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Around three months ago, I set out with one major desire.

As a One-Week Job (OWJ) participant, I sought to be an ordinary woman who achieved something extraordinary. I believe I did that. People ask me if it was everything I dreamed of, and I tell them yes. Yes, it was.

I mean, yeah, there were times that sucked.

My twitter account tells me that most of those times happened to be while on the Greyhound. Irritable tweets, oopsies. But I wouldn’t trade all my experiences with public transportation for anything. After all, I chose to bus across the country for a reason, and many of the people I met every weekend on my journey had no other options. I am a fortunate human being.

I was tired all the time. I never seemed to get enough sleep. My eating schedule was a mess. And sometimes I felt lonely because I was constantly “the new person.” The combination of these three things gave my mind and body some serious pressure. But I got to meet loads of unique and passionate people, whose kindness humbled me daily. This is all I needed to deem OWJ my personal eight-week holiday. I got free meals, free beds, and free wisdom. I am a fortunate human being.

Recap Time.

On my final day of One-Week Job, I was a little nervous. When I got to the studio, I couldn’t find Niblett. The turnaround between radio shows is very quick; I had become used to only having five minutes to relax in the studio before going on air. However, I had also become used to Niblett running around, using those five minutes to prepare.

At six minutes to 6pm, he was nowhere to be found.

I sat in my chair and waited, pretending to write something on my notepad. I started to wonder what I was to do if 6pm were to hit. Maybe I should go find someone, I thought. Two minutes later, Niblett came through the door, confirming that I had internally overreacted for nothing. He was carrying all of his belongings, and wearing a Candy 95 Polo shirt and a grin.

I was relieved that I wasn’t going to have to do the last show alone, but I was curious about the routine changes. During talk breaks, Nibs told me what was up.

A DJ’s time isn’t always spent in an official studio. Sometimes a DJ does remote broadcasting, which is on-air broadcasting from any place outside a studio. Certain businesses or organizations can request this type of broadcasting, so any event they may be holding can gain more awareness. DJs can also show up to certain events sans broadcasting. As I said in the previous post, DJs are public figures, and while many people hate public figures, many people love them.

And kids, of all people, LOVE public figures, ESPECIALLY DJs.

Well.  Here it is.  The end of my One Week Job adventure across Canada.

So much has happened over the last 8 weeks!  So many people, so many cities, so many jobs!  I’d like to take this opportunity to THANK EVERYONE who helped me along the way.  Whether you were a voter, an employer, a co-worker, a family-member, a friend, or even a stranger who read my blog – it’s because of YOU that I’m here, and it’s because of YOU that I had this crazy opportunity.

Ian, myself, and Sean

To Sean and Ian - you guys are hilarious, and it was so great to meet you during my time in Vancouver.  Thank you for welcoming me into this adventure and being brave enough to create such a project in the first place.  I’ve learned so much – about myself, and the work force in general.

This blog is my attempt to take all the lessons I’ve learned, and bring them together into some sort of cohesive lesson-plan.  I will include my gut-reactions, job satisfactions, and any sort of future projections that I happened to see in my job-choice-o-the-week

Week 1 – Photographer: Toronto, ON

My first week was spent doing something I have legitimately cared about for a long, long time.  Anyone who knows me, knows I love to take photographs.

Gut Reaction: I was gonna LOVE this week.  But the challenge was: How could I translate my love of pictures into an actual career?

Henrietta at work

Lessons Learned: Enter Henrietta Haniskova and her constant hilarity!  To work in this industry, you not only have to have the creativity – but you have to possess the technical knowledge necessary to produce a quality project.  The lesson I learned most from Henrietta though, was that of persistence. If you recall, when she was first starting out in the ‘biz, she heard the word NO fairly often: “No, you’re a girl.” “No, you don’t have enough experience.” etc, etc.  She took all those NO’s and kept pushing through them.  Then, there we were: a hot day in June 2010, I was shadowing Henrietta as she shot photos for a national drug store chain’s website!  I have no doubt that this woman will become one of the heavy-hitters in the photography industry.

Job Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction: It was great seeing the ins and outs of the pre-production involved in a shoot, but sometimes I worry if I would be able to bend so much for an advertising client.  Of course, that’s where the money is – but I wonder if I’d get frustrated by having someone else tell me how and what to shoot.  The freelance world is a tricky one, but it does allow for some freedoms.  In the end, I was satisfied.

