How to make money making something that I love to do

by Tina-Jean

Q: How do I make money with my hobby/craft? I love doing it so much and know others make money with their passions, so how can I do the same?

Our A: Great question and there will be multiple ways to answer this. Chances are that if you love to do something whether it be making stained glass or anything else, others will have the same passion.

So, you may already have a market - that's good! Plus, it's easier to build and market your business around your passion.

However, just because there is a market, doesn't mean your business will work - there has to be a need, want, desire for what you offer, otherwise the process can be long and frustrating.

There are many steps and aspects to turning your hobby into a business. If you have read a couple of our articles in the stained glass business section you will understand what we're talking about.

High level answer though - do some research online or offline to determine if there is a market.

How? - online I would visit a forum surrounding your topic to see what types of questions are being asked. I may hit up Amazon to see if they have books/products on the topic and see how popular they are.

You can also visit Google's keyword tool and type in keywords that relate to your topic to see how often people search for those words and if businesses are paying for Google's Adwords program.

Offline you can find trade journals, talk to local merchants, talk to others who share the same passion or just ask folks in general if they like what you want to offer.

These are just a few. Then you'll want to go through the steps of setting up a simple plan on how you will start, how much money you will need, what you will need to get started, how much things will cost, what you will sell, how you will market/sell it, how much will you sell it for, tax issues, and other factors.

A lot of people are taking their passions online. We started with a program and series of information products from SiteSell - in fact they give many of their info. products away for free now!

You could also start on social networking sites and places like eBay before building your own site.

I just did this for a custom woodworker through my web consulting business. He is starting to see more success within a month than he did in the previous year.

To answer the question, yes there is a potential to make money with something you love! It will take some steps before deciding whether there is a good chance or not, but the above outlines it a bit.

We plan to do a series on this topic because this question is asked a lot.

Others, please be sure to chime in with your own tips and comments!!!