What if you could trade a paperclip for a house? | Kyle MacDonald

What if you could trade a paperclip for a house? | Kyle MacDonald | TEDxVienna

Рет қаралды 12,584,579

8 жыл бұрын

Kyle MacDonald details just exactly how he traded up from one red paperclip to a house, in only a year! It's an unlikely and amazing journey with lots of surprises along the way.
More information on www.tedxvienna.at
Kyle MacDonald started with a red paperclip and traded it for a pen. Then traded the pen for a doorknob. And so on!
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

Пікірлер: 11 000

@serpathius 7 жыл бұрын

*Then he traded the house for a shit ton of paperclips*

@yognut72 7 жыл бұрын

he did it all again and now he owns a town...

@hexaquan 7 жыл бұрын

Ensec now he has a state

@yognut72 7 жыл бұрын

Hexaquan trump pulls off head revealing the paperclip guy....

@hexaquan 7 жыл бұрын

Ensec cant top that

@Jontonzoup 7 жыл бұрын

C A P I T A L I S M

@anthonykf99 7 жыл бұрын

Instructions weren't clear, I traded my house for a paper clip.

@alexandercrush 6 жыл бұрын

Was it at least red?

@boingosss8200 6 жыл бұрын

Haha

@Vawerewolf65 6 жыл бұрын

Major L

@acorlan145 6 жыл бұрын

Alex no it was gray

@margaretaaron2891 6 жыл бұрын

Tony well now someone else has traded a paperclip for a house

@mandypreston6447 3 жыл бұрын

This is a great story. But it also pretty much just tells us what we already know: if you go viral, people will give you things.

@1.4142 3 жыл бұрын

I'd like to see him dress up as a homeless person and try the same thing.

@doupe9768 3 жыл бұрын

for me the point is, you could be the one who sit and think about something big, or you can be the one who actually start to do something no matter how small, to achieve something big

@XDarkXThanatosX 2 жыл бұрын

True. There was so much hype on the story while he was trading things that people were willing to trade down with him just to be part of his story. Without the coverage though...

@slurpii4669 2 жыл бұрын

Thats basically the life a famous person

@johnpeacock7022 2 жыл бұрын

@@XDarkXThanatosX Without the coverage, there might have to be more stages.

@hello0868 3 жыл бұрын

imagine if he kept going, “i traded a paper clip for 4 continent’s”

@nolanbennett346 3 жыл бұрын

I traded a paper clip for a private island.

@MF_JONES 3 жыл бұрын

"I traded a paperclip for weapons grade uranium"

@yetidoesstuff228 3 жыл бұрын

@@MF_JONES I traded a paper clip for a space X rocket.

@TheHyponeoriteChannel 3 жыл бұрын

@@yetidoesstuff228 “I traded a paperclip for Mars”.

@andywr.097 3 жыл бұрын

What if he had 2 paperclips.

@tribeman19 4 жыл бұрын

Imagine if this guy had two paper clips.

@rcvnow1712 4 жыл бұрын

Then he would have two houses.

@mick5055 4 жыл бұрын

But more importantly, he could have *2* fish pens!

@Peppermations 4 жыл бұрын

Its free real estate

@urielseptim910 4 жыл бұрын

He could buy the world.

@frankwankerl7021 4 жыл бұрын

Not even shaggy could defeat him that lmao

@Pleshie 6 жыл бұрын

I started with a house and ended up with a red paperclip

@darwinmukiryoku 6 жыл бұрын

Ill trade you a fish pen for it.

@theashbrothers2769 6 жыл бұрын

Legitimacy✘Project I’ll trade you a rainbow paper clip for that

@fiber3134 6 жыл бұрын

damn, the other way around sounds way more depressing lmao

@RazerStudios 6 жыл бұрын

Doctor lol

@theX24968Z 6 жыл бұрын

this is how cs:go economy works

@krapiak 3 жыл бұрын

A paperclip for a fish pen is an insanely god trade for whoever initially had the paperclip.

@Maxime_K-G 2 жыл бұрын

@xXTheAnnoyingPandaXx And now they own a world-famous paperclip so it kind off worked out for them as well ;)

@ausbiscuit 2 жыл бұрын

yes but imagine how much that paperclip is now worth in the event it was sold

@Krysdavar Жыл бұрын

@@ausbiscuit How would they be able to "authenticate" The Paperclip though? 🤣

@ausbiscuit Жыл бұрын

@@Krysdavar idk lol

@Krysdavar Жыл бұрын

@@ausbiscuit 🤣🤣

@NightSoulco 3 жыл бұрын

Fun fact: you listened to one TedTalk and now you’re in a never ending loop..

@chrisschellbach4645 3 жыл бұрын

mad facts

@McTommy 3 жыл бұрын

you're*

@wedidit8751 3 жыл бұрын

Nah

@sylviawilson4907 3 жыл бұрын

Fun Fact: you started with the procrastinator

@khlegend1 2 жыл бұрын

Yup

@hakoshgaming5517 4 жыл бұрын

The people who traded you the fish pen were like: I’m about to start this mans whole career

@elmerwilber3308 4 жыл бұрын

@officialash4275 4 жыл бұрын

LOL

@jeffsingh3756 4 жыл бұрын

Man’s

@calin3893 4 жыл бұрын

the person who traded the camp stove really started it

@mkwiimaster-pw5rc 4 жыл бұрын

@@jeffsingh3756 Man's is incorrect in this sentence lmfao

@arjungupta6 5 жыл бұрын

Those girls who traded the fishpen in the first place are the Angel Investors of trade-business!

@Scorpiojoe24 4 жыл бұрын

Hello Arjun

@pierro2968 4 жыл бұрын

And also the camping stove for a doorknob, that is actually a big jump from something useless to an actual workable thing.

@Godtierlee 4 жыл бұрын

but the value of that paperclip if marketed properly could be immense. Step One in a big journey

@bigboy979 4 жыл бұрын

@The Diamond Clasher no angel investors are investors who give money or products to a business venture that could fail or is just starting off

@danboddice3475 4 жыл бұрын

Imagine if they decided to trade that paperclip now though. It's not A paperclip, it's THE paperclip. I'd imagine it'll be easier for them to trade this for something good now

@patrickhill4562 3 жыл бұрын

For anyone wondering, he turned the house into a café. It’s called “Paperclip Cottage”

@kastironwoman6009 2 жыл бұрын

HE did not turn the house into a cafe. He turned the house back over to the city and THEY turned it into a cafe. It is the city's only tourist attraction/ Claim to fame.

@roughryder5 2 жыл бұрын

@@kastironwoman6009 Wonder if he makes any royalties off that cafe.

@GenuineA-HOLE 2 жыл бұрын

@@roughryder5 I sure hope so. Unless that was the trade 0-0

@northernlight40 2 жыл бұрын

He didn’t pay the taxes on the property so the town sold the property ,it did become a cafe

@greywolf7577 2 жыл бұрын

@@northernlight40 Wait, so now he has nothing?

@cuppajoe2 2 жыл бұрын

So many people are saying that it only happened because it got a lot of media attention, but he still traded a damn paperclip for a house.

@frankyfranklin1687 5 жыл бұрын

Kyle: has a red paper clip Kyle: it’s free real estate

@friend7002 4 жыл бұрын

xXUndigested BaboonxX good comment I approve

@konchu4u608 4 жыл бұрын

This is an absolutely outstanding comment

@choco_jack7016 4 жыл бұрын

i will give you a sub if you let me have this comment

@peterdinkler4950 4 жыл бұрын

*s t o n k s*

@konchu4u608 4 жыл бұрын

@@peterdinkler4950 you broke the wholesome chain

@juangonzalez740 4 жыл бұрын

Bro, the girls who traded the fish pen could do the exact same thing

@user-od8vx2ei9g 4 жыл бұрын

Juan c Gonzalez yeah lmao

@mattmarcotte3294 4 жыл бұрын

@@Laser95 so this is where houses come from

@rohithreddy75 4 жыл бұрын

Nice idea

@benm5345 4 жыл бұрын

But where are they going to find another person willing to trade a pen in the shape of a fish?

@rayesafan9628 4 жыл бұрын

Yeah, but it takes time to try to sell something online. And brain effort. That's why we find so many things at goodwill. And people in the earlier steps were probably more amused with the project than the actual products. (That's why a fish pen was traded for a doorknob of a face, and the doorknob was eventually used for a kettle handle. Quirky people interested in the quirky project.) I think it wasn't until he got to the military guy looking for the burner grill set that people were actually excited for the products.