We talk with a young man who found his passion by working 52 jobs in 52 weeks! Find a written summary of today's show along the the links mentioned in it at BIGGSUCCESS.COM.
The BIGG Successs Show
Finding Your Passion One Week at a Time
Welcome to The Big Success Show. Today, we talk about finding your passion one week at a time. The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. We have a special guest with us today. Sean A. congratulated from college a little over a year ago, but he didn't know what he wanted to do. So he decided to work a different job every week for one year, and in the process, he donated over $20,000 to charity. His journey has been covered by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The New York Times, Good Morning America, Radio France, the Australian Radio Network. Need I go on? Welcome to The Big Success Show, Sean. Hey, thanks for having me. This is quite the experience you've had. It was quite awesome. Well, Sean, I have to say, you went from being a college-- new college graduate to probably having more jobs than anybody I know, and you did it all in one year. Exactly. Well, that was the problem after I graduated, I didn't know which job I wanted. And my dad gave me some advice from my last year of college that kind of stuck with me. And he said, Sean, it doesn't matter what you do, just make sure it's something you're passionate about. So not knowing where those passions lie, I came up with the idea to go out and try a whole bunch of different jobs. And first of all, see what I like and don't like a lot of different careers. And so I can make a better choice. And that's when I started the website, oneweekjob.com. And said that anybody anywhere in the world dropped me a job for one week. And then I'd go around for one year and do all these different jobs. And it worked out pretty well. Now, on any point, Sean, did your dad say, Sean, I told you to find your passion, but this is crazy. [LAUGHTER] Definitely. When I first got the idea and I told them about what I was doing, are you kidding me? It's a real job. And I said, hey, it's your fault. So now, what you would do is you basically kind of live like a vagabond, right? You would, through the generosity of people in the town that you were working in, you would have a place to stay. Yeah, exactly. So just people following along on the website would email and say, hey, Sean, if you're coming to town, you're welcome to stay at our place. Oftentimes, I'd stay with my employer. I also, actually, about week five into the project, a job such as a nice job that CA came on board and to sponsor the project. They helped that with some travel expenses as well. Let's say you were working a job in Arizona. And then your next job offer was someplace in San Francisco. I mean, how would you make it to your different locations? It always changed. Sometimes I bust, sometimes hitchhiking, sometimes flying. That was a big, actually, aspect of the project, because trying to manage all the logistics. There was probably like a four-week period. I was in Denver, Colorado. And then I was back home in Vancouver for the weekend, on route to Hawaii. And then these are all consecutive weeks. And then to Los Angeles, then to New York, then Florida. Oh, my gosh. That's amazing. And then, what was it? Wyoming to be a cowboy. And then to Washington, D.C., so. I want to be a cowboy. You could be my cow girl. That's right. Exactly. Well, speaking of jobs, we'll find out more about the jobs Sean did and see if he found his passion coming up. Today, we're talking with Sean Aiken, who worked 52 jobs in 52 weeks. Now, Sean's had a variety of jobs, including a cowboy, a pizza maker, and Sean, you were even a Hollywood producer, a firefighter, the mayor, and Mary Lynn's favorite, a radio DJ. So now, out of all of the jobs you've had, Sean, which one was your favorite? I have maybe a top five. When I was in Hawaii, I was a volcano park ranger. [LAUGHTER] That's a hot job in there. [LAUGHTER] Fashion buyer in New York was really cool. I was excited and executive. And then I also worked with the Air Force, the Canadian Air Force. And I got to fly a helicopter and fly a military transport plane. And that was a really great experience as well. And also a cancer funder, they really enjoyed that job. Wow. Awesome. So do you think that you've found your passion? Yeah, it's damn happy yet. That's what we really want to know. Yeah, I think it's funny, because we know an E going out and trying to find my passion for almost turning to a job in itself and kind of turning to a bash passion in itself in that sharing my experience and kind of helping others, helping others and inspiring others to go out to their passions. And so now I am writing the book about my experience. And that's going to be out in spring 2009. We'll be doing that for the next little while. And we'll be doing talks as well. And it actually might become a TV show. Wow, cool. This is kind of going to keep me busy for the next few years, anyways. And now there's a way that people can help you get this documentary done. Exactly. So my best friend, Ian McKendy, came out on the road of me starting about week 19 or so. And we started filming video episodes online. But what I was learning and interviews with my employers and stuff and getting from job to job. And so we're putting all that together into a documentary now. And so we're asking help and raising funds for that. And in doing so, we're saying that people can become a producer if they're willing to donate an hour of their wage. Wow. That's all right. I love the way you created the wage thing. And into it. That's awesome. Yeah, and so that website for that is 1weekjobmovie.com. So anybody who donates is going to be a producer of the film. And their name will appear in the end credit. How neat. Well, that's cool. Well, we've got links to your site on ours today at bigsuccess.com. We just are so impressed by what you've done. And it's just so interesting. It's just such a cool story. Thank you very much. It's great that you came out of college. And this is what you came up with. What I love is you basically have created your own world. You've created your own job, your own role, and your own space, basically, by doing this. Yeah, I guess so. That's all right, Sean. Good job. See, now tell your dad that. Yeah, that's right. Well, thanks so much for spending some time with us here on The Big Success Show today. Thanks for having me. You can get a written summary of today's show on our site at Big Success. That's big with 2gsuccess.com. And next time, we'll talk about Backyard Bliss. This doesn't require much traveling. That's right. Until then, here's to your big success. The Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com. [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]