You’ve been selling what you make as a side hustle and have building yourself a nice customer list and social media following.

You’ve been making that bit of extra cash you wanted, which is fantastic, but you’ve found yourself really enjoying this selling malarkey, and you want to do more of it.

But that means you need to up your profits. It’s no longer about making a bit of extra cash, but needing to make a living.

If you’re going to spend more time selling, and that means reducing your hours at your day job, then you need to be selling enough to make up for that lost income. You need to start making a salary from your crochet side hustle and make it a business.

Know Your Numbers

The first thing you need to do, is sit down and get honest with yourself about how much you are actually making right now by selling what you make. If you’re going to turn this side hustle into a business then you need to know your numbers, and really be honest about them.

Dig out your sales list from the last 6 months, and how much you’ve sold everything for. Work out how much of that cost accounts for yarn, accessories, postage and packaging and write down the amount you are left with.

• How many hours have you been spending selling your crochet?
• How much profit have you been making so far?
• What does that profit work out as an hourly rate?
• Does that hourly rate cover your salary?

I’m going to guess that the answer to that last question is no.

It’s pretty common for crocheters to give no thought as to how much they are earning per hour when setting prices, so when you get serious and really start looking at your numbers, it can be a bit shocking.

But the only way that you can turn your crochet side hustle into a business is to face up to those numbers so that you really understand where you are starting from.

You need to know what money is truly coming in, to be sure what you are earning. You have to be able to live off it!

You also have to think about what happens when you want to take time off. After all, if you only crochet what you make, then you are only earning when you are crocheting. You become a slave to your hooks – no crochet – no money.

This is not sustainable in the long term. You will burn out, as there are only so many hours that you can crochet in a day, and of course this means that there is a limit to what you can earn, as you only have a limited number of  order slots each week.

A successful long term crochet business means that you have to have a way of making money while you take time off, and that won’t limit how much you can earn, so that you have the lifestyle options and freedom you crave.

But how do you do this?

Take Your Crochet Digital

When I say take your crochet digital, I mean that you need to offer something that is accessible online that you can create once and sell over and over again. This can include crochet patterns, crochet courses and memberships. It also includes affiliate marketing and ad revenue.

Don’t worry if you are not tech minded, these things are far simpler to put together and sell than they used to be. There are a lot of plug and play options available which make the whole thing so much easier to put together these days.

You don’t need to do all of these things, just choosing one or two options is enough to give you the income, and freedom from your hooks that you need to make your crochet a successful long term venture.

Online options give you freedom, both in time and money. You can create a course or pattern once, and then sell it over and over without ever having to do the work again. You can set it up so that your customers get everything needed to access the content you create automatically, so you don’t have to do a thing after making the sale except offer customer support.

You can still make sales while you take time off. You can make sales while you sleep! Doesn’t that sound so much more freeing than being tied to your hooks as the only way you can earn from your crochet?

Affiliate Marketing And Ads

You can also earn money from affiliate marketing by recommending products such as yarn or hooks to your audience – particularly easy if you are selling crochet patterns or creating how to crochet courses.

Affiliate marketing is where the company pays you a percentage of the sale, if someone makes a purchase using your special link. It doesn’t cost your audience anymore than usual. Think of the commission as the companies way of thanking you for bringing a sale to them.

You can use affiliate marketing with crochet patterns, courses, blogs, YouTube videos, Podcasting and more besides

You can also bring in income from ads. You can sell ad space on your blog, podcast and YouTube videos. Advertisers will pay you for renting out space on these platforms, and the more traffic, views or downloads you get, the more you can earn.

The opportunities for earning money through online means are endless. When it comes to how much you can earn, the sky is the limit, only limited by your own ambitions. This means that your crochet side hustle can become a business and be set up for long term success as well as giving you the freedom to work the hours you choose, take time off when you need and give you the financial freedom you’ve only ever dreamed of.

Is it possible to turn your crochet side hustle in to a business? Absolutely!!

There are 3 ways that I can help you make money from your crochet

1. sign up to the Crochet Business School newsletter, for weekly tips on growing your crochet business, straight into your inbox.

2. You can also check out the Podcast for biweekly bite sized episodes on issues you should think about to grow your crochet business

3. Come and join our Facebook Community Group to connect with others on the same journey as you as well as regular checking in and tips from me