How did you turn your hobby or passion into a business?

[ElisabethB]

Did your business form out of a hobby or other side gig? Reply to share your story and tips for maintaining work/life balance when work is also your passion. 

New to the Community? Join the Artists and Makers Group!

[Bronze_Palms]

When I was just starting my business I had a very demanding advertising job so did not ever experience work life balance until I let one of the jobs go. I ultimately went full time in my business and my life has improved in every single area! It formed out of passion and wanting to satisfy the goal of being a business owner. What about you!

[MCCU]

I have learned just this year that you have to make sacrifices for what you truest want. I learned this not thru my own business but another that I have taken on. I have had my own business for 16 years but it’s never been full time. But you have to find ways to make it work and have sacrifices that you are willing to give that you are not resentful of. Once everything falls into place it all is wonderful. With out the stress of being under someone else’s employment it all seems to just fall together. Your investing in yourself so you have so much more to give then you have ever given to just any job in the past. 

[MadeByMocha]

I learned to crochet in November 2019 as a 33-yr old mom of two young children. My mom and stepdad had to evacuate from a fire and stayed with my family and me for a week. To keep busy during such a stressful week, Mom and I bought piles of craft supplies. I asked her to re-teach me how to knit, and I moved on to a learn-to-crochet kit that I had bought and was holding on to. When my parents were able to go home, I kept learning crochet. It was just the right amount of difficult to inspire me to keep working at it. When I realized the calming effect of creating and designing crochet items, that sense of peace quickly became a passion that became a business.  I made some Christmas presents for family, made baskets for animal wildfire relief in Australia... then a friend asked for a commission. Then another friend asked for a commission. I had only been crocheting for 3 months when I turned it into a business. I launched my ETSY shop the night before the COVID shutdowns were announced in the Bay Area.  I crocheted my way through the pandemic.  Being an immuno-compromised individual, the pandemic was especially isolating; but, I found creativity and connection through my work. When a family member was diagnosed with cancer, I began my charity bears. My work is a continuing trauma response - but one that brings much joy and healing to myself, my family, and my customers. 

It's a frustrating business to be in because so many people began the same style business at the same time (well, we were all stuck at home). I refuse to test copyright law and make popular IP items like Pokemon or Minions, but I think because of that I don't sell well online. When people see my work in person, they love it.

https://www.madebymochacrafts.com/ 

[ElisabethB]

Hey @MadeByMocha! Welcome to the community, and thank you for sharing your story! 💛
Your crocheted items are so cute and unique and I love your site, too. The balloon plushies are just adorable! I agree with you that the handcrafted market can feel pretty saturated, but don't let that discourage you. I felt the same way about 15 years ago and gave up on the idea of selling my handmade items, but today I can see that it just takes time and perseverance. Thanks again for sharing and hope to see you around the community! 😊 

[Ironbearjewelry]

My jewelry business started as a hobby and making unique pieces for myself. I realized how much I loved making jewelry and it kinda got out of hand! LOL then I was making jewelry for family and friends. And it just turned into a business from there. That was 23 years ago! I have gotten into leather and machine embroidery and make jewelry pieces with these mediums. I wire design wrap, bead and set stones. And I still love it today!

[YellowFantail]

That's amazing! I hope that will happen to me, although I am only just starting the journey. Jewellery is all my friends and family get as presents these days, lol. Have you got any tricks for how you managed to scale up into a business? The idea of making enough and fast to make any money enough bewilders me.

[Ironbearjewelry]

Start slow. If your still working a regular job like I was make a piece or two in the evening. When I was setup at shows I took my tools, findings and stones and stone beads to the shows. I did this before it was a thing. And made pieces while I was there. People liked watching pieces being made and got to customize their jewelry and watch it being made. This also gives you something to do when the show is slow. Hope this helps and keep going! 

