Treehouse 2024 Wrapped

I thought it would be fun to take a candid look at how my first year (read: six months, since I only really got rolling in June) with this craft business went. I love to look at actual numbers whenever possible — otherwise, I fall back on the usual “it was a lot of fun!” and “I learned a lot!” Both of these things are true, but they don’t necessarily quantify very well the actual reality of running a small business, which is a hobby unto itself in addition to knitting and basketry.

If anyone is looking to launch a craft business of their own and is seeking some information on how this year really went with dollars and cents, I’m happy to share those figures so you can get an idea of what you might be getting into as a side hustle! Shoot me an email: my contact information is at the bottom of this page. For the sake of this blog, I’m going to keep things a little more general.

Income:

I attended a total of four craft shows or markets (two of the Mayville Saturday Evening Markets in July and August, plus the Peterson Farm Swedish Open House and the Mayville Holiday Market, both in December), and all of these combined made up about 31% of my total income for 2024.

I also sold online, shipping items all over the United States, plus one special package to Canada (international shipping lesson learned there!). Online sales made up about 63% of my total income for the year.

I do a small amount of wholesale for dish cloths, which makes up the remaining 6%.

Expenses:

My single biggest expense is my website, which includes hosting fees plus the domain name. I do believe I can likely drop down a tier in web hosting for 2025, which will reduce this expense slightly.

After web hosting, my next biggest expense was in supplies, including raffia for baskets as well as yarn. I did score a deal on yarn by buying out a friend’s collection, which was very generous of her! I anticipate that this expense will be bigger in 2025 as I’m knitting my way through what I’ve got on hand pretty quickly.

Rounding out other areas of expense were upgrades to my market display: I’m using a lot of basics that we already owned, including a camp chair, folding table and tablecloth, but I made investments in additional display items such as signage, crates, and of course, fresh flowers — I think that adds a nice touch, and benefits another small local business! I’m planning further investment in this area in 2025.

Most popular items:

The stitched baskets proved to be my most popular make of 2024! This category included both 100% raffia baskets as well as corn husk/raffia mixed baskets. I’ve got some new ideas for baskets in 2025, so watch this space!

In the knit category, scarves and shawls were very popular, especially triangle shawls. I am planning to create more of these, as I really enjoy making them!

My sincerest thanks to all of my customers in 2024: thank you for your faith in my makes and your support of my new venture! Here’s to 2025.