Lifetramp: Be someone else for a day

by ashwin_kumar • 12 years ago

146 58 12 years ago

mholt2• 12 years ago

Can I just say, I wish I thought of this first? Here's a startup that focuses on connecting people with what they love to do. Of course people will be willing to pay for the opportunity. The business model relies on fundamental human passions and cultivating meaningful relationships. This is what "the daily grind" really should be about: doing what you love with those who believe what you believe. (Simon Sinek, anyone?)

Anyway, I hope it sees more global availability soon. If Lifetramp is really all about doing good for people, I expect it will be quite successful. My only concerns are that A) the price may be inhibitive, and B) the quality of the mentors may be low. Solve those two problems, then integrate with mobile, and I bet it'd be well on its way.

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

Lifetramp co-founder here. First of all, thanks for the kind words and feedback. We just did a small launch in Poland with mentors that we could easily reach to validate the idea, but we're currently doing what we can with our limited resources (it's a bootstrapped startup) to grow our mentor database as much as possible. Watch this space.

DustinCalim• 12 years ago

This is a great idea. Similar to mholt's comment, I think it needs a foothold in the sf bay area to really take off.

mholt2• 12 years ago

And Utah Valley, the other most fertile ground for tech startups in the US.

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

The plan is to be global, so SF Bay Area is definitely on our radar.

lemming• 12 years ago

Nice idea, but I can't figure out how to see everyone in a particular place. I'd like to look up interesting people near me, regardless of what they do.

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

That's some great feedback, we'll make sure to incorporate it. Thanks!

beefman• 12 years ago

Looks like there's no State field for the US. So there's "Denver, United States" and "Asheville, North Carolina".

bemmu• 12 years ago

This is going to be huge. This is basically AirBnB for activities, while managing to not make people feel like they are merely booking a tour.

jaysonelliot• 12 years ago

Boy, I was so excited when that search box appeared with the words "If you had a chance to experience another lifestyle…"

With no hesitation at all, I typed TRUCK DRIVER, and hit "search." All my life, I've said at one time or another, "if I could just take a couple years off and learn to drive a big rig, I'd love to see what life would be like." I've gone so far as to inquire with various trucking schools, but never more than that. It's just too different, too wildly far away from who I am and what I do now. How would anyone understand that I left a high-paying tech career with "no heavy lifting," as they say, to become an over the road driver? Would I be happy? I wish I could know.

So of course I typed TRUCK DRIVER and hit search. And in a split second, anticipation turned into unsurprised disappointment. Of course it said "Whoops. Looks like we couldn't find any mentors matching your search."

Dead end. Sure, there's a place to enter a suggestion, which naturally just results in an empty-sounding "you're awesome" and a vague promise to "try and get someone," but no CTA beyond that, or opportunity for further engagement.

Digging around a bit more, there's a sidebar that can be expanded to show some locations. Clicking on various cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, etc., the minuscule number of mentors that do exist on the site are web designers, UX specialists, and the like. I'd wager that most of the people looking at the site already do things like that. Not much lifetramping to be had there.

A concept like this could be amazing, if it had a wide network of mentors in all walks of life. The ones that are there now, though, seem to be variants of "hip tech worker" or "hip artisanal ex-tech worker." I hope the creators can get a lot more variety, and most importantly, a lot of mentors.

I'll be watching with my fingers crossed. Still wish I could ride along with a truck driver for a week.

gk1• 12 years ago

I know someone who quit a well-paying management consulting job to become a truck driver. He bought a Peterbilt and did routes throughout the Southwest and California.

After a while (I think about a year), he came to Brooklyn and opened a cafe, which is now doing quite well. From what he told me about his truck-driving days, it sounded like he had a great time.

I guess what I'm trying to say is... You can do it.

ForHackernews• 12 years ago

I guess what I'm trying to say is... You can do it.

If you have enough money to buy a truck, apparently...

Greenisus• 12 years ago

My dad is a truck driver, so I've been around that particular lifestyle for most of my life. I've been in big rigs countless times (the view from that high up really is cool) but I've never had a chance to drive one. My dad owned a few trucks at one point but he'd never let me drive. I've never gone on a long haul with him, but my brother and mom have and for the most part they enjoyed it.

My observation of the trucker lifestyle is that has a lot in common with working in tech:

- long hours for the majority of us

- its own subculture

- even its own chat protocol: CB radio :)

But there are a few negatives: it's really tough on your health with only having access to truck stop food (you usually can't detour to a fancy restaurant in town when you're hauling a 53" trailer) and lots of time sitting down.

