This year I kept comprehensive financial records for the first time. Every Friday morning I sat down and entered every pattern sale, every bit of revenue, and every single expense into a spreadsheet. Out of everything I’ve done since 2005, when I began selling what I sew, this was the best move I’ve made. Seeing financial data every week transformed how I approach my work. And now that the year is complete, I have the benefit of being able to look at my business as a whole and do some real analysis for the very first time.
Abby Glassenberg Design Gross Revenue for 2013
In 2013 I made $25,243.26. On the one hand I feel like, “Wow, that’s amazing! This is a job you invented at a desk in the corner of your bedroom. A job you fit in around everyone else’s schedules. A job you do while also being a stay-at-home mom of three kids, which is really a full-time job in and of itself.” On the other hand, I could cry looking at that number. I work so incredibly hard. Twice as hard as I did at an office job that paid twice this amount and included health insurance. I love being my own boss, but it isn’t easy by any means.
Here’s a breakdown of my income sources this year, and a few things that jump out at me:
Pattern sales make up 50% of my income. Combine them with ebooks, and we’re closer to 60%. Self-publishing is by far the most lucrative thing I do, especially in a year in which I was still working off the advance from a new book. The royalties you see are from The Artful Bird, which came out a long while ago (Jan. 2011). The great thing about this breakdown is that I’m totally in control of my largest income source. I’m not dependent on a publisher or an employer of any kind. Looking forward to this year, you can bet that patterns and ebooks are on my agenda.
Abby Glassenberg Design Expenses for 2013
My total expenses for 2013 were $8,500.06.
One of the biggest benefits of weekly bookkeeping has been the way it’s helped me control my spending. I spent $546.83 this year on art supplies, for example. This includes all fabric, thread, interfacing, marking pens, pins, needles, bobbins, freezer paper, and anything else I might have used to sew something. That’s $45.57 each month and represents serious restraint! Even so, I know I could use more of what I already have and spend less on art supplies in 2014.
Here’s a breakdown of my expenses this year:
I incorporated my business (Abby Glassenberg Design is now an S-Corporation) and that meant some significant legal fees. These made up 17.1% of my expenses this year, but are a one-time thing and won’t occur again.
The “Other Expense” category is primarily the cost of producing the video trailer for my new book, for which I paid $900. I paid for the trailer myself (Lark doesn’t produce video trailers for authors. In fact, as far as I can tell, only Melanie Falick does. Smart woman, that Melanie Falick.)
Here’s the thing: the legal expenses and the video were worth every penny. I am confident that my corporate structure is set up correctly and is the best choice for my family and me legally and financially. And everyone who visits While She Naps can immediately get a sense of who I am and what I do by watching the 2.5-minute trailer. As of today it’s been viewed 2,838 times on Vimeo.
My only other comment about the expense chart is that it’s not cheap to run an online business and earn “passive” income. I have three shops (Etsy, Craftsy, and Big Cartel) and a blog, which means I pay Etsy, PayPal, Big Cartel, Pulley, Stripe, Typepad, Go-Daddy, A-Plus, Podbean, and E-junkie. I couldn’t do it without them, but it gets expensive. If I had a WordPress.org blog I’d save a bundle of money, but to move my blog from Typepad to WordPress is beyond my capability and would be incredibly expensive to hire someone to do. So I’m a bit stuck.
Breakdown of Abby Glassenberg Design Patterns Sold in 2013
I’ll end with this chart. Here you can see a breakdown of how many copies of each of my 35 patterns I sold this year. Keep in mind that some patterns were released mid-year so they haven’t had the same airtime as others. Still, though, there are some great insights to be gleaned.
By far the Lovey Dovey is my best seller, selling more than double the next best-selling pattern. Looking at the top five together, we have Lovey Dovey, Baby Bear, and Animal Rattles (which are all patterns to make baby gifts) and the Caterpillar/Butterfly and the Chick/Egg (which are both reversible toys). Beastie Bags (designed for toddlers), Shark (aimed at boys), Emma the Doll (a machine washable modern doll), and the Octopus (trendy) are all strong sellers. Looking forward, these are the attributes I can aim for when I decide what to design: for babies and toddlers, clever, trendy, and aimed at boys.
