a brief story about discovering a business model that allowed us to remain a two-person company with a product we could make once and sell multiple times.
Category Archive: About
Aphantasia – A Different Kind of Blindness 🧠
The post below was sent as an issue of my newsletter, Ready for Rain. This might seem strange, but please follow the instructions below... Imagine an apple that’s floating in the space in front of you. It’s red, has a small green leaf and a stem. Now, using your...
This is About the Ham 🐖
A debate about storing ham in a Tupperware container could have gone in a lot of directions. We found a path without hurt feelings.
Hibernating in the PNW ☔️ 🦠
The winter of 2020-21 was no regular winter. A range of factors all converged to make it like a hibernation that could only end in the spring.
Because It’s Cool 😎
This question exposed a reality that I wasn’t prepared to admit to myself. I am sometimes driven not by a sense of objective quality or beauty, but because I think it’s cool and I want to be cool. The real answer to Sachi’s question, more than I want to admit, is “I like it because it’s cool right now.”
This Was 2020
This was my 2020.
Interview with Chris Miles of Money Ripples Podcast
I had a great discussion with Chris about Big Enough and designing a business around more than income. Listen below or on this page.
Podcast Interview with Mitch Joel – Six Pixels of Separation
Before this interview, I had never had a discussion with Mitch, but we've been connected online for over thirteen years. It was so awesome to finally be able to talk with him. This interview is interesting because it goes into the early stages of Common Craft videos,...
The Entrepreneurial Imperative
Though it might not be obvious, we live in a world of imperatives. These are not laws, regulations, or other legally-binding rules, but expectations made by culture. We are bound by what others believe is the right path in a given situation. They are norms that, when...
R.I.P. Yahoo Groups
Yahoo recently shared the news that, after 20 years, Yahoo! Groups is shutting down. It's no big surprise, but seeing this news took me back to the early days of online communities and my job as an online community manager. In 1999, I was fascinated with online...
The Smell of Crabbing in the Salish Sea 🐟🐕
One of the challenges of crabbing in the Salish Sea is dealing with the bait, which can sometimes get very ripe. In this case, the bait attracted our dogs, who shared the love.
Cedar, Big Enough, and Boats 🌲📔🚤
A snapshot of summer 2020 when we were staining cedar for the house, preparing to publish a book, and spending a lot of time on the Salish Sea.
Who is Common Craft?
It makes my day when I receive an email from someone who says something like, “I’ve been a fan since the first video!” It’s hard to believe that was in 2007, over 13 years ago. At the time, we were new and different. Our style of videos attracted attention just...
Inside the COVID Bubble 🔒
A report from May of 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic had forced shutdowns of most of the US, including Orcas Island.
City Life Versus Island Life 🗑♻️
Moving from Seattle to an island was a shock for a lot of reasons. One of the most interesting was learning to be more self-sufficient than we ever have.
A Dispatch from the Covid Quarantine 🦠
In the spring of 2020, we were quarantined because of Covid-19. This was our experience early in the pandemic.
In an Instant, She Was Gone 🌲🦮🌲
On a windy afternoon, our dog disappeared into the woods hunting for deer. This is what happened and how it felt.
The Moment Everything Changed at Common Craft ⚡️
In 2007, our lives changed thanks to publishing a series of animated videos that became known at the first “explainer” videos of the YouTube era.
Stepping Away from the Seattle Bustle
Now that we’ve moved and my life has changed in fundamental ways, I can’t help but see that there is beauty in stepping off the treadmill of city life and professional expectations and reevaluating what success means to me.
Surprisingly Interesting in 2020 📒
The post below was sent as an issue of my newsletter, Ready for Rain. When I was home with my parents for Christmas, an idea started to percolate. Over the last year, my mom’s health prevented her from checking email regularly and she wasn’t able to keep up with my...