Rob Lohman
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Rob Lohman is one of those people that has 80 different projects swirling around in his head at one time. And he’s passionate about each one, just ask him.
After seeing a documentary about a man that traveled the country interviewing CEO’s Lohman decided he’d like to do something similar and the Momentum Journey was born. He quit his job as a career counselor at Indiana University and bought an RV. Joined by two recent college graduates, he set out to interview 65 prevoiusly selected individuals about how they’d found their passion in life. Things didn’t go as planned, but Lohman, also known as the MOJO man, wasn’t discouraged. Instead, he moved to Colorado for inspiration and inspired he’s become.
In the year that he’s been here he’s written and self-published his own book, “The Momentum Journey: Breakdown at Exit 63,” which is about his own journey through life and his realization that what he’d most like to do in life is help others find a career path that they’ll be enthusiastic about. Also included in the book is 11 interviews with others that have found their passion in life, along with Lohman’s own story about his addiction to alcohol and his subsequent recovery.
Caramie Schnell: Was it hard to get people to sit down with you and be interviewed for the book?
Rob Lohman: It was easy. People like to tell their stories, they like to talk about themselves. That’s why I like doing this, it’s not about me, it’s about the people I interview.
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CS: So what’s going on now with the Momentum Journey?
RL: Right now, I want to start working with the high school and college kids as far as encouraging them to go out and start exploring their career options. I don’t know about you, but I never knew what my parents friends did. I never asked. I want to encourage students to not only know, this is my dad’s friend, Bob, and he’s an accountant, or this is my dad’s friend, Bob, and he’s an accountant and he’s one because he likes to … really digging past this is just what my title is. And more how did your career choice come about.
CS: Just so they can educate themselves and figure out what might fit for them?
RL: Exactly. Take ownership of your career development. Something I want to start out here is Mojo Mentors, which is about businesses coming together and saying I’m a Mojo Mentor. That means (students) can call me up or send me an e-mail and ask me questions about what I do, or they can come do a one-day internship with me, and sit in the office and really get these internships going out here.
I also want to encourage students not just to talk to one person in the field but 10, one person may hate their job and they’re going to turn you off on it. Or maybe it’s a small company and they want to work for a big one. It’s about getting your own information instead of waiting for someone to tell you.
CS: That’s what you’re doing right now? You’re in the process of contacting the businesses?
RL: At (a recent) event, a lot of people signed up to be a Mojo Mentor so I’m going to start there. I’m going to have a big party in January to talk about what the program is all about. I want to get it started here, but I also want to go beyond the Vail Valley. I want to get another RV and go around the country and implement this and interview people around the country. There’s a couple of different story angles I’m working on right now. I’ve been in recovery for awhile now. A woman has approached me about writing another book about people’s recovery stories around the country and how God has changed their lives and having a refocus and connection has opened up amazing doors for them.
CS: How long have you been in recovery?
RL: Four-and-a-half years. Best thing that ever happened to me. In the back of my book, I put it in the appendix, my recovery story.
And I’m excited about that because my whole life is as good as it now because of my reconnection with God and my own faith. And that’s one of the things, is several people have read my book and called me up or e-mailed me and said, ‘I think I may have a problem with drinking.’ I say, come in here and have coffee with me. My mission with the book is done, I can honestly say that the amount of people have contacted me about it makes me happy enough with writing it that, and I don’t really mean this, but if I didn’t sell another book, I’d be happy with it. I just think it’s all been inspired by the big man upstairs.
CS: How did you come up with the name Momentum Journey?
RL: I started brainstorming names on my wall. I used to draw all my notes on my bedroom wall. I’d wake up at 3 a.m. with an idea and instead of finding a little pen, I’d just grab a marker and write it on the wall. Sometimes I’d wake up and I wouldn’t remember writing it, but it would be there. I just started writing all these things on the wall, the big quest, the quote, life is a journey, not a destination, is stuck in my head all the time. It’s all about gaining momentum, and once you get it started, you keep it going. It hit, the momentum journey. I was out here, and I was trying to figure out the catch, the nickname. I saw Mo and Jo in Momentum Journey and I was like, it’s the MOJO, it’s about finding your MOJO. The way the logo came about is I interviewed Linda Hill, I had read her story in the Daily, and she was just so energetic about what she did. When we were walking into her office I said, you know, I’m wearing so many hats right now, I just don’t know what to do. She said, well, we’ll run through our SWOT program, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, it’s just a marketing term. We sat through a three-hour session and they just picked my brain on what is the MOJO, and they came up with the MOJO face. The bigger logo looks like a label maker, this is all about making your own label, what’s your label? What’s your mark on society? VT
Caramie Schnell can be reached for comment at cschnell@vailtrail.com.