Grow your life

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About The Author Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry’s personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.

4 Signs Your Hobby Could Grow Into A Full-Time Business
Does your hobby have what it takes to grow into a full-time business? Do you want it to? Here’s how … [+] to decide if making that transition is right for you.

Andre Furtado on Unsplash
Just about everyone has a hobby or two. Whether you like to go hiking, play video games or simply hang out at home and watch Netflix, we all have our own ways to unwind over the weekend or at the end of a particularly long work day.

But for some, a hobby can be so much more than just a fun way to pass the time. If you approach it the right way, your hobby could blossom into a full-blown career—if you want it to. In fact, many entrepreneurs have already done just that.

Of course, not all hobbies have a full-time business potential, and making this kind of big shift isn’t for everyone. But with the right level of skill and a creative approach, you may be surprised at the profit potential your favorite activities have to offer. By taking a little time to evaluate your relationship with your hobby, you could find an exciting way out of the traditional 9-to-5 routine.

Here’s how you can tell when you’re ready to turn your hobby into a career.

1. You’re Willing To Be Persistent At It
A hobby may be fun when you’re doing it in your spare time, but turning it into a true business is an entirely different matter. It requires much more persistent effort and a daily commitment—often dealing with deadlines, completing tasks you won’t always enjoy and managing other stressful situations. For most people, it’ll take time before a hobby starts to turn a meaningful profit.

As I gleaned from a recent conversation with DJ Allie Teilz, persistence is key to transforming your hobby into a business. “I had to cut my teeth working in a record shop and booking my own shows when I was 15. I wasn’t doing parties for the Grammys and Golden Globes right off the bat. It took years of work and hustling to get to the point where I was running bigger productions and parties. But that’s how the industry works. You have to work your way up to earn your place.”

I’ve learned this lesson first-hand in my own career, too. Back in 2014 when I first embarked on a new hobby to learn how to start a blog, the goal of eventually turning my website into a business was always sitting at the back of my mind. It wasn’t until five years later that I’d finally start earning enough to consider it a real business.

Knowing that instant success is highly unlikely should serve as an important reality check. If you know you’re willing to stick with your hobby for the long haul, you’re far more likely to eventually make it big.

2. People Are Willing To Pay For Your Work
One key indicator that you can turn your hobby into an actual business, is that you know you can make money doing what you do. Maybe you enjoy taking photos of friends and family—and you’re so good that people want to hire you for professional photoshoots.

In an interview with Reader’s Digest, Ella Mills, founder of Deliciously Ella, shared how she used this principle to turn her blog into a full-scale brand with an app, books and even kitchen products. “Readers started asking for cooking classes, workshops, supper clubs and other events like yoga brunches, so I started putting them on.”

If enough people are expressing a willingness to pay for your work, it’s clear that there’s potential to expand beyond just a part-time hobby endeavor.

3. You Understand The Aspects Of Running A Business
Turning your hobby into a career doesn’t mean you simply get to do your favorite activity all day every day. It means you’re now becoming a business and signing up for everything that entails. From marketing your products or services, to answering emails and phone calls, paying quarterly estimated taxes, there’s a lot of extra work that goes into taking a hobby full-time.

Understanding how to run a business is just as important as being skilled at your hobby. Research from Fractl cited unviable business models as the top reason for startup failure, accounting for for 26% of all failed startups in recent years. A great idea or useful talent won’t get you very far, if you don’t take the time to learn the basics of running your own scalable business.

In an ideal world, you’ll already have some knowledge of what it takes to run a business based on your work in previous jobs. However, regardless of your current level of experience, you’ll want to put in the extra time to better understand the principles of managing finances, employees and other important business resources.

4. You’re Willing To Make Sacrifices For Your Hobby
Turning a hobby into a full-time career will often require some financial sacrifice, especially at the beginning. But it also signals a major lifestyle shift that could require some other unexpected changes. As with any side business, weighing whether or not potential sacrifices line up with your core values, is a must.

Consider this example from Natalia Autenrieth of TopResume. She explains, “James, a paintball aficionado in his spare time, considered getting a competitive sponsorship to focus on the sport completely. Upon further reflection, he realized that he would have a significant travel commitment for out-of-town games and championships, which would make him an absentee father to his 4-year-old twins—something he couldn’t live with.”

All hobbies that transition into a business will require sacrifices of time, money, work-life balance and possibly even sleep. Make sure that the sacrifices you’ll need to make won’t compromise other more essential aspects of your life. On top of that, be sure you can live with the potential outcome that your enjoyable hobby could start to feel more like work as you spend more time growing it into a career.

A Fun And Lucrative Future

Whether you’re selling artwork, crafts, running a YouTube channel or designing your own apps, there are countless ways you can turn a hobby into a legitimate enterprise.

By fully evaluating your opportunities and creating a concrete plan, you can turn your favorite activities into one of the most enjoyable ways of earning a livining..


