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Let's talk about subscription boxes.
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These can be a great addition to your
crochet business as they give you a form
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of recurring income without too much
risk when it comes to the money side,
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which I'm betting you weren't expecting.
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So let's talk all about
subscription boxes and how they can
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compliment your crochet business.
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So subscription boxes are kind of a
crossover with a membership except
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there's a physical product involved.
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So you will ship boxes, container,
whatever products you promised
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every month or every two months,
whatever time scale that you want to.
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People who have subscribed.
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There are all kinds of subscription
boxes that you can use for crochet.
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You can have crochet themed, so it doesn't
have to be a pattern or yarn or hooks.
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It can just be a crochet theme,
like crochet themed, stationary
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socks, uh, hats, pencil cases, uh,
notebooks, all those type of things.
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So this can also lean into creating
your own merchandise line as
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well, you can have whatever you
want that's related to crochet.
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A lot of crochet subscription boxes
do contain yarn and, uh, um, a monthly
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pattern to go along with, but how
you do that is entirely up to you.
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You could have crochet themed jewelry,
all sorts, as long as it's got a
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crochet theme, you're all good.
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And as long as you deliver
what you promise to your
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subscribers, again, all great.
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But what about the cost?
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And this is one of the things that puts
a lot of people off subscription boxes.
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The idea that you're going to spend
an absolute fortune without knowing if
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people will actually buy your boxes.
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But this is the beauty
about subscription boxes.
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You don't buy anything until
people have subscribed.
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Now, does that mean there's a delay
between people ordering and you sending?
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Yes, absolutely.
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Of course there is.
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But that's part of the promise.
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When people sign up, they know this.
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They know what date the
next box is going out.
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They know what date they'll
receive their first box.
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Now, there are ways around this,
and that could be the first box when
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anyone subscribes, is one that's
always the same no matter what.
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Which means that although you'll keep
some stock in house for those first boxes.
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It is the first box anyone will receive
so they can receive it quite quickly.
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And then after that, they will join the
regular box that changes every month.
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But if you don't buy anything until
people are subscribed, it means
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you're not wasting your money.
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You are not overbuying stock,
you are not buying more than you
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can ship out, and it gives you
that security and the reassurance
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that you are not going to waste.
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You're hard earned cash on
something that's just gonna
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sit on a shelf in your house.
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Now, subscription boxes do come with
that cost, but if as long as you
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know what these are going to cost
and what people are paid, you can
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make sure that you've got the right
products to set out every month.
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It does mean you're gonna have
to do your research though.
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'cause you need to know exactly
what you need to charge and
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you need to keep the price.
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The same subscription boxes work
by charging a regular monthly fee.
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And that fee has to be the same month
to month, which means you need to
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know what things are gonna cost, how
much stuff you've gotta put in the
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box every month, and how much profit
you're going to make from that.
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So when you're researching what you
can put in your subscription boxes.
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You need to have an idea of what
you're gonna put in these boxes for
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several months in advance so that
you can work out all the pricing.
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Because what you can't do is
raise the price month to month
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because you made a mistake.
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You've got to sit down and get
the numbers right, or you are at
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risk of losing a lot of money,
which we absolutely want to avoid.
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So.
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If you wanna do subscription
boxes, you absolutely have to sit
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down and work the numbers out.
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You can't, not, there's too much
at risk, there's too much to lose
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if you get your numbers wrong.
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So once you know what kind of um, crochet
theme box you're gonna be sending out
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every month, work out where you're
gonna buy from, what everything's
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gonna cost, how much is going into
that box, how, how many products.
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And then work out the cost.
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Work out how much profit you want to make
because there's no point in doing all
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this work if you're only going to make
a dollar or two profit from every box.
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You need more than that to
make it worth it for you.
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So getting the finances right is the
most important thing about these boxes.
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Subscription boxes have been incredibly
popular over the last few years.
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Because everyone likes a nice treat,
and this is a great way to get one.
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They know how much it'll cost every month.
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It's gonna come out regularly, and
it contains some goodies that are
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related to crochet, which is a great
way for crochet to treat herself.
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But what if you're not doing
subscription boxes for crocheters?
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What if it's for something else?
