Trading Up.

On July 12th, in 2005, a young man named Kyle MacDonald sat at a small desk in his Montreal apartment. He was 26 years old and had no job, no savings, and no home of his own. All he had in front of him was a single red paperclip….just a tiny piece of metal.

Most people would never think twice about a paperclip but…Kyle did. He remembered a childhood game called “Bigger and Better”. Kids would start with something small and go door to door, trading for something a little bigger each time. Usually it ended with a cheap toy or something funny.

But as Kyle stared at the paperclip, an idea rushed through his mind. What if he did not stop? What if he kept trading until he reached something amazing? What if that tiny red paperclip could one day become an actual house?

The thought sounded crazy. It sounded impossible. So Kyle decided to try.

He took a picture of the red paperclip and posted it on his blog and on Craigslist. He wrote a simple message:

“I want to trade this paperclip for something bigger or better.” At the bottom he added a playful line: “I am going to keep trading until I get a house. Or maybe an island. Or a house on an island.”

2 days later, Kyle received his first offer. Someone wanted to give him a fish shaped pen. It was a small, silly,and definitely not land with a house. But it was bigger than a paperclip. So Kyle made the trade.

From that moment, he was hooked. One trade led to another. The fish pen became a handmade doorknob. The doorknob became a camp stove. The camp stove became a Honda generator. The generator turned into an instant party kit that included a beer keg, an IOU to fill it, and a glowing Budweiser sign.

People began following his journey online. His blog exploded with attention. Every new trade felt like a surprise adventure.

Be the end of December, Kyle traded the party kit to a famous Quebec comedian for a Ski Doo snowmobile.He kept going.

The snowmobile became a 2 person trip to a small town in British Columbia. The trip turned into a 1987 pickup truck. The truck became a recording contract. The recording contract became a year of free rent in Arizona. The free rent became an afternoon with rock legend Alice Cooper.

Then Kyle shocked everyone.

He traded the afternoon with Alice Cooper for a KISS snow globe. People online thought he had lost his mind.They said it was the worst trade ever.

Kyle was calm. He had a plan.

A Hollywood actor name Corbin Bernsen collected snow globes. He had thousands of them and wanted the KISS one very badly.

Corbin offered Kyle a speaking role in his upcoming movie. So the snow globe became a movie role.

Kyle had made 13 trades in one year. And still no house. Then he got a call that changed everything.

A small town in Saskatchewan called Kipling had an idea. They owned a newly renovated 2 story house. If Kyle traded the movie role to them, they would give him the house. They wanted to host a town talent show where the winner would get the movie role.

Kyle and his girlfriend flew to Kipling to look at the house.

The mayor handed him the keys. The town gave him a key to the city, local shopping money, honorary citizenship, and even made him honorary Mayor for a day. One year later, they built the World’s Largest Red Paperclip and placed it in a local park.

Kyle had done it. He traded a paperclip for a house……

….after a while, Kyle realized that although everyone knew who he was and it was like living in a ‘friendly movie’, he realized something important. It was never about the house.

It was about the idea. It was about meeting people. It was about proving that creativity, effort, and courage could turn something tiny into something life changing.

Years later, Kyle even gave the house back to the town. It became “Paperclip Cottage”, a small café and tourist spot. He wrote a book, gave a TED Talk watched by millions, and inspired people around the world to dream bigger.

And all because one day he looked at the little red paperclip and asked himself a simple question….

“What if…..?”

Adapted from a story by W. Forcier.