We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful John Hollingsworth. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with John below.
John, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
Imposter Syndrome is something that I am constantly working on and am not sure that I will ever overcome. For the majority of my career as an Audio Engineer, I have been the youngest person in the room, on my team, sometimes even in the entire organization. This very easily can feel like you don’t belong and that you’re just faking it till you make it. And to some extent there is truth in that, because there has definitely been times where I said, “Oh yea I can do that.” When in reality I was in way over my head at the time. However, every time I have managed to pull it off. I think if you were to poll 100 Audio Engineers the majority of them would say that they feel some sense of imposter syndrome on a regular basis. I would not constitute that as a bad thing though as long as it is in moderation, because that will keep you hungry. If I thought I was the best and didn’t feel like I had something to prove each and every time I stepped behind an audio console then I should look for a different career because the passion is no longer there. Every job you do, every interaction you have with someone is an interview for a job down the road, so I have to be on my game every single day. Imposter syndrome helps drive me to be on my game and prove to myself and everyone else that I’m not faking it and that I am good at what I do!
My wife also tells me on a daily/weekly basis that I shouldn’t have imposter syndrome because I am a great engineer and that I have nothing to worry about. She loves music and has a minor in the Recording Industry with a specialization in audio production so she knows what she is talking about, so that helps too haha!
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Currently, I am an Audio Engineer at Christ Fellowship Church in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. As an audio engineer my primary job is to mix audio for services on Sunday mornings. So to keep it simple, I am one of the people in the middle or back of the room, dressed in black, and controlling everything that you hear. I do a lot of audio training for students and other people at the church who are interested in learning about audio. I really enjoy teaching as it is a way for me to give back to people as someone once did for me! I have had numerous instructors, bosses, etc., who gave me so many opportunities that I probably didn’t deserve at the time, so I love to be able to do the same for others. I love being able to push people right up to the point where they get a little uncomfortable in their skills but not to the point of letting them fail; I find that this is one of the best ways to learn audio. Early on in my career I got put in situations where I was so far out of my comfort zone, but I always had someone backing me up who wouldn’t let me fail. This is so good for students (HS or college) especially who think that they know more than they do because they will say, “Oh I got this.” Then I am standing there knowing that they do not, but I want to find out what they can do.
I don’t have any brands or anything to push other than myself. If you want to get in touch with me, you can find me on Instagram or through email. I am always happy to discuss all things audio and learn more in the process with you!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I’m not going to say that these are the most important skills/qualities, but they have never failed me, so they are crucial.
The saying of, “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard” was a motto in my family growing up and is something that I still live by today. It was so important to my family that my sister even had it printed on her bedroom wall growing up! There is no replacement for hard work and everything I have achieved in my career has been a byproduct of that. In high school, I would go work in my school’s theater during study halls to become better at my craft.
In college, I would take 15-18 hours of classes and yet there would be weeks where I would work 80 hours in production.
Granted, I do not do those crazy hours anymore if I can help it, but everyone has to cut their teeth at some point and I did so for many years. I would take all the hours I could working in college because I loved it and because I wanted to get better everyday. I didn’t get to where I am now without working hard and I would encourage anyone else to do the same. Nothing in life is easy, but hard work makes it easier!
The second thing is: being on time! This was ingrained in me since I was a small child, both of my parents were and still are very prompt people and that is something I am so grateful for. I am the person that looks at traffic and the weather routinely to help me decide what time I need to be leaving to allow myself extra time to get somewhere. My wife and I are always the people that show up somewhere 15 minutes early at least if at all possible, to make sure we are not late. People being routinely late tells me that they do not value my time and I never want someone to think that of me. I cannot stress enough how good this looks to a boss if you are always arriving to a job-site early and ready to work. It makes everyone’s life better, especially in production. I found in college that we would not wait for people to arrive to start work. As soon as the truck arrives or there are enough people there to do the task, we started. So you can bet that I was always early and ready to go. It has paid off ten fold!
The last thing I would say that has impacted me in my career are people skills. You have to have them! You will have the shortest career in production (or any job) if you do not have this. If you can’t get along with people, you can be the most talented engineer in the world and you will not get calls for work. I have seen it time and time again and the biggest reason people don’t stick around in production is this very thing. I try and pride myself on having good people skills and being able to get along with anyone and everyone in a professional manner. I also try and surround myself with people who are better at communicating than I am, as I am able to learn from them!
My advice to people who are early in their journey are mostly summarized above, but I will leave with you with something my mom told me before I went to college. “If you show up on time, sober, and ready to work then you will be ahead of the majority of people.” This is some of the best advice I could give someone who is starting out in their professional career as it has helped me run laps around other people who might have had more talent than me. Try and live this out every single day (especially in college haha) and you will be surprised what comes your way.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
Obviously there are countless people who have been helpful in this area as I have been blessed to be surrounded by amazing people. However, there is one person who I owe a lot in my career and there are a lot of people who would probably have the same answer. Robert Mogensen works as the director of True Blue TV Event Productions (formerly Production Services) at Middle Tennessee State University and is the person who gave me every opportunity I could have ever dreamed of in college to become better at my craft. I started working for Robert before I even started school at MTSU due to a recommendation from a friend of a friend (production is a small world). It was the greatest thing I could have done for my career in production as there is no chance that I would be where I am today without him and the people he had there.
I was unusual in that I started working there as a freshman, as most people do not hear of Robert’s operation until they are further along in school at MTSU, but since I got in early it paid off so much. I got to do everything from small events in classrooms to full blown concerts in arenas. I learned more about production working for Robert than I did in any class at MTSU and I have a degree in Audio Production from there. You cannot beat real world experience and he gave me that chance. He also gave me positions of authority to run crews, manage people, and meet deadlines for clients. All while I might have been one of the youngest people on the crew, which ties into something I discuss at another point in this interview. I loved working for Robert and I would recommend anyone to work for him if they are attending MTSU and want to pursue a career in production.
I also found some of my best friends working for Robert, including my wife. My wife (Ruth Anne) started working there during my last semester of college. Aaron Dill who was Robert’s assistant director while I was in school became my best friend (and best man at my wedding). Some of my other closest friends (LaDarius Robinson, Anthony Mathers, and Nick Cummings) I met working for Robert. So yea, Robert gave me a lot in terms of work, but he also helped bless me with my wife and the greatest friends I could ask for.
I’m sure if there was a way to measure success stories for the most people who went on to work in production (in any capacity), that Robert Mogensen’s name would be at the top of the list or close to it. I can tell you countless names of people who worked for him who went on to have good careers doing production around the world. He may not be a “professor” by definition, but he is one of the greatest teachers that has ever worked at MTSU and further one of the greatest teachers of production in the world!
Robert, if you read this, my hat is off to you and what you have done in your career. You have impacted thousands of lives for the better and I hope you impact thousands more. The production world needs more people like you. Thank you for everything you have done for me and my family!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hollingsworth_john/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-hollingsworth-722897158
Image Credits
Credits: Ruth Anne Hollingsworth and Mack McCollum
