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The Three Pillars of Creativity
April 8, 2024 Brand Leadership Business Growth Career Growth Design Leadership Leadership Management Strategy
Guest Speaker

Ephraim “Eph” Gerard Cruz

Director of Operations, Xfinity Creative

Eph is the Director of Operations at Comcast Xfinity’s first in-house creative agency, Xfinity Creative. As one of the agency’s first few employees, he has been critical to growth and leading the agency’s tools and resources.

Eph considers himself a collaborator and futurist. He is passionate about innovation and technologies alike and loves taking calculated risks. Prior to joining Comcast, Eph held leadership roles in Operations and Production at UM Worldwide and McCann. His agency experience also includes leadership of his own boutique digital creative agency for eight years, servicing clients like Nissan, Nike, Marc Ecko, and several non-profit organizations and small businesses looking to develop a digital footprint in their communities. Beyond the agency world, Eph has had an extensive career in and a passion for streetwear fashion, with his own brands worn by prominent celebrities and stocked in hundreds of stores.

Finding your paycheck, passion, and playground with Eph Cruz

Ephraim “Eph” Garard Cruz has explored creative pursuits in almost every arena, from fashion to tech to nonprofits. His experience has helped him cultivate a creative and professional outlook based on three main pillars: paycheck, passion, and playground. In his conversation with host Adam Morgan, Eph talks about how to pursue the projects you’re most excited about from a place of stability and curiosity.

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REAL CREATIVE LEADERSHIP

Season: 5

Episode: 2

Episode Title: The Three Pillars of Creativity — with Eph Cruz

Guest Title:
Ephraim “Eph” Gerard Cruz, Director of Operations, Xfinity Creative

 

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Eph Cruz
So if I have the opportunity to do it, like I’m not wasting it, right? Like, I do all this work, not only for myself, but, like, the other me’s in the world who didn’t have a chance to. 

Adam Morgan
Welcome to Real Creative Leadership, a video podcast produced by The Stoke Group and hosted by me, Adam Morgan. Today we’re talking about this idea of the three faces of creativity. Let me just give you a little background on what I’m talking about here. So, first of all, to be human is to have a variety of interests. We’re multifaceted. We’re curious. We want to learn new skills, take up new hobbies, explore the unknown. And as creatives, our humanity is the core of everything that we do. It’s how we connect emotion to our work and make our work connect to the world. Even if we specialize in one creative skill, most of us have diverse interests, both inside the creative work bubble and outside of it. And spending time on passion projects or side hustles or learning new creative skills, totally unrelated to your day-to-day job, not only scratches that creative itch, but makes us better creatives and better creative leaders.

Today, we’re going to talk about the importance of leaning into your varied interests, and we’ll discuss how a multifaceted career will help you create three key pillars to guide your career to new heights. My guest is a multi-hyphenate creative who has worked in fashion, tech, and music. He’s led his own creative studio, and he’s now the director of operations for Xfinity creative, the in-house studio for Comcast. Welcome Ephraim Gerard Cruz; he likes to go by Eph. Hi, Eph—thanks for being here. 

Eph Cruz
Hey, what’s up, Adam? Greetings from New York City. You know, super happy to be here and just want to say to everyone listening and/or watching, just really appreciate you all tuning in. And of course, to you, Adam,  and to The Stoke Group for the time.

Adam Morgan
Well, let’s start out. Like, usually what we like to do in the beginning is have people tell us a little bit about your background and your journey and where you’ve come from. And give us some good context of who you are. So take it away and let us know more of your background. 

Eph Cruz
Yeah, for sure. So I’m currently helping build Comcast Xfinity’s first in-house creative agency called Xfinity Creative, where I’m on the operations team and lead a lot of our technology initiatives—been there for almost four years since the beginning of its inception and was the fourth full time employee. 

Background wise, you know, I’m just a kid who was born in the Philippines and grew up in New York City.Been in startups basically my whole life. I came from the fashion streetwear world. I had a VC fashion, funded fashion brand called Rivals of Time when I came out of college. And then was a main partner in a relatively successful brand called Fresh Kids, where we had over 200 store accounts across the globe and warmed up a ton of different celebs. Yeah, it was a really, really fun time.

