How to Turn Your Hobby Into a Profitable Business

Everyone has a hobby. Some like candle making, decoupage, or photography, others like beekeeping or fishing. No matter what your passion is, there is a good chance that you can turn your hobby into a profitable business.�

There are a couple of things to consider before you quit your full-time job so you can spend all your time developing your business.��

“Do what you love, and you�ll never work another day in your life.”

This is quoted by many people who have successfully turned their passion into a successful business. What is often forgotten about is how many times people have failed before reaching their goal.�

Before turning your hobby into a full-time job, make sure you are comfortable spending eight hours or more every day doing it. People don�t realize that once they decide to work for themselves, they will be spending all their time on something they used to spend only a couple of hours a week. This is one of the pitfalls of being self-employed � unless you are really good at what you do, and unless you really love doing it, your hobby can turn into a nightmare job if you don�t think this through.�

For instance, let�s say that you enjoy practicing yoga in your spare time, but you want to turn your passion into a job. Test your devotion to yoga by spending one or two full days doing yoga. Put yourself into the yoga instructor�s mindset. You can even ask friends to help you out by pretending to be your students.�

Working as a self-employed has a lot of pros and cons. Being able to set up your own hours is one of the advantages.�

CHOOSE A NICHE

Another reason why startups fail is due to high expectations. It is not enough to open a company and start selling your products or services. To be successful and profitable, you will need to do your research on the market and see if there is a niche for you.

If you would like to be a photographer, but the local market is saturated with photographers, think twice if you would like to take this risk. If the competitors are all wedding photographers, consider another niche like underwater photography, or even a scientific photographer. Look around you and see how saturated the market is. If your business idea is not unique, check how much your competitors are charging for their products or services. Calculate the price that you will have to charge to be competitive.��

BUDGET YOUR STARTUP COSTS

To be successful in your endeavor, you should create a business plan and stick to it. A lot of entrepreneurs start a business without a pre-set budget and this is why so many startups fail.

If you have been practicing your hobby for a while, you probably already know most of the costs that are going to occur at the beginning. What you should also consider in your budget are the expenses that you didn�t have before � the accounting services cost and the taxes that you will have to pay. Also, you will have to think of the best-case scenario and the worst-case scenario. Take into consideration how much you will need to break even.�

MARKET YOUR BUSINESS

Your hobby can turn into profitable business only if you are good at it, and only if people know about you. It is extremely important to think through your marketing strategy. In the beginning, you could start with platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.�

���� � Post regularly;

���� � Try to engage your audience;

���� � It is of utmost importance to be active and respond to all comments and feedback that you are receiving.�

���� � Learn how SEO works.��

All the platforms mentioned above offer paid advertising, and, if you can afford it, you can pay to reach a wider audience.�

You should also create a website for your business. Even if you are not familiar with web development and design, there are so many platforms on the internet that will help you create a website with zero web development knowledge. Wiz and Weebly are two of the most popular choices when it comes down to creating a free website.�

SET YOUR WORK SCHEDULE

While working for yourself, it is easy to get carried away. After all, it is up to you to earn the money. A lot of entrepreneurs feel burned out by the end of the first quarter of their business venture.

This is one of the most overlooked and undervalued rules in being self-employed � set your work schedule and stick to it. Make sure that you still have a life outside your job and you have a balanced life-work schedule.