Why Creators End Up Working Alone (And What to Do Instead)

Today, we're going to be talking about trying to build a community and finding the help.

When you feel like you don't have help as a creator, when you feel isolated and alone.

And this is something that absolutely I know is impacting a lot of our fellow creators.

Why?

Because it's the very reason we had to create a community.

I was the one when I first got into freelance creative work, musician, artist, podcaster

every single time.

When you start something, you usually start it without any support at all because you

just feel like this is something I should try.

So you start the brand, you start the blog, you start the podcast, very rarely do you have

this team behind you at the beginning of a creator project.

So you're used to starting by yourself, you're used to figuring it out, you're used to

being on your own.

Now you may ask questions on Facebook, you might like me, have asked around, but for the

most part, we tend to start our creator projects by ourselves.

And then we quickly realize in order to do all the things, we don't have the capacity

to do it by ourselves.

So what happens?

We either start desperately looking around for anyone that can help.

We'll go on Facebook, we'll go on YouTube, we'll do YouTube University, we'll devour

all of that stuff.

Maybe we do have a local community that we can go to.

But the problem with each one of these situations is when you start to ask around, you're almost

in a desperate kind of state.

By the time you start asking people to connect with you, you're feeling like, is there anyone

that even cares about this?

Do I really have to do this all by myself?

Is this just going to fail because I don't have the connections, I don't have the network,

I don't have the resources, the finances?

Is this project all just going to rely on me?

That's a dangerous place to be as a creator because what mostly happens is at this point,

you start to have a do or die mentality.

It's going to do it, I have to do it by myself or it's going to die because I can't get

any help.

Both of those are unhealthy.

To do or die as an independent creator implies, again, that this project entirely relies on

you.

That without you being able to push this engine, push this ball across the field, it's

just going to end up being just a tremendous burden in both cases.

If you keep it going or if you give up, you're feeling the pressure and the weight all by

yourself.

That's what we want to avoid.

So the question is, how do we avoid feeling this pressure?

Well, I just mentioned it, but it's easier said than done.

Building community and finding support inside your local area or online isn't easy, but

it isn't so necessary.

There is no project.

I will stand on my son, my soap box at this point and it kind of make this clear because

there are some people that feel like, hey, it's a lone creator that just pushes everything

forward and they get it done.

No project survives on their own.

If you feel that you've ever had the same kind of feeling that you felt like you've had

to do all the creative work by yourself, almost as a badge of honor, I know I've been there.

I've been there as a podcaster, I've been there as a musician where I felt like just finishing

everything by myself somehow validated the project that I was the one that stuck

it out to the end.

But most of the time, the work that was done when I was by myself was not as good if I

had brought in somebody else.

So first, let's talk about where to find support from other people that are in a community.

The first place is going to probably surprise you and that would be your family and close

friends.

Obviously I know people say don't rely on your family and close friends because they

don't really understand what you do.

But the reason why I'm bringing them up is because a lot of times, family and friends may

not understand what you do, but they would love to support you while you do it in other

ways.

So maybe you have a family member or a friend who has nothing to do with singing or art

or drama, but they understand finances.

Maybe you have somebody that's really good at finding connections with other people,

at being able to be administrative and they are in your family and you're like, hey,

I'm trying to do this project.

I know that I can't pay you for this or can't pay you for that.

But would you help me with this specific role?

You'd be surprised how many family and friends are willing to step into certain roles to

help you.

So without them being involved entirely, they may be willing to make a couple of calls

or to help you out in certain areas that would actually be hugely beneficial.

And I'll extend this a little further and say, not just your family and friends, but then

your creative community.

Now what if you don't have a creator community in your neighborhood, in your area or online?

Well, of course, for someone to tell you God and gigs 360 is one of those communities

that can help you to find other creators who will support you.

But even if not, this happened with me in my podcast journey.

I didn't know who to go to.

I was really trying things by myself and then finally I found podcast.

The podcast community really was my doorway into actually realizing that podcasting could

be a lifestyle and a career.

So if you have not yet found that community, this is where you don't just ask individuals.

You don't just go on Facebook and like, put out a random question.

You join a community that's already doing something similar to what you're doing.

That is the first key to becoming connected and taking away the isolation.

Because by joining another community and finding out what they're all about, you can then

start the reciprocal process of not only helping others, but others helping you.

But it's so true that asking this shall be given you have to give and then it's given

to you.

Right?

So first, you have to learn how to give and to be a part of a community before you can

access the resources inside a community.

