Why I started this Substack

Turning inner growth into outer success: My journey to ease, abundance, and authenticity

Back in 2019, I unwittingly experienced a spiritual awakening while trying to grow my solo consulting business. Up until that point, I’d have described myself as a non-religious agnostic with an open mind. But the challenges of running my own business as a free-spirited and creative woman led me to a place I’d never been before.

Since then, I’ve learned about things that have completely changed my business and life for the better, including energy work, manifestation, intuition, soul purpose, mindset, and so much more. These practices are how I grew my business from $130,000 to $1,000,000 in three years, which was a miracle to me.

And that’s why I’ve started this Substack — to share what I’ve learned with other creative people who long to use more of their gifts, experience more ease and abundance, and most of all feel FREE. I want to share my stories to inspire you about what’s possible, and also to remind you that you’re not alone.

One of the most powerful things I’ve learned is that the key to your success is already within you. This goes against the dominant narratives out there that tell us we’re not enough in a million different ways. But I know from experience that the things your heart desires – no matter how far-fetched or impossible they seem – are already yours. And honoring your natural talents, dreams, and wiring is the path that will lead you to them.

I believe being true to yourself is always the safest bet. And we need more people to own their gifts and use them in the world.

A bit about me

Most people know me as the founder of Punchy, a consultancy that’s helped many leading tech companies win hearts, minds, and markets with simple messaging. I’ve trained 2,000 marketers around the world on how to write messaging that connects with people on a human level, and also wrote a best-selling book on the subject.

If you told younger me that I’d end up here, she wouldn’t believe you.

Because for most of my life, I’ve been an artist struggling to find the right home for my gifts. Writing was my natural-born talent, but society (and my immigrant parents) were quick to tell me that there were more valuable gifts, like being good at math or science, which led to more lucrative careers than “starving artist.” Early on, I learned how to devalue my natural talents and worry about how I’d ever make money as an adult.

After college, I tried to fit myself into a variety of jobs and careers, like PR, publishing, graphic design, and marketing but nothing ever felt quite right. Some jobs had good points, but others left me feeling dead inside. I was smart and creative, but it didn’t translate into an impressive career. I wondered if maybe I just wasn’t cut out for work success. But my heart kept encouraging me to keep looking. So I continued to move to different jobs and sometimes to different countries. I tried travel writing, magazine editing, and branding which I enjoyed more – but it still didn’t feel 100% right.

In my mid-30s I finally found something that clicked: helping startup founders communicate the value of their complex, visionary technology to other people. It was a problem that found me while I was working at a marketing agency with tech clients. And for once, my talents and skills were just right to solve it. I realized that hundreds and thousands of people needed my help, so I decided to start a business that solely focused on the one thing I liked doing: messaging for tech companies.

I was an unlikely entrepreneur, with no role models or mentors. I didn’t even know anyone who had their own business. I had no idea what I was doing, but I pushed forward anyway because I had the sense that entrepreneurship was a path to freedom.

I started my business in perhaps the worst way possible: in a brand new city, with very little network, and pregnant with my third child. The first few years were tough. I had started my business to experience freedom from a full-time job, only to accidentally create a new kind of job for myself that I wanted to quit. I worked long hours with little results, barely making what I used to earn as an employee.

I dreamed of growing my business, but had no freaking idea how to do it. So like many new and aspiring entrepreneurs, I followed influencers and gurus, bought their courses, and joined a few coaching programs to hopefully crack the code.

I was handed all kinds of formulas, step-by-step processes, and advice to try and replicate what these other successful people had done. But none of it seemed to work for me. One well-known guru even told me that my niche wasn’t very good in a coaching session (!).

Then 2020 happened, which was so scary and jarring that it forced me to go inward and start doing work on myself. I abandoned most of the “how-to” advice I’d been given over the years and went all in on being myself. (Which felt so natural to me, because I’ve always been the kind of person who resists rules and does her own thing.)

I started focusing on my inner growth. I found the subconscious beliefs that had been holding me back since I was a child, and healed them. I listened to my intuition to make inspired decisions and experience more “luck.” I discovered my purpose and focused on being of service. I aligned my business practices with my natural wiring and learned how to make money with ease and flow, not hustle and grind.

In three years, I went from being a frustrated freelancer making $130,000 a year to a confident business owner making 7-figures.

Here’s my secret: The more I honored my true nature in my life and business, the more money I made.

No one had ever told me about this simple truth. All the advice I’d consumed over the years made me think that I had to change things about myself to achieve any real kind of success.

Maybe you’ve thought that too.

Well, I’m here to tell you that you can experience more ease and abundance in your life by simply being YOU.

Why I’m doing this now

I’ve been feeling called to share my stories to help others who find themselves in places like I was. And I’ve been wanting a pure space to express my ideas, my way – without the noise and algorithms of social platforms.

Recently, Substack popped into my awareness and my intuition said “go for it.” So here we are!

I started Creative Energy to inspire you to experience more ease, abundance, and trust in life.

I’ll share learnings from my journey of building a successful business through spirituality and personal growth, like:

• Manifesting opportunities and synchronicities

• Making inspired moves with intuition

• Improving your money mindset

• Working with your energy

• And so much more

What I’ve found is that when I write and share wisdom for others, it ends up being a message that I needed to hear for myself.

So thanks for being on this journey with me. I hope that sharing my path will help you along yours.

Emma 💛