We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sean Corby a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sean, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I’m not big on long written essay answers, but I’ll try my best.

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A story on taking a risk…. It is hard to pick one story. Life is a risk. Believing in yourself is a risk. Basically ignoring everyone and jumping.

I am what people would call an ” Extreme Sports Enthusiasts”. I personally wouldn’t think of it that way. What started as completely a hobby or subconsciously a call to adventure. Turned into life skills that I believe doesn’t make me better, just different. Maybe even giving me an edge working in high stress, no time for second chances environments. “The show must go on” as they say.

Extreme Sports are risky, but for different reasons. However because they are risky does it mean you shouldn’t do them? A never ending moral and very personal question we all ask ourselves every day.

Snowboarding, Skiing, Skateboarding and Surfing are all extreme sports. Where anyone can learn and do creative things no one has ever done before. These things take time and practice. You learn lessons like patience. Waiting your turn. Falling and getting back up. Taking time to read the “line”, line up your “run” or even waiting for your “set”. Where a broken bone is a badge for trying not for failing. I’ve rode down mountains where the “run” is just a forest. The locals call it a ski run but it is just trees. You’re in the middle of nowhere, you hit a tree there is help but you’re pretty much “up the creek, without a paddle”. While passing trees (full, 100s of years old trees) at lightning speeds you see signs “Warning Grizzly Bears”. To extreme sports enthusiasts, that’s like a school crossing. “Children At Play”. The reality is the school children aren’t going to gnarl your face off. Activities like these make you fearless. Give you the mindset to think ahead. Chaos Theory. Predicting what is going to happen and preventing it from taking place. Finally it humbles you. Does not matter who you are or where you come from. Showing up and staying up are the hardest parts.

Bungee Jumping, Skydiving and The San Fermin Festival (Running with the bulls). Are all activities where you are signing up for death. Now yes people do it all the time, with training and professionals it is normally safe. Where something like snowboarding or surfing you can control your environment. Ride on small, steady and easy runs. Nothing to worry about but maybe a little bruise. Bungee Jumping and Skydiving are straight down. You have to commit and accept there are no second chances. You have to be prepared mentally, focused and selfless. Trust fully the people working with you. Even though these are solo actions, you need others. (To fly the plane, pull you back up). You must trust or believe fully. No half measures.

A new hobby or adventure I have been taking a risk at, is Stand Up. I wouldn’t call it comedy. I watch comics hustle for their craft. I would not want to take away from that. I am just telling my story. Things that have happened to me or because of me. But this new risk in my life feels like an old risk. It reminds me of when I started bungee jumping. It is a rush to fight against basic human instincts. We know deep in our souls as humans we can not fly. Standing on an edge of basically a plank on a pirate ship. You have to jump off into mid air. Normally there are rocks and a river at the bottom. After you push off again fighting everything in your body screaming “Do not jump”. You forget completely that you are tied to a huge rubber band and fall screaming to what your brain thinks is your death. You bounce and sail with joy into the air. Just to scream again when you fall back to the earth. I remember the first time getting pulled back up. I was so scared that the little yellow robe used to pull me backup to safety would break. Forgetting I just jumped from above and I’m still attached to the bungee cord. If I fell, I would have gotten a free extra bungee jump out of it. Perspective is everything a lot of the time.

#NotBetterJustDifferent #FarFromAverage #CallCorbs #KillCorbs #VoteCorbs

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

This is the hardest question to answer… how you got started in the industry. It has been a bit of a butterfly effect, as in one thing leads to another. The term “who you know, not what you know” comes to mind. The rub is that if you don’t “know”, when the opportunity comes you might miss it. I started I guess at the bottom, as a busboy or bar-back. (Support), however I had work in the NHL before hand. Through networking, never giving up (I have a Forest Gump type of work ethic) and being in the right place at the right time. Afforded me amazing opportunities. Now no one is perfect. I have made mistakes but I always rose above and took full advantage of any opportunity.

The areas we specialize in are: Risk Management, Operations and Logistics. We are hired as consultants on large experiences. Mostly Music Festivals and Major Sporting events. Our last contract was with the PGA Champions League, working on The Presidents Cup. I personally have work on Escapade Music Festival for thirteen years. We are hired by the producers or directors of the experience to be “the client”. On large scale events you have many vendors and rental companies working closely in the same area. Now you can’t blame anyone, the event is meaningless to a part time warehouse worker. The vendors do their jobs but when the day is over you can’t blame them for not really caring about a project they have nothing to do with. I glamourize the position when hiring crew members as “Party Lifeguards”, In a perfect world we do nothing, sit back and get a tan. However when something doesn’t go to plan we are ready for the call to action. Also i describe the situation as “Dark Ops” or “BLK Ops”. I really can’t tell the crew what the situation is or where it is or even how to fix the situation until the situation arises. If there are no “fires” to put out, we enjoy the experience and provide feedback to the client from an attendees point of view.

The company name is : S.O.G. (stands for “Soldiers of God”. We take our orders from the client(God) and the client only)

Mandate: Safety. To protect the interests and investments of the client

Moto: We do nothing, because we have already done it.

For more on Far From Average (Production Company) please contact CEO & Founder Matt Kyazze

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In 2012 the festival where I got my start or my “Mothership” if you will, was robbed for over half a million dollars in the middle of the night on the last day of the festival. Instead of waking up to glory and becoming king of our city, we woke to the end of our existence. Even more so one of the partners was the person who robbed us. It is almost impossible to see it coming when it is a member of the team. On top of the personally this partner was my direct boss, the man who took me in a taught me the ropes. My mentor at the time. Just poof into thin air.

Now it is 2024 and the festival is stronger than ever. The core members of the team back in 2012 didn’t give up. We knew if we saved this experience it could last forever. This festival I believe will last cause it was created and is run by people who love creating experiences. We are not a monopoly who thought it was good business to start a festival. We are locals who learnt as we grew. Now have support of our city and strong investors. Most of all we have a fan base, a community that love and look forward to our experience. The festival provides economic growth for local businesses. We are now apart of our city.

Believe, hard hard work and sacrifice. How much do you want “it”.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Selfness.

Starting in the Entertainment Industry you can get lost. You end up working for the wrong people and learning bad habits.
With time and selfless growth you can learn new good habits. By selfless growth i mean doing things completely cause you want to. Not because you believe others expect you to.

In the beginning I was taught to use people for my personally gains. Now I focus on how we can both benefit. In most situations what I personally want is irrelevant, The experience or event needs this to happen. It may involve having to admit your wrong when you are right. But its not about you. The show must go on.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: CallCorbs , ItsKillCorbs