Drew Gerber, CEO of Wasabi Publicity, discusses how and when he discovered his true passion and calling in life.

1. 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.
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

2. 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.
--
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.