Changes coming soon for Cilla Crochets

Learn more about the upcoming changes and find out what happened in April 2022 for Cilla Crochets.

Two months have passed since I published my first ever crochet business update, and back then I did not anticipate time to fly by as quickly as it has.

If you read my original business blog post for Cilla Crochets, you’ll know that I set myself some pretty hefty analytical goals for my crochet side hustle to reach within a six month period. And now, since it’s May 2022, I’m less than two months off meeting that 6-month goal post at the end of June 2022.

Now if you’re brand new to Cilla Crochets, let me give you a quick run-down of what’s happened so far.

Starting my crochet business

After trying to sell my crochet creations and scrapping that idea due to the time and money not adding up, I gave crochet designing a try and launched my first pattern in mid 2020.

I love crochet designing but after trying to sell my crochet designs (and failing), I decided to temporarily focus on building an audience of people who enjoy my crochet patterns and crochet content instead of trying to make money… 

And of course, I gave myself a time limit to try to reach these goals before trying to monetise again.

My crochet business goals

The one thing I did not think about was… What would happen if I reached one of these crochet business goals but not another? And what’s the plan once I actually reach these goals?

These questions are the ones I’m hoping to answer in this blog post for you. Firstly, because I really don’t want to spring any surprises on you. I want you to know exactly what to expect from me, content-wise and crochet business wise. And secondly, I’d really like your input. I’d love to know what you think about my plan, and whether you think it’s the right approach to go ahead with. All thoughts welcome, and please do feel free to comment below. I’d love to hear from you.

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Building a crochet community

In a nutshell my 6-month crochet business goals were all around building a community of crocheters who enjoy my crochet patterns and crochet content. The key metrics I track monthly include:

• Instagram followers: My goal was to reach 10,000 by the end of June 2022.
• Unique webpage views: My goal was to reach 10,000 unique page views throughout the month of June 2022.
• Crochet Crew (my email list): My goal was to reach 1,000 subscribers by the end of June 2022, which I thought was going to be a huge stretch!
• Pinterest Impressions: My goal was to reach 17,000 impressions during the month of June 2022, with overall impressions for each month steadily increasing up until this target date.

So let me break down these goals and show you where I am now in relation to these goals.

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How close am I to reaching my crochet business targets?

Honestly, I’m very close to reaching my targets on all platforms except for Instagram. I think this has a lot to do with the Instagram algorithm changes, of which I feel like they’re changing every week. But I won’t go into this right now, so let’s get straight into the overall rundown on the stats.

Instagram Followers

It’s safe to say that my Instagram presence @cillacrochets is growing, but it’s growing extremely slowly. As at the end of April I had 2757 followers, only 51 more than I had at the end of the previous month.

I’ve now come to terms with the reality that I won’t reach my original 10,000 follower target on Instagram by June 2022. Surprisingly however, I’m okay with that. This is mainly due to the growth I’ve seen in other areas. Other areas that also give me more potential as a crochet business owner.

Plus, Instagram for me has become more about building meaningful relationships with my existing audience which I do feel like I’m achieving. I’ve met so many wonderful Crocheters at different stages of their crochet journeys on Instagram and I simply enjoy their friendship and sharing our common love of crochet with each other.

Unique webpage views

My website views have been doing really well and I’m starting to appreciate the power of my website more and more. 

My unique website page views weren’t as successful in April 2022 as they were in March, however the level of traffic each day has been super consistent. This makes me pretty confident that I’ve already surpassed my website target for the end of June 2022. You can see my progress below.

Crochet Crew (my email list)

The amount of subscribers to my email list has also grown significantly. As I type this (at the beginning of May 2022), I already have just over 800 email subscribers. You can check out my monthly progress below.

This honestly makes me so happy because it means that people like the crochet patterns I’m designing and are also enjoying the crochet content I’m providing. I’m making this assumption not only because people are signing up for my free PDF crochet patterns but because I have high open rates from the emails I do send and a low unsubscribe rate.

