“Too many cooks spoil the dish.”

Creatives instinctively know the truthfulness of this. Wisely, though lonely, they squirrel themselves away in order to focus on the vision.

Sometimes the loneliness can be overwhelming and we cry out, “Where, oh where, is anybody who cares?”

Personally? I love working within a team environment. It’s nice to have people with whom to celebrate the successful conclusion to a project. As a DIY/Indie creative, though, I find most of my work begins, continues, and ends alone.

For my books and music — sure, of course — editors, musicians, singers, production, and so forth, come into play. But these are usually work for hire whose only interest in the project is to do a thing for this amount of money.

In other words, they are not part of the project as a stakeholder.

And nothing wrong with that. I do the same thing when I edit others’ writings or am hired for a consultation in the music and book publishing businesses. I get paid to apply my skills, after which I walk away and let them get on with their vision.

The key thing is, after the vision has taken form, to pull in your ad hoc team of those who can help you polish this vision and make it kick consumer butt.

Sure. Of course. We get tired of doing it alone.

But I can totally assure you of this: At the vision making, together everybody does less.

The annals of creative history are full of people who had wild, crazy, never-done-before visions to build, write, compose. They went against prevailing norms and standards. But they had a vision.

From the first drum to the first written alphabet. From the first piano to the first bound book. From the first engine to the first man-made flight. From the first hypodermic to the first disease-preventing vaccination.

Visions. Worked alone. Then brought in only those who could help them bring it to fruition.

Yes, the life of a creative. That’s what we live.