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 number of ideas and thoughts about creating a lightweight business.

Two People - We are dedicated to being a two person company without employees. This is a fundamental constraint that guides nearly every decision. By making our size the priority, we have been forced to think hard about what is possible for two people and be prepared to focus on opportunities that work within this constraint.

Employees - We may work with contractors and short-term help, but we do not plan to hire employees.  In the last article in the series I talked about the heavy nature of stress and anxiety. Growing the business by hiring would add potential revenue, but also add significant stress and loss of focus on our work in order to manage those folks.

Business Model -  We ask ourselves - What business do we really want to be in?  What do we want to be doing on a day-to-day basis? Consulting? Custom Videos? Licensing? Ads? Commercial? To be lightweight, we need to bring focus to the 1-2 models that get us closer to our goals and put others on the back burner.

Scalability - We are small, but we do want to scale the business.  How? We consider business models.  The custom video model does not scale - we would have to hire employees to make more videos each month. A more scalable model is selling licensed versions of our videos in the Common Craft Store.  In this model, potential revenue is not tied directly to production time.  

Not Doing it All - When opportunity knocks, it's hard not to answer.  The problem is that we can't do it all and we've learned to say no, even if it hurts sometimes.  The key is being clear about our future goals.  If an opportunity doesn't take us there, then it's creating drag.

Marketing -  We don't spend time on brochures, fliers or ads of any traditional sort. We believe that the best marketing doesn't always come from a campaign - it comes from the users of our products.  We focus on making free versions of the videos easy to share.

Agility - About a year ago, a few companies started to become interested in our custom videos.  We literally woke up one morning and decided to focus 100% of our business on these videos. The same thing happened when we decided to focus on the Store. Our goal is to retain this freedom to react to changes and opportunities efficiently, and avoid the need to seek approval from others.  A beauty of being small and lightweight is the ability to react.

People Philosophy - We believe that people are essentially good and given limited resources, we'd rather focus attention on being open and helping them do the right things rather than trying to make the wrong things impossible.

Balance - We don't believe in working 80 hours a week, 51 weeks a year so that you can vacation when you're old.  We work more hours than most, but we're not bashful about making sure that we live a fun, interesting and balanced life. Lightweight businesses make this easier.

Investors and Partnerships - Often, these are required for business growth. The problem comes when the requirements and expectations of others become a part of the business. We've been careful not to form agreements with investors or partners because the baggage these relationships create may not balance with the benefits they provide.  It's added stress and anxiety that creates weight we would rather not have.  Advice is great, but financial relationships weight a lot.

Limited Middlemen - Each person who handles a product on the way to the consumer adds weight and removes reward.  We look for the best ways to get our product from an idea to the customer as directly as possible.  Outside of us, The Common Craft Store doesn't have salespeople, distributors, marketers or support.  We do it all, A-to-Z, using products like PayPal and e-junkie.

Contact Points - As our visibility on the web has increased, so too has our time managing communication. We recently decided to make email our most public source of contact and have removed our phone number from the web site. It's nothing personal, it just allows us to do a better job managing communications as lightweight as possible.

Supporting Two People - At the end of the day, we remember that we are two people.  Sure, our model may not enable us to dominate markets or become a Fortune 500 company, but that's not our goal.  We need our business to support us and the life we want to live.  

So, you might be wondering about the result of all these ideas.  Well, we've made a number of decisions lately.  Our future is devoted to building a library of videos for the Common Craft Store.  We are phasing out custom videos and devoting time to videos we can license to influencers and educators for use in the workplace.  This model enables us to be lightweight and 100% independent.

Ultimately, we want to wake up each morning and know we are choosing what we do that day. For us, that's lightweight.

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 Strait of Juan de Fuca - the waterway that creates the entrance to Puget Sound from the Pacific. In war time, it was a strategic location and now has decaying, 100 year old bunkers, turrets and battlements.  An interesting and beautiful place to explore.

We camped up on a bluff and a short walk down the hill was the cold, windy beach and Beachcomber Cafe.  The first thing we noticed on the approach was the chalkboard outside that said "free wifi". 

Free wifi out here in the far reaches of the country.  Cool!  We walked in and talked a bit.

Me: So, is the wifi on during business hours?
Her: Nope, 24 hours. I'd probably forget to turn it off anyway.

Me: Is there a password?
Her: No, it's not worth keeping up with a password

Me:  It's really great that you offer it way out here
Her: Yeah, you know, it would be a pain to try to make money on it.  My little shop here may cost a little more than other places, but if you use the wifi, you might consider buying a little something.   It's up to you.

Me:  What hours are you open?
Her: 8 to 8

Me (to Sachi):  See Sachi, she even figured out how to make the hours easy.
Her:  Hah!  Now you're getting to know me!

We figured that Common Craft and the Beachcomber Cafe have some things in common.  The Beachcomber Cafe has made choices in how the business is run.  Sure, they have the potential to try to squeeze every dollar out of people who need wifi, but they don't.  They provide wifi as a worry-free service and rely on the good nature of people to support the business in other ways. 

