What to Expect From Common Craft in 2009

In a word: Education.

Our goal in 2009 is to make explanatory videos that have a positive impact.  To get there, we plan to focus of video subjects that are educational in nature and help address some of the big problems we face.

We plan to introduce new series of videos that diverge from our Web roots and cover subjects that we believe need to be covered.  You'll see the first of these starting very soon and continuing into February.  We're starting with the basics - big ideas that will be built upon over time.

We're convinced, more than ever, that Common Craft is an *educational* explanation company. While our library of videos is currently technology-oriented (and zombies ), our challenge in 2009 and beyond is to establish Common Craft as a company whose explanations are focused on education in multiple fields and potentially impact very broad audiences in positive ways.

You have been a huge help to us so far. It's your blog posts, your Twitter updates and comments that help our videos become visible. We'll make a deal with you: We'll keep pumping out the videos if you'll help us spread the word.  Together, we can do great things in 2009. :)

18 Lessons Learned in 2008

It's time for our 2nd annual Year-End Lessons Learned post. 2008 was a great year for Common Craft.  While we published a number of videos that we're very proud of, 2008 was all about building a foundation for the future of our business.  Going into 2009, we're feeling confident that we have a solid foundation in place - and now is our time to put more videos into the world.

Here are a few things we learned: 

Overall Business:

Build Foundations. Think hard about long term opportunities and what could stand in your way.  Ask: What needs to be done now so that road blacks don't occur in the future?  For us, it was legal documents, our new studio and our Store.  These work together to allow our video licensing model to scale for years to come.

Care About Contracts. If you strip everything else away, the skeleton of the business is supported by the promises you make to people.  Contracts and agreements should be well-written, specific to your business and reflect the exact promises you're making.

Always Test Business Models.  Companies who are dedicated to being small still need ways to grow.  We started three new business experiments in 2008: Our video store, Kindle Books and the Explainer Network. 2009 will be when we understand the extent to which these experiments work - and likely adjust and start new ones.

Constantly Build Brand.  At the end of the day, your brand is what matters. Your product can disappear and your brand will still have value. Make business decisions with your brand as a top-level priority. Ask: Does this match with the brand we're building?

Know What Business You Are In.  Over 2008, we realized that we enjoyed a focus, not in marketing/promotion, but in education.  By making this distinction, it's easier for us to make business decisions and build a brand that reflects this focus.

Start Now.  If you have an idea, do whatever you can today and solve problems when they need to be solved.  Duct tape and popsicle sticks can go along way when used to test a concept in public.  As Guy Kawasaki would say "Don't worry, be crappy."

Have a Positive Impact.  Look for opportunities to have a positive impact, whether it's through your business, or willingness to go the extra mile for someone.  The returns may not come immediately, but they will come many times over in the long run.

Be Good to Those Doing Good.  We love that our videos are used in schools and by non-profits - and we want to see more of it. Unfortunately, these kinds of organizations aren't usually well-funded. It helps us sleep a little better at night knowing that we're offering our videos to these kinds of organizations for free and at a huge discount for the presentation quality versions.

Small is Still Beautiful.  We continue to be confident that we don't want to grow and manage a team.  We are small, happy, flexible and having a blast.  I've talked with too many disappointed people who thought growing a business with many employees was going to make them happier.

Working with Others:

Assume Positive Intentions - We're so happy to be able to put our videos into the world for free with a Creative Commons license.  Unfortunately, people aren't always aware of our licensing and we sometimes contact them to help them understand.  This is a great opportunity to look like a bully.  We've learned that the best way to approach these situations is to be friendly and assume positive intentions.  Most people mean well.

People Want To Do The Right Thing - It's true.  We see this nearly every day as people ask about the proper ways to share our videos.  Our challenge is education - not policing.  If the rules are clear and easily understood, the vast majority of people will follow them.

Every Contact is an Opportunity.  Never, ever underestimate the power of taking the time to respond to someone who reaches out to you.  It's sometimes hard and time consuming, but the greatest things sometimes start with answering a simple question.

Consider Community Instead of Competition.  Everyone has a choice in how they look at the people and businesses in their niche.  If you think about the potential of reaching out to them and sharing with them, hardcore competition seems to look a bit outdated.

Tools:

YouTube Creates Brand Awareness.  Our Common Craft Show videos have over 4.5 million views on You Tube alone. Sure, we're giving content away for free, but this volume of awareness creates new business models, like our Store.  Had we chosen to make our video subscription-only, I don't think we could have created the brand awareness it would take to be successful.

Video Licensing Works.  Organizations of all types are looking for quality educational videos. Licensing "Presentation Quality" versions of our videos via our Store offers them an easy path to find, purchase and download videos for internal use. From day one, this model has exceeded our expectations and we expect big things in 2009.

