Sean kelly auctioneer biography for kids

Do the Big Dream, is there something in your life, an achievement of accomplishment so big that it is hard even to admit that you want it? Big dreams for most people are just dreams. Few of us get to make them happen.

My guest on the podcast is someone who not only makes his dreams come true but also has a mission to inspire others to do the same.

Some of you may recognise my guest as the creator and host of Storage Hunters, a reality TV series that ran for five seasons in the US and was syndicated worldwide.  

Sean Kelly admitted to himself and announced to all of his friends at his 40th birthday party that he was going to create and star in a TV show of his own. His friends thought it was a joke, but his wife took him seriously. In less than nine months, he had international success.

The skills that got him that show can be traced back to his childhood. As a young preteen, he was an illegal immigrant in Germany with his family. Rather than play with friends, he door-knocked for his father’s insurance business. 

That experience, those sales skills, and the confidence learned at such an early age opened a life of opportunity. His parents separated when he was 16. Undaunted and still living in Europe, he worked nights and put himself through school. His ability to speak fluent German led to a career in the military as a translator and deployment to Iraq during Operation Desert Storm.

Do the Big Dream

After leaving the military, he returned to sales and built a successful career as a magazine publisher. Now was the opportunity to start following those dreams. The first was a stand-up comedy or war without guns. 

To get more experience, he opened a comedy club and headlined seven days a week.  At that time, he developed a sideline as an auctioneer for nonprofits. Over the last ten years, he has raised 100s of millions for good causes. 

My conversation with Sean is exceptional. It explores what is possible when we apply the principles of strategy co

But in the show they always find some hidden treasure, it seems you can never lose!

You have to film a lot before you find that stuff. They don’t show enough of the boring ones, the ones most people make a living from with stuff you can take to car boot sales – dishes, old furniture, knick-knacks. The big scores they love to show on TV? Those are rare.

How often do you open a storage locker and find a dead body?

Pretty often people will put urns and ashes in there. A dead body, that’s only happened once.

What advice do you have for people who would like to try their bidding hand?

If you’ve never done this before you should go to five or 10 auctions without money. Just go, make a note of what things are selling for then go home and figure out how you would sell this stuff. How much effort would it take? How much profit would I make? If you go into an auction blind it’s so easy to overpay because you get caught up in the emotion.

The only sure winner is the auctioneer.

Yeah that’s right. I know approximately how much money I will make because I know on average what each unit will sell for and I know I’m going to get 20 per cent from the facility and 10 per cent from the buyers. I wouldn’t like to be a bidder myself.

In September you are starting a stand-up tour of the UK. What is your comedy style like?

A lot of it is me talking about my life. I was driving a forklift in Germany by the age of 16, after that I moved to Italy and worked as an undercover store detective on an army base, then enlisted and became a German translator for military intelligence.

Were you the one listening in to Angela Merkel’s phone calls?

Nothing that exciting. By the time I got to Germany the reunification had just happened and it instantly became illegal to listen into the East Germans. I did a little interrogating for a bit then they decided to use a

Television series

Storage Hunters is a reality television series presented by Sean Kelly (as the auctioneer). It originally ran in the United States from 2011 to 2013 on TruTV and has been shown in the UK on the digital channel Dave. A domestic UK version, also featuring Kelly, ran from 2014 to 2016.

The series has also been shown on New Zealand's TV3.

Background

Sean Kelly grew up in Germany. After leaving school, he worked as a store detective before joining the Army, becoming a German interpreter, and then being stationed in Iraq. He then worked as an auctioneer, and compering comedy clubs at night. After a fight broke out at an auction, he came up with the idea for the show, describing it as "Antiques Roadshow meets WWF!"

Format

For the US series, bidders Brandon and Lori Bernier. It continued with the Taylor Brothers, Jesse McClure, Tarrell "T-Money" Wright, Ron "Papa Bear" Kirkpatrick, Kashuna, Wade, FJ, Gary "Goal Machine" Madine, Scott and Chrissy Tassone, the Alvardo Brothers, "Desert Dan," Mone Smith, Will and Nick Eastwood, Soccer Mom and the lock cutters/security guards, Will C. (Season 1), Cameron "Green Mile" Rowe (Season 2-Season 3). The series was cancelled on TruTV after Season 3 ended.

In the UK and Ire