Hi. It’s been awhile – missed You all!

I know you’re curious, so let me just tell you that overall, i traveled roughly 8619 miles and 139 hours during the first session of the One-Week Job Program! If you do some dividing and…thinking, you’ll see that when I say “rough”ly, I mean it, but it’s a good estimate.

Dang, I traveled a lot this summer.

Yes, I’m proud of myself. But on to more details about my eighth one-week job:

While working in the studio with Niblett for a week, one thing fascinated me a lot, and that was the response from the listeners. At Candy 95, listeners can interact with the radio station in two major ways. First, they can call in. This method is the most common for radio stations, and most people call in to request their favorite song, in hopes that it will play on the radio. Second, listeners can text the radio station with whatever thoughts they have. I personally had never heard of the second method until I worked at Candy, but I don’t listen to the radio all the time, so who knows.

Since Bryan-College Station isn’t the biggest area, in addition to the fact that I was in the studio the week before the week before classes were to start, things were slower than usual. Calls into the studio were extremely few, and most of the texts we received were from pre-teens who were trying to be rebellious by letting someone know that they were staying up past their bedtime. Very funny stuff. But, regardless of who was contacting the station, the content wasn’t always nice. Some people really take things personally!

I can’t believe it…

I worked 8 jobs for a week each and it’s over! To be honest, I’m a bit relieved. It’s also a bit unnerving since I’m back to the dilemma of “what’s next.” This summer has been extraordinary. Before I start on a soapbox about it, let me share about job #8.

This week, I was in my hometown of Cleveland, TN, working with At Your Service, a small printing business. At Your Service is a one man operation, consisting of printing genius Stan Pegram. Stan and I met when I worked at Scott’s Bike Shop earlier in the summer. After hearing about his work that week, I ordered a shirt from him. I was blown away by the quality of my custom Boise State jersey so naturally, I wanted to work with Stan for a week!

Stan specializes in sublimation printing. Unlike screenprinting and other types of printing that print on top of the surface, sublimating gets the ink into the fiber of the shirt. Besides printing shirts, Stan also offers really cool photo gifts that can be customized with logos, graphics, or photos.

When he wakes up in the morning, Stan has an easy stroll to work: his workspace is his 1200 square foot basement! It’s really a cool set-up with the computer, the heat presses, mug presses, and samples of his past work.

On Monday, I started my job with Stan and learned more about how he got into the business. Oddly enough, the business grew out of his wife’s love for quilting. To make a long story short, Stan’s wife saw really unique quilts that had sublimated printing on them. After sharing with Stan, Stan researched, bought the gear, and started doing projects for people in the community.

Some of his most popular items are name badges. In hospitals, offices, meetings, and more, name badges are worn. Stan makes really classy looking badges!

Why did I choose this job? (working as a printer)

When I met Stan earlier in the summer, we hit it off. He’s the sweetest man you’ve ever met and I was intrigued by his home-based business. As an aspiring entrepreneur myself, I knew I would really benefit from spending more time learning from Stan.

It’s interesting to note that the employer played a major role in the job that I chose for my final week. Sometimes in life, you are going to have the opportunity to work with a really great person. The job itself might not be your forte’ or something that revs you up, but it might be worth taking the job to learn.

So, to get back to answering the question. I chose the job so I could work and learn from Stan, not because I absolutely love printing things. Fair enough?

Monday Recap:

First, Stan showed me how he prepares graphics and text on his laptop. He uses CorelDraw software to edit his graphics and then prints them.

Stan received a huge order for car dash plates for an antique car show. I’m not  very informed about car shows, but each attendee receives a dash plate to recognize their presence at the show. Stan had to print 400 for the show!

The bottom picture shows Stan taping the plates to the paper that has the image to be transferred. After he tapes the plates on, they are placed in a hot press for 60 seconds. After cooling off, they’re done!

It was a busy first day and I did loads of taping! I had fun though and learned a lot.

Stay posted for more details about my week at the printer!

-Kieley Best

“HOWDY!” from College Station, Texas!

For those of you who have never heard of the place, it is the home of the Texas A&M Aggies, and the place where I earned my undergraduate degree.

