Daily Lesson from Life 24 January 2009

"Fri, Jan 23, 2009 The New Paper - She sells her 'life' on the Net

MEET the woman who's selling "the rest of her life"on the Internet. Miss Chen Xiao, a 25-year-old Beijing native, started her unusual online business last month on auction website Taobao.com. Her online shop is aptly named "Chen Xiao's remaining life shop".

Miss Chen wrote in her online mission statement: "People can sell their personal time. Planning my time is your right. Completing your tasks is my mission."

On the site, she sells time slots - ranging from eight-minute to one-day slots - where she offers to perform any service, except "sex, porn, violence and anything illegal".

Business has been brisk - in just a month, she has sold more than 80 time slots, and made as much as 2,000 yuan ($436) in a single day. Her auctions have attracted more than 9,000 views each.


In a write-up on her site, Miss Chen explained her rationale for setting up her unusual business: "Life has no meaning... I want to change my lifestyle - so I'll let you plan the rest of my life."

The feedback her "clients" have left on her profile on the auction site were:

One netizen, who booked Miss Chen for eight minutes, wrote: "An intelligent, beautiful woman, deserving of praise. I hope you find meaning and purpose in life."


Another commented: "Thank you for finishing my assignment. Take care of your health, and I hope you will keep doing this for a long time."

Miss Chen's assignments have been interesting and varied. She has been tasked with picking up people from various locations, delivering coffee, buying train tickets, delivering meals for beggars and sampling food on behalf of netizens.

Miss Chen told technology website tech163.com that even though she has received some harassing e-mails ever since she set up her website, most of the people who contact her are "friendly and sincere".

In a forum post on a popular Chinese website, one netizen wrote: "As long as it's nothing illegal, this is a really creative form of business. "She'll get to experience different things, and every day is new and unexpected."

Added another netizen: "Even if this just a gimmick, it's a heartwarming, fun one. She's made cyberspace a little more personal and warm with her small business." "

Indeed, this is a very creative way of starting a business though the idea of providing concierge service is not new really.

Lessons for me:

1. anything can be done in today's world to make a living. There is really no shortage of ideas for people to make a living if one does not give up. This story is very timely and inspiring for the many newly unemployed though like one of the netizen said: the longevity of this type of business is unknown;

2. there are friendly and sincere people out that who need someone to help perform some services that they could not do personally. At the same time, be realistic that there will be some who may not had the same ideas as you about what is legal and proper. One has to learn to deal with the good, the bad and the ugly appropriately;

3. internet has changed many things we do and how we do them. If we can appreciate the technology and what new things can bring to us, we can explore how to use it to our advantage. If we panic or feared new technology, we will miss that opportunity. So, constantly updating one's knowledge and skills and use of processes, technologies and systems are important continuous improvement essentials.

May Ms Chen's business flourish forever and that she can find meaning and purpose as she experienced this varied and interesting tasks in her business and life. Hopefully one of them will ignite her passion and set her on something more permanent?