Do you dream of having your own crochet business and making a living from your crochet? To be able to crochet all day and having the time to spend with your family and having all the time you need to keep your house neat and tidy and take those trips to the farmer markets and yarn stores when you want?
Doesn’t it sound wonderful being able to quit the rat race, not having to deal with the commute anymore, being able to spend the holidays with your family without worrying if you’re using up too much of your annual leave. Instead you get to make an income from your crochet and set your own hours and be in control of your own life.
That’s the dream, but can it become a reality?
Is It possible To Make A Living From Your Crochet?
Before we answer that we have to get honest with what’s possible.
If your dream is to make a living by selling the crochet that you make AND still have the time you want to spend time with your family and work flexibly, then this dream runs into a problem.
This plan relies on you crocheting as much as possible and selling regularly at prices that pay you a salary.
It also means that when you take time off to be with your family, you either have to stop taking orders and lose money, or keep taking orders and come back from your time off with a massive to do list to get through which leaves you wishing you hadn’t taken any time off at all.
Because of how time intensive crochet is, that means becoming the most expensive person in the market. This is very difficult to do unless you become a luxury brand and make people feel the luxury in every thing you do and show.
For most crocheters this isn’t possible as it needs a substantial time and money investment in premium packaging, and creating photos and a selling site with a luxury feel.
But this doesn’t mean that your dream stops here.
This is where the secret to making a living from your crochet comes in.
The secret isn’t to crochet day and night, shout from the rooftops about your crochet and then the sales will come.
The secret is to detach your income from your time, so that the money you make is no longer dependent on how many hours you can crochet. Instead you need to turn your attention to recurring income.
What Is Recurring Income?
Recurring income is where you do the work once and then profit from that one piece of work over and over again.
When selling what you make you have to do the work for every single order that comes in – that’s why it’s so tied to your time.
But by being able to profit from that one piece of work on repeat, that link is removed. This takes away the limit on what you can earn and it means you can take time off and still make money without coming back to a massive to do list.
You’re already familiar with types of crochet recurring income, but maybe you’ve never considered them as something you could do
- Crochet Patterns
- Blogs
- YouTube
- Memberships
- Courses
- E-books and Printables
- Affiliate Marketing
All of these are types of recurring income and all need you to do the work once to be able to profit endlessly from them.
They all work in a different way needing different types of content, using different platforms, but the way of profiting remains the same. Do the work once and profit on repeat.
I talk more about each of these subjects in-depth over on the Crochet Career School Podcast here.
Build It To Fit You
The variety of options on this list means that you get to build the crochet business that suits you and what you enjoy doing.
If you don’t enjoy making videos, then don’t do YouTube or courses. If you don’t enjoy writing then don’t start a blog.
If you enjoy teaching then e-books, YouTube, blogs and courses are great options. If you enjoy the creative process of coming up with new patterns then writing your own patterns is a great fit. If you want to create your own crochet community, then explore memberships.
You have so many paths that you can choose, all are achievable for anyone.
The bigger danger is choosing an option because you’ve seen other people be successful at it and not because you want to do it.
If you start a YouTube channel because you think it will make you the most money, but you don’t actually enjoy making videos, then this will never work for you.
When we don’t enjoy doing something we start to find excuses not to show up. Suddenly the house really needs a deep clean, your social media posts are more important to schedule right now. The kids need to get out of the house so you pack them off to the park for the afternoon. You do anything except get those videos made and that means your channel will never grow and you won’t make the money that you thought you would.
Choose what will work for you and your personality, not what you think the big money maker will be.
Anything on this list of options can make you 6 figures a year in income, but only if you enjoy it enough to show up and do the work consistently.
How To Get Started
So how do you get started with recurring income?
You start by making a choice. What from that list of options are you going to choose as your career path?
Then you just start.
A blog needs you to start writing, YouTube needs you to create a video, patterns need you to start designing. You won’t get things perfect straight away, that takes practice and consistency. But you will get better over time and the audience that finds you early will enjoy seeing your progress and being part of your journey.
To really get into the specifics of what each form of recurring income needs, and get the support to make it happen, then I have the 90 Day Blueprint programme where we can set up your new crochet business together and talk through all the options so that you build the business that works for you and then you come away with a solid plan for the next 90 days too.
For a more budget friendly option, Crochet Career School is the next best thing.
For more crochet business building advice and information then check out my free podcast here, and subscribe to my free Substack here for daily tips too.
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.
