Brian Kurth is a sought-after career planning expert, strategist and speaker. He is a former “Dilbert” who worked for the phone company in Chicago. After realizing there was more to life than telecom calling plans, he founded VocationVacations. He is the author of Test-Drive Your Dream Job – A Step-By-Step Guide to Finding and Creating the Work You Love - Hachette, 2008 – and is a sought-after speaker on how to pursue and attain one’s dream job and lifestyle.
Brian was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, and graduated with degrees in political science, history and international relations from the University of Wisconsin before moving to Chicago to earn his masters degree in political science from Loyola University.
Before launching VocationVacations, Brian spent more than a decade in the corporate world which included living and working in St Louis, Chicago, Tallinn, Estonia and Budapest, Hungary; working his way up in product marketing within the telecommunications industry with AT&T and Ameritech; and finally becoming the director of business development for a dot.com startup.
The concept for VocationVacations was born on Chicago’s Kennedy Expressway in 1999 during one of Brian’s long, daily commutes. Numb from his lack of passion for what he did for a living and staring at brake lights, he wondered what it would be like to be a wine maker, a tour guide or a dog trainer. Brian wanted to explore his dream jobs through a company offering working adults short-term “internships” while on vacation. But with research, Brian realized such a company did not exist. A business idea was born.
In late 2001, Brian was laid off from the dot-com company. After the lay-off, he took a six-month road trip across the United States and parts of Canada. During his travels, he realized the time was right to dust off his unique business idea. At the end of his trip, Brian moved from Chicago to Portland, Oregon. VocationVacations was launched in January 2004. Brian found his ultimate dream job by starting a company that helps others find theirs.
Brian has become a dream-job lifestyle expert through his own experiences combined with creating the revolutionary VocationVacations. He has appeared on CNBC, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, NBC’s TODAY Show and National Public Radio (NPR), and his career advice has been featured in articles in Fortune Magazine; Men’s Journal; The New York Times; O, The Oprah Magazine and The Wall Street Journal, just to name a few. Brian also co-executive produced This Job’s A Trip for the Travel Channel in 2006.
