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Everyone has their own personality and it is the diverse nature of each individual that makes the world the great place it is. If everyone was the same, the world would have been a pretty dull and grey place. However, just because there are a lot of differences between us doesn’t mean that there aren’t similarities. Quite the contrary, there are a lot of things we share amongst ourselves, such as the fact that everyone has a hobby. Some people have multiple hobbies, making them even more diverse and intriguing to those around them.
When it comes to hobbies, there are pretty much two categories of people. First off, there are those that just enjoy their hobbies and practice them according to their free time, resources and of course desire to do so. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. They just enjoy what they do in their free time. The second category includes those that have more of an entrepreneurial spirit, as they see an opportunity in places where most people do not, or are just too afraid to pursue it. What that means is that this second category of people will take their hobbies and seize the opportunity to turn them into profitable ventures which can set them for life or set them up for another job or even business entirely.
How does it work?
Turning your hobby into a business or into a profitable venture might be harder than it seems for those that have already set their minds on doing so, but on the other hand is probably easier than most people expect, if they have never explored the possibility.
The first thing that needs to be done is identify your hobby or hobbies, and acknowledge some elements. First off, what is it that you are good at? Secondly, how good are you when it comes to it? Because there are different levels of good. For example, there is a monumental difference between someone that is good enough at drawing to impress their friends and someone that can draw so good they can fool you into believing it’s actually a digital picture. Keeping that in mind, let’s see what happens after you find an answer to the second question.
Setting up the bases for your operation
There are a few things that you need to take care of to ensure that business has a chance to grow into a booming success. Let’s take a look at the things you need to do in order to ensure that your business won’t just be a passion projected that never landed on the desk of a high ranking business or worse, almost made it but not quite.
Advertisement is crucial because it is how people find out about you, your hobby and how you can be of service to them. The latter depends of course on what your hobby actually is, so if your hobby is drawing, you can advertise your skills and expertise in graphic design sketch creating.
There are hundreds of people that claim they are just as good as you, if not better at that specific trade. This means that no matter how good you are, you will have to prove you are better than the other mob of people claiming they are superior.
The best way to do this is through a demonstration. Everyone can talk, but not everyone can walk the walk. That being said, you can create a speed painting of a popular subject like the main character of one of the biggest shows on TV at the moment, or the main guy in a popular video game franchise. Whatever it is, making it something famous will ensure that more people will discover your video and thus will discover you.
There are a lot of ways in which you can prove your skill. If you are for example a break dancer or in original terms a Bboy, you can use competitions as a guide to promote your brand. Nothing screams out “I’m the best” better than literally being the best and beating everyone else in a competition. The impact of such an approach is affected by things such as whether or not it’s televised and so on, but you should find a proper place of self-promotion if your hobby is at least mildly popular. If you have a knack for martial arts, you can compete in organized matches pertaining to your fighting style and by winning you can persuade people to join your own gym/dojo/school (you might have seen this in a movie somewhere, because it’s that effective of an idea).
People will click on things that are about things that interest them. Once they see how good you are, they can follow up on your story and what you are offering in the contacts below, which brings us the next point.
Give people plenty ways to contact you
Once people decide they are interested in what you are about and want to know more, you need to make sure that they have the means to contact you and also learn about you. Just providing a phone number for example won’t cut it, especially if the person wants to know more. Most people will shy away and won’t call you asking “I’m interested in your craft, can you talk to me a little about yourself?”. That is why you need to provide them with contact-free information such as an article or a bio, description etc. Also a lot of information about where is it that you conduct business and where you can be contacted (phone, email, website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.).
Final thoughts
A lot of people, even the ones that are successful, have a hard time because they are not necessarily pursuing something that they enjoy doing. Once a business is successful, most people learn to like it. If you set out already loving what you do, in this case your hobby, you will have a much easier time getting by obstacles that seem impossible for others.