And then after that, I just found more of my niche as a designer because I just started getting obsessed with different technologies. So I launched a brand that I’m still working on to this day called  SEAM ( S-E-A-M), which stands for Shape Engineering and Mankind, and I sell exclusively on Amazon. And I’ve been saying this for some time now, but, you know, I think the future of fashion is not fashion. And so this brand has tech-inspired graphics as well as wearable tech pieces.

 And in parallel, I just, I diversified and leveraged my fashion world network to launch a boutique digital marketing agency called Red Kind Media with my sister. Just because so many people were asking me for graphic design work, web design and development, and just digital strategies to help grow their brands. And one of my best friends, Marcel, just had a huge network and really helped with bringing in more clientele. So he came on board and became one of our creative directors. And my other close friend, AK, had his own boutique agency and had us collaborate on some, you know, heavy hitter brands, like, Nissan, Nike, you know, just to name a couple. And that really gave us, like, more of a solid reputation. 

But beyond that, I also worked at McCann, the craft division, and Universal McCann to just learn how to run an agency at a large scale. So, you know, that’s a bit about my agency life. And I also diversified into music where I manage one of my closest friends who raps and goes by Dubziano.

So yeah, just between fashion technology and music, I, I really look at this time as like the modern day renaissance and you know, every day I’m just working towards being a renaissance man. 

Adam Morgan
 Yeah, clearly. I mean, those are a lot of differing  interests, which, you know, it’s totally fair. Like, me knowing so many creatives over my career of like getting on 30 years now, we just— I think that’s just part of the creative spirit is like, you just want to dig in and understand and play around with a whole bunch of different things.And I know we’re going to talk more about that, but you know, well done. Like those are pretty different things, but how have they helped you as a creative leader? Like, how has being into fashion and music and building your own agency, you know, kind of come together? 

Eph Cruz
Yeah, I think, like, the key thing for sure is just the experiences, right? Like, I personally don’t like to talk about anything other than what I’ve learned and been through and I’d be the first person to say that I have, like, no idea about something. And, like, I just think that that honesty resonates, as just not as a creative leader, but just as a human being, right? I think, like, the thing that sets creatives apart is that they could just—they could smell bullshit like a matador, right? Because every artist grows in defending their own art. And so just having that mentality creates the realist environment and the best art is made from truth. And so like, I’m a firm believer in just like, keeping it real. And also just having, like, a broad experience like this gives me sort of like a different dimension of understanding people in general.

Like it, it just helps me communicate to creatives in a meaningful and honest way. And, like, I’m a creative at heart, but a collaborator by trade, right? So, like, having these skills just hit help me make the most impact I possibly can when working with creative teams. I just also have a broad view in building a brand and a business. So I always have the best intentions from a creative POV when I’m making any decisions or really doing any sort of action that I take. 

Adam Morgan
And certainly you’re right. Like creatives can see if it’s, if it’s true to form or not, you know, early on, cause we just, we dig in and we empathize and we really like, feel it out and make sure we’re a part of it. And it makes sense to me of like this, how your different, you know, skills and experiences have helped build to the next, to the next, to the next, you know, better thing, but some could also argue that, you know, the only way to make it in this world is to really go deep into one skill. And so, you know, maybe it’s like, you know, if I wanted to go all in a music, like you’ve got to go all in a music, but maybe just talk about maybe how some of these experiences have influenced you, have actually been a challenge, right? How that’s, it’s been hard to keep all these three plates up in the air at the same time. 

Eph Cruz
Yeah, I mean, I totally agree, right? Like, I think the challenges are really baked in just managing the present, right? Like, just time management and prioritization. And you know, there’s just no set schedule for when inspiration strikes, right?

Like, I have a two and a half year old that I spend a lot of time with and of course my wife. So just, like, balancing my personal life with my career is always a challenge. Like, I feel guilty if I work too much, but then I feel like I’m not doing enough when I’m spending time with my family. So like, just being patient with myself and giving myself some room to be present in both parts of my life is just something I’ve been working on.

