FAQs About My at Home Side Hustle and How I Use the Cricut

This will answer all of the questions you have about saving money and time using a Cricut for your side hustle whether you’re selling Cricut crafts or not.

First, let me introduce myself to those of you that don’t know me. A lot of my readers here know I craft, but you might not know I used to make the majority of my money as a small business by selling on Etsy.

What products do you sell for your side-hustle?

So what do I sell? Well, I don’t explicitly sell Cricut crafts, although I do have a few of those in my store. A lot of what I sell is my tie dye! I make naturally dyed products from home and use them for packaging for those items a lot.  Why did you start a side hustle?

Let’s get a bit personal here: I am a huge advocate for mental health because I live it every day. I’ve got bipolar disorder which means keeping a steady job is pretty hard. My energy levels fluctuate from extremely manic to depressive within days of each other when big events happen, which happens a lot. After losing my job for the 4th time in a row, I started really trying to make my small business my main source of income. Having the flexibility to have a side hustle at home with a mental health condition, and two small children has really helped me as a friend, mom, and wife.

What platform do you use to sell your products?

Etsy is my main source of sales. Their built-in SEO algorithms help me sell because people aren’t explicitly searching for my company name (YET!!) Back in the pre-covid days I also would do little events which was a lot of fun. Putting a face behind the products and showing people your process is super important for a DIY business. You need to explain why you’re better than Target. No simple task. But worth it.

How Long Have You Been Selling?

I am in year 3 of selling products. Year 4 of having a blog/small business but I started selling my tie-dye back in 2017.

This is the first product I ever listed. An indigo-dyed baby swaddle.

What Types of Crafts Have You Sold?

Lots of things. When I DIY things and post them to my Instagram or blog I will often get messages saying “YOU NEED TO SELL THAT!” So sometimes I do if it’s simple and cost-efficient to manufacture. I’ve sold hand-sewn baby items, premade clothing that I tie-dyed, home decor, scrunchies, graphic tees/sweatshirts, and now masks (both tie-dyed and customized with my Cricut,)

Here is my top seller right now:

What Challenges Have You Had as a Small Business Owner?

Thanks for asking. Most don’t ask this question! The small businesses you see are successful because you’re seeing them. What you don’t see is the thousands that aren’t because they aren’t quite successful yet. A lot of the struggle is pushing through all the failures. That sounds cliche but it’s true.

I have so much inventory at my house now because most of what I have offered to sell has not sold. Even when people tell me they’d buy a big blanket, it didn’t mean they would. So I invested time and money into creating a lot of things that are just gathering dust. I’ve now learned to list things for sale after I’ve created just a couple of things to see how they do. I never invest a ton in new products. Even if it seems there is a lot of interest, it might not actually happen.

Pricing has also been a struggle for me because I don’t want to be out-priced by Target and Walmart. Guess what. You will be. You cannot compete with those places because they buy in bulk so their product cost is way less. They also don’t pay as much for labor because it’s all mass-produced. I had to switch my mindset to realize what I was offering, even though it looked like something you might buy at Old Navy, was not the same as what you are buying at Old Navy. It was handmade in someone’s home. That is worth a markup to people who care to support you.

How Do You Use the Cricut For Your Side Hustle?

I use my Cricut for everything in my daily life if I’m being quite honest, so it was a pretty obvious shift to using it for my small business. But if you haven’t used the Cricut much in your everyday life you might be curious how something that helps with scrapbooking could help you out with a side hustle too.

The main way I utilize the machine is for packaging. Packaging is SO IMPORTANT. It shows that you care about your product. It makes beautiful products even prettier. My current favorite thing to do is to make little stickers using Sticker Paper to put on each mask. I love the way it makes them look.

Another way I have used my Cricut machine is by selling products with customized sayings, words, or pictures. Cricut gives you a very professional-looking product so I feel really good about selling the products made by my Cricut. My customized masks and sweaters are my current top sellers.

I have also used the Cricut to make displays for my products at events. Whether it’s labeling what the product is or just creating some decor for my booth, I have exclusively used the Cricut.

Here is a photo of me placing some stickers on a mask as well as the shipping bags I use.

What Cricut products are you routinely using for your side hustle?

• Cricut Maker: The Cricut Maker is what I use for my stickers because it has the print and then cut ability. The Explore Air 2 also has this feature! I also use the Maker when I want to cut a LOT of iron-ON for my masks and sweatshirts.
• Cricut Joy: When I need to do one or two quick orders I cut my Iron On using the Joy. I also use it for labeling my inventory.
• Brightpad: I use the Brightpad for weeding and honestly I’m not sure I could do it without it.
• Weeding Tool: Speaking of weeding I think I have… 10 of the weeding tools! A must for any Iron On crafting.
• Cricut Everyday Iron On: I almost exclusively use this iron-on for the things I sell. Although I love using metallics as well I stick to just plain black and white which I can buy in bulk which saves me some money!
• Cricut Printable Vinyl and Sticker Paper: I’ve talked about this a lot but I am a sucker for stickers. They just look so nice on my inventory. I have used the regular sticker paper but really like the printable vinyl because my masks are more pliable.
• Easy Press Mini: I use this tool to place little pieces of iron on that are difficult for whatever reason!

Here is how the Brightpad works to help me weed:

And here is what my little station looks like where I have all of my gear!

But want to see what it’s REALLY like to be a small business owner? Here’s the full craft room view. A little dose of reality for ya!

Please let me know if you have any more questions! I’d love to answer them for you.

Curious about the Cricut Joy? Here was my unboxing. This should answer all questions about the Cricut Maker.