"Today is life - the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto."
Hobbies and pastimes are most often done purely for enjoyment and pleasure. Pursuing a hobby can not only be rewarding for its own sake but also lead to acquiring new technical skills and specialist knowledge. Personal fulfillment is usually the aim of most hobbies rather than financial reward.
An important determinant of what is considered a hobby, as distinct from a profession (beyond the lack of remuneration), is probably how easy it is to make a living at the activity. It is very hard make a living at coin or stamp collecting, but many people find it is enjoyable nonetheless; so it is commonly regarded as a hobby. It is generally accepted that a person who does something for pleasure rather than remuneration, is called an amateur or hobbyist.
But that should not preclude a person with a passion for a particular hobby from making money from his or her hobby. What if I told you that you could make a substantial income doing something you love? Traditionally people made money from their hobbies by selling a finished product (such as pots of jam!) or by providing a service such as furniture restoration in their spare time. Many people find that making money with a hobby is more like fun than a job.
Money for Jam!
Nearly everyone has a hobby of some sort. There are so many different types of hobbies such as arts and crafts, bird watching, collecting coins / stamps, cookery, DIY, furniture restoration, model making, rock-climbing, painting, photography or remote controlled cars. Not only are these hobbies are highly rewarding but they also offer an opportunity for the person to share their specialist knowledge to others and make a profit in the process.
Here is how it works. Lets say that you are interested in cookery as a hobby. You spend many hours in your spare time creating wonderful dishes and even sell the odd cake or pot of jam down the local market or at a community fete. But what if you could pull together some of your favorite recipes and put them into a downloadable e-book that people would be willing to pay for and could be sold even while you were asleep! Rather than making a bit of pocket money on the side you could have people from around the world paying a premium for information on a subject that you know and love.
This is something that anyone can do regardless of whether you are a teenager interested in games or a grandparent interested in furniture restoration. There are many smart people (who do not necessarily have any technical skills) turning their passion and hobbies into a lucrative business. You could be doing the same.
Copyright 2006 - Declan O'Reilly
Visit my website below to discover how I turned my passion into a business which turns over tens of thousands of dollars in my spare time.