Originally shared with our newsletter community in July 2026.

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Marty Imes | CultureStoke

Today, I dropped my son off at the Pismo Beach Vet’s Hall at 5:50 a.m.

After rubbing in his sunscreen and saying a quick goodbye, he walked over to wait for the charter bus that would take him and his fellow junior lifeguards to a competition in Santa Barbara.

It was his first junior lifeguard competition and one of the first times he’s ventured that far from home on his own.

As I pulled out of the parking lot and glanced toward the buses, I noticed him standing on the sidewalk, backpack secured, talking with two towheaded kids.

As I drove away with that image still fresh in my mind, an interesting mixture of emotions came over me.

Excitement, the kind you experience at the beginning of a new journey, where the possibilities are wide open and the outcomes uncertain.

A profound sense of gratitude, not only for that particular moment, but for every situation, decision, sacrifice, relationship, and person that came together to make that moment possible.

And then, almost immediately, a genuine sense of awe followed by the very real thought:

Holy shit. How did time move so fast?

Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago today, I was driving my 1986 Volkswagen Westfalia home along Highway 46 toward Arroyo Grande with my wife and eight-month-old son.

We had spent a few days with dear friends in the mountains near Yosemite and Bass Lake.

Just eleven days earlier, I had resigned from Advantage Answering+, where I had spent the previous eleven years helping grow the business from a small regional telephone answering service into an award-winning, nationwide virtual receptionist company.

During that time, I had the privilege of working alongside some of the greatest people I could ever imagine:

Marci, Bob, Debbie, Anita, Jaclyn, Stacy, Sue, Nicole, Janielle, Jennifer, Johnny, Kristen, Cynthia, Cesar, Gina, and so many other incredible humans.

Thank you for the heart, care, and soul you poured into making Advantage such a special place.

I am so damn proud of what we built together.

Thank you for making the world a friendlier and more connected place.

Thank you for helping me discover a deeper sense of purpose through our work.

And thank you for your confidence, trust, care, and friendship.

Stepping away from the team was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made.

Looking back, I wish I had done a better job saying goodbye. I wish I had stayed in closer contact with more of the people who meant so much to me during that season of my life.

What I Knew and What I Didn’t

As I continued driving along Highway 46 that day, I remember reflecting on a conversation with my buddy John while we were drying off after swimming in the lake.

I told him I still was not sure what I was going to do for work.

I did not have a business plan, a polished service offering, clients waiting for me, or a clear picture of what the next chapter would become.

But I knew two things mattered deeply to me:

I wanted to work with great people.

And I wanted the freedom to be more present with my young family.

More than any title, achievement, or business opportunity, the person I wanted to become was an active, engaged, and available father.

I wanted to be there.

For the mornings.

For the ordinary afternoons.

For the milestones I knew were coming, and the countless small moments I could not yet imagine.

I wanted to build a life in which my work supported the person I wanted to be, not one in which the people I loved received whatever energy happened to be left over.

I did not know then that this desire would become one of CultureStoke’s deepest foundations.

I only knew I wanted to create meaningful work, spend my days with people I respected, and have more ownership over how I used my limited time.

Ten years later, I can see that CultureStoke did not begin with a logo, a website, a workshop, or even a company name.

It began with a question:

Could I build a meaningful career without sacrificing the life I wanted to live?

That question eventually expanded into something bigger:

Could work become a source of energy, confidence, contribution, belonging, and possibility - not only for me, but for other people too?

The earliest photographs from this journey capture how uncertain and unpolished it all was.

There were sticky notes covering cabinets. Vision boards. Handwritten ideas. Cold emails. Borrowed offices. Conference badges. Long drives. Big dreams. Small opportunities.

There were days when I felt completely alive and certain I was moving in the right direction.

There were other days when I questioned nearly everything.

Beginning something new rarely feels as inspiring in real life as it looks in hindsight.

Most of the time, it feels like taking the next step before you are entirely ready.

It feels like offering something before it is perfect.

It feels like sending the email, walking into the room, introducing yourself, asking for an opportunity, hearing no, trying again, and continuing to believe before there’s (any) evidence that things will work out.

But people began saying yes.

A leader invited me into a conversation.

A company trusted me with its team.

A friend made an introduction.

Someone offered me a stage.

Someone else welcomed me into a room.

People shared ideas, offered feedback, extended encouragement, challenged my thinking, referred me to others, and gave CultureStoke opportunities to become something more than an idea.

One conversation became a workshop.

One workshop became a longer partnership.

One relationship led to another.

Slowly, uncertainly, and often imperfectly, CultureStoke became real.

The Work Became About the People

Over the past ten years, I have had the privilege of helping leaders and teams have honest conversations about purpose, culture, communication, trust, accountability, leadership, growth, and the kind of workplace they wanted to create.

