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And yet we are constantly tempted to do so under the guise of "doing it right"
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Realities about life that are exemplified by the act of growing things
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Doing things for future you is more important than you think
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How can we do that, what makes us more likely to?
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What high jump and pole vault can teach us about life
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You need to be around or at least see people who have gone where you want to go
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What to make of the right thing at the wrong time?
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Capturing the special moments, and creating more of them
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Before it's gone, and you need to develop new patterns
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One idea is as worthless as another until you actually do something about it
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Design is better when you work with what you've got
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Some thoughts on being the person you want to be
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And that means that your future can be different than you think
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As a defense against reverting back to your past self
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All the way down. The question to ask yourself is: does the balance of trade-offs in this situation move me closer to my goal?
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And you can achieve more in a short period of time than you think you can
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Understanding something at a granular level is required to actually do it
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The fundamental importance of your physical environment and how it relates to other areas of your life
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What does it mean to be a part of something magical?
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Strategies for coping with bad quality sleep when you can't get around it
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Catching yourself in the first stage of giving up on something
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What are the implications of the fact that some things must be worked for to attain, while others will happen if you don't avoid them?
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And why we often can't see past what already exists
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And how much the physical qualities of your environment shape your life
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And how that helps us think about anything in our lives
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You can't get there from here. You have to go halfway first
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And it's better if we choose them for ourselves
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Deliberate transitions to signal to your brain that everything is going to plan
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Getting to who you want to be from who you are now
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What does that tell you about your blind spots?
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If you've been waiting for a sign from the universe, let this be it
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Why do we like what we like, and do we really like it?
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Acknowledging the unacknowledged motives behind things
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Because doing so happens that other people's expense
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But they have to be specific and they have to be meaningful connections
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How do you make choices you will be happy with?
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Whether or not you intend to refer back to them
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Engineering, biology, and the choices we make about the life we want
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What does it look like to master something? What can we learn from watching somebody who has that skill, even if it is not something we are pursuing?
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If you like something, pay attention to what factors caused it.
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It might not be the solution you're looking for
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What gardening (and cooking) teaches us about life
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It's not about any individual post. It doesn't like up like that
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The difference between doing something and doing it well is all about the little stuff that you need to be able to consciously understand
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Friction beats effort all the time. Here's some thoughts on reducing it
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At whatever it is that you need to be competent at
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"It's not what you know, it's who you know" has some important truths to it. You need both, but we can often resist that fact.
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Why is it so hard sometimes to see what is possible in our lives, especially when we're not shaking up everything?
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True wealth is having control over how you spell your time
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Some thoughts that are not just related to cleaning
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Why things fall away and what we can do about it
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Don't fix it. The power of recognizing when something doesn't need to be done
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Some thoughts on avoiding making something into more than it needs to be
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Kicking the can forward in all the different aspects of life
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What do you risk losing, and how can you avoid losing it?
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Just because it's an opportunity that's hot right now doesn't mean it's right for you, nor is it helpful to look back at things that worked in the past and assume that that ship has sailed
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And accepting responsibility, especially when you are inclined not to
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In many instances, that matters more than outcome
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Why we should embrace imperfection, and how to avoid our own perfectionist tendencies
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What is your mind not even letting you think about?
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Which is different than the satisfaction that comes from doing hard things
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And you are the only one who can hold yourself to it
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Some thoughts on how people use it and what we can expect
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Especially when you make a conscious effort to make it do so.
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When you should and when it's to your advantage not to
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So you better figure out strategies that help you deal with that fact
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Don't just accept a diminished life. It may not be exactly what you wanted, but it can be a hell of a lot better.
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What I do to get good sleep, and a book update!
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And what benefit would you accrue from not having it?
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What a survival show has to say about life strategy
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Going back to first principles and letting the details follow
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You're always either moving towards that or away from it
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"I don't do that" is often actually "I'm scared to try"
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Making your avocation your vocation, and other life choices
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Using what you've got and making systems that work that way
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Especially in those moments when you don't need to, but you do it anyway
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It's about disunity in the direction of the different parts of our life
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Why I don't think of my mission as making the best possible spoons for my customers
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They are inevitable, so we must choose how to respond to them
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If you don't have a way to track, then it happening is an accident
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Setting up moments of calm and ritual for the future
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Some say not really. I say definitely. But it's up to you.