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Well, if you sell what you make, you can.
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Do a subscription box for anything.
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You can do subscription boxes for, um,
baby themed items, and not everything
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in the box needs to be crocheted by you.
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It can be something else.
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It could be one crocheted item from
you plus some other themed items
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that relate to what you've made.
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So you get to combine what you make
and the your niche and other products.
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It also gives you the opportunity
to team up with other small
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businesses and buy stock from them.
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It gives you the opportunity
to just kind of relax a little.
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You get the money that you need for that
product that you've made, and you can buy
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some of the bits in good quality bits.
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We've gotta make it worth it to go
into that box around that theme,
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and it adds some easy profit
where you don't have to crochet.
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And that's kind of the
source of recurring income.
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It's having a monthly fee coming
in, and you don't have to do all
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the work yourself, as in, you
don't have to crochet everything.
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You can buy some products online, put them
into that box along with something that
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you've crocheted, but it's not as much
work as if you're doing it all yourself.
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That's what subscription
boxes can give you.
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So there are all kinds of ways that
you can make subscription boxes
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work for your crochet business.
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It doesn't have to be for other
crocheters, it can be for people in
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your niche, but it's got to be within
your niche because if it's not,
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it's gonna work out a bit strange.
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No one knows what to expect, so
you've gotta stick with a theme.
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You've gotta stick with
the niche of your business.
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But.
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It gives you security of what's money
you've got coming in every month By
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building the this membership, this
subscription membership, you are going
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to take the pressure off yourself.
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You are going to know some of the
sales you're gonna get this month.
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You're gonna have that money in
advance so that you can create your
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boxes and get them shipped out.
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It's financial security.
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Yes, people come and go from
subscriptions, but as long as you are
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marketing it, promoting it, and as
long as the directory is that people
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are joining and you know more people
are joining than are leaving, then the
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subscription model can work very well.
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Now there is a lot of work behind these,
you know, you are going to be making
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and packing them up all yourself and
getting them shipped out every month.
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But to have that financial
security around that.
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It can really take that pressure
off, take that financial pressure
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off, and give you that peace of mind
of knowing you've got a relatively
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stable income coming in every month.
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And as long as you deliver those boxes
and what you say and make them good value
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for money, then people will stay because
they love getting the treats every month.
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They love, um, getting something for them.
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That's it's good value for money and
you know, everyone loves these things.
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It's a mystery because they dunno
what they're gonna get and it plays
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into that fear of missing out.
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If they cancel, they could miss
out on something really good
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that's gonna come next month.
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And so people do tend to
stay for several boxes of the
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subscriptions to not miss out.
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And.
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You can show once everything's
gone out, you can show off what the
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contents are on your social media in
newsletters to keep promoting it and
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for people to realize that actually,
yeah, this is a good idea to sign up.
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So, you know, there is a lot
of effort involved, but also
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security around your finances.
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When you start building that membership
up, you do have to put a lot of work
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into promoting them and showing off
the value for, for the money that that.
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They are paying.
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Um, and as long as you deliver what you
say and everything's good quality and they
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get great value, then everyone's happy.
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Subscription boxes, they have been
incredibly popular because of this
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idea of treating themselves, of
getting, something they don't know.
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It's a surprise.
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And who doesn't love a surprise
present arriving in the post?
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So subscription boxes is a lot
of effort, but you don't have
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to pay a ton of money up front.
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You only buy the contents, the extra
contents that you don't crochet yourself,
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you only buy them once people have
paid, and that stops you from having
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to shell out a fortune up front,
but can be very, very successful.
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And if you are looking for other ways to
make money from your crochet, I have a
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list of 12 different ways that you can
earn money from your crochet skills.
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So if you'd like that, then the
link is in the show notes and.
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Explore what's possible for your crochet,
because just because you have a crochet
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business, it doesn't mean you have
to crochet every second of your day.
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There are lots of different ways that
you can earn money with your crochet
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skills that give you the freedom to put
your hook down when you want to take time
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off and still have the money coming in.
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So download that list and
have a think about how it can
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transform your crochet business.
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So thank you for listening.
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And I shall See you next
time for the next episode.
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Bye for now.