In episode 24 of The Mindful Creator, I chat with Ross Barber – an artist, designer, musician and music enthusiast – about the often romanticized notion of DIY and creative independence, and why it’s critical for creative entrepreneurs to find and collaborate with like-minded people that can help us learn and grow.
Ross is the owner of Electric Kiwi, a design and marketing company for the music industry, as well as the cohost of Bridge the Atlantic – a video podcast featuring insightful and humorous explorations of the creative industries from the inside out.
In this episode, Ross and I dissect the role of collaboration in the creative process and how this marriage to the idea of “going it alone” isn’t really what independent creation is about.


Link Love
DIY / Do it yourself 
Charlotte Eriksson (The Glass Child)
Marcio Novelli (Bridge the Atlantic’s cohost).
In Music, Should DIY Really Mean Do It Yourself? – Ross Barber
Building Music Communities: Collaboration vs Competition – Ross Barber
 
In this Episode

* Ross shares his story of the early days as a singer/songwriter, how that evolved into Electric Kiwi, and the early process of building launching Bridge the Atlantic.
* Ross talks about the collaboration process in the podcast and how they’ve met the challenge of living in different timezones.
* The value of unique perspectives and overlapping values and experience in collaborating on a creative process.
* Demystifying “do it yourself” and “independent creating.”
* Why we’ve taken this literal definition of “do it yourself” and used it as a flag in the ground for independent creators to stake their territorial claim.
* The distinction of being independent in the beginning so that you learn how to manage a creative business, BUT balancing this with a mind for bringing in support as needed.
* The challenge of identifying the right time to collaborate.
* The value of collaborating on a project basis and why this approach allows for flexibility and lean creating.
* Examining the nature of competition.
* Ross’s tweet re: the power of collaboration: “In the music business, there is more strength in collaboration than competition. Stop competing and focus on creating!”
* The tendency for bands to posture and trade jabs in order to position themselves at the head of the pack vs. finding ways to work together.
* Ross: “If more people were collaborating and helping each other out, there’s just so much more to be gained.”
* The rampant mindset across multiple industries that perpetuates the myth of competition.
* Why it’s far more productive and growth-minded to see competitors as potential partners and allies to potentially co-create with – or at the very least – learn from.
* Brett: “Instead of counterproductively pissing in circles, why don’t we see competition for what is really is? Opportunity.”
* Why a competitive mindset is a huge distraction (and not a healthy creative mindset). See also “the danger of entrenching in a solely independent mindset.”
* Encouraging and supporting within your industry and how this impacts both the creative p...