Should I Turn my Favorite Hobby into a Business?

The December holidays gave me time to breathe again for a bit. Sometimes I don’t realize how focused and tight I am until I get significant time to chill. One gift I got this past holiday was a Remote Control Helicopter. I hadn’t flown one of these in a decade. It truly was a blessing to get back into a hobby that I had lost touch with for so long. It helped me relax and focus on a different activity; A fun activity. So I got thinking; When should you turn a hobby into a business?

When should you turn your hobby into a business?

This all depends on your situation. Are you willing to mix business with pleasure? Your hobby really could make your day-to-day fun, but there is always going to be an admin aspect to it. Will you stop enjoying the thing you love?

For me, I have started a business in a new area, simply because I want to learn what online business is all about. And I am enjoying it, and still making time for other fun activities. But for you, it might make more sense to business your hobby straight from the get-go.

Once I get my online business business (Yip, the word has to repeat) running, perhaps I’ll start in a new niche. Maybe to do with another enjoyment of mine, dogs!

Hobby vs Business

Hobby

A hobby is a leisure activity done in your spare time. You should have fun doing it and feel relaxed when done.

The benefits of a hobby can include:

  • Learning something new and gaining knowledge in something you love.
  • Feeling refreshed and fulfilled when done for the day
  • Having something to look forward to when you are at work

Business

A business is an entity that is engaged in commercial activity. There will invariably be some admin, billing, and tax concerns to look after. Also, lots of marketing. If it’s online, you’ll be writing tons of content each week, running ads, and connecting on social media.

The benefits of owning a business include:

  • Managing your own time
  • Some Tax benefits (Consult the tax professionals in your area on how to do this legally)
  • Financial reward when the business grows
  • Innovation
  • Social investment on a bigger scale

How to turn your hobby into a side hustle

Now that you have decided to turn your hobby into a side hustle, where do you actually start?

Here is how startupnation.com goes about it.

  • List your hobbies and passions
  • Conduct market research
  • Put Your Idea to the Test
  • Take your hobby and turn it into a side hustle

And if you are ready to take it online, click on the blue bar below

Start Your Own Affiliate Marketing Business Here

Do you have to declare a hobby business?

If you decide to take your hobby into the business space, then yes. Make sure you run it like a business. After all, it’s what’s going to support you in the long run. Just by putting my blog etc into a business protects the way I conduct it. Re-investing all the time, and making sure it keeps growing.

With that, enjoy your hobby, and maybe even make some money from it

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Improve Your Productivity in 9 Simple Steps!

Running a side hustle ain’t easy! And presents many challenges! Often you are working after hours to get things started. But in time you might need to pay someone to do tasks for you. Either way you not going to be productive if you aren’t managing your tasks effectively. In this article I’m going to give you some valuable tips to manage your tasks more efficiently and get things done!

So here is a step by step strategy to get you on top of your Side Hustle!

Learn why its : The Perfect Time to Launch Your Business is Now!

How to Manage Tasks Effectively

1. List all your Tasks

If you feeling overwhelmed or just unclear about where to start, begin by listing all your tasks at once. Open a word document, spreadsheet or note app and start listing all the tasks you need to get done. I would suggest a simple spreadsheet as you will want to use the data filter option to sort priorities. As show below you will be able to sort your tasks using various criteria.

2. Categorize your Tasks

Once you have a list of task, you can organize them according to category. For example organize all your marketing tasks together. This will help you get a feel for what areas in your side hustle need more or less attention.

3. Set a Priority for Each Task

Now that you have created a list of tasks, and categorized them you can now set a priority on each task. I would suggest simply using three levels of importance:

  1. HIGH
  2. MEDIUM
  3. LOW

4. Assign Each Task

If you plan to delegate a task to someone else, enter a person responsible for each task. Once you have all the tasks outlined for a specific person, you can generate a list using the data filter function and forward it to that person.

5. Set a Deadline

Every task should have a deadline. This will keep tasks from perpetually being deferred. Set a deadline that is realistic and complete each task with in the required time to maintain momentum.

6. Assign Tasks for Everyday.

Create a prioritized list of tasks that can guide you every day. Preferably complete all high priority tasks first. But be flexible. It might be better to get smaller tasks done first! Then have the rest of the day to focus on high priority tasks. It can also be beneficial to complete similar tasks together. This can prevent you from having to switch gears back and forth between different types of tasks.