Further, they put a priority on the lightweight choice - the wifi is always on, always free and open to everyone.  Any other way would create more hassle than she needs. The store hours are even easy to remember. 

I'm not talking about business practices, but philosophy - a philosophy that's built on shedding unneeded administration and focusing on providing opportunities that give people ways to feel good about the relationship.

The first step is realizing you have a choice.  Your business doesn't have to operate like others.  Sure, you can make 8 dollars a day on wifi, or you can smile at your customers and tell them the wifi is free and goes great with today's paper and a candy bar. 

Here's a photo set from the trip, if you're interested.

Dear SSPR,
You have been sending me emails for months now, apparently from someone named Sarah who always has a "Story Idea:" for me. Since then I have asked three times (including a voicemail) to be removed from your distribution list. What happened today?  I received another email from Sarah about another awesome "STORY IDEA".

I've given up trying to stop your emails. You obviously don't care about my requests, or care that you're proving to me and a lot of others that you accomplish the opposite effect of PR - you demean your clients in front of the very people you're trying to reach. I would never write a story after receiving a pitch from you.

I know that stories from bloggers mean a lot to your clients. Do they know your tactics?  Do they know that you don't respect requests from the very people you are asking to write stories?  Do they know people like me consider you spammers?

I think the PR industry has a place in the online world and there are hordes of smart people in PR who have found the right ways to work with bloggers. I just received a pitch today from someone who had read this site and personalized their message. I respect them for taking the time.

You, SSPR, have a very long way to go. Like any relationship, your efforts must be built on honesty and respect. It has to be built on personal connections.  Every time you send an unwanted email and ignore removal requests, you are insulting me, yourselves and PR industry as a whole.  It's called spam and no one wants more of it.

What I want is for you to understand what is wrong with what you're doing.   Here are a number of resources and perspectives for understanding how to pitch bloggers.

Matt Haughey: How to Pitch Bloggers

Getting to First Base: Social Media Marketing Playbook (e-book)

Pro Blogger: 21 Tips on Pitching Bloggers

Stowe Boyd: The Growing Backlash Against PR Spam

I suppose I should be thankful in some ways, you've suceeded in giving me a "STORY IDEA", though I doubt it's what you wanted.

PS - I see you've made it onto the PR Spammers wiki.  Congrats on that.

Updated:

Just after posting this entry, I was contacted by Belinda Banks, Executive Vice President at SSPR, who was apologetic and said that change is happening in the company. From her message:

We have addressed this situation internally, not only with Sarah but with our entire staff, especially all of our new team members. Inaccurate pitching is a personal pet peeve of mine and we are striving for each staff member to resonate that same theme.
I appreciate Belinda's response, but at the same time, the proof is in the pudding.  I hope we'll see real change from them and others in the industry. 

Click to play

Video Length: 2m 29s

I've been a member of LinkedIn for years and like many members, I wondered how to get more from my connections. The company came to us to help address this question in video form. Ultimately, it's about uncovering LinkedIn's ability to not just connect, but get things done.

Big thanks to Surya and the LinkedIn team - it was a pleasure! This video can be found in LinkedIn's new Learning Center.  Plus,they have blogged about it and uploaded the same video, split into two section here and here.

It's true, Common Craft (the company and blog) is 5 years old today, or sometime around now.  I recently went back to the very first blog posts I wrote in 2003.

One of first was called "My Intentions for this Weblog" of June 24, 2003. Here are two quotes:

This weblog will be written in the language of a lay person. I feel strongly that a key to my success is being able to relate technology and technical concepts to people that are not educated or well-versed in technology. I think that the language of technology is very much focused on technologists. My goal is to make communication technology easy to understand for people like my Mom.

And...

Lastly, my overall and far-reaching goal with this weblog is to increase the understanding and acceptance of the Internet as a communication tool. There is a world of people and organizations that are looking for ways to use the Internet to work and communicate better and I want this site to help them see new opportunities.

I honestly didn't realize that these things were such a big part of my plans 5 years ago.  Truthfully, I don't see much change in the next 5 either. 

This birthday post at 2 years is one of my favorites too.

About a month ago, I got a Kindle as an early birthday present (Thanks Sachi's Mom!)  Since that time, I've become consumed by not only the device, but the potential for it to become a foundation for Amazon to disrupt the publishing industry. 

Indeed, there are two parts to any discussion about Kindle (1) the device and how it works (2) how Amazon will use it and it's Digital Text Platform to create a micro-payment economy for authors.

For now, I want to introduce a few aspects of the device, starting from taking out of the box.   

The strangest, most unsettling thing from the un-boxing?  Amazon included a coupon for a free McDonalds chicken biscuit in the box. Amazon, please don't cheapen the experience for future Kindle buyers.

One of the awesome aspects of getting started is that the Kindle already knows who you are.  Since you purchase it from Amazon.com, it arrives connected to your Amazon account and immediately connects to (Sprint's EVDO) cell-phone network called Whispernet, which quickly delivers books to the Kindle after purchase. This connection is free - paid-for by Amazon.

