5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business

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2 5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business 1 5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business By Sedruola Maruska Published by Sedruola Maruska Copyright 2012 by Sedruola Maruska / Yarn Obsession International

3 5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business 2 Copyright 2012 by Yarn Obsession International All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, taping, scanning, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher and/or author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. This is a work of non-fiction. This publication is designed to provide accurate information on the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services or advice. The information is not intended to replace any legal counsel or other professional directives. If professional services or advice or other assistance is required, the services of a professional should be sought. This book can be ordered by visiting

4 5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business 3 Dear Reader, Questions I hear most when it comes to starting a crochet business are I ve decided to sell my crochet, now what? Where is the best place to sell my crochet pieces? Who do I sell my crochet pieces to? And these are just a few. Believe me, I understand the confusion and frustration that may come with starting a crochet business, which is why, to make life easier for you, I ve spent the last few weeks going through and creating the 5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business. Together, we re going to get you started on the right track to developing the foundation for your crochet business that will give you a solid structure to build upon. We re going to get you confident in your decision to sell your crochet so you can move forward in the direction of making sales and growing your dream business. Let s go!

5 5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business 4 Step 1: Know your audience The truth is, no matter how much you think your crochet items are for everyone, only a select group will really be interested your pieces. That s because not everyone is your audience, only those who will love and are willing to purchase your items are your audience. Do you know who they are? Do you know what they look like? How they feel? What they want? The reason I put Know your audience as step #1 is simple. If you don t know who your audience is, you won t know how to reach them. You ll become frustrated when you re not able to sell because you re marketing to the wrong audience. For example, when you think of orange juice, who do you think it s marketed to? Everyone can drink orange juice and gain benefit from it. Orange juice is universal. However, when you look closely, there are a few clues on the orange juice packaging as well as in their commercials that let you know exactly who they are targeting. The makers know that everyone can benefit from their product, but they choose to target women. Not only do they target women, but they target women in varying stages of life. For the female population that is between 18 45, they emphasize the fact that orange juice is a good source of Folic Acid because those women are in their child-bearing years and folic acid is important to the healthy development of their babies. They also emphasis how tasty it is and it s freshness because this same demographic is making the majority of grocery decisions for their families. Giving them that information, so they know it will be a hit in their home, is important. For the female population between the ages of 40 65, they emphasize the fact that orange juice is high in calcium or that calcium is added because osteoporosis is a concern to that age group and calcium can help in their battle. Knowing which audience they want to reach also helps them make good decisions when it comes to

6 5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business 5 product placement, advertising space and other marketing strategies to get the right audience looking at their product. It s the same in any business. What do you crochet?: Baby items Jewelry Doilies Each of these items has a specific audience and knowing which audience you want to reach makes the battle much easier and the marketing much more targeted. So take some time to determine your target. Even if you ve already started selling your items, this is a good exercise to help you evaluate where you re going and if you need to adjust your course. If you are just starting out and you don t have a place to sell your items yet, use this information to figure out where you may want to direct yourself after figuring out this path. Action Steps: Create a list of characteristics your target market has Create a list of the place your audience lives online (do a bit of research) Make a list of the feelings your target audience may be feeling Once you ve created these lists keep them very close so you can refer to them over and over again. They will become very valuable pieces of information for you moving forward.

7 5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business 6 Step #2: Determine Who you are? Now that you know who you want to reach and where they may be, how are you going to present yourself to them? Who are you and why would they buy from you instead of the other crochet artists they could purchase the same item from? If you don t know, now is a good time to find out. Ask yourself, why you re different? Put yourself in the target customer s shoes and decide what it is you d want from your purchase experience and deliver it. Don t look only at your logo and your packaging and the words you use, but also consider the service you give and the value you add to the pieces you sell. If your audience is younger, are you speaking to them in a way they can understand? Are you packaging in a way that would get them talking about you? Will you be giving them a compelling reason to come back? These are all things to consider when determining who you are and how you will present your products to your audience. Action Steps: Write out what you think your unique offer is Write down how you want your audience to see you Write down why you think your audience should buy from you Make these lists as specific as possible so you get a clear understanding of yourself and your business. Ask your friends and family what they think about your selling proposition and if it suits you. Remember, if you re an eclectic person, you may want to have a casual style that reflects that instead of trying to have a laced up business appearance.

