I am proud to report that I was recently featured in an article in First for Women magazine about turning a hobby into a lucrative business opportunity. I was approached in January to submit a story for inspiration on how to turn your hobby into a business. A few weeks later I was notified that my story was accepted to be published. The magazine is on newsstands from March 11th through to March 31st. This, of course, is a much-edited, sugar-coated version of my story. I have learned tons over the years, including how to create a website, blog, and invoicing or accounting system. I’ve also learned what not to do.
Hobbies can be Lucrative
While many people have been inspired to find unique ways to earn income during the pandemic, my gardening hobby-to-business adventure began in the spring of 2012. In fact, last summer my business took a hit, due to the fact that many of my clients were working from home and able to manage their own gardens. Others gave up their gardener to tighten their budget as the pandemic stretched from weeks to months. I was excited, however, to be able to design a few new gardens, something I have been doing less of in recent years. It was a hot and dry summer too, so the cottage season was an exceptional one.
What hobby do you have that people would pay you to do for them? You would be surprised what services are in demand these days. Another advantage of the pandemic is that people are willing to help and support small businesses even more than before.
Create a Website
To turn your hobby into a business, you will need to create website. It’s not as difficult as you may think. There are lots of options out there and help is easy to find. This is what I have learned along the way.
Accounting or Invoicing
You will also have to figure out a way to keep track of the money coming in and going out. Again, there are lots of ways to do this, some more complicated than others. I started out paying a company to do the accounting and invoicing for me. As my business is quite simple, I switched to an Excel spreadsheet for accounting (I learned how to create these back in my hospital days) and PayPal for invoicing. Both of these methods are easy, not at all complicated and suit me (and my business) perfectly
Conclusions on How to Turn Your Hobby into a Business
I was thrilled to see the magazine article in a publication, especially as the weather appears to be warming up to what could soon be gardening weather. I do still have quite a bit of snow covering my gardens, but it is melting. My south-facing front yard is always the first on the street to reveal the grass under the snow…
If anyone needs further motivation or details on how to turn your hobby into a business, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
In the meantime, I am still repotting, dividing, and increasing my collection of houseplants. I think I need a larger house!
