onedollarempire

Timely Follow Up

2006-06-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

So here's the "timely" follow up post... almost a month later. I ended up not liking the last idea that I thought was "the one" and I got a little discouraged. Couple that with the fact that I'm moving and I have been trying to land a new job and... well those are the excuses anyway.

The good news is:

1. My girlfriend and I found a great apartment in Downtown Vancouver that we're moving into on July 1st.

2. I got the new job I've been hellbent on getting for the last few weeks.

That's right folks, I'm moving on up in the world. As of a couple of days ago I am officially the manager (although I'm not too hung up about titles) of a great new business called WorkSpace. I'm really excited about the position. Please check out www.abetterplacetowork.com to learn more about what we do.

So, what happens now? Well, after my little hiatus from the project I'm feeling quite refreshed about the whole thing. The plan is continue where I left off. I'll keep brainstorming and doing anything I can in my spare time to move the project forward. Things are going to be busy, but I really want to get in the habit of updating more frequently. A blog that isn't updated regularly is pretty damn boring.

A big thanks to everyone who took the time to encourage me during the downtime.

The Project Is Alive and Well (Happy Easter!)

2006-04-17T04:43:00.000-07:00

Some of you are probably thinking "well that didn't take long, he gave up already". Admittedly, I did hit a bit of a wall, but I don't have any intentions of quitting. I'm going to see this thing through.

If I were a really good blogger I would have written about the wall I hit and allowed all of you readers to experience it with me. Unfortunately I'm still sort of crappy at this and I didn't write anything.

Over the past month or so I've been struggling with where to take the project. As regular readers will know I don't want to continue small scale buying and selling. It's just not scalable. I've toyed around with a number of ideas, some wackier than others, but I couldn't find anything that I could see myself really pouring my heart into.

I'm happy to report that I think I finally found "it". I'm too tired to go all out with an explanation post but expect a *timely* (for real) follow up. (edit: Or maybe I'll post something in a month or so... if you're lucky.)

Thanks for being patient during the down time and thanks especially to those of you who left encouraging comments!

P.S. The picture of me cooking a turkey is only relevant in that it's Easter Sunday... or was a couple of hours ago... although it was actually taken on Thanksgiving 2003.

Speakers Sold

2006-03-28T22:00:00.000-08:00

I sold both pairs of computer speakers on Saturday. They went for $10 total as advertised.

These were really hard to get rid of for some reason. No joke, I had six different people that emailed me saying "I'd like to buy a pair of your speakers" but for one reason or another all the deals fell through. In a few cases the buyer and I couldn't work out a time for pick up/delivery right away and the communication just trailed off. One time the buyer changed his mind before he picked them up.

My favourite case was when a guy said he'd like to buy a pair, came to my house asked if I would accept $5 for one set, which I agreed to, and then proceeded to listen to each pair for an extended period of time before he said that they "weren't what he was looking for in a speaker". Don't get me wrong I'm totally cool with people trying before they buy, I even encourage it, but I thought that was hilarious because he treated the speakers as though he was about to spend $15,000 on some audiophile quality marvels of modern engineering. I was like "dude, they're selling for six bucks a pair and you aren't willing to pay more than five... maybe your expectations are a little high". He was nice enough, and thanked me for my time, but still.

OK, now all I have to do is sell the TV, the P.I. kit, the iron, and the hockey card before we move on with this thing. It's time for the lowest form of sales tactic: The Discount. I'm going to re-list those items right now. For the iron, this is actually the first listing. It's one of those older style irons that's all metal. My mom says those are the best ones and she complained when hers quit working a few years ago. I was saving this one for her (yes, I'm an awesome son) but she said not to worry about it and to sell it for the project. Thanks Mom.

The Empire Grows - Typewriter Sold

2006-03-20T18:41:00.000-08:00

Just sold the typewriter for $13.50. Movin' on up (movin' on up!) to the east side...

Comment Spam Has Arrived

2006-03-20T18:17:00.000-08:00

One Dollar Empire received its first comment spam today. Of course, I rejected it. I'm actually surprised that it took this long to show up.