[Fibernatic]

Hi, We operate a natural fiber store/studio on our Alpaca ranch in a converted barn. Products offered are hand woven scarves, shawls, Knitted beanies, Spinning Wheels, Looms, lessons on spinning and weaving, consultation/help on projects and much more fiber related items. We also have our processing equipment located in the same building so folks can see how we take raw alpaca fiber and turn it into a finished product. Since being located on an operating ranch, we also offer free range eggs and honey (we have a honey bee hive on site). We promote two once a month events,  "Open Fiber NIte". It is a free to attend event open to anyone interested in natural fiber arts. Folks are free to bring their looms/wheels/knitting or whatever project they are currently working on. Beverages and lite snacks are provided as a pot luck type, and this event is in the store. Our other popular event is "Open Ranch Day" where folks can "Meet the Alpacas", do hand feeding, take pictures, and I have a 3 minute speech giving a background on our livestock. Then they tour the shop and processing equipment.

How did we get here? Simple answer, covid. Huh? Let me explain. We were doing 13 to 15 off site craft shows every year and 2019 was a very good year. We started our craft show venture almost 15 years ago with8 years in southern Calif and 7 years in Colorado. You all know what happened in 2020. Craft market crashed. So a group of us like minded artists talked about setting up our own "Hand Made Craft" kinda thing but not sure how. I had just built a 30x40 barn (not for animals, more like a giant open garage) and had just laid in a concrete floor. So in 2020 we "paper napkin" our ideas and set up 4 "vendor booths" in our barn (following covid protocols, the white 6 foot tape spacing is still on the floor) and advertised using FB Event setting. It worked, slowly but surely.

Many changes happen over the next almost 3 years. Our partner vendors have moved on, our store has slowly developed into more of a retail natural fiber store, we have added classes have a close friend that is our "partner" that raises award winning show quality Llamas and is an avid spinner and weaver. We became a distributor for Ashford Looms and Wheels and offer assembly services for equipment purchased at our store.

We have been using basic square for a long time and have recently starting getting into a more aggressive role in managing our inventory and started dabbling in on line sales. We also barcode almost all of our items with some just having a common miscellaneous barcode but we try to remember to add short descriptions in the Notes field at check out. Barcoding does help speed up the check out process.

There is much more history to our adventure that goes back 17 years so our story is not an "overnight" success.  But, we are always looking to improve our business and learn new things. Having an open mind is so important for success in retail.

Thanks for the ad, we are looking forward to being part of the community and hope we can help as well as learn.

Dave and Kathie

The Twisted Shed

Yarn and More

[MonicaRoseART]

Hi am an artist, I am 19, I come from a family of artists.  I started my art business in 2022.  I create mostly oil paintings and make giclee' prints of them.  I sell both.  I also offer custom portraits of people or pets.  I use Cobra water based oils, no mess, no smell.  I offer prints in mats/foam core or just the prints shipped in a tube. www.MonicaRoseArtist.com

[designtime]

Started out as a side gig. I began doing 3d art online and that led me to release a couple self published 3d illustrated children's books. While in a group for the books, I talked with another author about designing things for print on demand. I tried pod jewelry and was successful enough it allowed me to buy equipment to start making my own items. I now sell all things creative from pinback buttons tp handmade jewelry online and in a physical gift store. This was a seven year journey so far, but I now work for myself and enjoy it so much more than my old job. 

[JK_Fiber_Art]

It was an evolution - one thing lead to another.  Started as a quilter, came up with an idea for a product, sold the product at Quilt Shows and Online.  After several years I decided to move on as I had a full time day job, after 30 plus years I chose to retire from my day job and eventually focused on my quilting passion.  One day I made a Fabric Pin for myself, while at a local market, people wanted to know where I purchased my Pin.  When I told them that I made it - the light bulb went on.  I ended up selling that handmade Fabric Pin to that person.  From there I expanded to Hand & Machine Quilted Wall Hangings, Handmade Embellished Fabric Pins & Barrettes, Knit Scarves, Cards, Coasters, Paper Weights, Embellished Vests, Sweatshirts, Fleece Jackets, Hoodies, Fleece Hats, Headbands and more.  One never knows what will happen next  !!

jk

[TravisRenLeathe]

What a fun question! It was dumb luck. I was a graphic designer in a sign shop up until 2008, when the economy tanked. I started making and selling one-off leather good to the historical reenactment community, and it just exploded from there! I managed to be in the right places at the right times, and met the right people. And here I am! 5 brick and mortar shops at 5 different Renaissance festivals, a manufacturing facility in Denver, employing 5 artisans (myself included) and 2 sales managers. That is of course a very nutshell version of the story, but there it is!

