Jason Sadler was having lunch in 2012 when the epiphany happened: He didn鈥檛 like his last name, certainly not after his mother was divorcing the man whose surname he bore, and he wanted to change it.
The change, he decided, should come at a price 鈥 literally.
鈥淚 remember distinctly I鈥檓 at a Panera Bread. I’m sitting with my now-wife, then-girlfriend, and my coworker at lunch. I was like, 鈥楪uys, I think I just had my next weird idea. I think I want to sell my last name,鈥 鈥 he tells PEOPLE. 鈥淲hat if I just made an auction site and kind of eBay鈥檇 my last name and started at $0 and just let people bid, and they could essentially rent my last name for a year. They both sat there dumbfounded.鈥
At the time, when social media was in its infancy, Sadler was a fairly well-known online vlogger and founder of the I Wear Your Shirt advertising business, which centered on companies paying him to wear their t-shirts during his daily Ustream and YouTube videos.
鈥淚 kind of accidentally was the first social media influencer, and it definitely wasn’t by choice,鈥 he says.
Because he had so much luck dealing with businesses for his t-shirt idea, Sadler believed that a company might actually pay for the naming rights to his last name. Less than a week after that lunch, the BuyMyLastName.com auction website was launched, with the opening bid starting at $1. Within 24 hours, bidding reached $33,000. After 30 days and bidding topping out at $45,500, Jason Sadler was about to become Jason Headsets.com from Jan.1, 2013, to Dec. 31, 2013.
Shortly after, Mr. Headsets.com appeared before a judge to legally change his name. The judge, though, was curious and asked him why.
鈥淚 couldn’t think of anything, so I just said 鈥榦nline advertising.鈥 He just shook his head and banged the gavel, and that was it,鈥 Jason, 43, recalls. 鈥淚 remember Headsets.com saying they could attribute a quarter of a million dollars in earned media revenue in the first 48 hours after the bidding was finished and it was announced. It was an incredible ROI for them.鈥
He continues, 鈥淚t was such a weird couple of moments in my life. A couple of weeks later, I got a new passport in the mail. I got a new driver’s license. So for literally the rest of the year, anytime I went anywhere, I had to play this whole game of like, 鈥楴o, I did this.鈥 I had to tell them the quick story, and by the end of it, they were laughing hysterically. The absolute hardest thing to change back afterwards was my Delta SkyMiles account number. Literally every piece of paperwork I sent them, they’re like, 鈥楾his isn’t legit. We don’t believe you. You can’t change your name to this.鈥 鈥
About midway through his Headsets era, Jason decided to sell his last name again, this time for the entire year of 2014, so he reopened the auction site. After 30 days, it was decided Jason Headsets.com would become Jason SurfrApp for the price of $50,000. The same judge had to legally change his last name again.
鈥淗e was like, 鈥榃ell, listen, as long as you’re having fun and you’re not dodging any creditors, whatever, let’s do it.鈥 So he signed it again,鈥 Jason recalls. 鈥淔iling my taxes is awkward. I had to put a different last name and write out multiple names and things. That was a little bit of a paperwork headache. But even during that, I was like, man, this is so hilarious that I got to do this. I look back on it nowadays and just what a great story I get to have. It’s a feather in my cap that I get to tell people at cocktail parties or whatever. If someone’s like, 鈥極h, what’s a fun thing you’ve done?’ I’m like, well, how much time do you got?鈥
While living as Mr. SurfrApp, an app for surfers, he penned a book called Creativity For Sale, but he also decided he was done auctioning off his last name, wanting more anonymity.
鈥淚’ve always been the type of person where I don’t want to drive something so far into the ground that it just completely dies. I kind of want to go out a little bit of carrying my head high in this, and I feel good about the time that I’m leaving,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 had two good years. It made basically $100,000. That’s a great story. I’m happy to kind of close the chapter on that and just end it.鈥
Still, he was left with a decision to make: What would his permanent name become? After pondering and a visit with his grandparents, he chose the name Zook in honor of his great-grandfather.
Now living as Jason Zook, the entrepreneur and his wife live in Portugal and operate a business mentoring and coaching program called Wandering Aimfully. He also started a software company called Teachery.
Still, many only know him as Jason Headsets.com or Jason SurfrApp, which he鈥檚 fine with.
鈥淚t is my party trick, for sure, and it never disappoints. There is never a person who is not like, 鈥榃ell, that’s not the craziest thing I’ve heard today.鈥 So it’s a good one to have in the back pocket for sure,鈥 he says. 鈥淎 lot of people that I end up telling, they’re like, 鈥業 don’t like my last name. Could I do this?鈥 It’s 15 years later, and people are still scratching their beards, being like, 鈥業s this possible for me? Could I get paid to sell my last name?鈥 I’m like, I wouldn’t recommend it, but you could try.鈥