Handmade business

My 11 income streams

If there is one important thing I’ve learned in the 8 years of running an online business it is that you must diversify your income.

That is a fancy way of saying “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. Relying on just one source of income is risky because you don’t have anything to fall back on if needed.

Today I’m going to talk about my 11 income streams (yes, that’s right – 11!) I’m not going into any figures because numbers can be misunderstood (for example, I get to keep approximately half of my actual revenue once taxes and running expenses are paid).

But I will outline my 11 income streams in order from what makes the most to what makes the least amount. The order is still a generalisation as most of my income streams are fluctuating from month to month.

Online courses

The Online Weaving School was started back in 2017 and supplies the largest part of my income (by a long shot!) The weaving school is hosted at Teachable, which works very well because I, as the creator have my own space on the internet and I’m fully in control of how the school runs, the type of content available there and the pricing for my students.

There are two models on which the school operates – single purchase classes and memberships.

A single purchase class is just what it sounds like – the student make a one time purchase and then has permanent access to the class. They can come back, log in to their account and re-watch the class as many times as desired. They also have the ability to receive feedback, share comments and photos on the platform.

Memberships have been a huge part of my success as an online business. The student chooses a membership tier and then has access to a full class library, including member’s only classes until their membership expires (at which point they can choose to renew or cancel). A membership also gives a student access to the private member’s community. A membership model is excellent because it provides the creator with recurring and somewhat more predictable income.

Premium Membership

Access to full class library for one annual fee. All prices are in US dollars

1683 students enrolled

Last updated Oct 30th, 2024

Select a Pricing Plan

Premium membership$157/year

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2. My Design Store

For many years I have also been designing weaving patterns. These are usually project based and provide the buyer with step by step written instructions, colour photos and often video links to complete a weaving project.

I sell my designs in digital format at Kelly Casanova Designs using the Shopify platform.

I have also branched into writing ebooks to provide even more information to weavers and these are also available in my design store.

Digital downloads are an excellent source of (mostly) passive income as much of the work is done up front in the designing and writing. There is often some follow up needed in the form of support for purchasers but this is relatively minimal compared to the weaving school.

Very occasionally I also make weaving/yarn kits available to my audience and these are based on existing patterns.

If you are interested in trying a Shopify store for yourself, you can get 3 days free plus 3 months for $1 each when you sign up for a trial, just use this link to take a closer look at that offer.

3. Youtube

Income from Youtube is made through Google Adsense. The ads are place on my videos and I get a cut of what the advertisers pay to Youtube (about half). This type of income is fluctuating and not very reliable and because I’m in the “craft” niche, advertisers pay much lower rates than they would for videos in something like the business or finance niche.

The beauty of Youtube when it comes to online business is that it can act as an audience funnel for your existing business. It allows you to build and audience that can get to know and trust you. It can be a way for potential students to sample your teaching style before investing in a course or membership.

My business has grown from my Youtube following, so it has been an absolute essential part of my success.

4. My blog

Income from my blog is also made through Google Adsense. This is not ideal, and some readers do complain that there are too many ads when they read articles. Having ads enabled on my blog does cover my hosting fees though, and gives some small compensation for the many hours I’ve spent writing informative articles.

Similar to Youtube, the blog also acts as a funnel or advertising space for my paid products.

5. Affiliate income

Affiliate income is when you recommend a product, service or company to your audience with a special referral link. If someone clicks on your link and makes a purchase, you receive a small percentage of that purchase as a thank you from the company.

Affiliate income is an excellent way to make money, but certainly not the easiest (at least, that has been the case for me!) Affiliate commissions vary a huge amount from as little as 1 -4% of the sale (hello Amazon!) to 30-50% (I don’t have any affiliates that pay that much but I know they’re out there).

It takes a lot of time to insert links and write them into content in a way that provides value to your audience. No one wants to feel like they’re being spammed so it’s important to use affiliate links properly and respectfully.

You can do this by only recommending products/services that you use yourself or that you have sufficient knowledge of in order to recommend with confidence.

