Have hobbies that can bring you a steady stream of income. But when you want to make money from hobbies, you have to face many challenges and difficulties. The following article will help you make the right choice for turning a hobby into a business.
Many successful entrepreneurs start with hobbies
Around the world, there have been many successful entrepreneurs by trading their own hobbies. Many of them even have a stable job but still give up to pursue their passion.
Growing up on a beautiful ranch in Minnesota, USA, Craig Jenkins-Sutton had a strong love for flowers, cattle, and ranch. And he founded Topiarius – a construction company with a knack for designing and building urban gardens. As of 2011, Topiarius has an estimated value of about US $ 1.2 million.
Megan Duckett spends most of her free time knitting clothes, pillows … After realizing her ability and the economic potential of her products, she quit her job and became Sew What Company? Megan’s startup was valued at $ 6.2 million in 2011 and is still growing.
Benefits of turning a hobby into a business
Compared to going to work or doing business in the market, making money from your hobby will feel more exciting. Because you will be able to do what you like. You also won’t have to rush to follow the market trends. You will always keep the fire, keep the excitement and excitement every time you work.
Most importantly: being able to do what you want but also make money, that’s the best thing!
In addition, when you turn your hobby into a business, you have the opportunity to spread interest among people. It is a joy to share with others the values that are important to you. It is also a joy to see others appreciate those values. And it is also an opportunity for you to find people with the same interests as you.
Difficult and challenging
You will be able to do what you love if you turn your hobby into a business. But in return, it will no longer be a hobby that you used to know, did.
You cannot always do it. You can’t be late even when you’re tired or busy. You also cannot let go of the sentence: “Anything is fine, as long as it is happy.”
Now, you have a new pressure to make – the pressure to make money. Your interests need to bring in income, the profits must be large enough for you to cover your daily life.
You have to see your hobby as a real job, to be committed to work, and to be productive. You can still create the things you like, but at the same time have to adjust to suit the customer requirements. And you must be aware that you are doing business, that is, you must have a business strategy, marketing … and many other things to make a profit.
Turning a hobby into a business is a mixture of fun and efficiency, two almost conflicting concepts in life.
In short, when making money with hobbies you will encounter the following challenges:
- More stress is a common hobby
- Being tied to a work schedule
- A certain quality standard must be met
- Finished products must be tailored according to customers, not personal preferences
- Must have business capacity
- Maybe headaches from the question “Am I doing it because I like it, or because of the money?”
Despite this hardship, there are still many people determined to turn their hobby into a business. The reason is: the ordinary part of it is well worth it.
If you want to know if you are one of them, think carefully and answer the questions below.
Questions to answer before turning a hobby into a business
1. Do you still want to do it when there is a deadline?
Hobby still has the so-called “completion time”. When you hew a statue, it still has an estimated amount of time it will take to complete. If nothing is in the way, you will try to get it done within that time frame. If there is more important, urgent, it can be temporarily stopped.
To work on a deadline If you want to do business out of a hobby, you must accept a job you like within a set time. Once you want to make money from a hobby, you need to work hard on it.
You have to practice to shorten the time to complete it, the shorter the better. That way, you can maximize profits. You must train scientifically and disciplined, try to master it as if it is a “martial arts masterpiece”.
It is a time pressure not small, a surprise, dizziness for those who have just started.
In addition, you will also suddenly realize that your hobby will occupy the entire time of the day. In the past, you did it in your spare time. For now, sometimes it will leave you without any free moments.
This time pressure test will increase in difficulty as your business grows. As the number of orders increases, you may not have time to care about family and friends.
2. Can you do it when you don’t want to?
When you are a hobby, you can do something happy when you’re sad, or when you’re bored, you can do something else. But once it turns into a money-making business, you must always work even if it’s “bored to the throat”.
You won’t be allowed to indulge yourself. Unless you are very ill, you cannot stop working just because you feel a little tired. Work must be given priority over trivial things like going to class meetings or going to a concert. And of course, you also can not rest just because “suddenly bored” like before anymore.
When meeting fastidious customers who keep bickering each other, demanding unreasonable requirements, you still have to work. When the love affair is not going well, the family is not comfortable, you still have to work. Even when too many challenges discourage you, you have to work hard.
There are many things that bored you with your interests, but you still have to persevere to the end. Because then it is a job that feeds you and your family.
3. Does your life allow or not?
There are many people who have the courage and capacity to overcome the above challenges, but unfortunately, life prevents them.
It’s hard to start a business when your baby is about to be born. It’s hard to quit your current job to follow your passion when you just got promoted. Or you have a long-term contract with a company or client that cannot be canceled unilaterally.
Business during pregnancy
It’s hard to start a business when your baby is about to be born
In many cases, your decisions will affect others.
And those are usually best friends, best friends.
Many inspirators still chant, “Let’s get started, don’t worry!”. But that statement is only true when your life does not have many strong ties with those around you. Otherwise, when you fall, it will all be like collapsing dominoes.
However, that doesn’t mean you have to give up your hobby and turn it into a business opportunity. You are simply waiting for a little longer: waiting for the opportunity to ripen. During this time, you can hone the knowledge and skills you need to make money with hobbies. On top of that, you can try to improve the conditions of your life, creating opportunities for you to fulfill your dreams by yourself.
In short, do not rush to make a decision but study carefully the decisive factors in your life. From there, you can judge the probability of success and the risk of turning your hobby into a business. And remember, patience is also a necessary quality to become a great entrepreneur.
4. How is your financial situation?
Hobbies make money more difficult than usual. Because, normally, the hobby will not match today’s market trends. You prioritize what you like, not the needs of the majority of users. So, you may end up losing money for the first few months of your job. You may even fail a few times before you find the recipe for business success.
In many cases, it is imperative that you stop your job to pursue a hobby. But that means you will not have a stable income source as before. You may need a loan to accumulate enough capital for a new career. In addition, if you are in debt or in financial situations such as school-age children, homes needing to remodel … then you will not be able to spend the necessary amount.
In short, to turn your hobby into a business, you also need to have a strong financial background in addition to your skills. That way you can feel secure to invest in your hobbies.
5. Do you have a specific business strategy?
If you’ve decided to turn your hobby into your main job, you’ll need to have a business strategy in place. If you close your eyes as a dose, the risk of failure is very high. Many people are disillusioned when their hobbies cannot bring income to support their lives, even some people hate their own hobbies.
You need to outline a specific business strategy to start a hobby
You should carefully research the market, especially the product’s competitiveness. If there are many strong competitors in the same industry, create a unique feature in your product.
Example: You love making clothes but already have too many garment companies. Then create attractive, exclusive models that only you can have. If you only focus on product creation as a hobby, it will be difficult to compete with your competition.
In addition, analyzing the market, predicting trends, and capturing consumer sentiment – are also the basic traits of a successful entrepreneur. If you can equip yourself with those skills, then turning your hobby into a business will be a lot easier.
Epilogue
Above are some analyses, and 5 practical questions, and useful for turning a hobby into a business. In general, whether or not you should – for turning your hobby into a business – you have to answer it yourself. No one else but you knows how much you love your hobby. It is you who fully grasp your own capabilities, needs, and circumstances.
Through the article, hopefully, you will gain useful information to make the right decision for turning your hobby into a business.