by Tapiwa Matsinde
Turning your hobby into a business is a highly rewarding experience. Not only can it mean making a living doing what you love, but also learning more about yourself and just what you are capable of. Turning your hobby into a business is a big step, one that requires a shift in mindset from creating for pleasure as and when you feel like it to creating for-profit and having to put routines and goals in place.
Here are 5 things to consider if you are thinking about turning your hobby into a business
1. Get clear on your vision
A mistake made by many would-entrepreneurs, myself included, is to dive straight into the business side of things without having first put in place a proper plan of action. Your plan is fundamental to the success of your business. A well-thought-out plan serves as your roadmap guiding you through each step of the journey. These steps are your goals what you hope to achieve. Setting goals is important because without them how do you know what you are working towards.
2. Finances
If you are employed starting a business doesn’t automatically mean you can quit your day job. If you have financial responsibilities such as family, or a mortgage you will still need an income source. And unless you have been saving up towards starting a business by putting aside money to cover a salary for at least a year, or have another source of income to keep you going the financial reality of starting a business means you will have to juggle the two until you get to a place where your business takes off and can support you, bearing in mind that this can take several years.
3. Find out if there is demand for your product or service
The key to a successful business is to validate your reasons for starting, and the demand for your product or service as quickly as you can. If you are already selling to customers other than friends and family you have data in the form of sales, requests, or feedback that you can work with. If you are not yet selling consider a low-cost table/space at a relevant event. For example, If you make cakes or jams a farmer’s market could be a good place to start, or consider your local bakery, deli, cafe. If you are creating a course, before putting all your effort into the final product a low cost or a free taster version or landing page are good ways of gauging interest by the number of people who sign up to take it. Testing has the value of giving you the experience of putting your product or service in front of and selling to an audience you don’t know. Doing this will help you to see if selling is something you can see yourself doing. Alternatively, you could use a third-party e-commerce platform such as Etsy, Creative Market to test out your products before fully committing to setting up your own e-commerce platform.
4. Identify what you need
As a business owner, you will find yourself juggling many roles. There will be skills you already have, will need to learn, and others you may have to outsource. Start by taking the time to identify what you will need to set-up and run your business. Once you have a list separate it out into what you know and are good at, and what you will need help with, and make a plan of how to get that help. This could be paying for what you need through books, courses, coaching, hiring someone, or bartering.
5. Take the leap
Stop waiting for the right moment because there isn’t one. If you have done your homework then the next step is to act. Too many would-be entrepreneurs let the fear of failure hold them back from following their dream. And that fear shows up in the excuses we tell ourselves. ‘I’m too young’, ‘I’m too old’, ‘I’ll start when my kids are grown’, or ‘I don’t have this skill’ and more. Have the courage to start from where you are and let your purpose and plan guide you, and remember no entrepreneur has all the answers at the beginning.
Next steps
If you are looking to turn your creative hobby into a business but are not sure where start I have designed a self-led course that guides you through the key steps of starting your business. Find out more here.
Tapiwa Matsinde is the founder of atelier 55 an acclaimed platform that shines the spotlight on Africa’s designers and creatives by sharing the stories of their work. Through her consultancy Tapiwa curates for and advises organisations, galleries, and museums interested in African design, connecting them to designers for global opportunities that increase their visibility. Through the atelier 55 Academy Tapiwa helps startup and established creative entrepreneurs develop and grow international standard brands that command attention. Tapiwa is the author of several books including Contemporary Design Africa the first art book to showcase and survey a generation of innovative designers from across the continent and beyond who are putting the diverse expressions of African design on the world’s stage. Tapiwa’s podcast Behind The Design introduces an inspirational series of conversations with some of Africa’s exciting designers.
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTERESTBehind The Design Podcast - https://www.atelier55design.com/category/podcast/
More articles by Tapiwa
