In November former trash collector Rob Shoesmith made international headlines by camping for ten days outside an Apple store in London to ensure he was amongst the first to get his hands on a brand new iPhone 4S.
Today he is set to make headlines once more…but this time he is prepared to sell his £100,000 (US$161,000) home and give all the proceeds to a homeless charity.
Look what I've got!...Rob surrounded by just some of the free goods he received during his ten night camping adventure.
But he has one little hurdle to jump first…he wants to get one million downloads of the book he has recently written about his Apple camping adventure.
“Bin There Done That” not only deals with his experiences of living on the streets of London for nearly two weeks but also deals with his long-running battle against anxiety and depression.
Rob will sell this home and give the money to a homeless charity if he gets one million downloads of his book. Picture: Rob Shoesmith/Photobucket
It is the first time he has ever spoken so openly and honestly about his illness which saw him drop out of university, turn to alcohol for comfort and even contemplate taking his own life by throwing himself into the path of a train.
He got to meet a number of homeless people while camped outside the Apple store in Covent Garden and hearing their stories made him realize that he too could have been among their number.
Rob, 30, said: “When I started writing my book about the Apple experience I realized that I had much more of a story to tell and I decided that I would write about my anxiety and depression.
“I had no idea how people would react and I was very nervous but everyone has been amazing and I have had a lot of people tell me that they have also battled with depression or are still living with it on a daily basis.
“Depression and homelessness are not subjects that get a huge amount of publicity so I wanted to play my part to help raise awareness about both issues.”
Rob, who now works for U.S. based apps development company MEDL Mobile, said offering to sell his home was not just a cynical publicity stunt.
He said: “I decided to aim for 1 million downloads to capture peoples’ attention and do something different.
“I want people to sit up and take notice which is why I said I would sell my home and give the money raised to a homeless charity if I reach the download target.
“Those who have read my book already have told me that it has inspired them and so I want to reach as large an audience as possible.
“I don’t want homelessness and depression to be the forgotten problems of society and if more people were able to talk about these issues openly then I think more would be done about helping tackle these problems.”
Bin There Done That – $4.64 via Amazon.com or £2.93 from Amazon.co.uk Also available from the Apple iBooks Store.
What an inspirational story.
I have just read the other articles you have posted about this guy and think he will go far.
I suffered with terrible depression before getting help and the most important thing I would say is talking about it with other people.
Mental health affects 1/4 people at some point in their lifes.
Fair play Rob you are doing something very special.
Twitter: chattopatrick
Thanks for your comment Stephen.
P.
Patrick Griffin thinks you may like this post too..Why Apple Fanboy Rob Shoesmith Could Give His House to a Homeless Charity
Wow Patrick this is a wonderful thing Rob is doing. I must buy his book. It is very cheap.
My Mother suffered from depression as well as myself and my siblings. I take antidepressants for it, exercise, have my 2 birdies and work on my positive attitude. I think I am always working on keeping the depression away. It has been a long haul to where I am now. I had depression as a little child. What made the difference was when I switched from tranquilizers to antidepressants back in the early 90′s. Then I moved into an apartment by myself (left my boyfriend of 19 years because it never worked out) and lived with cats and then birds. I didn’t live with people. LOL. I also worked on having a positive attitude and still do. It was allot of work back then and still work now. I had to overcome many hurdles! I am very fortunate to have had the financial help from my Mom. Bless her heart! I am so grateful and thankful to have never ended up on the street.
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Twitter: chattopatrick
Hi Barbara,
Well all I can say is to keep staying positive and keep moving forward all the time.
A positive mental attitude does not solve all of life’s problem but it does certainly help a lot.
Patrick.
Patrick Griffin thinks you may like this post too..Why Apple Fanboy Rob Shoesmith Could Give His House to a Homeless Charity
Twitter: ITSergioFelix
Hey Patrick,
I remember when you showcased Rob here and his camping outside of an Apple store.
Without any doubt, a very interesting marketing experiment but I didn’t know about his past living in the streets.
A bit weird is that any time I see a homeless wandering on the street, I always try to figure out how do people become homeless in the first place?
I really have a keen interest in knowing Rob’s story so I’m definitely getting his book.
Thank you man!
Sergio
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Twitter: chattopatrick
Hi Sergio,
I sometimes like to write about people I have written about in the past if something new and interesting has happened and Rob has certainly done some interesting things since the last time I wrote about him.
I had no idea about his story regarding depression and anxiety but I suspect he will feel a lot better now that he has written about it all in his book.
I don’t think he was actually homeless during the time in his past but he said if it had not been for the support of his family that he could have been.
P.
Patrick Griffin thinks you may like this post too..Why Apple Fanboy Rob Shoesmith Could Give His House to a Homeless Charity
Twitter: ITSergioFelix
Ah sorry my bad Patrick.
I thought that maybe Rob at some point DID live in the streets as a homeless guy, so glad I was mistaken.
Thanks for claryfing that and as a last note, I have just bought his book (through your link of course) and that only means he’s one less book to reach the 1-million downloads goal for the homeless charity.
I think I’ll be doing some reading now… speak later!
Sergio
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Twitter: chattopatrick
Hi Sergio,
I hope you like the book.
One day you will also have mine to read too.
P.
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Love this story and I love this cause. It’s amazing to see people overcoming trials and obstacles and I love to hear about those same people turning around and spreading the love.
Twitter: chattopatrick
Hi Jim,
Thanks for your comment. I couldn’t agree with you more.
P.
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Hi there reading story such as this is really my hobby, it proves that once we are born in this world we can find any solution to solve the problem, it shows that we are not alone. instead we are born to love one another, like the story entitled no man is an island.
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