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It's not optional. Your choice is to own it and do it deliberately and on your own terms, or passively and probably ineffectively.
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An examination of ethics, change, authority and growth
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You've got to be able to identify them and then do something about them
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You've got to fill it faster than life drains it
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And other thoughts on getting back on top of things
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Some thoughts on the most important thing we do
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As well as thoughts on intermittent fasting, fixing things with junk, and the importance of destinations
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Best decide for yourself what you want that to be
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And reorganizing what I do and when in the near future
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Some gemstones, some crystals, a bag, Moroccan security and what that can teach us about human nature
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Freezing, peer movement, and what we can do and know we can do
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Thinking through what you might want a process to BE down the line
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So don't discount the value of that underperforming post. It might be what brings in the opportunity
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If the grass is always greener somewhere else for you
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Double and then redouble your effort, at least for awhile
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Because what you want isn't necessarily what you actually want
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All the variables and details matter and can be played to better advantage
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You've got to need to do the things because others rely on it
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But the bar for what is excellence likewise increases
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Don't let relationship roles define who you are forever
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Not so fast you get hurt. Not so slow it is more painful than it needs to be.
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Some stuff has a time horizon, and if you miss it, you miss it.
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I've banged this drum before, but circumstances keep showing me that it's the best path forward for a bunch of scenarios, and yet very few people choose it
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How can you change your mindset to make the most of that?
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Everything is your fault, now do something about it
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Opt for ones that don't disintermediate your power
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And structure your business so that doesn't create dead ends
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Or it is effectively shrinking. Here's how I strategize this.
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Taking responsibility for for things even when you feel you shouldn't have to
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And you're not even sure where to begin looking for one
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Throughout the ages, what has aged well and stood the test of time has been remarkably consistent
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It's your responsibility, especially if you work for yourself. Don't let other dynamics define it for you.
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So figure that out. (Opening piano theme courtesy of daughter no. 2)
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Be smart about it, strategic about it, but share what you have to share
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When you need to give ground, you're still better off
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And if you don't feel that way, you need to find better work
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Bringing all of your systems and preparation into a point of stillness that can move in any direction
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Putting your best foot forward is always better than some averaged impression
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And pay an appropriate amount of attention to the rest
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The gift of orderliness and the concomitant dark side
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Especially if it's the second change for a given plan
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Closing loops is worth the effort, especially if you can line them up
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That's the thing you are here to do, and that's the thing we celebrate
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And do work that the past you would have been incapable of conceiving
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And then do it again. No one will know it is available otherwise.
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The importance of creating buffers around your expectations
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Sorry I forgot yesterday's! Thoughts on hanging art and why that matters
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Changing our identities, one challenge at a time
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We intuitively understand this in so many realms, but for some reason less so with social media. When things are slow, you need more discipline, not less
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And recognizing when we are holding ourselves back
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Just because an opportunity exists doesn't mean you need to take advantage of it
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Rather than letting yourself finish them tomorrow
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So make sure it's compounding in the right direction
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Working for yourself is difficult enough without the added temptations that come from not having a dedicated workspace and trying to work in living spaces.
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And the stagnation of failing to put in the needed effort
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What if what we think is going on isn't actually what's going on?
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Where are you in it? What are you doing about it?
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Now stop focusing on that and start focusing on what the opportunities are that are before you right now. Then connect the dots.
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But hard to see until you see it. And then you'll never forget it.
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The more mature a scene is, the more territory has already been occupied. Here are two strategies to deal with that fact
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Clickbait title aside, it is a common mistake to provide far more information than people really want. Give them only as much as they are asking for, because that's a better judge of what is appropriate than your own sense of things
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They are bounded by the relationships that will be affected by them
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Hard things allow us to define ourselves and put life in perspective
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What your customers want, what you want, and what you are prepared to do
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And what will it become when you mastered this one?
