Swap With Scott

It's been a while...

2008-11-12T00:01:00.000-08:00

Once again I slackened off with my posting and the Swap With Scot project in general! I've probably lost a few readers of the blog for that and I apologize! I have just completed my studies at university, so I'm now back on track to get cracking with a few more trades.

I am now on over $1000 and I really want to double this and get to over $2000 ASAP!

BestJobz

2008-07-23T17:59:00.001-07:00

I have updated my other website, BestJobz.com. It now offers more opportunities for making money online! I recommend you all to check it out, hopefully you'll find something on there to help make some extra cash.

$1050

2008-07-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

I now have $1050. It's a great swap for a dozen beers don't you think? Feels good to be above $1000 that's for sure. I've started looking for trades again now, because I'm really getting back into this idea.

I am now into Step 11 of the doubling steps. This means I only have to double my money 10 times to be on over One Million Dollars! I have a feeling the next step isn't too far away. Trades have been working out lately.

The money has been transferred into my bank account, so I'll have to either draw the money out, take a picture, and deposit it back, or just find some other type of proof to show on this blog.

Next Step

2008-06-26T21:59:00.000-07:00

I have just made my next move. Spending my $700 on some digital photo frames, imported from China. They should be here very soon. Hopefully within a week.

But the news gets better....

I have pre-sold these. These things are selling really well on TradeMe at the moment. Usually reaching around $50. I paid $20 each for 35 of these and sold them straight away for $30 so I'll get my payment once they arrive. The person I have sold them to will still make money on these with no trouble at all. I will receive $1050 for these so should be onto the next doubling step.

Sold.

2008-06-19T04:40:00.000-07:00

I've already turned over the Numark Total Control. Had a feeling it would go pretty fast. Someone I knew just happened to know someone who was looking for one. They got a pretty good deal on it since they usually sell much higher than the $700 I got for it.

So, onto the next trade. This trade has put me into Step 7 of the Doubling Steps . Hopefully I will be moving up those ranks faster now that some trades have been occuring again.

Here it is...

2008-06-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the product I imported from the U.S. It is a Numark Total Control, which is a USB controller for DJ software.

It cost me NZ$300 to purchase it and get it sent across the world to New Zealand. I think I already have someone lined up to pay at least $600 for this product, as they are pretty rare to see here in NZ. I've seen some sell for over $800, so I think I've chosen the right product to move forward with the Swap With Scott project.

Also, it's a good feeling just to know I've got myself one of these for the cost of one dozen beers.

Finally...

2008-06-16T18:35:00.000-07:00

Right! I have finally made my next move with Swap With Scott. I have made a trade, swapping $300 for an item imported from the U.S.A. Details and photos will be up shortly!

Wow

2008-05-04T05:52:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since my last post. To be honest nothing has changed at this stage, with my interest in the Swap With Scott project slipping for a while. It's back again though, and I still have the cash I've made so far. All I need to do is sort out another trade.

My eyes are finally back open, and hunting for trades again. After coming so far from a dozen beers, I really can't quit now!

Some News!

2008-04-02T05:08:00.000-07:00

With all of my university work out of the way for another couple of weeks, I've decided to make something happen with the Swap With Scott project, so I will find something to trade within the next two weeks (hopefully well before then!). I'm fairly confident that I will be able to do something! My goal is to make at least $100, but we'll see how it goes. I'll take any improvement, no matter how small it is!

I have a few friends who are interested in the Swap With Scott project, so I will try and sort out a trade with one of them if I don't get any good offers, surely they have something to sell! I want to race through to the next doubling milestone as quickly as possible!

Something is not too far away...

2008-03-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

I've decided to import something for someone.... that way I can just get it for them, add my markup on it, and then sell it straight away. Like a pre arranged swap. It should work out quite well as it can be completed quite quickly! This should happen within the next week or so, depending on how fast I can get the goods into the country.

Will update again soon!

New Strategy

2008-03-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

Now that I have $310 to play with rather than $100, I think it might be time for a new strategy. The money is getting up there now, with an increase of approximately 1300% on my starting amount (the cost of a dozen beers). I'm thinking of the possibility of buying some goods for wholesale prices and selling them either as a bulk lot here in New Zealand, or possibly importing wholesale goods from overseas and selling them on TradeMe. This should get me through to the next stage.

I've done some importing before, so this should work out alright. Especially the way the exchange rate between NZ and US dollar is looking at the moment. I'm looking towards winter items mainly, as we are heading into our winter here, while the US and the Northern Hemisphere are heading out of winter. Hopefully this will allow me to find some bargains.

How Good Is This?

2008-03-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

Here's the picture of my $310.