I don't think people understand that this cell phone connection means the Kindle is a 100% stand alone device - no computer needed. I dread connecting new devices to computers and it's so delightfully lightweight to skip that whole process and use a device that connects to a cell phone network instead.  

I'm not a huge fan of the physical design, though after using it regularly, I have become very comfortable with how it fits into the hand.  I love reading before bed and always hated having to hold a book open. The Kindle makes reading easy.

Speaking of reading - people often wonder why they would use a Kindle when the same info (newspapers, blogs, etc.) is available on the Web.  It's true - but for me, I want to get away from the computer and computer screen to read.  The Kindle's screen is "e-Ink" and appears like a printed page, in tones of gray. It's not lit like a computer screen - it's easy on the eyes and looks better in light. This also helps the battery last a very long time. 

I have no idea how it works, but I'm fascinated by the glittery-gold cursor thing that allows you to make selections.  

The "Next Page" and "Previous Page" buttons are huge and I often hit them accidentally.  I find it hard to believe that the design team actually thought this was the optimal size.  But, I'm used to it now and it does make paging very easy.  There is no scrolling on the Kindle - only paging.

 When it's in Sleep mode, it displays random illustrations of famous authors and tips.   

Buying books, periodicals, newspaper susbscriptions, etc. from the Kindle Store (accessible from the device and Amazon.com) is as easy as you would expect from Amazon. We've been giving Amazon digital money for years, so it's a no-brainer to do it from the Kindle - especially when books are delivered in seconds instead of days. I've found the selection of books sufficient and growing. 

Overall I'm a big fan of the Kindle.  It has some design issues, but I truly believe that it has a very bright future. People are quick to criticize it sight-unseen, but once you sit down with it, buy a book and understand how easy, lighweight and fun it is, you'll want one. I believe it is the future of reading.

But like I said, the device is only one part of the equation.  What excites me most, and is least publicized, is Amazon's Digital Text Platform. More on that soon.  

More Info:

Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device

(now $359 - recently reduced)

Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose 

Walt Mossberg's Kindle Review

Good Experience: Customer Experience Review - Amazon Kindle

Gizmodo Kindle Review

 

The whiteboard he used on election night 2000 (not the one above) is now a part of the Smithsonian. 

Tim Russert has been a staple of our Sunday mornings for years.  He is someone for which I had a great deal of respect. Not only was he very, very good at his job, but it was obvious that he loved it and looked forward to it everyday. His enthusiasm was infectious. May we all be so lucky.

R.I.P. Tim Russert, you were a huge inspiration. 

Click to play

Video Length: 2m 42s 

I've always admired Meetup's goal to use the Internet to get people together in the real world.  We were happy to be able to work with them to get that message in front of more people.  Douglas Atkin and the rest of the Meetup folks were a pleasure.  Did you see the recent article about them in Business Week? 

This video currently resides on the front page of the newly redesigned Meetup.com, along with a very cool map mashup. 

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 to pay for peace of mind and look for tools that remove anxiety. Anxiety is very heavy for us and we always want to reduce it.

Here are some of the tools, services and ideas that we use to be lightweight. Your mileage may vary.

Web Site - We're fans of content management platforms like Drupal, Wordpress, etc.  We only know basic html, so when we're working with designers on a new Common Craft site, we make easy, lightweight management a big priority.  I've wasted too many hours trying to write code.  Technology often stands in the way of what I want to share on the web - and that's a shame.  

Hosted Services - We're not technical people. Maintaining our own
server sounds like hell to us.  So, we use hosting services for
everything we do. Our web site, our videos, our photos are all on
servers that are maintained by others.  Choose them well, let the specialists do their
jobs and get out of the way. 

Documents - Google Docs has had a huge impact on our workflow. We do a lot of editing together and there simply isn't a better way to work on the same document at the same time.  Attachments are too heavy.
 
Video Sharing - Often we need to share a 50mb video file with a client.  We could send a CD, we could FTP it.  Instead, we use hosts like Vimeo.com that have good privacy options.  This makes life easier on us and the client - all they need to share the video with co-workers is to share the link and password.  Plus, they can watch the video in Flash and choose to download it it too.

Social Networking - We have presence on the major social networks, but they aren't a part of our day-to-day work. We have serious questions about the time it takes to really make the networks work, especially Facebook. It seems too heavy for me to have to use multiple inboxes across the networks.  We love Twitter because it's lightweight - it's a direct line to part of our community that doesn't require clicking a link in email.

Bookkeeping - When I started Common Craft in 2003, I bought Quickbooks because I thought was what you're supposed to do. It was a way, way too much for me.  Even today, we are more than happy using spreadsheets to track our books (Sachi is a spreadsheet ninja). For many small businesses, Quickbooks (and similar programs) are often a heavy, cumbersome way to deal with the books. Do you need all that?

Home Network - We have all our computers, printers and music system hooked together wirelessly. We used to have to take a laptop to the printer in another room to print.  We used to have to get up to change the music.  It's a small thing, but a nice home network (run by Apple's Airport Extreme and Express) makes life a bit nicer.