I’ll also mention that when I work with Simplicity I show a portfolio of recent work and they select which patterns to license. Thus far they’ve chosen my #1, #2, #4, and #6 best sellers (the Beastie Bags will be released as Simplicty pattern soon). Clearly they know what sells, perhaps better than I do.
Abby Glassenberg Design Net Income for 2013
Let’s do some math!
25,243.26
-8,500.06
$16,743.20 Net Income
A final thought looking at all of this data: I will continue to do what I love most. For example, I love to write this blog, but it produces almost no direct income even though it takes up more than half of my work hours. The Rabbit in a Magic Hat puppet is one of my favorite patterns even though it only sold 13 copies this year. I will continue to create what I love because that’s what gives me joy. It takes years to build a business and this is my first real year. I have faith that over time my joy, coupled with this sort of insight, will lead to a bottom line that won’t make me cry.
One of the biggest changes I’ve already made for 2014 is to switch my bookkeeping method from Excel spreadsheets to Outright. I’m hoping to run reports and create graphs like these on a more regular basis, perhaps monthly, this year.
If you have any questions for me, please leave a comment and I’ll try to shed some more light on what all these numbers mean.
Thank you so much for your support!
melissa q. says
Thank you for this post! Amazing insights here and some serious real talk, as always. It’s great to see a breakdown and encourages me to attempt the weekly thing. I can’t believe how little you spend on art supplies!! I have got to take a closer look at my spending in that area!! It’s nice to start 2014 with a sober look at #’s like this!
Lina says
This is great, thank you so much for writing this post. Really interesting. I bought a Beastie Bag pattern and a Stella the Owl pattern last year – nice to see I’m in good company!
Out of curiosity, did you find that your discount sales worked? I think you did a discount at some point in the fall right? It would be interesting to see if it increased sales and also if it had any effect on which patterns were purchased.
Lisa Clarke says
I love all of this honest talk about numbers. It’s a great sanity-check for those of us who are building similar businesses 🙂
I can see how those numbers might seem disappointing given what others could pay you to do much less, but this is a great first step, and you are clearly learning what you need to learn in order to take it further in 2014!
Emily says
Thanks, this was really interesting insight!
Andrea says
Thank you for this post. It is nice to see some honest talk about numbers from other creative entrepreneurs. I love how clear the charts and graphs make everything, I will have to try some of these myself. I have had several emails in the past year asking me if I sell patterns for my animal designs. Looks like this might be the direction for me to go in 2014! ( which means you will probably make another ebook sale). :). Thanks, Abby, for all that you share here!
Wendy Naples says
You are so brave. I really appreciate all that you put into making this one of the most informative sites out there. It is so encouraging and helpful to see the underbelly of small business. Yes, it’s hard and it’s not a get rich quick kind of thing but it is fulfilling. Great job and wishing you an even bigger year this year. Thanks again.
Heather says
This was a really awesome and eye opening article. Thank you for being so candid with your finances and how you work things… for folks like me who think, “Ah, I’d like to do this”… it really puts the reality of it in perspective.
Your blog IS awesome and I’m glad you love doing it, and will continue with it. It’s been probably the most interesting and informative blog out there when it comes to both blog and business related issues.
Betz says
Thanks for this Abby. Very enlightening! And the charts really put it into perspective. The part that really makes me cry (when I do my own) is not only the adjusted gross income but what’s left of that after taxes. Waah! You’re right, we really do work hard but it’s this scrutiny of the numbers that will hopefully enable us to work smarter.
I’d like to look at my own income pie chart and overlay a time/effort chart. For example, if something takes 40% of my time but only yields 10% of my income, that’s a problem. Sometimes it’s hard to see the direct correlation (i.e.: the direct revenue from your blog is a small percent but it’s not apparent how much your blog traffic has translated to sales) but it’s worth analyzing.
