We were lucky to catch up with Cole Claybourn recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cole, appreciate you joining us today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

I created my podcast, “In No Hurry” when I was in a transitional period of my life. I was leaving a job I really enjoyed as a teacher and tennis coach, and on top of that, my wife Emily and I were moving cities. Leaving my job was hard, but so too was the fact that it meant leaving my hometown where my family and friends were. To add to it, I was leaving education at the time to focus more on my creative projects, like writing and starting a podcast.

A hallmark of my time teaching was that I never felt like I had time to stop and relax. I was an English teacher, tennis coach and yearbook advisor. Rarely did I have a free moment. As someone with creative energy and ideas, it was frustrating feeling like I had no time or space to tap into this. I knew I needed to slow down. So in the Fall of 2019, I launched the In No Hurry Podcast, which is a space for me to talk with other creatives about where their faith in God and creativity intersect. As a Christian myself, I know that we are called to peel back from our busy lives and spend unhurried time with God. I wasn’t doing it, and I could feel the effects of it in my mental, spiritual and physical health. I hope my podcast serves as a call to people — and a reminder to myself — that we need unhurried time in our life to allow ourselves to live and tap into the passions God has instilled in us.

Cole, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My professional background is in journalism, and even throughout my five years as a public school teacher, I found ways to still do journalism and conduct freelance writing. In 2019 I launched my podcast as a fun creative outlet, but it has paved the way for business opportunities and paid freelance work where I get to work with former professional athletes and other really talented people to help produce their podcasts.

Personally, I focus the majority of my creative content on sharing my faith in God. My podcast serves as a space to share the stories of other Christian creatives and I use my Substack newsletter to write devotionals or other pieces about Christian living topics. Primarily, my focus is on fighting the battle of comparison, as it’s something I’ve dealt with for the majority of my life. As creatives, it’s so easy to look at what others are doing and feel like what you’re doing isn’t good enough. It’s easy to get discouraged to the point of quitting. But my goal through my content is to be vulnerable and inspire others to know that the unique skills that God has given them are needed by the world. Just because someone can play a guitar and you can’t doesn’t mean your ability to write and speak aren’t needed in the same way. I hope to show people how amazing it is when you embrace and run with the unique skills you have instead of wanting someone else’s.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding part of working in the creative space is connecting with other creatives and being inspired by them. One lesson I’ve had to learn is that this really is not and should not be a competitive space. Everyone has their own art, and for the most part, people love celebrating each other. I think when that happens, everyone benefits, because we can simply sit back and enjoy the content or that others are producing instead of feeling jealous.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

My entire professional journey has been one of being able to pivot. I earned my degree in journalism from Western Kentucky University in 2012, and until 2016 I enjoyed a successful career in journalism. I covered sports and then transitioned to more of a digital producer role where I was doing less reporting and more work on the back end of our website as well as producing video and audio pieces. After being asked to help coach a high school tennis team in 2015, a year later I decided to pursue a career as a teacher to where I could coach full time as well. I did that for three years and enjoyed a lot of success, including taking two teams to the Indiana state finals and coaching two players who were runners up in the singles state tournament. I had a lot of success and a lot of fun along the way.

When my wife and I moved from my hometown of Evansville, Indiana to Bowling Green, Kentucky in 2019, I left teaching and moved to a digital marketing role with my father-in-law’s company. It was a nice change of pace and it allowed me to focus on launching my podcast and begin writing a book. But after a year of doing that, I felt called back to the classroom. I taught English and coached tennis again for another two years, this time at a different school, until May 2022. In December 2021, our house was hit by a tornado and we were displaced for nearly nine months. A slew of unfortunate events happened over the course of the next several months, severely affecting my mental health and making it difficult for me to do the already challenging job of teaching. So, once again, I pivoted, and in June 2022, I entered back into full-time journalism. I now cover education for U.S. News & World Report, which has been a great change for me as I get to use all of my educational background and work experience, and I also have the ability to work from home. That’s been beneficial as I’ve worked to regulate my mental health back to normal, and it was especially helpful during the time when we were moving back into our house after tornado repairs were made.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://coleclaybourn.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coleclaybourn/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColeDouglasClaybourn
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cole-claybourn-2bab5034/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ColeClaybourn
• Other: Substack: https://coledouglasclaybourn.substack.com/

Image Credits
Loren Gifford/Loren Gifford Photography