You know something’s not right. Your crochet isn’t selling the way you’d hoped and on top of that your crochet business is hard to manage now. You’re just not getting as much done as you were and there’s not as much time to spend in it as there was last month. So what’s going on?
If you prefer to listen, you can find the podcast here
What’s Actually Going On
It doesn’t make much sense. You had a routine, you know exactly what needs doing but your crochet business is suddenly harder to manage. You go to post on your social media and instead find yourself doom scrolling and you’ve lost nearly an hour of precious time. You need to decide what product you’re going to make and release next, but instead of getting stuck into it, the kitchen is suddenly demanding to be cleaned and you feel compelled to clean it.
In other words, you’re doing anything except the business tasks that need doing.
So the crochet that wasn’t selling enough to begin with is selling even less now.
It’s frustrating and yet you’re not that mad about it. But you feel you should be, after all this is your dream. If you’re not doing the work, the dream of taking control of your own time, your income and your life flies out of the window. So why can’t you seem to motivate yourself to get the work done?
I did all these avoidance things myself. If I didn’t post on my social media it meant I wasn’t visible. If I wasn’t visible I couldn’t make any sales. It felt like laziness, it felt like self sabotage. It was actually my subconscious saying “why are you bothering when you know this will never get you what you want.” It took me far too long to recognise what my own mind was trying to tell me.
I did all the things like crocheting new items but never advertising them. Spending ages researching new ways to sell my crochet and new ways of marketing, but never actually putting any of what I’d learned into action. All of it was avoidance yet all of it made me feel like I was working on my crochet business even though nothing was really getting done.
It’s Not What You Think
I’ll start off by saying that it’s not laziness. It’s also not a lack of motivation. Just working harder or trying to find a productivity hack is not going to fix this problem. The cause of all this doing anything but the business stuff is down to your subconscious. Our subconscious mind is an extremely powerful thing and it can derail us for reasons we’re not fully aware of. Right now it feels like self sabotage, but it’s actually a big flag being raised and your mind trying to get your full attention. It’s time to listen to what it’s trying to tell you.
What Your Subconscious Is Trying To Tell You
Your subconscious knows what you refuse to see. We avoid the obvious issues because we want to be able to make a living from our crochet so badly. We are so determined that we get blinkers on. We can’t see the obvious truth staring at us, because if we accept it, it could mean the end of the dream and all that effort we’ve put into trying to make it happen.
Number 1. It’s not the end of the dream. Number 2. You’re actually trying to do this the hard way.
What am I talking about? I’m talking about how you were probably never going to make a living from selling the crochet that you make. The exceptions to this are if you can create a luxury brand, become a crochet artist or create collectors items. Outside of these 3 scenarios, it’s just not going to be possible to make a living selling what you make without it taking over every spare minute so you have time to live your life.
What The Successful Ones Have In Common
The most successful crochet businesses, the ones that have been around for years, all have 1 thing in common. Recurring income. That’s where you do the work once and then profit from it for years to come. So a crochet pattern is a pdf that sells copies over and over. A YouTube video gets made once but can grow thousands or even millions of views. A blog gets written once but gets read thousands of times. And each time each one gets downloaded, watched or read, the owner makes a profit.
That’s what’s been missing from your crochet business. The ability to do the work once and then profit on repeat. That’s what we need to change for you.
Recurring income means that you can take a holiday with your family and still make sales without you needing to check in at any time. It means that when your child is sick and needs you with them, you can put everything down and fully focus on them knowing that your business will run itself for a while.
It’s about being able to turn off – really, truly switch off from your business and be safe in the knowledge that you’re not losing any sales and things can run automatically without you.
There Are Other Options
There are so many other options when it comes to turning your crochet into a full time income. Selling what you make is actually the hardest choice and gives you the smallest profit. Other options include blogging, teaching, writing patterns, memberships, YouTube and more besides.
Each of these options turns you into a content creator rather than a product seller. Content lives forever on the internet and when created properly you can reach an audience of millions worldwide. No more relying on local sales, no more staying awake at night worried that your crochet will get lost in the postage system. All of these options are digital, product free and allow you to earn while crocheting what you want and when you choose.
Let’s Deal With The Objections
Your first thought is probably “I couldn’t possibly do any of those” but that’s just the fear talking. Take a deep breath, look at them again and now tell me why you couldn’t do any of these.
“I don’t know how” – you’ll learn. Just like you learned how to create and manage a social media account. Just like you learned how to start a newsletter, just like how you learned everything about selling your crochet. You’ve already proved you can learn a lot when you are determined to make something happen, so why not learn a bit more?
You don’t have as much of a learning curve as you fear either. Much of what you’ve learnt already translates over to these new ways of making money from your crochet. How to take photos of your crochet, how to write descriptions, how to manage a content schedule on social media – all of this will be used in your next chapter.
“I don’t have time” – you will. Just think about how much time you’re spending on a business that isn’t paying you what you need. If you could free up even a small amount of that time, then you’ll have the time you need.
You don’t have to stop selling what you make, you can transition over to something else slowly. Start with just 1 hour a week. 1 hour less of putting so much time and effort into a business that will never make the profit you need. Or if you’re deep into the procrastination, 1 hour less of doom scrolling on social media. You will find that these avoidance behaviours reduce when you are starting something that really does have the power to make your dream a reality, so it won’t be that hard to find the time once you get started.
“People like me don’t do that” – Why? Because they either haven’t thought of it or they were too afraid to do it. You’re not them and what other people think shouldn’t be a reason to give up on your dreams.
People change over time, it’s a natural thing to happen. So what if no one you know has ever done anything like this before? Why should that stop you following your dreams and making your life more satisfying, more comfortable, happier? Maybe seeing you take that leap will encourage someone else to follow the dream that they were too afraid to follow until they saw someone else achieve it.
Your Next Step
The next step is to decide what the right choice for you is. But don’t just pluck an option out of a list, we want what you choose to be right for you. Not every path available is going to suit everyone. Instead look at what you enjoy doing in your business right now. What is your subconscious NOT avoiding doing? Making videos? Creating graphics in Canva? Doodling new designs to make? It doesn’t matter how small it feels, it doesn’t matter if you think that thing couldn’t possibly be of use in a business, write it down anyway. That list is going to help you see what your path is.
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.