Home Environment - We spend a lot of time at home. Because we're here so much, we've agreed that we will invest in making home like we want it - comfortable and easy. Home should not feel heavy or cause anxiety. If you can't make home like you want it, what can you do?

Back Ups - Like most, we are horrible about remembering to back up our files.  The thing is, we shouldn't have to remember - this is stress that has a cure.  We use Mozy that keeps everything backed up automatically. Peace of mind is lightweight.

Selling Digital Downloads - We have been very impressed with e-junkie as a means for selling digital downloads.  You upload a file and e-junkie provides an "add to cart" button that works on almost any web page and a flash-based shopping cart.  It's a perfect solution for The Common Craft Store - e-junkie handles everything and provides the right tools for managing customers.  

Mowing the Lawn - Yes, it's true.  We recently purchased a rechargeable electric mower called a Neuton.  We've gone through a dirty, loud mower every couple of years and those things are a PAIN.  Our new mower is perfect - it starts immediately, mows for an hour on a charge, is clean and so quite you can hear the blades being chopped.

Reading -  I'll write more about this later, but I recently bought a Kindle - Amazon's e-reader. It's poorly designed in some ways, but it makes books and especially newspapers feel heavy, cumbersome and wasteful. I am a big fan.

Future - I'm currently lobbying Sachi to get a scooter.  I think we can get rid of one of our vehicles and replace it with a scooter over time.  Scooters are lightweight in so many ways - gas, parking, convenience.

So, this concludes the tools part of the series. I hope that you will look at the tools you use every day and think about the alternatives - and don't forget about anxiety - what could be the heaviest thing of all. 

Next Up - Being Lightweight: Business Design

I must admit that each time we post a new video, we go into buzz mode - What are people saying/linking/doing?  Where are they doing it? How many said something?  What do we need to say in response? 

Watching the reaction is something I anticipate and love about the process.  At the same time, I wonder if I'm doing it right.  I'm always looking for new ways to scan the web.  Here are some tools we use - please suggest ideas/sites/tools that you think would help.

Blog Comments - Of course, our blog is the home of the videos, so we pay close attention to the comments.  We've seen the number of comments per video decline in general, which I don't take as a bad sign. Personally, I think people are commenting in other ways, like on Twitter.

Blog Post Views - The views that the blog post receives are certainly a powerful indicator.  However, because the video exists on video hosts, these page views are not comprehensive.

Referrers - Our blog software (Drupal) tracks referrers - sites sending traffic our way. This is one way to see the sites from which the most traffic is coming.

Google Analytics - On a high level, this is how we measure the overall impact of the video over time. It's a very powerful tool and we look at a number of the stats, but the big one is impact over time - did the video increase views/visits? For how long?  To what degree?

Video Hosts - The views and ratings (and to a lesser degree comments) on the video hosting sites like You Tube and Vimeo are always useful in measuring traction, etc. You Tube has been our vehicle for having the video shared on blogs, though that may soon change.

Technorati Reactions - We have a persistent Technorati search for "commoncraft.com." Whenever someone links their site to Common Craft it (hopefully) shows up in a Technorati search. This gives us a view of who is linking to us, what they're saying and how influential they are.  Often, this is how we identify discussions in which we should participate. We use Technorati every day.

Diggs - When a new video is posted, we usually include a button with the video that allows people to Digg it. We've seen this produce amazing results, but only if the video makes it to the "popular" list and the front page. Otherwise, it almost seems like a distraction.  You have to be pretty provocative to get the Digg community's attention.

Del.icio.us Bookmarks -  Bookmarks are another way we gauge popularity.  Like Digg, if the bookmark can make onto the popular list, it can drive more traffic and bookmarks.

RSS Subscribers -  This is more of a long range stat. We pay attention to how the number of subscribers changes in the days after the video is posted.  This can be powerful conversion metric.  If we're doing well, we turn a more and more visitors in subscribers.

Twitter @Replies -  Twitter has become our #1 resource for understanding perceptions about our videos.  We always announce the videos on Twitter and the @replies are our first look at what people think.

Twitter Search - I don't know what we would do without Summize and/or Tweetscan.  We track the search results for "commoncraft " and "plain English " on these services. Often, this reveals how the videos are being spread through Twitter and what people are saying.  When we see people asking questions, we do our best to reply to them.

Twitter Subscribers - Did we see more subscribers after the video?

Viral Video Countdown - These days, getting onto the Viral Video Countdown front page is a goal and we look for it with each video.  It's one of our consistent, objective ways to see the degree to which the video is being shared on blogs. The Social Media video made it to #2 yesterday. Ice Rocket's Popular Video List is something we check too.

dotSUB translations - We share each of our videos on dotSUB, where they can be translated into multiple languages.  We love to see this happen and check in often to how many languages are present.

What else should be using for tracking reactions?

This video focuses on basics of social media: new technology that makes everyone a producer and tools that give everyone a chance to have a say.