And you know, to be quite completely honest, I’m pretty forgetful, like, cause I just, like, love to live in the moment. So, like, just being a master note taker. Like a master note taker or like a voice memo recorder has been something I’ve been exercising as like, I just continue to scale each project. So, you know, that—that’s really how I sort of overcome the challenges that I, while I’m on my creative journey.

Adam Morgan
Gotcha. So what would you consider all these things? I mean, they’re more than a side hustle or a hobby. How would you classify these three areas of your life? 

Eph Cruz
Yeah. So, you know, it’s to me, it’s really just a part of my identity and my purpose in life or, you know, my identities to be multifaceted, right? Like, and I think this point of view might be a bit controversial, but to me, like side hustles are things you don’t really want to do, but have to for like a specific reason. And it’s just really not a main part of your creative career. It’s almost like an odd job. Yeah. 

And you know, your side hustle is not part of your passion, but to me, it could be become part of your income or your paycheck, you know, so for me, like, I think growing up in New York City, like, we were brought up with the mentality of always staying busy and, you know, doing more than one thing. And, you know, for me, I definitely had a bunch of side hustles since a) New York City isn’t cheap, so having different streams of income is just part of the culture. Even when I was a kid, like, like, my first side hustle, right? When I was, like, fourteen years old, of course my main focus was school, but I loved buying.

Adam Morgan
Sure, sure, sure, sure.

Eph Cruz
But you know, like, personally, like, I loved buying and trading sneakers like, and in order to afford that life, I picked up a side hustle of customizing Nextel phones at a local cell phone store, right? Like, I would change the cases and add ringtones, which really brought me some like, good side income.

But you know what the stuff I’m doing now, like people from the outside can see it as side hustles or like, I’m just hustling, but, you know, really, it’s all about just doing something because you can, right? Like, I’ve met people in my life who had tons of potential but because of circumstances in their life like they weren’t really able to build toward that potential.

And so if I have the opportunity to do it, like, I’m not wasting it, right? Like, I do all this work, not only for myself but, like the other me’s in the world who didn’t have a chance to, right? So from an early age, I was already cultivating, like, the structure of my creative life by making sure I have, you know, stable income doing something I’m passionate about, but also like doing stuff I want to try out, which, you know, again, I’m still applying to my life today.

Adam Morgan
I love that, this idea of, like, it seems like you have more of an open mindset than a fixed mindset. That’s like, it  doesn’t matter if there’s all these different things swirling around in your world. It’s like, it’s just parts and pieces that’ll help you get to wherever you want to go, not necessarily that you have to deal with all this stuff, try and do a side job just to cover your main job, but like blend them together and make it work for you. 

Eph Cruz
Yeah, I figured like, you know, like compartmentalizing stuff, I think works since, you know, for certain people, if that’s just the way your brain structured, um, but for me, you know, like I’m all about fluidity and taking a lax approach at things, like not to overthink it too much. And so, you know, it works for me, right? It might not work for everyone out there, but it definitely works for me. 

Adam Morgan
Well, let’s, let’s break this down a little bit more because you’ve mentioned these—we opened it up saying the three faces of creativity, but I want you to talk about these three things, and we’re going to break down each one specifically, the things that you talked about is the paycheck, passion and playground. And so let’s start with paycheck and tell us what that is. And then let’s go to the other two, and then we can see how they all work together. 

Eph Cruz
Yeah, for sure. I mean, so, you know, when I say paycheck, I think about stability. I think about security and, and freedom, right? Like, this is really the foundation of your creative career because, you know, in the world we live in, we need something to keep the lights on, you know, pay your basic needs. But it also, like, provides structure, right? And it enables you to have these, like,luxurious thoughts of what you’re passionate about or, you know, what you want to try out, you know, if something is new. But yeah, so this is like really your main source of income. And, you know, I think this is one of the hardest things to define when you’re creative.

But to be honest, it should be like the easiest thing to actually do. Right? Like, there’s this meme that I saw and it said, “The money’s already printed. You just got to go get it.” Right? 

Adam Morgan
If only it were that easy.

Eph Cruz
Yeah. Yeah. If it were, right. But you know, but that’s the thing, right? I think like your paycheck is something you can naturally do and just go get right. Like, most people skip this step and just go for their passion, which I think is really courageous. And that’s what I did right in the beginning of my career. But to be honest, I think that this, like, pillar or this facet, like really needs to be sort of like the most—it takes the most initial care to keep it steady because, you know, this part of your career should almost feel like it’s on autopilot.

