I have been thinking about this a lot lately and in reality many people finding this out that their life isn’t what they want it to be. Do you love what you are doing right now? Because if not, then it is completely fine and it is the first step towards the life you always wanted. You have to know what is wrong before you can change something. I really hope that no matter how old you are, it is always a great time to switch your gears in life, and maybe just maybe this article will help you with making that choice towards – Secret to Life Success: Getting Paid To Do What You Love. On the other side, if you love what you do and are making living by doing it, please give me a feedback on this article or even a story how much your life changed, I will happily post it on here.

Firstly, after doing lot’s of research on this question I found endless articles that only talk about following your dreams and getting paid to do what you love but there’s barely any information available on how to do it. As I talked in many of my articles before that the change starts with you getting out of comfort zone and facing all the fears and taking action.

If you do, then you will succeed and get what you want.

What is Hobby and Most Common Types of Hobbies?

A Hobby is something that you do and you enjoy doing it or  according to dictionary it is an activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure.

I want to talk about the three main types of hobbies first:

  1. Hobbies that everybody loves to do but you are not getting paid for doing them: Many things like skateboarding, surfing, customizing  your car, travel, eating, walks on the beach, and much more you name it… Since this is mainly to satisfy and benefit yourself, it will be hard to make others pay you for it.
  2. Hobbies that only the professionals get paid for: This is the hobby that we like to do but unfortunately only a few are actually able to do it. Examples include: musicians, comedians, actors, and others can make a really great living doing this things. Of course with so many people that want to get into these fields as with many other jobs with a great pay, comes a competition and in order to really get into this category you really need to stand out from the rest.
  3. Hobbies where you can actually get paid for at the same time as you enjoying them, this is what my post is focused on: This is the secret to life success and as a bonus you are getting paid for what you enjoy to do. Let’s focus primarily on this “hobby” and possibilities of this hobby type. Let’s talk about this one below:

Photography: Any event need photographers and if you just love taking photos and I know so many people who just love to take photos but they are not making a step towards making an income out of this. Somebody else but you will get paid for doing this, but you are probably wondering that person has experience… Well what makes that person better than you and how did they start in the beginning. This kind of hobby can result in passive incomes if you license your photos online for sale.

Cooking: Have you ever seen or hired a food truck or even a “personal chef”. These are the people who love cooking and preparing crafty meals for the guests to enjoy. Depending on where you live you could make some great income and as your reputation grows and word gets around, you will start realizing why haven’t you done it before this before. Another thing you could do and I knew somebody who was doing this is to make home prepped meal plans where you cook at your home and put the food in little containers, then sell them at certain price plans, whether it is two, three, weekly plans, etc…

Auto: If you love working on your car and are the person that your friends and family related to when they have a car question, then why don’t you turn that into a profitable hobby? Doesn’t have to be mechanical, many people baby their cars (always clean) why don’t you start a vehicle detailing business, or customizing vehicles. I know somebody who paints the auto rims and wraps the decals and is making great money, not to mention he is a student.

Writing: I had to touch this aspect because this is what I am doing here on this blog and I absolutely love it! But there are many other opportunities like freelance writing even writing your own book. Many businesses need new content regularly and if you like writing then this is the way to go for you. IN my case, I never liked writing but after few posts on this blog I realized how much I love writing especially helping other students becoming better financially. And to sweeten the deal I am also learning so much because of research on articles, and making money becomes just a bonus to me in the end. Not to mention how much essays , research papers, etc.. became easier to write because I type so much on here that  2,000-5,000 word essays are a piece of cake to write, all thanks to this blog.

Fitness: Do you spend a lot of time in the gym? but you have only been doing it for personal reasons? then why don’t you turn it into income. Personal trainers are a start, they are always needed, almost every gym now has personal trainers. I am a fitness fan and actually will be starting a fitness instagram page as my summer project and see where it takes me, I really want to help people get the body they want by doing right exercises but I’m not into personal training… so, as you can see there are many different aspects you can approach when you look at any hobby.

