Craftsmanship is the Ultimate #TBT
It's Throw Back Thursday, folks. It's the day of the week when people post pictures of themselves with bad haircuts and smaller waistlines. It's good for a chuckle or a quick stroll down memory lane.
Batch turns two years old next week. And while you'll be hearing a lot about that milestone next week, we admittedly don't have a huge trove of images to post to Instagram of how things were for us "back when." But, the very nature of our business makes us see on an almost daily basis how things used to be. And more importantly, it makes us realize how things can be once more.
A perfect example of this is the notion of craftsmanship. Take this quote from President Obama, so nicely summed up on Cal Newport's blog:
"The more you do something, and the more you practice it, at a certain point it becomes second nature. What I’ve always been impressed with about when I listen to comics talk about comedy is how much of it is a craft. Right? They’re thinking it through, and they had a sense of when it works and when it doesn’t. The longer you do it the better your instincts are."
In short, craft matters, no matter what it is you make or manage. One of my greatest joys at Batch is getting to see people master a craft.
Take for example Luke Duncan. Here he is:
Luke makes great cocktail mixers under the label Eli Mason. Here's an example:
Eli Mason just announced a new peach concoction. And it's good. I can tell you this even though I haven't personally tried it. How do I know?
I know because Luke is dedicated to his craft and won't release a new line until he thinks it's damn near perfect. And even then, he'll only offer a limited run just to make sure the new release is up to his high standards and skill. With craft and quality like this, Luke is able to keep growing, promising something more than liquid in a bottle.
Or check out Mary-Wommack Barton:
She is the creator of Barton Table, which makes this tasty chocolate sauce:
When I first had coffee with Mary-Wommack last year, she told me in detail about how she makes her product - the testing, the tasting (I'll sign up for that part in a heartbeat), and the tweaking. And when she shipped her latest case to us, she let me know more details about this specific batch (no pun intended).
It seems that when you commit to craft in a world of mass production, something magical can happen. You're not merely taking a step back in time, but you're also making a bet on the future. You're stating your case for how and why attention to detail and a continual improvement in skill and output is better for everyone.
Long live craft.