I’m going to save you a lot of time, money, stress, and headaches by teaching you what not to do with your Cricut business. My name is Kerri, I’m the author of Cricuter.com. Today we’re going to be talking about the top 10 biggest mistakes that new Cricut business owners make.
I see people make these mistakes all the time, so make sure you read this article so you can learn what not to do with your Cricut business. This is very important information and we have a lot to cover, so let’s jump right in.
Mistake Number 1: Making personalized or custom orders without pre-payment
First, I made this mistake more than once myself. I was selling items on Facebook marketplace and people would message me that they wanted me to make them a whole bunch of custom orders. They were going to pay at pickup, and I thought that was fine because when I would sell things on Facebook marketplace in the past, people pay when they pick it up.
You need to get out of that mindset that you’re just selling regular things in the marketplace though, and get in the mindset of being a real business owner.
Real business owners usually don’t make things for people without getting payment first.
If you buy from any legitimate website online, you always have to pay first. Whether that be Etsy, Amazon, or Walmart. Wherever you choose to shop you always pay first, and then get your order.
You need to do the same thing with your Cricut business.
If you go ahead and make something personalized for somebody and then they never show up to pick it up, you’re screwed out of the time you’ve been making it. You’re out of the money you spent on vinyl. You’re out of the money you spent on blanks.
You’re back to square one except now, you lost a lot of time and money.
This happens more than you would realize. I see it from new business owners all the time, complaining on Cricut forums that they made something and they keep messaging the person and they’re not responding. They won’t show up to pick up their item .That person changed their mind.
Think about how many times you go onto Amazon, for example and you add things to your cart that you think you’re going to buy. Then maybe a few days goes by and you never bought it. You changed your mind and you deleted it from your cart.
That’s what people might do to you. They’re going to message you and tell you that they want this item, and then you’re going to make it. They’re never going to show up.
Don’t make this mistake. Always, always, ALWAYS accept payment first for customized items. If people give you a hard time about paying for the item, don’t make it. Those aren’t the kind of customers you want.
If you make quality products, you’ll find good customers who support you. I promise in the long run it’ll be worth it to have good customers who will pay you for your work, versus customers who are going to be nothing but headaches.
Mistake number 2: Never have people come to your house to pick up their items
No matter how much research you try to do, you don’t know these people and some people out there are crazy.
Let’s say you make something personalized for somebody and then they decide that they just don’t want it. There are no issues with the product, they just spent money that they shouldn’t have and now they want it back.
Normally, you wouldn’t give a refund on personalized items except for quality issues. Now that person is really mad and they know where you live. Then you have a problem where your business problem could become a personal safety problem.
Always meet up somewhere where there’s good lighting. You can meet up at a police station, or in a store parking lot. Meet up anywhere that makes you feel safe.
Don’t go to their house don’t have them go to your house. Keep it public.
Mistake number 3: Don’t use cheap materials
A lot of beginner Cricut business owners will go on Amazon and try to buy some cheap knockoff brand vinyl to save a few dollars. You may think you’re saving a few dollars now, but in the long run you’re not saving anything because that product is not going to be durable.
Your customers are going to be contacting you very upset if you’re making shirts with cheap vinyl and then they wash it one time and the vinyl peels off.
You’re going to have a very angry customer you’re going to have to either refund them, or remake the shirt. Therefore, you’re not really saving anything.
Here are my suggestions for the types of vinyl that I prefer to use.
For permanent vinyl I always use Oracal 651 vinyl and for heat transfer vinyl I always use Sizer easyweed.
Using the right vinyl will also save you a lot of hassle.
I’ve tried saving myself a few dollars by using cheap knockoff brand vinyl from Amazon. The biggest problem that I had with some cheap heat transfer vinyl was that the carrier sheet wasn’t sticky.
I was trying to make a birth announcement elephant where I really needed my vinyl to stay on that carrier sheet so when I put it down on the elephant, everything was where it needed to be. But since I was using cheap heat transfer vinyl, the carrier sheet wasn’t sticky. The vinyl was sliding all around.
When I tried to heat transfer the design onto the elephant, the vinyl kept peeling up. Had I just used the vinyl that I always use, sizer easyweed vinyl, I wouldn’t have had any of those problems.
As with most things in life, you get what you pay for. Buy high quality materials because you’re going to make a high quality product that your customers are guaranteed to love.
Mistake number 4: Not buying in bulk
Now that you have a Cricut business, you need to be thinking long term. You’re not just going to be having this business for six months. Likely you’re going to be having this business for years, or maybe even the rest of your life if you’re serious about starting a Cricut business.
If you buy your vinyl in individual sheets, it’s going to be more expensive than buying it in huge rolls.
For the most part I always use black and white vinyl. I always buy black and white vinyl in the largest rolls possible. This way, I’m getting a better deal. My vinyl supply is going to last longer and I know I’m not going to run out in the middle of a project.
