Well hello and welcome to my corner of the internet! I’m Cheryl, a creative soul with a business degree. I run the 6-figure blog, Crochet 365 Knit Too, where I share crochet patterns and tutorials for the beginner to advanced crocheter. Here at Creative Blogger Blueprint, I help and mentor bloggers to achieve their financial dreams by harnessing the power of their creative spirit and laser focused hard work.
We talk a lot here about ROI – Return on Investment. It’s a phrase from my days as an accountant and really what I am all about here. I help bloggers cut through all the noise, all the distractions, to narrow down and focus on what really matters to their business: those activities that bring the best results for their energy. That’s what I’ve done in my business and it’s helped me go from hobby blogging as a side gig while working a full time day job to quitting my job and living my dream life as designer and blogger.
But it wasn’t always that way. I had a lot of bad advice and misconceptions along the way.
In my late 30’s I went through a difficult divorce I didn’t want. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps, went back to college, got an amazing job as an accountant while juggling life as a single mom of a teenager. It wasn’t easy. I was working and studying all the time, trying to be a good mom and dipping my toe into the unfamiliar dating world.
As I finished up my bachelor’s degree and marveled at possibly having free time, I stumbled upon crochet patterns sold on Etsy. I was completely hooked and a light bulb went off. I could design something ONE TIME and sell it multiple times! Brilliant! So I opened an Etsy shop and sold a few patterns here and there.
In my research I learned that the everyday person like me could start a website and actually make money. I closed my Etsy shop with my sights set on a bigger prize.
I’d like to tell you THAT was the moment I had success. But the truth is, I went down a time consuming road of trying many things that did not work. I learned that working your “passion” was important, but your niche needed to be profitable. And when I researched my passion, ‘crochet’, I found that people wanted “free” patterns. I couldn’t reconcile how anything “free” could lead to income. So I assumed.. wrongly, by the way.. that meant that ‘crochet’ was a bad niche.
So I went down other paths.. I had a deal-making website when couponing was popular, then a faith-based website, and several food blogs. When I didn’t get “lucky” — because at the time, I thought “luck” had a LOT to do with success — I quit blogging.
I now know that “luck” has very little to do with success. What does work is good strategy and sustained effort.
Discouraged, I went back to square one and did what I loved. I opened a new crochet Etsy shop to sell my crochet patterns and thought it would be great if I could pay for “date night” now and then. After all, I had a wonderful new husband and was living a nice life in a small little town where I lived and worked.
Now here’s where I come to my biggest mistake of all… I bought the domain for my website Crochet 365 Knit Too but I did nothing with it for over a year. Nothing. It sat there, collecting dust. Because I was so afraid it would be yet another failure. And because I did not act.. I missed opportunities..
Eventually my domain came up for renewal and I decided that maybe a little website might bring some traffic to my little Etsy shop. So I prettied it up, opened the virtual doors, and FINALLY made some really great decisions. A few months later I had one pattern post getting a lot of attention and an email list freebie that resonated with all crocheters.
A year or so after that, we bought our house in the country. And my blog made enough to pay the mortgage payment. Imagine that.
I like to say that blogging is like a snowball… at first when you start it is just a snowflake and it seems like it takes so much to get that first tiny snowball. Sometimes the snow doesn’t even want to stick together properly. But once you have that snowball, you can set it right down and easily roll it into something much bigger.
A successful website works the same way. The right decisions at the right time. Putting your energy efforts into things that actually work. Then, when you start the snowball, it just keeps growing.
Along my journey I’ve mentored other bloggers, showing them my ROI ways. Showing them how to change course in ways that are very impactful. I’ve watched them get approved for ad networks, hone their craft and take charge of their businesses. It’s been a joy to watch their successful online business change their life for the better.
Here at Creative Blogger Blueprint, I help you focus your energy into what works so that you can take your website to the next level.
Welcome aboard!
From there I researched and launched several small websites that went nowhere. You see, the truth is, I got some bad advice. I followed the guidance of a site that