Stop Feeling Lost in Life: Turn Your Creativity into Purpose

We’re told by society that by the age of 18, you should know what you want to do for the rest of your life.

And if you fail to do so…

You’ll fail as an adult.

You’ll financially struggle.

And you’ll be left behind.

That’s exactly how I felt after high school and throughout my 20s.

As I watched my friends graduate from college, start their careers, and be excited about their futures, I felt more lost than ever.

None of the traditional career paths seemed right for me.

I couldn’t see myself doing any of them for the next 30 years.

So, I ended up doing nothing.

I stayed stagnant.

I was one of those kids who didn’t go to college, who didn’t leave his hometown, and was stuck floating between dead-end jobs.

But I learned to fill the career-less pit in my stomach by leaning into my creative side.

It gave me a sense of purpose in a way.

A craft to focus on.

A distraction from the pressures of life.

So I would make little films with my friends on the weekends. Shoot random photos across town. Create unique social media brands. And think about different creative business ideas.

I loved the feeling of creating something out of nothing, of losing myself in the creative act.

But there was also another layer to my personality that didn’t feel so great: the inability to stick with something.

The lack of follow-through.

Even though I was very creative, my curiosity would often derail my efforts.

I would start a new venture, pour all my energy into it, and get pretty good results. But then, after a while, I would get bored, burn out on the idea, and move on.

It wouldn’t be long before a new shiny interest pulled my curiosity back in.

So I would pour all my energy into it, get pretty good results, and then, just like all the other ventures, I would get bored, burnout, and move on.

This was the vicious cycle I was stuck in throughout my 20s.

It even made me feel ashamed after a while.

Saying things to my family and friends like, “Don’t worry, this new venture is the one. This is the one I’m going to stick to and make a career out of.”

But deep down, they knew, and even I knew, that it was unlikely given my track record.

I knew they thought that whatever new idea I was obsessing over at the time was just another “thing” Chase was into at the moment.

There was no one else to blame but me.

I was the problem.

I was the one who couldn’t stick to something when it seemed like everyone else could.

I became a “jack of all trades, but a master of none.”

Discovering My Personality Type (and possibly yours too)

Until a few years ago, I always thought there was something wrong with me because of my “interest-hopping behavior.”

But it wasn’t true.

What I didn’t understand was that I had a unique personality type, rather than a personality flaw.

I was simply just lacking the self-awareness of it.

Through randomly coming across it on Google, I discovered that I was a “Multi-Passionate Creative.”

Which is defined as a person with many creative pursuits who often develops diverse skills across multiple domains due to their curious exploration.

They’re easily spotted by their interest-hopping habits.

Sound familiar? It did for me. Maybe it does for you too?

This personality type isn’t new. In the past, we’ve also been called ‘Renaissance People,’ ‘Polymaths,’ ‘Multipotentialites,’ and even ‘Scanners.’

We’re creative generalists who have no “one true calling” like industry specialists do (for example: doctors, accountants, lawyers, corporate workers, etc).

Looking back at my 20s, it’s blatantly obvious:

I was a…

• wedding videographer
• video editor
• junk removal business owner
• Amazon FBA seller
• ancient philosophy content creator
• real estate agent
• online health coach
• video game YouTuber
• web designer
• digital marketer
• and a creative director at a start-up

I was trying to find a purpose with my creativity. So I was trying out all things creative, hoping to find myself through it all.

And this brings me to an important note: Being a Multi-Passionate Creative can also be destructive if you’re not careful.

The truth is, modern society isn’t kind to our personality types.

We appear to be lost souls among the current industries—being job floaters instead of career specialists.

Looking Back at the Renaissance Period

Modern society doesn’t value creatives like they used to in the past.

The last time era when Multi-Passionate Creatives were appreciated was 400 years ago, during the Renaissance Period.

Artistic minds like Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo were looked up to, and their various creative skills were greatly valued by the public.

They were painters, writers, sculptors, engineers, scientists and more.

In their times, having multiple talents across different creative domains was actually considered an ideal personality type to have.

Nowadays, it’s a different story.

Modern Society vs Multi-Passionate Creatives

As the modern working world has evolved over the last 400 years, Multi-Passionate Creatives have been squeezed out of the industries.

Society now only values the industry specialists (those who specialize in a single field) over the creative generalists (those with multiple creative skills).

Even our educational system is built around training the youth to pick a single career path. Anything else is considered “the wrong way.”

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with being a specialist. Their careers are very important in our communities.

The problem is that society has dragged one group of individuals down (the creatives) to only focus on rising up the others (the specialists).

This leaves us Multi-Passionate Creatives in an uncomfortable position in life.

