What Building a Creative Life Actually Looks Like Right Now. My Interview with Christi Johnson

A conversation about creative work, stability, and big moves.

My friend Christi Johnson asked me to come onto The Dream Biz Podcast and talk about my creative business journey and how I made my biggest dream come true: moving to Costa Rica last year.

After recording this episode, I kept thinking about how often creatives wait to share their story until it feels finished.

But most of the interesting stuff happens way before that.

What we talked about wasn’t a highlight reel. It was a brief snapshot of where I am right now and how I got here.

Still balancing. Still experimenting. Still figuring things out as I go.

Here are some of the highlights.

Put Yourself First

One thing I shared that feels small but has changed everything for me is how I start my day.

If I don’t work on my own creative projects first, they got lost. When I first moved here, I lost sight of this and pushed my projects to the side. Big mistake.

My projects got pushed to “later.”
Later turned into “tomorrow.”
Tomorrow turned into never.

So I went back to doing thing the way I did before I moved. I turned my first hour into sacred for my creativity. Not because it’s productive but because it’s mine.

Once I do that, everything else feels lighter.

It’s Okay to Balance Stability and Freedom

This came up a lot in our conversation.

I still do contract work. About four hours a day. And for a while time, I felt weird about that. Like I was supposed to be “past” that stage by now.

But here’s what I’ve learned.

Stability gives me room to breathe.
Room to create.
Room to experiment without panic.

That balance is what makes the creative work sustainable for me right now. And I think more people need permission to admit that.

Get It Out of Your Head

Another thing I can’t stop repeating because it helps creatives in many ways is: write things down.

If you keep everything in your head, it disappears.

Ideas blur together.
Good thoughts get buried.
Your ideas never have a chance to fully bloom.

Writing things down is how I figure out what I actually want. Not what I think I should want.

It’s messy and imperfect. But it’s how every great idea starts.

Our Move to Costa Rica

The Costa Rica move didn’t start as a plan.

It started as a feeling.

My wife went on a bachelorette trip a few years ago and came back glowing. I went a year later and couldn’t get enough. And we both had the same quiet thought we weren’t saying out loud yet.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to live here one day?

I wrote all about my Costa Rica moving journey here on Substack and now it’s slowly turning into a memoir.

Not because I had a strategy.
But because I followed my curiosity.

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I loved sharing my journey with Christi because she knows what it’s like to run a creative business herself. She gets the tension, uncertainty, joy, and fear of it all.

If you’ve made a business dream come true, let Christi know.

If you want to come onto The Standout Creatives and share your journey with us, you’re always welcome.

And if you’re still in the middle of your journey, you can leave a comment and let us know where you are right now.