We had the good fortune of connecting with Chrysta Silver and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Chrysta, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?
How to know whether to keep going or to give up– that’s a question in the minds of many small business owners I’ve connected with. For Threadiful, I know that right now is the time to keep going and to push even harder.
It’s a scary thing– to start a new business. Whether that’s because you will need to keep working while launching your venture, which can be pretty exhausting, or because you’re now considering leaving your full-time job, which can be a considerable risk. I’ve now done both of those things, and it is, in fact, scary.
There have been countless times when I’ve thought to myself that I should give up and find a “real” job. Times where I haven’t made any money, heck, where I’ve owed money. Times when I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, I can’t quite see what success looks like. However, there have also been times that have shown me I need to hold on a little longer.
I’ve read I don’t know how many self-help books, business and copywriting books, books on the art of persuasion, and how to “get scrappy.” All of those books have the same central theme– they ask you to look within yourself and truly visualize what success looks like to you and for your business. For me personally, I want a career where I can be happy and not feel like another cog in the system; I want a life where I can be free and have time for the hobbies and people I enjoy. That’s why working for myself and on Threadiful works for me; I call the shots.
Success for Threadiful looks a little different. I want Threadiful to grow and to build a following, really a community, of crocheters. I want the site to be a crocheter’s dream, a one-stop shop for crochet patterns, inspiration, learning, references, and a place to connect with other crocheters. I began Threadiful in 2019, which stagnated until the winter of 2020 when one of my Pinterest pins went viral. Three million people saw my blog post! That was one of those days that assured me that Threadiful could grow to be everything I had envisioned, that my market was there.
Fast forward to now, I’m constantly evaluating current crochet trends, and each day there are more and more beginner crocheters, which tells me now is the time to keep going.
Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
A few years ago, I was hunting for a new hobby; I had recently switched careers from the military to regular office work and was looking for something fulfilling. Leaving the military is a whole other story, but the biggest thing I noticed after leaving was all the free time I had each day. I worked in an office from 8-5, but there wasn’t much going on in my life outside of that.
I was on Pinterest one day and saw a YouTube crochet tutorial where this woman walked you through how to make a beanie. I was intrigued, and as a lifelong crafter, I had yarn, and I still had a few crochet hooks from when I tried to teach myself years before. I stayed up all night making that beanie. Looking back, that beanie was a hot mess; many mistakes were made. But I made a beanie, and that was all it took to get addicted.
I spent weeks creating Pinterest boards and scrolling through YouTube to learn everything I could. It didn’t take long for me to catch on and start feeling comfortable as a crocheter. I kept thinking back to those crappy tutorials and videos, though. There was a video teaching the most round-about way to make a slip knot, and I told myself, “it doesn’t have to be this hard.”
I started recording myself crocheting, and I began creating my own crochet tutorials. I worked to fill that gap and to show other people that crochet doesn’t have to be complicated and that there’s more to it than doilies and grandma square blankets. I love teaching other crocheters all of the tips and tricks and even hacks I’ve learned along the way.
There have been so many ups and downs to Threadiful; I’ve had pins go viral and my website ads shut off in the same month, and I’ve even had a web hosting service try and steal my website. Through all of the ups and downs, I’ve had the opportunity to learn so much more than I ever thought possible. For instance, I wanted to drive traffic to my site to earn ad revenue. Well, that’s not something most people intuitively know how to do; I didn’t. I’ve had to take the time to learn about how Google works and what SEO is. I’ve taken numerous online classes and LinkedIn Learning courses. Once I finally caved and took time away from crocheting to build a knowledge base around websites and business, the challenges didn’t seem so scary anymore.
That’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned, to be successful, whatever that looks like for you, you have to take the time for personal and professional growth–there’s always more to learn.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Two of my favorite places in town are next to each other, the Coffee Exchange and COATI. The Coffee Exchange is such a great place for breakfast, brunch, or just coffee. I love working or reading in there, and the vibe is always so friendly and warm. COATI is a place I like to show people from out of town because there are so many options to choose from as far as food goes, but they also have multiple bars and cool places to hang out throughout. Outside of restaurants, I also love Memorial park, and I’m currently excited for this year’s balloon festival out there.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
One person that deserves a shoutout is my boyfriend, Bret. He is a business owner himself, and he has helped me along this journey in so many ways. He helps me brainstorm pattern ideas and marketing campaigns and even designed my first website. He is Threadiful’s number one fan.
Website: https://www.threadiful.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threadifulbychrysta/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystasilver/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrystacrochets
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/threadiful
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNZSwiLvEeLJfNEM1GRow9w