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Should you turn your hobby into a business?
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…continued from previous edition
This question isn’t always a straightforward one. Although there’s a lot to be said for doing what you love, turning your hobby into a career means a lot of hard work and sacrifice. Here are some questions to ask yourself while you’re deciding:
Do I have the time to dedicate to starting a business?
Going from a hobby to a profession is often going to take some work. As we explore in our open step on making your hobby your job, it takes time, planning, and a fair slice of luck to get your venture off the ground. You need to determine whether or not you can dedicate enough time to starting a business.
Do I have the skills and know-how to make a living?
If your plan is to transition from pastime to profession, at least some of your income will need to come from your new business. You’ll need to be honest with yourself when assessing your abilities. Will customers pay for your product or service? And are you good enough to bring in a consistent source of income?
Can I balance a job and transitioning to a new career?
Often, a hobby becomes a side-hustle before it becomes a career. However, trying to balance the two can often be tiring. As well as working full-time, you’ll also need to plan your business, find potential clients, and practise your craft.
Am I prepared to lose a pastime?
Ultimately, turning your hobby into a business means that you might lose your hobby as a pastime. Instead, you’ll have to spend time doing it to make a profit. Although this can still be enjoyable for many, it can take the shine of it.
If you are going to monetise your hobby, you should make sure that you have other pursuits in your life that you do purely for pleasure and relaxation. Sometimes, by turning everything into a side hustle, you can end up burning out.
Tips for turning your hobby into a career
So, if you’re committed to making your pastime a professional endeavour and prepared for all that entails, you might be wondering where to get started. Of course, there are various ways you could go about it, and the below is just one such method:
- Start with a business plan
One of the best places to start if you’re trying to convert your hobby into a career is to come up with a solid business plan for your idea. We’ve got a detailed guide on writing a business plan, so we won’t go into too much detail here.
Your plan should give you the vision, structure, and strategy for how you’re going to make your hobby into a money-making venture. It will help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of what you offer, as well as analyse the market you’ll be entering. You can check out our guide on how to start a business for more information.
- Decide on your structure
One important decision to make fairly early on is what kind of structure your company will take. If you’re planning on being a freelancer and want the flexibility to make choices, you might consider registering as a sole trader. However, if you want to add credibility to your business and minimise your legal liability, a limited company could be a good option.
We’ve written in detail about business structure and registration, so it’s worth familiarising yourself with the various options available when you’re starting a business. And, of course, you can always start as a sole trader and build your way up to a corporate entity as time passes.
- Start building your brand
If you’re thinking about hobbies that make money, you’ve probably already got an idea of brands that you might aspire to. Thinking about your own branding is, therefore, a crucial step in making the leap to being self-employed.
You can learn more about market analysis and reaching your target customers in our full guide. You can take our course on strategic brand management to find out how to build your brand identity and strategy.
- Develop an online presence
Digital marketing will likely play a significant role in helping you shape your new business. Being able to access an online audience means you can advertise and sell your product or service.
Whether it’s through techniques such as SEO and Google Ads or creating a strong brand presence on social media sites such as Instagram, there are many ways you can get your name out there.
- Create a marketing strategy
This point really ties together the previous ones. To ensure that you’re making a concerted effort across your branding and marketing activities, creating a marketing strategy is essential.
This article can give you the direction you need when it comes to getting your brand established in your niche. It will outline your approach to advertising and sales, ensuring you spend your money in the right places.
- Reach new customers
One of the hardest things when transitioning from a hobby to a business is to find people willing to buy into your idea. Of course, branding, marketing and an online presence will all help with this. However, you’ll also need to think about other ways of reaching people.
Whether it’s networking events, getting involved in local projects, or asking for referrals from your existing customers, there are various ways you can expand your user base and build business relationships. If you’re trying to turn a profitable hobby into a profitable business, you’ll need to reach lots of people.
- Monitor your progress
When it comes to hobbies that make money and eventually become a business, there’s no defined timeline to work towards. You might start off having your hobby as a side hustle, gradually building towards a fully-fledged business. Or you might take the plunge all at once. However, keeping tabs on your progress is essential.
