My Story

Have you ever looked at your life and thought, “Is this it?”

Yeah, me too.

I’m a simple-living, multi-passionate, community-loving dude with an amazing wife, two great sons, and a clear sense of my gifts.

Through things like multipotentiality, Asset-Based Community Development, and quantum biology, I’ve befriended personal heroes and achieved things that “Past Joel” would've thought impossible.

But I’m not special. I’m just a regular person like you who made some big changes.

Cue the Personal Renaissance

Back in 2010, life looked “nice” on the outside. I had a good job, a good house, and all the adulting boxes checked.

Behind my disguise, I was sleep-deprived, addicted to video games, sugar-binging, and mindlessly chasing money with meaningless work. Then it happened: My wife, Melinda, told me she was pregnant with our first son.

That. Changed. Everything.

The key question was this: do I let the shadow of becoming a physically and emotionally absent papa sweep over me or do I let the light of reinvention shine in?

I chose to ignite a personal renaissance – my term for a rapid and expansive inner evolution – that’s still going strong.

Blogs and Experiments

Inspired by everyday people doing extraordinary things, I started blogging in 2010. I learned a ton despite my posts being crap-tastic and packed with drifting fascinations.

By 2012, I quit my comfy job without a backup plan and leaned hard into simplicity, creativity, and community. Slowly but surely, I started creating more than I consumed.

Yeah, my new worldview was messy and I stumbled along like a sleepy toddler. But participating in events like World Domination Summit and immersing myself in communities like Live Your Legend and The Puttyverse showed me a new promise.

Bring. People. Together.

Through purposeful sleep-deprivation this time, my second son was born in September 2013. That’s about the time I started a simple living event series called SimpleREV with my buddies, Dan Hayes and Anthony Ongaro.

It was short-lived but tree-mend-us – showing me the promise in my unique style of bringing people together.

These Days?

I'm happily focused on running The Puttyverse – a global community of multipotentialites – introducing more people to the Offers and Needs Market, doing hyper-local neighboring with NeighborGood, exploring consciousness and spirituality through psychedelics, and continuing to evolve.

But I still have my flaws. I lose my patience and focus. I battle with sugar-binging and needlessly impressing people.

What guides me through the dark moments is massive gratitude and purpose. There are opportunities to influence and be influenced … and dare I say change the world.

Want to Start (or Continue) Your Own Personal Renaissance?

If you’re feeling stuck, aimless, or like your potential’s gathering dust, I hope my story sparks something in you.

Let’s explore the simple, generous, wonderfully unsexy side of life together. We’ll stumble, high-five, maybe hug, and laugh a lot on the way.

Are you in?