I enjoyed making notebooks

Manufacturing is a combination of repetitive and creative work. The repetitive part is obvious: you make lots of something, so you'll end up doing the same steps over and over. But as you repeat those steps, you figure out better ways of doing them; you improve the process. That's creative work!

My own manufacturing experience is very limited. I only worked on a single product, a notebook bound in cork leather, and I only ever made 6 of them total. I stopped, because part of the work became frustrating, and I didn't have the budget to solve that.

Despite the frustration, I enjoyed the process, by and large. The creative part was satisfying, but never overwhelming. When I was tired of thinking about process improvements, I could always just work on the next notebook, which was usually quite relaxing.

I want more of this in my life. Not necessarily notebooks (although I might revisit those at some point), but physical products in general. I enjoy designing them. I enjoy making them, and doing so repeatedly. And I want to learn how to market and sell them.

And now, right here, I'm finally getting started. It'll be an adventure! And I'll do my best to post updates, what I'm planning, and the lessons I'm learning. If that sounds interesting to you, I'd love to have you along!