Notes from Chris

Episode 1702

When Traci Lee was a kid, her mom taught her to knit so she wouldn’t be bored. When she picked up the hobby again in college, she decided to try selling her handiwork.

This was the summer of 2011, when Etsy was just starting to take off as a platform for selling handmade goods. Traci launched a shop called RamsGirl Design. With a stockpile of scarves already created, she spent less than $50 to get started, mostly on yarn. She already had a laptop and digital camera, and there were no initial startup fees, just a $0.20 listing fee for each item.

Even though the financial investment was small, she made a much bigger time investment in learning how to sell physical items online and how to optimize her listings for search results.

This investment has paid off. Throughout the years, she’s regularly made an extra five figures a year from her side project, and in 2020, she made $20,000. The biggest key has been a big switch she made in what she sold.

RamsGirl Design started out selling Traci’s handknit items, but it expanded into knitting patterns a few years later. Later, she added knitting kits and fiber arts swag like tote bags and mugs printed with cheeky sayings.

The knitting kits in particular have been a huge part of Traci’s success, especially during the pandemic. Crafting tools in general were popular during lockdown because people were looking for something to do at home, and she believes they’ll continue to sell well. These kits generally contain everything a beginning knitter needs to get started: yarn, knitting needles, a pattern, and a cotton project bag.

Traci admits that trying to be a jack of all trades in her business has kept the growth a bit slower than it could have been. In retrospect, she says she probably would have hired some experts earlier on in the process.

However, she’s just hired a social media manager and with the time savings, she hopes to work on self-publishing her first knitting pattern book.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Traci and checkout her knitting kits at her website, RamsGirlDesign.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Singaporean Sells Handcrafted Cashmere Scarves With a Story: A Singapore-based storyteller and lover of textiles earns an extra $40,000 a year selling handcrafted cashmere scarves from Nepal.
• Landscape Architect Knots Together Macrame Workshops: One woman’s passion for macrame turns into a money-making side hustle teaching others the craft.
• Trip to Europe Inspires Adventurous Blanket Biz: After returning from an extended trip abroad, this digital strategist draws on a sense of adventure to source and sell heirloom throw blankets.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work! Yours in the revolution,

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