8 5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business 7 Step #3: Develop Your Inventory Now is where you get to really enjoy the process because you get to create your pieces! Whatever it is you ve determined you want to sell, you can now create in order to have them photographed (they don t need to be professionally photographed, but they do need to be nicely photographed) for presentation. You can manage your inventory in a couple of ways: 1. You can make a few of each item you d like to sell and hold it in inventory so you can ship it as soon as someone places the order. This would require a bit of an up-front investment in your inventory and you d need to have storage space. 2. Make a sample of each item you d like to offer then list it as a made-toorder piece that you create on demand. Your up-front investment would be lower; however, your clients may not be excited to wait to receive their items in a longer timeframe. Whatever you decide, make sure it works well for you and that it is clearly stated when you begin to advertise your artistry! Action Steps Create a list of goals you want to achieve in the creation of your pieces (how many, colors, deadline etc.) Determine what your packaging will be and make sure you have enough on hand Make sure you have business cards or postcards to send with each item Photograph your items If you feel prepared when you post your items for sale, you ll be more relaxed and ready to manage your shop.

9 5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business 8 Step #4: Determine & Implement your tools After you ve taken the time to determine your audience, know your business, and created a few sample pieces, it s now time to present yourself to the world. It s time to take everything you ve learned and roll out your business. This is where you should consider the audience you ve determined in step #1 and figure out where they are. For example if they re online you may want to set up a web shop to sell your pieces. You may also want to set up a Facebook page to interact with your clients and potential clients. Another good tool may be a blog where you can share fun information about yourself, your business and your craft. It would be more in-depth than your Facebook page, but would certainly provide information you could share on your Facebook page to start a discussion. Here are a few places you could consider setting up shop: Etsy.com Artfire.com ecrater.com dawanda.com I can t go in-depth into each site, that is for another course, however, they are all easy to navigate and you could have your items up within minutes ready to sell. Once you have your shop set up, go to Facebook.com, create an account (if you don t have one yet) and create a Facebook business page. You create a page by visiting any other business page on Facebook then in the right hand corner a button will appear that says Create Page click on that and follow the instructions. Once you have those two things in place determine what other tools you d like to use to help get the word out about your pieces. Remember, you re determining where your audience may be, so you need to determine where to find them. Consider online forums, bulletin boards, blogs, websites etc. wherever you think they may be, go find them.

10 5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business 9 Action Steps: Set up your store Populate it with the photos you took of your items in Step #3 action steps Start spreading the word Even if you don t feel you have enough items in your shop, post what you have and make more. The idea is to always be moving forward and doing something toward your goal every day as much as possible.

11 5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business 10 Step #5: Advertise Effectively Now you re ready to advertise! Again, going back to step #1 and looking at your target audience, speak to them with any advertising you decide to do. Showcase yourself where you think they may be and be very selective where you spend your marketing budget. Orange juice is rarely advertised during a football game (although I think that may be changing) because the companies know the likelihood that they ll catch their target audience is low. However, you may find a few orange juice commercials during Ellen or Greys Anatomy! That s how you have to think. Where is my audience and how do I reach them. A few ways to advertise include: Projectwonderful.com Google Adwords Facebook Ads Tophatter (actually an auction site that works well to get the word out about your shop) Start your budget where you feel comfortable. You may also want to consider directly advertising on other websites or blogs. The main thing is to advertise where your audience is and at a level where you feel comfortable to start. Once you begin to generate sales, you can increase your advertising budget on the ads that are working well and eliminate the ones that don t work. Make sure that as you place your ads, you re monitoring their effectiveness so you can make good choices as you move forward. Action Steps Write down your budget and stick with it Research your advertising options and choose one to begin Monitor your ads effectiveness to determine if you will keep it or if the next month or week (whatever your timeframe) you will change it. I suggest continuing with an ad for about 7 days to see how it s working before making any changes.

12 5 Steps to Successfully Starting a Crochet Business 11 Conclusion My goal with this short book has been to help you look at your crochet business as a way to truly benefit your family. Just like me, many of you are mommies who want to find a way to balance the need to be home with our children and still help financially run our homes. Crochet has been my gift, as I am sure it is yours. Chances are you learned your craft from someone you loved dearly and want to honor that by continuing to craft. Isn t it wonderful to be able to also use the gift to provide financial security for your family? I sincerely hope I ve helped point you in the direction of your dreams, if you re just starting out, or that I ve given you more to think about if you ve started and just needed some direction. I love being part of your success as a crocheter, it is an honor and privilege for me to share this information with you. May you grow in your business and have great success going forward! All the best to you and your family!