Regardless, you’ve had an amazing year and have grown in so many ways. Keep up the good work!
Betz
Katy says
Do you know, I don’t think I know of anyone else who would give this kind of breakdown, and yet it’s invaluable to those of us trying to more more into the craft market and potentially away from an office job. Thanks for you candidness.
Katy says
Oh, and I meant to say, have you thought of skills trading with someone to get your blog moved, for example? I’ve done that twice this year, and got some great trades.
Sara says
I find it so generous and open of you to share all this. It is absolutely fascinating information. At the moment I have the tiniest of businesses which has barely got off the ground (fright has a lot to do with it). There are so many things to do and decisions to be made. Reading info like this on your blog is both helpful and inspiring. There is nothing disappointing about your figures – you show that you have an independent working business which supports itself and is actually in my book a liveable wage and many people earn less. I am personally very encouraged by your success. However, I know you didn’t just dream it, you worked it.
I can imagine how hard you have worked to have achieved so much. I have days where I work flat out, like 9-10 hours straight with no breaks at all (rather silly!) and others where it is hard to find any time at all. Everything takes so long, which is of course not time effective. This is the year that I plan properly and put those plans into action.
It is a shame you cannot move your blog over, I had a similar thought to Katy about trading skills. Or does it have to be WordPress? There are free websites like weebly where you can run carts from either free or purchased which give you more options. I am sure you will have covered all the options suitable for yourself anyway. Good luck for 2014 I wish your business continued success.
Pam says
Fascinating and I’m sure extremely valuable to many of your readers. Thank you for sharing!
Victoria says
WOW! Thanks so much for sharing. I hope you know how much your insights, thoughts and talents are admired and cherished. Best of luck in 2014! I wish you all the success and happiness in the world. Thanks again!
Larissa says
I need to channel you so that I can come up with a realistic portrait of my own business. I’m afraid to since this will mean that I will know exactly how much money I spend on supplies. LOL. This is such a great analysis and I totally relate to the momentary urges to cry. Especially since you forgot to mention the huge chunk taken by the Tax Man. Obviously your hard work and attention to the business end is really paying off. If you want to cut blogging expenses, may I suggest Blogger? It’s free! And so far I’ve had a great experience with it.
Abby Glassenberg says
Taxes this year were $456.00, or 5.4% of my expenses.
Not buying pretty fabric is a HUGE issue for me!
I wish it was easy to switch off of Typepad to Blogger or any other blog hosting platform, but unfortunately because Typepad hosts all of the images for every post, and I’ve been posting 3-4 times/week for nearly 9 years now, it is incredibly labor intensive to move. One day…
Abby Glassenberg says
Thank you and happy new year, Victoria!
Abby Glassenberg says
Thank you, Pam!
Abby Glassenberg says
Things sure do take a lot of time, Sara! It can be very frustrating. One of the things I like best about running an online business is how easy it is to change mid-stream. If something isn’t working the way you’d like, you can move to another service provider, for example. Making decisions is much easier when you know that it doesn’t have to be set in stone. There are very few year-long contracts, for example. Most things are month-to-month.
Abby Glassenberg says
I will tell you that it was scary. I woke up in the middle of the night last night, worrying about posting real numbers.
Abby Glassenberg says
I love skills trades. I’ve also done them with much success. I’m afraid that moving 9 years worth of blog posts and images is more than I could ask from someone. I’ve looked into it and moving off of Typepad is much harder than it might seem.
Abby Glassenberg says
It’s very difficult to know the correlation between the time I spend on my blog and sales. Same thing goes for the podcast and for certain patterns that are just fun, even if they’re not best sellers. I’ve come the conclusion that to a certain degree I’m going to follow my own joy.
Abby Glassenberg says
Thank you, Heather. That means a tremendous amount to me.
Abby Glassenberg says
It is so incredibly fulfilling. I love it every single day. Thank you for your kind words, Wendy.
Abby Glassenberg says
I hope you take the plunge into selling patterns, Andrea! It’s been a terrific move for me.