If you know that there are some colors that you’re not going to use very often, then sure, get the variety pack with the smaller sheets. But if you’re going to be using certain colors all the time, then go for the bulk rolls.
The same thing goes for shirts. If you buy one shirt from Walmart, you’re going to be paying a lot more money versus if you go to a website like jiffyshirts.com and buy them in bulk. You can get the shirts for two three bucks a piece, sometimes even less from there.
You might have to buy more of them but having more blanks on hand is useful when you’re running a business. If somebody places an order for a medium shirt, now you have it on hand. You don’t have to order from the website and then wait for it to come, and then however long it takes for you to make it.
You want to have a fast turnaround time. You can do that by having items on hand that you bought so your customer gets their item as quickly as possible.
Mistake number 5: Using designs that violate copyright or trademark laws
This is another thing that I see come up in Cricut groups all the time on Facebook. I see people go and they’ll steal a logo, like Nike or pink from Victoria’s Secret and they’ll go and they’ll make all kinds of sweatshirts and pants with these logos on them.
That is highly illegal.
The same thing goes for Disney products. You don’t want to sell anything that could get you sued. You don’t want to lose your house, your car, everything you own because you try to make $10 or $20 on a shirt that you don’t own the rights to use design for.
Always make sure that you’re using SVGs and designs that you are allowed to use.
The way that I make sure that I’m not using any designs that are illegal is by subscribing to Creative Fabrica’s all-access plan. Their all-access plan gives you unlimited access to everything on their website. That includes a commercial license.
A commercial license is what you need to sell designs that you didn’t make yourself. You need to be careful on websites like Etsy because people will sell designs that are owned by Disney or Nickelodeon and they’ll say that it comes with a commercial license. Unfortunately, they’re lying.
They don’t have the right to sell that and neither do you. If you go and sell that, you’re possibly going to get in trouble.
A good rule of thumb is that if you didn’t make the design yourself or come up with it in your own head, then you probably don’t have rights to sell it. Just like you wouldn’t want somebody stealing the work that you sell.
You need to be mindful of the graphic designers because people work hard to come up with these designs. So I recommend the Creative Fabrica all access plan all the time. It just makes life so much easier for me and my own business.
With the all access plan, I don’t have to keep track of separate licenses, like did I buy this bundle from somewhere and how do I put this license somewhere where I’m not going to lose it, how do I keep track of which license goes with which design.
I know that everything I buy is from Creative Fabrica, so everything has a commercial license and I’m covering my own butt.
Even if you don’t want to subscribe to a plan, I highly recommend keeping an eye on their Freebie page for excellent free designs every day!
Mistake Number 6: Making what everybody else is making
If you’re starting your own Cricut business and you want to be successful, you need to find a way to be unique.
Don’t make projects that literally everybody else is making. If you go onto your local Facebook marketplace and you see that everybody is selling car decals, then maybe find something to sell that’s not car decals. Whether it be wine glasses or tumblers, shirts, hats, or mugs. Anything to make yourself stand out from the competition.
You can make so much stuff with a Cricut. it’s very easy to find ways to be unique and creative fabrica has so many designs to help you. that’s where I get many of my ideas from. It takes the guesswork out of coming up with projects.
I usually start off with finding my design first and then finding a good blank that goes with it. If you’re making the same thing that everybody else is making, it’s going to be a lot harder to get customers. You’re going to have to be more competitive with your pricing. You might have to lower your pricing quite a bit.
But if you’re the only one selling something in your area, such as memorial lanterns, then you can charge more because there is less competition. People are going to come to you, versus everybody else because you’re the only one making that thing.
Your project is custom, it’s unique, and people want to buy it. Those are the projects that you want to make.
If you’re looking for some of these unique projects ideas, you can check out my youtube channel. I have a lot of cool ideas on there.
Mistake Number 7: Don’t pay too much in shipping
A lot of people will go to Fedex, UPS, or the united states postal service to ship their items, but there is a cheaper way to ship. You can ship using Pirate Ship!
This is a great website. Their shipping rates are much lower than other services. You can print your labels right from home. This will save you a lot of time and money.
You can also save money on shipping materials by buying in bulk.
Mistake Number 8: Do not sell things that you have never made before
If somebody messages you and they ask you to make them a glitter tumbler that they saw on Etsy for ten dollars cheaper than it’s listed, but you’ve never made a glitter tumbler before, don’t take that order just yet.
You should always make a project at least once or twice before selling it. You want to make sure that you can make it without making mistakes. You want to make sure that what you’re selling is going to be good, high quality work.
So many people will find a project that they see somebody else make online and then they want to start selling it. They’ll ask you, “hey, can I use your picture to start selling this?”
I would never recommend taking somebody else’s mock-up and trying to sell it yourself if you’ve never made it before.
One of my favorite things to sell in the fall time is personalized pumpkins. But, these can be a really tricky project to make. They have ridges on them and you have to get your vinyl to lay flat without any bubbles. It really is tricky if you’ve never made them before.