And, you know, I think the goal eventually is to make this passive income, right? AKA, the lowest level of effort with positive marginal returns, right? Most start as like a nine-to-five, like myself right now, or, you know, you could have passive income, like an e-comm store or like faceless YouTube videos or IG reels, or you’re being part of the Tik Tok creator fund, right?

Like the point of this though, is to just free up as much time on your journey so you could focus on your passion and, you know, take any risks that you like. Right? So like, again, my current stability is the creative agency at Xfinity, but I’m aiming to shift this to passive, you know? So, you know, and [00:13:30] if, again, if you’re a creative, you might not agree with me, but this is important to me to fuel the other things that I want to do.

Adam Morgan
Okay. So you have to have that foundation of the paycheck. That’s the first phase of creativity. All right. What’s next? Passion?

Eph Cruz
Passion. Right. This is, this is almost like your purpose, right? Like the purpose of a creative career. And you know, I think a lot of people question their passion cause most people don’t know how to capitalize on it to be the paycheck pillar in their life, right? Like most people think their passion is a risk, but I think not finding or understanding what your true passion is, which is, it really wouldn’t allow you to be truly happy or, you know, find that peace, right? So for me, you know, my passion is fashion or wearable tech. And, you know, one of the main reasons I haven’t really made this my main paycheck yet is because I think, like, my ideas aren’t really solving any of the world’s current problems.

So just having patience, you know, like having patience is a huge part of your passion and I also think just like a lot of people don’t spend the time to find what their passion is. And so I think a lot of people out there should soul search—soul search your passion and, and really hone in on it. You know, so again, for me, you know, fashion, wearable tech is the reason. And everything else is just my surroundings. 

Adam Morgan
Yeah. It’s so interesting. I talk with a lot of creatives, especially after, like, a speaking gig or something like that. And they’ll come up and talk to me about their, their main job and how miserable it is and  all these problems. And they, I think the problem is like most people want, I shouldn’t have seen most, some people want their paycheck to be, to be their passion. Like they want both of those things to be the same thing. And I found over my long career that it’s like, I’ve always done freelance or done some side thing. I mean, Real Creative Leadership is a passion project. It’s not my job. It’s not part of my thing. It’s just something I do on the side to scratch that creative itch. So I get that. Like you’ve, and I think just codifying that and just saying, all right, you’ve got to have your main paycheck, get your stability, and then no one can stop you from going into your passion and spending time on it and focusing on that and, and being creative there. And I think there’s, there’s a beauty there of just, just, you know, accepting it and be like, okay, maybe for now my paycheck’s going to suck. And it’s, you know, boring, whatever. That’s totally fine. I can still explore the world through my passion. 

Eph Cruz
Yeah. I mean, I’ve been there, right? I’ve done it both ways where, you know, I started out as just going after my passion, And again, that’s a very courageous thing. It’s, you know, you have to be brave to, to, to take that sort of, you know, leap into it. Um, but, and now I’m in a nine-to-five, do I feel like I failed? Probably a little bit of me, right? But like—

Adam Morgan
If you’re an entrepreneur, probably. 

Eph Cruz
Yeah, a little bit of me does. Right. But it doesn’t mean you should just stop, right? Like, going after your passion, you know, you have to live your life without these what ifs or, you know, or any regrets. So, you know, again, you know, that’s why I’ve, I’ve almost looked at it as two separate pillars. And I mean, I know we’ll get into a little bit more about that in a bit, but, you know, I think that there’s a lot of—there’s a lot of ways that you could look at paycheck and your passion and eventually merge the two.