Own The Supply Chain. Today it's possible for a small company to operate almost every step of chain that delivers content to customers.  From concept to production to marketing, to the digital download, we manage each step of the way with the help of very affordable services like PayPal and e-Junkie. This wasn't possible until recently.

Listen to Twitter.  Twitter Search is a powerful way to understand brand perception.  We not only listen, but use Twitter to respond to questions or just thank those who comment.  Twitter is going to be interesting to watch in 2009.

Finally:

We learned that you can't underestimate the power differing points of view.  Sachi and I have similar values, but look at the world, ourselves and Common Craft differently.  We talk about the differences and the opportunities.  I don't believe we could be successful if we thought alike and I encourage others in business to find people who think differently and talk with them.  Debate, challenge, ask questions and remain open to new ideas.

See also: 15 Lessons Learned in 2007.

ReadWriteWeb on Common Craft

Marshall at ReadWriteWeb, posted a story today about Common Craft that was actually published a few months back, but has been reposted at a "redux."  It's one of my favorite bits of press and called "How Common Craft Stopped Doing Client Work, in Plain English."  I don't know of any other blog post that tells our story better.

Since the original story was posted in September, we've created a resource that helps organizations in need of custom videos find producers who can help.  It's called the Common Craft Explainer Network.  I wrote about it here. 

While we've significantly limited our client work to focus on our educational videos, we see an opportunity to play a role in the growing niche around explanatory videos of all types.  We want to help talented producers find great projects and create a community around explanatory videos. 

The Best Christmas Gift - From a Driver in Sri Lanka

On Christmas Eve of 2004, Sachi and I made a decision.  We decided that, in one year, we would depart on a year long trip.  We reserved a web site address that night: www.theworldisnotflat.com (TwinF).  In January of 2006 we departed, dedicated to blogging the whole trip.

After a glowing recommendation from another traveler along the way, we added Sri Lanka to our itinerary, with some apprehension.  Sri Lanka experiences some domestic terrorism, but it mostly stays in the northern part of the country.  Further, the southern part of the country was devastated by the tsunami a year before. We knew it would be an adventure.

Thanks to connections via Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree Forums we were introduced to Mervyn, our driver for 10 days in Sri Lanka. Like others in the tourism industry in Sri Lanka, Mervyn depends on tourists coming to their country. Tourists who start their plans by searching the Web.

This is Mervyn showing us how to drink a King Coconut:

We became friends with Mervyn and had a wonderful time in Sri Lanka.  We always felt safe and Mervyn was a perfect driver and guide - he gave us a local's perspective and became our friend. He introduced us to Arrack, a favorite alcohol of locals.  We told him that we would write about him on the Internet and hoped it would help his business. It was the least we could do.

Last night, on Christmas Eve, 4 years after deciding we would go on the trip, we received this email message from Mervyn:

DEAR SIR,

HOW ARE YOU? I AM FINE AND ALL OK WITH ME. I HAD GOOD BUSINESS FOR THIS YEAR. THAT IS BECAUSE OF YOU. THIS YEAR 90% FROM THE BUSINESS I GOT FROM YOUR WEB SITE THAT YOU RECOMAND ME. I SAY AGAIN AND AGAIN THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

I WISH MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOUR WIFE.

MERVYN

This message made our Christmas extra special this year. Mervyn is honest, has a good heart, is very hard-working, and deserves to have a successful business.  It's inspiring to me, as a blogger, to think that a couple of blog posts can make such a big difference to someone like him on the other side of the world. Our post is the #3 result for  "Driver Sri Lanka" on Google. I hope we can continue to help Mervyn's business in 2009. 

Our photos from Sri Lanka
Blog posts from Sri Lanka

Happy Holidays from Common Craft

Edublog Awards: Common Craft Needs Your Vote

This is coming a bit late, but The Common Craft Show has been nominated for an Eddie - An Edublog Award in the category of Best Educational Use of Video/Visual.  The polls close tomorrow - we're hoping for a late-breaking victory. Thanks!

Update:  Thanks so much everyone.  We came in second, which makes us proud. You can view the results by clicking "view result" on the poll.  It wasn't even close really, Steve Spangler's Blog, which focuses on science education, got the lion's share of votes.  Congrats Steve!

Introducing: Common Craft Kindle Books

We're big fans of Amazon's Kindle.  It makes reading easier and we're convinced it could become an iPod-like device in the future in terms of ubiquity.  We've been working to make our videos into Kindle books so people have another way to learn, in Plain English. 

I previously wrote about the Kindle here and here. 

The basic idea with the Kindle is that you can purchase and download books, magazines, newspapers and articles and have them delivered wirelessly to the Kindle. We see an opportunity for our content to be available just like any other book or article.

So, we've found a way to make our videos into "Kindle Books" that can be purchased and downloaded to the Kindle. Our Kindle Books have the same script as the videos, but in book form. The video content appears across 30-40 pages, each with a passage of script and a visual from the video. We plan to publish Kindle Books along with future videos. 

