Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

 I am starting this thread because I would like to see if other`s have had a similiar experience as far as a hobby that turned into a business.
  I make enough to barely cover my bills. I started making and designing both office chair slipcovers and also making navy signal flag banners that spell out a custom message. The reason for both is that since the signal flag banners sell well it would help me both gain some extra cash for myself and to support the slipcover business. Both started out as a hobby and just a way to make a more comfortable living.
  Somewhere along the line it turned into a business. I am really glad that it did. I love the fact that I am my own boss and love the designing part of it. Although it can be tough at times the value you get is worth it all.
  After alot of thought on this I have recently decided to treat it as a business. At times their appears to be a fine line.
 Would like to hear how other`s have handled the transistion.
Kathy


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Kathy,
I think that every business is started by either a hobby or "know how". What once started as a hobby, something fun is now your main bread and butter. I started my business as a hobby and because of the know how, never assume that it`s going to be just a hobby. The minute you recieve some sord of payment from a customer, its no longer a hobby.
When I realized it was no longer a hobby, I registered the business and got a business phone number. As far as the transition? I was ready for it...


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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

i started in flea markets to make a bit more cash and then just kind of evolved online

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www.promomat.biz/notes.htm - Check a note I found this to be so effective against counterfeit notes, more so than uv lights, that I decided to sell them

I`ve had my Ebay hobby result in a business called PackedWarehouse.com and my hobby as a song writer/musician turned into management of other artists.  That you enjoy what you do is so important.

Okay, so we have articles like, "The 10 Steps to Starting your own Business." Presumably, those steps relate to having nothing or working as an employee, then converting over to being self-employed.

Can we develop "The 10 Steps to Convert a Hobby to a Business?"

It seems a preponderance of entrepreneurs begin with something fun they like to do, a skill, some unusual knowledge or skill-set, where they thought they`d just make a couple of bucks at it. I know I started just tooling around on the piano, then played a couple of grade-school parties, then suddenly ended up a professional musician.

What are the sequential steps, to use Robert`s experience and knowledge from the Bootstrapping thread, when making that crossover point. This isn`t the same as starting from scratch, nor is it the same as dealing with countless variables happening "all at once. Instead, this is the mindset and action plan one takes when making a decision to go professional.

Many people agree with Nuevolution`s assessment that as soon as you get your first payment, it`s no longer a hobby. Fair enough, and it distinguishes an avocation from a profession. The Olympics contestants are presumably "amateur," in that they don`t get paid. But that`s a technical argument. But let`s suppose that you get paid enough times that it gets you thinking along the lines of "doing it for pay."

Other people would agree that they got paid sometimes, didn`t make it the goal, and were mostly interested in just selling a few things here and there. Then, suddenly, they were making enough money that they could envision at least a pathway toward making the payment an actual job, career, business, or other word.

Isn`t a business person`s "job" to run their own business? Being self-employed still means employment and working. Is a hobby "work?" Of course! But we all "sense" that there`s a difference in mindset between a hobby and a business. Can we write those out, codify them, and produce "Converting to Self-Employment: Part 2?"

There`s that phrase that a job is working for a living, but a career is living for the work. Something like that, at any rate. But how do we make that transition between an on-again-off-again "hobby," and a business mindset? Are there 10 steps we could formulate?

While I have enjoyed hearing how many people have started as a hobby and it turned into a business what I really would like to know is how you handled the trasistion period involved.
  Craigl hit it on the head when he said their should be 10 steps to convert into a business.
Kathy


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I only done it once. Music to Business...

All other ventures have been from need not love.


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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

I did the music-to-business conversion too, and learned a huge amount. The one thing that really mattered is that in a hobby, you do what you do when you feel like it. You can be inspired, or not, and if not, don`t play. But in professional music, I remember having to be on stage with a 104-degree fever, and talk about NOT wanting to play!

It`s an interesting problem, to define the word "Professionalism." I don`t know that anyone has a good definition of it yet, but "being a professional" includes a particular attitude, as well as a moral code or structure. One way or another, turning something into a business includes that concept of acting like a professional. What else?

A big step for my hobby to business transformation was to seek supplies at wholesale pricing. And of course that meant getting an EID and registering the name.  I`m sort of in the "transition", I don`t make a living from it yet, but am desparately ready to...

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Blonde Chicken Boutique Supplies for the concientious fiber artist

blondchicken,
  You bring up a very good point about wholesale pricing. Since I use quite a bit of fabric We have looked into what the material would cost wholesale. Their are so many companies it`s hard to know which one are reputable and which one`s arent`t. I haven`t got an EID yet but will soon. For the present time we are buying retail and trying to keep the costs down. Do you have any tips on buying wholesale?
We don`t make a living at it yet but we are getting there.
Wishing you the best,
Kathy


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