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.
I’m embarrassingly late to the game on this one. In the last few weeks, I’ve truly started to learn the value of ‘YouTube University’. What do I mean when I say YouTube University? I mean the fact that you can learn almost anything…on YouTube. Using Downtime to Upskill I’ve written a lot about this journey …
I’m realising there are points within this process that I find myself slowing down further and further and further still, before I get stuck. It’s not a conscious slowing down, it’s more like things are becoming muddy and difficult and heavy. Things aren’t feeling right. What gets me out of these ruts? I’ve learned I …
I tried for a snappy title, I really did. Regulation isn’t the sexiest of topics, but my, it’s important. It’s important to me anyway. And it’s really challenging to get your head around. I need to start this post by saying I’m no expert. I definitely haven’t got it all worked out yet. However, after …
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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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