Remember my blog post about Kyle MacDonald’s Storebuyout.com Well, I and many others received the following email this week:
Here’s a video of a chat we had with Hercules.
The original sales receipt is currently being auctioned to help buy
Hercules the store of his dreams. Please spread the word!
http://cgi.ebay.com/
have fun,
Kyle
So, currently the auction stands at $1,025 with the reserve not met. I can’t wait to see what happens. Whether this receipt is sold for heaps or it isn’t I love Kyle’s approach to the world and there is heaps to learn from him so check out www.storebuyout.com and get learning!
I have mentioned Kyle MacDonald a number of times before, most notably through one of his projects OneRedPaperClip.com whereby he traded a paperclip to a house. This time, Kyle has done it again with an awesome little project called StoreBuyOut.com
Just to back track a little bit as I would like to make an important point about Kyle MacDonald. Kyle MacDonald has tried a number of things, some of his things have worked, like OneRedPaperclip.com and some haven’t like whoaretheseguys.com (which he eventually turned into a comedy show). Even before Kyle launched OneRedPaperClip he did many other things that were not so big, not many heard about any of them, until OneRedPaperClip did so well.
Irrespective of what has worked for Kyle or what has not worked for Kyle, one thing is completely and utterly true: Kyle loves projects. Kyle gets an idea in his head and he wont stop until he has given it a go, whatever the hell happens to the project and I completely and utterly respect the guy for that. Kyle MacDonald lives his life with passion.
Now, back to Kyle’s latest project: storebuyout.com. Kyle MacDonald and some of his artist mates walk into a local convenience store and buy everything. The guy who owns the store, Hercules, was running out of money and had some bills to pay. Kyle and his mates came up with Storebuyout.com in order to help him out.
All of the contents of the store have been turned into ‘art’ and are being showcased in an art gallery. Kyle and his team are also looking to sell these items, after they have been turned into ‘art’ and will be sold.. including an upside down can of coke for $400.
Now, with the turning it into art and selling it on bit, this is interesting. I would love to know whether they are secretly going to share some of the profit with Hercules, it would be nice if they did. Some people will buy this stuff, just because it is ‘arty’. Fair play.
Kyle made a big gamble here, he had to raise the money from somewhere and presumably he owes this money back. It is a huge gamble but he took a risk and I hope that it will work out for him and will financially bring a return for him. I have to say though that this guy is really living his life and I can only do nothing but respect that.
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!