I wouldn't call it disappointment, but rather a dose of reality.  I spent the last week in Las Vegas at the Community 2.0 conference and with my family thereafter.  Coming back, I must say that the trip gave me some much-needed perspective. Let me explain.

We work from home.  We make videos, we put them on the Web, people watch them.  We track our views, our Technorati links, our mentions in Twitter, our blog comments. A good percentage of people we see in social situations in Seattle are aware of our work.  Most of the email we receive is about the videos and of course, it dominates our discussions at home.  This is all misleading and a bit unhealthy.

It's too easy to start making assumptions - assumptions about general awareness, about the number of people who really know what's happening in "our" online world.  Viewed from the comfort of our living room, bookmarked pages and social circles, the Web looks pretty small and awareness looks pretty big.  It's too easy to assume that people have heard about the tools and sites we use everyday.

But they haven't. In real terms, no one has. I look at Las Vegas as a cross section of the US.  At any moment there are people from every state and many countries.  They are the General Public in a lot of ways.  I sat back and asked myself - forgetting Common Craft - do these people know about Twitter?  Has Flickr become part of their world?  What about wikis, do they care?  Are they using RSS readers?  My completely anecdotal evidence says the answer is no.  In our own little online world, it's too easy to assume they do.

I'm writing this because I've caught myself assuming too much lately and I'm hoping for new perspectives.  While we spend so much time debating the merits of Twitter (for example), there is literally a world of people who are still perplexed by the basics of computers and the Web.

In terms of Common Craft, there is still so much work to be done and now the challenge seems even greater.  We can't assume that we've reached any sort of milestone.  The race is long and we've only taken the first few steps. 

Our challenge, you included, is to remember that our web-based world can become a deceptive echo chamber.  We may think we're creating awareness and change, but until our work, our ideas can get outside the chamber and impact people walking around Las Vegas, I fear that we're just talking to ourselves.

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 with Clients

Over the past year, we've evolved in how we manage our work with clients on custom videos.  Here are a few things that we do that helps us move quickly and stay lightweight.

Face-to-Face Not Required - We've never met the vast majority of our clients face-to-face.  I'm sure it would be nice, but we don't think it's required to produce a video.  What it does do, is cost both sides a lot money and take a lot of time that could be used for creativity.

Project Pricing - In terms of the time it take to create a client video, our projects are similar. To keep ongoing billing and at a bare minimum, we price by the project.  For us, billing by the hour would create another process that would create drag and introduce a time limitation that may impact the quality of the end product.  

Video Development - We apply the 37 Signals concept of "getting real " to developing custom videos. We involve the client at nearly every step along the way, starting with the script.  This lowers the risk that big changes will come late in the process and waste time on both sides.

Expectation Setting - Early in the relationship, we take a leadership role in outlining our system for completing the project.  We've found that it helps everyone to have structure. We set an expectation about response times and work to make sure that the project lead owns as many decisions as possible.

Single Point of Contact - We ask that we have a single point of contact on the client side. This person is our contact, but also a filter for input from their organization.

Of course our business is somewhat unique and every project is different.  However, I think that many projects get behind or off track because they are burdened with overhead, processes and bureaucracy that add weight without adding productivity.  Being lightweight in client relationships requires setting expectations, shedding as much weight as you can and focusing on what really matters.

Next up - Being Lightweight: Tools We Use and Being Lightweight: Business Design

We're often asked how we got started with our videos.  Here's the story.

It all started with an online community.  It was the latter part of 1999 and I was working in a healthcare data company called HBSI (which was eventually merged into non-existence).  The customers were asking for a way to work together across hospitals.  So, a few of us started an email group on eGroups, which is now Yahoo Groups.  Through this experiment and the online community that grew out of it, I discovered my passion.

I met Sachi at work about this time.  On our very first weekend away together in 2000, we were walking by the shore in the San Juan Islands and I said "Sachi, I hope you don't mind hearing about this online community stuff, because it's all I'm going to talk about from now on." She was cool with it, as she is today.

About this time I read the Cluetrain Manifesto and this book added high octane fuel to the fire.  Over the next three years (1999-2003), I was the online community manager and it was my job to manage the community and convince people in my company that online communities are the future.  It wasn't an easy job, but I loved it to my core.  Even then, I needed ways to influence people about these new, transformative ideas.

After growing, designing and managing the community for 3 years, I quit to start Common Craft.  The name came from a focus on communication.  I've always thought that communication is the most Common Craft there is. In 2003, I became a blogger and independent consultant, helping companies understand and build strategies around online communities.

In this work, I confronted the same problems as I did as a community manager. The people with whom I worked were skeptical.  It was their job to make business decisions about the future.  In order to make sound decisions, they needed a basic understanding of the ideas and technologies that could impact that future. It was my job to help build that foundation of understanding.  At the time, there simply weren't materials that worked to explain things like wikis and RSS.

So, I wrote blog posts.  I would take something like wikis and write a post with the goal of giving my customers a way to see the concept without getting technical.  You'll recognize the story I wrote for the post "Wikis and the Perfect Camping Trip. " The blog posts worked pretty well and I always felt that I took to explanation easily.

