When I built my tree house, it never entered my mind that I could rent it out. I built the tree house about a year ago, and to date, I have rented it out for 6 nights, 4 since the beginning of the year, and twice in the last month. Making money from renting my tree house is nice, but the real reward is meeting new people and allowing them to have a unique experience for a night. I  built Tree House Registry, not so people could rent their three houses and make money, or for me to promote my tree house for rent, but rather as a place to meet other people with tree houses, and create a network of tree house owners who want to share their tree houses and their stories with other tree houses owners and enthusiasts. It has been a slow start here at THR, but this project has just started.

We are at the beginning of the collaborative consumption movement, but where is it going? What will collaborative consumption look like in a few years? And what will it look like in 20?

People have compared collaborative consumption to the industrial revolution, as it has the potential to completely change how we do business and interact with each other. I believe it also has the power to help improve a slumping economy, distribute wealth, and allow people from all corners of the world, to become more connected. How cool is that!

This industry, however, has a lot of questions to still be answered, and is inevitably going to experience growing pains before it becomes a mature market, which is considered mainstream. Government regulation, bureaucracy, big business, and fear, are certainly some of the elements I see getting in the way of this movement. That is okay though, as any movement has opposition, as generally people are very fearful of change.

I am excited to be part of this movement and to do my part to keep it moving forward. As I believe collaborative consumption has already changed the world, I know it has for me, and we are just getting started.