We recently connected with Stacy Tucker and have shared our conversation below.
Stacy, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
To keep my creativity alive, I watch others in my field and try emulate them or use parts of their style and make it my own. I do a great deal of research on the types of products I want to sell and use that research to create the kinds of items that my set audience likes to purchase. I found my niche in 2022 and have been building on it ever since.
My customers are also my inspiration to create, they give me ideas on what they like and I find the materials and create that item for them. The more popular the item the more my creativity flows to build on that item.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m a crafter at heart. I always crafted one way or another since I was a child. My mother always bought us kids crafting kits, looms, etc. I learned to make loom rugs, potholders, beaded bracelets when I was child. When I became an adult I made crafts to sell at craft shows including wreaths, wooden clocks and candlestick holders. Later I learned to crochet when I was around 20 years old and I found that I really liked it.
I mostly crochet for family and friends, but when I learned to knit in 2007, I was opened up to a whole new world. When people started commissioning me to knit or crochet items for them, a friend suggested I open an online shop on Etsy. In 2010 my Knitter Mama Etsy shop was created, I sold online as well as in person at craft shows, farmers’ markets and festivals.
I did that right up until COVID hit in 2020. When everything shut down, I wasn’t doing shows any longer and I didn’t have a big presence online because I used the shows to interact with my customers. When that stopped I didn’t know how to connect online. So I put my Etsy shop on vacation until I could come up with a new strategy. In the mean time, I took online sewing classes and I made cloth masks for family and friends. Learning to sew like my mother and grandmother before me gave me a real sense of accomplishment because my mother encouraged all of us girls to learn this skill and I really didn’t feel I had any use for it. I’m glad I decided to learn to sew because it gave me new ideas for my shop and new branding.
While in COVID lock-down I researched about online marketing and specifically how to market my Etsy shop online through social media. In 2021 I created an Instagram account and decided to change my branding, to prepare me to re-launch my Etsy shop in 2022.
In August 2022, I reopened my shop and added a whole new line of products that I had never before tried to sell – accessories/notions for knitters and crocheters and more digital items. I still sell hand-knitted accessories, but my main products are accessories knitters use such as bags and pouches, yarn cozies (yarn socks), stitch markers, cute crochet tape measures, chain row counters, etc. Using what I learned in my research and with my new branding there was an immediate change in my sales. It is a continuous process and I’m still learning but I’m very happy with the changes I’ve made and the new connections I’m making with my customers.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back, I think the three qualities that were most impactful in my journey, was my ability to research how to grow an online business, my willingness to pivot my direction, and learning from my mistakes. I think COVID really made everyone have to take a step back and take stock on what was important for their business during that time.
What I learned was that I needed to refocus on what I wanted from my business and how much effort I was going to put into it. When I put my Etsy shop on vacation for 2 years during COVID lockdown, I researched and learned more about social media presence, content, algorithms, and analytics. I decided during this time to make a plan for the future of my business. I changed my branding and reopened my shop using the skills I learned and realized after 10 years doing this business as a side hustle that it was something that I really enjoyed and I wanted to some day do this full-time. So I made new goals and am working on these goals to achieve the ultimate goal of being able to do this full-time.
I think everyone should research their market, focus on reaching their own audience and not try to mimic what others are doing – being genuine is what your customers are looking for when they are shopping or trying out a new business. Set achievable goals and write down the actions steps you are going to take to reach those goals. Know what your ultimate goal/desire is before you start up a business, keep that goal in mind as you build your business.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Yes, I am looking for folks to partner or collaborate with. The sort of folks I am looking for are knitters and crocheters who have built their brand and would be willing to work with a small business to help build influence in the fiber community. Folks who will work with me to develop products that others in the fiber community would be interested in buying. Help me prove my brand is trustworthy, that my products are well-made and that they would use them when they are creating their masterpieces.
I can be reached at stacytucker@knittermama.com, on my social media pages including Instagram @knittermama2010 and Tik Tok @knittermama.
Contact Info:
- Website: knittermama.esty.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knittermama2010/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KnitterMama
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Knitter_Mama
Image Credits
Stacy Tucker
