Building Through Blockades, July 2025

What’s in This Letter

July didn’t look like I planned.

I spent most of it sick — the kind of sick where days blur and you measure time by how long you can stay awake. But even in that fog, progress still happened. It was imperfect progress, it didn’t always feel like much in the moment but I am sure it matters later.

This month reminded me that growth isn’t always loud or obvious. Sometimes it’s the small, almost invisible shifts: inching forward while life pulls you sideways. And honestly? That’s worth celebrating too.

In this letter:

• Opening the merch shop (and Etsy store!) despite a slower pace

• Rethinking risk, storytelling, and team-building at Creative Philomath

• Wrestling with creative work when momentum stalls

• Sharing the quotes and ideas reshaping how I approach marketing and creativity

Let’s talk about it.

💼 Business & Marketing: Opening Doors, Taking Risks

Even while sick, I kept moving pieces forward for Creative Philomath — quietly, behind the scenes, where most of the work happens. Here’s what shifted in July:

• Merch is designed and the shop is live! Minimalist, text-forward designs that carry our core philosophy.

• Etsy shop launched. Another channel for those who prefer that ecosystem. Looking to start advertising shortly!

• Marketing campaigns are in the works. Building data-driven systems instead of winging it.

• Looking for a CTO. This is the big leap — finding someone to help us build CPM’s flagship product: a platform to help creatives actually get paid for what they do. I have passable coding skills, but I fear the day when someone who actually knows what they are doing actually has to look at said code.

The underlying theme of all this? Risk.

A line from Diary of a CEO hit me hard:

Launching shops, seeking partners, and mapping campaigns all feel risky, but they also feel like the only way forward. Creative Philomath’s vision is too big for me and JD to carry alone. I’m learning to open the door for others to step in, even if that means letting go of control.

Marketing Note: Cater to the one that is uninterested.

Three quotes have been shaping how I think about storytelling this month:

Marketing isn’t about shouting louder. It’s about framing better. People don’t just want information; they want to know why it matters right now. Context turns a feature into a solution. And you have seconds — five, maybe less — to prove that.

The hard truth? Don’t write for the people who already love you. They’ll stay. Write for the ones scrolling past — the ones who don’t know you and don’t care yet. If you can hook them, you can hook anyone.

That’s the lens I’m applying to every campaign now:

• Lead with why it matters today.

• Hook in the first line.

• Context first, details later.

Because if context creates value, and the first five seconds decide everything, then every word matters twice as much as we think it does.

✍️ Creativity: When Momentum Slows

My personal writing slowed way down this month — I was pouring so much energy into the business. It’s a strange feeling when something you love shifts to the back burner. There’s this quiet guilt that creeps in, like you’re betraying the work by not showing up every day. But I’ve learned that guilt and creativity rarely mix well.

The work-in-progress I mentioned last month is still simmering in the background. It’s there, whispering to me as I commute, and honestly? I’m itching to dive back into my fantasy piece. I miss the characters. I miss the worldbuilding. I miss that story. But there’s also something important happening in this pause.

The honest truth is that creativity comes in seasons. Some months are all about output — pages piling up, drafts flowing, momentum building. Others are about input — reading, reflecting, letting ideas steep until they’re ready. And sometimes, like this month, it’s about incubation: the slow, unseen work of connecting dots in your head before they ever hit the page.

A line from Diary of a CEO hit me right where I needed it:

That’s where I feel I’m sitting right now — somewhere between understanding and mastery. Reading to refill the well, journaling to process, learning things I didn’t even realize I needed to learn. This season may not look productive on paper, but I know I’m pulling threads together so I can return to the page sharper, not just busier.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for your work is step back long enough to see it clearly.

📚 Refilling the Well: Pages That Shifted My Thinking

Reflections:

Lately, reading has been my way of staying creative even when I’m not actively writing. It’s like indirect training — I may not be adding words to my draft, but I’m feeding the part of me that will eventually write better ones. July reminded me how much I need that balance.

I started splitting my reading into two lanes in January: one for escape (fantasy) and one for growth (nonfiction).

The fantasy keeps me inspired, reminding me why I love storytelling in the first place. But also dissenting why I love those stories. Robert Jordan does a phenomenal job with weaving sprawling plots without losing the intimacy of character moments — something I’ve been paying closer attention to as I write my own fantasy. The sheer scale of Wheel of Time is massive, I mean I am not even half way through the series. But it’s the personal beats that give the story weight. Studying that contrast has been teaching me not just what makes epic fantasy compelling, but why certain moments stick with us long after the book is closed.

The nonfiction sharpens me, iron sharpening iron — forcing me to question how I work, lead, and create. It’s less about answers and more about better questions: Am I building something meaningful or just keeping myself busy? Am I leading in a way that invites people in, or am I unintentionally closing doors?

Fantasy and nonfiction feel like two halves of the same coin: wonder and wisdom. The wonder keeps me dreaming, while the wisdom keeps me grounded. Together, they cross-train my creativity — lessons from one lane inevitably shape how I approach the other, and both feed directly into how I’m building Creative Philomath.

What surprised me most this month wasn’t just the books themselves, but how active the process became. I wasn’t skimming chapters to check a box. I was pausing. Underlining. Stopping every couple of paragraphs to write page after page in my journal.

The result? Insights I don’t just read, but absorb. Ideas I can pull directly into Creative Philomath, my writing, and even how I see my own life.

Books I Finished This Month:

• The Shadow Rising (Wheel of Time #4) – Robert Jordan

Currently Reading:

• The Diary of a CEO – Steven Bartlett

• The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time #5) – Robert Jordan

Reading The Diary of a CEO is slow on purpose. I’ve been stopping every two paragraphs in my journal. Seven pages of notes so far. The big takeaway?

Paired with:

Those two ideas together are rewiring how I think about marketing Creative Philomath. The goal isn’t to fit convention — it’s to be effective and unforgettable.

These books are teaching me two very different things in tandem: how to dream bigger and how to ground those dreams in reality. It’s a strange but beautiful balance — building a business while still loving the craft of story for its own sake. The lessons worth keeping aren’t always loud; they’re the ones that keep echoing long after you close the book.

🧠 Final Thoughts

July forced me to slow down — and in that stillness, I saw where I’ve been sprinting in circles.

Being sick stripped things back to the essentials:

• What’s worth carrying forward?

• What’s just noise I can drop?

• What needs help from someone else to grow?

The answers keep circling back to one truth: I can’t do this alone, and I shouldn’t try to. Creative Philomath is bigger than me — it’s going to take community, partnerships, and trust to build it right.

Progress, even when it’s messy and quiet, still counts. Sometimes that’s the kind of progress that sticks.

Until next time,
Stay curious, stay kind, and keep creating.
 - Jacob
Founder, Creative Philomath