Adam Morgan
That’s fair. That’s fair. It’s not to say that it couldn’t be the same thing, but I think the nice note here is for all of us, it doesn’t have to be—you can still have your paycheck and still, and then have a passion. Now, let’s dig into the third one, which you’re labeling playground. And I know that’s nice, so we can have the three P’s, but there’s also something nice to it. Rather than it just being something scary, like risk or, or trying something new, like it’s playground. So tell me more about that 

Eph Cruz
For sure. Yeah. I mean, you know, again, it’s, it is inherently risk, right? I think when you look at any kid at a playground, especially as a parent, you’re always like, “Oh my God, like, what’s this kid going to do today?” Right? Or, “Who is it going to meet?” But yeah, to me in this context, like it’s, it’s expanding your creative career. Yeah. Right. Like, it’s like something you’ve always wanted to do, but maybe you barely know anything about,  you know, something you idolize, but fear or something you enjoy, but unsure how to capitalize on, but, you know, ultimately this broadens your knowledge and gets you out of your comfort zone and helps you truly grow as a creative leader and a human being, right?.

nd there’s this quote, like, I can’t remember who said it, but, yeah, they said, “Fear is a mile wide and an inch deep,” and, you know, so it could look super scary to hop into, you know, whatever your playground is, but really, it’s just a puddle and you question, like, once you’re in it, like, why it took so long to try something new out and, you know, like, a good approach to this is to maybe even apply current events to your risk or your playground, right?

Like before, if you didn’t have a passion, people always said, “Learn how to code,” or, you know, but now with, like, gen AI right? Like, everyone’s saying, “Just become a prompt engineer.” Right? Get the answers out of a machine. So, you know, again, like, when you look at the analogy of a playground, um, you know, technology evolves the world, right? 

When I used to go to playgrounds as a kid, there was just, you know, a slide, a swing set, maybe a water feature if it was like a swanky one, you know. But nowadays, like, my wife is like, finding parks that have bouncing bridges and, you know, rocks, and it just feels like you’re on this hiking adventure, right? So, you know, like the world has new playgrounds and you can look to maybe improve what’s already there or like, you come up with new features. Right? But it’s all about just expanding like your day-to-day and, and expanding your creativity. 

Adam Morgan
Well, I love this idea of a playground too, because it is, it doesn’t feel like there’s a scary risk to try it, even though it is risking and trying new things. It feels—it’s fun and playful. It’s just, try something and just enjoy it. And, you know, again, it’s like we own our, our personal time. We can do whatever we want. And if you think of it as playtime, I think it’s a little, a little more enticing. 

In fact, I want to bring up an interesting fact of, so there was a book called Originals, and in it, they were talking about, you know, entrepreneurs and everyone thinks that entrepreneurs are just big risk takers, right? They’re just like going out and doing crazy stuff that the rest of us are too afraid to do. But in the book, they were talking about how real entrepreneurs are just good at calculated risk, meaning they look at all these different options and then they’re like, “All right, if I play my bets the best way, you know, I can put, you know, put my energy and time into this thing and it should give me the best outcome.”

So it’s not just like, “Hey, I’m just going to try something crazy and just blow everything, you know, all my time and money on that.” But this idea of playground really plays into that where it’s like, okay, keep your stability, figure out what your passion is, and then try a little bit into that playground, mess around with something so that you can, and it may turn out that that affects and the things you’re trying in the playground end up in your passion. Right? And those things in your passion end up in your paycheck. So it’s, it’s just a good idea of like, be calculating when you’re out there messing around, because it could change the world, like you said, with, with technology or whatever else you’re doing. But I just think that’s, that’s just a fun analogy.

Eph Cruz
Totally. Yeah. I mean, it’s like, you know, I, learned how to develop and code, you know, probably over a decade now and, you know, they, they call it a sandbox for a reason, right? Like, you’re not, you’re not impacting every, anything that’s live or, you know, something that would be detrimental, you know, to just like the wellbeing of you, right? Like, I think that if you take that approach of playtime, you know? Yeah, to your point, like, it allows to sort of, you know, overcome that, let that unhealthy sort of brick wall that people put in front of them that sort of stops them from trying to try something new. So, yeah, I totally agree with you a million percent.

