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Can a Hobby Become a Business?

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V_King:
A bit of the advice if you really want to have your sidehussle become a successful business - treat it as a business, not a hobby. Otherwise you will end up sinking all your savings, time and after a few years of burning yourself out multiple times, you will just want everything to go away.
I wish I had this advise when I started, instead of listening to "just go for it", "be your own boss" etc. It does not work like that. Idea is just and idea, product on it's own is just a product, you need a plan, you need to spend some time learning the ropes of business (financial planning, marketing, etc etc). No matter how boring or irrelevant that might sound. It is quite simple stuff, but a lot of people starting in business just ignore it or push it to a side before it is too late.
In other words work on your business, not for your business.   

hneve:
I've seen hobbies turn into successful businesses firsthand. Like me, I was obsessed with finding the perfect coffee. Local cafes just didn't cut it, so I started experimenting with different beans and brewing methods at home. It was just fun at first, but I shared some with coworkers, who loved it. That's when I thought, why not make this a thing? Fast forward a bit, and I opened a small boutique café. It started tiny, just me and a few seats, but now it's grown into a bustling spot.
And then there's my friend. He's always been a car fanatic, loved driving and knew everything about different models. Like a personalised chauffeur service, he started driving people around in his spare time. Initially, It was pretty casual, but he saw an opportunity to grow. He invested in a couple more vehicles and expanded his services. He runs a full-blown transportation service known for being the best Reliable Transportation to Copper Mountain.

Psi:

--- Quote from: nigelwright7557 on May 25, 2023, 09:10:12 pm ---The trick is to find something that isn't being sold for peanuts but has a good profit margin.

--- End quote ---

Yep, that is the real tick, to find something that is high profit but also low enough sales that no company would bother with it.

One thing you can do is look for medium size companies who have discontinued one of their products and where you find people on forums annoyed by it.

Products often get discontinued not because they aren't making money, but because sales of them is lower than other products, and the company want to replace lower sales products with newer different high sales products.

Since a hobbyists has orders of magnitude less costs/expenses than a company that discontinued product can be a goldmine if you can design and sell your own version. Especially since there may already be a market for it and people asking where they can get one now that X brand is discontinued. Obviously there can be copyright/IP issues in some cases, but usually not.

The industry you pick for your product is super important. Stay away from stuff made for the general public!   Automotive is good for high profits and there's lots of niche things people want to fix a problem with some custom build they are doing. And they are willing to pay top $ for it. eg, $50-$100 BOM cost and $400-$1000 sale price, that sort of thing. 

victorb:
Turning a hobby into a business is definitely possible and can be very rewarding. I’ve always been passionate about agriculture, and recently, I decided to take the plunge and bought a small agricultural business.

I found a business for sale Canada in agriculture and have been developing it since. It's been a lot of hard work but incredibly fulfilling to see my passion turn into something tangible.

stretchyman:
Simplest thing imaginable!

Just become a contractor.

Good hourly rates and you can pick and choose your role.

I stick to RF, loads of work around..

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