60-Minute Consultation Auction (Blog)

[supertom]

I'm predicting this will go for around $5000

[MidasGirl]

Originally Posted by nutella2

Wow! Inspired idea! Although it just occurred to me that someone of *far* less high integrity than Steve could bid for themselves from another account (or get someone else to), thereby driving up the price... the worst case scenario being that they'd end up paying themselves money!!

Yeah, it's called shill-bidding and is not only illegal but ebay will nuke your account quickly if they suspect it. Actually, and I don't know how much ebay enforces this, but it's an ebay policy that people that the seller knows personally shouldn't bid on the item. (although I'm not sure about a service like what Steve is offering). So ideally, Rachelle or Erin or Steve's best friend are not supposed to bid this auction. But you really think ebay will go to the lenghths of enforcing that? I highly doubt it.

[invisiblehouses]

I have to admit, it's sort of a brilliant idea.

How about a high-dollar Personal Development Escort Service?

You pay $1,000 or so, and instead of getting a**, you get a one-hour kick in the a**, including a complete dissection of why your view of reality is broken, how your beliefs are holding you back, and how the very syntax of your speech belies a self-defeating scarcity mindset. You'd learn all about how you can turn it around right now in this moment, information guaranteed to upset you because it's the truth and you know it. Courage to act on this information must be provided by the John. Or the Jane. Whichever applies.

Of course, the whole industry would eventually get sullied by a bunch of cheap PD Streetwalkers. They'd be out there, giving crappy advice for $20 in alleys and Buick backseats...

[Boldnut]

Originally Posted by beautyscientist

I probably disagree with 90% of what Steve says on his blog. But you have to respect his imagination and courage. The person who came up with the phrase 'commands respect' was on to something. This is the kind of action that commands respect - whatever you might want to think you have no choice.

So Steve is prepared to publicly auction his expertise in just about the largest forum that has ever existed in human history, in such a way that we all know just how much interest it generates and how much it gets knocked down for.

How many people in a million would have the courage to do that? Or have thought of it in the first place?

Jeez, I hope you're not serious

[Zach M]

Looks like my original guess of $1000 was way under. It's already at 80% there with 5 days left to go. Of course the sharpest rise will likely occur in the last few minutes.

If I had that kind of money today to spend on consultations, I'd hire Angela for multiple sessions.

[roxyruby]

I wonder if it will get into the tens of thousands like my guess ^ ^

[Weena]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

I was thinking more along the lines of a trip through the Amazon to hang with the Achuar for a week and a half:
The Pachamama Alliance - Rainforest Journeys

Several friends have done this and said it was a life-changing experience.

Wow!!! Anything that does not involve 5 stars hotels in industrialised countries tickles my fancy. This looks amazing.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by Zach Matley

Looks like my original guess of $1000 was way under. It's already at 80% there with 5 days left to go. Of course the sharpest rise will likely occur in the last few minutes.

If I had that kind of money today to spend on consultations, I'd hire Angela for multiple sessions.

Thank you, Zach! You know, I've still got my special going, so you could really get a deal!

[supertom]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

I was thinking more along the lines of a trip through the Amazon to hang with the Achuar for a week and a half:
The Pachamama Alliance - Rainforest Journeys

Several friends have done this and said it was a life-changing experience.

I would love to do something like that but long-term like years, don't know if such a thing exists.

[mikethedrummer44]

Dear Steve,

I need approximately $2,000 to start on my journey in two months. You can make that amount within a few hours. Please give it to me.

Thanks,
Mike

Actually, it's posts like these that really inspire me to get to the point you're at. Welp, see ya!

[Savage]

Originally Posted by mikethedrummer44

I need approximately $2,000 to start on my journey in two months. You can make that amount within a few hours. Please give it to me.

That would deprive you of $2000 worth of growth experiences, and others would be deprived of $2000 worth of your value creation.

I'd rather spend the money to support the Pachamama Alliance. I can expect they'll put it to good use. These are the same people behind 4 Years Go, which I promoted on my blog a while back.

If you focus on creating and delivering the best value you can, money won't be much of a concern. It will flow through your life abundantly.

If you focus on trying to make money, you'll never have enough.

Also, your journey doesn't begin in 2 months. It's either in motion right now, or you're already dead.

[Hapafreak of the Universe]

Originally Posted by Zach Matley

Not yet, honey. We haven't agreed on a price yet.

Lm*o!!! Zach! Ummmm... a Yankee dime? Or how 'bout we discuss the price whilst on one o' those Achuar rainforest journeys? Hahahahaha! And I agree that's a blog post I would read too, for sure!

[James81]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

It's either in motion right now, or you're already dead.

Brrrrt.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by James81

Brrrrt.

What was that Brrrrrt for? I usually understand your brrrrts but I don't get this one.

[James81]

Originally Posted by Angela

What was that Brrrrrt for? I usually understand your brrrrts but I don't get this one.

My interpretation of that was that everbody is on a journey whether they realize it or not. And that the only people not on a journey are those who are literally dead.

The brrrt in that case was assuming that everybody is on a journey, which I don't believe to be true. I don't think everybody sees themselves as being "on a journey." To those people, their experience is highlighted in other ways. So, telling them that they are on a journey when their perception is that they are not seemed a bit like a "you should see your experience through the lense of being on a journey."And that is but one limited perspective.

Some might be at a destination (for now). Some might be preparing for blast off. Some might be wandering aimlessly with no real journey-like destination in mind. Some might be dreaming or experiencing their reality as a dream. So to see your life as a journey and to fit that experience throught that lense night be very limiting to some.

Of course, one could broaden their definition of journey to encompass all that. But, even then there could be limitations to thinking in terms of being on a journey.

Another interpretation of that is that those who aren't on a journey are proverbially deaf inside. Which, I don't think I need to explain why that would be a limiting judgment.

And finally, I think the poster who mentioned going on a journey actually had a specific journey in mind. So, in that vein, it seemed a bit over-the-top to not recognize that.

And the final thing might be that the brrrrt really was just for me for this post and my perception of that phrase.

Or all of them simultaneously.

[Angela]

So much packed into six little consonants.

[James81]

Split open the fruit and a bunch of seeds roll out. All of which could produce a tree in and of itself.

I love the power of an idea.

it's both inspiring and humbling at the same time to recognize the awesome depth of the smallest things we say.

[James81]

At this point I'm just talking out my ass.

[Zach M]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

If you focus on creating and delivering the best value you can, money won't be much of a concern. It will flow through your life abundantly.

If you focus on trying to make money, you'll never have enough.

(Re-reads chapter 10 of Personal Development for Smart People.) OK that makes more sense now. I was under the impression that all you do is create value and the money just comes in, and didn't get why you'd bother with eBay at all in that case. But in your section on Money and Fairness you clarify that you do need to ask for money in exchange for what you're contributing.

[Andrew Brunelle]

Looks like Steve's inner "greedy bastard" is going to be very happy. LOL. I'm sure he'll be worth every penny, though. Nice idea putting it on eBay. Yet another traffic booster and income booster. If this one goes well, are you planning on doing more? That would seem appropriate seeing the demand so far.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Andrew Brunelle

Looks like Steve's inner "greedy bastard" is going to be very happy. LOL. I'm sure he'll be worth every penny, though. Nice idea putting it on eBay. Yet another traffic booster and income booster. If this one goes well, are you planning on doing more? That would seem appropriate seeing the demand so far.

There is no plan. I don't know what will happen next.

This isn't an experiment to make money. It's an experiment to see what happens if I act on an inspired idea immediately. If it makes money, that's a side effect. It means the experiment is also delivering value. But my intent here was to see what happens if I start acting immediately on these inspirations without trying to understand them first.

There will be more of these experiments, but I can't say what form they'll take.

[James81]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

There is no plan. I don't know what will happen next.

