Everyone has a hobby they enjoy doing in their spare time. A hobby can be a pass time or a passion we love partaking in when we aren’t occupied with work or other responsibilities. In an age where the word “freelancer” and “entrepreneur” is used to define your profession, we can often find ourselves wondering about whether we can convert our hobby into a job.
Should we make the big leap of turning our hobby, our passion, into a full-time career? Whether you love gardening, taking photographs, knitting, or sewing, you probably prefer to spend less time working to make more time to do what you enjoy. Maybe you can spend more time on your hobby and earn a living from your passion. Is it possible? Should we make the big leap?
Before we go quitting our job to pursue our hobby, there are many factors we have to consider when making this decision. Some of which we tend to disregard when the idea comes to our mind. Find out what we should consider as we think of the possibility of how we can make a hobby into a career.
Factors to Consider
Quitting your job to pursue your hobby seems like a great idea because it means less time working and more time with your passion, not to mention there is the possibility you can make a living. However, that’s not always the case. Sometimes, it is not as easy as a transition from one career to the next. Research is a vital component to understanding whether converting a hobby to a profession is the right move or not. Here’s a list of what to account for:
- Does your hobby stand alone or do you have to incorporate it into an existing profession? What do we mean? Some hobbies as you know can easily stand alone as a position such as taking photographs transfers to become a photographer. But there are hobbies which aren’t so easy to transfer, for example, someone who likes to study plants and learn about them cannot easily make that into a profession. They have to find a way in which they can incorporate what they love into an existing career. They can go back to school and get a degree to become a botanist. We have to know the possibility of whether our hobby is a valid move to be a career and income source. One of the ways you can learn of job perspectives is by looking at the elements you can turn about your hobby into a career.
- Understand Financial Aspects: We briefly mentioned this in number one and it’s one that we need to account for in a career transition. Money may not be a priority for others, while for the rest of us we have to make ends meet. We have to ask ourselves will our hobby turn a paycheck? If so, will that paycheck be a source of income we can live off? You have to consider all the risks you will be taking if you’re quitting your current position or investing money into your hobby. You have to know all the logistics – is it marketable.
- Understand your limitations, capabilities, and yourself. Are you willing to be persistent in making your hobby into your career? Making the conversion will take time, and we are not talking about a couple of months, it can take up to a year or more to get your career going if you are planning to be a freelancer or even longer if you plan on becoming an entrepreneur. The actions of making it a reality require you to be persistent not to mention you have to be willing to sell yourself. Marketing is such a crucial part of putting yourself out there and the work you do. Keep in mind when you are turning your hobby into a career, aside from doing everything else you have to be continually marketing yourself.
- Will you still enjoy it? We have to remember why we do our hobby. Sometimes we can get wrapped up in wanting to make it a profession we forget why we did it in the first place. It matters because not only are you trying to make a shift, you will be making a change in why you do it. Aside from your hobby being something love to do and your passion, you will have to answer to your boss or clients since they will be the ones hiring you. For those who do creative hobbies, doing your craft hobbies is excellent when you are in control. But when you are working for others, they have an idea of what they want and expect. It’s a valid question to ask because what if later down in the line you start to dislike doing what you once loved?
Our hobby or hobbies can bring us joy, relaxation, or amusement, so before making the transition, you want to make sure you’ve thought it over thoroughly. Get all the logistics you can about the market of your hobby, how others have done it, the risks, and whether it is the right career transition for you. The more thorough you, the more likely you are to know an estimation if it will result and what you can expect. But the question is should you make your hobby into a career? Share with us what you think in the comments below.
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