We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrea Whitt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Andrea, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

Scaling up has happened slowly, both methodically and with a little bit of luck. I’m a self-taught knitter. In 2019, my youngest was headed into school full time, I started looking ahead at how I wanted to spend more of my newfound free time. My mother has knit for years, and I asked if she’d teach me how to knit a dishcloth. It was a disaster. What was supposed to look like a square dishcloth ended up looking like a giant arrowhead with a bunch of holes in it. But I was hooked. I loved everything about the process from picking out the yarn, to keeping my hands and mind busy while I knit, to enjoying a tangible final product.

Cue Covid. This gave me time for trial and error and to deep dive into YouTube tutorials and Instagram feeds.
I consumed as much information as I could about fibers, tools, patterns, and techniques. I learned about yarn companies, how to build an Etsy shop, and selling at local markets.

Luck plays a role in my story too. I have friends who opened a microshop in my town and offered me the chance to sell at their shop. Another friend owns a tea shop locally and she gave me the opportunity to sell at her shop during the Farmer’s Market which was my first real taste of success. I sold over 20 handknit wool hats in 4 hours at my first Farmer’s Market.

Social media has also played a very large role in the success of my shop. I’ve been able to connect with other knitters, yarn companies, yarn dyers, local customers and area vendors.

With a seasonal item, scaling up does include a lot of planning. I’ve learned that scaling is easier with fewer design choices. I pick a few top sellers and produce as many of those as I can. I also started to design digital knitting patterns which offers income during the spring and summer months with little to zero overhead.

And there’s no denying that the biggest ingredient to scaling up is a lot of hard work. There’s no substitute for that.

Andrea, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

The Knitted Shoppe’s mission is to bring you quality, hand knit, wool items that support your outdoor lifestyle. I design timeless hats, cowls, mittens and ear warmers that will last for years to come. Wool often has a reputation that involves Grandma’s itchy old sweater, but the truth is that wool is a far superior fiber than synthetics. When it comes to keeping you warm and dry during your adventures, wool should be your go-to fiber.

Many don’t know that wool is odor resistant, stain resistant, insulating, and water resistant. The properties of wool can actually help regulate your body temperature. It’s an incredible, naturally occurring fiber.

I hand knit all of the items that I sell. The faux fur poms are all hand made by either myself or my Mom. All of the wool that I use 100% natural and ethically sourced. I don’t use any synthetic fibers.

Another large part of my business is pattern design. I have several hat, cowl and fingerless mitten patterns available in my shop. The patterns are aimed at beginner knitters and many include video support.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Such an ironic question, as just this past week my Instagram account was hacked and 4 years worth of content, connections, conversations and hard work, *poof*, gone into cyber space at the click of a button. I had several videos that went viral with over 1 millions views and I lost over 33k followers. I was in the process of working with other designers, yarn companies and a couple of promotional projects when I lost my account. A less than ideal situation.

I’m rebuilding. Here’s what it taught me:

Connect, connect, connect. You’ve heard it before, the emphasis on social media is to be social. Find a way to engage with your audience. People want to be heard and listened to. I treat my social media account like I’m the head of Customer Service. Respond to every comment and do so sincerely. Share content. Ask questions. Tell a story and share your personality. Let people connect with you.

As it relates to knitting, or the crafting world more generally, I have two audiences. I’m mindful that some of my followers want to see knitting related content and others want my finished products. My account grew with the help of a few unexpected viral videos. The most popular content was shareable or savable. Create posts that people want to come back to later or share with others. Give a tip, show a new technique, do a quick and easy giveaway, etc.

The most important piece of social media is that you have to enjoy it, be consistent, and patient.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

The Knitted Shoppe can be found on Etsy. I chose this platform for a couple of reasons. First, Etsy has a built-in audience. If someone wants a unique, hand-crafted item, Etsy often comes to mind. Customers are at the sight with credit card in hand. Not only can I send my customers directly to my shop through email and social media, Etsy is also bringing their audience to my shop. That’s a big advantage to me.

Second, I wanted to put my focus on learning my craft and not on website design.

Many people have a love-hate relationship with Etsy. Often times the fees are sighted as a hinderance, although, in my opinion, the fees are worth it. Another con is that you’re limited with site design. Etsy also presents your shoppers with competition, and I don’t own the domain. If Etsy shuts down tomorrow, I won’t have an e-commerce sight.

A piece of advice to consider when opening a shop, is open both an Etsy shop and your own E-commerce website. I should heed my own advice.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_theknittedshoppe/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg-wp3uIDPkRlXuHGyDSRpg
• Other: Etsy https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheKnittedShoppe?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1405705151 Ravelry https://www.ravelry.com/people/TheKnittedShoppe