We’ve all heard that in order to be happiest in your professional life, it’s best to find a career where you can do what you love and are passionate about. However, many people don’t actually feel like this is a possibility for them. But if you’re determined to make it work, you can likely find some way to take something you love and build your career around it.
To help you see how this might be possible for you, here are three tips for turning your hobby into a professional business.
Think About What Would Make Your Hobby More Enjoyable
Most times, doing your actual hobby as part of your job either won’t make you super employable or will have you creating a business that’s just like hundreds of other businesses out there. So to help set yourself apart and create a business that others will find helpful in their own lives, Kristin Colella, a contributor to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, recommends that you think about what could make your hobby more enjoyable and then find a way to create a business around that.
For example, if you can never find the right clothes to wear that make your hobby easier to do, you might want to create and sell clothes for this purpose. You may also design custom caps or hats and then send them to a custom private label cap manufacturer to produce them in bulk for you to sell. Or, if there is one thing that keeps you from enjoying your hobby sometimes, try to think about what solutions you could bring to the market that would address these problems for others.
Only Do Part Of Your Hobby For Business
One reason many people are nervous about having their passion and hobby become their career, according to Leslie Truex, a contributor to The Balance Small Business, is because they’re worried that their hobby will now feel like work to them and they’ll stop enjoying it.
To guard against this, you may want to think about starting a business that’s adjacent to your hobby without actually actively doing that hobby as part of the work. Like if you love hunting, try planning hunting trips for others or leading hunting adventures so that you can still enjoy going on your own hunting trips when you have the time. Visit https://www.ilearntohunt.com/iowa/ to take an interactive hunter safety course to make sure you’re prepared to guide others on hunting adventures.
Wait To Quit Your 9-to-5 Job
While it can be exciting to finally decide that you’re going to start a new career doing something that you love, having this entrepreneurial dream become a professional business can take a while and be a lot of hard work.
Knowing this, Saige Driver, a contributor to Business News Daily, advises that you don’t quit your day job until you feel confident in your ability to make your new career work. While this will mean putting in a lot of extra hours and effort to get your venture off the ground, it will all be worth it when you eventually get to do something you love for your job.
If you’re wanting to start a new profession where you get to do your favorite hobby as your career, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you get started.