From what my dad says, though, seeing the whole country is really great, and he really loves what he does and the strange perks (he used to deliver chemicals to a gold mine in Canada and would bring rocks with gold on them back to all the kids in my neighborhood). I'd be curious to try it too. :)

jkeel• 12 years ago

My grandfather was a truck driver for over 40 years. He worked for a few different companies at during his lifetime but his last was for the US postal service. He said that was the life for a truck driver. He over drove twice a week (to and from Dallas, TX x2). I think it's really hard to get a job with them as a truck driver from what I remember.

Anyways, I love the truck driver culture. Before my grandfather worked for USPS, I would go with him on trips and we would go to these truck stops that were more like diners. I'm not sure if a lot of those exist anymore but the waitress would always remember my grandfather and he would just say, "my usual". Fond memories.

Tjodalv3• 12 years ago

Jayson, That's because this site exists for like 4 months. They are still looking for new mentors all around the world. Started in Poland and there is quite a big base (blacksmith, carpenters,fashion designers) but they need some time to grow :)

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

We just launched it locally to validate if it could work and now it's time for growing, so don't worry, we'll find a truck driver for you too.

Monkeyget• 12 years ago

It would be great for children who have a narrow view of their career possibilities.

lessnonymous• 12 years ago

I always wanted to be a lumberjack. Leaping from tree to tree, as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia. The Giant Redwood. The Larch. The Fir! The mighty Scots Pine!

But they can't find any mentors matching my search. :(

Tjodalv3• 12 years ago

He sleeps all night and works all day!

weewooweewoo• 12 years ago

I got way too excited about this just to find out that you actually need an invite to book a day.

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

Do you need one? Just hit me up with your profile name, I'll get you in.

ekianjo• 12 years ago

Interesting concept, kind of like what we see on TV (I have seen a couple of programs which use the exact same idea before, so the concept per se is not new). I guess one of the key issue is when you have too many mentors on the platform, it will be very hard to get visibility if you want to be one among the most popular categories.

I have seen some unfortunate descriptions (someone describing themselves as "growth hacker", omg...), I hope they exercise some curation in there.

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

Every mentor is being screened during the interview, but if someone wants to call himself a growth hacker, we are not going to decline him just based on that.

btrombley• 12 years ago

Funny, my friends built this company two years ago (and called it lifeswap). It was well received, but the challenge was high turnover amongst mentors due to the work involved--it's much harder to mentor someone than just rent your spare room on airbnb, and probably pays worse. In the end they discovered that the only way it would work is as a headhunting firm for tech companies, and decided to build a new company instead.

sz4kerto• 12 years ago

I find it quite interesting that most hacker-type people would like to try out a life without computers and/or with much more physical activity. Someone here said truck driver, someone else said lumberjack -- I searched for 'bicycle messenger', my geek friends usually followed similar patterns.

VLM• 12 years ago

The grass is always greener...

There is also the stereotypical "startup culture" ageism. Being a military reserves soldier sounded like an adventure when I was 17, but in my 20s it turned into a PITA and I didn't re-enlist. There's a lifestyle difference between "Bye Mom see ya after the deployment" vs "OMG I got a (real) job and house and car and bills and a dog WTF am I going to do now".

Aside from attitude, lumberjack sounds physically like fun when you're young and invincible, not so fun in your later years after you've actually cut down some trees. I've wielded a +1 chainsaw of storm recovery a couple times and its not so much fun after the first 12 hours on the job.

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

We do have a blacksmith!

rckclmbr• 12 years ago

I searched for welder, and didn't find anyone :(

SyncTheory13• 12 years ago

Data Analyst now, Firefighter in the future? I'll eventually look into volunteer efforts though...

gensym2• 12 years ago

I searched for police officer and brewmaster. Got no results, but it did suggest a "brand editor".

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

Try looking for brewer rather than brewmaster. You'll find Marcin. And yes, we know suggestions need some improving.

madaxe_again• 12 years ago

I put in astronaut. :(

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

These are probably not easy to come by as mentors, unless we can get Elon Musk and his SpaceX program in.

