Going it alone is easier. There’s less coordination, fewer decisions to negotiate, and no one else’s timeline to work around.
That’s exactly why it’s our default.
But in this episode, I make a clear case: the lone-artist habit keeps you small.
After decades of studying artists whose shows sell out, whose reach keeps growing, and whose work accumulates meaning over time, I’ve noticed a pattern. These artists almost never go it alone. They don’t just accept collaboration when it falls into their lap, they seek it out. They look at a project and ask: Who else belongs in this story?