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The Journey of a Crochet Designer { Entry 1 – May 2023 }
Are you on a crochet journey? Have you been curious about the workings behind all of those crochet patterns? Or maybe you’re at a similar stage getting your pattern design business up and running? Well, you’re in the right place, welcome!
This is the start of a monthly review series where I’ll dive deeper into the ups and downs of a crochet pattern designer business focusing on Amigurumi (toy) design. You’ll be able to see first-hand the things I’ve learned and implemented, where my patterns are at, and an insight into the business itself along with income reports — hopefully all of which you’ll see grow over the coming months 😅
I’m about five months into running my crochet pattern design business, so this series isn’t starting from the complete ground up…but as I only have time to build it while my toddler naps it’s pretty close! You can read more about my journey thus far on my About page.
May Overview
May was a month of learning and taking part in new things business-wise.
I joined in with airalidesign.com’s #AmiguruMay2023 Instagram challenge. Everything went well for the first half of the month…then I fell off the bandwagon 🙃 Maybe not the best time to take a step back from Instagram and take stock of my business, but it was still a great experience. I’ll be joining in again next year!
I might’ve had more success if the entries were planned after all…now I know for next year!
I was invited to a lovely crochet coworking group and have had fantastic feedback and ideas from them — it’s great to connect with folks who understand your niche!
I also took part in Crochetpreneur’s Profit Maker’s 2023 Business Summit. It provided a lot more than I first expected, giving me the push I needed to start things like this post series and taking my business more seriously with the few hours I have per week to work on it.
Patterns & Makes
A lot of time was spent on the inner workings of the business side of things this month…not so much on crochet! No patterns launched this month, but I did get some prep work in. My Bluey-inspired Chilli pattern is waiting on tester feedback, and I’m hoping for a launch soon (though it will depend on when I can get out and take some photos. I’m not enjoying the lack of daylight that comes with winter!)
@Pongdraws had a lovely #DTIYS (Draw this in your style) challenge that I couldn’t pass up. The mouse I recently made worked perfectly as a starting point for this little cat and her fish. Creating something without a pattern in mind was quite freeing, and I look forward to more of these challenges in the future.
I’ve also been working on Critteriffic Crochet’s Tilly the Turtle pattern and can’t wait to share the results! It’s so clever and intricate that I’m a little jealous I didn’t come up with it myself 😅 Can’t create everything though, so instead I’ll content myself to being in awe of the fantastic designers around me and hope I can fit in with their ranks!
✨ Did you crochet something this month? Or have ideas for future things you’d like to see made? Let me know in the comments below! ✨
Business Insider Info
May has been the worst month for sales since opening the business “for realsies” at the start of this year. I’m not too fussed, as I know the time I’m putting into the foundation of the business now will benefit down the track.
Sales (in $AUD)
Ravelry: $7
Expenses
Fees (Paypal): $0.55
Total Business Income for May: $6.45
I told you we’re starting from the bottom up 😅 That being said, I’m so thankful for every single sale and look forward to seeing others bring those patterns to life.
✨ Comment below on how your crochet business went this month! ✨
Things Learned
- “Vanity metrics” (such as followers and likes) are not always a show of success. I had the largest jump in Instagram followers and engagement that I’ve ever had during the #AmiguruMay2023 challenge. It’s also been my slowest month this year for pattern sales 🤷♀️ Things are not always as they seem, and putting as many hours as I can into Instagram isn’t necessarily the best course of action for my business!
- Every online business needs a good Pinterest strategy. It’s much more likely to benefit my business in the long run than spending too much time on Instagram.
- All those notes and tasks have to go somewhere! Without a system, I can sit down at my computer and have no idea what needs attention…ending up wasting that precious time. I decided to try out Asana, and am loving it so far. My notes have been consolidated, and tasks are finally getting done.
Wrap Up
Despite not going as well as it could’ve financially (though that’s not so bad as it provides a great baseline for this series!), I’ve learned so much this month that I’m sure will pay back down the track. Thank you so much for reading this far, and I can’t wait to share more of this journey with you!
✨ Is there another aspect of a crochet pattern design business that you’d like to see in future posts? Let me know in the comments below! ✨
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