When you are contemplating changing your crochet business, the fear of having to start all over again from scratch can really take hold. But do you really have to start from scratch or do you already have more in place than you realise?
If you prefer to listen, you can find the podcast here
The Fear Is Real
You’ve been building your crochet business for so long that the idea of throwing all that time, effort and money away doesn’t just feel daunting, it’s horrifying. Knowing something needs to change and then actually doing it are two completely different things. One is governed by logic, the second is where the fear takes control.
And it is a completely reasonable fear.
It’s not just the fear of losing all that hard work. It’s the fear of the unknown, the fear that you will put all this new work in and still end up in the same place you are now. There are no guarantees in life, something which you are well aware of, and this means that fear really takes hold – because there’s no denying it when there’s logic to it.
But allowing the fear to win is how you stay stuck. You’ll still be here, in this exact same place in 6 months time. Knowing that your crochet business has to change to work the way you need it to so you can make the money you need to not only justify all this work but to give you the lifestyle changes, give you control over your time and give you the flexibility to work when you want.
None of that can happen unless you tackle that fear head on and swat it out of your way.
But You’re Not Starting From Zero
But you will use so much of what you’ve already learned in your next chapter. Everything that you’ve done already was just preparation for what comes next and you might be surprised by just how little you need to learn to create the next step in your crochet business.
When you started selling the crochet that you make, you started from scratch. Zero knowledge on how to sell, zero knowledge of how business works. You learned everything that you needed to know step by step.
Look At What You Already Know
- How to set up a social media account
- What to post
- How to take photos of your crochet that capture attention
- How to set up a newsletter
- How to set prices
- How to track your finances
- How to network with other businesses
- How to grow your audience
All of this knowledge is still needed. It’s all standard stuff for any business and you already know how to do all of it.
The One Thing That Doesn’t Transfer
A lot of what you know will transfer to the new version of your crochet business, but there is one thing that doesn’t.
Your audience.
This will hurt and it is going to be really tempting to try and persuade your existing audience to follow you to your new business. But they started watching you because of the crochet that you made and that you were selling. They are product buyers. But if you’re no longer selling products then the reason for them to be interested in what you’re doing disappears. If you tell them about your new business they may well come and take a look out of curiosity and a sense of loyalty, but the chance of them converting to customers is low.
On social media this means that people who will never buy will see your posts, and when the algorithm is only serving up your posts to a small percentage of your audience, that lowers the number of genuinely interested people who will see the posts for your new business.
As much as it hurts, it’s best to cut loose that audience and start again from scratch.
Starting from scratch has its benefits though. You get to shrug off any fears that have plagued you with your existing audience, you can be yourself – the real self that has been buried under the fear and survival instincts for so long. You get to have fun with it this time instead of worrying what people will think and should you post that thought or will you scare people off.
It’s remarkably freeing starting from zero with no one to worry about not liking what you post, and if you can keep that feeling even after people start following you, it will become YOUR space where everyone follows along because they like this version of you and not the version that you curated out of fear the first time round.
The Silver Lining
But, because you already know how to build an audience, you will grow your new crochet business much faster than you did the first time round. Because you know what you’re doing this time, you’re not learning as you go anymore.
I’m not saying that you will grow an audience of thousands overnight, but you know what to post, where to share, how to network and that means your audience will grow far more easily and steadily than when you didn’t have a clue and were making it up as you went.
When I started my own crochet business for the second time I was surprised by how quickly it grew and how much more fun I was having with it. I was more relaxed, I got back my love of crochet which I had been losing from crocheting what I had to rather than what I wanted. I was less stressed because I didn’t have to deal with order deadlines and worrying what might get lost in the post. No more post office runs and having to find time to stand in that queue! I have never once regretted the change. I missed the familiarity of what I’d built before for a while, but there is no way I’d even think about going back to selling what I made now, not even as a side hustle.
Your Task This Week
It feels like you have a mountain to climb right now, but I promise you, you don’t. I can prove it too. Get out your pen and paper, or download your free Map Your Path Workbook here and make your list of all the things that you know how to do in your crochet business to sell the items that you make.
No matter how small or how insignificant it feels, write it down. From how to edit your photos to creating a social media posting schedule. This list is your proof of how much you already know. If you’re working on your business today then write down what you’re doing as you go because I guarantee that you are doing things so automatically that you won’t think of them as skills. Like being able to add your logo onto a photo – remember how long it took you to figure out how to do that?
Make that list and see just how much you have really learned since you first started. It will probably amaze you.
I’m Kelly Thomas, crochet business owner, pattern writer, blogger and coach. I started my crochet business selling what I make and made all the mistakes along the way. Let me show you what I learned so you don’t make the same errors.
You can listen to the podcast episode that goes with this article here. It is a bit different to what you’ve just read, but the message is the same.
You can check out the rest of my podcast here to discover more about how to turn your crochet into a successful business.
I also have this free guide that you can download which walks you through 12 ways that you can make money from your crochet.