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Not because they are in opposition to something else
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Testing ideas before investing ourselves in their identity
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And then figure out how to make them profitable within that framework
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Stop. Then try something different, slowly slowly
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This sounds obvious but we forget it all the time
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Not just to other people, but most importantly to myself, too
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The Pareto distribution and throwing mud at the wall
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Not so much crunching the numbers, but more thinking through what's working and what's not
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To organize what exists and to leave space for what might come next
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Putting guardrails on your work, or at least defining the terms
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How and why you do it matters. And it matters that you do it.
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Put yourself in the position to experience the exceptional moments
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Tracking our trajectory in relation to our goals
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Thinking about our place in the world and how that question pulls at us
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And what role does money play in making that work meaningful?
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And more often than we realize, that choice is ours to make
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Checking your subconscious even when your conscious mind knows what's happening
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Whether you recognize that or not. And you would do well to recognize it
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You need to figure out how to enjoy the things that you do
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Who do you have in your corner when you need it?
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A couple different scenarios and what you can do to be prepared for them
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And if you miss them, things drag on and problems multiply
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And let go of all the sunk costs that brought you to this place
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I uncovered some interesting ground here that is new to me
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Reconciling what we see in our work and what other people do
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I discussed it here in terms of structures, but this is true for all aspects of your life
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Shuffling your priorities to suit local conditions
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"Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today" is not just a maxim about staying on top of things. It's also a warning about momentum.
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Growth isn't always about physically making things bigger. On the other hand, sometimes it is
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You need more than one or two walls to be stable.
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Creating a framework that motivates us and holds us accountable
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Which terms we accept and which we should reject
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Not messing up what's working is just as important as making changes
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Easy to tackle by themselves or strung together
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More helpful than seeing where it is now, if you are just starting out
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Recognizing and taking back the control of social media
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We might think that it is not the truth, but look again
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Doing what we can to keep the small boat of our lives afloat
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Seeing but not being discouraged by where other people are at
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Avoiding the hidden costs of showing up consistently
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What they tell you about what you're doing and how you can improve
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Lessons from my daughter's lemonade stand on the power of location, timing and story
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Letting outside circumstances hijack the agenda
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Allowing work to creep into our time off is a bad long term practice.
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What needs your attention the most? What can wait?
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Not so much that it begins to have its own gravity
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Ignoring the voice in our head that tells us that we don't need to do that thing we told ourselves we'd do
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What I've learned about doing things by subscription
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New things that I've learned and substituted in to my routine
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Have so much that it feels like having nothing at all
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We don't need to communicate everything at once.
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Giving energy to the different areas of our life
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Maintaining productivity when you're the one who can be flexible in when you work
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A practical suggestion for dealing with a sore body
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And what it reminds us about what we do and do not know
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Wrapping things up at every opportunity so that you can pivot when needed
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Here's a new series in which I describe mucking out the art cupboard
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Doing hard things is made easier when the incentives are properly aligned
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Be careful what you at the subconscious lesson of a situation be. It might not be the thing you actually believe in.
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Ambition that is good for you and good for the world
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Giving ourselves (and others) permission to be outside the box
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Choosing to extend a little more of it to the world
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The ones we tell ourselves about ourselves, and the ones other people tell about us
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It's different than a goal. It's different than a limit. It's the best of both
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Whether we live in a hostile or friendly universe is more than just a theoretical framework
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The ability and willingness to see shades of gray protects us from ascribing too much evil to those with whom we disagree and too much good to those with whom we agree. The truth is almost always more complicated than we would wish it.
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Laughing at ourselves, and making other people laugh
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How we respond to the world and how that shapes how we see that dynamic
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Practicing it in the small things can better prepare us to accept it in the larger moments.
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The value of stepping up to the plate and existing in a construct where we expect the same from others.
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Especially when we're having trouble feeling it
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In more than the customary way that we are conditioned to think about it
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How we choose to pay attention to something and how that affects our lives
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Thinking of myself as an athlete, what is the best way to improve my performance and protect myself from injury?
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Clarifying long-term vision to inform short-term action
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Letting go of the scavenger mentality while retaining some of its strengths
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Making incremental changes that might not be ideal but still get you to a better place
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Getting sidetracked by some system that we think will help us do the thing, instead of just doing the thing
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Being pretty good at a bunch of things is often better than being really good at just one
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Claiming who we are, but not being defined by it
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Operating in a way that keeps you prepared for as many different possibilities as you can be.