I have watched walls fill with sticky notes and rooms fill with laughter.

I have watched people say things they had needed to say for a long time.

I have watched difficult conversations create understanding.

I have watched leaders find greater courage.

I have watched teams reconnect.

I have watched organizations recognize that culture is not simply something they have.

It is something they create, through thousands of choices, conversations, systems, behaviors, and moments of leadership.

And throughout it all, CultureStoke has continued to teach me too.

It has taught me that meaningful work is rarely built alone.

It has taught me that relationships are the real infrastructure of a business.

It has taught me that growth is often difficult to recognize while it is happening.

It has taught me that progress frequently looks messy before it looks impressive.

And it has taught me that courage does not mean knowing exactly where the road will lead.

Sometimes courage is simply taking the next step forward while the road is still unfolding.

Most importantly, it has taught me that success is not only about how much a company grows.

It is about how much good it creates while growing.

Looking Back, I See People

Looking through ten years of photographs, I do not primarily see presentations, retreats, conference rooms, stages, or business milestones.

I see people.

I see clients who trusted me with their organizations, their teams, their hopes, and some of their most important conversations.

I see collaborators and partners who brought their talents, perspectives, creativity, care, and energy into the work.

I see mentors and friends who believed in me during moments when I was not entirely sure I believed in myself.

I see every person who participated honestly, asked a brave question, shared a meaningful story, laughed at one of my jokes, offered feedback, made an introduction, or helped carry the idea forward.

And I see my family.

I see my wife, who supported this dream through uncertainty, sacrifice, change, long days, more than occasional stress, new possibilities, and more than a few evolving versions of who I believed I was becoming.

I see my son.

First as an eight-month-old baby looking out the window.

Then at the beach.

On trails.

On trips.

Alongside this business as both he and CultureStoke slowly grew up.

I cannot claim every decision I made over the past decade was right.

I cannot claim I was always as present as I intended to be.

There were seasons when the business received too much of me.

There were moments I missed, relationships I could have cared for better, and times when fear, ambition, distraction, or uncertainty affected how I showed up.

But I can say this:

I was there for so much of it.

I had breakfasts with him.

I took him to the beach.

I explored trails, campgrounds, tide pools, mountains, and ordinary afternoons with him.

I watched him grow.

Through trying to build a better way of working for myself, I developed an even deeper belief that the way we work profoundly shapes the way we live.

Work affects the energy we bring home.

It affects our confidence.

Our health.

Our relationships.

Our patience.

Our sense of possibility.

The people we become.

That is why CultureStoke exists:

To make work better, so people can live better lives and organizations can accomplish what matters most.

Because when work is healthier, clearer, more meaningful, and more human, the benefits do not remain inside the workplace.

They travel home.

They reach spouses, children, friends, families, and communities.

Better work creates better lives.

The People Who Helped Build the Dream

Today, on CultureStoke’s tenth anniversary, I feel a depth of gratitude that is difficult to put fully into words.

I think about the people at Advantage Answering+ who showed me what a caring and intentional workplace could become.

I think about every client who trusted us with their people, every collaborator who strengthened the work, every friend who made an introduction, and every person who encouraged the dream before the outcome was clear.

I think especially about Debbie, whose love, sacrifice, and partnership made this journey possible; my parents, Bob and Marci, who gave me the foundation and confidence to believe I could build something meaningful; Wes, whose partnership, perspective, and commitment helped shape the company and turn an idea into a shared mission; and Ligia, whose care and operational leadership helped turn ideas into experiences people could actually feel.

CultureStoke was never built alone.

It was shaped by trust, friendship, sacrifice, encouragement, honest feedback, open doors, and countless acts of care that may never appear in a photograph.

Looking back, that may be one of the clearest reflections of all:

The dream may have begun with an idea, but it became real through many hands.

Ten Years Later

Ten years ago, I had no idea what CultureStoke would become.

Truthfully, I still do not know exactly what the next ten years will hold.

But perhaps that is part of what makes the beginning of a new journey so exciting.

The possibilities remain open.

The outcomes remain uncertain.

And we get to take the next step anyway.

This morning, my son boarded a bus toward his next adventure.

Ten years ago, I drove along Highway 46 toward mine.

Today, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for every person, choice, risk, lesson, wrong turn, open door, difficult season, joyful moment, and unexpected opportunity that helped carry us from there to here.

Thank you for being part of the story.

It has been one of the greatest privileges of my life to help make work, and hopefully life, a little better alongside you.

And somehow, ten years in, it still feels like we are just getting started.

With abundant love and overflowing stoke and gratitude,

Marty :D

Marty Imes

Founding Partner