Project Classifications

Hey Martin:
Since Google shows Lumberjocks ahead of my own website when I type in my name “Mark DeCou”, it shows that the lumberjock site is really come along quickly. I have had my website for three or four years. Sad, but true, but I am thankful for the 1,025 “page loads” I have had on my site this week alone, about 1/3rd from lumberjocks linking.

So, here is a question I have for you:
As this thing grows from 50 some projects to hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands of different projects. It will become overwhelming if a jock is trying to find new ideas and people to ask questions of, as all the projects will be shown together in one listing.

Here is my thought: What if you started adding a project description, from a provided list, that every project that a jock adds would be categorized with?

For Instance:
Main Category: Furniture, sub category Living Room, subcategory Couch
Main Category: Carving, sub category cane/walking stick
Main Category: Pyrography, sub category Horses
Main Category: Outdoor Items, sub category Bird Houses
Main Category: Furniture, Sub category Bedroom, subcategory Dresser
Main Category: Musical Instrument, sub category Native American Style Flutes

and so on. I’m thinking that this might help us a year from now find a person to talk to about a project.

Then, it hit me that some of us are trying sell our work, maybe there could be a category for “Proshop” where marketing, tax, profit/loss, crying on each other’s shoulders, loans made available for small businesses, donations for those in trouble, employment listings for those looking to hire more help, or quit the business and work for others, etc.

This could be a separate category from the “projects” where people could go to find out what the pros are doing to sell their work, what shows are good, which ones are a waste of time, how to get help with developing an “image” that buyers find attractive. How to get press releases published, how to find authors writing decorating books about projects where jocks could get their work published. On and On. From a Proshop perspective, the work of running a business can far outweigh the work building the stuff you’re selling. I totally underestimated this part of being in business for myself. I thought if I did good quality work, it would all “work out” in the end. To some extent it has, but there are so many issues looming, that I hardly know where to go, except maybe just go back to work and sand, or carve something and try to forget it for awhile.

Another thought I had: Last night I looked around the WoodNet forum, and found a question about how to cut a tenon on a long board. I, and several others, offered the fellow some ideas, and I added a couple of photo links to my website of the two projects I did this year already where I used long boards with tenons on the end.

So, here is the question: could the project description also include key attributes that others would be searching for some day? Like the Keywords list, but maybe even more detailed. For instance, when I was describing the 84” Couch I made with through tenons, I could put a tag that showed “Long Board Tenon”. That way, a year from now, a jock looking for ideas of how to attack a project problem, could find a similar project, and poke a question to the person that has already accomplished this feat.

I did this for Phillip’s Sam Maloof chair project, as I am working on dining chairs with carved wood seats, and wanted to know if he had some ideas that could help me.

that ought to be enough to digest in your off-work hours. Good night, and thanks for making this site available for all of us.

What do the rest of you think?

thanks,
Mark DeCou www.decoustudio.com

-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com