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Constraints, creative or otherwise, and how they help us
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Don't gloat over the ability to do a needed thing. Feel good about actually doing it.
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Deciding for yourself what you believe, and letting nuance provide a link to what other people believe
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It's not always what you think it is, and it's definitely a journey
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Thoughts on dealing with fingertip nerve pain when carving
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Anything we start is harder at the beginning then it becomes over time. It's good to remember that
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Stacking up small changes to yield a big difference over time
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Letting your emotions settle before you tackle something.
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With an addendum about cross-disciplinary breakthroughs
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Micro and macro perspectives of something that is challenging in the middle ground
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Sometimes we have to dismantle what we've built in order to plant the seeds for the next thing we want in our lives
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What you give out into the world comes back around
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The case for focusing on the simplest, most basic iteration of what you're doing before you add your own twist
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Doubling down on one thing you come to do exceptionally well
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And becoming aware of those frameworks in the first place
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We all want comfort in life. But we need discomfort to push us to become what we are capable of, and to some extent to help us appreciate the comfort we do have.
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In order to stay on target with our values and goals
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Thinking about your unique advantages and how to use them to create the life you want
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Not just physical structures, but relationships and businesses as well
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Determining a logical time horizon and using that to get into position
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Getting stuck because you didn't concentrate on building demand
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But it is a necessary (and often hidden) part of working for yourself
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When it comes to my spoon carving in particular
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It will tell you where you should invest energy
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Making the most of a situation that has hit a roadblock
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It's not too much, it's important that you articulate it
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Strategies for doing the work you're not feeling it
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The thing you've been avoiding. The thing haunting you. The thing hanging over your head.
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Getting to choose how we spend it is one way to an abundant life
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Find a way to attract an audience that is largely unique to you.
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And how do we make sure it doesn't happen again
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Emotional paralysis, feedback, and deciding how to exist in the world.
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Learning from our mistakes and finding creative workarounds for things we aren't immediately good at
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Many times, the unlock you seek comes from understanding the mechanisms involved, not just trying to overpower them by force
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How we behave changes what we think about what we're doing
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This is not so much about cash flow, bt more about savings, insurance, all the stuff it is easy to ignore
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Making different choices than those we have slid into
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Thoughts on ramping up for the new year and asynchronous effort with the herd
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The more you release, the more momentum there is in your life for change
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And why that's far more important than anything else you actually do
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Making the most of our life by seizing the moment to make things better
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Meaning things reach a tipping point and become, all of a sudden, something else
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Rearranging your furniture to give your brain some new pathways to walk down
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You don't need to arrive by the same path. But you're looking for where two different paths meet.
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Burnout and depression are a real risk this time of year. This is what I do to stage them off.
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But they don't make you more official and they are a waste
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Make sure to listen to an episode about pricing your work first
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Your behavior will tell even if you aren't admitting it to yourself
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And you should never try to talk someone into what you do
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But don't let that stop you from being generous
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Choices we have to make whether we like them or not
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Do the things that matter before you let your time be ruled by outside agendas
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And the role of diversity of experience in keeping us healthy
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Precious objects that we don't want to mess up keep us from having this sort of relationship
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Two different ways to get the bar low enough to take action
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Strategies for aligning the weather with what you need to do
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Resisting feedback versus embracing improvement
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And we should celebrate that even when it means we don't get our own way
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Earnestly engaging with the world and those who don't agree with us.
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Creating something that is mutually beneficial for you and for the person it is intended for
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Layering habits onto existing patterns to help them stick
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Two different styles of packing, as two different needs for Independence
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How we need to think about things when we begin
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It makes such a huge difference and it's something we don't often take into account
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The question we should be asking ourselves when we don't feel up to a task
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The foundation of emotional and physical health
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Tidying things away when we should be culling them
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And determining what that is in the first place.
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The immediate solution is worth more than you think
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There are many benefits both now and down the road.
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And what do you hope to get out of the experience?
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And the difference between lived experience and secondhand
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The challenge of seeing people do something that you believe to be dangerous or just plain stupid
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Especially when you feel like the technology just isn't for you
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Considering the opinions and views and beliefs of others
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What leaving a drive-in movie theater taught me about preparation and chance
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The result is greater than the sum of the parts
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And will people be disappointed if they found out more about you?