Some months my affiliate income now surpasses my blog or YouTube income but this is not a frequent occurrence.

6. Paid newsletter

This year I started my very first paid newsletter through Convertkit (now known as Kit). I have been sending out a free newsletter for many years but the paid newsletter is separate and covers different topics.

7. Magazine work

This income stream involves writing articles and submitting projects. I have completed quite a bit of this type of work over the last year or so and continue to receive requests and proposals.

Submitting projects takes a great deal of work and time and I don’t feel the compensation is high enough for the amount of work required. So, for the near future at least I will stick more to the article writing, which I find enjoyable and rewarding.

8. Public speaking/ presentations

This is another income stream that I just started this year. I receive invitations to speak or present for weaving guilds or groups. So far, these presentations have been online, which is brilliant as it allows me to reach people that live in different locations to me! I prepare a presentation ahead of time and then give the presentation live.

9. Handmade items

This is a very, very small stream as I only sell handmade items occasionally. Before I started the Online Weaving School, I was a handmade seller, but I have very little time now to actually make something physical to sell.

10. Facebook

This one is kind of a surprise. I logged into my Facebook analytics one day and found that I had made a little money! I didn’t even know that was a thing 😆 Since then, I’ve made small amounts every month. It’s really only pocket money but I certainly don’t mind earning money for posting on my Facebook page, which is something that I would be doing anyway.

11. Merchandise

I have tried merchandise with Society6 and Spring. I have closed the Society6 store and will likely do the same for the Spring store in the future. This has not been a good source of income for me, so I have stopped promoting it in order to focus more on the streams that do work well for me.

Being an entrepreneur is such a journey of learning, adapting and pivoting when needed. Having more than one stream of income really helps you to try things out, see what will work and what won’t and then maximise the things that work the best for your business.

If you are starting out with online business, you will find these articles helpful as well:

Should I start with Etsy or Shopify?

Handmade Business Beginner Essentials

3 ways to start selling online for free

Do you want to start selling your weaving?

This article is also available in video format here:

I hope you enjoyed reading about my income streams and I wish you all the best with your online business!

Handmade business beginner essentials

by Kelly Leave a Comment

Starting a handmade business can be a big step in your life but it doesn’t have to be complicated.

My own business is a shining example of how a handmade hobby can organically grow into a business. The funny part is that I had been trying to make a living from my handmade goods for around 10 years when I shared my first weaving tutorial on Youtube that ultimately saw my business develop and eventually take off.

Many people in the business niche will tell you that the formulation of a business plan is an absolute must before starting a new business. While it can help you to plan and gain clarity around what you want to do or what your vision for your business is, it is not essential.

I never developed a business plan for my online business and I have no regrets about that.

However, there are aspects to a handmade business that I do think are really important. Some of these can develop over time and others are better to be put in place as soon as possible.

DETERMINING PRODUCT DEMAND

Basically, without demand, you don’t have a business. You could make something that is really cool and that you love to create, but if no one wants to buy it that can be a harsh reality to face.

My initial Youtube tutorials showed me very clearly that there was a demand for the product I was able to provide. Again, this happened organically for me and wasn’t planned but if you are wanting to sell your handmade products, actually having an idea beforehand whether or not there is a demand for them is super helpful.

You can get a basic idea of demand by googling your intended product or search terms associated with it. Let’s take an example here. I will use a handwoven scarf as our guinea pig.

Determining demand for handmade products is a little different from more commercial products because handmade is often unique and doesn’t “fit in a box” or typical niche. There are more factors involved than just looking at trends and what is selling well right now. Handmade is more nuanced than that.

When I google “handmade scarf” it comes up with a myriad of results. Some are local, authentic hand woven by usually a single person owned business (sole trader). Others are made overseas, woven on hand looms but by groups of people and marketed by an organisation. Some are commercially woven (you can always recognise these are they are much cheaper and usually more generic in appearance).

Googling is useful though, to see what is out there, where they are being sold and what they are charging. These factors can help you not only to find where potential customers might be looking to find hand woven products, but also what kind of pricing is realistic for the type of scarf you’re selling.

