You have so many options when it comes to how you choose to make money from your crochet. You can pick the options that suit you best to build a successful crochet business that you will enjoy running.

In this episode of the Crochet Business School Podcast we're going to dive into the different options you have available and why picking the right path is so important for your future success when it comes to making money from your crochet.

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Hello and welcome to the

Crochet Business School Podcast.

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I'm your host, Kelly Thomas, and I'm going

to help you to make your crochet dreams

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a reality stitch by stitch, and show

you how you can create a successful and

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profitable business using your crochet.

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Keeping a flexible lifestyle

so you don't have to sacrifice

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too much time with your family.

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So let's talk about your options when

you are starting your crochet business,

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because just because you've decided

that you're gonna sell your crochet,

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it doesn't mean that one size fits all.

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You actually have lots of different

options for how you go about this.

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You can sell on social media,

you can sell on third party

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platforms like Etsy or Shopify.

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You can sell locally, you can

sell at craft fairs and markets.

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You can sell by rent a

shelf, and that's that.

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There's the whole online options.

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You can sell via newsletters.

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You can sell using Pinterest.

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You can not sell at all.

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That's a lot of options already.

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But what a lot of people don't

consider when they're starting crochet

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business is that you don't actually

have to sell any crochet at all.

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You can.

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Grow your crochet business

without selling what you make.

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And instead use your crochet skills.

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So the obvious one being crochet

patterns, but if you're just starting

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out, that's a very scary idea.

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But you could also teach

others how to crochet.

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You could hold online classes.

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You can also teach in in-person classes.

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You can also teach via eBooks and teach

techniques so you don't have to actually

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teach how to crochet for beginners.

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You can teach different techniques

like how to make jewelry, um, with

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crochet, how to make crochet bags.

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You can get very specific.

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You can also just blog.

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You can make YouTube videos.

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You can earn money

through affiliate links.

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And by now, I.

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Probably giving you far, far too

many options and you're feeling

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overwhelmed, but there is an overwhelming

number of options available to you.

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And maybe you just haven't realized

just how many different avenues of

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revenue that are for a crochet business,

how many options you have to be able

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to make a career from your crochet.

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And when you're first starting out,

why would you, you're probably just

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thinking, I can sell my crochet.

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Make a bit of extra money and

maybe even turn this into my job.

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And if your thought process

hasn't gone beyond that, then

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this is a whole new world to you.

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But don't worry, I'm gonna walk you

all the way through it because over

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the next few weeks I'm going to be

doing an episode a week about all the

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different ways you can make money from

your crochet, all the different options

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available to you as you start your

crochet business, and give you some ideas.

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Because selling what you

make sounds fantastic.

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You get to crochet all day and you

know, turn what you love into a career.

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But actually when you get into

it, it's much more complicated.

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Sorry about that.

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And you won't actually spend as much

time crocheting as you thought you

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would getting into the world of sales.

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If you've not done it before,

there's so much more to it

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than you may have realized.

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Because you are going to become

every department that a big

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international business has.

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What on earth am I talking about?

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Right?

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Because you just one person,

you're just crocheting.

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You just want to sell your crochet.

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It's not that difficult.

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You post something on Facebook,

you tell people the price.

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Surely it's as simple as

that, but actually it's not.

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It's really not.

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You have to grow your audience.

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You need to tell people

what your niche is.

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You need to show the quality of your work.

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You need to build a relationship with

your audience so that they begin to trust

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that you are worth spending money with.

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Because especially online, there are

so many scammers now that people need

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assurance that you are a real person

and that you are going to deliver.

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So you need to provide that reassurance.

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You need to show that you

are giving value for money.

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That does not mean cut price.

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That would not mean bargain basement.

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It means that they are getting the value

they want for the price they are paying.

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It means that you've got to learn how to

use social media to build your audience.

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It means you are going to have to work out

your finances so that this actually pays

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and you're not losing money, which is far

easier to do than you might think, that

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you are making enough to pay yourself,

that you are using quality yarns, that

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people are going to like the feel of.

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That people know what to keep you in

mind for, because just because somebody

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comes across your crochet now doesn't

mean they are willing to buy now.

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So you've got to make sure that

they keep you in mind when they

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are ready and how do you do that?

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And email list is a fantastic idea and you

don't just need to stay on social media.

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I mean, even with social media,

there's all the different platforms.

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There's Facebook, there's Instagram,

there's Twitter, then there's

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platforms like Pinterest and TikTok,

and then there's reels and shorts

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and oh, there's so many options.

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You will quickly find yourself going

down a rabbit hole and so many options

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point in front of you that it becomes

incredibly confusing and you can far too

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easily damage your growing the business.

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Rather than helping it.

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So we need to kind of clear the way,

show you what options you have, how

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it fits in with everything else, and

if it's gonna work for you or not.

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And that's what I want to show you

over this series of next few weeks.

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What is involved in each of these options?

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If it could work for you, how much time is

involved and what does it fit with because

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you have all the options in the world and.

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We we're human and we have

this fear of missing out.

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We have this fear that we

could miss an opportunity.

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We have this fear that we're

going to miss our big break and

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that we're doing something wrong.

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Something isn't going right, and this is

far worse right at the beginning because

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you don't know what you don't know.