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The risk of carrying debt when you don't have to.
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How the framework of obligation we choose matters for our mental health
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Thinking about what we can learn from the pandemic
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Pouring more into something than is needed to make it better for the future
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When are community is out of alignment with our business
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When something breaks, space is opened for something new
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Getting yourself into a stronger financial situation during a pandemic
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Setting yourself up to be in a better place in the future
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Between what you want and what is immediately possible
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That number might be off, I just thought it would look better to have a number than to say here are a bunch of things
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Shifting priorities just a bit to get the ratchet going in a different direction
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And how that helps both the small and large picture
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This one went in about four different directions
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This is one of the greatest tricks to increase efficiency that I know of
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Being limited can actually be the thing that inspires you or pushes you to do your best work
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And if it isn't, do you need a new interval or a new business model?
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Because the losses will happen all on their own
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When you are self-employed, You are by default the one you can change your schedule. And this is both fine and not fine
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Complexity and entropy are two sides of the same coin
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You don't need to reinvent the wheel, but you might want to
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Because you don't need to crush it, you just need to keep going
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What we don't know that we don't know can still hurt us
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As spaces fill up, we feel the need to stake a claim more and more
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It's like dress for success, but for your physical space
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What I think it is, and how I think we often get it wrong
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Long-term changes and what we do and how we present ourselves
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Why adding to what you've already got is more powerful than starting something else
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Trying stuff when you've got nothing to lose (which is the case for all of us)
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The power of creative constraints and other ideas
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Motivation and the balance between Independence and security
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And the power of that narrative no matter what happens
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Especially when you work for yourself but also for other situations too
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And why I balance personal and professional content
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Just because everyone says so doesn't make it true
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Or a community, or whatever you want to call it
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How all things are defined relative to our expectations
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You don't know cause and effect unless you know and can understand the fuller picture
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The han tendency to mimic, whether we like something or not
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Removing things from a scenario and what it can do for us
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The most critical factor in changing your standing among your peers
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The important things that happen after you've crossed the finish line
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In order to know if what you're doing is working
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Move over Kon Mari. This deep cleaning is about to get real.
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And why it matters for the long term health of your business
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The value of re-affirming the things we appreciate
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Being clear about priorities when you only have so much time
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Even (especially) when you don't think you have one
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And how to surpass them. The current state of the union
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How understanding a more nuanced view of history can help us communicate better in the present
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How who we surround ourselves with affects our mental state
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And often are a smarter choice for a business starting out
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When the action you must take is also the potential source of the problem
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Dealing with frustrated attempts and overambitious expectations
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As defined by a Mortise and Tenon magazine article
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As you increase frequency of a thing, some bits often get overlooked
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Digital payment systems have a business model built around convincing us that there system imposes less friction on the customer. That is true, but only in a very limited way.
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And the value of impermanent solutions while you resolve the permanent one
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In which I come up with an incredibly original idea (not!)
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We live in the present moment, which is shaped by our environment. Tend to it.
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It's so often the deciding factor on whether or not you accomplish something
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It can be easy to throw in the towel and lose all momentum
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Thoughts on a talk I gave last night that went really well
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There are things that are on demand and things that are fleeting and have their own timeframe
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Tips for dealing with overdoing it as a craftsperson- stretching and massage included
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How to figure out the blind spots in your own sense of things
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So often we place and keep ourselves in silos, afraid we'll lose what little we have if we open up. This is neither helpful nor true
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It's never too late and nothing is "not for you"
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Don't just blindly follow someone else's order of operations
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These extremes are different in their requirements. Here are my best tricks 4 avoiding mistakes
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My top points for how to successfully sell your work at a market.
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The difference between a good edge and a great one
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And other things that might be holding you back
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This is the end of the VAC! Thanks for taking part
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It's the best way to appreciate the routine again
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All the details about sawing that we usually gloss over.but.are.actually super helpful to know
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How we ask for money, and when we ask for money, in a transaction, is fundamentally important and an opportunity many of us squander.