We currently have 8 videos available as Kindle Books for $1.99 (Links go to the Amazon Kindle Store):

Experiments With The New @CommonCraft Twitter Account

I've been a Twitter user for just over 2 years now and I'm still trying to figure out how to use it well. A couple of weeks ago, We created an @commoncraft account that's focused on our business and looks behind-the-scenes. Now that I have an established account (@leelefever) and one that's just getting started, I've been thinking a lot about what's possible with Twitter.  Some thoughts:

(If you're new to Twitter, watch our video Twitter in Plain English )

To Follow or Not to Follow

I take a decidedly lightweight approach to social media. If I haven't met you or don't know you personally, I'm not likely to add you as a friend or follow you. I currently follow about 200 people on Twitter and it's still too much.  When I follow someone with the @leelefever account, I try keep up with most of their updates. This is how I've always used Twitter.

Now that I have a new, business-oriented account, I'm thinking about it a bit differently.  With the @commoncraft account we're following most, if not all, the folks who follow that account.  This way, we can receive direct messages from these folks (Twitter members can only send direct messages to members that follow them.) Also, it creates a stream of Twitter updates that represent people interested in Common Craft.  I realize I can't really follow everyone, but having the stream gives me a source that I can manage later. And, I think it's a nice gesture.

Reducing Twitter Administration

As you know, I'm all about reducing heavyweight administration. The @leelefever account gets about 10 new followers a day and it's rare to see someone I know personally. I've started filtering the emails to help me manage my inbox.  The side effect of this is that I don't see every email and may miss people I want to follow.

Again, I'm trying something new with the @commoncraft account.  For now, I'm trying out a service called Tweetlater that automatically follows people that follow @commoncraft and sends them a quick "thank you" message. It's not as personal as I'd like, and some spammers are using it for nefarious purposes, but it allows me to accomplish the goal of following people without having to take an action for every one. It's lightweight.

Other Tools

I've done little experimenting with the @leelefever account in terms of tools.  I think there is part of me that wants it to be pure - like the Twitter I used 2 years ago. I've linked it up to my Facebook account and on my Tumblr, but I haven't tried any Twittering services.

With the @commoncraft account, I'm all about experimentation. Just recently I started using TwitPic to publish photos like this to the @commoncraft stream.  I want to bring people into our daily work lives and TwitPic makes it easy to snap a picture with my phone and post it in seconds.  I've also hooked the Common Craft blog into the Twitter stream using Twitterfeed.  

Having Two Accounts - Which Tool?

How do you manage two accounts?  Right now I use Tweetdeck for personal and the Twitter web site for Common Craft. I know Twhirl allows more than one login.

TweetDeck and Twitter Groups

I'm using TweetDeck for all my Twitter needs.  I have a column for the people a follow, a column for replies and a few searches (more on searches later).  A feature I haven't used in TweetDeck is the ability to create groups.  With groups, I can take everyone I follow and filter the stream by into "family", "must read" or "news" for instance.  Because I'm only following 200 people, this isn't as useful for the @leelefever account.  One day I may start to slice and dice the people I follow via the @commoncraft account into groups.

Search

Twitter Search is an amazingly powerful tool. We both use a search query that gives us an constant stream of activity on Twitter related to what we do. It's designed to capture the key words and phrases, across both accounts.  It looks like this:

commoncraft OR "common craft" OR leelefever OR lefever OR "plain english" (Link)

Redundant Content

Having two accounts presents some issues in terms of content.  For instance, a lot of people follow the @leelefever account because they are interested in Common Craft.  Now that they have an oppotunity to follow @commoncraft, I have to consider redundancy.  Do I post links to blog posts on both accounts?  It's going to take a little while to negotiate what goes where.  What do you think?

I'm curious what you think about these points.  Is your use of Twitter similar to one of these models?  What else should I be considering?

Perhaps you'd like to follow us?  We're @commoncraft, @sachilefever and @leelefever.  Also, here's a post I wrote after one year: Twittering for 1 year: a Retrospective.

Good Explanations Are Not About You

Explainist (yay! they're back) has a new post about Explanatory Filenames and how to think about the person on the other end. Quote:

But think about the guy on the other end who receives proposals from 10
different candidates on the deadline day, all with the same filename.
The first thing he has to do is rename each of them. If you’re thinking
about your audience, you’d save the proposal with your company’s name
in the filename — e.g. TomCo-Annihilatrix_Proposal.pdf.

I think the key point is about the perspective of the explainer.  As I wrote in a comment, it’s this awareness of the other person and their needs that helps so
much with explanation - being able to put the idea in the other
person’s context.

Another example is giving driving directions (before Google Maps anyway).  I bet that good explainers are also good at giving directions. When I've been lost in the past, I could see that the person giving directions had a hard time understanding what it was like to drive from A to B for the first time. Good directions account for the driver's perspective and context just like good explanations account for the learner's perspective and context.