Victor Acosta’s Wake-Up Call: Why Success Without Soul Isn’t Success at All

Victor Acosta left behind a high-powered consulting career and the illusion of success to pursue something far more profound: harmony. After a personal reckoning, he rebuilt his life through philosophy, creativity, and deep self-inquiry—ultimately founding Vocalis, a company that transforms organizational tension into aligned, purpose-driven growth. In this edition of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Spotlight, Victor shares how tuning into timeless principles—and asking better questions—can reshape companies from the inside out. His journey reminds us that real success begins when we stop performing and start aligning, creating impact not just with strategy, but with soul.

Hi, Victor! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?

At Vocalis, we help companies operate at their best by transforming organizational challenges in to opportunities for sustainable growth through the ten pillars of harmony. That's the one sentence version. But to make it simpler, think of it this way: at work, things either feel light or heavy. We say that all the time: "Oh, there's a weight on my shoulders. I feel so tense. This is just so heavy." And at Vocalis we're experts at measuring this tension, understanding what is causing it, and what is the narrative behind it, so that by awareness and choice, we can decide if this is the way we - read, the company - want to live, or if we want to right a different story. And if we do want to write a different story, the diagnostic of the ten pillars of harmony tell us exactly what needs to be tuned to bring the company back into harmony.

Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.

For years, I lived a dream that looks perfect on the outside but felt really empty on the inside. I think we all can relate to that moment in our lives. I worked as a management consultant for almost 10 years, living luxury hotels, traveling around the world. But in the middle of that success, there was a void in my chest, screaming for help, and my mind tried to solve it like a math problem.

Something wasn't right, and I realized I was performing a story I that didn't really correspond with who I really am. After much thought, I left my career, my apartment, my engagement, even my country. I studied philosophy, filmmaking, ancient ethics. And somewhere in between reading ancient texts and randomly reconnecting with the start-up scene in California, I rebuilt myself. That's when harmony ceased to be just concept to me, it became personal, and later it would become the foundation of Vocalis.

I think my journey to becoming an entrepreneur was a combination of several moments in which I chose to no longer compromise what felt true to me, and insisted in pursuing this dream until it became something real.

Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.

As I was reconnecting with myself, I noticed that in finding this internal alignment once again, I felt lighter. I felt free. Life felt good. And I wondered if the same principle could be applied to businesses. Would there be something about well-being or efficiency that has anything to do with being aligned with timeless principles of life? This became the key hypothesis for Vocalis.

There are timeless patterns of life, and when we're aligned with them, we feel light. When we're not, something feels heavy. And by adding my 15 years of professional experience, my studies in philosophy, and a creative background, I set myself to decode the pillars that uphold corporate health. That journey became the foundation of Vocalis.

A method was born, it was tested, and results were incredible. When we company understands what is off and tunes it, it feels like magic! Things work well, the chaos suddenly gives way to an environment where there is alignment, efficiency, productivity - but it isn't magic. It's simply the way life works. When aligned, everything flows. When not aligned, tensions build up. Once I finally tested the method and realized this is a workable product that adds value, that's when I decided to invest in it, seeking to serve others through Vocalis.

Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?

Ironically, the most important “tool” in my business isn’t software—it’s silence. It's awareness. Space. That’s where clarity emerges. For me, the most powerful technology we have is this inherent ability to perceive harmony.

To put it in an example, all of us - all of us - can hear a sound and tell if the sound we hear is noise or music. If you think about it mechanically, there is no obvious reason. Sounds are waves propagating in the air, that hit our ear drums, and our brain processes them into what we hear. But why do some sounds sound like noise and others sound like music? More importantly, how come that we - whether we are educated in music theory or not - are able to tell music from noise?

This ability to perceive harmony is an intuitive and natural ability of the human being, and it is on this quiet awareness that the entire work of Vocalis hinges on. If there are timeless patterns to life, we are the anchors to their meanings, and - through awareness and choice - we can decide to bring them to life or to continue to neglect them. I simply facilitate this process.

And on the practical side, my software ecosystem (including our automated Harmony Assessment engine) has been a game-changer. It helps leaders see what's really going on beneath the surface—quantifying alignment, engagement, trust, clarity, and governance in minutes. Data plus human insight—structure plus soul. That’s where transformation becomes simple and actionable.

We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.

My biggest “failure” was believing I had to be someone else to succeed. I tried to be the perfect consultant. But the more I perfected the persona, the further I drifted from myself. My real collapse wasn’t the panic attack, I think, but the realization that I was succeeding at the wrong game.

The pivot came when I stopped solving “business problems” and began solving human misalignment - first within myself, then inside businesses. Burnout wasn’t a time-management issue for me, it was a meaning issue. And when I began to realign with what is meaningful, my entire life transformed.

It didn't come easy, nor freely, but this is the difference - when there's alignment in what we do, it doesn't feel heavy. I probably work way more hours now than what I did before, but I do it on my on terms and sometimes I get lost in it, simply because I'm immersed in a process of creating, of being, of giving birth to what feels natural to me. We all have this ability. We are all artists of life. Everyone.

There's a big difference between art and performance. When you're an artist that is simply paid to do a job - to cry, to laugh, to act tough - there's just performance. But when vulnerability and authenticity meet in the form of creativity, there's art. This is the art of being. Where there is the art of being, there is just art. Where there isn't, there's just performance. I think the world today is so dramatically driven by performance. But we need artists. We need people who are capable of aligning mind and heart, meaning and craft, and who add their personal input to what they do, instead of simply following the norm. When I realized the power in simply pursuing my own process of becoming who I am, giving my best, and willing to serve others through whatever it was what I was creating, that's when my world changed.

This is a lesson I constantly have to remind myself of, because it's really easy to fall back to old patterns, to compromise, to betray what feels true for something else. I still fail at the same lesson every once in a while, but I whenever I feel I'm deviating from myself, I seek to come back. That's the beauty of harmony. It's a never-ending exercise, one where growth never ceases, as long as we're willing to stay true to ourselves.

What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?

I treat organizations like living systems, not machines. A lot of people optimize for speed and scale. My work optimizes for coherence, flow, and long-term value. When a company tunes itself to its own rhythm, things move with far less friction and far more power.

And I ask the question most consultants avoid: "What is the narrative controlling your business today?" followed by: “Is this the story you want to write?”

Because business strategy without a story is just theater. When leaders shift the story, the organization shifts effortlessly with it. And something I learn in film school is this: no matter how impossible it seems, if we're willing to reengage with that which is true in ourselves, in our business, there is always a solution. This state of presence sets in new possibilities. New questions emerge. And when we begin to answer these questions, rooted in our presence, new paths unfold.

I guess to put it short, there is value in AI - no doubt about that. But there's immense value in Human Intelligence as well.

What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?

I wish I knew the value of simplicity and I wish I truly understood that we can - we truly can - be who we are. There's nothing wrong about you, and your aspirations aren't dumb. But sometimes we need to bring our aspirations down to reality and simplify them, because in simplicity, they become possible. I wish I learned the value of asking myself four simple questions, early one: Who am I? Who do I want to help? What do they need? What is the simplest thing I can do that is aligned with myself and can meet this need?

Want to dive deeper into (guest name) work? Check out the links below!

• Visit Vocalis's website: joinvocalis.com
• Connect with Victor Costa on LinkedIn: Victor Costa