This week, I’ve been co-hosting with Radio DJ Niblett of Candy 95! I’ll be ending the Program as I started: In a laid-back fashion (Remember when I worked with a virtual company during Week #1??). My blogs this last week will follow that atmosphere. Each day, I’ve been working the nightshift: 6pm to 11pm CDT.

Night radio is a lot different from radio at any other time. You have fewer people in the car, and as result, less outside interactions with listeners and less time to develop character and emotions. A night Radio DJ has to rely a LOT on quick and funny bits to keep listeners listening. It’s not easy at all. The wrong person could easily buckle under the pressure of having to constantly be on their toes.

I’m exhausted.

The last 8 weeks have been wonderful, exciting, stressful, and tiring.  I’ve learned things I would never have had the opportunity to experience otherwise – and have definitely grown because of it.  The thing is…I’m tired!  Constantly moving around takes it’s toll on a person…I have no idea how Sean did this for 52 weeks!!!

BUT. Enough whining.  I’m here to tell you about my latest, greatest, and FINAL – One Week Job.

I’m spending my last week of the OWJ program in Calgary, Alberta, working at the TELUS World of Science.  I’m shadowing Cassandra McAuley, the Centre’s Media Relations Manager.   During her 5 years at the Centre, her duties have included that of Media Relations (both proactive and reactive), strategic-planning, member and internal relations, and execution on all planning.  Suffice it to say, Cassandra has A LOT on her plate

Communications and Marketing Team at a meeting

We first met while I was freelancing in Calgary as a news shooter and interviewed her for some local news stories.  She was extremely helpful and knowledgeable when it came to the specific needs of dealing with the media, and made the crew feel right at home.  Since I have my Bachelor of Communication Studies Degree, but have never used it, I’ve been really curious to see how things operate on the other side of the media-scene.

The TELUS World of Science is a massive centre in Calgary, and according to their website:

Our goal is to present science in a hands-on, fun and dynamic environment. Our programs and exhibits are designed to spark the imagination, satisfy the most curious of minds and inspire a spirit of life-long learning.

Right off the bat, I love the goal of the centre.  To work with an organization that strives to better people’s lives through education, is a goal to be proud of.

Monday morning we hit the ground running.  Cassandra had actually just returned from a week off, and while she was gone her entire office had moved!  This could be a little frustrating, but she took it all in stride, and we headed to the first meeting of the week.

The current exhibition at the Centre is that of Body Worlds – a showcase of human anatomy that uses the bodies of those who have donated them to science.  Basically, real bodies are put through a process called ‘plastination’, where they are preserved and showcased.  It’s an amazing exhibit if you haven’t seen it already – not gross like some may think, but definitely interesting.

Mr. Anatomy!

The TELUS World of Science is winding down to their final 3 weeks with the Body Worlds exhibit, so our first meeting was with the Body Worlds crew and their plans for the last 21 days.  We talked about the possibility of extended hours, a 24 hour exhibit, photo shoots with local sports celebrities, banners, coupons for reduced ticket prices, digital signage, and even a guerilla-style ‘Mr. and Mrs. Anatomy’ event – where 2 models are painted up with anatomically-correct muscle structure and paraded around night-clubs and pubs to drum up interest!

It was interesting to hear about their plans; media contacts, event successes, attendance numbers, and other logistics.  The team was excited about what they had done, and what they had yet to do.

After the meeting and some personal exploring of the Body Worlds exhibit, I met up with the Discovery Team and learned what it was like to work on the exhibition floor dealing with the public.  I met Joseph, a 4th year University Zoology major, who showed me the ropes.  We took out a cart of fake hip replacements, knee replacements, and even breast implants.  The public is encouraged to touch and talk about what they see, while the employee explains how everything works.  It was great to feel part of the exhibit and to show off things that most people never actually get to see up-close, let alone touch.

Recap Time.

I felt good Friday morning. Jolly, semi-hyper. When I walked to work, I listened to my music and sang out loud. Danced a little. Thinking back, I believe my mood stemmed from the knowledge that I had truly tried my best all week. No matter what happened, no matter what anybody thought or said, I had put in killer effort for this job. Not everybody could say that if they were in my position.

I arrived at the shop at 9:30am since Korey and I were doing a GCA, and I got everything ready.

