Tag: making money from our hobbies

Hobbies Don’t Have To Be Businesses

Hobbies don’t have
to be businesses.

We don’t have
to monetize
EVERYTHING
we do.

Some activities
can just be
fun.

You might think
this is a strange comment
to make
on a site
dedicated to building businesses.

But taking a hobby
and converting it
into a business
is a lot of work
and
that might not be worth
the effort and other resources
involved.

We are likely
better off
using those resources
to build businesses
that DIDN’T start as hobbies.

If you didn’t have that hobby,
would you still start a business
involving it?

If the answer is no,
think long and hard
before going that route.

Hobbies don’t have to be
and often SHOULDN’T be
businesses.

A Hobby Vs A Business

When I tell people
I’m closing the Romance Novel Business
in two years,
they look at me stunned
and usually say something like
“You won’t be writing anymore?”

Oh. I’ll be writing.
Writing is pure joy for me.

I simply won’t be publishing
that writing.

I won’t be worrying about typoes
or rounds of edits
or covers
or marketing
or any of that stuff.

I won’t be spending
all that extra time
on each story
and I won’t be incurring
all that expense.

(For reference,
it costs me about
$1,000 US
to publish a story
and MUCH more than that
to promote it.)

I will be writing
for me alone.

The writing will be a hobby.
It will no longer be
a business.

There’s a HUGE difference
between these two statuses.

Remember that
when you’re thinking about
creating a business
based on one of your hobbies.

Will This Be A Hobby Or A Business?

When I speak with a new writer,
one of the first things
I ask her
is, “Will writing be
a hobby
or a potential career
for you?”

It is OKAY
for something
to be a hobby,
to be something we do
merely for fun.

Enjoyment can be
as important as money
and sometimes…often
trying to derive income
from the things we love
decreases our joy.

Many writers feel,
for example,
writing professionally
decreases their enjoyment
of reading.

They can’t unsee
the tricks we all use.
They can’t stop
dissecting the story
they’re reading.

That’s a huge cost
of writing professionally
and it is important
new writers consider it
before venturing along that route.

Decide whether something
will be a hobby or a business
for you.

If you decide it will be
a business,
realize that some of your joy
around that former hobby
will likely decrease.