Collaborate for the Future

Alex standing in front of a wall of collectible figures at a record store.

When I saw this store display of collectible toys, all I could think was, "Do we need to make collectibles for everything? Do we need every character and athlete? Do we need every version of every thing?" I went down a rabbit hole of thoughts.

I think that we really need to ask ourselves, "Are we collaborating just to make more money by making more stuff? Are we making these things simply because we can?"

But collaborating doesn't have to be like that. I'm a strong believer in collaborating. I do it with my brand, my website, my films, etc. It's fun. It makes promoting easier. It widens an audience or customer base. And it does help people earn a living, but the thing about collaborating is that we don't have to do it just for money. We have the power to collaborate to make a positive impact.

Maybe you can collaborate with ReturnMyCup to bring more reuse into your community.

Maybe you can collaborate with Habitat for Humanity to build houses with used building materials.

Maybe you can collaborate with me and STAY VOCAL on a custom shirt.

Maybe you can collaborate with a thrift store to make shirts for a 1-day event.

Maybe you can collaborate with an artisan like Justin LaRose to make unique reclaimed wooden items from broken skateboards.

There are endless options out there. I say this all the time, but we're all in the together. And the biggest collaboration of them all is collaborating for the planet. It's not all about money. That's a temporary fix. We need a long lasting fix. I read a great quote from Seth Godin this week: "Become the ancestor you’d like to thank." Maybe just having one version of something is enough. Maybe making investments into the future is better than making more things for others to deal with in the future.

A recent STAY VOCAL collaboration that I did with Bridgewater State University to restyle excess shirts on campus.