How to turn your hobby into a business

Wondering how to turn your hobby into a business?

Congratulations! You’re about to embark on an exciting and rewarding journey. Before you dive in, make sure to read these 7 tips that will be sure to help.

Set goals

Goal setting is arguably the most important step to making your business a success. Decide on if you want this to be a side hustle or a full time job. Think about what you want outside of the passion you have for your product or service. Whatever you decide you want from your business, be sure to write your goals as if you’ve already achieved them. Detail how you feel now that you’ve succeeded. Give as much information as possible. This will empower you and get you on the track to success.

Do research

Find out if your product has a target market and what similar products retail for. You need to establish that your business idea isn’t just appealing to you and that other people want to engage with it too. Research who your competitors are and why they’ve become a success.

Determine pricing & sales models

Determining how much it will cost you to produce your offering versus how much you will sell it for is vital. You will also need to decide how you will sell your offerings. Will they be exclusively found online, in a retail store or both? Make sure that your model brings in more money than what you’re spending.

Write a business plan

Writing a business plan helps you quantify all you’ve done and still need to do. It keeps you on track and provides an overview of how your business will run. A great way of not getting weighed down by this process is writing a lean plan. A lean plan is a simpler, more efficient way of business planning that allows you to grow and adapt with your business.

Work out your finances

You will already have determined your start-up and operational costs in your business plan. But you’ll also need to get the rest of your financial plan in order. You’ll need the following to get a solid financial plan going:

1. Profit & loss statement
2. Cash flow statement
3. Balance sheet
4. Sales forecast
5. Personnel plan
6. Break-even analysis

You’ll also need to get your personal finances in order. Understand your position and if your personal credit record will have any impact on the business.

Marketing

These days there’s a lot of information online that can teach you some marketing basics. We suggest making good use of this. Your business can suffer very quickly if you aren’t reaching your target audience. Our blog alone has some great articles to help you with this.

Be consistent

Set a daily schedule where you attend to various aspects of your business. Don’t get hung up on only one or two sides of your business and neglect others. Owning your own business is a careful balance and being consistent will help you achieve this. Still wondering if it’s right for you? This article might help.