This trip was to be my time. My time to shine. The night before, Korey told me that the best way to lead the trip was to wait to be asked questions first, then I could answer and slowly gain the trust of the passengers.

Well, this is what happened.

The boat filled up with passengers, and I began talking about safety, fumbling a few words as I backed out smoothly. It became very obvious very quickly that the crowd was rough. There was very little response to anything, quite unlike the atmosphere of Thursday’s trip. I made a bad, pre-arrangedjoke about how it was my first day, and that was why I was wearing a lifejacket. No laughter. At this point, we technically still hadn’t left the dam yet. I gave an insufficient introduction about the area, even though I had sat through five introductions throughout the week. No response. Korey later told me: “You gotta get them from beginning.”

Wednesday morning, I was functioning on less than four hours of sleep, but I felt serenely energetic. I thought back to last night. I had never done karaoke before, and I have a very-small-but-still-present fear of performing in front of an audience…but I ended up singing three songs. I even sang one song with Forrest! Also, to bike around town in 70-degree weather late at night surrounded by cliffs and canyons was just so freeing. I kind of felt as if I was in the “Wonder Years” or something. I don’t know why I thought that, that was just the first television show that came to my mind.

That small-town feeling of close proximity, trust, and freedom was alive in me and I wanted it to stay.

When I woke up, Forrest was already up, getting ready to leave town. The night before, Kyle mentioned that I could take his bike to work, but I couldn’t adjust the seat, so Forrest ended up taking me to work. I was happy about this because we had gotten some good talks in during our bike ride, and it was nice to have an official opportunity to say goodbye.

Blogging takes time and energy and I have been running low on both! I have been traveling a ton lately for the One-Week Job Program. I just finished job #6 after having a busy week in Dallas, Texas.

I am so thankful I got to spend week #6 at the Dallas Market Center to learn about the wholesale business. If you missed my first blog about DMC, read it here.

A special thanks is due to Meredith Hite, Dallas Market Center’s Director of Public Relations. She is also the logistical genius who offered me the job, arranged my schedule, and ensured that the week was absolutely fantastic!

I love meeting people who are so gifted like Meredith and so on top of their game. For Meredith, public relations is her forte’ but there were many other young professionals with exceptional talent at Dallas Market Center.

My schedule was tight from Wednesday to Sunday since I was booked to be in a different place and with a different employee every hour! I’m thankful for the chaos though because I learned as much or more about the business than some of the long-time employees know.

In my next blog, I will give a breakdown of all the departments I visited and the role they play in putting on the Market.

For now, I can’t help but share the main things that stood out during my week.

Friday 08/06/10 @ 5:10pm CDT: Leave Austin, Texas by Greyhound bus.

Saturday 08/07/10 @ 2:40pm MST: Arrive in Phoenix, Arizona by Greyhound bus.

Sunday 08/08/10 @9am MST: Leave Phoenix, Arizona by car.

Sunday 08/08/10 @1:40pm MST: Arrive in Page, Arizona by car.

1,379 miles of travel in order to make it to Job #7! The journey map has been retired for obvious reasons. If you’re really curious, you can view it on a separate tab.

If my friend Katie hadn’t given me a ride from Phoenix to Page, I’d be in lots of trouble. A 5-hour drive to Page, and then 5 hours more back to Phoenix. Now that’s a good friend. Thank you so much, Katie!

Last week, I was a river Guide with the Colorado River Discovery (CRD)! This job was the first one I received when I found out I got into the One-Week Job Program, suggested by my friend Dani. Being the quintessential outdoors Arizonan girl, she had worked for CRD one summer and wanted me to get to know what many would call “the best job ever” for a week:

“Welcome to Dallas, Texas!”

I received a warm welcome from Sydney Holt (Dallas Market Center intern) on Wednesday morning as we met at the Dallas airport. This week is likely to be my busiest week and also the best learning experience!

The World Trade Center at the Dallas Market

I’ll be working for the Dallas Market Center in Dallas, Texas. The Market contacted the One-Week Job Program to participate and I’ve never visited Dallas so after a few calls, emails, and a short flight, here I am! This week is different since my work week is Wednesday-Sunday.

When I initially heard about the Dallas Market Center, I thought of a shopping mall. I was partially right, but there’s a big difference between the Dallas Market and a regular mall: the Market is not open to the public. Only qualified buyers are allowed!

