About to rock? There are some great quotes on the subject. I personally like “Start where you stand and better tools will be provided as you go along” from Napoleon Hill. I think it has to do with the technical nature of what we do here and the word “tools” in the quote. Seems particularly apropos. The point is you can learn more in 20 minutes of doing something than you can in 20 hours of thinking about it.
Being self taught used to have a negative stigma around it. Lacking a “classic” tutelage meant your knowledge was somehow less than someone who had “gone to school for it”. In 2022 we’ve learned, as with so many things, the opposite is actually true. In 2022, especially in the field of digital marketing, acquiring skills (in the context of an overall deployment strategy) is straight up, 100% necessary. And in order to acquire new skills, one must learn. To do this fast and cost effectively we access the free abundant content online to teach ourselves. The more adept we become at this, the more limitless our potential. And as we learn we apply. Through acquisition of new tools, trial and error, practice and ultimately creation.
We may even become lucky enough to get paid for the effort. As with the homespun video in this post. This montage was the first piece of video content I’d ever created. I went from about to rock, to rocking out with the little experience and gear I had. I started right where I stood. For years I’d wanted to get into video, but was overwhelmed by the amount of information and gear I’d need to procure in order to make it happen. But gradually over time I started putting the pieces together with the help of inspirations like Casey Neistat and Peter McKinnon I had cobbled together enough gear and knowhow to try.
Next thing I knew, voila, out came the reel featured in this post. And don’t let its homespun pointlessness fool you, it’s deceptively comprehensive. For instance, I created a logo and animated it for the intro. I learned about A-roll and B-roll and how to weave them together to tell a story. I’d learned how to use non-linear editing software in order to piece together the clips. I’d learned how to capture myself on camera, and mic. myself up for sound. I’d learned how to add music tracks to the file, and drop graphics into the non-linear timeline. The point being, this clip, though slightly cheesy, and pointless, actually represents the application of some serious newly acquired knowledge.
5 months later, I did my first video for a client. I can’t remember if I ever got paid for it, but it was another opportunity to practice, and apply even more newly learned skills in a what was more or less, a live training exercise.
