Things are busy.
But trying to build something alongside other driven individuals setting out to shape what the CRFTY is going to be down the road is precisely what I want to be doing at the moment. I think of it much bigger than a blog, which is what (for the most part) it currently is.
To let you in on a little secret: I often lose patience very quickly in things if they aren't growing a sufficient amount in a specific time period. It's a terrible attribute to my personality but I'm confident that I'm doing the right things these days... for all parties involved/not-involved. You'd think I would have done this sooner. But nevertheless, I'm thankful for a good team around me. I'm thankful for the mentors that have gotten me to this point. It's time to take off and steer this company.
The right things have lined up for me to see a bit of light through the tunnel. I am certain that I won't be able to see that light for long. I'm building and steering something at the same time which is a sure-fire to get a little lost along the way, but truthfully, I'm fine with that.
And there's a lot that I don't know. I don't know much about leadership or business besides reading a book named Rework written by the guys over at 37signals, but I don't intend on looking into it by reading - never been one to turn down learning on the fly. From the short time that I've been doing this, I realize that it's incredibly tough and takes great discipline/focus: pivoting everyday and maneuvering through different opportunities, but it's incredibly rewarding. Every single day the vision is clearer for the CRFTY and I'm happy that I feel as if there is enough steam to keep this thing going years down the road.
— Yewon Kim, of girlsack.com, took over the Life As They Know It section of the site. She definitely set the bar for what future contributors should be doing with that spot. Awesome, because we didn't give her much direction at all; she ran with it and made it something all of her own. Couldn't thank her enough.
— The columns section saw the addition of Justin Miyamoto, MoShadee, Michael Cherman, Sarah Kim and Spencer Nikosey. Jeez, really? In one week? Writing that felt odd because it didn't feel true. But regardless, I'm extremely flattered that these individuals have decided to contribute to this thing on a regular basis. I'll do an individual post on each one of them in the near future.
— As you can see, the site looks a bit different from one week ago. We've locked down our logo, and are in the process of figuring out other branding elements as we continue to make things behind closed doors. We've also added dedicated "music," "style," and "design" sections on the top navigation instead of having everything thrown into the CRFTY Feed. Feel free to follow @TheCRFTYMusic, @TheCRFTYStyle, and @TheCRFTYDesign on Twitter for RSS feeds of the posts in those respective fields. If structure is any indication, we're thinking big.
— We began posting our Visual Archives: here, here and here. A major part of the CRFTY is transparency as creatives and consumers. As an advocate of "public learning," posting these Visual Archives are tools that benefit us as reference photos. We like to do it, and we hope you enjoy looking at the sets.
— Beer. Now.
— Shorts. Now.
— Sam. Now.
— Shout-out to Christian and Natalie for putting up with me on a daily basis. I'm either too stressed, too relaxed, too distant, too lenient or too... something, every single time, in my opinion. But know that I'm very particular. So if you were thinking I was one of those things - believe me, it's magnified to the 10th degree from my perspective. If you're still reading this... these two are awesome, and they will both be great one day.
— The CRFTY Magazine Issue #003 is coming soon. Thought I'd throw this in here at the end.
Thank you for reading.
It's only going to get better,
John Liwag, proud father founder of the CRFTY
May 29, 2012 at 10:39AM 