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This is perhaps the most important thing and it is so underappreciated
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A bit.rambling, but my dogs kept finding deer bones in the woods and distracting me
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This a choose your own adventure, but it.helps to follow the map until you're familiar with the terrain
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Your options, and an overview of the coming month
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These are the top five low hanging fruit that I can see for someone looking to build a spooncarving related business
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Moisture content and wood quality becomes evident right away
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It's easy to lament the algorithm, but the truth is, whether or not your strategy is working has little to do with that.
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How do you know if a log has the right moisture content?
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We forget that the relationships are THE point, not the sale.
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What can you do right now in five minutes that will deal with 90 percent of the problem?
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What is the value of buying spoons from people to get an understanding of what their work is like? Is it necessary for.doing.good work myself?
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Stopping is sometimes the hardest thing, followed only by knowing when and how to continue
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Getting clean smooth lines is not hard, once you understand these few points
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Some thoughts on life and dying (don't worry, I'm not dying)
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What I learned from my first day recording the audio version of my forthcoming book
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How to manage and mitigate the pain associated with carving
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So often the middle path is best. Here is one instance where it is decidedly not.
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Envisioning these is tricky. But they are important to define early
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It does you no good to oet yourself stay stuck. You always need to have another angle of attack
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How multiple businesses and being a solo operator help me use each day most effectively
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Why I get better results flipping the spoon over and carving blind rather than keeping it face up and switching grips
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Small changes over time stack up, and they often take you to places you didn't anticipate or envision at the beginning
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If you're nibbling and nibbling at your spoons, read this now
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The deliberate psychology needed when there is always something you could be doing.
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Here's what I do to keep my body healthy. One other obvious thing i failed to mention was just to take it easy! Don't overdo it. That's the most important thing.
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In my life, putting myself in positions where i need to stretch for things has been what has forced positive changes and growth
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The most common things I see people struggle with and what to do about them
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How good workflow eliminates unpredictability and pruduces better results
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I don't think it's as mysterious as we make it out to be
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What I look for and some different means of getting it
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This is a tricky thing to get exactly how you want it. But once you have a process the whole thing is more controlled. Here is mine.
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How hard to push, when to ignore your body and when to listen to it.
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Why it happens, and the top couple of things you can do about it
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It is always tempting to start new things. Here is why not to.
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How to realign the handle and bowl of a spoon when they are not in the same plane.
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To template or not to template, that is a juicy question
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For those of you who haven't heard it before, here is the full story. Pricing is not a team sport. Run your own race.
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What you do when you fail is just as important as what you do when you succeed
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What does providing amazing customer service look like? Is fairness theost important thing?
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My tips on getting an eating spoon to feel great in your mouth. Because otherwise what's the point?
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So often as makers we worry about streamlining our experience. That has it the wrong way around
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So often, we don't ask for it. And so often we don't offer it fully to others.
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Carving clean, even spoon rims is one if the most difficult things. Here is how I do it.
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It's a combination of miisture level and sharpness
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Being able to articulate this keeps you going when you might otherwise stop
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Getting the right bowl thickness is so tricky, and makes such a huge difference for the feel ofnthenfinished spoon. Here is how I do it.
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I often go it alone. But offers of help can be disproportionately valuable
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It's not about fairness. It's about what you want the dynamic to be going forward
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Sometimes we realize we had a goal and we just kept assuming we would start it tomorrow.
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Take that idea off the page and actually try it. You'll learn more than you ever imagined
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Revising your website is a thankless task. But somebody needs to do it.
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We often see commitments and responsibilities as disadvantages when it comes to pursuing our dreams. I think it can be the other way around
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I find this to be a critical part of how I put my best foot forward.
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In your field, who is doing it better? How clearly can you articulate why?
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If you want something, some dream, it will take effort and work to get it. What will you give?
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Often we focus instead on iurnown experience first
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Working for yourself is always an option. Why are we talking about this more?
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Getting a jump on things feels sooooo good. Why don't I do it all the time?
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Make sure you're trajectory is pointing where where you want to go
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Sometimes you don't realize you need it when you really do
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This is an unpopular belief, but part of long term success
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What I learned from the Great British Baking Show
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If you don't evolve and innovate, the attention will go somewhere else.