TeMPOraL• 12 years ago

Have you thought about getting Mirosław Hermaszewski, the first and only polish cosmonaut, on board?

dyadic• 12 years ago

I've always wanted to do something like this, and I'm going to be in Poland (where most of the mentors are) for the next couple of months, so I'm a little bit excited already.

edit: Or maybe not, you need to be invited before being able to contact a mentor.

edit 2: I have been invited, thank you Lifetramp

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

Hit us up on team@lifetramp.com or on Twitter and we'll get you sorted out.

Tjodalv3• 12 years ago

Sent! Check your e-mail mate!

MadManE• 12 years ago

This kind of thing just makes me happy. I hope it takes off, and wish the best to the founders.

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

Thanks!

wheaties• 12 years ago

Evidently porn star didn't have mentors either. Have to admit, if you're going to put this up on the web, most every 18-21 year old guy I know is going to put that in. Perhaps you need to put in a few "keep dreaming" on certain terms.

collyw• 12 years ago

I am double the average of your age range and that was still my first suggestion.

facepalm• 12 years ago

Why would you want to be a porn star?

blueskin_2• 12 years ago

Money, I'd guess. While women make far, far, far more than men, men are still well paid.

Thriptic• 12 years ago

Awesome idea! but you didn't have any mentors who are fighter pilots or painters yet ;p

Unfortunately I'm not sure how well this concept will work for non-freelance occupations. I doubt employers would want randoms coming in to shadow their employees and risk potential exposure of IP / confidential information, but I could be wrong.

If that issue can be resolved though, it could be a fantastic way to covertly job search or look for schools.

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

We don't have a painter, but we do have a muralist in Poland. You might check it out.

As for non-freelance occupations, Developer Relations Manager in Google Poland is a mentor, so at least some cool companies don't mind.

zxlk21e• 12 years ago

I think a larger focus needs to be placed on location based navigation. I get that it's primarily poland right now, but the drill down options for location are abysmal: http://lifetramp.com/search?place=Chicago-Miami

I would be MUCH more willing to hook up in my state than other countries, etc.

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

That's definitely on our improvements list.

dueprocess• 12 years ago

I'm working on a similar idea which I hope to launch in a week of so. It's not the same, but dang, it's in the ballpark.

joebo• 12 years ago

I am surprised by the name. The word tramp has a negative connotation for me. I would be somewhat concerned about it being blocked at firewalls or showing up in my address history.

pgt• 12 years ago

Great idea. Terrible name. Awesome execution graphically. Will play around some more later. Keep iterating!

btbuildem• 12 years ago

Agriculture is the most important job on the island. Every person is taught it and must live in the countryside, farming for two years at a time, with women doing the same work as men. Parallel to this, every citizen must learn at least one of the other essential trades: weaving (mainly done by the women), carpentry, metalsmithing and masonry. There is deliberate simplicity about these trades; for instance, all people wear the same types of simple clothes and there are no dressmakers making fine apparel. All able-bodied citizens must work; thus unemployment is eradicated, and the length of the working day can be minimised: the people only have to work six hours a day (although many willingly work for longer). More does allow scholars in his society to become the ruling officials or priests, people picked during their primary education for their ability to learn. All other citizens are however encouraged to apply themselves to learning in their leisure time.

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(book))

normloman2• 12 years ago

Something rubs me the wrong way about that site. How come all these jobs are all artsy / techy. Where are all the thankless blue collar jobs? I see game designer, guitar luthier, and something called "coffee evangelist" but no janitors.

The whole thing seems like something on Portlandia.

dotmariusz14• 12 years ago

Most of the jobs right now are artsy / techy because those people are easiest to reach from our personal networks and that's where we started signing up mentors. Feel free to throw a janitor in a suggestion box, we'll try to sign one up.

normloman2• 12 years ago

I don't know any janitors in poland. But think of the possibilities. You could offer a "Janitor's day in the life" to entitled tech workers. The tagline could be "Step outside your bubble and see how the rest of the world lives."

timjahn• 12 years ago

I've long had the idea for a web series called "What Do You Do?" that would be similar to this. Each episode would feature the host doing the job/becoming the person of a new occupation (like Dirty Jobs but not just for dirty jobs).

Personally, I'm fascinated by this. I would love to experience the jobs of others, just to learn about them and their story.

marincounty• 12 years ago

I've thought about this over the years, and if I could experience another guy's life/job for a day; It always comes down to Hugh Heffner--when he was younger, before AIDS.

blueskin_2• 12 years ago

I know what I'd do.

Billionaire.

Lifetramp: Be someone else for a day

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