Sachi and I had been saving and took 2006 off to travel.  Along the way, we decided to make Common Craft a two person company. We also fell in love with shooting video and putting it on You Tube for friends and family. Near the end of the trip, we considered how video could become part of Common Craft.  In thinking hard about our goals and skills, we decided that we could remake those explanatory blog posts into videos.

After we got home, I experimented with standing in front of a whiteboard.  It didn't work - I felt like I was just another talking head.  Then, Sachi had the idea of pointing the camera down onto the whiteboard on the floor and using hands and paper cut-outs to tell the story.

Within a few weeks we had created RSS in Plain English on the floor of an extra bedroom.  I remember telling Sachi, the night we put it online, that I think we could be on to something.  Over the next day, the video got a lot of attention, including our first appearance on the front page of Digg.  We were jumping out of our skin with excitement. People got it, and shared it!

Soon after we started planning our next video on Wikis.  We also discovered all sorts of ways to improve the videos - better lighting, sound, etc.  We solved problems as they needed to be solved.

Within a couple of months we added a "hire us" message on commoncraft.com and our first custom video clients were PR Web and Google Docs. For most of the past year, our business has been producing custom videos.

Of course, we've also continued to provide free videos on social media and other subjects via The Common Craft Show.  A common theme that we hear from fans is "I sent your video to my Mom/Boss/Peer/Friend/customer and they finally got it!" This is the best feedback we could hear.

These days we're seeing new opportunities.  Social Media is a huge, transformative trend.  There are droves of professionals working to influence businesses, students and executives to undestand it - and we want to help. We also see other trends and subject matters that need better explanations. Whatever the subject, our goal will always be to make videos that explain, enlighten and hopefully bring about a smile.

Apparently, May 1st is RSS Awareness Day! I had no idea such a day existed, but it has it's own site at RSSday.org . Thanks to the nice folks at dailyblogtips.com for making our RSS in Plain English video part of the site - and day for that matter. 

I agree that RSS is one of those special technologies. It has the potential to positively impact virtually every Internet user at no cost. A big problem is awareness - it's hard for people to see how it could impact them until they give it a try. Hopefully we've been able to turn some people on - but there are still about 94% of Internet users that haven't seen the light. The challenge continues.

Here's the improved version of the original video from the Common Craft Store:

Click to play

It started with a tweet.  Eddie Codel described Boston's streets as "Kafkaesque."  I found it on Wikipedia (it means disorienting), along with a listing of other name-inspired words. One caught my eye: Machiavellianism. The first line of the Wikipedia entry:

Machiavellianism is the term that some social and personality psychologists use to describe a person's tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain.
It comes from Niccolò Machiavelli, a Renaissance writer, diplomat, etc. known, in part, for principles of conduct that are marked by cunning, duplicity and bad faith. His most famous work is The Prince.

Upon a bit more investigation, I found that there is a personality test called a MACH-IV test that gauges a person's Machiavellianism.  Apparently there are "high machs" (likely to agree with Machiavelli) and "low machs" (unlikely to agree). Most people are in the middle (I'm a low mach).  Take the 20-question test here.

When I first read about all of this, I couldn't help but think about the spammers and blackhats of the web.  Aside from the trash that they produce, I'm fascinated by the people behind the spam.  Who are these people?  How did they get this way?  What motivates them outside of money? Do they know right from wrong? How can they justify their decisions?

Viewed with a Machiavellian lens, I see spammers a little differently. It makes me wonder if spammers are born vs. made. Perhaps this is the source of my fascination - that spammers aren't just unethical, but possibly a bit mental. An insightful article in Salon has this quote:

McHoskey's article argued that high Machs possess, to a greater or lesser degree, the qualities associated with classic psychopaths: a lack of remorse, pathological lying, glibness and superficial charm, a grandiose sense of self-worth.
Sound familiar? Here are a few interesting questions from the MACH IV test that is based on Machiavelli's "The Prince" (on an agree/disagree scale). How do you think a spammer responds compared to you?

5) It is safest to assume that all people have a vicious streak and it will come out when they are given a chance.
8) Generally speaking, people won't work hard unless they're forced to do so.
13) The biggest difference between most criminals and other people is that the criminals are stupid enough to get caught.
16) It is possible to be good in all respects.
9) All in all, it is better to be humble and honest than to be important and dishonest.

If nothing else, I can now start to incorporate this word into my day-to-day life.  Instead of obscenities, spam will now just make me say - oh how Machiavellian! Or, maybe it'll actually be - oh how $#@&ing Machiavellian!

Well, as of today it has been exactly one year since all this video craziness began.  On April 22, 2007 we published RSS in Plain English.  We never guessed these videos would take us so far - it was just a problem that begged to be solved.  Did you ever see a blog post with the same name from 2004?

Since our work is in front of people often, we both feel a little self conscious in talking about the numbers behind the videos. We don't want to seem ostentatious or too self-promotional.  But, at the same time, I think that exposing some of the figures provides context and hopefully examples of the power of Social Media.

