From hobby to full time - today Matilda lives on her e-commerce

A desire to control one's own time

Do you also dream of making a living from your hobby? With her webshop Organic Knitters, Matilda Kruse does just that. Abicart had a chat with her where she tells us how it all started, why she also opened a physical shop and what her recipe for success is.

Matilda Kruse, founder of Organic Knitters.
Matilda is 35 years old and lives in Mariestad with her partner and two dogs. The idea for her e-commerce business was hatched through her interest in knitting. She knitted a lot in her spare time and felt that she was missing the creative part of her day job. With the desire to learn something new seasoned with a large portion of curiosity, she tried to open a webshop.

I had a desire to control my own time and start something where I could realise my own ideas. In the beginning, I didn't have a clear goal, but since it was fun and the company was growing slowly but surely, I decided to continue," says Matilda.

The result was Organic Knitters, which Matilda herself describes as an online shop and now also a physical shop with carefully selected yarns in natural materials, a large proportion of which are eco-certified yarns.

From cardboard boxes in her apartment to a physical shop

Today, she works full-time in her shop and makes a living from it. She runs it all on her own with good help and support from her family. 

For the first few years, I worked full-time in Social Services while starting up the business in the evenings and on weekends. Then I went down to part-time and a few years ago I decided to quit my job and focus on the business," says Matilda.

In the autumn of 2020, she took the next step and opened a physical store. Partly because it was getting crowded with all the boxes in the apartment and partly because it was getting lonely working from home.

In the beginning, the warehouse was small and fit into a couple of boxes in a spare room in the apartment. The warehouse grew and grew, eventually taking up all the closets and storage space in the home. That's how I had it until last September when I finally signed a lease for a retail space. The storage space is still small but a lot fits on the shelves in the shop part itself.

It's thanks to the e-commerce that the business is running though, she doesn't have the physical shop just to increase profitability.

No, exactly. The reason I chose a retail location, rather than an external warehouse for example, was because I wanted a pleasant place to work and to see customers during the day. It was getting lonely working from home! However, it is the online shop that carries my business, as Mariestad is a small town, the customer base is not enough for such a niche yarn shop as Organic Knitters. I have loyal customers all over the country and many of them have visited the physical shop already. I hope even more people will come here when the restrictions are eased and we can move more again," she says.

Knit-alongs have made a good impact

Although Matilda humbly finds it difficult to talk about the success of her business, she can agree that she has done well and come a long way.

Yes, of course she has. One of my big goals has been to be able to work full time and make a living from the business, which is where I am now! The key has been to let it take time, to slowly but surely build up a clientele with many satisfied and returning customers.

A part of her success, she says, is her work with social media - and so loyal customers of course.

A big key has been working to engage customers in activities, called knit-alongs, that have taken place on social media and have further spread my designs and my brand. My customers are amazing! I almost never get any complaints and have very few returns. I make sure to always have a friendly and service-oriented approach in all customer contacts. Somewhere I read the tip to see every customer contact as a chance to build trust and make a personal connection. I've taken that with me.

How do you stand out and reach out to customers?

I'm personal in my communication via social media and in my monthly newsletter to customers. Organic Knitters is not only a brand and a shop, it is also largely me, the person behind it.

Matilda's top three tips for success

We asked Matilda to give some tips to you who might also be thinking about turning your idea into reality and starting up an e-commerce business:

1. Choose a field that you are passionate about, where you have the opportunity to constantly innovate and develop.
2. Customize and build the business according to how you want your work situation to look. For example, is it important to be able to work from home? Use an external warehouse. Is it more important to meet your employees or customers? Choose a different solution.
3. Go all out when it comes to customer service! And try to create customer engagement. This not only brings more sales, but also a lot in return in the form of positive feedback.

Finally, how do you see the future? What is the goal?

The goal right now is to be able to free up more of my time for pattern design, marketing and to continue developing the brand. One hope is that in time I will be able to hire a person to help with a lot of the practical bits, packing orders, helping customers in the shop and so on. At the same time we are expecting our first child and a big challenge in the near future will be to combine business with parental leave and family life.

We thank Matilda for the chat and wish her every success with both the business and the addition to the family! If you're curious about Organic Knitters, you can visit their website here.