Okay… Let’s be real here.
I’m by no means a blogger, nor did I ever really aspire to have a blog. But, I’ve been getting so many messages and questions from my customers/followers that I figured what the heck, why not.
So, here I am writing a blog. Fair warning, grammar and spelling mistakes are almost guaranteed. Read at your own risk. I want to use this blog to help give advice to anyone who has an interest in starting their own crafty business, or maybe you’re just curious and want to follow along.
Probably the biggest question I get is “how did you get started?” or “what made you start a business?” Well if you noticed, I said I had no intentions of starting a blog, but here I am. I didn’t really have intentions starting a handmade business, but here I am.
I’ve always had a love for crafting and making things. It’s something I get from my mom, I loved art classes or anything and everything that let me be creative, like 4-H. I also have this “I can do it myself” issue. Once I decided to build my own coffee table, then side tables, then entertainment center all based on something I saw on Pinterest. I could’ve saved myself some money and hours sweating my tail off in the barn making this furniture but nope, I wanted to say I made it. Something about being able to take a raw material and make something useful out of it is kinda awesome, in my opinion.
Tangled Twine was really a process over 5 years. My freshman year in college everyone was wearing these cute ear warmers. So instead of studying for finals, I taught myself how to crochet them on YouTube. I sold them to friends and family throughout the winter, but nothing else really came of it. Fast forward to my Senior year the messy bun hat became a thing. People were freaking out over them, so I taught myself how to do that as well. (Thank you YouTube) I made enough money over my winter/Christmas break to fund my senior year spring break cruise. That’s kind of what sparked the idea of “Hm, I could make something of this.”
After graduating college, I moved to a city where I didn’t know anybody, and I was bored. Really bored. So, I taught myself how to knit hats and make fluffy fur poms to go with them. I was excited by my new talent, followed every full-time knitter (yes, that’s a thing) on Instagram. While knitting I often would watch a movie or TV and my favorite was Fixer Upper on HGTV. Joanna Gaines often wore these simplistic leather earrings and that’s when the whole leather earring thing started. If you’ve read my bio on the home page, you’ll know that the “Tangled” in Tangled Twine comes from my tangled mess of interests and love of doing all the things. So I make and sell a lot of different types of things.
I started small on Etsy, then did about 5-6 craft shows during the fall season about a month after. I almost fell over when I got my first Etsy order from a complete stranger. When I went to my first show I had a line of people waiting to check out and get into my booth to view my items and that’s kind of when I said to myself “yep, I’m doing this.”
So, if you want to start a business, you don’t really need a game plan. Just start small. Say “what the heck” and do it… Just like I’m doing with this whole blog thing. What do you have to lose? Start it and grow with it, learn with it, and figure out what you really truly want to do along the way. You don’t need a fancy logo, a website, or heck you don’t even really need a name to start. Just make something, put yourself out there and let the rest lead the way. At first it might feel like it’s going nowhere, nobody is interested, or you’re not confident in your product. It’s all a part of the process.
I remember setting up a small booth at my hometowns tiny fair. I literally sold 2 things to a family friend and that was it. I remember leaving thinking it wasn’t going to go anywhere. Luckily, I didn’t give up and now I’ve shipped to over half the US in 10 months, something I surely didn’t expect when I started or when I left that small town fair.
If you have an idea or something you want to do, just say what the heck and do it. Chances are you’ve got nothing to lose. (Except maybe a little money, because we all know crafting isn’t cheap lol.)
Until next time (if i decide to keep this up haha)
-Kerri