Our Product is Explanation
All posts for “beingsmall”
Erring on the Side of Happiness
Posted by: leelefever on February 15, 2010- 4:00pm
Categories: beingsmall, business, couplecompany, strategy
Not everyone knows, but Common Craft is a two-person, home-based business. We're 100% independent, with zero employees or investors. While we work with specialists by contract, everything that Common Craft does comes from us and impacts only us. This has been our goal since 2006 when Sachi and I started working together and today, we're starting to really understand what it means to be a two person "couple company."
It's not all unicorns and rainbows. Along with our important video-making... Continue Reading
Being Lightweight: Planting the Right Plants
Posted by: leelefever on November 24, 2008- 4:00pm
Categories: beingsmall, business, lightweight, ourwork
If you don't like yardwork, you have a choice. You can hire gardeners or you can plant things that don't require much care.
This is my way of saying that we all have a choice in how we grow. Because we want Common Craft to stay small, we look at new opportunities in terms of yardwork and ask ourselves - is this going to require gardeners in the future? If so, then maybe we should look for opportunities that are more likely to take care of themselves and allow us to focus on what really... Continue Reading
Being Lightweight: Business Design
Posted by: leelefever on July 20, 2008- 5:00pm
Categories: beingsmall, business, lesson, lightweight, marketing, ourwork
This is the third in a series of posts about Being Lightweight. The first two were about Working with Clients and Tools We Use.We are lucky to have a product that people like. Our challenge is to experiment and find the best ways to build a business around this product. To be successful we need the business to be profitable, but also work within the life we want to live.We see this process as "business design" and as this series outlines, being lightweight is a big priority. Below are a... Continue Reading
Beachcombers and Making the Lightweight Choice
I suppose some would say it's downright un-American, but we worked on July 4th and 5th. It was our choice - a choice that enabled us to take the 7th and 8th and go camping without the hordes of people. It's something we do often - work when others aren't so we can play without crowds. It's a choice we make.
On this camping trip, we met someone whose attitude reminds us a little of our own. She runs the tiny "Beachcomber Cafe" at Fort Flagler State Park . Fort Flagler is situated on the... Continue Reading
Being Lightweight: Tools We Use
Posted by: leelefever on June 9, 2008- 5:00pm
Categories: beingsmall, business, cooltols, lesson, lightweight, ourwork
This is the second in a series of posts about being lightweight. Our first was focused on working with clients and this installment is all about tools we use.
Tools, or the the wrong tools, become a risk when they create unnecessary drag in every day work. Often, we've found ourselves wondering if we're using a sledgehammer to drive a nail. If so, we look for alternatives.
In being lightweight, we also consider mental and emotional baggage that goes along with tools. We're often willing... Continue Reading
Being Lightweight: Working with Clients
Posted by: leelefever on May 10, 2008- 5:00pm
Categories: beingsmall, business, lesson, lightweight, ourwork
It's a question we ask each other all the time - what is the most lightweight way we can do this?We are a small company who is trying to do big things. In order to be
successful, we need to reduce drag - to remove the processes,
bureaucracies and commitments that slow us down and don't pay off.
Today we're kicking off a series of posts called "Being Lightweight" that will relate what lightweight means to us and hopefully help you think differently about how you focus your attention.
Working... Continue Reading
Two Quotes on Simplicity
The first is by Antione de Saint Exupéry, author of The Little Prince and a pioneer in aviation:
Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away.
The second is by William of Occam (1288-1347) You might know the name from Occam's Razor.
It is vain to do more with what can be done with less.
These quotes mean a lot to me and were found, most recently, at the beginning of Chapter 5 of Tim Ferriss' book The 4-Hour Workweek. More on that later.
Free is the Future
Posted by: leelefever on February 25, 2008- 4:00pm
Categories: beingsmall, business, lesson, ourwork
Chris Anderson, the author of The Long Tail and editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, has moved his focus to "Free". His article is the cover story of the latest Wired (Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business) and has a book coming out in 2009. I think he's onto something.
A couple of quotes:
Once a marketing gimmick, free has emerged as a full-fledged economy. Offering free music proved successful for Radiohead, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and a swarm of other bands on MySpace that... Continue Reading
What a year. I can say with ultimate confidence that we never would have guessed, one year ago, that 2007 would be so transformative for Common Craft. Here are some things we learned:
OUR WORK
Video works. Text, graphics, audio, they all have a place. But video is a different animal. Nothing engages people like the dynamics of a video. Ever read about a car chase? It's not as fun.
Simple is better. Approach an explanation by removing information instead of adding it. Remember Occam's... Continue Reading
I always wanted to be independent - I never, not once in my life, had the goal of working for someone else. It's not in my genes. In 2003 I founded Common Craft and in January of 2007 Sachi joined the company. Since then, Sachi has been the real force driving our goal of having a truly independent lifestyle.And it is ALL about lifestyle. As I've written before, we make our lifestyle a huge priority. Why choose to be independent if you can't create a job and schedule that works for you? We... Continue Reading