Here it is July 1, the start of a new half-year and I realize I have been quite remiss with my writing and my goals, in general. I've been inspired in the last couple days by a fascinating character, Ian Usher. This is a guy that sold his "life" on eBay. He wanted to make a fresh start, so sold his house, his possessions, time with his friends, and even 2 weeks of work at his job. He got quite a lot of publicity and now he has a new venture: 100 goals in 100 weeks.
He just started this new Website yesterday, and I was there at ground zero and sent him an email and he responded within the hour! I was really quite impressed. I'm sure that will not continue because the word is spreading fast and it sounds as though he is getting inundated with email. I'm not surprised. His 100 goals are impressive and exciting. I admire his drive.
Though I'm tempted to make excuses for myself, giving reasons why I can't do something like this....money, job, parenting responsibilities...the truth is we all can do this. My goals may not be as lofty as his, but I still can have 100 goals. And, I actually have kept up with my resolution of an adventure a month for 2008. I think one of my adventures is going to be to try and sync up with Ian Usher on one of his adventures. I'd love to meet this guy.
But...for today...it's time to get going with work. Though it doesn't allow me to plan and dream about new goals, it provides the money for them, and I am quite grateful for that.
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The ALife4Sale auction ended at noon on Sunday 29th June, almost two weeks ago, with the highest bid being AU $399,300.
I was quite disappointed with the final amount, which is only at the bottom end of the valuation scale for the house itself, which was valued at between $400,000 and $420,000, but it was still enough for me to be able to sell and move on as planned.
Unfortunately the top bidder was not in a position to complete the purchase, as they had some issues gaining the necessary finances. Since then I have talked to all of the top six bidders, five of whom are Australia-based, and one who is in the USA.
None of the Australia-based bidders now wish to complete the purchase, and the American bidder needs to sort out a visa and approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board, which can take some considerable time.
So I have asked myself why has this happened. Why have these people bid, but either not been in a position to complete, or not wanted to when the opportunity occured? I have also asked many others for their opinion on this too.
The best answer I can come up with is that like me and most other people, these bidders expected the final bids to be quite a bit higher, and really did not expect to win the auction at this price. And therefore they were really not prepared to do so.
After speaking to the top six bidders, I emailed every other bidder who looked at least half-serious, offering them the chance to throw their hat back into the ring. No takers.
I am still very keen to sell up and move on, and as can be seen from this 100goals100weeks.com website, already have new plans in place, which I am keen to get on with as soon as possible.
And I am still committed to doing EXACTLY what I said I would do, and sell everything I have as a complete package!
So the opportunity is still available for anyone out there who still wants to buy the complete package. I have always been serious about selling everything together, and will still do so if anyone wants to buy it that way! The complete package price is $399,300, the high bid. That gets you a $400,000 plus house, a car, motorbike, jetski, furniture, everything. I estimate that there is at least $25,000 worth of extra stuff.
BUT, to do this you need to be either an Australian resident, or already have an Australian visa. You need the finances already in place, and you need to be able to settle immediately. If you want to take up this opportunity, I am looking for full settlement before 2nd August, 21 days from today. Contact me at ian@100goals100weeks.com if you are interested.
If nobody steps up in the next day or two, I still intend to sell up and move on, so I have no option but to implement my "Plan B". I have already talked to my local real estate agent, who still estimates that the house alone will fetch anywhere between $400,000 and $420,000. The house will be listed at this price early next week.
So this is exactly what I intend to do, sell the house as quickly as I can, one way or the other, either as a complete package, or sell the house separately and sell most of my possessions, and then hit the road.
Do I consider this a failure? Well, yes and no. I guess I failed in that I put an item up for sale, and didn't find a buyer by the method I tried. I really thought that the price reached would have been higher, and I really thought that there would be someone out there adventurous enough to take this up.
But it is not the first time that something I have tried hasn't worked out as I had hoped or expected, and I'm pretty sure it won't be the last! I also look at it a a success too. If I hadn't done this, after having the idea, I would have wondered for the rest of my life, "What if...?" At least now I know.
And I can be proud that I gave it my best shot, and followed through with my idea from conception to conclusion. I definately believe that it is better to try and not succeed than to never try at all.
However, with the gift of hindsight, it might have been much better to simply sell my stuff and put the house up for sale four months ago. But then I would have also missed out on an absolutely amazing experience. And as I have always said throughout this, I do believe that live is about new experiences.
Would I go back and do it differently if I could. No, I don't think I would!
"Making mistakes is acceptable. Failing to learn from them is not!"
More here on "The Power of Making Mistakes"
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