Craft Business Tips for Long Term Growth

Let me paint you a picture: I’m standing in my kitchen, rocking a newborn, negotiating snack time with my toddler, making sure my 90 year old grandfather doesn’t wander out of the house and texting practice details for my 13-year-old baseball star—all while trying to juggle my craft business. How can all of this possibly work? Well this is my new normal.

Top 3 Takeaways 

(So be sure to read to the end.)

1. The Importance of Treating Your Business as an Experiment

Your craft business doesn’t have to follow a rigid formula for success. Instead, —trying new strategies and finding solutions that align with their life and goals are essential for long-term success.

2. Three Major Focus Areas for a Thriving Craft Business

There’s immeasurable value in craftpreneurs focusing their efforts in these 3 main areas :

• Niche & Products

• Searchable Platforms

• Systems & Routines

3. How to Align Your Business with Your Life

As a craftpreneur, we are usually also solopreneurs or have a very very small team so growing a business that isn’t flexible enough to fit our lives is a setup for failure.

When I first started my craft business in 2018, I was hustling to keep up with trends, posting on social media (even when I had no clue what to post), trying to perfectly create all the custom orders, and managing my Etsy shop website, all at the same time. The big difference from then to now is I only had one child, and he was in school.

As my life evolved and my family grew, my business felt more like a burden than the dream I set out to create.

That’s when I realized something had to change. If I wanted my business to succeed and fit my life, I needed to treat it like an experiment—trying new things, shifting when something wasn’t working, and figuring out what aligned with my priorities. 

It was true then and it is true now. It’s time to figure out what business truly looks like now, since we’ve welcomed our new baby girl into the world just two short months ago.

One of the topics we discuss a lot in the Craftpreneur Society is pivoting in your business. There’s a lot of fear when it comes to making changes because things didn’t end up just how you planned.

I think there is such a deep fear of making major pivots and shifts in business because the results are unknown. Although the results will vary from business to business, it’s easier to change if you can see someone else’s progress. That is the heart of the Shift & Share series.

It’s a series that will do more than teach you how to sell things on Etsy. Through this series, we will share the strategies and stories of real craftpreneurs, their real businesses and their real results. The Shift & Share series is all about helping craftpreneurs and creatives overcome  the fear of change and instead embrace it to build businesses that align with their lives.

Sometimes, you just know something in your business isn’t working. You feel something needs to change, but pinpointing exactly what can be tricky. I’ve been at that point before. After lots of trial and error, I’ve learned that most of the time, it comes down to three main areas. Shifting your focus in these spots can make all the difference, helping you create a business that feels good, fits your life, and actually thrives.

1. Your Niche & Products

One of the biggest pivots you can make is narrowing your focus to an audience and to products that fit your time, passion, resources and energy. Trying to keep up with every trend can quickly lead to you becoming overwhelmed. It can also cause you to miss out on sales. Find an audience, then create and sell products that they need and/or want. 

For example, I focus on creating done-for-you digital products specifically for craftpreneurs—things like templates, guides, and printables that people who own handmade businesses can use to save time and grow their businesses.

The key? 

Choose products that align with your audience and are scalable that you will have the capacity to create, market and sell.

2. Searchable Platforms

Social media is fun, but let’s be honest: chasing likes and followers doesn’t pay the bills for us regular people. That’s why shifting your focus to platforms that act as search engines is key. When you post content on platforms like Pinterest and YouTube, your content keeps working for you long after you post it.

For example, you can use Pinterest pins to drive traffic to your Etsy shop website and promote your products directly to your audience. With Pinterest, pins can be discovered weeks—or even years—after you publish them. It’s a game-changer for reaching new customers without the daily frustration with and lack of results from social media.

3. Systems & Routines

Let’s talk about working smarter, not harder. As a mom of three, I need systems that help my craft business run smoothly, especially right now while each day is unpredictable. 

This is where things like automation and AI tools shine. Automation takes care of repetitive tasks like scheduling posts and sending emails. AI tools can help with things like creating content. These tools help me reclaim my time while still making money. Developing systems and optimizing workflows help create the flexibility needed so your business can run without you chaos-free. 

Your Business Is Your Experiment

Here’s the truth: there’s no one-size-fits-all formula for running a successful craft business. It’s all about experimenting, shifting, and finding what works for you and your life.

Through Shift & Share series, I’ll be sharing my own experiments and those of my clients—what’s working, what isn’t, and how I’m aligning my business with my life as a busy mom. This series is your reminder that it’s okay to try new things, make mistakes, and pivot until you find your groove.

Join the Craft Room: Stay Connected to the Shift

If you’re ready to build a business that fits your life, I’d love for you to join me on this journey. Sign up for updates to get insights on the shifts me and other craftpreneurs are making, the results we are seeing, and tips for creating a life-aligned craft business.

This is your invitation to experiment, pivot, and grow with the encouragement and support of craftpreneurs on the same path.s, you just know something in your business isn’t working. You feel something needs to change, but pinpointing exactly what can be tricky. I’ve been at that point before. After lots of trial and error, I’ve learned that most of the time, it comes down to three main areas. Shifting your focus in these spots can make all the difference, helping you create a business that feels good, fits your life, and actually thrives.

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