Results of eBay Auction for Joe Kennedy Are In; During the Month of August I Work for Glass Gardens NW and Smiley Dog

The results of the eBay auction where I auctioned myself off for the month of August were final some 10 days ago.  I've wanted to write about it ever since, but just haven't had the time and the opportunity to do it - that and my laptop blew up and my only option for writing now is here in my cave (or shudder to think of using a pen and paper) - and not so inspirational.  Even though the auction did get a small amount of local press, I didn't do a very good job of marketing it - and at the same time, there apparently aren't a lot of people who want the help of someone who has a greatly varied background and multiple talents. The was only one bidder - the team of Barbara Sanderson, owner of Glass Gardens NW and Craig Weindling, owner of Smiley Dog.  Their winning bid was the starting bid of $1000.

I'm still not totally sure of their plans for the month, but if they have me work even just 40 hours a week, I'll be working for $6.25 per hour, far less than minimum wage.  Still the same, I am very thankful for the work and for an opportunity to help both Barbara and Craig and their businesses.  It's my goal to make their investment in me pay off at least ten fold and I am going to write about it here all along the way.

To begin with, I am donating a year long premium listing for each on the Eastside Business Directory (each a $100 value) - you can now find Glass Gardens NW and Smiley Dog listed at www.EastsideBusinessDirectory.com.  I will also be helping them with some links and ads and other SEO tricks on some of my other sites after we meet tomorrow to discuss their goals.  I am scheduled to meet with Craig in the morning at the Smiley Dog warehouse and then meet over dinner with him and Barb.  I'm sure I will know a lot more tomorrow and have plenty to write about.

As far as the auction goes, I never actually thought that it would last a week - I was sure somebody would flag it and that eBay would remove it.  If I knew that it would actually go the full week - or if I am crazy enough to try it again, I would have definitely done a better job of writing the auction description, doing PR and promoting the auction.  I would probably change the starting bid as well.  :-)

One thing that is going to be interesting is how well I am going to be able to schedule my regular healthy eating and workouts.    I'm used to getting to the gym at 2am - and pretty much eating all day long ...  This is so important to me that I made it a condition in the auction listing - I have been on track for 11 months with my clean eating Live It and need to be able to continue being as healthy as possible.  There is a purpose behind the madness that will be reveal later in August.

What do you think?  Was I crazy to auction myself off on eBay?  What other 'creative' ways have you seen people use to find employment?