As part of your business plan, you’ll set goals for your business. You can then measure your progress towards these aims, analysing what’s working well and what needs improvement. In doing so, you can figure out how you want your business to grow or whether you want it to be just a hobby once again.
Final thoughts
Profitable hobbies certainly exist, and it’s possible to turn them into something more than a side-project. However, hobbies that make money often require a lot of time and dedication. Turning your hobby into a business involves risk and hard work, but it’s certainly an achievable goal.
There is a culture that permeates all aspects of leadership in the advanced countries which I believe has contributed to the success in all aspects of their national lives. Citizens strive to excel so that they will not find themselves in a situation where they would have failed, to necessitate a decision to resign.
Countries where failure is frowned upon, it pushes the citizens to strive for success. In our part of the world, failure and mediocrity has become an accepted norm and therefore, there is no shame in failing in a particular position of leadership.
A head of an organisation mismanages the place and he does not see the need for him to resign. The appointing authority does not also see the need to sack him and so the merry go round continues.
It becomes friends and family as usual and if care is not taken, the rest of the world will leave us far, far behind.
The practice of resignation in parts of the world for failure in some parts of the world has to be institutionalised in our country too. It encourages the principle of accountability which is good for any organisation, sector of an economy or a country.
It promotes good governance, a necessary ingredient in the growth of the economy of any country.
When this practice becomes a culture, every individual, privileged to hold a position of trust, gives his or her full attention to the job assigned him or her, to ensure that objectives are achieved.
This trickles down to every individual down the chain of command and there are no rooms for errors.
That is how efficient systems are built over time and this is the difference between advanced nations and third world countries.
Where systems are designed such that people take responsibility for things that go wrong under their supervision or ultimate responsibility, there is evidence of development.
There are a few people that I admire in Ghana as far as this culture of resignation based on principled stance. One of them is the late Mrs Emma Mitchell. She was a cabinet member but chose to resign after the confrontation between late President Jerry Rawlings and late Vice President Kow Akaah.
She was not prepared to be part of a cabinet which was lying to the general public that Rawlings did not assault Akaah.
She was of the conviction that telling the truth is more honourable than telling lies and that if she was bound by confidentiality oaths to tell a lie, then she would resign and she did exactly that.
That is how we build a culture of truth and accountability. We have people in positions who have not lived up to expectation but are still holding on to their positions not prepared to let go of it.
This is a clear case of display of selfishness, trying to be a Boss instead of a Servant to serve the people, which leadership is all about.
The ineffectiveness of some leaders, often result in waste of resources which could have been channeled to other sectors of the economy which could have been more productive. A culture of voluntary resignation must be advocated for by all stakeholders, especially the CSOs, traditional leaders and the clergy.
This is the only way the needed growth in every sector of our national life would manifest.
Presidents, Prime Ministers, heads of reputable organisations have voluntarily resigned by taking ultimate responsibility and it is about time, we started seeing it manifest in our country.
The people in charge of our sports especially our soccer, can initiate this long desired culture and resign in view of the embarrassment witnessed from the defeat of the Black Stars by Gambia. God bless.
BY LAUD KISS-MENSAH
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THE QUR’AN FORBIDS RELIGIOUS PROVOCATION
There is a remarkable verse in the Qur’an which every Muslim preacher should memorise.
Allah says:
“And do not insult those they invoke besides Allah, lest they insult Allah in hostility without knowledge.” (Qur’an 6:108).
Think about this carefully.
Allah knows that the unbelievers worship false gods.
Yet Allah tells Muslims: Do not insult their objects of worship.
Why?
Because your speech may provoke an even greater offence.
This establishes a profound principle:
A Muslim must not fight religious provocation with religious provocation.
If someone insults what we hold sacred, we do not respond by insulting what they hold sacred.
If someone attacks Islam, we defend Islam with knowledge.
If someone misrepresents Muhammad (pbuh), we explain who is Muhammad to him.
If someone lies about Islam, we answer with truth and knowledge.
We do not allow another person’s bad behaviour to dictate our own morality.
LOOK AT MUHAMMAD (PBUH) — HE WAS INSULTED BEFORE WE WERE
Servant of Allah,
Sometimes we speak as though the Prophet (pbuh) lived in a world where everyone respected him.
No.
