Meet Joey Held

We recently connected with Joey Held and have shared our conversation below.

Joey, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
I like to incorporate a combination of physical, social, and emotional activities to keep a good creative flow going. Physically, I’ll go for a walk, play basketball, or do a workout at home — I recently got an exercise step, which is such a simple thing that can kick your butt. Socially, I’ll catch up with friends and family. Even if it’s just a quick check-in to hear their latest and greatest or telling a story via voice note, getting that connection with others can really be motivating. Emotionally, I’ll channel some kind of energy from activities outside of work. Maybe that’s singing a song while cooking, watching a TV show or reading a book while cuddling with my dogs, or even unusually shaving my facial hair.

There are a lot of ways — both silly and serious — to channel creativity. Finding what’s worked for me has been so helpful in keeping me going, especially when I feel like I’ve exhausted my creative potential in something.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’ve never been content just doing one thing. Even growing up, I’d tackle different side projects outside of school.

I work for a wonderful marketing and PR company, and I’ve been a freelancer for more than a decade, covering all kinds of fascinating stories, from the O. Henry Pun-Off in Austin (still the most groans per minute I’ve ever gotten to witness) to the most unusual album promotions in music history. All that writing led to my debut book, Kind, But Kind of Weird: Short Stories on Life’s Relationships.

About six years ago, I was looking at a donut from Gourdough’s — the Freebird, if you’re scoring at home — and just thought, “Wow, this is a thing of beauty.” Phat Phoodies was born in that moment. Since then, I’ve used the site and corresponding social accounts to highlight new places around Austin and beyond, recipes and cooking tips, and a nostalgic look at old food commercials. With that kind of focus, my best-performing post ever is about the best places to cry in Austin, naturally.

Additionally, I play guitar and offer smooth harmonizing vocals in my band Burning Years and have a pair of podcasts: Sports R Dumb, an exploration of the sillier elements of sports, and Good People, Cool Things, which interviews entrepreneurs, musicians, artists, and other creatives. Hey, that sounds like a good cross-promotion with Voyage, doesn’t it?

Most recently, I’ve launched a newsletter called Fun Fact Friyay. It was created out of the realization that I’m subscribed to a ton of newsletters where every email has, like, 36 different links for you to check out. I wanted to deliver something entertaining and informative without that bogged-down feeling. As the name implies, the newsletter delivers one fact every Friday. There’s some background in each issue, but if you really wanted to, you could just read the one-sentence fact at the top of the email and get on with your day. That kind of efficient brevity is refreshing.

Having my hands in multiple cookie jars challenges different parts of my brain and mindset, and it’s really cool to see how things have evolved over the years.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Curiosity is my number one quality. My parents took me traveling on family vacations when I was very young, which really gave me exposure to the world. I loved seeing unique places, learning about different cultures and customs, and trying new food. That sense of wonder has continued through today in a lot of aspects of daily life.

Being a strong writer has opened the door to so many opportunities. One of the lines in my Instagram bio says, “People come to Instagram for the captions, right?” I find it more enjoyable to come up with the text below the picture or video than the media itself. Quality writing can transport the reader and immerse them in what you’re saying. It’s a talent that I work to improve every day, and I encourage everyone to practice writing and find their voice.

Finally, a sense of humor has gotten me through some tough times. I get mad and upset at things, but if I can’t control them, there’s not much else I can do but laugh.

My best advice is to have a genuine interest in connecting with people. I lived in Los Angeles shortly after I graduated college. And while I met several lovely folks who are still friends today, I also encountered so many people who only wanted to know what I could do for them. I’ve never been involved with the movie industry, and I hadn’t yet made much music, so, in most cases, I was of little use.

That kind of transactional friendship isn’t healthy. You’re not going to like everyone you meet, and that’s totally fine. But if you never give them a chance, you’re only doing both of you a disservice.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
Typically, my overwhelm comes with having too much on my to-do list. This will sound like counterintuitive advice, but when that feeling sets in, I get up and do something quick that’s not on the list — but is still beneficial to me. Maybe going for a quick walk around the neighborhood, tidying up a room in the house, or hitting a few balls on the putting green I bought shortly after Covid because it seemed like a good way to relieve stress. It’s also confirmation that becoming a pro golfer is not in the cards for me.

It helps to write down what I have to do. When I see everything laid out like that, I can better prioritize what’s ahead of me. Sometimes, I’ll realize a task will only take me ten minutes, and I chuckle that it was worrying me so much. Plus, it’s super satisfying to cross an item off a physical list.

At the end of the day, if I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to, I try not to beat myself up about it. When we’re scolding ourselves for not finishing X, Y, or Z, we’re overlooking the good work we did with A through W.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
For the guitar photo: Trey Karnes

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