It's a lot of fun. Have you ever rolled in a HUGE PILE of money?
Image via Wikimedia.A dramatic reenactment of my piles of money.
Well I haven't either.
Because design work, while super rewarding, is not something I can rely on to generate these mythic piles of money.
Now, a warning. When you read the below, it'll be easy to infer that I'm unhappy or ungrateful. I'm really not. I'm reorienting my platforms & I want to tell you why.
Image via WikimediaI'm lucky: I can pay for supplies with my designs. Supplies to design more (hopefully) awesome crochet patterns. Not all designers can even do that. I've seen many quit out of frustration - designers I really loved, and that had inspired me to launch myself.
I don't want to quit. But I can see why they did. Absolutely.
When I started crocheting, I scoured the net for patterns. I emptied my local big box stores of their craft yarn & hooks. At the time, trying to find anything else was pretty much impossible over here. Then I started stockpiling books, subscribing to magazines, buying merino blends, favoriting patterns on Ravelry to purchase later, I got myself a set of comfortable hooks, etc. The more I fell in love with crochet, the more my spending revolved around it. Working with a well-written pattern, an ergonomic hook, and beautiful fiber made the time I spent with my passion that much more enjoyable.
I know a lot of crocheters are like me. I try to surround myself with them.
There are people out there though, that frown when they see that your newly published pattern is not free. That reprimand you for being greedy (yes, this has happened - recently). And I get it.. Money can be tight. There are priorities that far outweigh buying a crochet pattern. This, however, does not mean that I owe my pattern to the world. I love many things. I can't afford all of them. I don't go around telling people that they should give them to me for free because of that.
Image via Pixabay
I'm part of 2 really awesome networks of designers & makers. These networks have given me many welcome opportunities to grow (as a person, and as a business woman). Both networks are filled with people who, like me, are trying to make a go of this design or handmade craft life. I believe in using my space to focus on them from now on. Independent designers that choose to sell their patterns for a variety of great reasons. Makers that value their time.
You can get the free stuff from a gazillion other places - that's the nature of the internet. Understand, I am not against free! I just think it's being shared rather easily already. The other side... not so much. It needs a lot more exposure. I'd already started doing that with my monthly #bethecrochetchange project - I'm just making that a bigger part of ACCROchet.com from now on because I believe in promoting muh people!
Understand, too, that this does not mean I won't do any more sales, or promotions, or design free patterns. And the same goes for the people I network with - they publish free patterns, sales, and promotions too. Free patterns give you a feel for how we design, sales & promotions thank you for believing in what we do, for jumping first on new releases.
I will continue to do all of these things, of course, because rewarding the people that love my designs is SUPER important to me. You all matter a lot more than you know! I can never thank you enough.
Julie xx
