Hobby vs Business

Often, first time entrepreneurs try to turn their hobby into a business, and that make sense to them and many people around them (who did not build a company).

Reality is that since people have no idea what running a business really means, they assume that doing a business around their hobby means that they will be able to enjoy their hobbies more.

I love riding motorbiking. A ray of sun and I’m jumping on my motorbike to drive up and down the hills in my region. I love it. But would I consider turning this into a business? Hell no. If I *have to* ride, that will instantly kills all the fun.

Imaging that painting is your hobby. This may be fun to take your paint brushes and go outside to paint a beautiful landscape. But what happen when you have to paint 4 that week and it’s raining or you don’t fancy it? In the best case, your service is bad, in the worse case, you start to hate painting. You may even end up outsourcing the painting part while you make sure the paper work is done and the team is properly managed… your work as a result may have nothing to do with exercising your hobby.

Remember those simple things:

• A hobby is to please you. A business is to please customers.
• A hobby’s goal is to produce enjoyment, a business’s goal is to generate money.
• A hobby can be stopped with minimal consequences, stopping a business can have dire consequences.
• Your hobby can be in a bad niche (a niche where customers have no money, or the market is shrinking, or margin are super thin, or the market is too small, or investment is too big to even start…).

If all you do in your spare time is related to what you do at work, you’ll end up burning out quickly. You’ll end up finding another hobby in the end.

What most people are really saying is that they wish they had a different job, something that provide them with as much fun as their hobby.

There is nothing wrong with this, but in this case, create a real business and keep your hobbies as they are: hobbies. Don’t let your business future depends on the hobby you do 2–3 times a week.