A lot of people ask me this one question.

“What is your opinion on turning your hobby into a business? You turned your photography interest into a business. Do you like it this way?”

My answer to them all is this: hobby + business = business.

A business is a business irrespective of whether it is based on a hobby or not. Yes, there are cases where people say turning a hobby into a business is fabulous. Also, there are people who say they didn’t enjoy their hobby as much after they turned it into a business.

To me, it doesn’t matter. You have to have an intrinsic interest in running a business itself. You have to have an interest in execution – handling customers, employees, vendors, product/service development, finances and much much more.

Most businesses go through a lot of headache and heartburn. You have to be okay with such things. If you cannot assimilate that fact, just your passion for a hobby will not sustain you, I think. On the downside, you might start hating your hobby!

Also, there is a good chance that your business becomes time consuming that your hobby doesn’t get enough attention or time.

That said, if you turn a hobby into a business, you have an upper hand as you already know a lot about the market since you were yourself a consumer of the idea.

Personally, I like businesses and I just happen to be in the photography space (as I knew a lot about it as a serious hobbyist) – not the other way like people usually think. If you ask me, hobby + business = business. No escaping that.