When teamwork fails: the journey to build my own team.

Collaboration is often seen as the key to success. We’re told that working together fosters innovation, strengthens relationships, and drives better results. But what happens when that ideal crashes into reality—when working with others becomes more frustrating than fruitful? Sometimes, no matter how much effort you put in, teamwork fails. It’s in these moments that you realise: maybe it’s time to create your own team.

The Struggle of Collaboration

In the beginning, I truly believed in the power of helping others. I volunteered my time, shared my expertise, and did everything I could to contribute to group projects. But soon, I realised that not everyone shares the same level of dedication. Deadlines were ignored, responsibilities were neglected, and I found myself carrying the weight of the team that only I cared about. They would fight and argue, and then tell me, who I could, and could not work with, the group thing got boring really quickly, as constantly asked for help with projects that had no benefit and sooner or later you start to feel used.

I tried to motivate, inspire, and push people toward greatness, thinking that persistence and positivity would make a difference. It didn’t. Instead, it drained my energy and left me questioning my approach, questioning myself. Was I expecting too much? Was I relying on the wrong people? Was I too professional?

The Decision to Go Solo

Eventually, I faced the harsh truth: sometimes, helping others doesn’t lead to growth. Sometimes, it leads to stagnation. So I took a step back and asked myself—what would happen if I built a team that shared my vision? A team that valued hard work and dedication as much as I did?

The idea was both terrifying and thrilling. Walking away from dysfunctional teamwork meant taking full responsibility for the future. But it also meant freedom—the ability to choose people who understood the importance of reliability, ambition, and shared goals.

This has been no easy task and many nights and days, I have thought maybe what I want no longer exists, and even tried to help it along by drifting back to old people and still trying to make there dead projects live, but they always managed to ask for some crazy shit that didn’t make sense to the overall new vision.

Building the Right Team

Creating my own team wasn’t about finding people just like me. It was about finding people who complemented my strengths and compensated for my weaknesses. Instead of forcing collaboration with those who lacked commitment, I searched for individuals who thrived in a team setting—people who wanted to grow together, not hold each other back.

I learned that the key to great teamwork isn’t just skill—it’s mindset. It’s finding individuals who push each other forward, who communicate openly, and who take responsibility. With the right team, progress feels natural, effortless, and rewarding. When someone has the same energy everything feels easy, I stopped looking for models, creatives and people that could help me with production and marketing. I had skills to train my whole team, so I was like fuck it let find people who just want to create something and are in need of a leader.

Lessons Learned

Looking back, I realise that my struggle with collaboration wasn’t a failure—it was a lesson. It taught me that not every group will work, and not every effort will be appreciated. But that doesn’t mean teamwork is impossible. It just means that sometimes, you have to build it from the ground up.

People will always try to own you if you’re special, and they will weigh you down with crap until you can’t move. Like what corporate companies do to kill start ups. They come as though they have ideas and ways your work overlaps but really they are just a bunch of issues and looking for free therapy.

If you have to dull your shine, to work with others, they are not the team for you. I’ve had to suffer racial comments, slurs, lies and all kinds of bull shit in order to fit into some groups and pretend like they were doing me a favour when I was really the help they needed.

If you’re idea isn’t going anywhere due to there mental health, some of my team suffer with mental health, if you love what you do and have the right people to support you, you have a lot less bad days, but I do understand it’s a good excuse. Art is therapy if you know what you’re doing.

So if you ever find yourself trapped in a cycle of frustration, remember: you have the power to create something better. You don’t have to settle for a dysfunctional team. You can build one that truly works.

What’s your experience with teamwork? Have you ever had to take a step back and create your own path?