Adam Morgan
You know, another interesting thing I just remembered is, so years ago I was talking with a person who’s an expert in building online, you know, social media platforms and kind of like your own persona and he helped a lot of big, famous, you know, stars, you know, with their social media platforms. And he said, “Too often people on social are just posting about one thing.” It’s just, like, that same thing over and over and over and over again. And the reality is, he’s like, “You should have three things that interest you. And not all of them are work related.” And it totally ties back to this, right? Like, in his mind is like, you’ve got to show that you are human and you’re well rounded and you’ve got other interests and things that you post about. Otherwise people will get bored and feel like you’re pushing your stuff on them. So I think that’s an interesting thing. Like, as you’re out there exploring, just think of your, your three pillars as your thing that you’re going to not only share on social, but also go after and playground and passion, all that stuff so it really is a good, balanced approach. So tell me, like, maybe this is not just for work of this three Ps, but is this also just a regular old, balanced life? 

Eph Cruz
Yeah, I mean, you know, like, I think that there’s a lot of aspects to life in general, right? Like even just taking the example that you said about this person on social media platforms, like people change too, right? Your audience changes, the world changes. And I think like, you just need to sort of find that comfort and change and, you know, just kind of bringing it back in the context of these three pillars. Like, these things could change internally within yourself too, right? Like, and I think like it’s important to sort of be aware, right?

Just like being very, like, aware and holding yourself accountable to what your three pillars are. And so, yeah, like I do believe that these  three things lead to a creatively abundant life. Right? 

And I think it’s really important that everyone finds that creative. They might not work in a professional career for creativity, right? But I think everybody is creative in whatever they do. You can be creative as a caregiver. You could be creative as a librarian. I think all that to say that if you don’t live a creatively abundant life, like, you’re either going to get sort of lost within the world that you’re in  or, you know, you’re going to be able to find yourself and, and feel like a human being should, right?

And again, this is just my sort of take on life, but I think that there’s a lot here to unpack internally with everyone, you know, in your own world on how you could maybe sort of lead that life to be more creative. 

Adam Morgan
No, I totally agree. And I love this idea that it’s like, nothing can stop you. Like, it really is an open, an open door. And I totally agree with you. Everyone is creative. Everyone is creative. Capital-C creativity. And we just find different ways to express it. And like, it really makes me sad when people are like, “Oh, I’m not a creative. You’re a creative.” I’m like, “No, you are!” Like, we all are. And so this is a good time just like to stop and think about how am I figuring out a passion? How am I dealing with, you know, my playground, you know, independent of my, of my work or whatever I do? Maybe I’m, yeah, a very linear, logical, you know, I’m a risk assessor at some bank— totally fine. But that doesn’t mean you can’t figure out your passion, your playground and live a creative life as well. So I love that. 

And one other comment that came into my mind when you’re talking about how gen AI is helping, like, absolutely. Like, those are just tools as it’s coming. Moved along every tool that we’ve gotten over my career of 30 years from when we got Photoshop or whatever, it’s not like making it worse. It’s just helping us focus on different areas, right? And be a prompt engineer, like you said, like, so I think that’s something important to keep in mind. Like no, one’s going to ever steal your creativity. No, one’s going to ever take away that ingenuity. No, no robot or anything else. Right? So it’s just like, then figure out what you love and go after it and really dig into it. 

And another thought was like that with marketers. Like, I’ve always said, and I totally believe it, that strategy is just the flip side of the coin of creativity. Like there’s still the same muscle, you know, muscles and brainpower that goes into coming up with a really good strategy and finding their strengths and building a good brief as there is someone, you know, designing amazing art. It’s just, it’s just different. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. 

So, okay. So going back to this idea, this is now, these three P’s are just a lifestyle, right? Like, it’s a part of being a human being. Yeah. What happens if we ignore one of them? What happens if I’m not digging into one? Like, is that going to cause chaos in my life or problems in my life?

Eph Cruz
Well, you know, like I, I know a ton of people who avoid risk, right? But that’s, you know, I personally feel like that’s not because they want to, right. I think it’s just because, you know, their paycheck and passion aren’t evolved enough to the level where they believe they can take the risk. Right? And I think, I think that’s okay.

