Examples of People Who Have Turned Their Hobbies into Incomes

I've listed turning your hobby into an income as one of my top ideas for making more money. And I've even suggested three steps you can take to make money from your hobby. But what I like best are examples of how people turned their hobbies into money making ventures. That's why I had to post on this piece from Yahoo. It details five people who combined their hobby with the web to develop an income-producing business. These include:

• Michael Parayno, a lifelong tinkerer, began building off-the-wall birdhouses in order to get rid of the wood from his decommissioned garden fence. Neighbors took notice, and he began selling the handmade birdhouses right off his front yard. That was over a decade ago. Today, the Berkeley birdhouse guy owns a lucrative business selling hand-crafted birdhouses.

• The Snyder family offers a one-stop shop for vintage pinball restorations and sales. To reach their small but passionate market of pinball wizards, the Snyders operate both a brick-and-mortar store and an Internet storefront.

• Jellyfish have special needs. The gorgeous and ethereal creatures have eluded standard fish tanks, which lack the technology to keep them alive. Until Alex Andon, a laid-off biotechnology worker, developed the means to keep jellyfish alive in captivity. Evidently, there's a market for pet jellyfish: A restaurant was among the first in line for a tank. Price tag: $25,000. Cool factor: priceless. With several charter clients under his belt, Andon is developing his hobby into a business selling desktop jellyfish tanks for a comparatively affordable $249.

• Parents charged with entertaining a roomful of pint-size partygoers will be thrilled to discover Teddy Bears to Go, which hosts teddy bear-stuffing parties for children. Lisa Roby, a single mother of two, started the small business when she lost her advertising job. Her new labor of love suits her just fine: "It's the most wonderful job I've ever done," says Roby. "It's so rewarding."

• Animal lovers have a wealth of opportunities to transform their passion into a business. Linda Callaway found her niche market in owners who have lost pets. Her four coonhounds have a knack for tracking lost pets. And Callaway has discovered a knack -- and the resources -- for turning the dogs' noses into a small business.

It's taking all the willpower I can muster not to comment on the pet detective business. :-)

But seriously, look how varied all of these businesses are. And who would have thought that most (any?) of them would ever become a viable business. But these people took their love for something (building, jellyfish, pinball, etc.) and combined it with technology to make a business. They get to do what they love and make money. Kinda cool, huh?

And even if your specific idea/hobby doesn't turn into a full-time job, that doesn't mean it can't generate some useful extra income does it? An extra few thousand dollars would come in handy for most people, and if it's something you enjoy doing, you're really earning money for having fun, aren't you?

My son is starting to see the value in this concept: $20 per game (not what he's earning now but what he's working toward) as a soccer referee times 25 games per season times two seasons a year (spring and fall) is $1,000. Throw in a few tournaments and he's close to $2,000 earned for doing something he enjoys. Beats flipping burgers at McDonald's by a long, long way.

Comments

[Sarah]

While not at all intending to criticize the services themselves, I must say that most of these businesses sound like the sort that would be very vulnerable to recession. I'd be interested to know how many of these ever turn a profit, and how many of them are still open in two years. The environment for hobby-related businesses has gotten really tough recently.

[MC]

I agree with Sarah. These examples have got to be the rarest of rare exceptions.

The #1 of running a successful small business is selling something most people actually *need*. Jellyfish? Vintage pinball machines? Teddy bears? Not so much! Once you're sold stuff to the 4 people in the U.S. who are interested in these "products" and who also have the money to throw away on buying them, then what do you do?

Now coaching---that makes sense. Lots of kids' sports teams out there.

[lincmercguy]

While it is very hard to turn a profit with a hobby related business, the risk is much lower. If you're into a hobby, you're going to have the equipment and supplies to do this stuff anyway. If the business doesn't work, it just goes back to being your hobby. If the business is successful, you can upgrade equipment and buy more supplies with the money. Ideally, there would be no debt associated with this stuff as well, which means the business could be idle for quite some time without financial problems. This is all assuming the person keeps their day job as well. Just my $.02.

[meanmissy]

actually mine is not a hobby when i started to sell when i was in my primary school days. me and my cousins contributed around 5 pesos, that will be around $.05 to $.10 only, we came up with a total amount of $.50..then we bought some candies, different kinds. we sold all of those during the summer season when school was out...fortunately we sold all of our products and even had more than 300% profit...i was truly ecstatic then! just my contribution to this post, thanks!

[Michael@TheCardSender]

The most important is to do something you enjoy. I you are enthusiastic and stick to it, you will clear the first hurdle of any business. By actually liking what you do, you will project a positive attitude. Then the product will sell itself.