A YouTube creator with 350,000 subscribers explains the 5 main ways she makes money as an influencer and entrepreneur

When Amy Landino began making online videos in 2011, her focus was on her YouTube channel AmyTV (359,000 subscribers).

But as other money-making platforms have come to prominence, Landino — like many other successful influencers — has expanded into multiple revenue streams to grow her business.

Landino now has a podcast, two books, and a Patreon account where she offers exclusive content to her followers. She is also the cofounder and owner of the video production house AfterMarq, which she runs with her husband Vincenzo.

But how does she decide which to focus on? She said the key has been listening to her audience.

“The key thing I think we are all doing in business is to make everyone try to feel special,” she said. “The only way to do that, is to make it feel like you are really talking to them. If you can accomplish that through media, you can create a very dedicated and loyal audience – that’s business.”

Her team now consists of an executive assistant, content manager, video editor/YouTube consultant, podcast editor, and graphic designer specific to creating Instagram and Twitter graphics.

Landino broke down which platforms she’s active on, when she launched each, and how she’s able to monetize her content across all of them.

Amy Landino

From a single YouTube channel, to publishing two books, launching a podcast, and creating an account on Patreon  
After discovering her passion when making a friend’s wedding video, Landino started her YouTube channel in 2011. There, she posts videos like time-management tips, hacks for waking up earlier, and how to stay organized.

That same year, before she started to earn money on YouTube, she funded her business by offering one-on-one client work on video content marketing and business coaching.

“In a way, I’ve been my own sponsor since the beginning of 2011,” she said. “The client work that I was doing was how I was able to facilitate making the videos to market myself. I was marketing a business at the time, not being an influencer. I kept my job, but kept creating.”

She began attending speaking engagements in 2015, which she said later gave her the idea to publish a book similar to the topics she discusses (like video production and vlogging). She now has two books, which she sells on Amazon, “Vlog Like a Boss” which she started working on in 2017, and her most recent book, “Good Morning, Good Life: 5 Simple Habits to Master Your Mornings and Upgrade Your Life,” which she released in December.

After she launched her first book in 2017, she said she no longer had the time to work with clients and instead shifted to making money full time as an influencer.

In late 2018, she started a podcast and later expanded her digital business further by creating an account on Patreon in mid-2019.

“Patreon is something that I dragged my feet on,” she said of the platform, which allows creators to charge fans a monthly fee for certain content.

Amy Landino

Developing multiple revenue streams with ads, consumer products, sponsorships, and speaking engagements 
Landino earns money by speaking at events, promoting brands on social media, having ads on her YouTube videos, from Patreon, and from her books.

“Sponsorships are top 1 or 2, but speaking is also a very big revenue stream for me,” she said. “Patreon is rising very quickly and a little bit of money on AdSense, affiliate sponsorships.”

She promotes brands through influencer marketing campaigns on Instagram, YouTube, and on her podcast.

She has 55,000 followers on Instagram and has worked for brands like Fabletics and Mazda. Instagram influencers with similar followings to Landino have told Business Insider that the average rule most influencers will follow when they first start out is to set their sponsored post rate at $100 for every 10,000 Instagram followers.

Some creators sell merchandise to their followers like T-shirts or other apparel. But Landino said her books are her version of a consumer product and she “still makes quite a bit” from her first book. Within the book, she promotes her “masterclass,” which she sells on her website for $497.

“I don’t want to suddenly have T-shirts with my name on it for no reason,” she added.

Landino’s Patreon tiers. Screen shot of Amy Landino Patreon. What she offers to paying subscribers on Patreon and how she earns revenue from it 
Patreon is Landino’s newest source of revenue, but is growing fast, she said.

On Patreon, memberships are tiered, and creators have the ability to build a system and price points that they think will work for their audience. Patreon receives a percentage of the income creators earn through the membership, “plus an industry standard rate for processing payments from your patrons,” according to its pricing page.

Landino offers videos, chats, and livestreams to her 282 paying members. Every time a subscriber goes up a tier, they are offered the rewards in the tiers below.

Here’s a breakdown of Landino’s Patreon tiers:

Tier 1: “Shine On.” This tier costs $4 a month and includes morning routine, productivity, and motivation tips. 

Tier 2: “Rise & Shine.” This tier costs $8 a month and includes Q&A live streams, access to early announcements, and early access to her second book/writing process.

Tier 3: “Shine Bright Like a Diamond.” This tier costs $14 a month and includes monthly live trainings, time management tips, inside access to her YouTube videos, and access to her paid guide on vlogging.

Landino said the key to a successful Patreon is looking at it like an opportunity to build an intimate environment with your audience and to offer them special value.

This story has been updated to reflect a change in Landino’s Patreon tiers. Landino no longer offers tier 4 as of Jan. 1.

For more on how to become a successful influencer, according to YouTube and Instagram stars, check out these Business Insider Prime posts: