Hobbies turning into businesses?

Question

I'm just curious to know if anyone here on Yahoo! Answers has ever taken a hobby and turned it into a business. How did you go about it? Was it a successful venture?

Answer 1

Most small business owners did just that. Turned a hobby into their career. The small shoe stores, the Bird store, local mom n pop pizza shops, etc. They each had a passion for something and it grew to the point it became a business.

I did the same. I like cars and I like art. So I combined them to do customer paint on cars. Well use to do that. Currently into horses over cars and trying to figure out what I want to do in this field. Leather or Farrier or such.

Hobbies that become business are the most successful. As its not a job to the owner and pay isn't a factor, as the passion is what drives it.

Answer 2

Here is a brief summary of my experience.  I will keep it as simple and as short as possible without having to write a book.  :o)

Build a plan for success:

All successful ventures require a plan. Sit down and analyze where you are at now in your life and where you would like to be in the future.  Always start off small and work your way up.  Always always always monitor your competition.

Be an expert:

The first thing you need to do is to choose a business / hobby that you most enjoy and become an “expert” in that field.  The main quality that is consistent in all fields of business where a business has been started from scratch is that those individuals are experts in their field and love what they are doing.

Diversify your products or services:

The second thing you need to do is to diversify your selling based on your buyers wants and needs and not your own.  Be mindful that just because you may be selling an item does not necessarily mean buyers will be lining up to purchase this item.  Your own personal likes and dislikes about a product should always take a back seat to your customer’s wants and needs.  For example lets say you have a hobby designing t-shirts but hate the color green so you don’t make any green t-shirts.  Unfortunately the color green was exactly what the customer’s were looking for so they passed your items up and bought it from someone else.

Market research / analysis:

The next thing you need to do is to perform some market research.  You do not need to spend a lot of money doing this however you do need to spend a quite a bit amount of time analyzing your market.  Always monitor your competition.  Let other people spend there money and watch them rise or fall.  Your competition can provide you with huge amounts of information of what is hot and what is not.  As a general rule in all lines of business is that you are not the first one to come up with this idea of starting a business.  Others have started the same business and according to statistics the majority has already failed.  Always think of yourself as an apprentice while learning to become a master or expert in your field.

Test your products or services:

The next thing you need to do is to perform some field tests.  Always come up with your own spin off version of hot items or services.  Never copy your competition as this will always lead to frustration, a price war or even failure.  Always come up with your own ideas with a new spin.  You must also understand how sales works.  Sales involve the tweaking of products and services until you find a niche in the market in which you can benefit and maximize your profits.  This involves dozens of attempts at various products and services until you find those that generate adequate sales.  Understand that this will take some time to iron out the kinks.

Do the math:

The next thing you need to do is to do the math and go back to your original business plan.  For example now that you know that you can sell one t-shirt out of your stock of 20 t-shirts every couple days at $25.00, you must now increase and diversity your stock to make even more money.  One thing that you must keep in mind is that it will always be a numbers game, which can and will change from month to month.

Plan for rapid success:

The next thing you need to do is to plan for rapid success.  Believe it or not but many businesses have failed because they were too successful.  The demand was too great for the company.  Always have a plan for rapid growth which includes additional staff members and/or temporary employees.

Your customers:

Always listen to your customers.  Never take a recommendation as an insult to you or your business.  Never decline any opportunities for additional business and sales if all possible.  Yes it is your business however customers are an extremely valuable resource when it comes to areas, which are lacking or perhaps an area you or your competition may have overlooked to make additional sales.  An expert businessperson will be able to differentiate between a complaint and a recommendation especially when it is neither expected nor welcomed.  Always be honest, timely and sincere when addressing customers concerns.

Repeats all steps above:

Last but not least, every month or so repeat all the above steps as the market may have changed or perhaps someone has taken note to what you are doing and is now your new competitor.  Always always always monitor your competition.

Copyright © 2007-2008 M.G.S. All rights reserved.

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,

M.G.S.

Answer 3

Yeah, I turned my love of model rocketry into a business a while back. It did keep me afloat for quite a while, and it was satisfying to me.

I have a tutorial where I talk about how to start your own internet business from scratch and most of the example come from this web site that I did.

If you want to read it, email me at woodystanford at yahoo.com and I'll send it in RTF format as an attachment.