You Already Know More Than You Think
After you’ve been doing something for a long time, something strange happens.
You forget how hard it used to be.
Things that once took hours become automatic. Problems that used to stop you in your tracks become things you solve without even thinking about them.
And eventually, you start saying things like:
“Everybody knows that.”
No.
Everybody doesn’t know that.
You know that.
And there’s a reason you know it.
You Paid for That Knowledge
Maybe you didn’t pay for it with money.
You paid for it with time.
Mistakes.
Bad sessions.
Bad mixes.
Difficult clients.
Deadlines.
Gear that didn’t work when it was supposed to.
Things you tried that completely failed.
And probably more than a few moments when you wondered what the hell you were doing.
Eventually, you figured things out.
You got better.
And after doing something hundreds of times, it became easy.
That’s what experience does.
But here’s the mistake I think a lot of us make:
We confuse something being easy NOW with it never having been difficult.
Those are two very different things.
Think About What You Do Automatically
If you’ve been working in audio for a while, there are probably dozens of things you do without even thinking about them.
You walk into a room and something doesn’t sound right.
You hear it.
A newer engineer might not.
You listen to a vocal and realize the problem isn’t EQ or compression.
It was recorded poorly.
Or maybe it’s the performance.
You open somebody else’s Pro Tools session and immediately know how you’d organize it.
You hear a mix and know something isn’t working.
You might not even know exactly what you’re going to do about it yet.
But you hear the problem.
To somebody starting out, that can almost look like magic.
It isn’t.
That’s experience.
It’s Not Just Your Technical Skills
This goes way beyond knowing how to mix a record.
Think about everything else you learn from working professionally.
A potential client says something during the first conversation and something in your head goes:
“Uh-oh.”
Why?
You’ve heard it before.
You know where that story might be going.
You’ve learned how to deal with budgets.
Scheduling.
Revisions.
File delivery.
Getting paid.
Communication.
Expectations.
Deadlines.
None of that has anything to do with knowing which compressor to put on a vocal.
But it’s every bit as much a part of your professional experience.
That’s know-how too.
Beginners Can Sometimes See Your Knowledge Better Than You Can
Someone who’s been mixing for six months might watch an experienced engineer and think:
“How did they know to do that?”
Meanwhile, the experienced engineer is thinking:
“Isn’t that obvious?”
No.
It’s obvious to you.
Think about something that took you hours to figure out when you first started.
Maybe days.
Maybe years.
Today, you might be able to solve that same problem in five minutes.
But that doesn’t mean the solution is only worth five minutes.
It may have taken you ten years to learn how to solve it in five minutes.
That distinction matters.
Stop Measuring Knowledge by How Difficult It Feels to You
I think this is where we get it wrong.
We tend to look at something we know how to do and think:
“That’s easy. It can’t be worth very much.”
Maybe it’s easy because you’re good at it.
Maybe it’s easy because you’ve done it 500 times.
Maybe it’s easy because you already made all the mistakes the person behind you is about to make.
Instead of asking how difficult something is for you, ask:
How difficult is this for someone who doesn’t know it yet?
That’s a completely different way of looking at the value of your experience.
This Is Where The Know-How Method Comes In
Last week I introduced something new I’ve been working on called The Know-How Method.
The more I work on it, the more I keep coming back to one simple idea:
Before you go looking for something new to learn, take inventory of what you already know.
We’re constantly being told we need something else.
Another course.
Another certification.
Another skill.
Another business idea.
Another piece of software.
Another piece of gear.
And sometimes we do need to learn something new.
But what if there’s already 10, 20, 30 or 40 years of experience sitting there that you’ve never really taken inventory of?
What if you already know something that could help somebody else?
That’s worth exploring.
Try This: Make Three Lists
Grab a piece of paper.
Don’t worry about turning this into a business.
Don’t worry about creating a course.
Don’t worry about a website, logo, funnel or social media.
Just make three lists.
1. What Do I Know How to Do?
Write down everything.
Technical skills.
Creative skills.
Business skills.
Things you’ve learned through work.
Things you’ve learned through life.
Don’t decide whether they’re valuable yet.
Just write them down.
2. What Problems Have I Solved Repeatedly?
This one is important.
What problems have you encountered over and over again?
What problems can you now solve relatively quickly because you’ve already dealt with them so many times?
Write those down too.
3. What Do People Ask Me for Help With?
Pay attention to this one.
What do people come to you for?
What questions do you hear repeatedly?
“How did you do that?”
“What would you do here?”
“Can you show me how to do this?”
Other people may already be telling you where your valuable knowledge is.
You just haven’t been listening for it.
Now Look for the Overlap
Look at those three lists.
Is there something you:
Know how to do...
that solves a...
Problem you’ve encountered repeatedly...
and that...
People already ask you about?
Circle it.
I’m not saying you’ve just discovered a million-dollar business.
I’m saying:
Pay attention to that.
There may be something there.
For Audio Engineers, This Might Be Closer Than You Think
Maybe you’re really good at mixing vocals.
Maybe you know live sound.
Maybe you’re great at recording drums.
Maybe you can troubleshoot almost any signal-flow problem.
Maybe you’re incredibly fast at editing.
Maybe you understand studio wiring.
Maybe you’re great at getting nervous singers comfortable enough to give you a good performance.
Maybe you’ve become really good at dealing with clients.
Whatever it is, don’t immediately dismiss it because it seems easy to you.
It might only seem easy because you earned the experience that made it easy.
What Do You Already Know?
Before you go looking for the next thing to learn, spend a little time looking backward.
Look at what you’ve already learned.
Look at the mistakes you’ve already made.
Look at the problems you’ve already solved.
Look at the things other people ask you about.
There may be a lot more value sitting there than you realize.
And the next time you catch yourself saying:
“Everybody knows that...”
Stop.
Maybe they don’t.
Maybe you know it because you earned it.
— Donny Baker
Grammy®-Winning Engineer / Producer / Studio Owner
The Business of Audio
Get Good. Get Clients. Get Paid.
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