The Recipe Is Not The Skill
Let’s say you made a meal right?
You say you made a meal and it is from a famous recipe. I am sitting here eating this meal and I say oh this is interesting. How did you make the meal?
You say well I got it from this recipe.
I say yes but what is in the recipe?
Now you are looking at me like well I am going to share the recipe with you. I say yes but okay. How did you make it?
You are looking at me like well I made it according to the recipe.
So now I am going to be like okay. You got the recipe from someone else right?
Then you say “Yes, the recipe is from someone else but I made it mine. I created my own sauce to it”.
“Okay. Is that okay? So what did you do to create your own sauce to it? How did you do that? Because this is a nice recipe. I like the food. I like the meal that you created”.
And then you “Say well I created the recipe according to the recipe that I got. But I added some extra pepper and salt”.
The Notes Are Not The Recipe
So now you walk away and you come back with this paper right?
And I am looking at the paper like this is not a recipe. These are your notes.
But you say here. Here is the recipe.
And I am looking at the recipe like okay so listen. When I remove this and this and this from the recipe then what happens? Because you made it your own right? You said you put extra pepper and salt. So what happens when I take away these ingredients?
And you say “Girl, I do not know. You have to make it your own”.
Then it is not the recipe anymore right? Then it is a whole different recipe.
And she is like “Yes, that is true. That is true. It is a whole different recipe”.
And that is the point.
When you made it your own and you do not know what happens when pieces are removed then what is the use of me getting this recipe from you? You do not know what happens to the food. You do not know where the structure sits. You do not know which part holds the thing together.
Then you tell me “Girl I do not know. Do not bother me. My head is already hurting with the questions that you got”.
But here is what I am saying with it.
A Lot Of Y’all Are Buying Recipes From People Who Do Not Know The Ingredients
A lot of y’all go online buying people’s recipe that they made their own. But they do not know what is in the recipe.
The moment you take something out of it. The moment you remove one piece. It does not work anymore. Or it is not what it was in the first place.
And now you want to go back to the original. But you do not know how to go back to it.
So you go back to the person who gave you the recipe. The person who made it their own. And that person tells you they do not know what to do with it.
Because in the first place they did not understand how the recipe was constructed for it to work. They only knew where to put some extra pepper and salt.
And this is the part a lot of you are walking past. You are walking over it. Oh my God here we go again. But I do not give two frets.
The Glitter Is Not The Skill
This is why digital products are selling the way they are selling. Someone says buy this product. It teaches dropshipping. It teaches marketing. It gives sparkle and glitter. Come and buy it.
Then you sit in your house. You look at the recipe. You start doing the recipe. And the recipe does not taste good.
Not understanding that in order to do the recipe. First of all you have to be a cook.
That is the part.
The same thing happens with workflow automation templates. The same thing happens with chatGPT prompts. The same thing happens with Claude Cowork systems. The same thing happens when people buy a social media management tool and believe the tool will do social media management for them.
Baby the tool is not the cook.
Social media management tools help when there is a person behind it who knows what to say. What to remove. What to keep. What to test. What audience is being spoken to. What offer is being made. What story is being carried.
That applies to social media creation for artists. It applies to artgalleries. It applies to content creators. It applies to influencers. It applies to founders. It applies to a creative agency selling strategy. It applies to outsourcing social media and then wondering why the food does not taste like the example.
The skill is the thing that made the recipe work.
The Research Says The Same Thing
And this is not only me talking from the side of my eye.
Kirschner Sweller and Clark published Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work. Their research explains that people who are new to something need guidance. A recipe without explanation creates confusion because the beginner does not yet know what matters and what does not matter.
That supports this whole recipe conversation. When someone sells you a product and leaves you with figure it out energy. The issue is not only the information. The issue is that you lack the structure needed to use the information.
Anders Ericsson wrote about deliberate practice. His work shows that expert skill comes from focused practice over time. Not from reading a sheet. Not from downloading a workbook. Not from buying one digital product and believing the skill is now yours.
Harry Collins wrote about tacit knowledge. That is knowledge people carry through doing. It sits in their hands. Their timing. Their judgment. Their experience. That is why a good cook knows when the sauce needs more salt before the recipe says so.
So yes. The research backs the point. Skill does not transfer because someone handed over a document. Skill transfers through practice. Feedback. Support. Correction. Repetition.
Stop Buying Sparkle And Calling It Sauce
The people selling something from skill are selling it because they acquired that skill. They built it. They tested it. They broke it. They fixed it.
The people reselling something they bought are doing redistribution. That takes a week. Make an account. Upload the file. Tell somebody come and get this digital product.
But building the skill behind it takes time.
So when people say they were misled. Sometimes the truth is this. You misled yourself. The person told you they were handing you the recipe. They did not say they were standing in the kitchen beside you.
Misleading starts when the product promised everything and the product did not have everything.
But when someone tells you what is inside and you buy it anyway. You got what you paid for.
And yes. That is an unpopular opinion.
Get With The Cook
Eventually buying one recipe after the other recipe from people who do not know who made it is not going to help you. Especially when you do not have the skill yet.
It helps when you deal with someone who is the cook. Someone who has the ingredients. Someone who looks with you and says hey. You are doing this wrong. This is not something you should be doing.
Because as per usual. More people will jump into the glitter and the glam.
And I do not care how that feels.
I am not looking down on anybody. I am looking you straight in your eye. I am sitting here looking you straight in your face.
Somewhere there has to be a point where you say okay. It is enough. Isn’t it?
Want to read more? Subscribe to my social media platform and join to be one of the few to see my exclusive posts on this website.