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And this little trick that

someone on TikTok is telling you.

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It could be fantastic.

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It could, you know, turn the tide and

start bringing all your sales and,

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you know, make your crochet sell out.

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But it could also do you a lot

of damage in the long run, and

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we don't want that to happen.

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So you have all the options in

the world, but you don't need

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all the options in the world.

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You just need the setup

that's right for you.

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And that's gonna depend

on what you enjoy doing.

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It's gonna depend on what type

of, uh, medium suits you best.

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So some people love being on video.

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It's quick and easy.

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Some people can't stand it.

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I mean, I used to not

be able to stand video.

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It was very rare you saw my

face at all until it recently.

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Um, but that's something I overcame.

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But that came over time.

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It took me a long time

to get to that point.

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But if you don't like being on

video, you can still make videos.

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You don't have to be in them.

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But again, learning how to make

videos and edit them takes time.

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Maybe you just want your voice.

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Some people don't like the

sound of their own voice.

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It is rather weird.

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The first time I did a podcast and

listened to it back, it was like, Ooh.

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But it's something you can get used

to, but maybe it's not for you.

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Some people love being on social media

and chatting with other people and.

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You know, building that network.

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Some people hate it.

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I'm not a social media person.

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I was on Facebook for years, but with

the recent changes in the algorithm,

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it doesn't work for me anymore.

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So I stepped away.

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I know how the platform

works, it's just not for me.

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And so I have other options.

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I love Pinterest.

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I love creating the pins, and I love, um.

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That is a platform, but some people find

Pinterest incredibly tedious because you

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do have to spend a fair amount of time

creating pins and getting them scheduled.

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It's a bit of a time sucker,

and it also isn't immediate.

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You don't get immediate

results from Pinterest.

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It's a very much a slow burner platform.

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It's not for everyone, and the same

can be set up for all the other

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options that are available to you.

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Not every option is going

to suit every person.

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In fact, if you try to do

every option, you'd burn out.

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You need a whole marketing team

to take advantage of every option.

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So the people that you see who

have businesses and appear to be

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doing it by themselves, but you

see them on every single platform.

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You know, they aren't Facebook, they

aren't Instagram, they're on Pinterest,

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they're on YouTube, they're on TikTok.

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They're doing reels three times a day.

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These people are not

doing it by themselves.

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They have help.

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They've got somebody doing

their marketing for them.

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Because when you're doing it by

yourself, you can't be everywhere.

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You simply don't have the time.

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So you do have to pick and choose

where you are selling carefully.

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You have to pick and choose

which platforms you're

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using to promote carefully.

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Everything needs to be strategic.

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And I really hope I'm not pulling you off

starting your crochet business because

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it's in, it is incredibly rewarding.

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I've been doing this for 10 years

now, and my crochet business has been

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through several different phases.

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I started by selling what I make.

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Over time, I realized that wasn't for

me because I just don't like making

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the same things over and over again.

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I love to crochet, but I also

love to crochet different things.

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So selling what I made was

not the right path for me.

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I switched to writing crochet

patterns, and in the process of

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doing that, I've tried blogging.

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I've tried podcasting.

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I've got a YouTube channel.

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I've done affiliate marketing memberships.

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Back when I saw what I make,

I also did craft fairs.

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I've tried it all.

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I'm someone who likes trying new things

all the time, and so it is difficult

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sticking to a strategic platform, but.

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I've got enough variety

now that it suits me.

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I know what works for

me, I know what doesn't.

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I know how platforms work and

I know which suits me best.

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But in that journey, I have amassed this

kind of big knowledge bank of what options

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are available and how they work and how

they suit, and that knowledge is what I'm

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going to bring you next in this series

of podcasts that I'm gonna be doing.

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Because if you are not the type that

likes exploring these things and figuring

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out how things work, don't worry.

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I'm gonna tell you all about it.

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And then you can make the choice that is

best for you with how your mind works,

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how your energy works, and how your

crochet works, what you want it to be.

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Because every one of us is unique.

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We all have our unique styles, we all

have our own unique way of working,

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and it's not the same as everyone else.

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Our crochet business will look

very different from each other.

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Even if we are, in theory, doing

the exact same thing, we will

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have a setup that suits us.

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Because if this becomes a chore,

you're not gonna keep up with it.

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You're not going to want to

show up every day because it

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becomes too much like hard work.

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And we want a business that we enjoy.

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You know, if you don't enjoy

it, may as well be trapped in

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the corporate nine to five.

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And I dunno about you, but that's

exactly what we want to escape.

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Um, so it is about journey of discovery,

a journey of discovery, not only about

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your crocheting, how you want things to

work, but about you and yourself as well.

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So please do join me for the next

few weeks as we explore those options

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and you can make the decision of how

you can create the crochet business.

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That works for you rather than you

work for it and create that lifestyle

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that you've been dreaming of.

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So if you want to get started right now,

I do have a quick start guide to starting

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a crochet business with the essential

elements that all businesses need.

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If you want to download that, then go to

crochet business school.com/quickstart,

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or click the link in the description.

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So thank you for listening, and I

shall see you next time for the next

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episode, and it's gonna be the first

in that series of all your options

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to start your crochet business.

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So bye for now and I shall see you then.