But at some point, you know, being in that playground or taking that risk could become the multiplier to your paycheck and passion. And you don’t want to risk not taking risk, right? And, and risk equates to change. And I said it before—change is the only consistent thing in life. So we do have to find comfort in that. And, you know, personally, again, I don’t think you’ll truly  live a creatively abundant life without sort of having this, you know, playground at some point in your career. And so again, like, it’s not like it’ll totally, you know, demolish your life or by any means because, you know, I think there’s people out there who are, who are, you know, able to live a life without that. Right? Because maybe they came from, you know, a certain family or had a certain upbringing. And so they don’t need all three pillars. Right? And, and, you know, for, and for those who feel like they don’t have the innate equalities for either, you know, finding their passion or looking for a new playground, you know, I, I’d say just maybe even try to weave your paycheck into finding, you know, that passion or playground, right? Like, look at your current world and see how you can improve it or solve a problem that currently exists. And, you know, I just think thinking outside of your current day to day can inspire you.

 So, again, it wouldn’t demolish your life, but I think you’re, you know, if you don’t fulfill one of these parts of these pillars, you know, it, there, there might be a place where you might not feel inspired. Right? You might not feel full and at peace because, you know, you’re not sort of looking at it at this multifaceted life, right? You’re just focused on one thing. So, you know, again, I think risk is probably the one that people sort of tend to not do like from a general standpoint, but I think there’s a lot of ways you could overcome that for sure.

Adam Morgan
Hmm. And maybe it’s just that some people haven’t really truly experienced that playground. And so to them, it’s like, “I can live without that. It’s fine.” But for those of us, like you and I, who have lived in that playground, I’ll tell you, if I had, if I lost that thing, I would be so depressed. I’d be so sad. It would destroy me. It’s really like dreaming, right? Like, I want to call some people are dreamers, but it’s like, you know, just that, that, opportunity of just like, what if, like, where, what if I tried this? It’s just so intoxicating that, yeah, I’d be full on depressed if I lost it.

Ephraim Cruz
Yeah. I mean, like, look at, look at all like the games, right? That’s, like, the gaming industry is huge, obviously, but like, what, what do you think of, right? Like immediately I think of like, Minecraft or Fortnite. Or, you know, when you talk about, like, the social aspect of gaming and they, those games did so well because they were all about building, like they have the sandbox sort of, you know, aspect of it. But then when you’re in true gameplay, like, building is actually part of it. Like, you, you have to be able to, like, take what you practice and even apply it to real life or, you know, in this, in this, in this context, it’s the game. But, you know, you want to win, right? Like there’s, there’s obviously a sort of point to the game, right? Like, there’s a mission that you’re on. And I think being a builder, right? Like it’s just, it’s just part of it, right? Like being, being in the sandbox is part of it. And I agree with you completely. Like, if I just didn’t have a playground, I don’t—I don’t know if I’d even be talking to you right now, right? Like, that’s sort of true. Yeah. Like, that’s just sort of like the way life works, right? Life is made up of these little instant moments. And you make a choice at that moment as a human being, because you have the power to, and you know, if I did, if I’ve never made the choice of trying something new, I don’t think that you’ve really experienced life.

And again, I’m not out there trying to make anyone feel bad about their choices in their life, or feel like they haven’t done enough. I think it’s, you know, Drake says this, “It’s better late than never, but never late is better.” Right? It’s just like, you just have to understand like, okay, yeah, it might have happened, but still, better late is never. Like, just do it when you can, when you figure it out, like, or find the time to. Take that leap, like, have a little bit of fun, right? Like it’s not all about just, you know, the black and white. It’s all about the whole spectrum of color. And I think that’s really important to have the fun in between the extremities.

Adam Morgan
Oh, totally. I think what we’re saying on this is there is hope in this world. There’s opportunity and it’s not about, you know, making someone feel bad for not choosing, but like do it now. Go out there and enjoy this playground. Enjoy your passion. Do all of it. And you’ll have a much more full and enriched life. Well, I guess the last question I have on this, as we’re digging really deep in this metaphor is like, could all three of them merge into one eventually? 

Eph Cruz
I mean, yeah, I mean, this is—this is the journey I’m on in life currently. Like I, I obviously want to go all in on my passion. And again, earlier on in my career, that’s what I did, you know, cause I was lucky enough that I had parents that believed in me, right?

