How to make money from your hobbies

By Emma-Lou Montgomery, MSN Money special correspondentLast updated September 6 2004
This could be the time to ditch the job you hate and do something you enjoy. Are you an avid artist? A keen golfer? A prolific photographer? Here’s how to turn what you love into your next career
Have you ever looked in envy at people who love their work? You know the sort. They look forward to getting up in the morning and tackling a new day.
But instead of dreaming of taking a break (like the rest of us) they dream of making an even greater success of their business.
And these people aren’t workaholics who work 24/7 because they HAVE to, they do it because they really want to. They’re more likely to be heard saying: “It doesn’t even seem like work, I enjoy it so much,” than “Roll on Friday”. They really do live to work – not work to live, like so many other people.
If you’ve sat back and watched them and thought, “I’d love to be just like that” it could be time to look at what’s leaving you less than 100% satisfied with your life/work balance. Is your current job really fulfilling? In years to come will you look back at what you’ve done in your career and be happy with it?
So maybe it’s time for a change. Perhaps you have a skill or an interest that you could make a career out of? Or perhaps you’re retired and have some time on your hands. If so, turning your hobby into a money-spinner could have a number of benefits.
Stick to what you do best
It’s easy to underestimate the skills, contacts and knowledge that we gain from hobbies.
And there are a host of hobbies that could also make good money spinners too.
Take something like upholstery, or interior design, gardening or picture framing. These are skills that not everyone has, but they are ones which many people need to make use of at some time or another.
If you’re a keen amateur photographer or a frustrated writer there are plenty of ways of making money from your talents – from selling your work to teaching others the craft.
This is just what Rosie Maguire does.
Rosie, a 51-year-old former school cook, now runs painting holidays in the Cotswolds.
“It all started when a friend of mine, who’d been to a weekend painting workshop, invited me along to one in the Lake District. There was a group of 12 middle-aged people, men and women from all walks of life, who enjoyed getting away and spending their time painting.
“I’ve always been a keen artist, since I was a young girl, but I’ve never been good enough – or had the confidence – to put myself forward as An Artist.
“I was living in south London at the time and it was quite a trek to the Lake District. It was when I got home that my husband said to me that maybe I could run holidays like that.”
They already had a cottage in the Cotswolds so she decided to set up there. “There’s nowhere else that captures ‘chocolate box’ England quite like the Cotswolds,” she adds.


Breaking new ground
After running a few weekend courses she met an English woman who runs similar breaks in Tuscany and now they regularly ‘swap’ customers.
“I’ve never advertised, as such, yet we get people from Spain and Italy who come over for a week, just to paint and relax.
“I love it and I just wish now that I’d started this years earlier,” she says.
If you don’t have a hobby, think laterally. What can you do that others can’t? What skills do you have that others need? There is a need for all sorts of skills from image consultants to party organisation.
Shereen Verma runs Indian cookery classes “for people who want to know how to make a proper curry”.
Shereen says that when she came to the UK 20 years ago she needed to do something with her time. But it was only after talking to the other mums at her children’s school that she had an idea for a business venture.
“I’m university educated but I had three children to look after so I couldn’t possibly go out to work full-time. But I was bored. I was stuck at home all day and the only people I met were up at the children’s school.
“I used to meet up regularly with some of the other mothers for coffee and it was then that one of the girls said she’d like to learn how to cook proper Indian food.”
That was ten years ago and since then Shereen has been teaching culinary skills on a one-to-one basis.
“I don’t earn much from it, but it’s something, and it lets me meet all sorts of people. I come from a family that prides itself on making good food, so this is just an extension of something I enjoy doing anyway.
“The only downside is that I’ve put on quite a few pounds over the years,” she laughs.
Do your homework
Setting up any venture – whether it’s as a full-time job or as a part-time venture – requires careful planning if you want it to be successful.
Research similar businesses already running in your area. If you’ve spotted a new venture that hasn’t been tried yet check that there’s a market for it. Ask family and friends what they think of your idea. Informally canvas people to find out what they’d want from such a service and how much they’d be prepared to pay. Then get a few people to trial run your idea. That way you can fine tune your skills.
And most importantly, make sure you keep on enjoying what you’re doing. After all, you don’t want your new life to end up becoming like work, do you?