The Dangers of Collaborating with Others
The main thing that separated undergrad from grad was collaboration.
During undergrad, you were a winner if you could do things alone.
There were a lot of tests that had to be done solo.
Collaboration was seen as cheating.
In grad school, things changed.
Nowadays, it was about collaboration and mixing ideas with others.
There were a lot more group projects.
I liked grad school way better than undergrad because that’s how I believed the real world should work.
- Collaborate, trade ideas, and speed up each other’s growth.
I still agree with the beauty of collaboration.
However, there is a dark side that many don’t talk about.
The Manosphere Drama
Last year, there were 2 Manosphere creators named MediocreTutorials&Reviews and JustPearlyThings.
It’s called Manosphere because it’s a space where different creators discuss issues related to men.
MediocreTutorials&Reviews, who I will be referring to as MTR, is a YouTuber who provides social commentary.
And JustPearlyThings is a girl version of MTR.
They were going to collaborate.
MTR flew all the way to London to meet up with JustPearlyThings to record some videos.
They went to the beach, filmed talk shows, gave opinions and much more.
This seemed like a collaboration made in heaven.
All seemed to be going well.
Until a few weeks passed and JustPearlyThings interviewed a gentleman named Nick Fuentes.
Nick is a controversial figure who has been banned from a lot of social media platforms.
JustPearlyThings platforming him was seen as controversial.
MTR didn’t like this.
MTR viewed Nick to be a racist and was appalled that JustPearlyThings promoted him.
After that, MTR publicly cut ties with JustPearlyThings.
I thought:
‘How strange, just a few weeks ago, they were living it up. Now they are beefing. What gives?’
Why Working with People is Unpredictable
Before, we had a rough idea of where people stood.
During the era of cable TV, it was easy to understand the thoughts of the masses.
Nowadays, there are more black swans.
You and a person may be vibing for the most part.
The 2 personalities gel.
However, there is one idea that is RADICALLY different between the 2 of you.
Since the idea is so different, there’s a high possibility that the 2 of you may judge each other.
We saw this before.
Friendships were destroyed in the 2016 election.
If Mary and Susie got along perfectly…
And Mary was a Clinton supporter and Susie was a Trump supporter…
One or both parties were capable of hating each other.
Mind you, they get along with most things.
However, their political differences are so stark that it creates animosity.
In a logical world, we could just say:
‘Who cares if others think differently? Can’t we all just get along?’
But that’s not how it works in the real world.
One stark disagreement can create an enemy out of the blue.
The Pros of Working with Others
One of the pros of collaboration is that it speeds up your growth.
There are a lot of creators who go from 0-100 because they collaborated a lot.
They hit up a bunch of folks and ask to record content.
Some leave them on read, some say no, and some say yes.
Those few yeses turn out to be a gold mine.
Not only does collaboration lead to fast growth, but it also allows for a beautiful exchange of ideas.
I recently saw 2 physicists who I individually follow collaborating with one another.
It was a unique experience because they were both working on the same thing.
Their goal is to create a Big Toe (theory of everything).
However, their conclusions are different.
It was good seeing them agree & debate with one another.
A timely collaboration allows for ideas to be shared and new insights to be reached.
The audience leaves feeling smarter.
Cons of Collaborating with Others
One of the downsides of collaboration is that whenever you invite a new person into your business, you’re opening the door for infinite chaos.
I don’t use this term lightly.
You never know when someone will go bad.
There have been plenty of athletes who hired their buddy to be their accountant.
Initially, the accountant was great.
Over time, the accountant got greedy and stole from the athlete.
When I say humans are capable of infinite chaos, what I really mean is:
‘You never know what type of chaos they will bring.’
Their behavior after the collaboration may indirectly affect you.
I saw this famous YouTuber who collaborated with this one guest.
A few years later, the guest became a mass shooter.
Suddenly, the famous YouTuber deleted the collaboration.
The famous YouTuber’s audience was outraged:
‘Why would you delete this episode? You must have known that this guy was a serial killer!’
The guest never directly picked a fight with the famous YouTuber.
However, the guest’s actions after the collaboration affected the famous YouTuber.
Whenever we deal with people, we have a chance for infinite chaos.
Be Strategic with Partnerships
I’m very strategic with partnerships.
I’ll say yes to interviews if the other person has a body of work or is slowly building a portfolio.
I run a podcast with another gentleman.
And I work with a few people who handle my website, cover art, and translations.
Other than that, I’m not eager to collaborate with everyone under the sun.
I’m one of the worst people to cold email.
I would like to collaborate more when I add an interviewing feature to the ArmaniTalks brand.
When I do collaborate with future guests, I’m not going to do it with a naive attitude.
‘No one will ever switch up on me!’
I’m going to do it with an aware attitude:
‘Me and this person are sharing a good laugh now. But one line of questioning may trigger this fellow to turn on me.’
All good.
I’m aware of the risks.
I’ll still pull the trigger anyway.
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