A business podcast just for crochet business owners where we learn how to grow your crochet business and set it up for success!
Press play to listen to episode 11!
INSIDE THIS EPISODE
Welcome [0:00- 0:36]
What does “Community Over Competition” mean to you? [0:37- 8:50]
What type of content should people post if they are targeting finished piece buyers? [8:51- 11:51]
Moving to a warmer climate, I have lost my desire to crochet. Who are my clients now? Will they want items shipped? [11:52- 15:57]
Should I change my prices based on the area my market is? [15:58- 30:55]
RESOURCES MENTIONED
TRANSCRIPT
Hello Ash & Tay Fam! Long time no see! I have been playing around with the Addi Bear pattern today 🙂
We have 5 good questions that I will be answering today!
What does “Community Over Competition” mean to you?
This is going to be a bit of a hot topic. I feel like a lot of people throw that phrase around and everyone has different definition. Taylor and I “community over competition” means putting the health of the crochet/maker community over the health of myself.
I don’t look at someone else’s work and think they are trying to copy me or steal my ideas. I don’t run other designers through the mud when their designs look similar to mine. I don’t get angry if someone’s sticker design looks similar to mine.
I have had people ask me that speak other languages if they can copy and paste my patterns on their site in their language, and I say absolutely. It makes no difference to me. It doesn’t affect my business at all.
I feel like we get caught up, especially designers (and even in the finished piece selling community) in thinking if someone else designs/makes something similar to what we designed/made that they are going to get our fame that we deserve. That is just not true! There is plenty of fame to go around!
In my whole time in the community (since 2016) I personally have only seen one instance where someone deliberately copied someone else (and this was just from word of mouth so we can’t be sure that this is 100% factual!)
A lot of times these similarities are ON ACCIDENT! They may not have realized the modifications they made wasn’t enough to be considered a new pattern. It could be a case where they literally didn’t know or simply thought it was okay.
Very unlikely they are doing theses things maliciously, to try and steal your business.
I don’t want to say never, because things like that can always happen. But it is RARE!
It is very distasteful to me when I see other designers run people through the dirt because they think someone is stealing their patterns/ideas. It breaks my heart, it makes me angry because I love this community so much! This community is extremely important to me, so when I see others doing that, putting that poison into our community it upsets me. I think of this community like a family! I keep those angry feelings to myself because I am not a negative nancy and I want to be a light for my community. If I were to get on my platform and rant about these people who running other designers through the dirt it’s continuing that cycle of poison so I don’t do that.
I might not know these people, but I am still angry that the fact that it’s happening. 99% of the time this stuff isn’t worth your time!
That is just my 2 cents 😉
What type of content should people post if they are targeting finished piece buyers?
You should post content that is specific to your ideal customer.
If you sell finished pieces specifically for baby girl moms you should be posting content that is relevant to her.
Create content that she can relate to on an emotional level.
Say you make Bitty Boho Bibs, you can do an outfit of the day post. Where you lay down a cute outfit and put your bib on there.
If you sell home decor, you can post quick DIY tips. Each post does NOT need to be about the things that you sell. You can share other products of things your ideal customer would need/want with your items pictured in the background 😉
Go to Jasmin Star’s Instagram category for more tips.
Moving to a warmer climate, I have lost my desire to crochet. Who are my clients now? Will they want items shipped?
You can be on Etsy and it doesn’t matter where you live, your customers will be everywhere.
With the internet your customers are not limited to just where you live.
If you had a lot of local customers before you moved, they can still order from you online.
I am a huge advocate for Etsy shops! It is a good place to start.
If you want to check out my 6 video series all about starting an Etsy shop you can find that here!
Pricing: I went to a market and there were two of us selling crochet pieces- 1 of us was selling bees for $10 the other for $25. What should I have done?
I don’t know if you were the $10 or $25 bee but it doesn’t matter. You two are two different people, you will have different booths, different set ups, different personalities. A person who resonates with person A might not resonate with person B. It’s totally fine. There is room for both of you at that show!
If the event was more a free event, like free music, free food, the lower cost bee’s might have sold better because with events like that people usually come for the free stuff and they don’t care much about the booths.
Also the person who puts on the craft show should ask you to submit photos so they don’t book two of the same type of sellers.
Even if you didn’t make many sales maybe people took your card and followed you on social media and they love your brand and personality!
You can always be nice and friendly to the other bee seller, but you didn’t have to speak with them if you didn’t feel comfortable.
When it comes to pricing your items, make sure the price is fair to you and fair to your ideal customer. Those are the only two that matter. You want to make sure you are in the green, you are making money off it. Ideally you would be able to pay yourself for your time as well. It is okay to start off with low prices to start off with! It’s easier to go up in price than go down in the future!
Should I change my prices based on the area my market is?
I don’t have a ton of experience with this! My advice would be if this is a business for you- keep your prices the same no matter where you go or where you sell.
My prices are the same across all my platforms.
If people come to a show you are selling at and you get a lot of people saying they can’t afford your prices, you can always tell them to sign up for your email list because you frequently send out coupons there!
Another option if you are a seller and designer is let them know if they crochet they can buy the pattern for only $5!
I say keep your prices the same no matter the market area, because some people go to all the markets and if they see your prices lower/higher at a different market that could have a negative affect.
I would be intentional about which markets I go to. Choose markets that will have your ideal customers at them!
If your ideal customer is a collage kid your prices will be lower. If your ideal customer is someone in their 30’s/40’s they might have more money to spend. Your prices need to reflect your ideal customer and the items that you sell.
I am going to sign off! I hope you have a fantastic week!
That is it for this Tuesday Talk! Taylor has our next one in our Ash & Tay Facebook Group so be sure to hang out with her there!