Pets: You love pets and its great, there are so many ways you can make money doing this like dog walking, pet sitting, pet grooming to name a few. You could really get in a great shape if you are active with pets, so you are spending time with pets which is what you love, getting in a great shape, and getting paid for it!

Financial Planning: Another thing that I am slowly converging to on my blog because it is mainly for students and everything finance related and since I am majoring in finance I can touch this subject and loving every moment of it.  Many of us might have money but managing it is something that many of us don’t really have knowledge on.

These are just a few examples, and I hope you are seeing where I am going with this. I know you can turn whatever hobby you have into profit if you start thinking of it outs the box.

Excuses

Here is the major problem when thinking about turning any hobby to making money out of it are excuses. There are just so many excuses that we come up with  before we start on something and another reason to start taking charge of yourself and not being afraid.

You might be waiting to start something just because you think you need more money, talent, or connections. In reality this is all excuses to stop you from making a step. Don’t let your fear stop you from taking full control of yourself and waiting for things to happen because this is not how it works. The more you wait on things, the more you will regret later and I have been learning this from older people saying that they are regretting doing something when they were younger. I talked about my goals earlier this year.

How Do I Turn a Hobby Into an Income?

Reality is that everybody want to do what they love and get paid for it but not many put enough work to try and make it happen. So, how do we take hobby and turn it into an income?

For majority of us, the answer to this is very complicated, you cannot just quit your job right now and go for your dream. But steps that you take one at a time can be taken to achieve that goal while you still have a job that pays your bills.

Here are the steps:

1. Ask for Feedback

You might think that this is the million dollar idea, but in reality you need somebody who is experienced professional or a mentor. Before you start making any money, your work must be standing out from everybody else.A great example is having a camera, but not everybody knows how lighting angles, or framing works. As you can see you need to stand out with your work and make an extra step towards making it more about somebody than just yourself.

If possible, it is best if you can find a group or community of like-minded people or entrepreneurs to examine and evaluate your idea with their eyes.

I cannot recommend enough LinkedIn again and again and again… This is the best place to build connections and meeting people and establishing your internet profile. I talked about why you need it here.

2. Need to Fund Your Idea?

This usually comes in as a second step and so-called “proof of concept”. Even if you don’t need funding, you still need to secure proof of concept. It helps you find out whether people will buy your service or product.

If you need funding, you should check out  crowd-funding websites such as GoFundMe and KickStarter.

Remember, the key to selling anything is the presentation. Thousands of projects launch every day, the challenge is? hope you got it by now it is to stand out from the crowd. How many times you were at a festival and saw some lame booths with food where there were a few people and the one across had music going, and a whole crowd of people. This is what is called presentation.

3. Side Hustle

You need to have a side hustle, it is not only beneficial to you but it can also spark an idea and bring you money. I talked about ways to make money while working towards degree. If you have a full-time job to pay the bills, you can work on your hustle on the weekends. Everything takes approach, you can’t just start something and hope for the results, you need to constantly have tasks to do. If you start and hope for the best without anymore contribution, you will see disappointing results, but if you contribute and complete certain tasks on weekly or even daily basis, you will be rewarded for your work.

Maybe you’re not entrepreneurial mind, that is completely fine! Companies like Lyft, Uber, AirBnb have been really helping you earn money on the side.You can earn bonuses by using links above.

 4. Creating a Business Plan

For any business you need a plan. If you have done every step above, asked for feedback, get proof of concept or funding, and have some sales already here and there. This is why if you are still young and in your 20’s, it marks the best time to start a business.

 

Bottom Line

No matter what you do on a side, don’t get overwhelmed by it. Business is not for everybody and even if it is you really need to consistently work on it. If you just enjoy your hobby then don’t change anything about it, but if you ever want to leave your typical job and be your own boss, you really need to be able to sell it, the sales process can be difficult but in the end is highly rewarding.