1. Drew Gerber, CEO of Wasabi Publicity, discusses how and when he discovered his true
passion and calling in life.
Life by Design
I was 15 years old and in the ballroom of Hotel Utah underneath magnificent crystal chandeliers
when I discovered my true passion in life. Hotel Utah sits right across the street from the Salt
Lake LDS (Mormon) Temple, the corner stone of downtown Salt Lake City.
An appropriate place to find one’s passion in life, right?
Now, I’m not saying that sitting on a hard chair in a 100-year-old hotel, no matter how beautiful,
is the way for you to find your true calling. But, it was for me. It was there – at an Erhard
Seminars Training est Course – that I saw the power of having a conversation. Not just any
conversation, though.
A conversation for possibility.
In that room, I was fascinated how these [seemingly] “put together” adults were talking about
what was going on in their lives. “OMG, adults are a mess!” I thought to myself. It was right
there and then I decided that when I was an adult I was not going to screw my life up.
Oh the joys of being 15 and naive.
But there were other people present, too: trainers – amazing transformation trainers. So
miraculous that I also decided that whatever they were doing, I wanted to do that too.
Conversation… that’s all it was. But the people having the conversations had clear stories about
their lives shifting on a dime. You could physically see it on their faces. There was freedom in
their lives that hadn’t seen the light of day for a long, long time.
I was hooked and clear about what I wanted to do: give people that kind of freedom.

2. Sometimes after you have those bursts of clarity in life you back it up with actions, and
sometimes you don’t.
So, after completing that intense training course that changed my life, I headed back to the ‘real
world’ at Layton High School. At least, it was my real world; a world full of chemistry and BMW’s
pulling me away from my calling.
I really loved chemistry class. So one day I walked up to my teacher, Mrs. Yaney, to share my
newly-discovered passion and to let her know I was thinking of pursuing chemistry as a career. I
was a little shocked when she replied, “You don’t want to become a chemist, Drew. It’s boring
and you won’t make any money. What you want to do is become a chemical engineer. That’s
the highest paid BS (Bachelor of Science, not the other kind) out there.”
I was sold.
So off I went to college to become a chemical engineer.
But (surprise, surprise) after I received my degree, I knew that wasn’t it. That wasn’t my calling.
Sure, I know it would’ve been a lot easier and cheaper to sort that our earlier. Isn’t hindsight a
wonderful thing?
I thought back to that day at Hotel Utah and I knew the only way I was going to be happy
was to impact the world through conversations.
I’m the CEO of Wasabi Publicity; and we’re committed to changing the world. Period. And I
know that the most effective way to do that is to change the conversations people are
having.
We can’t do it alone. We need for YOU to share your contribution, your conversation with the
world. And the only thing that may be standing in the way of you doing that is getting unstuck
and getting to that next Aha moment.
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About the Author:
For 30 years, L. Drew Gerber has been inspiring those who want to change the world. As the
CEO of Wasabi Publicity, lauded by the likes of PR Week and Good Morning America, he
sparks “aha” conversations that lead to personal and business success. His PR firm is known
for landing clients on Dr. Phil, Oprah, Anderson Cooper, the Wall Street Journal, Inc.,
Entrepreneur, and other top media outlets. Wasabi Publicity lives to launch conversations that
make a difference and change the world. Contact Drew at AskDrew@PublicityResults.com or
visit his blog at www.DestinationAha.com.