Abby Glassenberg says
Hi Lina,
The discount over Black Friday/ Cyber Monday was a huge success. I sold a ton of patterns and ebooks that weekend. Unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to easily sort my sales data by month like that, but I will be able to in 2014 and hopefully will report on it more regularly on the blog. Thank you for your question.
Abby Glassenberg says
Art supplies are so tempting! It’s a daily struggle not to buy stuff.
When we chatted on the phone last year, Melissa, I told you how much I make. That was one of the first conversations in which I was open about my income and, in a way, led to this post. So thank you!
Rachel Siegel says
Thank you for doing it anyway. It’s inspirational and real (and brave)!
The Sewphist says
I think that if the costs of moving your blog (paying someone to do it is probably cheaper in the long run than mucking around trying to work out how to do it yourself – although once you get to the WordPress side of things it is easy, and then the extra time spent learning how to use a new platform) outweigh the benefits (money saved) then it’s quite ok to say “I’m happy with this expense”.
I’ve got my plan in place to be looking at my income and outgoings on a much more regular basis (at least once a month, instead of in a mad panic when my tax return is due). From what you’ve shown here it looks to be a great way of keeping track of what is and isn’t working. I’ve already worked out where I want to focus on for developing a residual income stream, and now I need to do the work to get there!
Jodie says
Abby, I groaned out loud when you mentioned how hard you work. I know exactly what you mean. When the numbers finally get crunched it is so hard to justify the ” working all the time” that we small business people do, against that number. my numbers are in the same ball park as your but my materials costs are far far higher ( something I could do better at). Even though I do bookwork and have vague ideas of it all most of the time, I have never broken it all down the way you have. perhaps when I have had a full financial year of PDF sales I’ll be able to see the difference between sales in PDF and sales to shops. I think this blog post is invaluable to anyone in this business or thinking of starting. I have a list of friends I’ll be sending over right away.
Betz says
Absolutely! There are definitely reasons to spend time on things that don’t convert to direct revenue, and joy is one of them. That’s one of the reasons we are out own bosses! Plus I am a firm believer in the “long tail effect”. Some efforts pan out over time and we have to be patient. 🙂
Jodie says
Ooops, but yes on the other hand even without the business attachment I would still want to go into my sewing room everyday and make things that make me smile so I am not complaining. this coming year I am working one day less at my real job ( now 3 days a week) so it will be interesting to figure out where to best appply that extra time.
Tara says
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post! I find it almost impossible to find out this kind of information about creative businesses and your honesty and openness is utterly refreshing. Do you mind if I share it on a few social media platforms and my blog?
Mari says
Thank you for posting this! I just started a PDF pattern company this year and it was really helpful to see your breakdown of things. It was a great reality check of where I am and where I have to go.
I had Kim from http://www.pixelovely.com switch my wordpress.com blog over to a self-hosted wordpress blog and she did a great job. Of course, I didn’t have nine years of posts to move over! I wonder if you could set up an e-commerce site on wordpress and have that link directly to your current blog? It would be a lot cheaper than moving everything over. Plus, the sales fees on a wordpress e-commerce site are much cheaper than on Etsy, which is why I decided not to set up an Etsy shop at all.
Janet says
Hi Abby, I wanted to let you know that I moved my personal blog from Typepad to Blogger http://secretsuburban.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/moving-from-typepad-to-blogger.html and although I don’t blog much right now, it was the best thing I could have done. I have read that there are ways to move the images across but I worked at it half an hour each night for a couple of months. I left the typepad blog up until everything was done.
I am working mostly with WordPress.org now but still love Blogger – each theme is responsive and it is easy to make it look good. But now I love WordPress too!
Thank you for your business posts. I had my first craft market season last year and it was an eye opener. I love making but I can see that I will need to come up with something else as well. I’m just beginning and I’m not sure yet what my path will be but I really appreciate that you are encouraging but don’t sugar coat the craft business!