Pretty cool huh? All from A Dozen Beers. There's no limit to where this challenge can take me. Almost halfway through the Doubling Process!

My progress to date can be found here.

Really happy with my progress at this stage, even though I've had to come through a couple of slow patches. Also I've been really lucky in that the gambling with my money paid off. I won't be taking such risks in the future I don't think. Well I say that now but you never know.....

All On The Line.....

2008-03-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

After a few drinks last night with a friend, we decided to go to Christchurch Casino to try our luck. The only problem was that I was a little short on money. I grabbed my $100 and went on my way. This could have been a very bad call, and rather embarrassing. This blog could have been offline by today, like a compulsive gambler losing his house...

The night started alright, with both me and my friend making some small winnings. A few more drinks were had and things started to get a little silly. The bets on blackjack were getting bigger and bigger, so we decided to take a break and hit the gaming machines to limit our spending. Luckily enough I came out a bit better off, and decided to head back to the blackjack table to play with the profit.

Well luckily enough.... The Swap With Scott total is now up to $310. Needless to say I had a very lucky night. I don't think I'll be swapping in this fashion again, but this was a nice way to get the total up.

I do not recommend gambling and I'm usually not much of a gambler, but the latest swap is complete. I swapped $100 for $310 with the Christchurch Casino. This takes me past Step 8 and onto Step 9 of the Doubling Plan! Nearly half-way there!

Pictures of the Cash will follow shortly.

Nothing to Report

2008-03-18T19:37:00.001-07:00

Nothing spectacular to report at this stage. I've been quite busy with university work so haven't had a chance to find any good deals for my $100. I'm really glad to get to this stage so quickly, I've doubled my initial investment twice already which I think is pretty good progress. If I can keep doubling at this rate I'll reach a million really quickly.

I'll keep you updated!

100 New Zealand Dollars

2008-03-10T03:45:00.000-07:00

Thought I better update and put the photo of the $100 up. No offers as of yet but I'll be proactive and looking about for things to buy. It's starting to get interesting now that I'm over the $100 point. I can see myself getting hooked on this game, how good would it feel to hit $1000 or even $10000 all from a Dozen Beers?

Here's the Picture of My $100 Note:

Gone!

2008-03-07T03:41:00.000-08:00

The surfboard is now gone. I have received $100 Cash for it. I decided to accept this offer to keep things moving. This has put me on Step 7 of the doubling plan. Not bad considering I only started with a Dozen Beers. Things are in good shape.

I will be posting a picture of the $100 Note!

So, time for my next swap. Anyone want to trade something for NZ$100?

There's Something In The Pipeline

2008-03-06T02:54:00.000-08:00

Swap With Scott has been moving quite slowly lately. I've been really busy, but things are looking like they are coming together now. I've had a bit of interest which is good. Hopefully there should be a deal worked out in the next couple of days.

I'm really looking forward to moving on with the project, don't want to get stuck with something I can't get rid of. This means I might have to cash in again and take a monetary offer. That will suit me though, as it will show me where I'm at so far, and also allows me to take a look at where I'm at in terms of the doubling plan.

I'm also looking forward to taking this project into the future and really seeing where it takes me. It's been fun so far. Once I begin doing things on a larger scale people will begin to take notice, so I don't want to hang around in the early stages too long!

Watch this space...

I'm Still Alive!

2008-03-02T23:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the lack of posts! First week back at university was hectic. Had a lot of sorting out to do. Added quite a bit to my student loan too, great! So yeah, haven't done much with regards to this project, but have achieved a lot outside of it which is good. First week of uni always brings in those "Where am I going in life?" type of thoughts. Which is an interesting question.

One which I may answer soon. But judging on my last attempts to answer that we might be waiting a while!

Hopefully I'll get this surfboard moved on and something else in it's slot soon.

My Goals

2008-02-21T16:12:00.001-08:00

I've decided to write a post on my goals for my 'Swap With Scott' blog. I'm hoping to be able to do this full-time eventually, once I build up a good following. My main goal will obviously be to swap my way to a million dollars, but making an income from this blog could help me financially in the meantime, since I will never be able to use the money I make untill I reach a million.

The goals I would like to have achieved by the end of the year are as follows:

I would like to have swapped my way up to something worth over $1000 (Step 11 of Doubling Plan). This would mean I was over half-way in terms of the doubling plan.

I would like to be making around $20 a week from this blog alone.

I would like to be posting at least once per day.

If I can achieve these things by the end of this year I will be very happy with my progress!

