Five Tips for Growing a Crochet Business

*Five Tips for Growing a Crochet Business was updated on 4/11/19 to reflect current marketing and growth strategies I use.*

So every week in my Facebook group I go “Live” and discuss a topic with the crochet community. I am loving the feedback I get from it and love talking to my “Facebook friends” each week! So I’ve decided to do a little recap here on the blog from each week’s discussion, in case you miss it or just want to look again for reference.

The first week we talked about growing a crochet business!

That could mean both finished items and crochet patterns. I personally sold finished items for 2 years and am now on my second year of full time designing and writing crochet patterns. Here’s a little recap of the questions that were asked:

Is it okay to sell finished items from your patterns or any other designers? 

Yes, it is okay to sell your FINISHED items from patterns. It is NOT okay to share or resell the actual pattern.

We designers work hard to create our patterns and we want credit for the work we do. Just like if you made a finished item and someone else said they made it, it’s not cool. So finished items from our designs are fine, just link back to our pattern and/or give the designer the credit for the pattern. 

Side note: Some designers request that you not sell your finished projects from their patterns. While this is not something that they can take legal action against you for, you have to ask yourself if it’s worth not respecting the designers wishes.

Personally, I would just respect the designers wishes and find another project to make and sell. 

What’s the best way to get the word out there about your crochet business?

I use Facebook and Pinterest as my main source for marketing my business, but there are so many avenues out there for spreading the word. Make sure you have a business profile for both sites.  When using Facebook, I not only advertise on my business page, but also on my personal page.

On your personal page, make sure to have your crochet business is linked in the “Work and Education” section of your page so that when they look at your page, they can also easily get to your business page and shop.

Also, share photos of your work everywhere! I once had a picture of me wearing one of my hat designs as my profile picture and I got a sale just from that photo! They saw it and wanted to purchase the same hat! So show your work and let everyone know what you do!

I also have an email list for customers and followers to opt in to and I treat them like my VIP. They get all of my new releases and sales sent straight to their inbox. I also send them some exclusive deals and freebies as a thank you for being a part of my email list. 

How do you prevent burnout in production? 

My best advice for this is to set limits. Limit yourself on how many orders you take and give yourself plenty of turnaround time.

Give yourself enough time to complete your orders and work on things you want to do just for fun also. This helps prevent burnout.

Putting limits on how much you do will help you to still enjoy what you do every day. You won’t get sick of it and it won’t feel like work.

Setting limits may mean saying no sometimes, but it will be worth it in the long wrong.

How do you decide how to price your items and patterns? 

Pricing is a big question. Some people do cost x 2 or figure out how much profit they want to make and add that to the cost. Other people pay themselves by the hour.

It’s up to you, but my biggest advice on this is don’t undercut yourself.

If you are running a business to make money, price your items so that you will actually make money.

Price your items so that the work you do is worth the time. Some people may not want to pay what you ask, but the ones who value your hard work will pay what you ask, and those are the customers you want.

What’s your best advice for growing a crochet business?

My best advice is to do what you love. Sell what you love. Design what you love.

Set limits so that you still love crocheting and creating for your customers. Don’t overbook yourself, and give yourself grace and love.

Always be willing to learn something new. Don’t compare yourself to others in the same industry (SO hard, I know!). Work hard, but enjoy yourself.

Your passion and love for what you do will show in your work and people will be drawn to it! 

Pin it for Later: 

Growing your Crochet Business

.

Sharing is caring!

Similar Posts

One Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.