Vendor at trade show: Yes we do (friendly smile back). We only do sublimination printing.
Me: Wonderful. (shoulders back, confident, ‘I mean business voice’) I’d like to print on 100% cotton at approximately x GSM. Can you help me with this?
Vendor at trade show: (confused look) but you need polyester in the garment for sublimination printing.
Me: (aloof look, quickly pull myself together, arrange my face) Yeah of course, of course. Thanks for your help. Bye.
This if how 99% of my interactions with experts, factories, consultants, companies, any one really, have ended up. I am learning everything as I go along. There’s only so far the university of Google will take you, let me tell ya! I’ve gone from being routinely embarrassed by this kind of encounter to viewing it as normal, even welcoming it. Every time it happens something clicks or I learn something new.
I have no background in manufacturing, fabrics, fashion design or even running a business. The most I have is a GCSE in textiles and I can (very proudly) thread and operate a sewing machine. However, that’s where my knowledge started and ended when I embarked on this journey. The last time I learned acronyms at this rate was my first job in advertising. I compiled a whole glossary page in the back of my notebook because there were so many to learn.
These days I tend to get it out of the way and tell people I’m learning or admit that I don’t know. Most people are happy to teach or help someone and I love learning so it’s a good combination. When I think about what I’ve learned in three years, I’m excited to see what I’ll know in six.
My advice about dealing with knowledge gaps is to embrace them, enjoy the journey and be genuinely excited to look at how far you’ve come.
Build the perfect product. When starting a business, it’s easy to be obsessed about the product and leave marketing as an afterthought. I guess it depends on your motive for starting in the first place. If it’s to bring to life this incredible idea, solution or creation, it’s easy to want to focus on that. …
…or get your head out of the sand. I pride myself on being quite organised and a ‘together’ kind of person. However, I totally slipped up on my HMRC/Companies House duties. My thinking was that as I’m not selling anything yet and therefore not making any money, HMRC and Companies House don’t care about my …
I’m realising that I need to strengthen my mental rebound game. I think psychological resilience is vital for someone trying to build something from nothing, you have to have a really strong mind. Perhaps they weren’t ‘The One’ I’ve written about the Tsunami of Doubt that washes over me from time to time. It’s really …
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Knowledge Gaps
Vendor at trade show: Hi
Me: Hi! Does your factory do digital printing?
Vendor at trade show: Yes we do (friendly smile back). We only do sublimination printing.
Me: Wonderful. (shoulders back, confident, ‘I mean business voice’) I’d like to print on 100% cotton at approximately x GSM. Can you help me with this?
Vendor at trade show: (confused look) but you need polyester in the garment for sublimination printing.
Me: (aloof look, quickly pull myself together, arrange my face) Yeah of course, of course. Thanks for your help. Bye.
This if how 99% of my interactions with experts, factories, consultants, companies, any one really, have ended up. I am learning everything as I go along. There’s only so far the university of Google will take you, let me tell ya! I’ve gone from being routinely embarrassed by this kind of encounter to viewing it as normal, even welcoming it. Every time it happens something clicks or I learn something new.
I have no background in manufacturing, fabrics, fashion design or even running a business. The most I have is a GCSE in textiles and I can (very proudly) thread and operate a sewing machine. However, that’s where my knowledge started and ended when I embarked on this journey. The last time I learned acronyms at this rate was my first job in advertising. I compiled a whole glossary page in the back of my notebook because there were so many to learn.
These days I tend to get it out of the way and tell people I’m learning or admit that I don’t know. Most people are happy to teach or help someone and I love learning so it’s a good combination. When I think about what I’ve learned in three years, I’m excited to see what I’ll know in six.
My advice about dealing with knowledge gaps is to embrace them, enjoy the journey and be genuinely excited to look at how far you’ve come.
1 replies to “Knowledge Gaps”
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