Hotplate is Gonzo

2006-03-17T16:58:00.000-08:00

I just dropped off the hotplate at the buyer's workplace. Add $10 to the total. Onward and upward!

Status Report

2006-03-09T01:38:00.000-08:00

Here's where the project stands on cash balance and inventory:

Current cash balance: $70.00 CDN on hand, $16.50 USD in Paypal

Inventory:

-TV
-Electric Typewriter
-Clothes Iron
-Computer Speakers x 2 sets
-Hotplate
-"P.I. Kit"
-Patrick Roy Hockey Card

I hope to liquidate the current inventory by month end. As for accounts payable, there are some eBay fees to pay as well as two small shipping charges for the Beatles cassette and electric eraser. I'll post a new total when all is said and done on this phase of the project.

This is really starting to get fun!

ODE Has a Fan Blog

2006-03-09T01:15:00.000-08:00

I've been corresponding with a young man from South Carolina named John who initially contacted me becasue he was interested in investing in the project. When I told him that I'm not looking for investors at this point he asked if it was ok with me for him to start a fan blog. Of course, I'm flattered that anyone would want to do such a thing and told him to go nuts!

Here's the link to John's blog. He's just getting started and has only one post so far, but hopefully he'll keep it up and spread the word.

Thanks John!

This Is Not a "Million Dollar Homepage"

2006-02-19T04:14:00.000-08:00

Frequent visitors to this site will notice that I've changed the description under the header. It used to read "an attempt to turn one dollar into one million dollars". The new description, which you can see above, says "Dane Brown's attempt to create a legitimate business empire by staring with just one dollar." The problem with the original description is that it immediately makes people think of The Million Dollar Homepage and all the copycat sites that came after it. Also, when I give that description to others verbally, I get a lot of people who think I'm the One Red Paperclip guy for some reason. I think the new description, along with being more personal, better states what I'm actually trying to do.

No, I'm not asking you to give me money.

No, I'm not trying to sell pixel ads.

No, I'm not trying to trade my way up from a paperclip to a house.

This whole project is the result of an idea I got from reading about a guy who, just for fun, gave each member of his family $100 in order to see who could generate the most profit from it in one month. (I can't remember where I read it, but it was online. If you're that guy or you know the site, please direct me to it. ) I thought that it was a cool idea but I wanted to try it on a larger scale and use it to kick start my dream of having my own business. Why not start really small and try to go really big? Starting with $100 and seeing where you can get is OK, but starting with just a buck and turning it into a million is worth talking about!

The real goal here is to build something of lasting value. I'm not looking to hit the Internet up for a quick million and quit (although I am somewhat jealous of those who manage to do that successfully). I want to create meaning. In fact, one million dollars is just an arbitrary goal that sounds impressive. I could have made it a thousand or a billion. The point is that I'm not going to stop what I'm doing when I make it to a million. I know that's true because the only way I'll ever get that far is if I'm doing something that is fulfilling to begin with.

Back to Products... For Now

2006-02-16T02:06:00.000-08:00

Hot on the heels of my "let's think about services" post, I am back in the products game. I bought this awesome accessory combo for $72.98. I'm going to put the physically larger items back on craigslist and put the smaller, more collectible ones on eBay. One of the cassettes is a really cool advance sampler of The Beatles 'Live at the BBC' album that was released in '94. It was sent out by EMI, likely to record stores, and has an attached form for a contest they were running at the time. I don't know how much demand there is for something like this, but I think it's a pretty rare item.

The goal with the resale of all this stuff is to at least break the $100 mark. While I'm trying to sell this stuff I'll be playing with some service ideas. Hopefully by the time the stuff is gone I'll be ready to move forward with a service. If you see anything on the list that you like, let me know.

Ebay/craigslist links coming soon.

Update Feb 18th - Here are the links to the items on craigslist:

Old School T.V.
Waffle Iron (SOLD)
Camping Tents (SOLD)
Computer Speakers (SOLD)
Framed Rock 'n' Roll Pics (SOLD)
Private Investigator Kit
Computer Monitor (SOLD)
Vintage Hotplate (SOLD)
Time Machine Globe (SOLD)
Drums (SOLD)
Electric Typewriter (SOLD)

Ebay links coming...