Can I turn my Hobby into a Business?

A few days back I stumbled across an article about an Australian wildlife photographer Alex Cearn, who previously worked in counter-terrorism. In 2007, she borrowed an SLR camera from a friend. Inspired, she bought a digital camera for herself and began her journey by learning about photography from newspapers and magazines. She taught herself through endless practice, and eventually left her full-time job to pursue photography as a career. Now she has her own business that focusses on animal portraiture!

This is just one of those inspiring stories that make most of us wonder: What am I doing with my life? Am I content with my job and/or what I am studying? Is money more important than my happiness? And if it is, can I not earn money by doing something I love instead of doing something that society expects me to do?

Research shows that majority of the people pay attention to only two factors while choosing a career for themselves: Money and the ease of work, which means that only a few people actually get to pursue a career related to their interests or hobbies. Hobbies are the things that we are not obligated to do, but choose to do. It could be anything - playing an instrument, painting, writing, interior designing, even programming.

Pursuing one's hobbies, interests and vocational activities not only provides tremendous joy, but usually ends up giving the most fruitful results, and also offers practical benefits, considering one might already possess most of the required skills.

Having a creative idea, the right skills and strategically devised plans are the essentials of monetizing one's hobby. One should take leaps of faith, but they should be carefully calculated. Having a well-crafted plan B is important, too, and I think this is where the importance of a (rather boring) degree comes in!

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