This is a rather hard line against what I would consider pretty good advice. Seemingly, unlike much of the HN crowd, I wasn't born with the immediate abilities

This is a rather hard line against what I would consider pretty good advice. Seemingly, unlike much of the HN crowd, I wasn't born with the immediate abilities I require for my work, as OP seems to allege having. Otherwise, how is it that you are able to do anything unless you took a swing at it while under qualified? In my own experience, I've watch millions of dollars trade hands, after an advertising company remodelled a restaurant into a pub for their pitch to a large beer distribution brewery. They made their client feel comfortable about their abilities to create anything. They definitely were not masters of pub interior decoration, but act as if is what they did.