February Going Well

Hi all...and thanks for following my journey.

February started off really well.  I set some goals for myself and the project, and one was to make two trades this month (totally do-able considering last month).  By the first weekend, I'd made those trades!

I had 5 Mac OSX games posted since the beginning of the project, and someone contacted me through Craigslist about my copy of Diablo II.  Now, if you're not familiar with this game, it debuted in 2000.  In video game years, it's ancient (but a great game!).  The most you'd get for it on Ebay would be $10, if you're lucky.  Someone offered me Starcraft II (an equally awesome, yet much more modern Blizzard game).  This new game could easily pull $40 in a sale.  Now that's a tradeup!

The next day, I met up with Devon, an old friend, who was salivating over my newly acquired iPhone 3G.  He's a graphic design guy, and he agreed to give me $350 worth of his services.  So I drafted up a transferrable contract and we met and signed it.  If I can't trade this, I'll still be able to use his services for my business.

The day after that, I nearly traded this contract!  I contacted Rachel Anzalone, a local life/wellness coach who had a Craigslist post looking to trade for graphic design services (who'da thunk it?).  I was really excited, but we couldn't come to terms.  But I was CLOSE!

Anyway, it's going well so far, and I think we'll get some more trades going.  Thanks for the help, and for following the progress.

If you have any suggestions as to how to make this project work better, I welcome them in the comments or via email (startuptrade @ gmail).

Trade on.

Goal Met, Doubled Even!

January closed with a bang!  I met my goal of one trade, and actually got another trade accomplished on the same day.  Saturday, January 29th, I traded a 32" Dynex 720 LCD HDTV (with admittedly low contrast ratio) for an iPhone 3G in great condition.  I trekked up into western Cleveland to meet Tim for the trade.  I found out it was his son's birthday and the TV was the boy's gift.  Very cool!  He presented it to his son later that day.  Talk about timing...

Not two hours later I met with a young couple from Canton (who graciously came all the way to my place).   They took my old Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook (poor thing has a bad battery, not much of a laptop...) off my hands in exchange for a Briggs and Stratton 1kW gas generator and a jump box (portable battery with clamps to jump your car anywhere).  These are great items to have in an Ohio winter, and I hope they are marketable.  Their combined value new is quite comparable to the new value of the MacBook, but these items are less than a year old whereas my MacBook was over three years...

So, my January goal of one trade was doubled.  I've set a quite feasible goal of two completed trades for the month of February.  The iPhone likely has a recipient, and his offer is quite unique.  I think it'll be cool to see what I can turn it into.

Thanks for reading.  Follow my blog if you will, and comment so I know what you think...

January..

January is almost done, and I haven't made my first trade.  SO many close calls, but every one has flaked.

My goal is to have at least one trade done by January, and two in February.  I think it can definitely happen.

I've got a MacBook that's drawing a lot of interest.  People have offered an iPhone 4, electrical work, and guitars and amps.  I have yet to decide what to take, but I want to decide soon.  Any suggestions?

A New Project

Well, I'm embarking on a cool journey for 2011.  Before the what, however, here's the why...

I've always had a desire to own my own business.  Part of it is the fact that my dad is a successful entrepreneur, and the other part is my hillbilly rebel nature to not follow someone else.  The one thing keeping me from jumping head on into a business venture is my family.  My wife and two daughters need to be fed, and my current job does that just fine.  I don't want to mess that up by risking our finances...yet.

So, for most of 2010, I schemed for a way to start a business up with minimal capital.  Lemonade stands, Stolex watches, etc...  Then I finally found something that struck my fancy.  I'm going to barter my way to the startup capital I need.

So on the 1st of January I set aside some stuff (junk to most) and hit Craigslist, Facebook, and Twitter (and this blog!).

The rules of my project are simple: I can only trade things I already own (or obtain for free) for other things.  That's it.  At the end of 2011 I will start a business with either the items I end up with, or with the capital I cash them out for (or a combination thereof).

I can't do this without you guys.  Any re-tweets, friend suggestions, or other marketing assistance would be the best!  This is a social project, and people are the key to my success...thanks!