and I am addicted to a particular American TV show that I can only watch on Wednesday’s, four days after the show has aired in the USA. This particularly awesome show is Oprah’s OWN – to win your own TV show on the all new Oprah channel, OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). It is flippin’ addictive. Just like Hijack Five, the public had to upload their video to youtube with regards to why they should be given their own show, 10 contestants were chosen and put through their paces, and one winner will be announced next week.
This show is absolutely addictive and we are now down to the final two – Kristina, who has a passion to create a new breed of cooking show and Zach who has cerebal palsy and is incredibly funny. Personally, I am hoping Zach wins as he is talented, hilarious, and an awesome role model.
So, the idea of one member of the public winning their own TV show was not a bad idea. However, it was only a good idea if a) you are a billionaire b) you have your own tv channel c) you are one of the highest rating TV stars in America. So, we learn for next time.
I encourage you to check out OWN: Win your OWN TV show.
“The tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach” ~ B Mays
Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays (August 1, 1894 – March 28, 1984) was an American minister, educator, scholar, social activist, and the president of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1940 to 1967. He was also a significant mentor to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and was among the most articulate and outspoken critics of segregation before the rise of the modern civil rights movement in the United States. While serving as the Dean of the School of Religion at Howard University in Washington D.C. from 1934 to 1940, he traveled to India and spoke with Mohandas Gandhi, a highly respected equal-rights believer known all over the world; this meeting had a lasting impact on Dr. Mays.
Benjamin E. Mays High School in Atlanta, Georgia, was named in his honor.
There is an interesting article this morning on whether current crazy valuations of dotcom businesses is the beginning of the second dotcom bubble. You can read it here: ??Is this the start of the second dotcom bubble?
This certainly makes for interesting read, however, my question is whether fervent writing on a potentially pending dotcom bubble actually results in the bursting of the bubble itself?
If a dotcom bubble does burst it would be interesting to see what affect this would have on today’s generation of entrepreneurs who are all about the internet. What would they now turn to? What would be the next big market? Certainly makes for interesting thought.
Apparently I have inspired someone. I received a ‘tweet’ telling me so. Little did I realise that this tweet would result in me spending a heap of time on this individuals blog, and, being incredibly inspired myself.
I like being inspired. People who inspire me include Richard Branson, Maya Angelou, Duncan Bannatyne and all the other successes you would expect to see on a list of books read by any entrepreneur. However, I also love learning from people who have not quite made it yet, but probably will.
Scott S Barlow is one such person, he is the dude that messaged me. Scott’s ‘thing’ right now is that ‘failure is not fatal’ and he is right. Yeah he took the quote from someone or others book (well actually Rachel Elnaugh’s) but he is still right. Scott has explained to me that he has had a list of failed businesses but, he still has ambition and a dream that he is chasing. Respect!
Scott’s blog is flippin’ awesome, it is packed full of inspirational comments, inspirational video’s and inspirational stories of people who failed at many things but, ultimately became a success. The example I really love is of Walt Disney who was told by a teacher that he was not creative and lacked imagination! Awesome!
Some people love to sit on the sidelines, watch on, and throw in a comment every now and then aimed at bringing you down. Reality is that such people are not going anywhere in life, and fast. However, there are people like Scott who completely and utterly understand, they are in the ring with you, fighting, drawing air, packing a punch and refusing to go down until they have achieved what it is that they believe that they are on planet Earth to achieve. Scott is one of these people.
I like Scott. I think you will like Scott too. If Scott inspires you tweet him and tell him.
