It’s Not Just One Thing: What Really Grows a Crochet Business

Last week, I had an interaction in an online business community that really got me thinking. I had shared a small business win in the group, mostly because I thought it might be helpful to someone else. I wasn’t trying to say that I had everything figured out or that I had discovered some secret formula. I was simply sharing something that had worked for me.

Someone commented and asked how long I had been selling on Etsy. When I looked at her shop, I noticed that she was still fairly new. I believe she had been selling for around nine months. I told her that technically, I have been on Etsy since 2013, but I did not really begin treating Simply Hooked like a serious business until January of 2022.

Then she looked at my shop, saw that I had more than 6,000 sales, and asked a question that caught me off guard. She wanted to know what I had learned that took me from zero sales to more than 6,000. I stared at that question for a minute because I honestly did not know how to answer it in a comment. The first thing that came to mind was simple: It’s not just one thing.

It has been four years of learning, experimenting, changing, failing, improving, and continuing to show up. And I think that is something we need to talk about more.

One of the biggest things I have learned is that business growth often comes from small improvements stacking on top of one another.

• A slightly better product photo might get a few more people to click.
• A stronger title might help a listing show up in more searches.
• A clearer product description might answer the question that was keeping someone from purchasing.
• A better email might bring a customer back to your website.
• One new bundle might increase the amount someone spends.
• One happy customer might return and buy several more patterns.

None of those things feel like a massive breakthrough when they happen individually.

I do not say any of this to discourage someone who is nine months into a crochet business and wondering why things are not moving faster. Actually, I hope it encourages you. Because if you are nine months into your business, you should not expect yourself to know what someone four years in has had four years to learn.

• You are still learning your customer.
• You are figuring out which products people want.
• You are learning Etsy, Shopify, social media, email marketing, photography, branding, pricing, bookkeeping, customer service, and probably a hundred other things you never realized you were signing up for when you decided to start selling crochet.

That takes time. Entrepreneurship really is a marathon. There are seasons where it feels like everything is working. Sales are coming in. Ideas are flowing. You are motivated, excited, and convinced that you have finally figured things out.

Then there are seasons where you work just as hard and wonder whether anything is happening at all. That does not mean you stop. If you want something badly enough, I believe you keep doing whatever it takes for as long as it takes to get there.

• You learn.
• You adjust.
• You admit when something is not working.
• You try something different.
• You get better.

And you keep going.

That is where I am with Simply Hooked right now. I am closer to the business I want than I have ever been, but I am not there yet. I have big goals for this business. I have a vision for what I believe Simply Hooked can become. I want to reach a point where I can wake up every day and spend my time doing the work that I love.

I am still working toward that. But I am absolutely not stopping. If anything, I am more motivated today than I was in January of 2022 when I finally said, “Dadgummit, I’m sick of being broke. I’m going to grow this business, and I’m going to figure out how to make a living doing what I love.” I meant it then. But I understand what that commitment means much more today than I did when I first said it.

Back then, I knew where I wanted to go. I had no idea how much I would need to learn in order to get there. Today, I can look back and see products that did not exist, customers I had not met, skills I had not developed, and opportunities I could not have imagined. That gives me tremendous confidence about what could still be ahead.

I feel like I have more momentum in my business today than I have ever had. That does not mean everything is working. It does not mean every new product is a hit or every marketing strategy succeeds. It means I have evidence now that I can figure things out.

That may be one of the biggest differences between the entrepreneur I was in 2022 and the entrepreneur I am today. When something went wrong back then, it felt enormous. I did not know whether I had the skills to fix it. Now, when something does not work, I am much more likely to ask myself, “Okay, what can I learn from this?”

• What happened?
• What should I change?
• What can I test next?

That shift matters. Because when you believe you can figure things out, setbacks stop feeling like endings. They become information.

There is another part of this journey that matters even more to me. I truly believe God put this desire in my heart. I do not believe He gives us dreams and desires and then steps away and tells us to figure everything out on our own. I believe He is with me in this.

That does not mean everything happens according to my timeline. Believe me, there have been plenty of times when I would have preferred His timing to move a little faster. But I am learning to trust that there may be a reason it has not. Maybe this season is not only about growing my business.

Maybe God is growing me so that I am ready for the business I keep asking Him for. That idea has changed the way I look at some of the slower seasons. There are things I understand today that I would not have known how to handle four years ago. There are probably things I still need to learn before I am ready for what comes next.

I do not want one great month. I do not want one viral product or one incredible launch followed by chaos because I do not know how to manage what comes next. I want to build something sustainable. I want Simply Hooked to be a business that lasts for many, many years.

• I want to know how to serve my customers well. 
• I want to understand my numbers. 
• I want to know how to market my products, manage growth, create good systems, and make wise decisions.
• I want to be a good steward of the opportunities I am given.

So maybe some of the things I am learning right now are preparation for prayers that have not been answered yet. I love that thought. Because it means the work I am doing today matters, even when I cannot immediately see the result.

I can work hard. I can learn. I can test new ideas. I can make decisions. I can keep showing up and doing everything I know how to do. But ultimately, I have to trust God with the outcome. He is my guiding light through all of this. When I become impatient, I remind myself that I cannot see what He sees. Maybe the timing is not wrong. Maybe I am still being prepared.