This isn't an experiment to make money. It's an experiment to see what happens if I act on an inspired idea immediately. If it makes money, that's a side effect. It means the experiment is also delivering value. But my intent here was to see what happens if I start acting immediately on these inspirations without trying to understand them first.

There will be more of these experiments, but I can't say what form they'll take.

Maybe this is asking too soon (probably should wait until AFTER the consultation), but do you see yourself offering these consultations on a more regular basis? (rather than a one time ebay thing, making up individual consultation sessions for a fixed price?)

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

There is no plan. I don't know what will happen next.

This isn't an experiment to make money. It's an experiment to see what happens if I act on an inspired idea immediately. If it makes money, that's a side effect. It means the experiment is also delivering value. But my intent here was to see what happens if I start acting immediately on these inspirations without trying to understand them first.

There will be more of these experiments, but I can't say what form they'll take.

I had a thought that your sesssion(s) would probably be even more valuable, and auction for higher prices, if you made them very specific.

Your current post basically says "I'll give you anything you want" but if you made it very specific like, "I'll spend an hour giving you specific advice on how to go from nothing to having a blog with 10,000 readers" then you might get higher bids from people who want that specific thing.

[beautyscientist]

Originally Posted by Boldnut

Jeez, I hope you're not serious

I am glad my comment generated a smiley, so you obviously enjoyed it. I don't comment much on this forum. The spiritual stuff really isn't me. But what I wrote about Steve commanding my respect was perfectly genuine and serious. I'd be interested if you care to elaborate a bit.

[Carl Carlson IV]

Originally Posted by supertom

I'm predicting this will go for around $5000

i'll take the under for $50

[carenkh]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

I have 17 pieces of positive feedback and never received a negative review, but I haven't used eBay in 9-1/2 years, so it's gone a bit stale. My last piece of feedback is from March 2001.

Yeah, that's what I figured by looking at your history there. I was just jokin' ya.

I was curious what category the consultation would come under - and in exploring that, I found out folks offer psychic & intuitive readings there! I briefly thought about listing one, but it just seems... sketchy. Not the best place for me.

[Tuumble]

Another kind of auction you could experiment with is that of the lowest unique bidder. This would take a bit more work in setting up but it would be interesting to see how it turned out.

When I've heard this done on radio competitions people text their bid to a specific number and the lowest unique bid gets the prize. This tends to be for something like an HD TV though I have heard it done for a car too.

The reason I think this would be worth considering is that even though everyone would pay a nominal fee for placing the bid, they do get the chance of spending that quality time 'with' you even if they haven't got the $820+ spare cash like some people have. it opens it up to more people.

Someone might bid $0.41 and that be the lowest unique bid but because you would get so many people enter paying say, a dollar, you would be likely to earn a more than reasonable fee for your time.

[Bing Wu]

Originally Posted by Tuumble

Someone might bid $0.41 and that be the lowest unique bid but because you would get so many people enter paying say, a dollar, you would be likely to earn a more than reasonable fee for your time.

How does a $0.41 winning bid ensure Steve gets a reasonable fee for his time?

[mikethedrummer44]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

That would deprive you of $2000 worth of growth experiences, and others would be deprived of $2000 worth of your value creation.

I'd rather spend the money to support the Pachamama Alliance. I can expect they'll put it to good use. These are the same people behind 4 Years Go, which I promoted on my blog a while back.

If you focus on creating and delivering the best value you can, money won't be much of a concern. It will flow through your life abundantly.

If you focus on trying to make money, you'll never have enough.

Also, your journey doesn't begin in 2 months. It's either in motion right now, or you're already dead.

I was only joking :P. Thanks for the tips, though.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Alex Wu

How does a $0.41 winning bid ensure Steve gets a reasonable fee for his time?

I think he meant to charge people a $1 fee just to submit a bid on top of that.

It is sort of like buying raffle tickets. Every person pays $1 for the chance to win the prize, but only one person wins it.