Hi Cornish, we've all been there in the early days, don't worry it becomes second nature, you have to invest in yourself to start with (i.e. the jobs always seem to take longer than you imagine), but it's all part of learning the trade, quality first, speed later mate. I find if I'm building adhesive up, firstly trowel the floor, then trowel the ribs the same way on the back of your tile, this should bring your adhesive up 6-8mm depending on your trowel, then, when you press the tile down you have more control of the adhesive spreading evenly underneath, and you get more opportunity to adjust it if necessary up or down without losing coverage, then as kilty says, butt the tile up against the last and move away as you're bedding so that the movement sucks the adhesive away from the joint, these small details work for me every time. I find a quick way to build the adhesive up thicker than this (providing the manufacturer allows this in the adhesive spec!) is to spread adhesive on the floor with the flat part of your trowel or using the flat edge on your bucket trowel to the same level as the bottom of the previous tiles around and pull the trowel flat away from them, therefore creating a flat bed, then trowel the ribs straight on the back of your tile to be laid and press on to the bed you just created, clean job done! Also a tip for you, if you don't already know, is to always trowel out your adhesive in straight ribs when fixing as this allows any air to be squashed out from under the tile, therefore preventing lippage and tile corners being sucked down as the adhesive sets. Hope that helps mate and don't give up, it takes a lot of practice.:smilewinkgrin:
