Lessons learned from Kyle MacDonald

I got my first trade offer less than an hour after I posted my plan to turn a sixty-cent check from PKR.com into a ticket to the Main Event 2007 World Series of Poker.

Because the initial trade could set the tone for the whole project, I decided to get some advice from the man who inspired my little project: Kyle MacDonald.

I asked Kyle, who made a series of trades to turn one red paper clip into a house, how he decided which trades to take and which ones to turn down.

He surprised me when he told me he traded with people, not for things. "I didn't actually valuate the trade items," Kyle said. "It sounds cheesy to say it, but it was all about the people."

Kyle was so unconcerned with the monetary value of items that his 12th trade, an afternoon with rock legend Alice Cooper for a KISS snow globe, appeared to be a raw deal.

But it was the snow globe that led to a trade with actor and director Corbin Bernsen for a speaking part in a movie, which in turn led to a trade with the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan for the house Kyle now owns.

Bernsen had actually attempted to trade the movie role earlier, but Kyle turned him down because he didn't have anything useful to offer Bernsen in return.

But when Kyle discovered that Bernsen had a collection of over 6,000 snow globes, he knew if he got a unique snow globe in a trade he would actually have something that would be beneficial to Bernsen.

"I didn't realize the value in these things until I actually found the people who placed the value in them," Kyle said.

"I had to trade for something he could use. It seems stupid, but for Corbin, he really likes snow globes."

I plan on following Kyle's model. The first piece of criteria for a trade is going to be whether the person making the offer is doing so in the spirit of the project. Hopefully each trade I make will provide both parties with increased value.

If you find value in my sixty-cent check from PKR and agree with the spirit of this project, . I look forward to making a deal.