We often become starving artists and struggling creatives.

And just to get by and live decently, we are forced to settle for a specialist career which lacks creative fulfillment to us.

A Shift in Modern Society (The Digital Age)

Luckily, the creative world has seemed to balance itself.

Multi-Passionate Creatives can thrive once again.

It’s only been possible since the last 15 years when the internet matured and social media was born, creating what is now called the “Creator Economy.”

This new digital landscape has allowed creatives to have the capability to create art in various forms around their creative interests and share it with the world online.

The digital age is now the greatest time period to be alive as a Multi-Passionate Creative.

What I initially thought was a negative in my personality, I now view as my biggest positive.

Because in the digital age, it’s better to have multiple skills than to be specialized in just one.

Going back to the quote I used earlier, most people aren’t aware of the full version of it:

“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”

This reflects the strength of our personalities in the digital age.

The internet and social media is the perfect environment for Multi-Passionate Creatives to succeed.

We can now thrive as curious creatives, by building what I like to call a “one-person creator business” that integrates all our passions into one brand.

Instead of abandoning our creativity, we can now carve out a unique career that will leave us endlessly fulfilled.

The One-Person Creator Business

“Don’t follow an interest into poverty. Solving the difficult financial side of the [creative] business interest has to be the foundation of it.” – Cal Newport

Don’t overthink the word “business” here. Every creative who has ever made art for a living did so through the business of monetizing their skills.

If the term “business” feels off-putting, think of yourself instead as a creative or artist behind a “personal brand” that represents your work.

With a personal brand:

• YOU are the brand.
• YOU are the business.

And to succeed, you need to be the creative marketer behind your personal brand.

This is where social media comes into play.

Art doesn’t sell itself. Artists who become KNOWN sell their art. Growing your personal brand on social media is how you’ll get there.

No business sells its products or services without focusing on the marketing behind its brand.

Any business that thinks it’s not in the business of marketing is a business that fails.

In a one-person creator business, you are marketing YOU as the creative artist, not just your artwork.

The reality is, we live in a capitalistic society and need income to live comfortably. As a creative aiming to earn a living through your creativity, it starts with marketing yourself.

Fortunately, the internet has made this easier than ever before. By growing a fan base on social media, this audience becomes the support behind your work.

And there is nothing wrong with wanting to earn money through your creative efforts.

People will want to support you as the creator behind your work.

It’s a win-win relationship as long as you keep adding value to them in the form of inspiration, influence, and helpful resources (I’ll go into more depth on this in other articles).

For now, simply focus on growing an audience around your creative interests with your personal brand.

People rarely love artwork for the art itself; we’re more fascinated by the human behind the artwork. The human side of art makes it even more inspiring.

• We buy books from authors we relate to.
• We watch movies from directors we like.
• We enjoy YouTube videos from creators we follow.

(This is also why I believe AI won’t affect art in the long run as much as people think. My next article is about this topic.)

You must learn to be comfortable as the human being behind your work. It’s the best way to grow an authentic audience that truly cares about what YOU make.

This is the path to creative success.

Why Multi-passionate Creatives are the Best Entrepreneurs

Successful entrepreneurship demands creativity.

Anyone who denies this is most likely not a successful one.

As a Multi-Passionate Creative, you bring a lot of unique skills to the table, making us strong entrepreneurs.

Here’s a few to be confident in:

Idea synthesis

• The ability to combine different creative domains into something entirely new at the intersections.

Passionate Work Ethic

• We’re passionate about the things that interest us. We follow our curiosity to a level of obsession, making hard work seem more like a creative flow.

Self-directed learning

• Since we’re passionate about our interests, we love learning about them more than the average person would. We can take in information quickly and become highly proficient at what we want to accomplish with it.

Rapid skill acquisition

• We’re used to diving into so many new domains that we acquire knowledge in them very efficiently. We’re used to being beginners a lot, which means we’re used to learning anything quickly.

Creative Adaptability

• We’re naturals at adapting our various skills to match whatever is needed for a given creative project or pursuit.

Used to wearing many hats

• We’re used to exploring and learning new things often, which means we hardly have to rely on outside help to achieve what we want creatively.

Creative Leadership

• People are inspired by other people’s enthusiasm and passion towards their craft, making us strong leaders in our creative domains.

5 Steps to Launch your One-Person Creator Business

First and for most:

• Believe in yourself.
• Believe in your creativity.

You don’t have to be a struggling creative anymore. You don’t have to be a starving artist.

• You deserve more.
• You deserve success.

Important note:

In the steps below, I talk about personal branding.

Your ‘personal brand’s name should simply be ‘your name.’