Carolyn Mackin says
Abby you are such a brave and generous woman. I am continuously wowed by you. Thank you for this insightful and honest post. I really need to be better about the business side of things…
lisa s says
so so cool that you shared all this “data” Abby. I’m going to share this with my students. it’s seriously so great !!
happy new year
Karen @ Pieces of Contentment says
This is encouraging as well as discouraging. In perspective as a first year it’s looking promising for the future. Thank you for sharing the reality of such business efforts. Sometimes I hear of bloggers making lots of money – it must be through their sponsorships as the ones I’m thinking of don’t sell any product.
Abby Glassenberg says
Of course, Tara! Thank you for asking.
Abby Glassenberg says
You bring up a really key issue here, Karen. I don’t do any sponsored posts on my blog. I turn away marketing specialists offering me free products in exchange for reviews, and all sorts of sponsored post asks, even when they pay actual money. The only product I take for free are craft books sent to me by authors and publishers for review. I feel strongly that this blog remain independent, even if it means I make less money.
Sarah @ Berry Barn Designs says
Bravo for your transparency! (And for seriously buckling down and committing to crunching numbers – the part that’s a lot less fun than creating!) As many have mentioned, it’s both inspiring and discouraging for those of us just starting out, but such a wonderful tool to be able to see what a successful business honestly looks like. Thank you so much for sharing! Your blog is such an amazing tool for your readers.
Erin says
Thank you so so much for this post! I’m sure it’s scary to share this much information, but just know that it is so appreciated by many, I’m sure.
I started a small etsy shop last fall and also did a craft show. (I’m also a full-time stay-at-home mom to a baby and a preschooler, fitting work in those scraps of time moms get.)
I worked so hard for several months and have been very frugal in my start up costs. My profit for 2013? $24. Ha. And when I do the taxes, that’s probably going to end up a negative number. I should probably be upset over this, but it’s been so satisfying finally realizing what I’m meant to do, and I’m learning as I go.
I’m going to take your advice about keeping a cap on art supply shopping and also doing a weekly financial check-in (versus whenever I remember to do it).
I have one question about a slice of your pie chart, if you care to answer. (If not, that’s ok too.) What is “resale goods”?
Again, thanks for your candor! Your blog is fantastic!
Beth says
Abby – Thanks for this post! I read your blog regularly and love it! It is great to see such honesty on this topic. While I don’t craft for full time work (yet…a girl can dream!) I do want to keep better track of the money I make vs spend. I especially liked seeing which patterns sold better. Lists and graphs are great ways to see what is working well and what is not working as well.
Thanks!
Beth
Abby Glassenberg says
Hi Erin,
I buy certain goods wholesale and resell them retail in my online shops: squeakers, rattle inserts, keychain clips, music buttons, and hemostats. I also buy copies of both of my books from the publisher’s at wholesale and then resell them retail in my shops. That’s what “Resale Goods” is all about!
Abby Glassenberg says
Don’t be discouraged. It just take time to grow, that’s all. Figuring out what sells, what’s worth spending money on, and how much it really costs to run a creative business… these are not easy or obvious questions. That’s why I wanted to post real numbers. Here’s what my business looks like from the inside right at this moment.
Abby Glassenberg says
That’s really awesome, Lisa! Happy new year to you! I love following your latest shows on Twitter, and I still have the piece you gave to me during our trade all those years back. It hangs in my studio!
Abby Glassenberg says
Wow. You did it! I’m amazed. I’m going to read your post. Being on Typepad is ridiculous at this point, but I seriously didn’t think it was possible to move. Thank you!
Kim says
wow thank you Abby, for sharing all this info with us in so many different ways. Very interesting too see the different figures, so of the most popular items are not what I thought they would be. But working in retail has shown me that even though you think you know how your customer base will react, they often surprise you. Thanks again and Happy 2014 🙂
Larissa says
Yikes, I did some quick research and I’m sorry that Typepad has made it such a huge pain to move your blog images along with your blog! Yikes! I just did a test post out of curiosity, and I can right click on one of your images (I chose a recent one of your pig softie) and just paste it within a new post on blogger. Soooooo in theory if you moved all the text with Typepad’s export feature, you could at least copy/paste the images as you go back and forth from one Typepad window to another open blogger window. Clunky still for sure but that way the transfer could be done a few posts at a time in an organized manner and no looking up or searching for images.
