Are you someone who loves ❤️ to knit or crochet? Are you looking for products you can make in a short period of time, that are profitable and easy to ship? If so, start an amigurumi business as something fun and profitable that you can do in your spare time as a side hustle.
Amigurumi Projects and Done for You Kits
This business model might be a good fit that can turn into a full time business! We'll break it all down for you in this article.
The Biggest Hurdles for Handmade Creators
One of the biggest problems encountered with starting a knitting and crocheting business is the time it takes to complete one project. One piece can take hours or even days to complete. And there are only so many hours in a day and many things that can eat up your time.
Because of the time involved in creating each piece, your profit potential can suffer, until you can crank out enough finished items to make your hobby a worthwhile income generating venture.
Projects That Are Quick and Easy to Make
That's where amigurumi can help to balance out your crochet business. Instead of only focusing on blankets, vests, and sweaters and other projects that take longer to complete, you can work on these smaller items and sell them singly or as a group.
Generally speaking, amigurumi is much faster to make compared to crocheting blankets or sweaters because it usually has fewer stitches. The finished products are smaller, and take less time to make.
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At the same time, if these projects are new to you and you aren’t so confident with your skills, your projects may take a few days to complete. However, once you have the swing of it, your production time will likely dwindle down to a few hours.
You can create collections of related items that match or work together in bundles enabling you to pump up your average order value. You can go wild and make whatever your heart desires…whether it’s broccoli, corgi butts, or a whole village of snowpeople.
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With links to tools, instructions and everything you'll need to start your amigurumi business.
Make Them in Your Spare Time
Creating amigurumi projects is something you can do on your own schedule, enabling you to squeeze them in to other daily activities, like times when you're sitting and waiting, first thing in the morning or before you go to bed. You can block out a time that's convenient each day to complete your projects.
Start Selling Your Handmade Items!
See how easy it is to start a free Etsy shop and get 40 free listings, just in time for the holidays!
Simple Start Up Supply List
When it comes to any type of crochet project, these materials are downright essential:
For amigurumi projects you will also need stuffing and for any characters, you'll need eyes:
It's also suggested that you use a smaller crochet hook for amigurumi to make your stitches tighter. It’s safe to go for a hook 0.5mm-1mm smaller than what’s recommended on a yarn label.
Expand Your Creativity
You can use a variety of embroidery, safety eyes and sewing techniques to add details to your amigurumi projects. These items can take a little longer to complete, but they add adorable details to each piece.
Combine different color combinations to add variety to your products. These little guys can also be used as ornaments, keychains, phone charms, baby mobiles, bookmarks, purse charms, hair accessories, and more. These items can also be attached to other items including slippers, zipper pulls, cushions or pillows, etc.
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Unlimited Income Potential
There are a number of ways to earn money from your crocheted items including listing and promoting them on various shop and marketplace platforms.
You've probably heard the term unlimited income potential before, and wondered if any of it was even possible. However the sky is truly the limit when it comes to selling your products using the methods below.
Some of the most common and cost efficient ways to sell your products online include the following. Click on each method for details on how to market your business:
Etsy. A popular marketplace for handmade items, offering a large customer bases and easy set up. One of the biggest benefits for handmade business owners, is that Etsy gives your products exposure to their large customer base. Another major benefit is that once your products are ready to sell, it's easy set up a listing and and start selling.
Etsy is an excellent way to get your products in front of an audience quickly, testing them out to see if there is a demand for what you have to offer. It's also a great way to start making money as quickly as possible.
The cons of Etsy are that your competitors are right there on the platform with you. Competitors that may be selling the same or similar products as yours. These competitor's listings may appear right next to yours or on the same page.
They also charge listing and commission fees, like most other platforms.
If you decide to sell on Etsy we have a tutorial that walks you through how to get set up. To offset some of your start up costs, we can also help you get 40 free listings that you can use to start your business.
Shopify. With a shop that you own and control, you're in the driver's seat. You'll have full control over your store and branding. You'll lose the listing and commission fees from Etsy, while gaining monthly fees for hosting, and payment processing through Shopify.
You'll also gain the ability to provide a fully customizable shopping experience that includes the ability to integrate your lead generation (opt-in) system, regularly communicating with your audience and setting a number of different pricing options that make shopping easy.
While having your own shop requires more effort to drive traffic, you will be able to chart your own course. You can chart a path that results in growth, and profitability. For a complete Shopify tutorial and themes click here.
Amazon Handmade. This platform is perfect for reaching a vast audience, however it requires an application process and associated fees. This platform allows handmade business owners the ability to sell their unique creations to customers around the world. It also provides customers with a trusted destination to find genuine handcrafted goods.
eBay. Another platform that allows you to access a large audience including a handmade category. eBay may be very competitive with the options from other sellers.
Blogging. Content marketing is another great way to showcase your products. Take a moment to read this article, How to Make Money Blogging About Your Creative Business, that might change your views on how to earn money. This is where you'll learn how to use a blog to earn online.
Facebook Marketplace. Facebook Marketplace is free to use for individuals, but there are fees for merchants and registered sellers.
Sellers are charged a transaction fee, which is usually 5% of the sale price or a minimum of $0.40 per transaction. This platform may limit brand building and attract only shoppers looking for bargain pricing.
Poshmark. Poshmark is an online marketplace that allows users to buy and sell new and secondhand clothing, shoes, accessories, home goods, electronics, pet supplies, and beauty items.
Posh Parties are virtual buying and selling events that happen in the app. You can browse, buy, and even list together with your friends. With a wide variety of themes and brands, there's a Posh Party for everyone!
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How to Promote Your New Business
Once you've chosen the products you'll make, and a platform on which to sell them, it's time to start promoting them. This is where you'll set the stage for earning money.
Here are some of the free ways to promote your products. There are also paid ads you can use to sell your products as well, but I wouldn't venture out too much with paid ads until you have a product with a proven sales track record.
Once you have sales data that shows popular items and your best sellers, you can use paid ads to promote your best sellers on various social platforms to grow your business.
Once you have a solid advertising budget, you can also use ads to test different versions of your advertising to continually improve your sales figures.
Grow with Affiliate Marketing
Another way to sell products that will balance out the income from your crocheted products is through promoting affiliate products.
Affiliate marketing is how bloggers, shop owners and other creators earn money, by promoting other people's products. Selling affiliate products that compliment and are related to your products, can bring in another stream of extra income.
For example, if you're someone who loves to knit and crochet, you probably use a number of different yarns, needles, equipment and other supplies. These products would be an excellent fit to sell in your store.
You can also sell products that can be used to display your amigurumi products. For example, if you sell amigurumi products that make up a scene, or sell as set, you might sell a product that you can use to display them.
Selling baskets, shelves, hanging shelves can be used to supplement the income you make from your crocheted products.
To learn more about affiliate marketing click here.
Crochet Business Resources
Wrapping It Up
An amigurumi business is a great way to start earning on a part time basis from your love ❤️ of knitting and/or crocheting. To learn more about the resources available to grow your hobby and turn it into full time business visit our page that's dedicated to knitting and crochet interests.
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