Saving My Career With This One Tip

There's an old African proverb that goes like this, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. What that proverb is saying is if you want to go further in life, it can only ever be achieved with others. Going solo may get you somewhere fast, but it won't get you further than you hope. Pretty much everything you see around yourself at this very moment was created through collaboration. Like this desk, multiple people worked on this. This knife. This was created through collaboration. Your phone. Many people worked on this to make it happen. Even this can't. You get the point. Everything that you have around you right now was most likely actualized through collaboration. So that's what I want to talk about today. Collaboration. Because when I first started my career, I was very bad at this and I wasn't getting where I was hoping to be. It is an absolute miracle this Ronin still works. Mike has taken this to probably four continents. There's saltwater stains. The grip is peeling in my hands. It still works though. Works better. Works better. It's like a vintage wine at this point. I wish I'd discovered the ability to be a better collaborator earlier in my career. You see, when I first started out, I was trying to be the best I could in every area, in every aspect of my career. I was expecting that if I could just get better at everything that I did, I would go further in my career. So my first tip is this. Every person you meet knows something that you don't. Even if you think and maybe know that you're smarter than everyone around you currently, there is still things that they've experienced in their lives that they know that you don't. You can learn something and become a better collaborator, a better friend, a better spouse from any person that you meet. It wasn't until I started realizing that collaboration was the gap I needed to fill in my career journey. And that took the pressure off me having to be the best at everything. And also another piece of advice I want to give you is be careful the clothes you buy. I thought these were men's overalls, but they're actually women's overalls. They don't have a fly. So every time I have to pee, I have to de-robe myself like a little child going pee at a urinal. Why do I continue to wear these overalls? Well, I can't find them in men's and I really like them. Bring your feet down. One, two, three. This is another tip I want to give you. The people you collaborate with, the people you surround yourself with, find people who have strengths that you don't have. You're going to go way further than you could on your own. Suddenly, the pressure is off your shoulders from having to be the best at everything. And you can focus at your own strengths. Now, this isn't to say you shouldn't work on your own weaknesses. But when you're building your team, when you're working on a project, find someone who brings a set of skills that you don't have. Let me put it this way. Hire for your weaknesses. Surround yourself with people who bring something to the table that you don't have. That way, you're not just a bunch of carbon copies of each other where you'll quickly hit your ceiling because you all have the same capabilities. When you have people surrounding you with other abilities that you don't have, your team, your project, your creativity will go further than you could on your own. And that's what you want when you have a team. This is like After Effects. I hate it. I'm not good at it. I've tried to avoid it as much as possible. So when I'm hiring editors, I try to hire people who know how to use After Effects so they can bring something to the table that I can't. And that brings me to today's sponsor. Sometimes I don't always have the chance to hire an editor or it's a project that I don't have a budget for that. So all these lower thirds that you see in this project right now, I've been using them from Storyblocks. And I love this because I don't want to have to learn After Effects. I want to quickly drop something in my project just like this title, just like this title, just like this title. And sometimes when you go out, you don't have enough time to capture every shot that you were hoping for. And this is where Storyblocks can come in handy. They also have an unlimited royalty-free library, which means you can use any asset from their collection as much as you need for any of your projects. And they have flexible subscriptions that fit your needs. So check the link below my description and go check out Storyblocks. Now, my next point, I want to quote one of my favorite authors, and that's Brené Brown. And it's this, clear is kind. When you're collaborating, you need to make sure that you're able to express your ideas, what you want very clearly in just a few sentences, so the people around you know exactly what you are trying to accomplish as a team. If you're just inviting people out and say, hey, we're doing a photo shoot today, or we're doing videos, or we need to make this project happen. That's not clear. You need to give people specific goals, specific tasks, be very explicit in how they can help. If you're frustrated with the people around you on your project, you need to stop and ask yourself, have I been clear? Do they know what I want? And if they don't know what you want, then it's on you. You can't blame someone for not knowing what you haven't told them, for what you haven't expressed. The clarity and success of your project rests in your communication. So if your team doesn't seem to be doing well, if the project isn't going the way you hope, pull people aside and ask them, hey, do you know what you're trying to accomplish today? Do you know what success looks like for this project? And if they don't, that's when you can help them know the goals that you have in your mind and in your heart. To be a visionary, you need to be able to express your vision. Clear is kind. I've been very lucky to get to collaborate with some people now for many years. My creative partner, Michael and I, we've been working together since 2013. And Michael's most recent project, we've been working on that for over two years now. Another teammate of ours, Louis, he's been helping edit that. We've been collaborating on this for a long time and you would think there'd be the opportunity to get on each other's nerves. But this is one of the most important things for when you're choosing your team. Hire people with the same passions as you. I always recommend looking for people who have good character and similar passions as you first before looking for talent. Because if you have a similar passion, a similar life goal, you're going to be running with those people in the same lane for longer. What I mean by that is Michael, Louis, and I all want to be making feature-length documentaries in life. So we're great teammates to have, even though we all bring different assets to the table. Louis is an incredible editor, an incredible researcher. Michael is an incredible director and an incredible writer. Myself, I'm great at cinematography and love telling documentary films. And together with the similar passions of filmmaking, we're able to collaborate cohesively as a team. Do you shoot this way? Okay. When we brought Louis onto our team, it wasn't just the fact that he was a really good editor, it's that we enjoyed being around him. And when you want to collaborate with people for a long time, having good character, being reliable, is just as important as the talent they bring to the table. My last tip is if you're being hired or you're trying to get a job, I'd recommend not over-promising, but over-delivering. I know it's a cliche phrase that you've heard often, but what I mean is you should be focusing on being reliable before you focus on making promises. It's always better when someone over-delivers than over-promises and under-delivers. Make sure you show up on time. Make sure you're asking lots of questions so you know what's trying to be accomplished. And make sure you're friendly and easygoing. This is so important when you're collaborating with other people who have a vision in mind. If you're always bringing criticism or agitation to the table rather than solutions and a good attitude, people aren't going to want to collaborate with you for very long. So if you're finding yourself not getting hired that often, it might be the chance to ask yourself, where can I improve? So just remember when collaborating that no one is in the way of your goals except you. If you want to go far, you're going to have to do it together and you're going to have to learn how to be a good teammate. I hope you guys have enjoyed this video. Leave some comments below on any topics you want me to cover in upcoming videos. It's a blank page. I'm a fresh face on YouTube. I'm not at all. I'm an old face, but I'm looking for fresh ideas. That's what it is. That's what I'm trying to say. So if you have any ideas you want me to be talking about, let me know below. And I appreciate you watching this video this far. Don't play with knives. See you on the next one. Out!