I’m curious about your low tax rate! That’s much less than I thought. I’m not the one who does the taxes in our family.
RLC says
I think you are incredibly brave to share this information openly and I appreciate your candor about numbers. I would be curious about the time it takes to develop a pattern and then how much your time is worth. That is what has always been difficult for me with my art. I don’t make any money from it, but I often am struck by the false premise that time has little or no value.
So I guess my question would be, how does your time commitment factor into your crafting business?
Thank you, again, for your wonderful blog.
Abby Glassenberg says
I had no idea how well the Lovey Dovey would do. I just thought of it one night and made a bunch of variations. It’s become my absolute best-seller and continues to sell every day.
I wonder which patterns you predicted would be successful?
Abby Glassenberg says
I’m also not the person who does that taxes in my family (as I’ve mentioned before, I’m married to a finance guy.) The taxes I’ve listed here, and referred to in the comment above, are just business taxes that I pay the state for maintaining a business. Income taxes are a different thing. Because I set my business up as an S-Corp. it works a bit differently. From what I understand, I personally own 100% of the shares in the business. The income tax gets rolled up into my household’s overall income tax bill. It’s complicated, but I chose an S-Corp. over an LLC partially for this reason.
Abby Glassenberg says
That’s a really common question. I don’t think of things this way. There is no hourly wage or anything like that. I literally work in tiny snippets of time, all the time. For example, right now we just got back from Target on a Sunday afternoon. The baby is having a snack and the big kids are putting away their new clothes and I’m writing this comment. I have about two minutes.
I can design and produce a new pattern in about three weeks, on average. I just choose not to record the total amount of time and try to earn a specific wage per hour. That just doesn’t work for me. Instead it’s a long view of how things are doing.
Abby Glassenberg says
Carolyn, If you ever want to come over for an art business chat, I’d love it! I’m not sure how many of the members of our artist group in town are interested in business-related issues, but that might be fun, too.
Emily says
Thank you Abby for your being so open in sharing with your readers, not only in this post but in your blog in general. So many business blogs seem to be all style and no substance and I really appreciate the insight and experiences you share. It really helps to hear real-world stories, especially from someone so open, positive and encouraging as yourself. Keep up the excellent work!!
Jeifner says
Thank you for sharing so much of your business insights and experiences, it’s phenomenal. I was wondering about your legal process. I’m always curious how people find professional help. How did you go about choosing your lawyer: Someone you know, friend of a friend, research into who’s an expert in what you want done? I always wonder how people choose.
Abby Glassenberg says
Great question, Jeifner. I’m going to have an interesting post here about copyright law and hiring a lawyer in a few weeks so look out for that.
The lawyer I hired to help me incorporate my business is the same lawyer my husband and I used to help us write our wills, sell our condo and buy the house we now live in. He also looked over my book contracts to be sure they were in my best interest (I don’t have an agent and this was much cheaper than hiring one). He has a small practice with different specialties so it’s a great resource for us. Not cheap…but totally worth it.
Larissa says
Wow, the advantages of being married to a financier! I’m confused just reading what you wrote. LOL. We are trying to do better about keeping track of my expenses for deductions and so forth. It’s a process!
Deanna @sewmccool says
Hi Abby,
You posted this on the same day I posted a blog post about starting a blog from scratch and seeing if I can build blog income (http://www.sewmccool.com/making-money-with-a-craft-blog/). A couple of years ago I sold a full-time income’s worth of PDF ebooks, mostly about ribbon crafting and making bows. Since that income has seen a drastic slide, I wanted to diversify and try blogging in addition to the ebooks. I landed a book contract this year and even with the advance money (paid in chunks), I, like you, kind of want to cry when I look over how much time I’ve spent vs. how much money I’ve made.