Quick Update

2008-02-20T18:50:00.000-08:00

Thought I better write a quick update for you guys. I have painted the board again, it's looking much better. It's all ready to be swapped now and I've taken a picture of it so you can see how it's looking:

Huge improvement. Hopefully it will be moved on pretty soon and I'll have something new to swap!

Exciting Times

2008-02-17T20:14:00.000-08:00

What exciting times we are living in now. It is now possible to create a blog absolutely free of charge and start writing and sharing your ideas, experiences, pictures and stories with the world. The opportunities for bloggers are huge now. I'm sure we will see many new bloggers going full-time as there are plenty of opportunities for full-time incomes to be made from blogging. What a great lifestyle.

So far this blog has really taken off. I haven't written many posts but so far I am well above where I had planned to be in terms of blog traffic and also in terms of the stage I am at with this experiment. Step 6 already in terms of doubling! That means I only have 14 steps to go before I hit the goal of a million. There could be many more trades than that though, it's still a fair way off, but as long as I keep seeing progress and growth and an increased interest in this blog I am happy!

The surfboard is coming along nicely, the nose is now reattached. Still looking for swapping opportunities for this board. Hopefully should have something lined up soon!

Started Work

2008-02-16T21:35:00.000-08:00

Started work on the surfboard. I've decided to spend as little money as possible to get it up to standard. First thing I've done is reattached the nose, it's looking quite good compared to when I first got it. The next thing I'll have to do is make it water-tight. That'll be the hard part over as after that I'll only have to get a fin and give it a paint-job.

It's likely that the paint job won't be perfect, I will only be using cheap spray paint so can't expect too much. As I said, I'm hoping to get something valued at least $100 for this board. That would put me on Step 7 of the doubling plan.

Also I'm already trying to line up offers for the board to keep things moving. Anyone wanting a 6'2 surfboard feel free to send me an offer!

Here it is...

2008-02-15T19:24:00.000-08:00

Here's a Photo of the surfboard I bought:

As you can see it's in fairly rough condition, needs quite a bit of work before it will be fit for the water! I'm thinking of giving it a paint job since it has gone quite brown. The nose is broken also and it's missing one fin. I better get to work!

I've Made a Purchase..

2008-02-14T18:40:00.000-08:00

With my 50 dollars cash I have made a purchase to get back on track. I said I had been bidding on online auctions and have made a winning bid. It was a bit of a mistake though, I was bidding quite low on this surfboard, only made one bid and forgot about it. But it turns out I won the auction so that's cool with me.

The board is pretty rough but hopefully I can fix it up quite nicely. It obviosuly hasn't been used in a while, looks like it has been sitting in a garage or shed and has dings all over it. I'm planning on fixing it up as I've done this in the past with surfboards of my own. It should be worth at least $100 once I'm done, who knows what I'll be able to swap it for!

Pictures will follow soon!

Doubling...

2008-02-12T18:54:00.000-08:00

A good way to start on a money making quest is to break down a large goal (e.g. a million dollars) into smaller chunks. I've noticed a few blogs related to what is known as "doubling". It's based on the fact that if you double a very small amount consistently over time you will reach your goal. You may be thinking that it would take a lot of "doubles" to reach a million dollars, but check this out:

Step One: $1 - $2
Step Two: $2 - $4
Step Three: $4 - $8
Step Four: $8 - $16
Step Five: $16 - $32
Step Six: $32 - $64
Step Seven: $64 - $128
Step Eight: $128 - $256
Step Nine: $256 - $512
Step Ten: $512 - $1024
Step Eleven: $1024 - $2048
Step Twelve: $2048 - $4096
Step Thirteen: $4096 - $8192
Step Fourteen: $8192 - $16384
Step Fifteen: $16384 - $32768
Step Sixteen: $32768 - $65536
Step Seventeen: $65536 - $131072
Step Eighteen: $131072 - $262144
Step Nineteen: $262144 - $524288
Step Twenty: $524288 - $1,048,576

So from only $1 there are only 20 Steps to a Million. Interesting. That would make me onto Step 6 already. I am considering adding this into my mission somehow as a way of keeping track.

Progress So Far

2008-02-11T18:06:00.000-08:00

This blog entry will be kept up to date as each trade happens. The main purpose of it is so i can link to this entry from the sidebar. Swaps completed so far are as follows:

One Dozen Beers:

Swapped for One Bottle of Jägermeister:

Swapped for $50 Cash:

Which was used to buy One Surfboard and Leg Rope:

Which was fixed and sold for $100:

Which was gambled at the Christchurch Casino for a $310 return:

Which was used to buy a Numark Total Control:

Which was sold for $700 Cash:

$700

Which was used to buy 35 Digital Photo Frames:

Which were sold for $1050!