This goes for your website domain AND your social media handles.

The last thing you want to do is pigeon hole yourself into a niche like “Mindfulness with John.”

Instead, brand yourself under your name so that you can be fluid when your interests change.

“John” might be into meditation and mindfulness now, but what happens to his brand when he gets interested in “computer science?” He’ll have to rebrand everything…

Keep it future-proof by keeping it your name.

Trust me on this one, I learned it the hard way.

Now, let’s begin.

Step 1: Develop your Personal Brand Mission

Open up a word document or a notepad and write out your brand’s mission.

What are you trying to accomplish with it?

Here are some starter questions to answer:

1. What is your WHY for doing this?
2. What domains or niches do you want to be in?
3. What kind of content do you want to make?
4. Who is your target audience?
5. How can you help your audience?
6. Are there any milestones or goals you want to hit?

Add any other questions you feel are necessary.

Keep its length confined to one page.

When done, I recommend printing it out and keeping it close by, or even tacking it to the wall.

If you ever start losing your way, you can quickly read through it to it to get back on target.

Step 2: Create a Personal Website

A personal website is the home-base of your brand, art, and services.

There are many options out there, but I personally use WordPress + Elementor.

Simpler ones to use are Squarespace, Wix, and Shopify.

Don’t get held up on this part. Do which ever one is best for your needs.

Google them and look up videos on how to build one. There are plenty of free videos that will show you every step.

By building a personal website, your creative business will feel more real. It’ll also be the place to sell your art and services (more on this later).

Step 3: Create your social media channels

Social Media is how you will grow your audience of like-minded fans.

It is a non-negotiable part of the process.

Social Media is how you get your work seen by others.

Trust your creative skills as a Multi-Passionate Creative. Our personalities make the best content creators.

It’s important not to overwhelm yourself on this step.

I recommend starting with one platform.

This focuses you more on your craft, rather than on your online presence being dispersed to multiple channels.

Just pick one and create an account.

It can be YouTube, or Twitter, or Instagram…

They all work.

Choosing one doesn’t matter so much.

Creating consistent content on them is what matters most.

It’s how you’ll grow your brands’ social reach.

Step 4: Grow Your Personal Brand

Now for the hardest part. There’s no sugar coating it here. You need to put in the work to grow your brands’ social reach.

This is the step where most people fail.

This is where most give up.

Anything worth achieving requires hard work.

If it wasn’t hard, everyone would be successful.

You need eyes on your work.

Building a website is useless without visitors.

Creating a social media account is useless without followers.

Creating products or services is useless without buyers.

You need to grow an audience of like-minded, creative people that will want to buy from you.

There’s nothing “salesy” about this either. Never put pressure on your followers to buy from you. If you hate pushy sales, guess what? They’ll hate it too.

Do the amount that feels authentic to you.

Be balanced with it.

Every so often, you can talk about your products and services.

You should also put the links to them in the bio of your social media accounts.

As your brand grows, your income grows.

Step 5: Monetize your Personal Brand

How you make money is up to you as the creator behind your creativity.

And let me be clear: There is nothing wrong with earning money through your art.

You need money to survive in the modern world. That’s just how it is.

So keep this in mind: If what you craft is truly adding value to other people’s lives, in any shape or form, then you should be paid for it. Period.

Believe in that.

Here’s a few listed strategies:

• Physical Products: Create physical products of your art to sell (canvas art, books, pottery, etc)
• Digital Courses: Create digital courses to teach others the craft that you know best.
• Educational Workshops: Create hands-on workshops to teach the craft that you know best.
• Mentoring/coaching: This can be 1-on-1 or group coaching.
• Affiliate Marketing: Promote your favorite products and get paid when someone used the link.
• Sponsorships: When you grow big enough, you can get deals from your favorite brands through sponsorships.
• Paid per views: For example, YouTube pays creators for the views they gain on their videos.
• Paid Community: The platform “Skool” offers creators a way to start a paid community.

Similar to what I mentioned about the social media accounts, don’t overwhelm yourself here.

Don’t start with multiple. Focus on just one until you learn to make money with it.

Then you can always add more to your offers later on.

Here’s the process in a nutshell:

1. Create a personal brand mission
2. Create a Personal Website
3. Create social media accounts
4. Create valuable content to grow an audience of fans
5. Sell products and or services (to those that want them)

And most importantly: Everyone knows when a creator is being money hungry. Don’t fall victim to greed. It kills most good ideas and leaves the creators out to dry.

I’ll be going into more in-depth details on how to build a One Person Creator Business in the next articles.

Keep creating, my friends.

– Chase Mac