[Bash-BRD]

Our business started as a hobby. We all played D&D, and got tired of buying crappy dice and accessories, so we decided to start making it our own. Currently, we run it out of our garage, and three of the five who started are all related, so we are in the shop all the time. Its really hard to balance for sure, and very important to learn its ok to take time off and recoup, or the burn out is real. Especially when we still all have day jobs on top of the side gig.

bash

[TravisRenLeathe]

The burnout is definitely real! Finding time to relax and unplug is hard, but necessary. Do you have a website? I'd like to see what you do. Especially your dice. We make beautiful suede leather dice bags, and you gave me the idea that maybe we should actually start including dice sets in the bags!

[PieceofRae]

Hi, I'm new here, my name is Sam. I just published my website two days ago, Piece of Rae. We are a handmade jewelry business, coming soon is our hooked rugs. This started as a hobby for my mom and I, she always wanted to sell her rugs and wool bundles and I love making jewelry. So, we combined our passions!

I work full-time in marketing and I'm a graduate student, I run the website/order/jewelry part so here are two of my tips. 

- Devote 15-30 minutes to your business three times a week, if you have no orders find ways to improve your SEO descriptions or create more products.

- Carry a notebook to jot down any ideas you have or in the notes on your phone, so they don't get lost.

[Thomas50]

I started just a week ago. I decided after some years of working in corrections as an officer that I had enough of prison life. ^ years of working 12 -16 hour shifts 14 days a month or more was really tough. I put self through college earning associates in psychology and bachelors of criminal justice but those just weren't taking me anywhere. So I left the prison system in the middle of June 2023 and took a part time in between job thing working for an INN. Then Found the opportunity to start being a substitute teacher for my county and state which will continue my retirement benefits and being a human service job also help with tuition and student loans and at the same time I decided I'd go back to college and work on masters degree in psychology and become a counselor or psychologist once i get my four years of back to school out of the way. So my grandma passed away in 2021 and she was very crafty and she and i had wanted a store before she passed. I did a lot of soul searching in June of this year and turning age 50 in July, well I decided to not be stagnant anymore and move forward.  If we only dream and do nothing, nothing happens. But if you put action to dreaming, well things like hobbies and talents can become lucrative.  I am not dead at 50! Life still goes on and I lost four family members in that year, my grandma, an aunt, and uncle, and my brothers 17 week old baby due to covid. S the best thing I can do is "Live". I quit job, found another one, started making dreamcatchers, and had a building full of accumulated junk "Treasures" that I had need to get rid of so I created this store online here and Square helped me get my start. Although Square platform still has  a lot of bugs and fixes needed for those "Bugs" I am still happy that I can begin selling. I start my first festival this coming weekend on Saturday August 19th 3pm-9pm est in my hometown of Hudson, NC 28638. Summer Street Festival. I start my new job as a substitute teacher, I work on this online store site almost everyday, and I also work on homework through Capella University this hobby is just my side gig. I can now take online payments and credit cards where I could only do cash before. But I am also able to do a lot more using this store and creating an online business that I hope grows later on. It helps me to do festivals in my local area for extra cash and be legal doing it. So I would tell anyone for this small fee each month it is truly nice to have Square on my side as a newby to my own business. It keeps me busy. But its also fun. Gets my mind off the negative stuff and helps me work towards positive stuff. Life can be tough but we keep going. You only get one time to make this life what you want it to be. So I am happy with Square at the moment. I have a lot to learn here too from others as well as trial and error. But I thank Square for this chance to help me make a dream of my grandma's and my own a reality. That's my story. But the best "Treasures" in life are people! When they are gone we do not get a do over! Too diversity and weird, and uniqueness are what makes creative ideas. People are that. That's why the artistry of creating and ideals and uniqueness of a single persons creativity is so awesome! It's connecting to that person when you look at what they have conceptualized, dreamed up, and then actually created. When that person is gone, that part of them are gone unless they left something behind? A book, writing, drawing, notes, pictures, videos, etc....My grandma isn't coming back but I can do something with what she passed on to me her creativity, her spark of life, and when I create I remember the good times we shared, so to I think the same of my father. I am part Native American but unaffiliated because of his blood that flows through me. I am 20%. Cherokee and Creek mixed with European.  SO Anyway, that is my story and feel free for anyone to connect with me on my facebook and Square pages. Thank you for reading and allowing me to share my story. Hopefully it may help somebody else struggling? But feel free to connect, purchase, share ideas, share square do's and don'ts I may not always be able to chat and become friends with every single person, but I love people, I enjoy sharing knowledge, and I will reply and at least be square acquaintances with anyone as we all are potentially one another's customers.. www.tbtreasures.com, Thomas Biggs on facebook.