That being said – I made a change from blogger to WordPress.org and need to add my ebooks on my wordpress site still. But the women I mentioned in my post (one who did the design and the other who did the blog migration) were reasonably priced and both did good work – I paid a little more than $650 between the two. Hoping it will save me in the long run.
Jocelyn says
Thank you for being so candid and sharing all this wonderful information with us. It is definitely helpful for those of us also trying to make our way in a small craft business.
I know you can’t statistically see how your blog is bringing you income but I know that I originally found you on your blog and have bought a caterpillar/butterfly pattern and also your book. I would never have purchased either one if I hadn’t been following your blog. I’m sure many others are the same way. You still would have sold a lot of patterns and books but probably not nearly as many without the word getting out so well from your blog.
I was wondering about moving your blog to wordpress. I have a wordpress blog and have seen them talk about how they try and make it very easy for people to move their blogs over to them. I am sure you have done extensive searching and therefore know way more about it than me but I did a quick search and it did mention that uploaded photos don’t get moved but you could request that. Here’s the link and the wording was at the bottom of the article. http://help.typepad.com/typepad_to_wordpress.html
there was this as well…
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/how-do-i-move-my-blog-from-typepad-to-wordpress
I’m sure it’s not that easy, but maybe there is a way! I’ve enjoyed using wordpress and have been very impressed by the help I’ve gotten from their “happiness engineers”. They are quick to answer any question. Good luck!!
Nancy R says
This post is brave of you. I am not in a craft business but enjoy reading blogs that are and yours is very informative. I glanced through the comments you have received, so don’t know if this was mentioned. When you are working from home versus working for someone else or out of the home you also need to take into account the money you save–commuting and parking costs, costs of daycare/after school care for your children, high end clothing depending on your job but there are still clothing costs for most jobs such as comfortable shoes for standing in all day, for some people cost of eating out at lunch, etc. I do realize one of the benefits that you miss is health insurance. Have you looked into any co-ops that may help decrease this? Alumini groups or small business groups may help (I am in Canada so don’t know this ins and outs for other countries).
Working at something you love is priceless.
Abby Glassenberg says
Fortunately, my husband’s job provides us with great health insurance. You are so right regarding the other costs saved by not working outside the home. When I left the traditional workforce I was a middle school teacher earning $48K/year. It didn’t make financial sense to go back to work and pay someone else nearly my entire salary to care for my kids, while I was away caring for other people’s kids. I feel very lucky that I was able to start a home-based business that I love and still be a stay-at-home mom. It’s the best of both worlds, even if I’m not getting rich from it!
Abby Glassenberg says
Hi Jocelyn,
Knowing that you found me through my blog, and then became a customer of a pattern and one of my books, is really wonderful news. This is the kind of data that I am not able to collect, so it’s great to hear anecdotally that the work I do on my blog does in fact build a customer base. Thank you!
I’m going to continue to research exporting my blog to WordPress. Although Typepad claims in their help section that it’s an easy process, I have learned to be suspect their claims. Their help section also says you can host a podcast here, but after months of chasing them down to tell me the truth, it turns out you can’t. So I’m not sure that it’s as easy as they say it is.
Abby Glassenberg says
Deanna, I’m totally enthralled by your experiment in making money through a new craft blog. Amazing. I’ll be following closely this year!
Jocelyn says
Sorry that Typepad hasn’t been as user friendly as they claim to be. That would be frustrating.
Maybe one way to collect data on how people found you, whether through your blog, etsy shop, or somewhere else, and then if that turned to sales would be to make a survey for people to fill out. I’ve filled out similar things on other blogs when they are looking to find out the demographics of who is reading it and what content they want. I can’t remember if you done one before for on here. I remember when you did phone surveys but can’t remember if you later did a written one.
Sharon says
Thanks for sharing Abby, you are truly really helpful and I think what you have earned is amazing as I know how hard it is to make money from crafting. I’ve tried market stalls and online shops before and hardly made a profit at all, which is why I am looking to sell patterns now. I also bought an ebook from you after reading your blog for a few weeks, so that is another sale you made from your blog. Thanks again.
