Back to School?

It seems I never really “know it all”, despite what my wife and daughter think. My 17 year old son, just starting his senior year in High School, certainly knows I don’t have all the answers – because he does and we don’t always agree!  Most days  I am reminded at some point how little I understand about this industry I have chosen as a career path.  Just when I think I really have a handle on digital video, or audio processing, or color mixing lights, or (insert more stuff here) I run across some little nugget of information that males me feel again that I don’t know squat. (That is an engineering term referencing quantity).

As a SynAudCon member, I read the email posts daily  from that list and wonder sometimes if I understand the question – forget about the answers!

Even dealing with clients, where I am “The Authority” and they are relying on my expertise, I will be asked a questions and realize the answer I have is, “I don’t know!”

But isn’t that actually a good thing?

Basically, I mean this:  Don’t we all mistrust someone who seems to have all the answers, all the time?  You know the type – “Mr. BS Degree”, right?  We should all be going “back to school” everyday.  I picked up my bass for a few minutes today just to learn some new fingerings – to make myself a better (smarter) bass player.  I also read a couple articles on-line about basic lighting techniques. Every chance I get, I try to glean some little bit of data, info, or knowledge from those that have already paved these roads.  I think a client would rather have me tell them I will need to do some research and get back to them, than give them an answer that is vague or ambiguous or even worse – WRONG.

Don’t misunderstand, I am very comfortable charging for my services, knowing that I am providing a quality product for my clients.  My clients have full faith in my recommendations, or they would not call me a second time.  And one thing I do know is how to find answers when I don’t have the answer.  After all, isn’t that really how it should work anyway.  I guess what we should really learn in our school years is how to learn.