Now that you understand the advantages and disadvantages of turning your hobby into a business, you’ve decided to turn your hobby into a business. Good for you! It won’t be easy, but with determination and a strong will to succeed, you’ll get there.
One of the things I’ve learned is that it’s totally okay to mess up. From time to time, I’ve questioned some of the paths I’ve taken along my journey. “Why did I do that?” “I should have done this.” What I can honestly say I’ve gotten from making some of the wrong moves is there were always takeaways from them. As long as you’re learning, you’re growing, so kudos to you on this journey - with all the mistakes you’ll make along the way.
Here are six tips for turning your hobby into a business:
1. Research
Sure, you know your hobby well, but now you’re turning it into a business, which means you need to do business research. As a business, you’re competing with other businesses who offer what you have so you have to know how to compete. You also need to know who and what you’re competing against. Market research is also the key to learning more about the people who will be looking for your product. Who are you marketing to? Why do they need your product or service? Learn all of this and more during your research. All of this will be helpful to know as you’re developing your business plan.
2. Come Up With a Business Model
Your research will help you see what others are doing, which will give you an idea of how you should move forward selling your product or service. This entails identifying a business model for your business. Your business model simply spells out how you will make money. This will help you answer questions like: How much will it cost to make the product or service available for purchase? How much are the people who want the product or service willing to pay? How will the product or service be sold? You get it — there are a lot of who, what, where, when, and how’s in developing this business model. Get those answered and you’re on your way.
3. Set Goals
Goal setting is important as you start this next venture in your life. Sure, you know you will turn your hobby into a business, but that’s not a goal. You’ll need to decide things like: will this replace your full-time job, or will this be part-time? Will this be a remote or online business, or will you need physical space? Once you’ve identified things like this, set goals toward making them happen. These should be reasonable goals. SMART goals encompass everything you need to make realistic goals that fit with what you’re trying to accomplish in life.
I’d even be happy to sit down with you and help you focus on those steps in your journey with my six sessions of goal setting.
4. Test Your Idea
Now that you’ve done your research and have developed a business model, try it out. One way to do that is to put your idea out there to a sample of people and take pre-orders. See how many people actually sign up for your service or purchase your product. This will help validate you’ve got a viable plan moving forward. It could also help to alert you to changes you need to make before you fully launch.
5. Develop A Plan
If your test run went pretty well and you’re pleased with the results, it’s time to really get serious. Develop a business plan. Writing your business plan will help give you direction for your business. It will help keep things in perspective, and focused, and can also be a good resource if you need investors for your business. A well-written business plan can help potential investors know if it’s worthwhile for them to invest in your business.
6. Treat Your Business Like a Business
Although this is the last step, this is not the least. It could very easily be number one on this list. It will take a completely different mindset to go from working and enjoying your hobby to treating your hobby like a business. Your hobby costs you money, while your business makes you money. Of course, you love your hobby, but it will take more than love to keep your business up and running. It’s going to take a business mindset because in a business you need profit.
Here are key things to note about doing your hobby as a business:
Treat it like a full-time job
Always be looking for customers (without customers you have no profit)
You need to market your business
Learn and grow to be the go-to-expert in your field of business
Think business every day
Learn about business taxes, liabilities, business licenses, and where to get legal advice
Make sure you have an online presence (website, social media, etc.)
Final Thoughts
Congratulations! You are on your way! Just remember that bumpy roads are part of the process so don’t be dismayed. It’s okay to pause or pivot if you have to, but the path to success will never happen if you quit.
Learn more about how to start your business by visiting my blog, How To Start Your Business at https://www.simmsps1.com/post/how-to-start-your-business.