The last thing that you want to do is tell somebody that you can make them something that you actually can’t make. Then you’re going to message them and have to tell them, “hey, sorry I thought I could do it but I really can’t.” You’re going to make yourself look stupid or you’re going to waste a bunch of material trying to figure out how to make this thing that you don’t know how to make.
I’m not saying that you should never try to make new things, but I’m saying that you should make it before you start selling them so that you know that you can do it well.
Mistake Number 9: Don’t sell heat transfer vinyl projects that you make using a hand iron
A hand iron does not get the same temperature and pressure that you get using a heat press or an easy press. The quality of your work will definitely be less when you aren’t using the right tool.
You guys may have seen some oven mitts that I was selling around Christmas time on my channel. At first, I was making these with a hand iron. For one, it took forever because I had to press it in multiple sections because my iron was smaller than my design. I had to do like 30 seconds in one spot, then 30 seconds in another spot and I couldn’t get the vinyl to heat press deep enough so that you could see the fabric lines through the vinyl. You want to be able to see the little ridges in your design.
So, my vinyl wasn’t going on like it should have. However, once I invested in my heat press and I started using that, I could really see the difference between the iron and the heat press.
With the heat press you know you can get it to the exact temperature that you need to, versus the iron where you can’t preset an iron to 315 degrees. You just set it to cotton or blend and hope for the best while pushing down as hard as you can. It’s not going to give the same results as using a heat press.
This kind of goes back to what I said earlier about using good materials. A heat press is something that you want to invest in if you’re going to sell, and I saw firsthand the difference between using the iron and the heat
press because when I took those oven mitts that I made with the iron and I put them through the wash, the vinyl peeled right off. The ones that I made with the heat press the vinyl stayed on and lasted much longer.
You don’t want to sell somebody a shirt that you made with an iron that’s going to have all kinds of iron marks because the iron doesn’t cover the whole design. Then it starts peeling right after they wash it. They’re going to be mad, they’re going to contact you and they’re going to want their money back.
So, make sure that if you’re selling projects that require heat transfer vinyl that you use a heat press or something similar, like an easy press that is made for the task.
Mistake Number 10: Not advertising enough
The biggest way that I control my work flow with my business is by advertising. If you want a lot of sales, then you need to advertise. On the flip side, When I don’t want to work as much, like for example when it’s summertime and I want take the summers off to be with my kids, the easiest way is to just stop advertising and then people don’t find my products.
One way that I advertise is by going into various Facebook groups in my area, such as the town specific groups. I’d look up the name of the towns nearby, within like a half hour or 45 minutes, however comfortable I feel driving for local pickups. Then I would make a post and I’d be like, “Hey, I have these Father’s Day hammers for sale, I only have a few left if anybody’s interested. They’re $15.”
On Facebook marketplace, there’s all kinds of buy and sell groups in your area. You can just type in the keyword “sell” and a bunch should pop up. Social media makes advertising really easy, but you just have to keep up with it and do the posting.
If you’re not posting your things for sale, people aren’t going to see them. People live on their phones, we’re always on our phones, but there’s a lot of information being thrown at us.
We need to post things that we want people to see a lot so it gets right in front of their faces. That’s probably how you found my channel! A lot of times I’ll go into Facebook groups and I’ll share my youtube channel because I want to grow my channel. So if you like the videos that I make I would really appreciate it if you like, comment or subscribe to my channel because those things help my business grow.
If you want your business to grow, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. A great way to start is by creating a Facebook business page and then sharing it. Don’t be afraid to do some paid advertising. Don’t be afraid to go on Pinterest or tick tock or Instagram and share your stuff.
Don’t just post it once on your personal Facebook page and expect all your friends and family to come flocking to buy your stuff. Most of my sales never came from my friends and family they came from people in my community, because I was sharing like crazy in my community.
If your kids are in school, when it’s Christmas time give out little goodie bags with your business card! Then the kids will take home whatever little personalized gift you’re giving away. It could be something cheap like a bubble wand with the kid’s name on it. You could ask a child’s teacher for a name list of everybody in the class
you can make them all something personalized.
This kind of goes back to you have to spend money to make money, and that includes advertising. Advertising
is one of the most important things that you can do with your business if you want to grow it. If you want to take a break from your business for a little while, if it becomes too overwhelming or stressful or you can’t keep up, just stop advertising.
Well that wraps things up, I hope that you learned some new information. I hope that you learned what not to do! Don’t make any of these 10 beginner cricket mistakes. I spent a long time learning what to do and what not to do with my Cricut business, so I hope that I can pass on this information on how to run a successful Cricut business.
ooking for something to read next? Find out What’s the Best Printable Sticker Paper to Print On? Or you can Learn what else your Cricut machine can do. Before you become a Cricut expert, learn what not to do in my 10 Biggest Mistakes New Cricut Owners Make article. Or if you’ve already made something beautiful you want to sell, check out How To Get Better Pictures Of Your Cricut Projects Using Product Mockups