Here's the Pic

2008-02-10T21:59:00.001-08:00

Here's the picture of my 50 Dollars:

Pretty cool to get this much cash from my starting point of a dozen beers. It proves to me that this idea works. I doubt there are any limits to this idea. Well hopefully not anyway! I have already been bidding on a couple of items on online auctions. Hopefully I should have my next item to trade within a day or two! Things are going really well.

Offer Accepted

2008-02-10T16:39:00.000-08:00

I've decided to take the offer of $50 for the bottle of Jager. Just to keep things moving along. I really didn't want to get into cash just yet, but I have done so to keep the project moving and also to get away from alcohol so I can swap with everyone! Pictures of the $50 Note will follow shortly! Make an offer.... What would you swap me for 50 New Zealand Dollars?

Making Money Online

2008-02-09T17:26:00.001-08:00

I have decided to add to my quest as I have noticed heaps of online opportunities lately. I want to sort the bad from the good. I'm sure it is possible to make a pretty good income online, so I'm going to give it a decent crack. I'll be starting small, so my first venture (other than this blog) is into paid online surveys. These seem to have very mixed reviews from what I've seen.

I was referred to the following site by a friend, who received a small payment a month ago for doing surveys. So far I've made US$30. Not enough to reach the payout yet, but a good start!

The site I signed up through was BestJobz - www.BestJobz.com

I'll keep you posted on how I do, and of other opportunities I discover!

New Offer

2008-02-08T15:50:00.001-08:00

I have since been offered $50 for my bottle of Jagermeister. Pretty good deal since they sell in bottle stores here for around $40-$45. Unless I get a better offer I will probably take the cash and buy something non-alcohol related. My intention is to buy something second hand that I can add value to in some way. Still I'm very happy to have two offers in two days!

Things have moved incredibly quickly since I started this blog, it has been really encouraging!

Success!

2008-02-07T19:27:00.000-08:00

Well, do I have an update for you! I went to a small gathering of friends last night, just a quiet few drinks really. One of my friends was there who had recently had his birthday. I got chatting and told him about the beer I had to swap. Luckily for me he had brought with him one of his birthday presents, a 700ml bottle of Jägermeister. Even luckier for me was the fact that he didn't even like Jäger. Luckier still, he didn't have enough money to buy beer.

We traded. On my first attempt!

I'm very glad that the trade could benefit both parties. My swapping item certainly went up in value. I really didn't want to continue on the alcohol path though. My next item will definitely be non-alcohol related. But it's fine for now. It was a deal I couldn't pass up!

As soon as I got home I took a picture of my new item! Here it is:

Law Of Attraction - The Basics

2008-02-06T14:47:00.000-08:00

Hopefully you have heard of a book entitled "The Secret" written by Rhonda Byrne. It is a book which I have finished reading recently. I found it to be very intersting, and have since incorporated The Secret into different aspects of my life. As this is fairly recent, I won't be commenting on results just yet. But I would like to cover the basics so you all know what I'm on about.

Law Of Attraction - The Basics

The Secret focusses it's attention on the Law Of Attraction. To put it simply, the Law Of Attraction states that whatever your dominant thoughts are, the things that you think about most strongly and most often, you will attract into your life in some form or another. It states that the things you think about often find a way to manifest into reality.

The Law of Attraction goes further though, stating that everything in your life is a projection of your thoughts. Also that something cannot come into your life unless you have thought it into your life. This may sounds extreme to you, but to me it makes quite a bit of sense. Once you begin to understand the Law of Attraction, you begin to see how things fit together, and how one bad thought can lead to another and manifest into something which never existed before you thought about it. It also explains "lucky" people. People who think they are lucky generally are. How about those people who always get green lights or carparks when it's busy?

Visualization is a big part of The Secret. It often focusses on thinking and acting as if you already have what it is that you desire. For example if you desire money, rather than focussing on what you can not afford, you should focus on and visualize abundance. This will get you in the right frame of mind for accepting the money into your life. You can also use your imagination to visualize spending money.

The Law of Attraction also explains that using negatives in your thought is often unsuccessful and can bring out the opposite outcome. When people say (or think) "I will not be late" for example, often the brain struggles to process the negative "not", instead thinking "I will be late". Positive thinking is much more effective. I better way for this example would be to focus on being early.

"I will be early". Is much more likely to reach the desired outcome.

Another strong point The Secret makes is that in order to get what you want, you need to be grateful for what you have. Gratitude has been proven to improve peoples self esteem, mood, outlook on life, and future success. Being grateful for what you already have also puts you in the right frame of mind to receive.