A terrific way to help determine demand for a handwoven scarf is social media – Instagram in particular is a very visual platform. I use Instagram not only to sell my products (you can read more about how I do that here) but to gauge interest in new products/ colours/ styles. It’s a simple and free way to get public opinion but in a more targeted way because all the people who follow you on a social media platform and potential customers – their opinion matters!

THE PRODUCT

You do need to have a good quality product and ensure that it meets quality standards, but if you tend towards perfectionism, please do not overcomplicate it! Next time you buy an item of clothing, a towel, whatever from a commercial source, I guarantee that if you inspect it carefully you will find small faults.

Handwoven is beautiful and unique, but it’s made by a real person often in a home or studio setting. It needs to present well and do the job that it’s made for – it does not need to be perfect.

PRICING

This is a non negotiable. You do not have a smooth running and profitable business without correctly priced items. Handmade creators are notorious for under pricing (I know, in my early days I was definitely guilty of this!)

While it is fine to price a bit lower when you’re just starting out, you need to know when to raise your prices and how low is too low. Price your handmade products too low and you don’t have a handmade business, you just have a hobby (and often an expensive one at that!)

Pricing is very tricky and often a fine balance of cost of materials, how much you want to be paid and how much the customer is willing to pay. In this article I talk about this more in depth, based on my personal experiences and I include a helpful formula for pricing handmade items.

WHERE/HOW TO SELL

Again, you really don’t have a business until you have a way or location to sell. To begin with, this can be as simple as selling to friends and family and gradually growing your brand by word of mouth. This is an excellent way to sell initially. It allows you to get a feel for it, you don’t have to pay for advertising, hosting and processing fees and as already mentioned it can help you to determine demand.

I’ll put in a little caveat here that some sellers find it a negative experience selling to family and friends. I have heard quite a few people say that those who are closer to them expect heavily discounted prices, free products or just to pay for the cost of materials but not your time.

On the other hand, those who are familiar with what you do may have a better understanding of the time, skill and quality of materials you put in to your work.

This is something you can explore for yourself and hopefully it is a positive experience for you!

It is quite simple to get started selling online these days. The main avenues I recommend are Etsy and Shopify. Which one suits you will depend on a number of factors and for that reason I have provided a comparison between the two here.

Personally I am moving away from Etsy to focus more on my Shopify store as Etsy is changing and not for the better, in my opinion. Shopify does offer a trial where your first month is only $1, plus you actually earn credits on your own sales to help your shop pay for itself – this is a great deal if you’re curious as to whether it would be a good fit for you.

MAILING LIST

Start a mailing list from day one. No, really!

This will become one of the most important aspects of your business as it allows you to not only contact your audience in a reliable way (you can’t necessarily rely on social media platforms for this) but they are also qualified leads. People sign up to your mailing list because they are interested in what you do.

I use Convertkit for my mailing list and have for many years because they have the best functionality and are constantly improving. Yes, it does get more expensive as you gain subscribers and as you start using automations but for those starting out it is free way to start growing a list.

You can get subscribers to your mailing list in many ways. The first way is to just ask them to sign up if they are interested in your work and provide a way for them to do that (with Convertkit you can make landing pages).

You can also provide an incentive for sign up. Examples could include a discount to purchasing your products, a free guide, downloadable PDF or some other small incentive that provides value to your audience.

TAXATION

Ew, the unglamorous side of business no one wants to think about! So you stow it away and not think about it. Until it comes back to bite you!

How do I know? Because I didn’t keep records to begin with in my business and that was a big mistake. To be kind to myself, because my business grew so organically I didn’t keep records initially because I didn’t think of it as a business.

Then it started making money!

No, record keeping is not glamorous, but trust me folks, you need to do it or you are making a big headache and a lot of extra work for yourself down the track. Make it a habit from day one and it becomes a part of your routine and it’s easy.

I started out by just using a spreadsheet to record sales and expenses, it was very simple. As your business grows you definitely want to look into account keeping software.

