Hanging with the Groupawn
What would it be like to live without spending any money for 1 year? Last week we got to spend some time with a man who is doing just that. Josh Stevens was selected earlier this year from hundreds of applicants to be the Groupawn – live an entire year off of Groupons alone, no cash. If he can do it, he’ll win $100,000 and have some life changing experiences along the way. (If you’re unfamiliar with what Groupon is, see our earlier post).
Josh started his journey on May 10, 2010. So far, he has traveled to 13 different states and has had some unforgettable experiences. The rules of the contest are simple – Josh cannot spend any cash for 12 months. Groupon provides Josh with an unlimited supply of Groupons, which he can use or trade for whatever he needs to survive. As part of Josh’s journey, Groupon provides him with different Groupons for the cities he is going to be visiting. With about 9 months left on his journey, Josh plans on visiting as many Groupon cities as possible. Through an arrangement with Megabus, Josh is able to travel anywhere Megabus goes for free. To get to cities that Megabus doesn’t service, Josh has been forced to take other modes of transportation like finding rides or trading Groupons for airplane tickets.
We have been following Josh’s journey on Facebook and Twitter and knew he was going to be coming to Milwaukee. We contacted him in advance of his arrival to see if he would like to hang out and tell us about his experience thus far. On Wednesday evening we picked Josh up at the Megabus stop at the Milwaukee Intermodal Station. We thought that a great way to introduce Josh to our city would be to take him on a happy hour cruise on the Milwaukee Boat Line’s Iriquois. We bought tickets to this cruise a couple months back when it was offered on Groupon. After a perfect evening cruising the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan, the Iriquois returned back to its dock on the RiverWalk. After the happy hour cruise, Josh pulled out his stack of Milwaukee Groupons to find a place for dinner. There were plenty to chose from, and we agreed on Transfer Pizzeria just south of downtown. Transfer was offered on Groupon a couple of weeks ago, and turned out to be a great choice for dinner. As we were wrapping up our meal, Josh’s host for the night arrived to take him home. We said our goodbyes, and thought we would read about the rest of Josh’s visit on Facebook.
The next night, Josh contacted us to find out if we were available to hang out with him again on Friday. After our good time the night before, we happily agreed to meet him at the Milwaukee Cupcake Company on Friday morning. If you haven’t tried cupcakes from the Milwaukee Cupcake Company before, you owe it to yourself to check them out. We spent some time at the Milwaukee Cupcake Company learning about the business and how the Groupon offer they had in July has boosted their business. After leaving the Milwaukee Cupcake Company we headed to Fajitas Grill to use a Groupon on an incredible lunch, and then headed to the Wisconsin State Fair. We thought we would give Josh a taste of Milwaukee and Wisconsin by taking him to the Fair. We strolled around the Fair grounds for a few hours checking out the sites, meeting up with other fans of his and eating the obligatory cream puff.
Josh spent a couple more days in Milwaukee, hanging out with some of his many fans. It is usually pretty easy for Josh to find a place to stay for the night or someone to show him around a city. With 8,000 Facebook Fans all Josh needs to do is post about where he is at and if he needs anything. Most times, there will be more people willing to help than he can accommodate. After Milwaukee, Josh plans on spending time in Minneapolis and then hitting Madison on his way back to Chicago. Beyond that, he hasn’t made any definite plans for future cities to visit. You can read about all of Josh’s adventures on his Live Off Groupon blog.
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