Earn $100K to live off group deals

Wanted: someone to live off group deals for a year.
Qualifications: Jobless, homeless and adventurous.
Compensation: $100,000, maybe.

Here's an unusual job you might want to consider in your quest to reinvent yourself. Groupon.com, a social commerce site based in Chicago that offers discounts and freebies on everything from dinners to Lasik eye surgery to those in its e-mail community, is looking for a living, breathing publicity stunt. To promote its business, the company is looking for a person to agree to live solely on group deals for one year. The person would be responsible for blogging and video blogging about the experience as he or she travels around the 35 U.S. cities where Groupon.com offers deals, using only the Groupons--group deal coupons--to pay for daily needs.

"They will have a bottomless wallet of groupons for a year--no toothbrush, no clothes, no credit card, no bank accounts, no home," said Andrew Mason, 29, of Chicago, one of the site's founders. "They have to live exclusively off Groupons for lodging, food, transportation. They can't even take bring a book with them. They have to sit in the hotel that they are using a Groupon to pay for and read the room service menu if they are bored."

The person selected will be provided "a camera, phone, GPS, and computer" to document his or her experience. He or she is expected to blog most days. The person's picture will be provided to the approximately 3 million people on Groupon.com's e-mail list, who will be charged with watching for violations and helping the person succeed by say, picking up the tip at dinner since the grouponer won't have any cash. And while the grouponer will have to relinquish his or her credit cards, apartment/house and job for the year, the sacrifices don't include health plans. And, Groupon has worked out some deals "with businesses we've featured in the past (such as hotels) to help make this challenge remotely feasible."

Mason said though the person may find living without money restrictive, the benefits will outweigh the difficulties. "Nearly all human survival needs are covered by Groupon," according to liveoffgroupon.com. The promotion calls for the grouponer to travel to some of the most exciting cities in the country, stay healthy by taking Groupon-provided yoga and Pilates classes, eat good food and share fellowship with Groupon users.

"I look at this as a job that could be a calling for someone who is struggling to find a purpose in life," said Mason, who studied engineering then music at Northwestern University. "This is the thing for that friend of yours who is awesome and really smart, but you look at him and say, 'Is he going to still going to be working at the bowling alley when he's 45 and what a tragedy that will be.' We're hoping to find that person, deliver them from their state of confusion and help them realize their calling."

If, after a year, said person has lived exclusively off Groupon deals, he or she will be rewarded with a $100,000 check. If the individual cheats, he or she will get nada. "Our goal is that our entire community knows what this person looks like and if they see him or her in Walgreen's trying to buy a candy bar, they will snap a picture of it and send it to us and we'll revoke their $100,000 in a ceremony of shame," Mason said.

So if you or someone you know is up for the challenge or is so desperate for money that he or she might consider such a proposition, apply. here are some hoops you will have to jump through, like writing a "400-500 word essay on why you think you should be chosen to live off Groupons for a year" and producing a 90-second video introducing yourself that you have to link to youtube. The deadline is Feb. 24. So far about 200 people have applied. The grouponer is expected to be selected in March and start in early April, Mason said.

Let me know if you decide to try this. I need to keep track for this blog of exactly how desperate people are out there to reinvent themselves.

By

Avis Thomas-Lester

 |  February 10, 2010; 3:15 AM ET Save & Share:                 
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