This is something that's super huge, but I don't think a lot of creators realize this is

not a kind of very selfish, angling, networking, ploy or tactic.

This is literally how creators generally connect.

They connect over shared problems, shared goals, shared dreams or shared aspirations.

And each one of us is then willing to help the other.

It doesn't mean that I wouldn't help somebody that doesn't know what I'm doing or how I do

my podcasting or music or whatever I would, but it's so much more powerful when we share

that same need and we can help each other.

So if you are feeling isolated, the way to get out of it is not just to join a community,

but find someone who's dealing with a problem, a similar to a problem that you have dealt

with and see if you can help them solve it.

And then ask that person, Hey, have you ever dealt with X or Y?

And I'm having this problem.

Can you help me solve it?

The ability to find reciprocal issues and shared issues.

It's huge in being able to reconnect or connect for the first time with people who will

actually help you get past the creative obstacle that you're facing.

And yes, I know a lot of times we think about this in terms of finances, can I hire help?

Can I hire an assistant?

Sometimes that is true.

You need to invest.

I've done it.

I have my own VA now.

I did decide to invest in a person that would help me keep up with things.

At certain points, she's been more active.

Sometimes less her job position or job role has changed over time.

But as my roles have increased, so have the amount of people that I need to help me.

And this is another one of those things that you might not realize at the beginning of a project.

It never stays the same size.

So whereas at the beginning, you might not have needed a big team.

You might not have needed help.

You thought you could do it all by yourself.

But over time, your needs grow.

Your team also should grow as your needs grow.

And that's the thing again that you may not think about at the beginning,

but you need to start talking to yourself and saying, hey, who in my network,

who could I start to look at as a potential partner as I start to build the thing out?

And how can I help them?

This is how community works.

Community works in the way that when you are helping others,

they are looking out to help you.

And again, if it's an existing community, that's great.

However, some of us have to build our own communities.

Again, you can look at God in gigs.

And we had to build the community from the ground up and we're still building.

We are app, our different places that we show up online.

It's all designed to draw people who need what we need,

who need what we have, but also can supply stuff that we need.

It's reciprocal.

It's always been reciprocal in terms of who's showing up,

who's helping, and how can we help them to grow in there?

God given artistic talent.

That's the goal.

That's always been the goal and there's always will be the goal.

So I've given a couple of ideas in terms of how you can break out the isolation.

I heard this one question as well on one of the workshops that I was watching

with La Chanda Brown's Bootstrap Biz Advice live streams.

And this is a great question.

Maybe you're in an isolated place where online is your only option

and you feel like you can't get in person with people.

And you may feel like, okay, well, I just don't have people in my neighborhood.

I don't have people in my city that understand me.

That may be true, but as La Chanda gave this advice,

you may need to get in your car and drive a few miles

and connect with people outside of your particular geographic area.

Why do I say that?

Because once again, it's the same thing as going to conferences,

the same thing as connected with communities.

Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone,

out of the place where you're used to finding people

in order to make the connections where people can actually help you

to move forward in your creator lifestyle.

It's so important that you not get stuck in just thinking about,

oh, if they come to me, if I build this thing and they come to me,

then that's my community, that's my audience.

Usually it doesn't work that way.

You have to start by going out,

going out to people and being open and honest and available

to help them, then they start to come out and help you.

And that's where you break the isolation that could be felt

when you're not getting the help that you need

and you feel like you're wearing all the hats.

You're wearing the administrative hat, the creator hat,

the marketing hat, all the hats that you're wearing.

If you're able to get people around you in a community

where you can ask specific questions and get specific answers

because you are being a part of the community,

you're going to find a lot of those issues start to go away.

All right, so our last section, as always,

is our prescriptions

and very often our prescription is join the membership.

Join God and give 360, but the easiest way to do that

is to join a creator resource center.

You go to Godandguest.com for that CRC,

you'll see a link just to the creator resource center.

And that is where you can get access

to all of our workshops on Bible study,

workshops on creative work, workshops on how to balance

and get your time back,

how to manage your schedule

that we just recorded with Julie last week.

All that's inside the creator resource center,

plus you get access to our app,

plus you get access to the forms,

plus you get to ask questions of your fellow creators

who hang out all the time and they are so active,

so blessed and so fun to be around.

So I would love for you to be a part

of Godandguest 360.

Again, the easiest way to join is CRC

or you can upgrade to our live coaching.

I would love to see you guys there,

but until then, until we meet again,

continue to become the creator

that you were created to be.

God bless, and we'll see you next episode.

God bless, and we'll see you next week.