The amazing story of the man who traded one red paper clip for a house !

The story of Kyle MacDonald has blown my mind. It shows once again the power of the human mind and is a great source of inspiration.



Judge by yourself.


From http://www.oneredpaperclip.com/

The One Red Paperclip Project

On July 12, 2005 I posted a picture of a red paperclip on my blog and in the barter section of craigslist and asked if anyone wanted to make a trade for something bigger or better.  A few days later I traded the paperclip for a pen shaped like a fish.  Then I traded the pen for a doorknob.  And so on, each time trading for something bigger or better.  Once all the dust settled, I'd made 14 trades and wound up with a house located at 503 Main Street in Kipling Saskatchewan.

It was an amazing year.

Over the year of trading I met hundreds of awesome people, made many new friends and tried out new things.  You get the idea.  The experience was incredible.  Some of the more ridiculous highlights:

• I was made mayor for the day of Kipling
• Dom and I were made honorary residents of Kipling for life
• I was given the key to the city.
• I received a Guinness World Record for Most Successful Internet Trade
• Kipling erected the World's Largest Red Paperclip, another Guinness Record
• Dom and I traveled to Japan to be surprise guests on one of those crazy Japanese shows.
• Another Japanese TV show made this.
• I was on stage with Alice Cooper at a concert in Fargo.
• The press had a field day
• I wrote a book about the adventure.
• Volkswagen Spain made a TV commercial based on the story
• I starred in a Mastercard commercial.
• Grolsch Beer made a TV commercial inspired by the story

Everything has to start somewhere, and the most important trade was the first, when I traded away the red paperclip.  If I hadn't tried the idea out, I'd just be a guy with a red paperclip on his desk and the adventure would've never happened.

I have since donated the house to the Town of Kipling, where along with the World's Largest Red Paperclip, it is a major tourist attraction and community asset.