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This time of year it is easy to feel depressed, and in general being sepf employed is hard on the mood at times. Here is something that helps me
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It's an inevitable part of working for yourself. Here are a couple of things to do about it
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Building to something creates tension, and tension creates movement
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Developing a style that is recognizable as your own is a long-term, never ending process. Here is how it worked for me.
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Newsflash: I'm bad at it. But I want to get better
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Clearing physical space can pead to mental space, and vice versa
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In a very particular way, this general principle can be invaluable for any goal
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Thinking about the business can be one of the most useful things you do for the business
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Someone is going to benefit from you sharing what you know. So share it.
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You don't know what you will really need until you've done it for awhile. So move fast and cheap and don't spring for the permanent thing right away.
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Deliberate exercises to oush yourself outside your comfort zone have an outsized effect on where we end up
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Life and business are full of overwhelming moments when a task that seemed straightforward hits a road block. And then another. And then another.
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Perfectionism is a limiting factor, holding us back from starting or continuing or sharing what we want to do for feeling it's not ready. It's never ready. Do it anyway.
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Matt White and I sit down to talk over where we were two years ago when we first met.
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How and when to transition to working for yourself is such a tricky, and personal, question. Here's my story and thoughts on the matter.
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Figuring out what can go wrong is often a matter of finding the bottleneck.
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You don't know if you've got it until you let go.
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It's easy to be generous with those more powerful or connected than ourselves. It's far more important, however, to be generous to those less connected and powerful than ourselves.
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How to avoid it and what to do when it inevitably shows up
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The repeat customer is your most valuable resource
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The importance of analyzing demand and profit to figure out if it's time to start saying no to things
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Success comes from knowing what it means for you, in this moment, to succeed
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Some considerations to keep in mind when you start to work from home
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One thing is certain: you cannot just keep doing the same thing, even (and especially) if it is working
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It's a long one, because it's jam packed with good stuff
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In the beginning of a journey, a certain amount of waste can be strategically necessary that would not be tolerated later on
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Longer than usual episode because there are a lot of details to cover.
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Keeping your sense of self worth intact in the face of early slow sales is one of the toughest things. Here are some tactics.
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The edge is where the meaningful contributions to the community are.
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Controlling the means of production is one of the strengths of a land-based business
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How do you feel good about your work when, as a craftsperson, you know that some is better than others?
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Social media metrics makes it easy to focus on the wrong things. But in the end, a community is what is going to support you when you need them.
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It's popular opinion that to succeed at something you need to go all in. I'm here to tell you that's not necessarily true.
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No one is going to give it to you. (Except me, right here.)
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Doing one thing is not enough. Instead, you need to realize the needs of your current customers and address those
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There are three basic ways to earn money as a craftsperson. You should probably figure out all three.
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You don't need to be the best. You just need to be pretty good at a unique combination of things.
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A little pep talk for people feeling out of their depth
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Sometimes the stories we tell ourselves don't serve us.
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We usually start projects with high standards and expectations. Here, I argue that it is crucial to lower these.
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Get off your butt and do that thing you tell yourself you will do in six months. Right now.
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There is time. There is always time. The question is, are you willing to do what it takes?
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How deliberate practice can help you lean into your thing and really improve.
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Thoughts on the value of creating a community through engagement rather than focusing on the metrics
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Despite a cold and my dog going nuts at the end, I managed to hold it together on this one...
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If you are like me, you cringe at the thought of them. But they are surprisingly important to your business.
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Lately I've been shifting my time and attention from entertainment to education, consuming podcasts and books that help me grow towards my goals.
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Why I changed my handle to be my name and why I think that's important.
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My tips on taking decent photographs of products, in this instance the wooden spoons that I carve.
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The shift from doing your thing some of the time to doing it most of the time is a delicate transition.
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Boy I really ended up in a different place with this than what I thought. A great example of how the act of doing something leads you to uncharted territory.
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The philosophy and strategy of sharing all your best stuff.
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It is really hard to see your daily actions stack up into results. That is true across the board.
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Diversification is the key on so many levels. Maintaining a broad base of smaller customers and clients is one of the ways to mitigate risk when you work for yourself.
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Short introduction to Emmet Audio. Thanks for listening!