Find out more about : A Blueprint to Start Your Online Business Faster

7. Prioritize Uncompleted tasks

Accept that there will be days when you carry over tasks. That’s okay. Simply shift them to the next day. But maybe prioritize that task before the others. Be flexible and simply adapt to the flow of life and business!

8. Set Time to Plan

A good strategy to manage your side hustle is to plan weekly and monthly. Set time aside at the end or beginning of the week to consolidate your tasks for the week or month ahead. This will greatly reduce the stress that goes along with the challenges of building your side hustle!

9. Set Time to Review Performance

Apart from simply getting tasks done, its important to consider how productive you are. You can do this by assessing the time taken to complete tasks, how many tasks you completed per day, etc. This can give you insights to help you improve your productivity and efficiency in the future.

There you have it, a better way to :

  • Capture Tasks.
  • Prioritize Them.
  • Get Thing Done!
  • And Improve Your Productivity.

Are you ready to kick those tasks?

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5 Secrets to Side Hustle Success

Side Hustle Success

Unfulfilled and need more money?          

A lot of people either do not earn enough money to live or are not fulfilled enough by what they do. Or both! In either case, they have two options. Accept it, and reduce living expenses, or utilise their spare time to escape the “trap”. The latter can be considered a side hustle. We are here to take a dive into what it is all about and how to do a side hustle success.

Side Hustle Meaning?

There are two kinds of work outside your job. They can be classified as moonlighting and side hustle. Moonlighting is usually working for another employer. A side hustle is typically something you build on your own or a piece of freelance work. Often, it’s a start-up.

Both can be tricky to navigate with your current employment. The way to deal with it is to see all your pieces of work as part of your Business. And remember that the number 1 client is the one who pays the most. In the beginning, it will be your full-time work. Never use their time or resources to work on your side hustle, and always prioritise their work.

Is a Side Hustle Worth It?

Everyone has different circumstances. It’s best to put this into a pros and cons list.

Chalkboard drawing – Measure of Pros and Cons

PROS

Benefit Your Day job Believe it or not, it can help you with your current job. If you know you have something else to do, you will find ways to get your day job done more efficiently. This has a knock-on for you to spend your free time focused only on your side hustle. Also, the soft skills you learn in your side hustle can complement your day job. Perhaps leadership skills learned can be implemented at work and move you up the ranks!
Money You make more money. This can be used to increase your lifestyle and savings. Who couldn’t use a little extra anyway?
Passion Often our jobs are a means to pay the bills. We make choices when young and naïve and feel we get stuck in a none rewarding job. If you choose the right niche inline with your passion you can feel whole again. You can feel like you make a difference.

CONS

Burnout No one can sustain a 16 hour a day lifestyle for weeks or months on end. The occasional long day is not a problem. Make sure you find time for rest and relaxation.
Time You’ll have less time with friends and family. If you are going to start a side hustle, have a crucial conversation about it. Make sure your family knows your schedule upfront and what to expect of you.

Side Hustle Success Secrets

Secret 1:

Spend no money: What I mean by this is, try to find a use case first. Even speak to people who are already doing successfully. Make sure that what you are about to do really will work and get you extra money. There are lots of scams out there. I have been burned myself. 

Secret 2:

Just Start: It can be slow and tedious at first. Anything new takes time to learn. You are going to want to give up. Breath and just do one thing at a time. Come up with a Daily Method Of Operation.

Secret 3:

Ask For Help: Sometimes it’s hard to ask because you feel like you should know it already. It’s simply not true. How can you know everything at the beginning? Ask for HELP. And we forget humans want to help! It’s hard-wired into us. Check out this post on how to overcome Perfection Paralysis.

Secret 4:

Limit time: You will be more creative as well as save time and money!

Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion. It is the magic of the imminent deadline. If I give you 24 hours to complete a project, the time pressure forces you to focus on execution, and you have no choice but to do only the essentials.

Secret 5:

Have fun: Even if you are just doing this for money enjoy it. It’s a journey, so make time to reflect on your successes and make time for family and friends.

Conclusion

There are countless ideas out there to start making money. My current side hustle is this blog, building an online business in marketing. 2 great resources that helped me get started in the online world.

1) Noah Kagan (Facebook employee no 30 and Founder of AppSumo) course:

Monthly 1k Course The revolutionary online course that turns ideas into businesses and businesses into goldmines.

$100, worth it!

2) Six Figure Mentors: Free training :

Free Training Series

Are you ready to Launch into the Digital Space?

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