Whether you are a stay-at-home mom or just someone who wants to earn some extra income, let us tell you that it’s possible.
Being a mom is a full-time job that doesn’t really leave you much time to work a real 9 to 5 job. Similarly, if your 9 to 5, full-time job, doesn’t let you earn enough, it’s time to consider other ways to earn extra income in your free time.
And since you’ll be working in your free time, you may as well turn your hobby into a career. Yes, you read that right, you can turn your hobby into an actual career. If you’re wondering how we’re here to give you the answer. Let’s jump straight in.
How to find a hobby you like?
This first step will depend on whether you already have a hobby or not. If you have it, you can skip it, and if not, here are some tips on how to find a hobby you like.
You can start by putting on paper all the things you like to do in your free time. Are you an active person, or are you creative? Do you want something relaxing, or do you want something that can help you develop new skills?
Is there anything you did before that you particularly enjoyed but had to stop doing? Do you want to find a similar hobby to your existing ones, or something completely different?
Answering all these questions will help you get an idea of which direction to go regarding your new hobby.
Which hobbies can earn you money?
Keep in mind that not all hobbies will help you earn money. Some hobbies are strictly done for the sole purpose of relaxing, escaping reality, and enjoying yourself.
With that said, we can now proceed to tell you all about the hobbies that can help you make money. We can divide money-making hobbies into three to four groups – creative, tech, food and drinks, and pet-related hobbies.
Creative hobbies are those that require some creativity and they include art, DIY crafts, writing, photography, music, and design to name a few. Some of the biggest trends when it comes to creative hobbies that earn money include being a freelance writer, blogger, or something similar.
Many creative people that love fashion are turning towards custom clothing, designing custom teamwear, or working on creating made-to-order apparel. Others like painters or digital artists are finding ways to sell their art online.
Tech hobbies are ideal for those who are tech-savvy and who have no problems coding, programming, designing, doing some software development, or video editing. Freelance game designing is pretty popular these days.
Food and drinks hobbies are for those who enjoy cooking, baking, and mixology. They can start a food blog or film videos that explain cooking and baking recipes or give drink-mixing tips.
For those who prefer pet-related hobbies, you can sell pet accessories, make pet-related content on YouTube or even write a blog if you have extensive knowledge about pets.
How to turn a hobby into a business?
Just like with any business, there are certain steps that you need to follow. Here is what you can do to transform your favorite hobby into a lucrative little business.
- Create a business plan and structure
All businesses, no matter how big or small, need a business plan and a business structure. So, that’s where you need to start. Create a document that will contain pretty much everything you need to run a business. Later, as your business grows, this document will be a good guide.
While you’re writing a business plan, it’s a good idea to decide on your business structure, as well. The options you have include sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, and S corporation. Since this is your side job, the best option would be to choose something that will give you flexibility and that is a freelance job or sole proprietorship structure.
- Start building a brand
Once all the legalities are done, you can start thinking about building a brand. Building a brand implies researching and analyzing the target market, and your competitors, building your brand’s identity and personality, and choosing a business name, slogan, logo, and so on.
Photo by cottonbro studio from Pexels
- Build your online presence and develop a marketing strategy
Today, having an online presence is crucial for the success of your business. So, a logical step would be to start building one for your business. Discover where your target customers are online and make a profile on that social media channel.
Constantly work on and refine your digital marketing because a lot depends on it. Some of the most popular digital marketing strategies include SEO, content marketing, video marketing, email marketing social media, to name a few.
- Reach and connect with customers
Finally, once everything has been done, you can move on to networking. Networking means connecting and building relationships with people who like the products or services you’re selling.
The ideal would be to build a small base of people who are loyal to your business and work on expanding that base and reaching more people.
5. Fill Any Skill Gaps and Boost Credibility
It doesn’t really matter what the hobby is that you’re doing; for a lot of them, you’re going to basically need to be the master at it, and you’re also going to have to go what you can to boost credibility. Essentially, you need to let people know you’re an expert is said field. For example, if you’re someone who loves IT, cybersecurity, and just computers all around, then you’re going to want to look into a certificate in IT infrastructure and operations. If you’re a baker and you want to sell cakes, then getting some sort of license or certification for selling food is going to help, too. But you also need to keep in mind that some of these are legally required, too, so don’t think of these as some “nice to have” thing.
Conclusion
And there you have it – that’s how you turn your hobby into a career. The best thing about hobbies that turned into profitable jobs is that you’re actually doing something you like and enjoy, something you’re passionate about while earning money.
And who knows, maybe somewhere down the line you’ll be able to turn your hobby into a full-time job!
Morgan Rose Elliott is an aromatherapist, yoga instructor, animal lover, a happily married mother of three. She enjoys reading biographies and writing poems, sunny days on the beach and any shape and form of vanilla. Crazy about the ’80s, her favorite band is Duran Duran (although kids prefer Franz Ferdinand, and the husband Blink182) and she is obsessed with Netflix original Stranger things.