The beauty of doing this is you can set up automations (or have someone set it up for you if you have no clue – this is what I did) to make the process really simple for you. I use the online accounting software Xero to automate my record keeping. All of my transactions filter through Xero so when it comes time to submit my Business Activity Statements and end of financial year tax return, all the information is there and ready. Doing this has reduced my stress levels significantly!

BE PATIENT

Building a business takes time, and so does learning business skills. I’m 8 years in and still learning, but that’s ok, you tend to learn what you need to know as the business grows.

Be willing to try new things as the same methods won’t necessarily work for everyone.

A slow growing business, in my opinion is advantageous as it allows you to learn and adapt as you need to. It will teach you a lot about yourself and what kind of business owner you want to be – embrace the slowness!

I hope this article has been helpful to you and given you some ideas for getting started. I have some additional resources here in case you want to do some more research:

3 ways to start selling online for free…

Do you want to start selling your weaving?

What would I do differently if I started selling now?

Selling for weavers online class (members only)

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

*This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Should I start with Etsy or Shopify?

by Kelly 4 Comments

Opening your first online shop is such an exciting experience!

When I first started out as an Etsy seller in 2008 there were really only a couple of options for handmade sellers. Etsy is the one that has stood the test of time, but in 2024 you have a lot of choices when it comes to selling online and it may be difficult to choose one that best suits you, your products and your budget.

I sold my handmade goods on Etsy for many years and in the past 5 years I have moved almost exclusively into selling digital products. For me, digital products looks like hand weaving PDF patterns and ebooks.

This year, for a variety of reasons, I decided to open a Shopify store. This store contains the same patterns and ebooks as my Etsy store and the customer experience is quite similar. For now, I am keeping both stores open, and I will explain why as you read on.

Etsy has changed considerably since I opened my first shop there 16 years ago. Many of the changes (in my opinion) have not been for the better and that is why I have started my own store, on my own terms elsewhere.

I still do recommend Etsy for absolute beginners though, and we will have a look at the reasons why.

I’m going to take you through what I consider the pros and cons of Etsy and Shopify as well as how much my monthly fees cost.

Etsy Pros:

It is still a great option for absolute beginners. It’s easy to make an account and start listing products. All payments are processed for you and the templates are simple. Basically, you don’t need a lot of tech knowledge to get started.

One of the main attractions of Etsy for newbie sellers is the tiny financial outlay. The only initial cost you will pay is 20 cents to list an item.

If you don’t make any sales for the month all you will be asked to pay is the 20 cent listing fee, so this is great for beginners as there is very little risk.

The other huge benefit to having a shop on Etsy is that it is a marketplace. This is great for those who are just starting out and may not have a customer base already.

Etsy Cons

Once you make a sale you must pay fees. Any you may be unpleasantly surprised by how much those fees add up to!

Yes, you start out with your very low 20 cent listing fee, but once a sale is made there is a transaction fee of 6.5% (this is even charged on your shipping amount) followed by payment processing fees. The payment processing fees will vary according to your physical location.

I mentioned in the “Pros” section that Etsy is a marketplace, and that can really help to build a customer base. Conversely, that marketplace can work against you because you have so very many competitors and it can be hard to be seen and found by new customers. There are many things you can do to optimise your listings but if you want to increase your reach Etsy will expect you to pay more for that in the form of offsite (which you can’t opt out of!) and onsite ads.

Now, another way in which a marketplace on Etsy can be a disadvantage is that when someone clicks on your listing to take a closer look, Etsy shows additional listings below your listing from other sellers. Effectively, they are using your page space to advertise other sellers!

Here is a screenshot example: I clicked on a knitted rabbit pattern listing from the wonderful Little Cotton Rabbits. When I scrolled down the listing page a little, Etsy had lists and pictures of similar items from other sellers and then underneath that there are more listings from other sellers under “You may also like”.

Underneath that, there are even more collections of other products to browse and related searches to explore.

OK, I get it, Etsy is a business, they exist to make money and they don’t care if they make a percentage of your sale or from another seller. But it certainly doesn’t help me, the seller, if my page advertises other sellers and I am not compensated for that.

