Take Your Hobby and Turn It Into an Income

There are many ways to turn your hobby into a business - from starting with a single product to creating an entire brand. The most important thing is to have a passion for what you're doing and always think about ways that you can improve your product or service.

Some people turn their hobby into a business by selling their goods and services, while others do it by providing services for other people - like photography or writing. Others do it by creating products that cater to other people’s needs - like crafts or food.

What Hobbies Make a Good Business

There are a lot of great business opportunities to turn your hobby into a business and here we present just a few to get you thinking.

Freelance writing on sites like Upwork or reaching out directly to blogs for ghostwriting is a great business if you’re a talented writer. Bloggers with niche expertise are usually in demand. Starting with just a few clients can soon turn your writing hobby into a full-time business.

Cooking is one of the money-making hobbies that you can turn into a profitable business by starting a blog or writing about cooking, nutrition, or menu items at local restaurants. Or, you can have a business catering or selling cooking products. And for a real adventure, open a food truck business.

If you have a green thumb, you can earn money selling mature indoor plants from your own home or writing an online column answering questions from people who want advice on growing plants.

Crafting is a $40-billion industry and makes excellent business opportunities. “Handmade” communicates a certain quality, care, and uniqueness that department store alternatives don't offer.

Getting Started

Creating a business plan is an essential first step since it’s the blueprint for how you’ll begin and execute your business. There are business plan templates you find online that can walk you through the process, ensuring you don’t miss any steps.

Choose a business structure, such as an LLC, to protect your personal assets from your business ones. This is something you can do yourself and don’t need an attorney to do for you. Then check on local rules and regulations since they vary from state to state.

Project management is another task you can do by utilizing online tools. For example, Trello allows you to collaborate with team members in real-time and color code projects to enhance organization. Zoho Projects is a cloud-based tool that allows you to plan projects, automate routine tasks, manage resources, assign work, and collaborate with remote team members.

Invoicing is easier with user-friendly software. They will automatically track your invoice numbers and calculate tax based on your location, and allow you to save customer information so it can be added easily the next time you send an invoice.

Marketing

Marketing your business can also be done using online resources. One of the best ways to reach the largest number of consumers is with Facebook and its nearly 3 billion members worldwide. You can create your own Facebook ad using a Facebook ads maker. It allows you to include your logo, branding, fonts, colors, and more to create an ad that you can share instantly on Facebook and any other social media platform.

Make sure your web designer has created your website for the best search engine optimization. The right keywords in the body, as well as important wording relating to your services in your URL, can make all the difference in the traffic your site gets.

Updating your site frequently with new content can be time-consuming, but you can always find freelancers on sites like Upwork to create content for you.

Turning what you love to do into a business that can generate an income sounds too good to be true, but with the right preparation, it can be a reality. It already has been for millions of others.

Understand where your skills and talents lie, what your market is like for your product or service, and look realistically at how much time you’ll have to devote to it. Then get the word out with Facebook ads and a quality website, and your hobby can actually be a thriving business.

Writer, publisher, and editor Marlene C. Bertrand currently offers editing services to authors of fiction and nonfiction manuscripts. Get in touch for a personalized editing quote.

Guest Writer

© Carla Lopez 2022