Once people begin to understand the Law of Attraction, they can make the necessary changes to their thinking patterns, which will in turn affect their lives.

Swapping With Scott

2008-02-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about the 'Swap with Scott' idea and have realised that each and every one of you are already swapping with me. You're reading my blog, giving my blog a readership. While I am providing you with content, entertainment, etc. So thank you for the swapping so far!

Tonight will be Thursday night. There should be some drinking going on so this will be my first chance to make my first swap! I figured that the value of a Dozen Beers is much higher to someone who wants to drink them. It should be like selling water to someone dehydrated in the desert. It'l be very interesting to see what happens, but I am fairly confident I can come up with some sort of trade.

Soon I will begin to write on other various topics. They will all be related in some way to my quest/experiment. Most likely personal development. I'm sure you will find something useful in my future writing though!

A Little About Myself

2008-02-05T14:25:00.000-08:00

I thought I better update my blog with a little bit of background information on who I am, just so you know who you are dealing with.

I am a 21 Year old student from Christchurch, New Zealand. I study marketing at Canterbury University. I have updated my profile which is on the right where you can read information about my interests etc.

I have a fairly large student loan, which generally get bigger everyday. This is probably my biggest motivation for starting this blog in the first place. It seems that in New Zealand, your far better off financially if you go on the unemployment benefit than if you study. You get very little help from the government. These massive student loans quite often result in graduates being left behind their peers in terms of being able to buy a house, start a family etc. That is why I've decided to go out and help myself!

Not only do I want to complete my quest/mission/experiment of swapping a dozen beers (very university studenty, i know) for one million dollars (just enough to cover my loan, haha), I also want to be able to provide myself a reasonable income off this blog. I'm sure it can be done.
But wait, there's more. During my trading and blogging, I want everyone to benefit. Each trade must be beneficial to both parties. I will also provide good content (I hope) on my blog, and hopefully the things I write about will be beneficial to people who read my blog. Therefore it will be a win/win situation for everyone! I'll be doing my best to update my blog daily, hopefully adding two new posts per day to keep you all updated.

I do have limited blogging and internet experience. Just enough to get me started, but there is a lot of learning to do. I will be writing on a variety of topics however, hopefully you will find them all beneficial in some way.

Thank you for reading my blog so far, I hope you will continue and tell everyone about it!

Hello Again!

2008-02-05T13:42:00.000-08:00

Hello again guys. I've been reading up on the whole blogging thing and have seen that it is possible to "monetize" blogs. So I have added a few things to this blog, advertising and also a donation button! So please support me!

Also I have decided that to get and maintain a good readership, I might have to write on a few topics, but they'll all be related in some way to Swap With Scott and the process behind this. I will add labels to make this easy to follow if you only want to read posts directly related to my mission.

I've been thinking about how to go about my first swap. I will be taking my dozen beers (and some more of course) to some sort of social gathering this week and will attempt to swap them there. This should be interesting! Also any offers will be considered so e-mail me!

If you like what I've been writing and are interested in my blog, please tell your friends and family about it, that will help me a lot. Also bookmark my blog! Thanks!

Second Post Yeeeeahhhh!

2008-02-04T15:38:00.000-08:00

Time for an update! I now have a pic of one of my Heineken beers. There are 12 of them:

Any offers for these beers will be considered. At this stage, due to the law surrounding alcohol I will be making an effort to swap them with friends, who are of legal age. But if you have any great offers please e-mail me - swapwithscott@gmail.com.

I have been thinking of methods to swap these. I want each trade to benefit both parties in some way, so I think due to the nature of this trade, a social situation or party may be the best idea.

Being a student, this trade could be quite easy, due to the lack of money available to my friends and I, and the fact that Heineken is quite a rarity amongst poor students! I should be on to bigger and better things before long!

Swap With Scott - First Post!

2008-02-03T20:27:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to my blog!

I have always wondered about the value people place on things. Haven't you? We all know of the quote "One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure". Why do people value some things much more than others?

This blog is all about my quest, to follow in the footsteps of internet entrepreneurs such as Kyle MacDonald (One Red Paperclip) and Alex Tew (Million Dollar Homepage). It is as much a "quest" as it is an "experiment".

My starting point is: One Dozen Beers. Details and pictures of this will follow shortly.
My destination: One Million Dollars.

I will be attempting to complete a series of trades, trading up from a dozen beers to one million dollars. As this experiment/quest is all about exploring the value of things, these trades will be as non-cash as possible. But in order to keep things moving, I may resort to cashing up and buying something else to trade if the need arises. But that is still exploring the value of things so I'm sure you all won't mind IF this happens.

Well, there goes my first post!

Until Next Time!

Scott.