Ruth says
Absolutely fascinating to see real numbers, and very brave of you to share. Like everyone else, I am both encouraged and horrified by the numbers – roughly in equal amounts!
I too found you through the blog rather than Etsy, and I bought the chick and egg pattern, even though I could guess how to construct it, simply because it was such a simple yet clever idea (I wish I’d thought of it!). I also first heard about your book through the blog, and subsequently bought that too.
One way you could get some insight into the indirect income from the blog is if you can split your sales between those from Etsy and those from the blog. While it’s not a particularly precise tool, it might be useful for an overview, especially for tracking changes from one year to the next.
As you say, money’s not the only reason for blogging, but it might give you the motivation to keep going on those days when nothing seems worthwhile!
Abby Glassenberg says
That’s a great suggestion, Ruth. I just set up my Big Cartel shop here on the blog a few months ago so next year we’ll have real numbers.
Gail McKay says
Abby: Thank you for all your openness which is inspirational and appreciated by those of us who are also trying to make a business from our creative work. I have been self-employed all my life, but mostly in service areas, (I was a puppeteer and an enrichment teacher for many years) and now I am turning it into a product business. Your tips and insights have pushed me along the way in a market that is full and very new to me. I know there is always room for each of us in our vast world! Your sharing has given me insight and motivation, and for that, I am so thankful. Prosperity to you, and to all of us who choose to make our own way in this world. Thank you. Gail
Hannah says
Thanks so much for writing this! I found it very interesting and eye opening.
Andrea says
Just to put a number on it, moving off Typepad to your own self hosted WordPress install could cost around $3000. Or less, depending on if you got a redesign (the pricey part). You may be able to consolidate some of your other expenses by doing so. It might be a trade-off in the short term.
And there are plugin to host your own shop for digital downloads right in the site – eliminating big cartel and ejunkie right off the bat.
(WordPress dev here, now moving into publishing my own patterns. YES I got the ebook! 😀 No, I no longer do WP work, just passing on my knowledge. )
cucicucicoo says
What an amazing post this is. I’ve never seen anyone be so open and precise about breaking down all the money things, even though it’s what so many people wonder about. This is incredibly useful for me and I thank you for putting all of this information down! 🙂 Lisa
Voie de Vie says
I really appreciate your courage and openness in posting this. The thingss that resonated with me: you are in it for the long haul (it took you 5 years before you did the weekly record keeping thing); you pay attention to the results, yet will still stay true to yourself and create what you enjoy; and the main sources of your income you control.
Much continued success! You’ve done a lot of us a great service.
Angel says
I know my comment is now at the bottom and may not get read, but I would like to say that just seeing your income report has really changed the way I will look for patterns. Usually I look long and hard for a free legitimate pattern to use, but after see the hard work that is put into your efforts I can assure you that it will not hurt me to pay about 5 bucks to buy an indie pattern and help someone out. Thank you for this eye opening post. I was on the fence about purchasing you ebook about making the family of dolls and was afraid I would waste my money on something I don’t have the skills for but I will be purchasing this today. Thank you
Abby Glassenberg says
That’s so interesting, Angel. I really didn’t think about this post changing the perspective of a consumer of patterns. That’s really great to hear! Indie pattern designers do work really hard and it’s worth supporting their efforts by purchasing a pattern (I least I think it is!). Thank you so much for sharing this.
Elaine says
This is great insight. Thanks so much for sharing this detailed report as well as the “Outright” post you did. So for tax purposes, you use the outright? How is that part determined? I especially love the part where you “will continue to do what you love and brings you joy.” That gives what you do purpose which translates into your lovely work.
Abby Glassenberg says
I actually decided not to use Outright, Elaine. I have an Excel spreadsheet set up that I still use for weekly bookkeeping and to figure out income for tax purposes. Does that answer your question? Feel free to email me if you’d like!
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