I write how to articles for Speed, Style, and Sound magazine. The articles that have been written in 98% of the magazines I have read show 50-75% of the actual process and are there to give the reader insight into the process of what they are doing. most of the time there are steps that are not shown, materials that are not disclosed and sometimes they are not even techniques that are the most efficient...... if they gave you all the tricks, you wouldn't have to ever pay for their services. This is also done for space reasons.
I have found that if you read an article on something you should do a little more research on the subject. forums like these and other magazines are GREAT resources for knowledge, but getting your hands dirty and just doing it is the best way. you will run into problems on the first attempt.....then you go and find/ ask why that problem occured. then on the next attempt, you may have a different issue.....then you can combat that one. it is all a process. i know a lot of you might be saying "NO SH*T" but also a lot of people think that if they read everything they can and know a bunch of different ways that they CAN do something, that there is no need to practice.
dont get me wrong here, i am not trying to piss anyone off, but if you want to learn something.....go and do it. it will give you a lot better idea of the things that you need to work on or learn more about. and use your resources, talk to people you know. everyone knows someone that can help them out. or if you dont know someone directly, maybe there is a friend of a friend that can help.
Custom car audio is a combination of a lot of industries, so there are a lot of things to learn. in my opinion there is a lot of stuff that most people dont think they should know that can help them in the long run. if you are doing it on your own (not for a shop) it involves woodwork,autobody,metal fabrication,electronics,upholstry,OEM integration, budgeting money, bolt on accessories,acoustics,knowledge of how music is recorded,and dont forget art to name some things.
if you are at a shop, those things are still involved, but there are also things like advertising/marketing, other financial issues, employees/coworkers, buisness resources/networking, knowing the most efficient techniques and materials, outsourcing some parts of the projects, time managment and orginazation, having the proper tools and making sure the parts,equiptment and materials are inhouse to complete the job on time and as efficiently as possible.
all of these are things that can and should be learned. the more you know and can do, the more valuable and marketable you are. there is ALWAYS something to learn or get better at and there is ALWAYS someone who knows more than you do.
so do some research and get out there and try something or work on some of the things that you might not be as good as you can be.