So, let's take a look.

First, please note that the #s of views are rounded and cumulative across hosts. A single video exists in multiple places and those views are added together.  These numbers comes from our accounts on You Tube, Blip.tv and dotSUB.  We use other hosts, but these are our core.

Totals April 2007-April 2008: 

Total views (including client work):  3.9 million views
Total views (excluding client work): 2.4 million views

Most viewed Client Video: Google Maps for Mobile 834,000 views (includes UK version)

Most viewed Show Video: RSS in Plain English: 755,000 views

Breakdown of Views by Video (Common Craft Show only):

RSS: 755,000
Wiki: 436,000
Social Networking: 207,000
Social Bookmarking: 205,000
CFL Lightbulbs: 53,000
Zombies: 280,000
Blogs: 169,000
Photo Sharing: 42,000
Twitter: 223,000
Podcasting: 5,000 (published 2 days ago)

Breakdown of views by host (Show only):

You Tube: 1.3 million views
Blip.tv (embedded on our site):  772,000
dotSUB: 300,000

Incoming Links from Blogs

We would not have become popular without bloggers.  We've always aimed to create useful resources that bloggers can use to educate others.  One way that we track usage by bloggers is Technorati.

According to Technorati (today) for CommonCraft.com:

Technorati Authority: 3,040 (incoming links over 6 months)
Technorati Rank: 170 (170th most linked-to)
Blog Reactions: 15,000+

Here's how "Blog Reactions" looks across videos (rank/authority isn't always available)

RSS: 462
Wiki: 786
Social Networking: 452
Social Bookmarking: 560
CFL Lightbulbs: 45
Zombies: 151
Blogs: 444
Photo Sharing:100
Twitter: 535
Podcasting: 34

Search Results 

We've been surprised to appear on the first page of Google searches for these terms:

RSS
Wikis
Social Networking
Social Bookmarking
Zombies
Twitter

Our SEO secret? Make content people want to see. 

Language Translations:

One of the resources that has been very important to us dotSUB - a free way for our videos to be translated into multiple languages via subtitles.  We're so excited by these language figures:

RSS: 27 Languages
Wiki: 30 Languages
Social Networking: 25 Languages
Social Bookmarking: 18 Languages
CFL Lightbulbs: 12 Languages
Blogs: 20 Languages
Photo Sharing: 9 Languages
Twitter: 15 Languages
Podcasting: 4 Languages

So, this past year has been a blast and something we never expected.  We just make the videos - you share with friends, you link, you view. We owe you - big time.  That's what I love about the social web - everyone contributes a bit and those bits roll up to bring visibility to content that may have never been discovered otherwise.  Thank you so much for an awesome year!

Despite being around for years, podcasting is often misunderstood. This video is our way of building awareness and hopefully adoption of a technology that any computer user can use.

How fun.  Imagine my delight to wake up the last couple of days to find thousands of bounced emails - all with my address in the From: line.  It's such an honor to see my address associated with other legitimate brands that are so proven in the fields of appendage enlargement. 

Here's what happens...

A spammer needs to send spam emails and they don't want to use an address associated with them.  So, they add someone else's address to the From: field of the email.  When the email bounces, it comes to the person's address. In this case, me.

Spoofing is a pretty common problem, but still painful. Apparently, there is little that can be done aside from filtering the incoming messages and hoping that people don't think you're sending the spam.  I'm looking into adding an SPF (Sender Policy Framework) record, which can also help, I hear. Any other tips?

I switched.  It happened about 2 weeks ago, I made a Macbook my primary computer for the first time.  We've had a Mac around the house for a while, but I've been loyal to my little Sony Vaio, which has been mostly flawless for about 2.5 years. It was a good one.

But alas, I wanted a Mac, and it has come to pass.

Along the way, I've been taking some stream-of-consciousness notes on my perceptions before doing any research. I'm using Leopard, btw. Here goes:

I'm still learning, but today was probably the first that I didn't reach for the crtl button to copy/paste something. 

The Dock is cool - I didn't realize how easy it was to manage. I was looking for menu to add and remove icons - then found out that you can just drag them to the trash or onto the Dock.

I want to use the desktop as a default place to drop random files, like I would on the PC - I wonder if it's a good place?

Why are there no Fav icons in the bookmark toolbar in Firefox?

I love the photos that come on the Mac desktops. Must keep updated.

I was lost for a while, not understanding the product menu at the top. I was looking for "preferences" in other menus - not Product Name, like iPhoto".

How can I close all the windows and have the application open at the same time? I know - it's a mac thing.

We've decided to get an Airport Extreme during this process.  We needed a new router and wanted to print wirelessly. In the end, it took many hours of experimentation, but we got both PCs and Macs on a secure network and printing wirelessly.  My lesson was to get each computer printing with a wire first, then go wireless.

I can open the Mac and it just starts.  No waiting around.  My PC would take forever.

Is Text Edit the same as Notepad - good for text files? I assume so.

Ahh, two-finger scrolling works quite well. I'm used to scrolling on the right side of the touchpad, but this is an easy transition.

