It’s impossible to truly predict what lies up ahead, once you decide to take action.

In my forthcoming book, 60+ Lessons from the Creative Journey: A Handy Guide for the Budding Entrepreneur, I start by going all the way back to the beginning. Without giving too much away, I was searching for direction post-college and post-football. My life seemed great on paper — well-paying job, steady relationship, holding my water in an endless footrace with the Joneses — but there was something unsatisfying.

I didn’t have a true purpose.

I then tell the story about how, one August night in 2013, I was hit with a spark of inspiration that led to the creation of The Quinn Spinn (now the official podcast of Underground Music Collective, in its 12th year!). I knew absolutely nothing about what it took to start a podcast, let alone keep up with the project. I had no way of knowing the roads I would travel from this point of singularity — the people I’d meet, the places I’d go, or the lessons I’d learn.

I was just a post-grad trying to find meaning. For the first time since I hung up my cleats for good in the year prior, I had found it.

In these formative moments, it’s easy to be filled with starry eyed wonder, as you dream of the possibilities up ahead. Back then, my co-hosts and I thought we’d keep putting out episodes and, after about six months or so, some radio conglomerate would discover our immense talent and whisk us away to national syndication. Our lives would forever change.

Certainly, the journey has changed my life for the better. It’s nothing like I thought it would look — and, as it turns out, that’s a beautiful thing.

After all, it led me here. It led me back home to Bethlehem, PA in the mid-2010s, where this very blog was launched under a different name. Then, it led me on a Starseed journey to Nashville at the end of 2018. Since then, I’ve had so many chances to better understand and connect to the greater creative landscape — in Music City, and everywhere else — and uncover the impact I’m called to have.

More than anything, I feel called to use my experiences to help others. I feel called to teach practical lessons — about business, creativity, and life. I feel called to lead people to discover the best within themselves, so they can build and create from a place that is undeniably theirs.

And so, on my birthday (March 10) in 2023, I launched the UMC Academy. I’ve been providing one-on-one coaching to independent artists and creatives ever since. We’ve had a chance to learn and grow together, and I’ve found myself inspired any time the spark of a fresh idea comes into the fold during a session. I love helping creative people organize their thoughts — back in those early days, I sure could have used help organizing mine.

Then, in 2024, I decided to take this show on the road. I had the opportunity to speak at several conferences, festivals, and in educational settings. I forged new connections, and even got to continue working with some of the people I’ve met in the process (shoutout to our first-ever class of BRANDCAMPers!).

All the while, I had my eyes on a particular prize. I had my sights set on SXSW.

Last summer, while in a fever pitch of applying to speak at conferences, I saw an opportunity to apply to SXSW as part of their PanelPicker process. I was intrigued, clicked the link, and filled out the application on the spot. I knew competition would be steep — this is one of the most influential tech, music, and film events on Planet Earth, after all. At any rate, if I didn’t try, I would never know.

I received solid support throughout the public voting portion of the PanelPicker process. Friends, family, and colleagues went above and beyond spreading the news. It felt good to know that I have so many people on my side.

Would it be enough? All I could do was wait to find out.

And so, that’s what I did. Throughout the rest of the summer and into fall, I continued speaking, creating, and building the UMC ecosystem, brick by brick, as I’ve always done. I wasn’t sure when (or if) I would hear back, but I wanted to be ready for any outcome.

Then, one October day, I got the outcome I wanted.

I was officially accepted to be a workshop leader at SXSW 2025!

I jumped up, did a full-blown victory lap, fists raised, around the studio, and told anybody within earshot that I had made the cut. I made a couple of important phone calls to deliver the news personally, and I spent the rest of the day in appreciation of the journey so far — and the road ahead.

This is a coveted opportunity for thought leaders all over the world, and it was mine!

This is an opportunity we dream of having on “the great someday” — the point in the future that we can only imagine. We’re not quite sure how we’ll get there, or if it’s even possible for “someone like me.” We continue creating anyway, pushing through all of the challenges and resistance we encounter — internal or external — just to keep ourselves in the game.

Then, one day, different doors begin to open. The work we’ve put in through the years — and the wisdom we’ve acquired — begins to pay off in the form of new opportunities and the ability to have a greater impact. In these moments, it’s important not to get caught up in the notion of whether or not we’re truly “ready.” If we weren’t, we wouldn’t have been invited to a dance quite like this.

This is no longer a possibility for “someday.” It’s a reality that is in front of us, here and now.

And so, we must give ourselves permission to step into a new realm of possibility. The door is open. How we walk through it determines what will come next…