You love to crochet, so when you’re looking for a new money making opportunity to boost your income or you want to be able to earn whilst being around for your family, it makes perfect sense to use your crochet to make the money you need. But how do you start a crochet business?
Lets start with a couple of hard truths about running your own crochet business
- You won’t be making the money you want overnight – these things take time
- This is going to be hard work
If making a living from your crochet was simple or easy then everyone would be doing it. It’s going to take a lot of effort and a lot of work to make this happen, but it will also be one of the most rewarding things you ever do. If you persevere, you will reap the rewards and it will all be so worth it.
So what do you need to get your crochet venture started?
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You Already Have Everything You Need
The good news is that you probably already have everything you need to get your crochet business started
- Yarn
- Hooks
- Smartphone
These are the 3 things you need to get started with a bare bones crochet business. If you are on a tight budget, you can start off with just these and use the crochet you make to fund anything extra. I would definitely look at getting a laptop if you don’t already have one as this opens up the options to have better tools to work on your new business. Even though we can do a lot on our smartphones, it’s not easy to do everything on that small screen and some things are just easier with a bigger screen and more processing power of a computer. You don’t need anything fancy, a simple basic laptop will do just fine.
The other thing you might want to invest in if you have the funds is some more yarn. It’s going to serve you better in the long run to use the same one or two brands and lines of yarn for everything in your crochet business. You can use what you have to start with, but once you get some sales made and have the funds to do so, it’s going to best to buy your yarn more strategically.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
We want to get everything set up so that our new business has solid foundations and you’re set up for the long run for success and the profits you need. You can crochet like a pro, but selling your crochet needs you to have a whole new skill set – the skills of business.
What’s The First Step?
To get your crochet business up and running, there are some basic steps that need to be taken no matter what your plans are for the direction you plan to take your business in.
The things you need to set up and think about are:
- What is your niche?
- The social media platform you will use
- Name and Branding
- Start an email list
- Where you will sell
- You plans and goals
This may feel like a lot – and it is! But once these decisions and setups are done, you’ve done most of the set up work. You can hear more about each of these steps in this playlist on my free podcast here where I can go into far more detail about them than is possible in this article.
What Are You Going To Sell?
Why didn’t we start at the question of what you’re going to sell? Because it’s too tempting to just make whatever you feel like, post some pictures on social media and then wonder why nothing sells. This is where most people falter and fail – if a crochet business was this simple everyone would be doing it. It’s just not that easy.
If the setup list I gave you above looks like too much work, then having a crochet business that will be your soul source of income is not for you.
The fact of the matter is that a business of any kind is hard work. A business that is going to become your career and only source of income is even harder. You are going to have to put the work in and really learn what it takes to make regular consistent sales and / or profits. There’s lots to learn and there will be bumps in the road but f you are prepared to put the work in, then you will see the success you dream of.
You may be thinking that you have to start by selling the crochet that you make, but that’s a myth. You don’t have to sell anything you make at all if you don’t want to. But it is how most crochet businesses get started – mine included, although I don’t sell any of my crochet anymore.
Check out the options you have available to you in this free pdf of 12 ways that you can make money from your crochet skills now
Essential Business Tips
No matter how you choose to profit from your crochet, there are some essential elements common to every business strategy.
- Eye Catching photos
- The need to build an audience
- Communicating regularly with your followers
- Stories that sell
There are lots of cogs that go into creating your crochet business machine, but you are always going to need eye catching photos of your crochet as you need to stand out from the competition both on social media and in search results. You have to have show stopping pictures so that you stop people scrolling and make them want to click and see more. When selling online, your pictures need to do the selling for you – see how you can create your own scroll stopping crochet photos with just your smart phone and a budget friendly setup here
You need to build up an audience – the people who want to see what you’re up to and what your next crochet offering is going to be that they will want to get their hands on. You can build a following on social media or through a newsletter or any other platform that allows you to send out updates to those who sign up.
With an audience you need to communicate with them regularly – just because they’ve told you they want to know more about you it doesn’t mean they’ll remember who you are or anything about your crochet 1 week from now. After all, peoples lives are busy there are lots of other businesses vying for their attention and unless you keep reminding them of who you are and what you do they will simply forget you exist. So it’s important to regularly post on your social media or other platforms and send out your newsletters to keep reminding them what you have to offer and why they should stay interested in your crochet.
Why do you need stories? Because stories sell. What kind of stories?
- Why you started your business
- Why you chose your niche
- How you came up with your product ideas
- Why you use the yarn / hooks / accessories you chose
These are all the kind of stories that draw your audience in and get them interested in what you’re doing. It might seem simple, obvious or boring to you, but to your audience it is a fascinating insight into your world – remember, they may not know anything about crochet so they’ll be curious to know more.
There’s So Much More
There is so much more I could tell you about getting your crochet business started and set up for success, but frankly that would take a novel to write it all out. Instead I have my podcast to share everything with you. You can follow my free podcast here.
After all, you are a crocheter – a talented crocheter for sure, but to sell your amazing creations you need to know the world of business and that is a whole different skill set. Let me show you how its done so that you can take the shortcut to success.
For more tips on how to start and grow your crochet business, check out my Free Resources here. Grab whatever takes your interest to create your ideal crochet business. You can also follow my free Substack here for more crochet building tips.