He was mocked and insulted. Quran 37:36, Quran 15:6
He was called a liar, magician, and a mad man. Quran 51:52, Quran 17:47
He was ridiculed. Quran 6:10
His followers were tortured, and some were killed. Quran 85:8-10
He himself was persecuted, leading to his migration to Madina.
Yet he remained the Messenger of Allah.
Allah said:
“Indeed, we know that your heart is distressed by what they say.” (Qur’an 15:97)
Allah acknowledged the Prophet’s pain.
Islam does not say that insults do not hurt. They hurt.
But the question is: What do you do with the pain?
THE DAY OF TA’IF: WHEN THE PROPHET (PBUH) COULD HAVE CHOSEN
REVENGE
One of the most powerful examples is the journey of the Prophet (pbuh) to Ta’if.
He went seeking support for his message.
Instead, the people rejected him and incited their children and others against him.
He was chased.
He was insulted.
He was struck with stones until his feet bled.
He was physically and emotionally exhausted.
Then the Angel of the Mountains came to him.
The two angels offered to crush the people of Ta’if between the mountains.
The Prophet (pbuh) could have said: “Do it.”
But he did not.
Instead, he hoped that Allah would bring from their descendants people who would worship Him.
This account is recorded in the authentic hadith literature, including Sahih Muslim (Muslim, 1795).
What a lesson!
The Prophet (pbuh) had suffered injustice.
But he did not turn his pain into indiscriminate revenge.
He saw beyond the offender.
He saw the possibility of tomorrow.
And this is one of the greatest characteristics of prophetic leadership:
The Prophet (pbuh) did not merely ask, “What punishment does this person deserve?”
He also asked, in effect: “What can this person become?”
THE PROPHET IN MADINAH: LEADER OF A DIVERSE SOCIETY
When Muhammad (pbuh) migrated to Madinah, he did not enter an empty city.
Madinah contained different communities, including Muslims and Jews, and there were also Christians who interacted with the Muslim community.
The Prophet became the political and communal leader of Madinah.
The Sahifah (A Covenant) of Madinah, preserved in the early sīrah (Prophet’s biography) tradition, established arrangements concerning mutual obligations, security, justice and relations among the communities of the city.
This is important:
The Prophet did not build Madinah by teaching Muslims to hate everyone who was not Muslim.
He built a society governed by covenant, responsibility and justice.
Allah says:
“Allah does not forbid you from being kind and just to those who have neither fought you because of your religion nor driven you from your homes. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly.” (Qur’an 60:8)
This is not weakness.
This is Islam.
THE PROPHET DEALT WITH JEWS IN MADINAH
‘A’ishah (Wife of the Prophet) narrated that the Prophet (pbuh) bought food from a Jewish man on credit and gave him his iron armour as collateral.
“The Prophet purchased food from a Jew on credit and mortgaged his iron armour to him.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, 2068)
Think about it.
This was Muhammad.
The Messenger of Allah.
Yet he conducted lawful commercial dealings with a Jewish citizen.
He did not say: “He is not a Muslim, therefore I cannot deal with him.”
No.
Islam gave him a relationship governed by justice and trust.
Jabir رضيهللاعنه narrated:
“A funeral procession passed before us and the Prophet (pbuh) stood up, and we stood with him. We said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, it is the funeral of a Jew.’ He said: ‘When you see a funeral procession, stand.’” (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1311)
Another narration records his response: “Is it not a soul?” (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1312–1313)
What kind of heart did Muhammad (pbuh) possess?
A heart that recognised human dignity even in death.
THE PROPHET AND THE CHRISTIANS OF NAJRAN
The Prophet also received the Christian delegation of Najran.
They disagreed with him theologically.
Yet when they requested a trustworthy person, he did not choose someone because of hatred.
He selected Abu ‘Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah.
The Prophet said:
“I shall send with you a man who is truly trustworthy.”
He then appointed Abu ‘Ubaydah.
This is authentically reported in Sahih al-Bukhari 4380–4381.
Notice something profound:
The Prophet could disagree with people without becoming dishonest toward them.
That is the standard we need today.
The author is the chief Imam of Katamanso Municipal and Certified Counsellor and Governance Expert.
