Many people have discovered hidden talents and took up new hobbies during 2020. Few may have been surprised at how good they are at a hobby, good enough at least to make them think of taking it up full-time. For example, in the early stages of the pandemic, thousands of people around the world took up baking as a way to cope with lockdowns.
Now that the economy is reopening, you may have realized you don’t enjoy your regular job as much as your hobby. In fact, you may even begin thinking how you can turn your hobby into your new career.
When you want to turn your hobby into a profitable gig, you can follow the following steps.
-
Assess Your Hobbies
First, you need to pinpoint which of your hobbies you are going to monetize. Not every hobby has the potential to turn into a career, and some can be harder to monetize than others. For example, while there are successful book readers like Elizabeth Sagan who have made a tidy profit from their reading habits, this takes a lot of hard work. You could have an easier time making money from baking cupcakes or knotting customized sweaters. Determining which hobby you are passionate about and can be easy to monetize is the first and most important step because everything else is corollary to it.
-
Consider Your Audience
Next, you have to ascertain just how profitable your hobby is by assessing its audience. Some hobbies have wider potential customer bases than others. For example, monetizing a photography hobby is guaranteed to garner an audience and future work. On the other hand, a fondness for making specialized tabletop miniatures is a considerably more niche hobby.
However, monetizing a niche hobby means you won’t have as much competition. You may even enjoy more success monetizing them because you may be one of a handful of practitioners. Consider the weight of popular but oversaturated versus niche but potentially profitable.
-
Assemble Capital
Once you have your hobby and potential customers analyzed, you may need capital to get the ball rolling. Some hobbies may require more equipment and funding than others to monetize. For example, a baking hobby will need new equipment, a large-scale oven and huge quantities of ingredients. Meanwhile, monetizing your drawing hobby may require a new computer, a drawing tablet or even physical art supplies.
There are other avenues for funding outside of dipping into your personal savings. You can look for websites similar to GoFundMe that don’t charge or you can take out loans from banks and financial institutions. Or you can try to find an investor willing to finance your hobby. Determine which method works best for you to secure your funding and equipment.
-
Get a Site or Page
When you have ample resources and appropriate equipment, you will need a digital method for spreading word of your hobby. This is where you need to start building a website or at least creating a dedicated social media page.
A website is like a digital storefront that will allow users from across the world to discover your new monetized hobby. Social media pages are essential for building connections with other people in your field and engaging with customers. These are two crucial tools you must have if you want to ensure success.
An online presence is now a necessity instead of an option because you might derive your whole profit from the internet. This is especially true if you want to become a YouTuber or start a webcomic.
-
Accrue Feedback
When you are ready, test out your monetized hobby to a small group. Maybe you can launch a soft opening for your boutique bakery or put up a single page of your webcomic. It’s essential that you collate all feedback from these efforts. Ask your first customers to fill up forms for perks and learn more about their experience. What did they like best about your new business? What did they find lacking? It’s essential that you analyze this feedback so you can finetune your monetized hobby from the very beginning.
-
Keep Training
Finally, continue improving your monetized hobby. If you are an artist, hone your drawing skill and explore other facets of art like painting. If you are a baker, challenge yourself with more complex recipes. If you are a vlogger, cover more complex topics and make longer videos. Remember that your hobby’s success is dependent on how great you are at it. Continually upgrading your skill at said hobby will help you make new products or improve your services.
Monetizing hobbies is now the new career choice for untold millions. When you want to take up your hobby and start a new phase of your life, use these steps to guide your way to success.
