Today marks 15 full months that I’ve been working on a side project called Crafd. It’s a community for people who make things by hand:

In that time I’ve:

• Talked to zero potential users to validate the idea.
• Not shown it to a single person.
• Added and removed multiple major features as my vision shifted.
• Taken two 2-month sabbaticals where I didn’t touch the code at all.
• Seriously considered abandoning this project at least six times.

I’m finally happy with the tech stack and core features. The project is probably 95% done – the remaining 5% is me reworking the way I’m handling images a bit and then getting everything tested and pushed live. But despite being so close to the finish line, I’m struggling immensely to get across it.

The resistance

In The War of Art and Turning Pro, Steven Pressfield describes “The Resistance” – a destructive force that prevents us from doing our most important work. Resistance fills us with fear, boredom, procrastination, self-doubt – anything to stifle progress and meaningful creation.

If you make things but have yet to read Pressfield’s work, I highly recommend both books. They’ve deeply impacted my understanding of creative forces.

It get’s worse the closer you are to completion

As Pressfield notes, the resistance is strongest right before we complete an important project. When the finish line is within reach, the resistance pulls out all the stops to make us fail.

Over the past few months, the whispers in my head have grown from quiet murmurs into loud, anxious shouts:

• “It’s been over a year! Just call it quits before you embarrass yourself.”
• “You’ve done this all wrong. You should have been talking with users all along instead of building behind closed doors.”
• “You already work full-time and have a wife and 4 kids, you should just focus on those things and drop this side project nonsense.”
• “This niche is too small. Pivot to something more exciting!”
• “No one will use this. You’ll launch and no one will care.”
• “You’re not an expert in this field. Who are you to make this?”

The problem is that there is some degree of truth in each of these statements. I know these anxious concerns are amplified by the resistance, yet still I feel tempted to listen.

This Project Holds Deep Personal Meaning

Although part of me wants to quit, I know in my soul that abandoning this project would crush me. Crafd represents years of hope and learning. I first thought of building it back in 2008 but lacked the conviction.

While enthusiasm has occasionally waned over the past 15 months, the underlying passion remains. This project means too much to leave unfinished. I cannot let the resistance win.

Side projects are bloody hard

Building side projects and then never launching them has become a pattern for me. A pattern I’d like to break.

Massive props to anyone who has launched a side project and stuck with it for a year or more.

Props to those of you who build in the public and make it look so easy.

Resistance be damned… I’m not giving up on this one.

The resistance is real, but so is my drive to see this one through!

I will launch this project. 🤘

Wish me luck.

Note: I plan to blog more about Crafd over the coming months. Add your email below if you’d like to follow along.