Crochet Business Interview with Jimbo’s Front Porch

Meet Jimbo

He’s a semi-retired patent agent and whittler of wood. He makes gorgeous crochet hooks out of branches and wood he finds on his 30-acre property.

What is your main stream of income?

Selling my Crochet hooks.

Did you set out to make money with crochet or was it an afterthought?

Yes, it was conceived to raise funds for my “front porch” project up on the Ranch. To be honest, I didn’t design the blog. It was made for me as a gift from some computer savvy crocheters who thought “Jimbo” crochet hooks were worthy. Previously I had been simply taking orders from individual crocheters in “Crochetville“, which is a large crochet oriented forum on the Web.

When did you think “hey I can make a living doing this”?

I’ve never really had financial goals other than to save up the funds I’ve raised for building and covering a porch on our cabin on the Ranch.

How do you market your business? (or blog)

I join crochet oriented forums and participate in discussion there. Crochetville allows Indie Business Ads and I’ve made lots of contacts through the Crochet Liberation Front which is a very active crochet community in a forum called Ravelry.

Any advice you would give to those just starting out?

Don’t count on the world beating a path to your door with a blog. You have to have outside contacts through crochet related groups on the Web. Contests with giveaway product are also a great way to attract visits and customers. Publications work well too.