On Etsy, you can’t collect emails in an automated fashion to be able to build and contact your customer base. This means that If anything happens to your Etsy shop you can’t get in touch with existing customers and you also can’t use Etsy to build a mailing list (an essential part of any business startup).

You also don’t own your shop and can be removed from Etsy at any time without warning. This has happened to many sellers who inadvertently or mistakenly breached copyright and had their shops removed. It can be a laborious and time consuming process to get a shop back and results in lost revenue while you’re trying to sort out the issues with Etsy customer service (which can be frustrating, to say the least).

I understand why Etsy does deactivate or remove shops, as copyright can be a huge issue in the selling field, but they seem to throw everyone into the same pool without carefully looking at individual circumstances. An example of this would be if a seller had made a short product video for one of their listings, and in the listing the seller is wearing a branded t-shirt. This can be seen as an instant copyright breach and the seller can be penalised, meanwhile the seller is wondering what on earth happened, as they were just wearing what they were wearing that day when they filmed the video!

A beef that I personally have with Etsy is that it is unrecognisable from back when I started, when it was a truly handmade marketplace. It felt niche and special in those days. Now they allow “vintage”, “supplies” and even print on demand. It feels more like a commercial shopping centre.

Shopify Pros

Shopify has a professional, clean and customisable look. Even if you don’t customise anything it still looks great and is easy to navigate.

It’s easy to setup and use and payments and ordering are simple processes

One of the best and most important part is that your own shop on the internet, you own it and can collect emails of your customers. You set your own parameters and no one can take the shop from you.

You can have a domain name of your own choosing for your shop, so it’s easy for customers to find.

Shopify Cons

You need to have a way to get eyes on your shop, Shopify is not a marketplace. If you already have an audience (especially in the form of a mailing list) it won’t be hard to share your shop link. But if you’re starting from scratch it’s going to be much harder for potential customers to find your shop.

The monthly fee that Shopify charges as hosting fees is charged whether you make sales or not. This can be a big disadvantage to a newer seller unless you get a lot of sales right away.

In addition to the monthly hosting fees, there are other fees that you will likely have to pay for customisation. This is not something that I realised when I first signed up for Shopify – I assumed that everything would be covered by the monthly fee. I use some apps for things like displaying customer feedback and social media icons.

Speaking of fees, I’m going to share some of my financials for both Etsy and Shopify to give you an idea of what to expect. Please note that my sales for both can vary immensely from month to month, this is particularly relevant to the Etsy figures considering they take a percentage of earnings.

FEES – Please bear in mind that these are my figures. Yours may look quite different.

Etsy per month -For me, the monthly fees range from $50 – $1600 (yes, really!!)

Shopify per month – $42 per month plus apps of around $20 = total of $60 a month

When you compare these figures you can probably see why I started the Shopify store. Overall, for me as an established seller with a very healthy customer base (over 12,000 sales on Etsy at the time of this article) Shopify fees work out at a much more affordable rate and are not dependent on my total sales for the month.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON SHOPIFY-

I wanted to share my thoughts as a newer user of Shopify. My sales in my Shopify store have been slower than I had hoped, but that is business in general in the present climate. I’m seeing slow sales in the Online Weaving School, my Etsy store and my affiliate links. There is a lot of economic uncertainty and inflation remains high, this is all having an impact on my business.

Also, having been on Etsy for 16 years, customers are comfortable with seeing and buying from me there. They are familiar with the process and they know where to find me. Not everyone likes change and I completely understand that.

Hopefully people will start to use my Shopify store more as time goes on as I would prefer to continue moving away from Etsy.

If you are interested in starting your own Shopify store, be sure to use my link to sign up! You can get your first month for just $1 when you sign up for a free trial, which is a great way to try out Shopify and see what you think.

Or if you are wondering about different avenues you can take for getting started selling your handmade products, check out there articles:

3 ways to start selling online for free!…

Do you want to start selling your weaving?…

3 Etsy essentials…

My 11 income streams…

What I would do differently if I started selling now…

I hope you found this article helpful in making a decision for yourself and your own needs as a seller or potential seller.

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.