How to Start a Handmade Business Blog if you have no Money

Well, isn’t this topic interesting? Starting a handmade business blog if you have no money. Or maybe your challenge is time? Let’s talk about it. Before that though you should read about How I started My Crochet Blog.

Today, I’m going to give you the gift of encouragement. Maybe like me, you’ve had huge bouts of doubt just pouring over you about certain areas of your life- it’s ok. You’re not alone

Right before I started LoopinglyMade in March 2016, I gave myself about 20 excuses why it wouldn’t work. ‘oh I’ve just had baby number 2, I can’t do it now. However am I going to cope?’ oh, I’m not that talented, look at all the amazing designers out there- I can’t compete’, ‘oh, I don’t have enough money to get all the equipment I need’. I mean, they just kept rolling in.

Now that I look back, I just laugh and see how ridiculous those excuses were. Yes, one of them was valid, like just having a baby- so I waited till I got my bearings. And while I waited, I signed up for blog hosting to keep me in check and also designed patterns.

So you say you don’t have money to start a blog? Let’s do some cost breakdown before I share some practical tips. The billing information below shows an estimate of what it would cost to get started.

For a Basic 3 year Plan with Bluehost you need $285.60 to get started.

Other Secondary Expenses to factor in:

• Cost of supplies for the first couple months
• Email service- Mailchimp is free for your first 2,000 subscribers
• Photo Editing- if you intend to use one. You can get some free service from Pixlr and Picmonkey
• Theme: depending on your blogging platform, its usually best to get a paid theme

Note that 3 features marked below are billed per month.

No money?

First things first, how bad do you want to start this blog? Do you have a couple of posts/patterns already written out (this will come in handy soon). Do you have a plan for how you will monetize your blog?

I know $290+ is cheap change for some people, but there are yet many out there who have dreams and may not be able to afford this amount.

Tip 1. Ask family and friends to invest in you

Surely, you have people in your life who care? Share a bit of your idea with them. I say a bit, because sometimes you can get discouraged when people are not as enthusiastic about your dreams as you are. If they want to know more, this is where those written patterns come in- show them some of it, let them see that you already have an action plan. At least they can help you start off your blog for the first few years. And if you intend to pay them back, all the better.

In my case, my family came through for me. God bless them!

Tip 2. Save

You knew I was going to include this, right? What do you spend money on often that you can do without? Put it in a piggy bank (ha, I don’t know if adults still use that, but I do). If you want it bad enough you would be willing to do without certain things to get it.

Tip 3. Make an Auction

You already have the skills, put it to work by making something really nice and fabulous. Something that will also ‘wow’ you the creator- then auction it. Sometimes people want to give, but are not convinced unless there is something tangible attached to it. Say you could make a gorgeous blanket, a doll, something unique and auction it on your FB or Instagram or any auction sites. State the reason for the auction, what you will use the funds received for. I bet someone will show up.

Tip 4. Start a GoFund Me page

If all else fails, you can do this. Does it sound ridiculous? I don’t think so. Remember, if this is something you really want to do and you’ve tried other means to no avail, you’ll do what it take. Starting a handmade business blog is a legit thing you want to do. Put in all the information required, if you own an etsy shop or any other shop, state it, state how much you need to start. As long as you can pass your info across sincerely, there will be people who may and hopefully will come to your aid. In case you still think this is ridiculous, check out these wishes on GoFundme.

Pretty please, be sincere.

No Time?

We all have time. The same amount of time every single day. The question is, ‘what are we using our allotted time for?’

While writing this post, I got in touch with one of the fantastic designers who inspire me, Phanessa Fong from Designs by Phanessa, you absolutely need to visit her website- her designs and photos are stunning, her shop is no different. She is a mom to three boys, works full time and still finds time to crochet and knit.

So I asked her how she does it and here is her exact reply “..I bring my projects to work and squeeze it in at lunch break. Most of the time, I work on my projects on the weekend. It’s hard to balance it but that’s what I love about designing. I go at my pace, on my time”.

Perhaps your niche is not crochet or anything you can take to work, but surely taking 1-2 hours a day to work on your craft is progress.

If your job is Stay At Home Mom (yes, it is a job) like me, then there’s more opportunity to find time for your craft. Personally, our sons are under 4 years and stay at home, though one of them begins school in September. Most of the time I begin my work at noon, on and off till 4pm or so and then at night when they’ve all gone to bed. I do my house chores, try to make sure there’s food ready on time (no negotiating that with boys in the house. Haha).

So every little time I can take off, I use for my craft. It is important to me. It pays some of my bills. So I will make time for it.

So you see, it’s not that you don’t have time. It is what you’re doing with it that matters. Eventually, I guess PRIORITIZING is the key to managing your time.

I hope you are encouraged today to take the plunge and start your handmade business blog. Whatever happens, you’ll know you gave it a shot. Better that than you never tried. None of us wants to be looking back 6, 12 months or 2 years from now and saying “oh, I coulda, woulda, shoulda”.

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What are your thoughts? What practical ways have you raised money for something important to you and prioritized your time? Share your thoughts in the comment.