The Power of Being Multi-passionate

Welcome to Creatives Anonymous, a weekly newsletter that explores what it means to be a modern-day creative. It inspires, encourages, and empowers readers to take back their creative power.

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

I’ve always believed we are not meant to do the same thing for the rest of our lives. 

Gone are the days when you spend your entire career working at the same company. More and more people are changing companies and pivoting their careers to do more fulfilling work that aligns with their passions, not just their skills. 

As creatives, most of us are multi-passionate (or a multi-potentialite. Semantics.). We have multiple interests that pull us in every direction possible, making it impossible to land on something to build a career around. Ultimately, we want to create a career that combines our skills with our interests in a way where we can create demand and value for our work. 

In an era when we’re told that the niches are in the riches, it’s hard to be multi-passionate because it can be viewed as too “broad” or too “general.”

But that’s actually our superpower. 

Because we dabble in so many different areas, we know a little about everything. This ultimately benefits our work by allowing us to develop a true zone of genius that we can take from job to job and use to pivot careers and industries. 

Our zone of genius goes beyond our skillset—it encompasses our approach, point of view, and method of working. No matter our industry, our zone of genius remains the same. 

It’s the talent that we have that AI doesn’t. It’s what we need to strengthen to future-proof our careers as AI threatens to take our skills. 

Today’s interview is with my cousin-in-law, Mischa Winkler. Mischa founded RevelVR and is currently developing Blobtown, an imaginative VR game.

Can you share a little bit about your career journey and how it led you to what you’re doing now?

I grew up in Switzerland but moved to the West Coast to study architecture. Right after school, I shifted my focus to architectural visualization. I did that kind of work with the first company I joined, ultimately leaving to pursue a freelance career with the same focus. During that time, virtual reality also experienced a renaissance, and my work meshed really well with what this new type of immersive media had to offer. So, I shifted my focus to VR, learned how to code, and built my first apps. I ultimately joined a startup focused on serving the architecture and construction industry through immersive review in VR. After a few years, we got acquired, which allowed me to focus on the project I'm working on now.

You launched your game, Blobtown, about a year ago. Can you tell me a little bit more about the game, what inspired you to create it and what has the reception been like since you launched?

At first, I tried to create a platform for immersive collaboration for remote work in the enterprise sector, but that didn't have a strong enough product-market fit. So, my kids begged me to make a game, which I had always wanted to do but was a bit scared of because of how the economics would work. Making money in video games is hard, especially as an indie developer. But I gave it a go, and the reception was fantastic. 

Blobtown is an imaginative VR game where players can create their own avatars, from original characters to everyday objects like a chair or a bowl of soup, using simple yet powerful tools. With the VR camera, you can build anything and share your creations with a vibrant community of Blobtown creators. Make friends, explore the ever-expanding Blob Universe, starting with Blobisland, and trade unique designs in the player store using Blobium currency. Currently, in early access, Blobtown offers endless creative possibilities and a welcoming community with exciting updates on the horizon!

Blobtown has really been a family effort to develop, with your kids involved in the development process. What has that creative process has been like and how has that made the game a better product for your users?

As I mentioned, my kids helped with the game from the very beginning. After all, they are the target audience or ideal customer profile, if you will. So, if I have a new game idea, I usually go to them for feedback. They are also involved with the community, so talking to them gives me a good pulse on what's happening and what feedback people have.

One of the unique things about Blobtown is how you’re leveraging the users to create content to market and promote the game. It’s also giving the users (kids) the opportunity to become content creators. Why did you decide to go that route instead of more traditional content creation methods and how has it benefitted the game?

I'd love to say that I had this idea all by myself, but when I started, it was a bit of a trend. Quite a few other studios had large followings on TikTok and were showing that creating organic content is the way to go. So, I followed that playbook.

Our unique approach was to create content ourselves and leverage the community to be content creators by building tools that allow them to record themselves and easily publish to social media. I played around with virtual cameras in my previous work, so this all came naturally. We are just getting started, and there's still a lot of work to be done to make this gameplay loop even more potent.

What’s one creative project that you’re working on now?

I don't have much capacity to do anything besides work and, of course, take care of my family. Luckily, my job is incredibly creative, and I have a lot of freedom to scratch that itch by exploring new game mechanics or creatively solving technical problems.

What’s one piece of advice you have for any fellow creative?

I always tell people beginning their creative journeys to copy other people's work. It's counterintuitive, but no creativity comes out of nothing, and copying things you like is a fantastic way to evolve your creativity over time. As time passes, you will become more sophisticated in combining your influences and ultimately creating something new.

You can learn more about Mischa’s work here. 

Creative Corner

• 🎞️ What I’m Consuming: I saw Hamilton last week—it was AMAZING. I also binged Running Point on Netflix over the weekend. 

• 💡 What I’m Loving: Sitting on my patio last week during our stint of “fake spring” weather.

• 🎨 What I’m Working On: Editing photos that I took last Friday while downtown

• 💭 Weekly Musing:

Thank you 💕

If you liked this newsletter, I’d love it if you could forward it to someone who you think would like it, too!

I’m so grateful for all of your support!

Alexa Phillips is a writer, brand strategist, and multi-passionate creative. She is the founder of Bright Eyes Creative, helping founders & creatives claim their corner of the internet with a brand media rooted in their original insights, expert opinions, interests, and stories.

Where to find me:

• Join the waitlist for Content Kickstart, an 8-week content development intensive where we co-create and launch long-form content for your business. 

• Listen to my recent podcast episodes.

• Subscribe to my other newsletter, The Underground, a weekly zine that teaches creative brand leaders to become tastemakers by creating unforgettable content that breaks through the noise and leaves a mark.

• Join Write Club, free weekly 90-minute co-writing sessions dedicated to helping you knock out all the content you have to write for your business.