6 ways to collaborate with other creatives

As creatives ourselves, we are able to bring beautiful and functional products to our clients by sharing ideas within the team and developing them together. We won’t lie: finding your own tribe is difficult. It takes time… and luck! If you’re still struggling to find a supportive community, reach out to other creatives and suggest a collaboration!

The benefits of collaboration with other creatives

Creativity boost

Working with others keeps your creative juices flowing. You can find new ideas that you haven’t thought of before, try different methods, as well as evolve your own ideas through collaboration. It is also a great exercise if you’re in a creative rut

Learning from others

Even in the same industry, we all do things differently. When you collaborate with other creatives, either in your field or outside of it, you learn new ways to approach your work.

Exposure to new audiences

When you work on joined projects with other creatives, you get access to their audience and increase your brand awareness, and vice-versa.

Creating a support system

Working together with other creatives is a great way to establish strong relationships with them. If you take care of these relationships, you will grow a network of like-minded people who will be helpful in many ways: from taking projects together to sending referrals to each other and making friends for life.

Personal fulfillment

Collaborating with others is not just about professional benefit. Working with others can be fun! Also, helping someone less experienced along their path can bring a great deal of gratification. Don’t you agree?

How to find people to collaborate with 

Think of people whose work you admire, whose energy or brand resonates with you, someone with the same target audience, or maybe just someone who makes you feel good.

Not everyone will say yes, but you’ll have success if the offer you come up with matches their needs. For example, if you’re only starting out, you’ll probably get a busy successful entrepreneur to record a 30-minute podcast with you, but they might not agree to a long-term project.

Find balance in your proposal and keep in mind that any partnership is a relationship based on mutual benefit, where each part involved gains something, be that of a professional or personal nature.

6 ways to collaborate with other creatives

1. Start a podcast

Podcasts are here to stay, there’s no doubt about it. Are you passionate about a certain topic and want to build interesting conversations around it? Invite various cool people as guests on your podcast, or ask to be a guest on theirs. Being on your show would only demand 1 hour of their time, and even your favorite artist might jump in if the topic or idea behind the podcast is appealing to them.

One great example is our sister brand Flothemes and the FloInsider podcast, where a new host takes on the show for a few episodes, bringing on guests from different backgrounds and industries, fostering positive conversation on topics that matter to us, creatives.

If a podcast has been on your mind for a while now, but you’re not sure where to start - check out our latest article! We put together a beginners guide that covers everything from equipment needed, ways to promote your podcast, and tips on how to stay committed in your podcasting journey.

2. Partner up on cross-educational content

If you are an educator and run a Patreon, YouTube channel, podcast, blog, or use any platform to share knowledge with your audience, collaborating with other creatives will help both of you create interesting content for your community while gaining exposure from each other’s audiences. It’s a win-win situation, where you bring another educator to be a guest on your platform, and then you’ll be a guest in theirs.

They don’t have to be in the same field as you. If you’re a photographer, you could bring in a painter and talk about composition or how they see and use light in their work.

3. Organize shoots with other creatives

If you’re a photographer or a videographer, putting up together a styled shoot is a wonderful exercise. You will improve your portfolio to attract new clients, meet other vendors that can send referrals to you, and enjoy the creative process with other points of view.

4. Work with creatives outside of your industry

When you’re a creative, it’s easy to focus mainly on your field and industry, because let’s be honest - this is not just your job. It’s also your passion. You probably know lead figures in your industry, from local photographers (friends or competition) to famous artists whose work you admire.

Try to look outside your field: painters, pottery artists, designers, illustrators, florists, fashion designers, architects. You’ll discover that each of them has a different and fascinating way of approaching the creative process.

You can interview them and do a series of portraits, or embark on a project together: mix disciplines to create new forms of art and bring new influences to your work. For example, if you’re a wedding photographer, collaborating with architects or sculptors will show you new perspectives on how to treat light, volume, or composition in space.

One great example of collaboration between fields is the long-time project Overgrowth, a joint venture between photographer Parker Fitzgerald and florist Riley Messina that resulted in a gorgeous book.

5. Be an assistant to other creatives

Whether you have years of experience or you’re just starting out, take a step back and assist another creative in a project. Not only it humbles you, but it also takes the pressure off you and lets you have some fun. You get to see how your peers approach their work and learn from their process. Seeing other points of view is always enlightening.

For example: if you’re a wedding photographer, you can second shoot for free for another photographer, and then they can second shoot for you. That way, you let yourself take risks you wouldn’t even think of if you were the main photographer. You also get to see how a different photographer works, plus you’ll build your portfolio. It’s also a great way to shoot in new locations. Reach out to photographers in areas where you want to shoot and see if they’re up for a trade.

6. Create a referrals network

If you are in the wedding industry and collaborate with vendors from different fields - recommend them to your clients, and help each other get new inquiries. Create a list of recommended vendors and attach it to your pricing guide or put it on your website on a partners page. Let your referrals know, and ask them if they can do the same. By mutually referring clients, you support each other and get to work often with a team that knows and cares for you.

Creating this list can be an opportunity for a more diverse wedding industry. Take a look at this article where you will most probably find Black-owned businesses and creatives near you.

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That’s it, hope you enjoyed it! Have fun collaborating with other creatives!

Creatively yours,

Squaremuse Team