The Emotions Under The Work

It's funny how the tools we use to help others often become mirrors for our own growth. As the Cultish Creative YouTube channel approaches its first anniversary (!!!), I've found myself facing a recurring question from viewers who have known me for a while: "How does all this stuff fit together?" For months, I've felt the answer in my gut but couldn't quite articulate it – until I turned my own professional toolkit on myself.

Picture this—a financial planner/business consultant who spends his days helping others find clarity in a complex world, sitting down to map out his own creative journey. The irony, don’t you even think I don’t know it Alanis, none of it was lost on me. What emerged was a pattern I'd seen countless times with clients and friends, but I’d never quite applied to my own creative endeavors.

Here's what I discovered when I stopped trying to explain and started trying to feel:

I know every meaningful transformation starts with an emotional journey. I know that when we map these journeys, they reveal themselves as continuums – from one state of being to another. What I didn’t know was how it looked in my case, until I started and uncovered these three distinct pathways :

From disconnected, to connected 

Imagine standing alone in a dark tunnel with your ideas, ambitions, and fears as your only companions. That's where many of us start, or find ourselves after a tactical (and often self-defensive) retreat from the noise. But here's the thing about connections – they're not just exits from that tunnel, they're portals to entirely new possibilities. Whether they're sparks between ideas or bridges between people, each connection opens new doors. When I help someone bridge that gap, whether through a YouTube interview or a financial strategy session, I'm really helping them find their fellow travelers, uncover new thoughts, and discover fresh sources of inspiration.

From uninformed, to informed 

We're drowning in information while starving for wisdom. The modern world throws endless data at us, and it’s worse than confetti at a parade – colorful, overwhelming, and mostly meaningless after a quick dopamine hit. One of my gifts, it turns out, is helping people find their signal in this noise. It's about turning that confetti into breadcrumbs that actually lead somewhere meaningful. I think I've spent so much time feeling uninformed, or dumb, or lost, that helping others navigate out of that fog has become more than just work – it's become a near inescapable urge. Maybe that's why finding signal in the noise feels less like a skill and more like a calling.

From calloused, to curious 

Life has a way of making us build walls. We develop callouses – not just on our hands, but around our minds and hearts. Yet somehow, I've managed to maintain what my clients and friends often call a "childlike (and slightly crazy) curiosity." I have an ability to look at the familiar and still ask "what if?" When I say it out loud, it's contagious, this level of curiosity, and watching it spread might be my favorite part of what I do.

So now I’m starting to see how it all fits.

My professional work as a financial advisor and business consultant, my Personal Archive at Cultish Creative, those "interview shows" on YouTube that are really elaborate excuses to connect fascinating people with other curious minds and ideas – they're all different bands, from different genres, all playing variations of the same song. They're all ways of helping people feel more connected, informed, and curious about their own possibilities. I love helping people make THAT transformation, all together.

In the weeks ahead, you'll see these threads become more visible across my platforms. Consider this post a behind-the-scenes peek at that evolution. And if you're struggling to find your own connecting threads, well, helping people do exactly that happens to be one of my favorite things (get in touch).