Guitars and Essentialism.

My life can get pretty busy sometimes. I effectively have three jobs, with guitar building, wedding photography/videography, and a day doing graphic design/media for my church. It’s usually pretty easy to juggle, with weddings being seasonal, but sometimes it all hits at once. That seems to be happening to me right now, as it does around this time of year every year. So I’ve been reading and exploring some productivity concepts to get me through.

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport was my first stop on the journey, mostly to get myself un-stuck from the constant distraction of the social media world I’d been sucked into. Then Cal’s book called Deep Work, which is all about putting this new found focus to work. He goes into something called Time Block Planning, which has been vital to keeping my head above water in this busy patch, making sure jobs are getting checked off in a timely manner, but mostly making sure my focus can remain on the tasks at hand instead of trying to decide what step to do next.

Cal’s Deep Questions podcast has also been a huge help, and it’s where I was fully introduced to the concept of Essentialism, laid out by Greg Mckeown. I decided to dig deeper by reading his book on the topic. It’s been a huge eye opener for me, and I’ve been able to see immediate applications in my life and work. Especially in the areas that seem to pile up on me all at once and cause me huge amounts of anxiety.

So how does this affect my guitar building?

Well, it begins with my values, and making sure the outcomes are serving the values, not clashing with them or preventing them from coming to fruition. I sat down and wrote them out, and came to the conclusion that I’m stretched too thin to effectively meet my goals and values. So what do I need to do?

Strip things right back to the core of J.Parsons Guitars.

For the foreseeable future, I’m only going to offer one model - the Gideon. It’s the model that sums up my whole aesthetic, and offers the most scope with options. It’s by far my most popular model anyway. I’ll offer a set list of options, and only work within those. This will really allow me to deep dive into the processes in guitar building, refining them for greater efficiency and improved quality.

To a degree, it’s an extension of an idea that I’ve been exploring already, only now it appears more valid. But it’s not just about efficiency and quality, or even the promise of extra profit - by streamlining the process, I can focus more attention on the extra stuff that can make buying a custom guitar a unique experience.

So beginning in 2021, I’m going to work at a more complete experience - a customer questionnaire to help me get a better idea of the player I’m building for. I’ll also take more regular photos of the build process and send regular updates to keep customers informed. I’m also exploring the idea of a beautifully printed photo book of the entire build. A nice little keepsake and conversation starter!

To sum it up, I’m trading possible guitar options for a better experience for each customer, which I think is a better outcome, don’t you?