I dig the magnetic power plug, but I don't like it's placement on the side.  I have the computer in my lap a lot, and it constantly comes unplugged when hitting my leg. I guess it may do the same from the back.

It's always bugged me that the "M" and "W" are the same key, turned upside down. It looks that way anyway - not sure why that catches my eye.

If I hit Capslock one more time I'm going to remove it.

I'm getting used to the Command (apple) button, but man why not just use ctrl? I think the ctrl button is much better placed for one handed copy/paste/undo, etc. On my keyboard, the "x" is directly above the Apple key. Hitting it makes me feel like I'm learning guitar.

The screen doesn't lean back as far as I'd like.

Why can't I apple + b to bold something in the browser?

How do I go up one folder? Solved - Jay taught me apple + up arrow.

What is this preview thing? I have Adobe Reader, why isn't it working? Oh, Preview was the default in Firefox.

Spaces seems cool. I'm using it to go between iTunes and FireFox.

We need to control the home stereo from our computers.  Turns out that Airport Express does it really well.  It was a pain to get started, but works like a champ.  We now have all computers sharing a single library that exists on an exrternal drive.

When I have two things open (like 2 browsers) I don't see an easy way to switch between then - they get lost behind each other (on the PC they are at the bottom of the screen). What am I missing?

Do I really have to eject usb devices?  It sounds like a problem that technology should solve for me.

Searching the computer works really really well.

I've kept the old computer on the network during the transition.  Since they're set up on the same network, it is easy to grab files.  Just today, I put away the old computer.

Much of our world happens in Google's cloud.  Docs, Calendar, Email, didn't have to move from one computer to another. That was so nice.

I know there are a lot of cool and useful mac tools out there, I wonder which I should get?

Oh, Skitch is such an amazing cool screen capture tool. Wow.

I've been tapping touchpads for years - and I've even enabled tapping on the Mac - but never use it. It's funny how quickly I've transitioned to the big thumb-button.

Overall, it's been less painful than I imagined - and I do love the Mac, honestly. It just works.  I'm sure I have a long way to go in terms of learning key combinations and shortcuts, but I'll get there in due time.

You might also see:

Thomas Hawk Buys A Mac

Life Hacker's Guide to Switching  

Please, do share what you have learned... 

A couple of weeks ago, we announced The Common Craft Store.  It was a pretty soft roll-out, but was a huge moment for us.  Not only did it mark the end of a lot of preparation, but a new business model.  So far, so good.  Plus, the more-ready-for-prime-time Store will soon be coming to an Internet near you.

A big part of preparing to open the Store was making new versions of each video in both Windows (.wmv) and Mac (.mov) formats.  This gave us a chance to make improvements across the library - especially to our first few videos, which has sound and color issues.

The first example is a major update for the "licensed version" of RSS in Plain English video, which is only available in the Store.  We recorded a new voice-over and re-edited it to be more efficient and have improved color. The content is nearly identical to the original, free version. Below is the updated, licensed version:

Click to play

The second example is CFL Light Bulbs in Plain English (formerly New Light Bulbs in Plain English).  When we originally published it, it did not contain a warning about mercury and disposing of the bulbs properly.  This new version of the video contains a mercury warning. This updated video is now available in both free and licensed versions. Below is the updated, free version:

Click to play

We're so excited about this new direction.  We'll be providing all future Common Craft Show videos in free and licensed versions - and the licensed ones will be displayed in full length in the Store.

This video was created to help introduce a collaboration between Google Apps and Salesforce. It's our third client production for Google and focuses on how Google Apps tools like Gmail, Docs, Calendar and Talk are integrated into Salesforce CRM, keeping everything in the sales process on the same track.

You can also view the video on Google's You Tube channel and the Google Blog. 

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. 

Patrick and I go way back in web terms, but met for the first time this year at SXSW. We've always connected around managing online communities - something we were both doing back in 2000 or so.  That was when Patrick was teenager.  Since that time he's grown his iFroggy Network of community sites and gone through just about everything you can imagine in terms of managing discussion boards.

Patrick recently put these experiences into a new book called Managing Online Forums - "everything you need to know to create and run successful community discussion boards."  

I think the timing for this book is great.  With so much emphasis on Social Media, a lot of people are jumping into the fray and discovering that managing people in a community setting isn't easy.  I think Patrick's done a great job of getting to the real, practical issues and questions that arise and how to deal with them responsibly. You can find out more at ManagingOnlineForums.com.

Congrats on getting the book out Patrick! Nice work! 

We have just been notified that The Common Craft Show is an Official Webby Award Honoree in the category of Technology Film and Video. Yaaaay!

What does it mean to be an honoree? From the Webby Awards web site:

Of the more than 8000 entries submitted to the 12th Annual Webby Awards, fewer than 15% were distinguished as an Official Honoree. 

Basically, we made the short list but didn't quite make it to being a nominee, which is eligible for the award. It's still wonderful to be recognized among such a creative and innovative group.  Congrats to the nominees and thanks to the folks who voted for us!