Design Your Biz: Offers and Discounts

I'm getting over the Rhinebeck hangover (more on Rhinebeck next week!) but today I have another Design Your Biz segment for you - Offers & Discounts!

I touched on this a few weeks ago in my customer appreciation post, but today I'd like to talk about it a little bit more.

As a frequent buyer of knitting and crochet patterns, I love a good discount! Who doesn't? But as a business owner, it's important to find a balance when it comes to discounts. It costs money to produce quality knitting and crochet patterns. And I like to do things like pay the mortgage. :)

Here's when I typically run discounts:

• On my birthday!
• When I have a new pattern, I'll often send a coupon code out to my email list. Seriously, sign up for my emails. :)
• During the Gift-A-Long

I'll likely run another sale or two during the course of the year, but it's when it's something that I think is a special occasion (like earlier this month when my blog turned 10).

There are other times I like to have discounts on patterns - when it's a little unknown what you'll be getting. For example, right now I'm running my Mystery Shawl KAL. The pattern is deeply discounted during the knit-a-long because you're not sure what you're going to get!

Mystery Shawl 2016

There are lots of other ways you can offer deals to your customers. For example, Corrina Ferguson offers a free hat & mitt pattern set when you sign up for her email newsletter. You can purchase the Trieste hat & mitt patterns on Ravelry, but by signing up for her emails, you get them for free! I love this idea, and it's something I'm hoping to implement when my website gets a much needed facelift in the coming months.

Whether you're a designer or a knitter/crocheter, I'd love to hear your thoughts on discounts and giveaways!

10 Years

Yesterday, October 9th, my blog had a birthday. It turned ten.

10!!!!

Sometimes it's hard to believe that I've been (mostly) consistently blogging about yarn and knitting since 2006. I look back on that first post and it just makes me smile:

Well, I have been thinking (nay, dreaming) of having my very own knitting blog for some time now, and, so here it is. I look up way too many patterns and spend too much time reading about knitting on the internet to not join in the knitting blog fun. So, I intend to use my new blog for much knitty goodness: pictures of things I knit, pictures of things I wish I could knit, track the progress of my knitting, and keep up with all my knitting buddies (which is about...hmm, three people).

This blog has seen my yarn obsession turn from a hobby into a full-time job, seen some free patterns and witnessed my obsession with knitting Korknisses. :)

So, in honor of this blog being 10, I'm running my biggest sale of all time! Get 50% off all my self-published patterns and eBooks thru tomorrow, October 11th! No coupon needed, discount will be applied at checkout. Only the MKAL Shawl pattern is excluded, because that is already deeply discounted.

Enjoy! And happy birthday blog!

Design Your Biz: A Collaboration That Works

Today's Design Your Biz segment is about something super fun: collaboration in the fiber arts industry!

Collaboration is one of my favorite things about working in the knitting world. You find the right fit with someone and their company and it's magic. It's what I found with Paula and Done Roving Yarns.

So today I'd like to tell you about how our collaboration came to be and why it works.

A few years ago, I was doing some regular designing for a knitting magazine. The editor at the time had this idea that she wanted to assign me a yarn company and I would work with them directly each issue on picking yarns for my design ideas.

I'll admit, I was skeptical. I hadn't done this with any other magazine before. What if I didn't like the yarn? Or the person running the company? But, at the same time, I was intrigued. So I said yes.

And I was matched up with Done Roving Yarns.

Turns out, I had nothing to be skeptical about and what happened next is exactly what this editor hoped would happen - that we would establish a good working relationship and it would possibly lead to other opportunities of working together.

Yes, yes it did.

Paula and I continue to work closely together to this day. When we first branched out from just working together on the magazine designs, she was looking for designs for her innovative Frolicking Feet Transitions line.

I created Savanna.

Savanna

After this one pattern, I think we both realized that this collaboration was going to really work. Since this particular yarn was a different than most things out there at the time, Paula really needed pattern support to show people what to do with it. I created some of the first patterns that called for Frolicking Feet Transitions, and as a result, many knitters who bought the yarn, also bought my patterns that used it.

It turned out to be win-win. Done Roving had patterns for their specific yarn and I had great pattern sales. My patterns that call for Done Roving Yarns continue to be my most popular patterns today!

Since Savanna came out in July 2014, I've created more designs using Frolicking Feet Transitions:

 Regolith

 

Lokum

 

It's a collaboration that is still going strong. I look forward to continuing to work with Done Roving Yarns, and their new sister company, Yarn In The Box, for years to come. Not to mention, that Paula has become one of my very dear friends. It's nice to work with people you really, truly like!

Want to know more about collaborations in this industry that work? Tara Swiger recently has shared some stories:

• Idea Partners and Business Friends
• Collaboration and Self-Publishing