They believe at that time, they believed my passion was a risk, you know, typical Asian conservative parents, right? But once I got a VC fund to believe in me, right? That definitely made them see a more potential stability platform, which is funny because to me, that was my passion, right? They only see, you know, risk or, you know, or stability. But yeah, having that experience early on of going all in on my passion sort of helped me shape, you know, my paycheck and something that was just the playground for me influenced my passion, right? Like, I’ve seen, I’ve seen big brands and people who have diversified  into many things. And it just, I think it just takes the right business model.

So, you know, yes, I do think it’s possible. And maybe we could do another podcast episode in the future when I can answer this more definitively–you know, again, I’m, I’m trying to make my passion my paycheck again, and eventually have the playground amplify it, right, by like sponsoring or doing brand collaborations within the music industry. 

And I think that—there’s this term, right? I think it’s pretty well known, but in the Japanese culture, it’s something called “ikigai,” where it helps determine, like, what a person’s purpose or role in life is or just, like, the reason for living. And if you do look it up, it’s, again, it’s called ikigai. It’s sort of like this, like, great Venn diagram of, you know, what you love, what the world needs, what you get paid for and what you’re good at. Right? And, and I think it helps visualize how it could be one ultimate creative life experience. And again, just to caveat, I may be on a totally different spectrum across these pillars. You know, there’s some people who don’t need stability or privilege enough where they don’t need to take a risk. But again, this is, this is just my journey.

Adam Morgan
Oh, that’s awesome. Well, tell us what’s your advice to other creative leaders, that how they can use these principles of the three P’s more in their careers.

Eph Cruz
Well, you know, I think, I think just in terms of committing to them, like, I think holding yourself accountable, you know, no one else can live, you know, your life, right? Like, once you find your paycheck or stability, like, I think one good thing is trying to automate it, right? Or having the speed, but again, the least level of effort so you can focus on other parts of your creative journey. You know, once you work on your passion, like, stay passionate, right? And once you take a risk, like, don’t be afraid to fail. Like, I’ve, I’ve failed so many times, right? Like, I’ve had, I’ve made so many brands in a few hours, pitched it, threw it to a wall, didn’t stick. But it taught me, like, how to accept failure and understand that, you know, not every idea is, is created equally. Right? 

I, you know, I remember the day that, you know, we lost our funding for my first brand, Rivals, right? It like, it broke my heart. And at the time felt like it was like the lowest moment in my life. And I tried everything I could to just hold onto my passion. That was also my paycheck, but you know, things happen. Right? You can’t let that stop you from chasing your passion. So, you know, I worked my ass off and luckily partnered into a brand called Fresh Goods that became pretty successful. 

But yeah, like, there’s that saying, right? Like, “Keep your head up in failure and keep your head down in success.” And like, I definitely try to practice that. Also, I think, like, what would really help is, like, kind of like having, like, your own creative space, right? Like, your own quiet place. Like for me, like that’s my home studio. But you could really take your creative space anywhere or even something intangible, like a song that you listen to that helps you create, right? But like, but if you have issues finding your three pillars, like, again, like I try laying it out by using that method of ikigai. And I think that’ll like, sort of get you going on how you could really help change the world.

Adam Morgan
This has been super inspirational; I’m ready to go out there and figure out more of my passion, do something. Love it. Awesome. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. And I truly hope that yours will all collide again. And that, you know, your, your passion will become your paycheck. That would be awesome. 

Eph Cruz
We’re going to have to keep in touch, Adam, for sure. 

Adam Morgan
Awesome. Well, as we close here, how can people follow you? How can they keep up so they can see, you know, how things turn out and where you go with your career?

Eph Cruz
It would be great if you do, guys. Um, so my IG is @quantumeph— Q-U-A-N-T-U-M-E-P-H. And my LinkedIn is Ephraim Gerard Cruz. 

Adam Morgan
Awesome. Well, thanks everyone for joining us. This has been a delightful conversation. Eph, thank you so much. Take care and hopefully you all enjoy this as much as I do. And we’ll see you next time. 

Eph Cruz
Later, Adam. Thank you.

Adam Morgan
Thank you. As always, you can find me at adamwmorgan.com. And finally, this show is produced by The Stoke Group, a full service digital agency that specializes in content, marketing, video, and interactive experiences. So if you’re looking for a partner for strategy or content or anything else, visit thestokegroup.com. Thanks again for listening. And we’ll see you next time.