Hobbies are activities that we enjoy doing when we are free. Imagine indulging in our hobbies all day long and without any feeling of guilt. Such luxury can happened only if the hobby has become our vocation. I bet this is everyone’s dreams. But in reality, most of us dragged our feet every morning to a place or activity that we dread and hope the day will be over soon so that we can return to the activity that we like doing. That’s why we have “Monday blues” at the beginning of the week and “Thank God it’s Friday” when the working week is ending. The line between work and play is thickly defined for most of us.

But in recent years, we witnessed a wide range of jobs churning out from hobbies and not only that, these vocations are helping people to earn big bucks as well as giving them great career security. In other words, it’s possible to have pleasure, fun and money at the same time.

What are some hobbies that had turned out successfully to great careers or businesses?

• Crafts/Design/Painting to Designers/Artists/Gallery Owners

• Cooking to Chefs

• Gardening to Landscape Designers/Nursery Owners

• Writing journals to Professional Bloggers

• Keeping pets to Pet Groomers/Pet Shop Owners

• Outdoor games/sports to Professional Sportsmen/women

• Photographing to Professional/freelance Photographers

• Singing/Playing musical instruments to Music/Voice Instructors and Pop Singers

But before you ditch your day job and jump into your “hobby-vocation”, it would be helpful to run through a check-list such as the following first:-

• Are you really serious about your hobby that almost borders to “addiction”? For instance, one may quote his hobby as gardening but in actual fact, the time spend manning the garden is far lesser than his time watching TV. In this instance, the person’s “real” hobby is probably watching TV and not gardening. You got to be honest about your true passion. Some people have lots of hobbies – and most of them are merely for therapy purposes and not meant to be indulged seriously.

• Your hobby has to be “employable” or “marketable”. In other words, there must be a demand for your skills, services or products that you made.

• Can it give you the income to meet all your current commitments? This is a crucial point and that’s why many who already had a family with kids to feed may not even think about venturing into this territory. A solution to it is to start off on a part-time or freelancing basis first. I knew of a few professional photographers that started out that way. When they first began, it was merely shooting for friends on their weddings and slowly, through referrals, the demand for their service grew and thereafter, a full time business venture became feasible. (Suggestion: For a start, you can advertise your skills or services in Allyhunt’s “Freelancers” section and get noticed.)

• Like any business venture, do up a business plan if turning it to a business is the only option. Make sure you have a comfortable cash flow to sustain for at least six months to one year.

• And if you wish to be employed, be ready to start at a lower salary than what you are getting right now. A Project Manager in IT wanted to switch her career to a Make-up Artist had to be willing to sacrifice her five-figure income initially. There is no guarantee that you are able to earn similar or more income in the future. Are you ready for monetary sacrifices?

• Do your homework. Research the pros and cons of your vocation. Talk to people who are already in the industry. You may like pets but to be a pet groomer, how prepared are you to have a full schedule of appointments in all your weekends and public holidays? There may be aspects of it that are not for you. In such situation, your hobby probably should just remain for your free time.

• Patience, patience and patience. Endurance and perseverance are traits that you need to have because the primary reason of turning hobby to career or vocation is usually not due to the economic feasibility but the desire of doing things that you like or enjoy. Therefore, money is never the main motivator and as such, success may take a while to savor. Having said that, the old adage, “love what you do, and the money will follow” may still come true.

It’s great to have dreams and what better way to turn something that you like to your dream job. Edward Hiew is a good example of turning a rare passion to a business venture.

The Guitar Maker

Since young, Edward has a passion for music and love for guitars. He started off his career doing some contracting job for a manufacturing company but soon after, discovered that this was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Every free time he had was devoted to study of guitars and making good music, and along the way, he found out that guitar making is one of the important ingredients to producing quality guitar music. Eventually, he took a bold move by learning guitar making from an expert and not long after, ditched his day job and started his own guitar making business. The process of turning it into a money-churning venture may be a slow and long one but when asked the maestro, without any hesitation, he will tell you its’ all worth it, as he spend his days crafting every piece as though is his last masterpiece.

Freeman Guitars »

So, how crazy are you about your hobby? Enough to turn it into your vocation or career? For those who had weighed the pros and cons and have decided to go for it are indeed the happy lot that can truly experience the wisdom of this quote, “Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”