Your eBay Starter for 100
Your eBay Starter for 100
Your eBay Starter for 100
Do you remember the guy who "sold his life" on eBay in Australia?
There is no textbook way to deal with divorce, but Ian Usher would admit that his coping mechanism was somewhat drastic.
When his wife walked out on him, he vowed to purge himself of everything he owned that reminded him of the happy years they had spent together. It wasn't only material possessions he wanted to get rid of, but less tangible assets of his life that had contributed to their shared identity.
With this in mind he put his house and all its contents, his car, motorbike and jet-ski, even his job and his friends on eBay.
The package - which he named A Life For Sale - made headlines worldwide.
Within hours of going live it had attracted an incredible 1.75million hits.
Bids reached 1.2million and for a while it looked like not only was he going to eliminate every last memento of his marriage, but he was going to become a millionaire in the process.
Unfortunately, by the time Ian's auction closed in June 2008, it had left him feeling as flat as his imminent divorce.
The 1.2million bid turned out to be a hoax and the second highest offer of 230,000 was withdrawn. Six more bidders who had put in six-figure offers backed out.
Ian's plan disintegrated into a highly publicised failure. Then, as quickly as he had become a global phenomenon, he was largely forgotten.
He could have been forgiven for licking his wounds in private and putting any future crazy schemes firmly on the back burner. But the seed of adventure had already been planted.
Ian, a Briton who had moved to Perth in Western Australia with his wife Laura in 2000, decided to sell his belongings individually and use the money to achieve 100 of his lifelong ambitions in as many weeks.
Here are some of those 100 ambitions:-
Raise 30,000 for charity
Work in a soup kitchen in Vancouver
Swim with sharks off the coast of Japan
Run with bulls at the Pamplona Bull Festival in Spain
Secure a part in a Hollywood movie
Ride an ostrich in South Africa
Learn to juggle with fire clubs in Los Angeles.
Snowboard on the world's biggest indoor ski slope in Dubai
Bungee-jump and Paraglide in the South of France
Wing-walk in London
Have a hawk eat out of his hand in Oklahoma
Sleep in a capsule hotel in Japan
See the Seven Wonders of the World
Fly a helicopter in Hawaii
Learn to speak French and Spanish
Gather five Ian Ushers together in one room
Watch the sunset at the Grand Canyon
And so on.
He has slept in hostels and on airport floors. He has learned to live without electricity and running water.
He has suffered from altitude sickness at Everest Base Camp.
His divorce has been finalised and, ironically, his extensive travels have forced him to contemplate trying again for a settled, more conventional existence.
"None of this has been about proving a point or getting back at Laura," he says. "It has been my way of dealing with my heartache and it has certainly given me something to focus on."
"Sometimes I wonder how much of it has been about filling a gap. For all the wonderful things I have done and people I've met, there is a sense of loneliness and I'm still grappling with heartache now."
His adventures have taken him around the world, Disney has bought the film rights to his story and he has now nearly completed his extraordinary list.
In a few weeks Ian will complete his goals. He is thinking of returning to Britain to live in Scarborough, where many of his best friends are based, and hopes to forge a new career for himself as a motivational speaker.
"All I ever wanted was an interesting life; a life that's not ordinary," he says. "It's certainly turned out like that, although perhaps not in the way I expected."
Ian also hopes that soon he will find a new partner, one with whom he could have children.
"I'm proud of what I've done," he says. "I've been struck by the kindness of strangers. The world is filled with wonderful people. But ultimately, it doesn't mean as much without having someone to share it with."
Although eBay gave Ian Usher an incredible publicity boost, you can see how he has grown as a person at his entertaining website:
http://www.100goals100weeks.com
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