[bibi_ladle]

I have a degree in graphic design and graduated in 2007. Right away, I got a job at an apparel company. The pay wasn't great, but I loved the work and learned more about design there than in college. I lost that job after working there for four years. Unfortunately, the financial crisis lasted several more years, and I worked in insurance🤢. I wouldn't say I liked it, but I had a wife and two kids to support. 

After a decade of trying to find another job in design, I decided. It wasn't enough for design to be a side gig. I fully committed to going at it on my own. I love graphic design, and the tools for starting your business have improved for years. I

Technology is another hobby of mine, and Square is a company I have followed since the beginning. Their partnership with Printful was what got me really excited. Adobe software became too expensive when they switched to Affinity Designer. Tools like the iPad and Procreate made it easy to work from anywhere. The evolution has been quite an adventure, but my main takeaway is that work, life, and tech are ever-evolving, and I need to keep evolving. Figuring out how I work best has also been a trip. 

I started this journey in a sort of mid-life crisis when I turned 40. My goal was to eliminate regret. Square allowed me to start without any capital because I had none. I finally got hired again as a designer and left the insurance industry. I am still evolving and still learning. I realized I really wanted to work for myself now and no one else. That's the new goal, not having to answer to anyone and supporting my family with my own skill, creativity, and hard work. 

[Bronze_Palms]

I found it impossible to have work/life balance when I was starting. I gave 2.5 years to the business to grow and develop it. At that beginning stage, the amount of time and effort I put into the business directly impacted how successful we were and how much revenue we earned. 

It gave me time to build systems and learn, so I could hand that off to the next staff member I hired.

[Hack3rrunway]

I've always been into making and creating. I like wearing unique products and have been in the info sec field for a while. When I didn't see items that reflected what I wanted to wear and use, I started making them for myself. Others saw and liked it and asked that I make those items available. I have to balance my fulltime work and family life with my side gig. 

[BRAIDSBYBEE]

I have been doing hair since I was 12 years old during the process of starting my braiding business, which was a side hustle when the market crash I made it my business. I also discovered my market niche. I started discovering clients who had balding issues or hair loss with Dreadlocks pre-existing issues.  I created a safe space my salon for them.   I invented what you call Instantlocs Dread extensions a hair replacement option that is handmade by us at Braids by Bee , it has been my passion ever since this discovery so I help all those in need and hopefully I can leave a legacy behind square has been great to me, and also helps in many aspects of my business when they created the packages that served as an option for me to offer my clients multiple options which surprises me every time they select the highest package  my passion is now my business has been since 2011 I don’t do anything else but work on my business.