Time is my currency. Here's how I spent it. August 2025

What’s in This Letter

Time is the only currency I can’t get back.

And lately, it’s felt like every minute matters more than the last - between starting my final semester of university, running a business, showing up for my day job, nurturing a relationship I care deeply about, writing two books, and developing other ventures that may, have, and will pop up along the way.

August became the month of focus. Not the aesthetic kind, you know the one that TikTokers make content about - romanticizing the work, student, whatever life. 

I’m talking about the growth kind. The kind where you put your phone face down, your ego in the backseat, and your priorities under a microscope. And even then, you still wonder if it’s enough.

In this issue:

• Business & Marketing - Delegating like a founder, launching our first apparel line, and gearing up for the riskiest move we’ve made yet.

• Creativity - Rediscovering the book, designing through obsession, and finding a new rhythm.

• Learning & Reflection - Foundryside, Blue Oceans, and why The Diary of a CEO lit my brain on fire.

Let’s talk about it.

Business & Marketing: Vision Over Grind

This month, I found myself coming back to one question over and over:

Is this the best use of my time? 

When you’re juggling school, a job, a startup, and a creative life, every decision becomes a trade-off. I’m learning that focus isn’t just about doing less - it’s about doing the right things with full intention. That means stepping into the role of a visionary, not just a doer. It means delegating where I once defaulted to grinding. And it means building slowly, sustainably, and with purpose because the goal isn’t to grow fast, it’s to grow with meaning.

What We Did

• We launched The Creative’s Life clothing collection. After months of ideation and sketches, it’s finally live. My personal favorite? The Writer Edition. (No surprise there. But seriously, check out the back of that shirt and tell me that’s not your new favorite. While you’re there, you should buy one.)
  → Check it out

• We found our full-stack developer for the tool we’re building to help creatives. I can’t share much yet - but just know it’s being made for people like you and me, who want to create without becoming slaves to the marketing machine.

• JD took charge of a photoshoot for a campaign that will shape how we market everything moving forward. More on that below.

What I Learned

There’s a quote from The Diary of a CEO that’s haunted me this month:

Context is everything. Before that, Bartlett introduces Law 28: Ask who, not how - a mindset shift used by the world’s most effective founders. Instead of immediately asking “How can I do this?” when faced with a challenge, they ask “Who is the best person to do this?” It’s not about laziness - it’s about leverage. Visionaries scale by trusting others to execute, so they can stay focused on what only they can do.

I’ve always been the kind of person who says, “I’ll figure it out.” And honestly, I probably could. I could learn to code. I could do every piece of every project. But that’s not the point. My time is best spent on the one thing no one else can do: the vision. The story. The decisions that shape what this company is becoming. Now, does that mean I make everyone else do the work? Hell no. Always lead by example, do the work, inspire others. 

This isn’t about hustle for hustle’s sake. We’re not trying to get rich overnight. That’s a fantasy. What we’re building is sustainable. Controlled. Day by day, brick by brick. For something real. For a future where creativity is supported, not squeezed.

Marketing Move of the Month

We’re about to take the biggest risk we’ve ever made: a full-scale marketing campaign that takes a quarter of what I have invested personally - all done as a bootstrapped company. That means no investors, no outside capital, just sweat and belief.

While reading this week, a quote in Blue Ocean Strategy stuck out:

We’re not trying to win in someone else’s world. We’re building our own. One with more value for creators, better tools, better service. If we position it right, we don’t have to compete - we redefine what people expect. And we definitely can do that as a bootstrapped company. 

Creativity: Obsession, Reclaimed

What I Created

The book is back.

For the first time in a while, during a weekend in the woods celebrating JD’s birthday, I opened the second draft that’s haunted the home page of Creative Philomath... and something clicked. Chapter 1 finally feels like the beginning I’ve been chasing. That style, that tone - it’s the one I’ll be following moving forward.

I have been loving designing lately. Some nights I’ll wake up in a cold sweat with an idea for a shirt. Other nights, I can’t sleep because of one. I’ve started hand-drawing every design before moving into Illustrator - and it’s unlocked something invigorating. It’s become one of my favorite creative outlets but always second to writing.