So while I haven’t already reached my June 2022 target, I’m very close and sign-ups have been consistent so I am feeling quietly confident that I will reach my 1,000 subscriber target by the end of June 2022.

Pinterest Goals

Okay, I’m not going to lie, Pinterest has been an interesting one for me. I’ve started to really appreciate the platform’s power to help people find my crochet patterns and content. While I still have loads to learn, I have started being a lot more consistent on the platform and I am seeing positive results. My average impressions on the platform are around 20,000 – this is way more than I expected already.

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The upcoming changes for my crochet business

Ultimately, due to the results I’ve already achieved, I have made the decision to definitely monetise my crochet side-hustle in July 2022. 

But before I do, I wanted to share my plans so you get plenty of notice. But more importantly, so you get a say. The one thing I’m terrified of doing is making a drastic decision and going backwards progress-wise because it’s the wrong decision to make.

And a wrong decision for me is doing something that the crochet community, and you, don’t agree with or like the idea of. So please do be honest, and let me know your thoughts in the comments below once you read this.

So here it goes… the big plans…

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Crochet Business Launch in July 2022

From July onwards, Cilla Crochets will officially be turning from a hobby to a proper crochet business (the dream 🤞).

The biggest reason for this is because I can’t really afford to keep paying for things like my website, my email marketing platform, my graphic design tools etc, unless I start to monetise my passion. I have honestly spent £100s (probably in the £1000s) to get me to this point. And plus, I do have stars in my eyes when it comes to the idea of being able to make a living out of my passion – crochet.

The other reason is honestly because I think my time shouldn’t be given out for free (forever). The time people put into their craft when they sell something (whether that’s a pattern or a made item) is often extremely undervalued. While I think offering things for free when you first start out in arts/crafts is super valuable for getting your name out there, building an audience, and in some cases proving your worth, I don’t think art or craft should be free forever just because artists and crafters love what they do.

I think there should always come a time that artists and crafters start to value their time and charge their worth, and I’ve decided that I’m going to start valuing my own time from July 2022 onwards.

Okay so here’s the plan on how I’m thinking I’ll do this… From July 2022 I am planning to:

• Continue publishing free crochet patterns on my blog – yup, so you’ll still receive free crochet patterns!
• Trial website advertising – this way you don’t have to pay for a pattern if you don’t want to, but I will (hopefully 🤞) earn commissions if you visit my website. I still am learning how this works, but this is what I’m thinking. It also doesn’t alienate anyone who would like to use my crochet patterns but don’t have the resources (or choose not) to pay for them.
• Old and new PDF crochet patterns will move to be affordable paid patterns on my Ravelry and Etsy stores. I’ve already started getting set-up for this – so if you’re on Ravelry or Etsy, please do stop by and give me a follow in preparation for my official big launch (there will be a big sale in July 2022 – I can’t wait!). Crochet Crew members (email subscribers) will also receive special discount codes when any new crochet patterns are released.
• I will still offer one PDF pattern on my website for free by signing up to my mailing list. Think of this as a welcome present to the Crochet Crew!
• The other thing I am considering doing is starting a Buy Me a Coffee or a Patreon page, where anyone who would like to receive PDF crochet patterns and additional perks from me still receive these on a regular basis by signing up for a discounted monthly payment. This one I’m less sure about though and this most likely won’t start in July 2022 as I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew. But it may come in the future.

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So that’s it really – my thoughts on how I’ll proceed come July 2022 with Cilla Crochets.

I’d honestly absolutely love to know what you think!

Do you think I’m doing it too soon and should wait until my Instagram audience grows until 10,000 followers?

Is there anything in the list above that really irks you? 

Is there anything in the list above that you really love the sound of?

Honestly, if you have thoughts and/or feedback, I would absolutely love to hear from you.

Your opinion means so much to me, because let’s be honest, I wouldn’t even be able to think about doing this if it wasn’t for you, your support, and your cheerleading! Thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart.

Until next time, happy crocheting,

Cilla x