Pause & Possibility: How Two Creative Entrepreneurs Transformed Setbacks
Ep. 21 Flow State Founders & Limitless Dreamers
Hey Creative Bestie!
In our latest episode of Could Be Pretty Cool News, we meet two entrepreneurs who turned moments of disruption into opportunities for reinvention. While their industries differ, both Vanessa Kuhlor and Miller McCoy share a remarkable ability to find possibility in pause points and creativity in constraints.
The Power of Forced Pauses
Both of our guests faced moments that could have derailed their dreams. For Vanessa, it was the dramatic collapse of Silicon Valley Bank: "The day SVB collapse was such an interesting day because it shows just how much of a tech bubble we were in... The Fed came in, they said, pencils down, you're not allowed to talk to anyone."
For Miller, chronic illness in his youth became an unexpected gateway to creativity: "Due to unforeseen circumstances that were a little bit out of my control... around the age of nine, I actually began getting introduced and entertained with magic." Unable to participate in traditional activities, he found ways to create on his own terms.
Reimagining Work and Success
A central theme that emerges is the courage to question conventional approaches to work. Vanessa explicitly challenges hustle culture, signing her correspondence with "ease and leisure" and building her consultancy, InbetweenDreamz around a different rhythm: "I want to work. I want to create, I want to produce things. I want to do things for the community with ease and leisure."
Miller similarly rejected geographic limitations and traditional business trajectories. From selling one t-shirt at an Iowa sneaker convention to building Limitless Manufacturing Group a full-service fashion house in Los Angeles, his journey proves that success doesn't have to follow a prescribed path: "In the creative entrepreneur world, you can only fail if you quit. If you don't quit, you're still trying."
Finding Inspiration in Unexpected Places
Perhaps most striking is how both entrepreneurs draw inspiration from sources far outside their industries. Vanessa describes finding business insights through birdwatching: "I have this tree by my window and birds were coming to visit me all the time... seeing like their patterns of like, okay, this is when they're in a season of movement. This is when they're in a season of... How can I apply that to my work for the week?"
Miller turned early limitations into creative advantages, teaching himself graphic design, HTML, and marketing through YouTube while managing his health challenges. Each constraint became a building block for future success.
The Through Line: Community as Foundation
Both stories underscore how sustainable creative businesses are built on community connections. Vanessa's InbetweenDreamz operates as a creative collective, while Miller's Limitless Manufacturing Group grew from personal relationships and word-of-mouth in the music industry. Their success isn't just measured in revenue but in the relationships they've built and the communities they serve.
As Vanessa puts it: "I think knowing that we could reimagine every experience we have in our life... we are able to create and develop an architecture of the world that we want to live in, but also your own world."
Whether you're reimagining work-life balance like Vanessa or refusing to accept geographic limitations like Miller, the path to success often begins with the courage to envision something different.
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Best of luck in all your endeavors!
Kacie Luaders | Founding Producer, Could Be Pretty Cool