Showing Up Anyway

“How do you stay creative when life is overwhelming?”

Balance. That’s the honest answer. Trying to carve out time to write when my brain is fried. Trying to hold space for art when the to-do list is full. But I’ve started to treat creativity as a non-negotiable again, even if it’s only 30 minutes.

Not to bring business into art, but we open our meetings for CPM by asking each other, “how has your creative project been? What’s going on with it?”
We do this because it is an integral part of our business, life, and balance. We hold each other accountable to actually do the thing we want others to do: create.
Walk the walk. Don’t just talk the talk. 

Refill the Well: Brains, Books & Big Ideas

What I’m Reading

Books I’ve finished Finished:

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

• The Diary of a CEO – Steven Bartlett

• Foundryside – Robert Jackson Bennett

Currently Reading:

• A Resistance of Witches – Morgan Ryan (recommended by my lovely girlfriend—an absolute banger)

• Blue Ocean Strategy – W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne

What It Taught Me

From Blue Ocean Strategy:

“To focus on the red ocean is therefore to accept the key constraining factors of war—limited terrain and the need to beat the enemy to succeed—and to deny the distinctive strength of the business world: the capacity to create new market space that is uncontested.”

It’s exactly what we’re trying to do with our platform and products. Red oceans are crowded, competitive, and cutthroat. Blue oceans are built - not discovered.

Creative Recovery

Honestly? My girlfriend, my books, walks in silence just thinking, and the gym, have saved me - not because I stopped working, but because they reminded me why I’m working in the first place. I’m not just building something to check off a list. I’m building because I believe in what it could become… even if I don’t fully understand the shape of it yet.

There’s a line in Foundryside that stuck with me:

Now in this context, she was referencing her magic as her talents. But if you take it at face value, it says a different message. And I feel the same. Most days, I’m figuring it out as I go - testing the edges of what I’m capable of, unsure of the limits, unsure if it’ll all hold together. But I keep showing up. I keep working. I keep creating. Not because I have all the answers, but because the pursuit itself feels worth it.

Personal Note: Bigger Than Me

It might seem like I’m doing a lot. That’s because I am. 

But I believe in working hard while I’m young. In taking risks. In pushing my capacity to its edge because something good might come of it. 

I’m not doing this just for me. I’m doing it for my future family, for Steph, for my sister and parents, for all the creatives who feel like they don’t have a place in this new, fast, AI-fueled world. I want to prove there’s still room for human art. For craft. For passion. For purpose. For soul.

If I only sleep 5 - 6 hours a night? If my brain feels like it’s always in problem-solving mode? If I constantly get told, “you look tired”? 

So be it. 

I am obsessed. 

I am obsessed with the mission. I am obsessed with the cause. I believe I’m here to pioneer something greater than myself - in the name of creativity, curiosity, and community. It is worth it. I truly think it is a disservice to not pursue it. 

And when I forget? I come back to this quote from Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive

This quote has been echoing in my mind since I read the series. Not just as a mantra, but as a way of living in the middle of the chaos.

Life before death means I refuse to sleepwalk through this season. I won’t just survive under the weight of work, expectations, and ambition - I will live. I will be present. I will chase joy, not just outcomes.

Strength before weakness reminds me that resilience isn’t just about pushing through, but about choosing to rise - daily - when it would be easier not to. It means honoring my capacity without letting my limits define me.

Journey before destination is the hardest one. It asks me to find meaning in the middle. To let go of the pressure to “arrive” and instead commit to becoming - over and over again.

Whatever you're building - whether it's a business, a book, or just a better version of yourself - let this be your reminder: You don’t have to have it all figured out to begin. You just have to begin.

Make space for the work that matters. Give yourself permission to be obsessed with something meaningful. Protect your time like it’s sacred because it is. No one else can create exactly what you can, in the way only you can.

We don’t grow by waiting to feel ready.
We grow by showing up tired, unsure, on fire with the hope that something honest will come out of us.

So show up.
Even if the path is unknown. Especially if it is.

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