Some of the most successful people I have ever known have been the most mundane, blank-slated, zero friction people imaginable. They have nothing profound to say, nor do they have any interesting traits. They are just kind of normal people who have wired their brains to maximize efficiency.
You know what to expect around this kind of person. They aren't constantly jerking themselves off about how skilled they are. They aren't too autistic. They aren't stubborn. They just do their job and they do it fast, and good enough.
As someone who has delved into the creative world, worked with people who have large followings and small followings alike, and has experienced how a professional workplace functions; what I can tell you is those who earn the most per hours worked, are those who would be described as "generic".
This isn't because their ads are the most attractive or because the memes they insert every 3 sentences are funnier, or because they offer more zooms per second every video. It's because they offer consistent reliability which is not something you can say about many self-proclaimed talented artists and creatives.
Are you an unlovable faggot? I definitely am. It's why I have failed every journey of self-employment. It is why I never held down a job. It's why I am constantly needing to establish new relationships with people. It's why I am abandoning "art as a career" entirely because I am not the kind of person who can maintain a presence that isn't me.
Granted, if that person is you, then congratulations. You, with your mediocre ability to cut dead space out of raw recordings, will make more money than I ever have, and ever will as a video editor.
Some of the worst people I have ever worked with, were people who could be described as "highly skilled at their craft". Not necessarily because they are evil people per se, I wouldn't go as far to say they are evil or even bad people, cause human beings are more complicated than that. However, when an artist becomes so infatuated with their vision to the point they push everyone else to the side for the sake of their vision alone, It's really hard to sit with yourself and earnestly consider them a good partner to work with.
Their work may be something you cant compare to anything else. But in turn, they taint your own vision to cast the spotlight on theirs. They need to be the main character, because they have romanticized the idea of a creative individual. They are narcissists more than they are artists.
In contrast, anyone I have ever worked with that could be described as "generic" has been the best work partners I ever had. These people are concerned with one thing, providing a service or creating a product. They aren't the main character, and they know they aren't the main character. The artkage's are all doing their own thing in their little schizo chambers. Wheras I, the illustator, the editor, the designer, the actor, am one person with one highly specific skill, hired to accomplish one job in support of the main thing being spotlighted.
Years ago when I first got into video, I hung around some skaters. These guys are all tech illiterate. They know some basics about video and photography, but they don't know the first thing about how to actually use something like photoshop to make something.
Me, starting off was eager to show off my badass graphic design skills. These guys knew I could do *something* with Davinci Resolve and Photoshop so they let me edit them a movie. I spent about 2 weeks editing together a 15 minute skate film, and when I sent it back, I got paid then......... never heard from them again. They didn't give me any kind of feedback, they didn't tell me whether or not they liked it, they didn't say whether or not we'd be working again, they just kinda said "thanks" then fucked off.
At the time I assumed they just didn't really care about making a new film. After all, it's hard gathering enough skate clips to make a movie out of it. So I proposed that I could edit them short videos they could upload to TikTok and Instagram. I got no response, but that damn sure gave them an idea. Because when I checked back one month later, I noticed these guys were SPAMMING short little edited clips.
This drove me nuts. I felt insulted, as if my "vision" was disrespected. But this is my point from earlier. I tried inserting my own artistic vision that had zero business being in there.
Unique 2000's era graphics flashing around the screen. Adding funny words and sentences onto fancy typefaces and plastering it on the screen while being accompanied with soundcloud weebshit cringecore tracks. Weird avant-garde transitions. Random assets being used just for the sake of using it.
In retrospect, it was a fucking putrid edit, and was incredibly insulting to those guys. My gay little vision overshadowed the original work, which was a fucking skate video. I might as well have sent them a video of me jerking off and cumming.
Comparing my editing to the new clips they were uploading, it was so much more simple. Hip hop instrumentals, clean cuts, minimal graphics but still maintaining an old-school thrasher vibe. The videos were clean as fuck. They uploaded like 1-2 of those every week. Maybe the style wasn't "generic", but it was consistent, clean, minimal, and reliable. I never met the guy, but if I were to guess his personality. He probably doesn't talk too much, but is generally an agreeable person that anyone finds easy to talk to. (A lot of people who edit as a job are like this)
Fast forward to now. The people who I see consistently finding work and new clients, all while steadily improving their skills, are not the guys with a unique vision and an exhibitionist fetish, but it's the guy, who just offers simple, clean, fast work, all without flexing his biceps in front of the guy who is already flexing his biceps.
And if you don't believe me, then put yourself in the shoes of an employer, or better yet, a mentor. Ask yourself, is the guy you want under your wing some pretty skilled narcissistic teenage-brained 22 year old who thinks he's better than everyone else? Or do you want the guy, who is kind of just ok, but doesn't give you a hard time and does a good enough job for him to improve over time? You hire both of these guys at the same time, one of them is either walking out or getting fired within a month, and the other guy within 6 months will be someone you can send off work to, and forget about it.
Moral of the story. Be likable. Don't stick out. Don't flash your cock in front of your employer. Don't be too friendly either, cause that's weird too. Just do good enough, and do it fast.