Selling Time

Entrepreneurial Michigan College student Peter Sauer has devised an intriguing way to earn money to pay his college expenses. Sauer created a promotional Web site named www.OneYearForSale.com, which offers exactly what it says: a year’s worth of web time at the price of $1 per minute. Buyers can display their message on the site’s home page for as many minutes as they want.
The 19-year-old Grand Valley State University sophomore came up with the idea after a dull summer of house painting. “Time is money,” Sauer says, “so why not sell it?” Sauer graduated from Okemos High School. He is majoring in business at Grand Valley.
Buyers can purchase as many or as few minutes as they like. In return the buyers get to create a message, which is then displayed on the site for each minute they purchased. The message can include a link to any Web site the customer desires.
A few possibilities:
1. Promoting a business at an affordable ad rate
2. Wishing a loved one a Happy Birthday the new-fashioned way
3. Promoting oneself to potential employers
While messages can be almost anything, Sauer encourages people to make their messages funny, unusual and/or interesting. The Web site messages, he says, could help other businesses get attention and take off. Who knows? A nicely worded marriage proposal might even lead to a lifetime of happiness. How else could consumers use their dollars? “A Coke? A 20-minute phone call? Something off of McDonald’s dollar menu,” says Sauer. Purchased minutes will start displaying on January 1, 2007 at www.OneYearForSale.com