One in the box. Milestone.

One in the box. Milestone.

Day Five.

Up early again with a list of things to check off - first up: getting some product photos. Authentic photos - not a.i. generated.

In the photo that I just took, I was looking at a picture from the last post while I tried to recreate it. That worked. Banner image. Boom.

The prototype design went through a huge upgrade yesterday as I followed my design notes to: "Make Everything Bigger" and I now deem it ready for Production. I am super-excited to reach this point.

Until yesterday, it was just a good idea in prototype, just shy of reaching a level of quality that I felt necessary before putting it out into the world. It's there now. It's robust. And they'll just continue to refine, improve... iterate, lot by lot.

Shipping the first unit, to the first customer - that's a milestone in sight now. Moving through a large number of small steps. at a manageable pace, with no urgency other than that which I imagine for myself. I am loving every minute.

The first actual shipment will be to myself - to get the shipping weight, etc. then I'll make an unboxing video to demonstrate how easy it is to install. No tools. Easy-peasy. 

[Script: 'Set a step ladder directly under the ceiling light. Lift the lamp out of the box by lifting the gathered plastic bag from the box and removing the lamp - handling it carefully. Set it on a table while you peel off the velcro clear protective covers from the corner squares to expose the adhesive, then climb up the ladder until you can safely reach the ceiling and carefully press the lamp up into place directly over the recessed light ring, lightly pressing on the four corners with your thumbs'. Done!

Prototyping continues on the CanMod product inspired by the iconic sconces of the Robie House. I'm confident that they'll be absolutely beautiful and a great addition to 'The Architect' collection. I just love this whole aesthetic. It demands great attention to detail.

Today, I hope to avoid freezing while I plane a few pieces of oak flooring cut-offs to see if it's worth pursuing those sources. I'm finding a lot of great wood out there that I could potentially process into lamp shade frames, with sustainable sources being my first choice. 

I need to cut some new shades too to fit the larger dimensions and one guess where I'm learning lamp shade-making: YouTube, naturally. I recently took delivery of a roll of lampshade liner. I didn't even know that was a thing until I recently watched a How-to video on Youtube.

I like to think of Kaira Lights LLC as a 'lighting solutions' company, but the 'CanMods' brand is definitely a lamp shade - for a lamp that just happens to be recessed into a ceiling light. 

It's a novel idea - and an inspired solution to the down lighting problem of ceiling lights. If I'm selling a product that defies categorization, that's going to make SEO additionally challenging - to reach my market. That's okay, 'through the challenges we find the path'. Stoicism. Everybody has ceiling lights.

Got a lot of small steps to go through first. Product - Process - Scale. On it.
"The journey is the reward" is a quote often attributed to Steve Jobs, but he was likely quoting ancient wisdom, too. 

Thanks for taking a few moments from your busy day to see what's happening over here at Kaira Lights LLC. 

Milestones. Knockin' 'em down. Feels good.

-Keith

P.S. Between Amazon and YouTube, I can get or learn almost anything I need. Delivered. These are amazing times in which we live.

Breakfasting as I blog this. I'm having an obsession lately with green tea and fresh ginger with honey and lemon. Smart switch from coffee, for a moment anyway. 

Fueled by ginger, honey and roasted garbanzos... 

The Website

 Being new to Shopify, I just picked out a nice template and jumped in - but I quickly found out that most of the tutorials on YouTube are using a different Theme: 'Dawn', so I switched to Dawn and I like it.

The last remnant of the first iteration is captured here for posterity. I just noticed that it seems to be a picture of a picture of a picture in a picture. Creative, at least. Truism: First efforts rarely yield the best results. Best to just get through them and get on with it. Noted. 

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