Podcast Episode 12: Tuesday Talks 10/26/21

I found the best way to find markets is word of mouth! You should start letting people know in your area what it is that you do, so when markets come up they know to tell you!

Other things that you can do is join Facebook groups in your area, and ask if anyone in that group knows of any craft shows. Don’t be too secretive about what it is you do, let them know you are a crocheter and would like to sell at local markets.

If you have friends that have local business, ask them!

If your city has a chamber of commerce, their website might know about local shows.

I like word of mouth. I like to go to events that other people have found success at.

When choosing a market you want to make sure it is a market that is going to be good for the products that you sell. If you sell crop tops for college aged girls, setting up at an elementary school fall festival probably won’t have your ideal customers there.

You can ask questions before you pay for your booth fee. You can ask if it’s handmade items only? Is it a free event? Will there be free entertainment?

If it’s a free event, or lots of free things to do you will get a lot of people who just want to get out of the house to do something and they aren’t really there to spend money.

If it’s a paid event, or its just markets no entertainment- the people that are there for there, are there to shop. That would be a better use of your time.

If they allow mass produced shops at the event, it will attract a different audience then those who like to buy handmade items.

You can also ask in The Ash & Tay Facebook group, to see if any member in our group know of markets in your area.

Should I have a blog for my business?

Having a blog along with your business no matter what your business is. It is a great way to serve your ideal customer, great way for new people to find you and a way to create passive income.

My blog traffic is my biggest income. That is a FREE service I provide, because people see the ads that are on my blog I am able to make money.

Adding a blog to your business strategy is a great idea, if you have the ability to do so.

My go to for blog building is through wordpress. It is user friendly, and it’s the most popular blog platform, which means there are A LOT of tutorials on how to build your blog.

Do a wordpress blog, get your hosting through any company you would like. I used GoDaddy, and Bluehost. These are paid services, but you can start at the basic plans.

Blogging is big picture type of thing, you can’t find huge success overnight.

Etsy pattern site is not my recommendation because Etsy is an Ecommerce site not a blogging site.

Can you recommend a Social Media scheduling Software?

Planoly is the first one that comes to my mind.

I don’t recommend using any scheduling software, because Instagram does NOT like when people use third party apps like this.

I do recommend using some type of organization like google calendars, or what I use is Trello. It is a free site and app! You can draft which Instagram posts you want to go on each day, and you can copy/paste them in Instagram.

When you are planning your content in Trello you can see what your previous captions were so you don’t repeat things.

If you are interested in learning all about Trello and how to use it to schedule your content keep your ears out for Crochet Boss Academy info, because that will be included!

Best way to keep track of Cash Payments at Markets

A fellow Ash & Tay member said she uses a “Square Reader” and within the square app you can track your cash transactions.

Back in the day Etsy used to have in person sales, and it would still charge you the 5% transaction fee!! Square is completely free to track these cash transactions.

You can write down on a sheet to track it that way, or count your cash at the end of the event.

How to get the ball rolling on Social Media?

I have a whole big social media breakdown of exactly what I do, in Crochet Boss Academy!

For now I will answer this as best as I can.

You want to start by serving your ideal customer. Everything you say on social media you should be talking to your ideal customer.

For me every post I make I am talking to crocheters who have a business, because that is who my ideal customer is.

All of the products that you sell should be geared toward your ideal customer. Finding your ideal customer is the most important thing you can do in your business.

Use the proper hashtags that your ideal customer would be searching. If you sell finished pieces and you use #crochetearwarmer, your ideal customer is NOT looking for that. They are looking for things like #momhairdontcare.

Do your research to figure out what hashtags to use.

Create shareable, relatable content. If you posted something really funny and relatable your customer will share it to their friends and they will come follow you!

Start putting CTA (Call To Action) in your captions. Ask them a question, ask for their opinion. Avoid yes or no questions.

From my personal experience Reels are doing really well! Go check out Ali from The Turtle Trunk! She has over 30K followers and some of her Reels have over a million views!!

Use Trendy Audio to make Reels. I find trending audio by looking at my reels for you page and if I hear the same audio 3 times I know it’s trending and that I should make a video using that same audio. That is the quickest way to get views on your reels!

How to Price Custom Orders?

This is a difficult question to answer because taking custom orders is a difficult business model. My first question is are you trying to build a business or are you a happy hobbyist that’s trying to make your yarn money back.

If you are trying to build a business and you are still taking custom orders where people send you a picture of what they want and you make it, I will tell you that is going to be a hard business to scale. That is where I started, making all the things in all the colors.

When it comes to pricing you can look on Etsy to see what others are selling similar things for. The price that you would need to pay for your time would probably through the roof.

Don’t over think it! Price it at what you think is a good price for you. If you make it and post it and other want the same item you can always change your price.

I will say raising your prices is easier then lowering your prices. You don’t want people to think they got a bad deal.

When does Crochet Boss Academy Open up?

Pre-sale happening in December. It will be on sale for 1 week and then the doors will close. They will reopen at the end of February at full price.

We will start going through the content together on March 1st 22.

My presale will be called the Founders Launch taking place in December 2021 and prices will be the lowest they will ever be during that launch.

Tips on starting a blog as a maker not a designer

If you do not enjoy reading or writing, or don’t have time to dedicate to a blog probably don’t do it right now. If you have the time and enjoy those things absolutely do it!!

If you are a finished piece seller you will want to create blog post content specific to your ideal customer and to the products that you sell.

If you sold crocheted baskets, one of your posts could be “10 ways to decorate your house for the Holiday’s with Baskets”.

You can make posts featuring your product while serving your ideal customers.

If you make beanies a post could be “How to Store you Beanies during the summer!”

Think of things you can talk about that would serve your ideal customer really well.

Now when your ideal customers are googling or using pinterest to look for ways to decorate or store hats they could run across your blog post and that would bring traffic to your products that you didn’t have before!

That is why I think adding a blog to your business is useful.