To clarify my role here, it’s important to explain what the Market is all about. The DMC is a set of four buildings that house hundreds of showrooms (stores).  To give you an idea of how massively big, I got this fact from their website:

The four buildings total more than 5 million square feet; larger than the Sears Tower and roughly twice the size of the Empire State Building.

Buyers from retail stores, boutiques, and other businesses come to the market to see new products and buy products at wholesale prices.

Hello All!

This is sort of a disappointing blog post, because it doesn’t contain any good One-Week Job meat, but I wanted to check in with the world. It is the Friday of Week #7, and as you may have noticed, I haven’t blogged at all. I’m always late with these posts, but I’ve never been this late so I’m addressing the issue. While I could have and arguably should have posted SOMETHING by now, I always aim to give my best words, so I refuse to write just anything. That would make this Program a waste; the stories I share with You are very important to me.

I’m currently not in a state where I can share with you, because I am completely immersing myself in this week’s job. This is in an effort to make sure I’m doing all that I can to take as much away from the opportunity as possible. This job’s much more difficult for me than all the others, so I’m having to try extra hard. Consequently, my mind has been nowhere ready to write. I have to admit that I would describe this week as sort of a life vacation, but I am definitely not slacking off. I’ve been reading and studying a lot. I’m awake randomly at 4:30 in the morning because I’m studying again. Consider that a clue for what I’ve been spending my time with this week! It’s probably the worst clue, but clues are fun anyway!

Okay okay, here’s another:

This week I’m in Dallas, Texas to work with the Dallas Market Center and learn all about the wholesale business!

Before I jump into blogging about this week, here’s a recap about last week. I worked with Peak 7, a nonprofit in Spokane, Washington on one of their 5-day backpacking trips. To read my first 2 blogs about last week, click here for part 1 and here for part 2.

After surviving our first night in the wilderness, we woke up to soggy boots outside out tents. There are times in life when you ease your way into something, but we sure didn’t ease into hiking! After eating our standard breakfast of instant oatmeal, we loaded our daypacks with granola bars, filtered water, and raingear and hit the trail.

We had three amazing guides on the trip, Nicole, Laura, and Lo. For the first day of hiking, they announced we would summit a mountain called “Stiletto Peak” by the end of the day. Hearing “stiletto” made me think of high-heels and glamorized the idea of hiking to the top of the mountain. Let’s just say I missed the memo that we would be walking 3 miles up a mountain! That may sound like nothing, but we counted the number of switchbacks (alternating hills up the mountain) and there were close to 30 hills we climbed.

Well, the life of an artist isn’t exactly what you’d call “structured.”

With a handful of projects going on at the same time, Dean Stanton is constantly buzzing from place to place, either finishing up a job or getting supplies ready for the next one.

So far, I’ve helped him outline his latest mural (one for a community garden in Calgary), painted with the kids camp, done some varnishing, and am getting ready to help set up for a large community mural to take place later this week.  It would be great to have a boss like Dean!  He’s easy-going and totally supportive of individual ideas.  He understands how people work, and instead of getting frustrated of upset if things don’t go his way - he totally rolls with it.

Painting is almost therapeutic…gently brushing the colour on the canvas, whether staying in the lines or drawing outside, it’s a hands-on project, that gives you immediate results. I’m definitely a visual person, but am not one that’s able to articulate much of anything with a paintbrush. Dean’s style is funky – simple, but uplifting. You can’t help but smile when you see his zany cartoon caricatures and animated animals.

As far as my own painting ambitions go – I can definitely appreciate how tough it is to figure things out in a freelance world.  You never know where your next job is coming from, or how long until you’ll be able to stock the fridge with something other than kraft dinner and hot dogs…

To be an artist, you have to sacrifice.  Whether that sacrifice includes ever being able to wear pants that aren’t stained with paint, or larger things such as having a decent-sized savings account – the reason people become artists is because it’s their PASSION!  Professions such as painters, photographers, musicians and actors, encompass the focus of the entire OWJ program!  Artists become artists to express themselves and to create beauty – either for themselves or others.

There’s no guarantee that anyone will notice, never-mind like your artwork – but for some, it’s just something they have to do.  Not many artists become rich and famous, but they continue to work at it because it makes them happy.

Simple, right?

I think so.

- Amanda