Crochet is such a relaxing and rewarding thing to do. But if you start selling what you make and take on orders, your crochet can loose that relaxing element and quickly start becoming a chore. That’s not really what you want, you still want to be able to enjoy your crochet, after all how much you enjoy it is one of the reasons you thought selling what you make would be a good idea.

But have you thought about all the ways that you can grow your own crochet business and not sell what you make at all?

That’s what I’ve done. I haven’t sold a single thing that I make for years, and I have to say that it’s been utterly freeing and I’ve never regretted it.

Like most crochet businesses, mine started by selling what I made. Although I love my crochet, I didn’t enjoy making things to order. I wanted to crochet what I wanted, not what someone else told me to.

Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful for the orders and the cash it brought in but I didn’t like how it made my crochet time feel like a chore and that I was forcing myself to make those orders. We won’t get started with the struggles with pricing and fitting in making orders around a 9-5 job and kids. Save to say, selling what I made definitely wasn’t the way for me. I needed options.

I had to make a choice. Give up my dream of making a living from my crochet, or find another way.

I found that different path, and I’ve never looked back.

I make money from my crochet, but I get to keep that relaxing element of my crochet because I can make what I want, when I want without worrying about an order list or needing to make tonnes of stock for craft fairs or a shop shelf.

In fact I make more money from my crochet now than when I was selling what I made – a lot more and I work way fewer hours. Double bonus!!! I now enjoy working on my business and only use the income streams that I enjoy and fit in with my lifestyle and income goals.

So how can you do this too?

How To Profit From Crochet Without Selling What You Make

There are lots of different ways that you can profit from your crochet without selling what you make

• Patterns
• Affiliate Marketing
• Ad space
• Sponsored Content
• Courses
• Memberships
• Classes
• Subscriptions
• Merchandise

Click here to learn more about the different ways to make money from your crochet in this article

I definitely recommend choosing at least 2 of these ideas as your income methods. This helps to protect you from changes in the economy and downturns in any single income method. We’ve seen over the last few years how quickly our world can get turned upside down and change people’s way of interacting with our products and services that we offer

There are lots of different ways that you can combine these ideas and use a blog, YouTube channel, social media, podcast or even a newsletter to promote them to your audience.

Lots of these ideas can work well when used together, so that you can have several sources of income using the same or complimenting platforms.

In my crochet business I primarily sell patterns, but I use a blog to promote them so incorporate ad space and affiliate marketing into my blog posts. For me this combination works really well along with social media to promote my brand

For Crochet Business School I use my website to sell memberships and courses and recommend affiliate products in my blog posts. I use my podcast as my main promotional tool to build my brand.

There are lots of different ways that you can combine the ideas in the list above, and you can use the combination that suits you best. If you don’t like creating videos then you don’t need to have a YouTube channel. If you don’t like writing blogs, then don’t have a blog.

You could have a very profitable business by selling patterns on Etsy and promoting them on your social media with affiliate links to the supplies you use in your patterns.

Or how about selling courses that you advertise on a podcast that incorporates sponsored content?

There are endless combinations that you can use to make money from your crochet, and the best thing is that most of them are recurring revenue.

Recurring Revenue is where you do the work once, then profit from that work over and over again. If you write a pattern, you only write it once but sell the file over and over again.

Recurring revenue products can sell while you sleep or when you take time off, which means that you can still have income coming in when you’re not working.

Recurring Revenue is the secret to building a successful and profitable business. You can find out more about why you need recurring revenue in your business here

You have to build your business your way. There is no point to committing yourself to a path that you do not enjoy.

To discover which options suit you best, its sometimes better to start by crossing off anything you know you are definitely not going to like. Then take a look at what’s left, and what appeals the most.

Try out your options before fully committing to them.

You can write 5 blog posts without publishing them and paying for a hosting service. Record and edit 5 podcast episodes before signing up to a hosting service. Create 5 YouTube videos before paying for editing software.

Its better to try things out and drop those you don’t get along with than to jump in with both feet and end up with a costly bill for services you no longer need when you discover that these things just don’t suit you.

Trying out new income streams ideas is always going to involve a bit of experimentation, but it can be well worth it and ultimately save you tonnes of time and money.

So go experiment, find the income streams and recurring revenue ideas that you enjoy and fit in with your lifestyle, and start making money with your crochet without having to sell what you make.

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. Sign up to my newsletter for weekly crochet selling tips and resources sent straight to your inbox