One of my fellow Phoenecians, Brett Farmiloe, is a young, creative and inspiring storyteller who is launching his second “Pursue the Passion” tour across the U.S., complete with a 29-foot RV. James Whiting and Noah Pollock will join him on the cross-country adventure.
Last year, Brett and 2 friends toured the country interviewing people who were fired up about their work. As they describe their project:
“Pursue the Passion started as a group of three recent college grads who embarked on cross country roadtrips to interview passionate professionals about their career paths. We created this site because we felt that others could benefit from these interviews, and use them to determine a direction to take their careers.”
Brett summarized the wisdom from the 2006 tour interviews in a nifty e-book which you can find here. There are pictures and quotes from a whole range of different professions, including:
“I believe that everyone meets a person who will have a large role in their life. It could be a friend, your wife, but for me it was my teacher, Sherman Miller.
He taught me to believe in myself, and to believe that I could go from being a green little kid to what I wanted to be.”
-Ford Burkhart, Staff Editor, New York Times
“You are only young and good-looking for so long.”
-Samantha Harris, Playboy Playmate
If you want to participate in the 2007 tour, there are still slots available. Here is the criteria outlined by Brett:
- Individual LOVES what they do for a living. If money weren’t an issue, they would still be doing what they’re doing for free.
- A candidate must be willing to allow us to post our writeup on our website www.pursuethepassion.com, and grant us permission to use the interview in our book “Timeless Advice for the Aspiring Individual.” And if they aren’t camera shy, we’d like to video the interviews as well.
- That’s it! I used to say that an individual must have an interesting story surrounding their pursuit of a passion, but I’ve found that every story is unique in and of itself, and everyone has a story.
Go to the 2007 tour schedule to see the cities where they are in need of more interviewees. If you aren’t a candidate yourself, perhaps you know someone who is. They also host a “Passion Hour” gathering in each city where they stop, so that would be a fun place to get to know the team, and give them encouragement to keep going.
I am honored to kick off the 2007 tour on July 2 with an interview in my backyard (or inside if it is too sweltering – very likely). I can’t wait to see the huge RV pull up to my doorstep, perhaps sealing my title of “most hated member of the homeowner association.” After Amanda Congdon’s visit to my backyard last year, I am beginning to think there is a little something special about my middle class, suburban, beige colored home … who needs the edge of San Francisco or the glitz of New York when you have the sexy appeal of Mesa, Arizona? (and heretofore, I would have considered “sexy Mesa” to be an oxymoron!)
More power to you Brett, James and Noah … it makes me very proud to see such inspired, positive and risk-taking entrepreneurs crossing the country.
That statement about requiring another individual to help make you a success is extremely powerful and realistic. I really wish it gets publicized a lot more in America because frequently we hear that you and only you are responsible for your success, and if you don’t make you, only you are to blame. Hogwash!
When it comes to pursuing passion, coverage needs to be given to the subject of rejection. A lot of people won’t believe in you and what you’re doing, especially the so-called experts. Examples of people in high positions who discarded talent include the Billboard reviewers who said Madonna was a flash in the pan who’d never last, an MGM executive who said Fred Astaire couldn’t dance and could barely sing, and the various restaurant owners who told Harlan Sanders nobody would buy his KFC.
Sometimes, you have to wonder, is it the people who propose new ideas and products who are at fault, or the evaluators? Then when you yourself become an evaluator, will you commit the same sins of premature rejection?
I hope this series covers this, because it is especially engaging to see someone who persevered through the rejection and there is a taste of delight seeing all those judges who missed their chance at linking with success, if they’d only given someone a chance whether or not they were proven performers. Besides, track records are overrated.
We’ll go with Don Cheadle…who, btw, I would absolutely love to interview on the tour!
As a total side note, can I say that I love the little screen capture you did of the site header? I’m getting a little sniffle seeing some of our work (NHG Consulting, that is) on one of the blogs that I subscribe to! So does that make me a Don Cheadle or a George Clooney? 🙂
Thanks for the comment Robert. I hope we can live up to your expectations.
Oh dear! Oh dearie dear oh dear!
This is good. It sounds sooo good. It is resonating in me. I want to be there. I want to participate. It reminds me of my ENGAGE programme.
Oh boy I’d enjoy this. Please tape it, video it, podcast it, webcast it and sell it in bottles.
I think you can tell I want it!
It’s an honor to appear on this blog, and I am very glad to have escaped the cubicle to find something that I am passionate about.
I encourage you to submit your story through our site because we would love to meet you on our tour.
Thanks again Pamela, and I look forward to kicking off the tour with you as our first interview!